Global News Podcast - Syrian government says operation against Assad loyalists over

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

Syria's defence ministry says it's ended military operations in strongholds of former President Assad in which hundreds of civilians are reported to have been killed. Also: China increases tariffs on some US goods.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello, I'm Katya Adler, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. Each weekday, we break down one big news story with fresh perspectives from journalists around the world. From artificial intelligence to divisive politics tearing our societies apart, from the movements of money and markets, to the human stories that touch our lives, we bring you in-depth insights from across the BBC and beyond. Listen to The Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is The Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Rachel Wright and at 14hours GMT on Monday the 10th of March,

these are our main stories. Syria's defence ministry says it's ended a military operation in its coastal provinces where hundreds of people have been killed in recent days. The trade war between the US and China ramps up. The US will take part in the first negotiations over Gaza since President Trump was elected.

Also in this podcast, we hear about the cyber hackers working in North Korea. They have been around for at least 15 years doing this. They have been very involved in a variety of large attacks over the years. We begin this podcast in Syria, where the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus have been witnessing the worst outbreak of violence since December of last year, when insurgents overthrew the former president Bashar al-Assad. Since Thursday, clashes between Assad loyalists and the security forces have brought havoc to several cities and towns, reportedly killing more than a thousand people. Most of the dead are members of the former president's

Alawite minority. Now the Syrian Defense Ministry says that calm has been restored in the region but members of the Alawite community say they still fear for their lives. The BBC spoke to someone in Latakia who, for their own safety, asked us to withhold their identity. So one of my colleagues has voiced their answers. How am I feeling? I am totally terrified. I have my family. I'm sitting all day and all night with them. I don't know when the jihadis will arrive outside our house and start killing us. with them. I don't know when the jihadis will arrive outside our house and start killing us. That's the truth. No one can help. There's no police we can call, no security, no nothing.

Just because I'm an Alawite, I have no rights at all. Our correspondent Lina Sinjab gave us this update. There has been lots of efforts by the official authorities to contain the situation, to stop the violations, but also the interim president announced a committee to investigate the killing, whether it's conducted by remnants of the Assad regime or by members of the fighters or factions that are affiliated to the new authority. Right now they say that it seems that the situation is under control or calming down, especially around Tartus and Latakia, but we're not quite sure if this whole operation is over yet. And even if it is over, the situation is very complicated and factional.

It's going to be very hard for the new government to maintain order, isn't it? It is a very challenging time indeed, especially with remnants of the Assad regime still out and about. And of course we have the challenge of all the foreign fighters who are still inside Syria and are reported to have been along with some of the factions who entered Jablis and Banias and conducted the mass killing and that's why the interim president said that there would be an organ like and a committee to protect civil peace dedicated to work with the families on the coastal side but I have to say it's going to be a very big challenge

because you know these groups both sides the the Alawites, who are remnants of the Assad regime, who have vested interest in destabilizing the situation, are armed. The radical groups or the foreign fighters who have conducted also crimes over the past two days are armed. How he's going to strike this balance, how they're going to stop them, take them to court. That's going to be the big challenge coming ahead to reassure not only the Alawite community but the whole Syria and the international community that is watching the situation developing, how this is a country that's going to protect

all rights, equal rights for all Syrians regardless of their religion or their belief. Lina Sinjau. When President Trump imposed new 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, the leaders of both countries immediately got on the phone to the president and negotiated a temporary pause. But China is not going down the same route. It's been involved in a trade war with the US for many years and has now responded to

President Trump putting a 20% hike on Chinese goods by imposing further taxes on US products. This was the reaction from some people in Beijing. Tariffs only raise prices. Regular people pay more to consume. If they add all these tariffs, from the country's perspective, maybe they can import less. But for regular people, if we can tell something is imported from the US, we can try to buy less of it or not at all. So what exactly is China taxing, I asked our China correspondent Stephen Macdonnell.

Beijing, interestingly, hasn't gone for all US goods but targeted products which really hit rural communities actually. So it's, for example, 10 or 15 percent tariffs on everything from chicken, seafood, soybeans, cotton. Now, the reason, of course, you'd be going after these areas of the US community is because they're backing Donald Trump. There's people who voted for Donald Trump. And the US president said, oh, no worries.

