Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not allow Syria’s new army or the insurgent group that led the ouster of former President Bashar Assad to “enter the area south of Damascus” as his government made clear Israeli forces would stay in parts of southern Syria for an indefinite period.

After decades of exile, a group of American Jews with deep roots in Damascus has returned to Syria to rediscover their long-lost heritage. Organized by the Syrian Emergency Task Force, the four-day visit took participants on a moving tour of historic synagogues,

On a wintry night in Damascus, hundreds of people packed into a courtyard in the Old City, dancing and singing during a joyful evening of music - a concert held with the approval of Syria's new, Islamist-led authorities.

For the first time in three decades, Rabbi Joseph Hamra and his son Henry read from a Torah scroll in a synagogue in the heart of Syria's capital Damascus, carefully passing their thumbs over the handwritten text as if still in awe they were back home.

Syria's tiny Jewish community said they held their first group prayer in decades Wednesday, in a synagogue in Damascus's Old City, expressing joy at the long-awaited return to public worship.

On a wintry night in Damascus, hundreds of people packed into a courtyard in the Old City, dancing and singing during a joyful evening of music - a concert held with the approval of Syria's new, Islamist-led authorities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not allow Syria’s new army or the insurgent group that led the ouster of former President Bashar Assad to “enter the area south of Damascus” as his government made clear Israeli forces would stay in parts of southern Syria for an indefinite period.

Dr. Mufaddal Hamadeh is leading efforts to rebuild Syria’s devastated medical infrastructure, working with the Syrian American Medical Society to deliver urgent care and train local health care workers.

For the first time in three decades, Rabbi Joseph Hamra and his son Henry returned to a synagogue in the heart of Syria's capital Damascus. Syrian's authorities have said all of Syria's communities will play a role in their country's future but some are wary.

A crackdown on smuggling operations between Lebanon and Syria has intensified since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.