World Briefing: March 9, 2025
Syrian security forces are alleged to have killed hundreds of civilians belonging to the Alawite religious minority in continuing violence along the country's coast, according to a war monitoring group. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said some 745 civilians had been killed in around 30 "massacres" targeting Alawites on Friday and Saturday. BBC News has not been able to independently verify these claims. Hundreds of people have reportedly fled their homes in the region - a heartland of deposed president Bashar al-Assad, who also belongs to the Alawite sect. A total of more than 1,000 people have been killed in the past two days, the SOHR said, in what is the worst violence in Syria since rebels toppled the Assad regime in December. This figure includes dozens of government troops and gunmen loyal to Assad, who have been locked in clashes in the coastal Latakia and Tartous provinces since Thursday. Some 125 members of the Islamist-led government security forces and 148 pro-Assad fighters have been killed in the violence, according to the SOHR's report. Alawites, whose sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam, make up around 10% of Syria's population, which is majority Sunni Muslim - BBC
North Korea unveiled for the first time a nuclear-powered submarine under construction, a weapons system that can pose a major security threat to South Korea and the U.S. The state media agency on Saturday released photos showing what it called “a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine,” as it reported leader Kim Jong Un’s visits to major shipyards where warships are built. The naval vessel appears to be a 6,000-ton-class or 7,000-ton-class one which can carry about 10 missiles, said Moon Keun-sik, a South Korean submarine expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University. He said that the use of the term “the strategic guided missiles” meant it would carry nuclear-capable weapons. “It would be absolutely threatening to us and the U.S.,” Moon said.
Tonight, Canada’s ruling Liberal Party will announce its next leader and the person who will soon become prime minister — a job they'll inherit amid economic turbulence and a deeply wounded relationship with the country's once closest ally. The party's choice — who would become prime minister only after being sworn in by the Governor General — not only represents a new chapter for the Liberals but could also mean the imminent start of a federal election. The two front runners are former central banker Mark Carney, former finance minister and current MP Chrystia Freeland (who’s of Ukrainian descent). The relatively short leadership race was triggered when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in early January his intention to step down following mounting caucus revolt and the resignation of Freeland from cabinet. Just a few days ago, outgoing leader Justin Trudeau said he expects the transition to his successor to happen "in the coming days or week." - CBC
China's military said Sunday it would tighten its "noose" around Taiwan if separatism over the island escalated, warning proponents to step back from the "precipice" or face a "dead end", state media reported. Beijing considers the democratically ruled island of Taiwan to be part of its territory and has not ruled out using military force to claim it. "The more rampant 'Taiwan independence' separatists become, the tighter the noose around their necks and the sharper the sword hanging over their heads will be," army spokesman Wu Qian said, Xinhua news agency reported. "The PLA is a force of action in countering separatism and promoting reunification," said Wu, using an acronym for China's military - France 24
As Kyiv prepares to send its delegation to Saudi Arabia for high-stakes talks with the United States, Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine with increased strikes on civilian targets and new battlefield gains. Russian air strikes overnight in eastern Ukraine killed at least 50 people in the Donetsk region, according to local officials. Russia also claimed it had retaken three villages earlier captured by Ukraine in its Kursk region -- with unconfirmed reports that thousand of Ukrainian troops risks being encircled by Russian forces -- and the attacks come a day after Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack targeting energy and gas infrastructure across multiple regions of Ukraine. The Institute For The Study of War, a Washington-based think tank that tracks battlefield developments, said Russian forces have "intensified their multi-directional campaign to eliminate the remaining Ukrainian salient in Kursk" in the last two days. The series of strikes and battlefield pressure represent another setback for Kyiv ahead of crucial talks with the United States next week in Saudi Arabia, where Ukrainian officials will meet with their US counterparts for negotiations around how to end the three-year war - RFE/RL
The Trump administration is talking with Moscow about readmitting potentially scores of Russian diplomats into the United States after years of expulsions - but the Kremlin is likely to dispatch spies posing as diplomats to restore its diminished espionage capabilities within the United States, the New York Times reported. Experts say that even if a deal expands both diplomatic contingents in comparable numbers, any Russian spies would enjoy an advantage, working in a more open society in the United States.
The Council of Europe has released its Press Freedom Report on Turkey, which highlights the growing pressure on the press and the increasing erosion of journalists' freedoms in the country. One recent case is against Kurdish journalist Diren Yurtsever by the 23rd High Criminal Court, with a potential sentence of one to three years. Yurtsever had previously spent seven months in prison.
Some Canadian coffee shops have rechristened the coffee drinks that have long been called Americanos as Canadianos, NPR reported. It's their response to President Trump's continuing threats of tariffs on Canadian goods, and his declaration that Canada ought to become the USA's 51st state. "We don't need any American products right now," Todd Simpson, who owns the Morning Owl coffeeshops in Ottawa, told CTV News. "It seems like a really good way to say we're Canadian," although the coffee beans they brew are more likely grown in Central America than, say, Alberta.
