Khaled Yacoub Oweis

SDF set to become 'essential part of Syria's new army'

Supplies start streaming into Sheikh Maqsoud, on hill overlooking the country’s business capital

Residents tell The National they are unable to re-enter Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhoods

Tension has been brewing in city's Kurdish-majority districts

Only a handful of minorities among 140 newly elected parliamentarians

About 6,000 chosen electors are eligible to vote for 210-member legislature

With authorities blaming instability, voting has been limited to several thousand people

Legislature will exclude former regime loyalists, Mohammad Al Wali tells The National

Militant group claims it needs time to locate and recover bodies of deceased hostages

Clashes erupt between government forces and Kurds, while status of Druze population in Sweida remains unresolved

Syrian official says laws must be overhauled to prosecute former president

US has been pushing Syrian government to sign security deal with Israel

Kurdish-led SDF seen as vulnerable in area far from its bases in the east

Problems with minority groups persist as new Syrian President seeks support at UN General Assembly

Syrian authorities clear protesters blocking main road between capital and southern province as two-month stand-off ends