Donald Trump’s pick to oversee 18 intelligence agencies with a $100 billion spy budget is facing renewed scrutiny over an unannounced trip to Syria in 2017 where she met with the now-deposed dictator twice.

Weeping, Fairuz Shalish grasps the red earth at an unmarked grave in Syria that she believes may hold her son, one of tens of thousands of people who vanished under ousted president Bashar al-Assad.Thousands poured out of the country's web of prisons in the final days of Assad's rule and after Islamist-led rebels toppled him on December 8.

Tulsi Gabbard, President Trump's nominee to serve as the director of national intelligence, will testify Thursday morning at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The 43-year-old former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii and combat veteran would oversee the nation's 18 spy agencies.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani will visit Damascus on Thursday, Qatar's Al Jazeera reported, as Syria's new interim government begins a political transition after Islamist rebels ousted the Assad regime last year.

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was declared president for a transitional phase on Wednesday, tightening his hold on power less than two months after he led a campaign that toppled Bashar al-Assad.

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has been named president for the "transitional period", state media report, seven weeks after he led the rebel offensive that overthrew Bashar al-Assad.

DAMASCUS: Tightening his hold on power less than two months after he led a campaign that toppled Bashar al-Assad, Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has been declared president for

The summer home of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad was once off-limits to ordinary Syrians. Now people are lining up to visit and wandering around the rooms — which are empty after being looted.

Syria’s new government pressed Russia for compensation during its first talks with a Kremlin delegation since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.

With pills to calm his heart and CCTV monitoring his stairs, one man set out to hold politicians, police and even regime figures to account