You can all just sell more things inside the US. Well, I'm sure those sections of the US farming community would also like to be able to have the opportunity to sell their produce into the massive Chinese market and having tariffs placed on them will, depending on the industry, that could be really terrible for them. And also over the last 24 hours China has announced tariffs on similar goods from Canada. Now this is in response to Canada putting tariffs on electric goods from Canada. Now this is in response to Canada putting tariffs on electric cars from China. And to give you an idea of what a big deal that might be for Canada, like 40% of China's beans come from Canada. So that's huge.

So in effect all these tariffs are ramping up this world trade war. Who does this affect the most? Is it consumers? Is it consumers in China? Is it consumers around the world? Yeah, you're right. Consumers are the ones who are going to pay for it. I mean, it's funny. Donald Trump seems to be making out when he speaks to people in the US that somewhere or other other countries are going to be paying these tariffs. Now, it's the US consumers that pay those tariffs if they want those goods available to them. I'll tell you who else it hurts. Imagine you're a company

in the US and you have some components for example that come from China. Well then you've got to pay the tariffs as well. That makes your equipment, even though it's built in the US, more expensive because some parts of that machinery have potentially come from China. So you know it just keeps spreading and spreading as far as you like because as people know the global economy it's just so interlocked these days and so you once you start hitting tariffs on one portion of it well it just flows from one to the other and of course the other thing is

that I mean it's funny Donald Trump has said that he's going to whack tariffs on anyone who responds to his tariffs with their own tariffs. Well then it just keeps escalating because what does he think other countries are going to do? Just sit back and cop it? Of course they're not. And so especially a country like this, the might of China, well really they've been relatively modest at the moment in what they've opposed on US goods and they're keeping their powder dry.

So there's plenty more China could do in terms of hurting US exports if Beijing decided that it wanted to go down that road. Our China correspondent, Stephen MacDonald. Israeli negotiators are due in Qatar for fresh talks on extending the fragile ceasefire in Gaza. President Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to join regional mediators in Doha as they seek to narrow the gap between Israel and Hamas. This comes 10 days after the first phase of a truce deal

between Israel and Hamas expired without an agreement on advancing to a second stage. Since then, Israel has halted the entry of all humanitarian aid to Gaza and cut off any remaining electricity supplies. I asked our Middle East correspondent Yolande Nel what to expect from the talks in Doha. Yolande Nel, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New

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of more hostages because it's believed that Hamas still holds 24 hostages who are alive as well as the bodies of 35 others. Israel has cut off the electricity supply to Gaza. Is that going to have an impact on these talks do you think? Certainly this adds to the pressure on Hamas where Israel already a week ago cut off all humanitarian supplies and food and fuel as well from entering into Gaza and that is beginning to have a real impact there. Now what it's done is to cut the limited power supply that was going in. This was just being used, one line, to run a desalination plant in the center of the strip

but of course that has been providing an essential drinking water. Hamas has said this is part of Israel's what it calls starvation policy. It is likely to add to accusations of war crimes by Israel, something which it strongly denies. I understand that the American diplomat who actually spoke to Hamas directly last week has been talking. What's he been saying? So this is Adam Bowler, who's the US envoy responsible for hostages. And we had that surprise confirmation from the

White House last week that the US had been in these direct talks with Hamas breaking a long time sort of diplomatic taboo. Adam Bowler has said that these talks were very helpful. He said there was a real chance of seeing some movement and seeing more hostages coming home in the next few weeks and he also talked about the bigger picture. He said that Hamas had suggested a five to 10 year truce that would basically see it disarm and disengage from politics as well. He said there are ways in which the US and other countries could help to oversee this

process and that it was not, in his words, a bad first offer. Yulanda Nel reports from Russia say its forces are trying to surround thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region. Ukraine has been trying to hold on to territory it captured seven months ago in a cross-border incursion in the hope it could be used as leverage in future peace talks. Our Kiev correspondent James Waterhouse told us more. Well it's not looking good for Ukrainian forces. This is a patch of Western Russian territory which was seized in a surprise attack last summer, which Ukraine had hoped at the time would force Russia to divert soldiers from other parts of the front line and potentially be used as a bargaining chip in any kind of peace negotiation.

