OMAR SANADIKI

Accompanied by unidentified members of the delegation, U.S. congressman Cory Mills (R-FL), second from right, walks in the Old City of Damascus Friday, April 18, 2025. Mills is in Damascus in an unofficial visit organized by a Syrian-American nonprofit, the first visit by U.S. legislators since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Syrian president meets a US Congress member on an unofficial visit to Damascus
Syria’s president has received a Republican member of Congress in the first visit to the country by American legislators since the ouster of former leader Bashar Assad.
 
U.S. congressmen Cory Mills (R-FL), left, and Martin Stutzman (R-IN), second from right, meet Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, a Syrian-American Christian prelate serving as the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Damascus Friday, April 18, 2025. Mills and Stutzman arrived on an unofficial visit organized by a Syrian-American nonprofit, the first visit by U.S. legislators since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Congress members pay an unofficial visit to Syria as US mulls sanctions relief
A pair of Republican Congress members have arrived in the Syrian capital on an unofficial visit organized by a Syrian-American nonprofit, the first by U.S. legislators since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December. Rep.
 
A fighter from the Druze Liwa al-Jabal militia points to an area believed to be operated by smugglers and armed groups, at an outpost in Syria's southern province of Sweida, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Syria’s Druze seek a place in a changing nation, navigating pressures from the government and Israel
Syria’s Druze minority is trying to navigate a new, uncertain Syria. Members of the small religious sect find themselves caught between two forces that many of them distrust: the new, Islamist-led government in Damascus and Syria’s hostile neighbor, Israel, which has used the plight of the Druze as
 
Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, left, and his son Henry take pictures as they visit the Al-Raqi synagogue in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. The Syrian-American Jewish family returned for the first time since emigrating from Syria to the United States more than three decades ago as part of a delegation organized by the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, in the wake of the fall of the government of former President Bashar Assad.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Syrian Jews’ homecoming brings hope for reconstruction and a permanent return after decades in exile
As Rabbi Yusuf Hamra and his son Henry were visiting Damascus this week for the first time since emigrating from Syria to the United States more than three decades ago, they were met by former neighbors with embraces and and gossip .
 
Syrian fighters aims their weapons in direction of suspected looters at a residential complex of former Bashar Assad's military officers at the village of Husseiniyeh, in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Syrian rebel force deploys to a village near Damascus to stop looters
A rebel force has deployed to a village in southeastern Damascus to stop looters who swarmed a residential complex in the area and set some apartments on fire.
 
Syria Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, right, meets with his Jordan counterpart Ayman Safadi in Damascus, Syria, Monday, July 3, 2023. Jordan's top diplomat Monday called for international investment into crisis-hit Syria's crippled infrastructure in order to speed up refugee returns. Safadi made these remarks following a visit to Damascus, where he met with Syrian President Bashar Assad and his counterpart Faisal Mekdad. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Jordan’s foreign minister calls for investment into war-torn Syria to speed up refugee returns
Jordan’s foreign minister has called for investment into conflict-ravaged Syria’s crippled infrastructure to speed up refugee returns.