International

The new Syrian authorities plan to end compulsory military service

Ahmed al Charaa, leader of the insurgent coalition that overtoched the Bashar al-Asad regime last week and known as the war name of Abu Mohamed al Jolani, said on Sunday that they are studying the possibility of ending compulsory military service.

He said this in a meeting with journalists and activists related to the insurgents, who published several videos on social networks.

In one of those recordings, Al Charaa is asked what will happen with compulsory military service, to which he replied “we are studying it, but in principle it will be an Army of volunteers.”

Defense “of the homeland”

Even so, he qualified shortly after that the defense of “the homeland” is mandatory and is something that concerns everyone, and he did not rule out that in the future a temporary recruitment of fifteen days or twenty days can be applied for “a very short time”.

Mandatory military service has existed in Syria since 1947, a year after the country’s independence. Over time its duration has changed and the Armed Forces have been a pillar of the system, especially during the dictatorship of the Al Asad family that began in 1971 (first with Hafez al Asad and then with his son Bachar al Asad).

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At the beginning of 2011, the year in which the protests against the Government of Bashar al-Asad broke out, it lasted 18 months, but after the beginning of the conflict the soldiers were usually kept in their posts regardless of whether that period had ended.

The Al Asad regime fell a week ago after twelve days of offensive launched by a coalition led by the Islamist group Levante Liberation Agency along with other factions backed by Turkey.

Qatari delegation arrives in Syria to open its embassy

Meanwhile, a diplomatic delegation from Qatar arrived this Sunday in Syria to complete the procedures that allow it to open its embassy in the country “after the success of the revolution” that overthrewed the regime of the deposed Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, Qatari official sources reported.

The official spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed al Ansari, announced today in a statement that “a Qatari diplomatic delegation arrived in Damascus to complete the necessary procedures for the opening of the Qatar State embassy in the Syrian Arab Republic.”

Al Ansari said that the delegation met with the “transitional government” in Syria and reaffirmed the “full commitment of the State of Qatar to support the Syrian people in achieving their aspirations for security, peace, development and prosperity after the success of their revolution.”

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According to the Foreign Ministry spokesman, the delegation discussed with the Syrian side ways to improve the flow of humanitarian aid from Qatar and evaluated the needs of the Syrians “during this important phase” of transition.

Reopening

Last Wednesday, Al Ansari already announced Qatar’s intention to reopen its embassy in Syria “soon”, although an official date for it has not yet been announced.

Qatar, which maintains good relations with Turkey, has been very critical of the government of Bashar al-Assad and has denounced that during his mandate the overthrown president had wasted opportunities to fully reintegrate into the international community and end 13 years of war in Syria.

The small country of the Persian Gulf was one of the first to express on Sunday – after the flight of Al Asad and his family to Moscow -, its “firm support for the Syrian people”, and called on the different insurgent factions and the country’s political groups to “opt for dialogue” for “a better future for Syria.”

He has also set himself up as a mediator and, over the weekend, welcomed in Doha the foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia and Iran – the upprors of a ceasefire in Syria until the fall of Al Asad – to address the future and a peaceful transition in the punished Arab country.

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International

French Parliament Moves to Approve Social Media Age Limit for Minors

France’s Parliament is expected to approve legislation on Tuesday banning children under the age of 15 from accessing social media platforms, following an agreement reached Monday between lawmakers on the mechanism to enforce the measure.

The initiative is part of President Emmanuel Macron’s broader effort to strengthen online protections for minors and regulate children’s screen time before the end of his second presidential term in May 2027.

“Tomorrow, France will become the first country in Europe to establish a digital age of majority to better protect our children online,” Digital Affairs Minister Anne Le Hénanff said Monday in a post on X.

If approved, the government plans to implement the restriction in September, when students return to school after the summer holidays.

The United Kingdom has already passed similar legislation restricting social media access for users under the age of 16, although that measure is scheduled to take effect in early 2027.