But Russian forces, with the help of South Korean troops as well as South Korean ammunition, seemingly have almost encircled Ukrainian forces across the border inside Russia. They've even destroyed bridges along the border, making it next to impossible for them to get out. There is a main strip of road in Ukraine's Sumi region as well, which is used as a major supply route. You know, I was there when the attack was first, the offensive was first launched. We understand now that is coming under heavy fire

as the Russians now gain air superiority. And it is likely, I would not be surprised if we did see a withdrawal of some kind if troops are able to get out. But this is a place where Ukraine had concentrated some of its best personnel and military equipment and it may yet amount to nothing. Meanwhile, US officials are due to meet Ukrainian counterparts in Saudi Arabia later, but not President Zelensky, what are we hearing about the US attitude to Ukraine after last week's explosive meeting in the Oval Office?

Well, we've just had Donald Trump suggest that the pausing of military aid has just about been restored. We're not sure just how true that is at the moment. But America is suggesting that Ukraine has come back to the table after quite a tumultuous fortnight, after Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy had quite a public falling out in the Oval Office. And as far as Kiev is concerned, its operation patch up. They are trying to mend relations with America because it needs America, along with Europe, to be the military safety net

if a ceasefire was to fail. And so he's going to go in there, President Zelensky, propose an initial ceasefire by air and sea. But Russia has said thus far that it would reject that idea. But I think this is what it could become for Ukraine in terms of trying to work out what the path to peace could be. James Waterhouse and the Global News podcast is taking your questions on the future of Ukraine and any peace deal. So please ask anything and everything. Email us on globalpodcasts at bbc.co.uk. Russia has expelled one British diplomat at the embassy in Moscow and the spouse of another on suspicion of spying. Russia's Federal Security Service says the two were stripped of their accreditation. The British Foreign Office has called the accusations malicious and baseless. Our diplomatic correspondent James Landell is following developments.

What the Russians have done is they have identified two mid-ranking diplomats at the embassy and they have given these two people, they basically suspended these people's credentials, they've been given a couple of weeks to leave the country and as you say the Russians accused them a of providing false information on their visas and application forms when they arrived in Russia and secondly showing quote signs of intelligence and subversive activity which can you know mean a number of things. At the same time the Russian authorities have summoned what they call a British representative from the embassy to express their concerns and as you say the Foreign Office in

response has said very explicitly this is not the first time that Russia has made what they call malicious and baseless accusations against their staff. So that's what's happened. This comes after, you know, in February the UK expelled a Russian diplomat, in November Russia expelled a British diplomat. So this is part of a cycle of tit for tat. The question, of course, is whether there are any wider significance to this. James Landau.

The question of course is whether there are any wider significance to this. James Landau. Still to come in this podcast, we hear from the founder of an Afghan all-girl robotics team, as a film about them is released in cinemas. Whenever we're watching the film, it's like a sitting back into your most challenging and inspiring moment of your life. the challenging and inspiring moment of your life. Hello, I'm Katja Adler, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. Each weekday, we break down one big news story with fresh perspectives from journalists around the world.

From artificial intelligence to divisive politics tearing our societies apart. From the movements of money and markets to the human stories that touch our lives, we bring you in-depth insights from across the BBC and beyond. Listen to the Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts. 150,000 tonnes of Japanese rice are to be auctioned off in the coming days in an attempt to drive down the price of the commodity, which has doubled in the past year. The Japanese government is asking for bids for some of its emergency stockpile. I asked our East Asia regional editor, Mickey Bristow, how the prices had got so high.

It's a good question and with not a simple answer considering it's just one product in one country. But essentially in 2023 there was a heat wave in Japan which led to a bad harvest. So prices last year were very high. They don't seem to have recovered even though last year's harvest was quite good. For a number of reasons, One of them being blamed is that there are a massive amount of tourists now going to Japan, so they're eating more rice. Also, there were structural government problems. For example, the government last year warned of a massive earthquake and that led to a lot of panic buying in Japan of rice people stocking up, that led to a

price rise as well. And so you have a situation now where, you've mentioned there price of rice is essentially double what it was about a year ago it's about 26 US dollars for a five gram five kilogram bag so really very high prices that's what's led the Japanese government to release some of its stockpile. And so how will that help do you think and will it help? Well 150,000 tons will help that will be on the shops at the end of March probably later on the Japanese government could release other stockpiles it's got about a million tons. But I think the main problem that we're looking at is structural.

