The Global News Desk 115

At least 35 people were killed in a collision between two luxury passenger buses in a central-eastern desert area of Syria on Saturday, SANA News Agency reported. Thirty more people were injured in the "collision between two passenger buses on the Damascus-Deir Ezzor road," according to SANA, which quoted a health ministry official.  The Ambulance and Emergency Department at Syria’s Health Ministry announced that the death toll has climbed to 38, while many others have sustained injuries, with several people in critical condition.  Emergency teams are continuing their efforts to evacuate victims and take the injured to hospitals. The collision happened between "a bus carrying soldiers of internal security forces and a civilian bus," according to the interior ministry's announcement, but it did not specify how many of its forces were killed. The minister of emergency and disaster management described the road accident as "one of the deadliest road acci...

The United States $10 million prize for detention of Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the Rebel leader who led the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad, has been scrapped. A senior U.S. diplomat said Friday that America is ending a current reward for Syria's new leader, citing "positive messages" from a first meeting that included a commitment to fight terrorism. The statement came after Barbara Leaf, the US's senior diplomat for the Middle East, met with Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, the first time U.S. officials have visited Syria's capital since the start of the civil conflict.  In a digital briefing to journalists on Friday, Barbara A. Leaf, assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, said that the decision to forgo the prize on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham commander Sharaa is a "policy decision" taken as Washington starts its engagement with the rebel group.

Damascus, Syria  —  Russia has granted asylum to Bashar Assad, the former president of Syria, and his family on humanitarian grounds, according to a Kremlin security source. A Kremlin security source said Assad and his family arrived in Moscow on Sunday and were given asylum.  Additionally, it explained that Russia had given them refuge based on humanitarian grounds. RIA Novosti, a Russian state-run news agency, also confirmed that Asad and his family arrived in Moscow yesterday.  Al-Assad, who resigned after armed groups presently serving as Syria's transitional government forces took over Damascus on Sunday, had reportedly moved to Moscow with his family, according to reputable sources quoted by Russia's Vesti Nedelya news agency.