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Both the National Assembly, France’s lower house of Parliament, and the Senate are expected to hold final votes on the legislation Tuesday after a joint committee of seven senators and seven lawmakers reached an agreement on the bill’s final wording.

Under the proposed law, children under 15 years old would be prohibited from accessing online social media services, with limited exceptions for certain platforms, including online encyclopedias.

The legislation would make France the first member of the European Union to introduce a nationwide minimum digital age for access to social media platforms, reflecting a growing international movement to strengthen online safeguards for children and teenagers.

International

WHO to Hold New Round of Talks After Slow Progress on Pandemic Accord

Member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) made limited progress during the seventh session of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) tasked with finalizing a key annex to the global pandemic agreement, prompting negotiators to schedule another round of talks in September.

The session, which opened on July 6 and concluded last week at WHO headquarters in Geneva, focused on drafting and negotiating the annex covering the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) System, a central component of the pandemic accord.

Without the completion of the PABS annex, the global pandemic agreement cannot enter into force.

The annex had originally been expected to be finalized before May 2026, but negotiations have progressed more slowly than anticipated.

In a statement, the WHO said member states “advanced negotiations” on the PABS system while acknowledging that additional discussions are required to complete a framework capable of supporting a faster, more effective and more equitable response to future pandemics.

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The organization announced that an eighth round of negotiations will take place on September 14.

Despite the limited progress, delegates succeeded in streamlining the draft text and concentrating discussions on several technical issues.

According to the WHO, negotiators focused on the contractual arrangements underpinning the PABS mechanism, the laboratory networks responsible for handling and sharing pathogens and their genetic sequence data, as well as the framework for distributing the benefits generated through the sharing of those pathogens.

The PABS system is considered one of the most important elements of the future pandemic agreement, as it aims to ensure timely access to pathogens for scientific research while establishing fair mechanisms for sharing the benefits derived from vaccines, diagnostics and other medical countermeasures developed during future global health emergencies.

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International

Iran Says It Is in “Full-Scale War” as U.S. Launches Ninth Consecutive Night of Airstrikes

Iran declared on Monday that it is facing a “full-scale war” against the United States after Washington carried out another wave of overnight airstrikes, including attacks near a city that hosts one of the country’s nuclear facilities.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country must prepare for the consequences of the ongoing conflict, describing the situation as a broad military confrontation.

“The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” Pezeshkian said in a statement released by the presidency. “We must be realistic and accept the natural consequences of this resistance.”

The latest U.S. strikes marked the ninth consecutive night of military operations, according to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which announced the attacks on X.

Since hostilities resumed on July 7, U.S. air operations have expanded well beyond southern Iran, reaching central and northwestern regions of the country, according to local sources.

Local authorities reported that one person was killed and several others injured in Tabriz, in northwestern Iran, more than 1,000 kilometers from the Persian Gulf.

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Additional casualties were reported in the nearby city of Urmia, where several people were wounded during separate strikes.

Washington said the attacks targeted military installations. However, Iranian officials accused the United States of striking populated areas, including Bushehr, home to Iran’s only operational nuclear power plant.

Iran also reported that the Darkhovin nuclear facility, which is still under construction, was among the sites hit during the latest attacks.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the renewed military campaign was carried out in honor of American service members killed in recent days.

Two U.S. soldiers died on Friday during attacks on a military base in Jordan, while another service member was killed on Sunday during the controlled disposal of unexploded munitions from an Iranian drone in northern Iraq.

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According to U.S. figures, 17 American troops have been killed since the conflict began on February 28.

On the Iranian side, the latest official figures released on Friday reported 50 deaths and more than 500 injuries since fighting resumed earlier this month.

A memorandum of understanding signed by Iran and the United States on June 17, which had been intended to pave the way for peace negotiations, collapsed after hostilities resumed over the strategic control of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy shipping routes.