If you look across East Asia big rice growing countries and exporters like India and Thailand have recorded record harvests last year. So why is Japan suffering like this? That's partly because the Japanese government seeks to protect Japanese rice growers, partly because of food security to ensure they've got enough rice themselves and partly to support rural areas and farmers. Japanese people eat mostly Japanese rice and so whilst they could import a lot of rice, because they buy their own, it's very susceptible for structural problems like the ones we've seen.

Miki Bristo, as we record this podcast, a major search and rescue operation is underway off the coast of England in the North Sea. An American registered tanker and a container ship sailing under a Portuguese flag have collided and the tanker is reported to be on fire. A number of people are believed to have abandoned ship. The Coast Guard and Sea Rescue Services are involved in an ongoing operation. Our reporter Phil McCain told us what the Coast Guard is saying about the incident. The vessels that were involved in this, of course an oil tanker and a cargo ship, both very large vessels, one being the Stenna Immaculate, an oil or chemical tanker sailing under an American flag. Now we understand that that was travelling from a port in Greece but was at

anchor when the collision happened. The Solong, which is the cargo ship, had been sailing from Grainsmouth in Scotland over to Rotterdam, so it had been tracking, of course, to the south and then to the east. This is part of the North Sea where there are lots of wind farms and there are lots of boats that service those wind farms and we understand that those vessels and others were called to immediately go to assist and that some of those had firefighting capabilities as well. In terms of the incident, we have just been told by both the Coast Guard but also the RNLI, which runs lifeboats, that they are working together

and that the incident is continuing. And we've just heard that the chief executive of Stenner Bulk, which co-owns the oil tanker, has confirmed that all its crew are accounted for and safe. Two weeks ago, cyber hackers working for North Korea carried out the largest theft in history when they stole $15 billion dollars worth of digital currency from the crypto company Bybit. Since then the hackers known as the Lazarus Group has successfully cashed out at least 300 million dollars of their stolen gains. The group is accused of a litany of huge hacks allegedly to make

money for North Korea's weapons program. Our cyber correspondent, Joe Tidy, reports on how the hackers managed to pull off the heist. Sound check, technical check, are we live? This is Ben Zhao, CEO and founder of the Bybit cryptocurrency exchange. He's about to make an announcement that every CEO dreads. About two hours ago, Bybit experienced a hack. As far as we know, this could be the largest hack in the history of our industry. In fact, it's probably the biggest single theft in any industry ever. $1.5 billion gone in seconds.

And even in the early hours after the hack, fingers began immediately pointing in one direction. North Korea. The impoverished country has one of the most advanced cyber teams in the world and is blamed for a growing list of massive lucrative cyber attacks. Cyber security experts like Dr. Dorit Dau from Checkpoint have been tracking them for years. They don't have a successful industry for anything. So they created a successful industry

for hacking. And they don't care about the negative impression of cyber crime. Dr Beverly McCann from Darktrace says North Korea has made billions from hacks. They have been around for at least 15 years doing this. They have been very involved in a variety of large attacks over the years. And what they'll do with that money is they use it to fund their military missile programs. But the Bybit heist dwarfs all previous financial hacks. So how was it pulled off? Like all crypto exchanges, Bybit has a float of crypto coins ready to

be sold and swapped in so-called hot wallets. When the hot wallets are running low, more crypto coins are taken out of huge reserve pots called cold wallets that are kept super secure and offline, therefore safe from hackers. But the cyber criminals targeted a company called Safe Wallet that Bybit uses to transfer coins from its reserve cold wallets to its hot wallets. Everything looked normal for Bybit as they set up the mega transfer of Ethereum coins to the usual place, but the hackers had secretly changed the address that the coins were being sent to.

By the time they realised the coins had been sent to the criminals, it was too late. Bybit insisted that no customers would lose money. They've now replenished their reserves. But the company is, in its words, waging war on the hackers. They're offering bounties to anyone who can help track the stolen money as the hackers try and cash it out through crypto exchanges. So far, 20 volunteers have been awarded a share of $4 million in rewards, but they're up against a skilled adversary. So here we have Bybit, the exchange, and this represents the theft of funds.

Crypto investigators Elliptic are experts at charting the movements of criminal crypto funds. Every transaction is published on a public blockchain. Dr Tom Robinson and his team have enormous, ever-changing graphs showing the web of transactions made by the hackers. And so we're seeing the funds split up and sent out and layered. So this is an explosion of crypto

in different directions, isn't it? It is, yes. And what they're really trying to do here is confuse the money trail, make it more difficult, or to slow down the tracing of these funds because every minute really matters here. Out of all the illicit actors involved in cryptocurrency, North Korea really are the best at laundering crypto.

For years now the US and allies have accused the country of orchestrating cybercrime. Names and photos of alleged North Korean hackers have been added to a cyber most wanted list, but unless they leave the country the chances of them being arrested are very slim. Jo Tidy reporting. A new study into drone warfare in Africa has found that nearly a thousand civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured in drone attacks in the past three years. Richard Howells reports. Using drones to watch or attack targets has changed warfare significantly in the past few years but this report titled

Death by Delivery turns its attention to the machines use in conflicts in Africa. It's revealed what the authors call a striking pattern of civilian harm. Drones largely supplied by Turkey, China and Iran are being used in military campaigns against insurgents in Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia. The report reveals that drone attacks have frequently targeted densely populated areas, with few precautions in place to avoid killing or injuring civilians. Richard Howells, a film based on an all-girl robotics team from Afghanistan has hit the big screen.

Rule Breakers follows Roya Mabub's journey as she sets up the group which designs and creates robots in a country where educating girls is seen as rebellion. The computers come today. For the boys. Girls outside. The first time I touched a computer. It's like a light in the darkness. We are looking for four girls who would like to learn about robotics and compete with teams from other countries. It'll show Afghan girls in a new light.

It's dangerous to talk about girls doing this. It's dangerous not to. Roya Mabub is both the subject and executive producer of Rule Breakers. Production of the film started in 2019, two years before the Taliban took power in Afghanistan and dismantled hard-fought gains in equality. Roya helped evacuate the girls' robotics team in 2021 and now they're studying at university. She said the message of the film was more important than ever. It's feel like surreal to see that our stories

is something to the world. Whenever we're watching the film, it's like a sitting back into your most challenging and inspiring moment of your life. So we are really overwhelming and humbling that our experience, you know, to see that in the big screen. But I think that the story was important.

It's not because the story is about the Afghan girls or robotics teams. It's the story of the global stories of the women that around the world that they are facing with the challenges and obstacles in STEM, in leadership, in education. And we wanted to tell these stories to show that the Afghan women are a group of the resilience

and they have a talent, they have potential and it's all about giving the people that call access to opportunities. Unfortunately, since the Taliban took over the country, they have been trying to erase like every progress that was made in the past. We see that the future of the girls are stolen, their voices are silenced, and the girls cannot go to the school, nor have access to jobs, nor have access to justice, even in the health

sectors. I think it's devastating and sad to see that. And despite all of this, I think that these young women in Afghanistan, they continue to dream, they continue to have hope and they continue to fight for their future. And this film is a call to support them and to stand up for their rights to education and to never forget about the potential of millions of these young girls in Afghanistan and beyond who deserve a chance to change their lives.

Film-maker Roya Maboub. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. And remember, we are looking for questions on the future of Ukraine. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag

global news pod. This edition was mixed by Louis Griffin and the producer was Stephanie Tillotson. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Rachel Wright Adler, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. Each weekday, we break down one big news story with fresh perspectives from journalists around the world. From artificial intelligence to divisive politics tearing our societies apart, from the movements of money and markets to the human stories that touch our lives, we bring you in-depth insights

from across the BBC and beyond. Listen to The Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts.