Syrian fighter pilot Ragheed Tatari was 26 when he was arrested. Now 70, the country's longest-serving political prisoner is finally free after Bashar al-Assad's fall, seeking justice and accountability.

Tatari, arrested in 1981 and sentenced to life behind bars, was among scores of prisoners who walked free when longtime ruler Assad was overthrown on December 8 in an Islamist-led offensive.

Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab said Wednesday that authorities had seized all production facilities of illicit stimulant captagon, which became Syria's largest export under ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad.

In an interview with state television, Khattab said that "we were able to stop the production of this drug and seize all the materials and factories that were producing" captagon.

Germany's foreign minister said on Wednesday that the country would continue arms deliveries to Israel despite earlier suggesting that these were under review.

Johann Wadephul told a heated session in parliament that Israel, amid its military campaign in Gaza, was under threat from Yemen's Houthi rebels, Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran, and that "Germany will continue to support Israel, including with weapons deliveries".

Eight civilians from Syria’s Alawite minority were shot dead by "security checkpoint personnel" on Wednesday in the central province of Hama, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said that "security checkpoint personnel carried out a field execution of eight civilians, including three women, and injured five others -- all Alawite" travelling in "a civilian passenger bus" in the western Hama countryside.

Spain, which has strongly criticized Israel's offensive in Gaza, has cancelled a contract to buy 168 firing posts and 1,680 anti-tank missiles from Israeli defense company Rafael, Spanish media reported Wednesday.

The deal was worth 287.5 million euros ($327 million), according to top-selling daily Spanish newspaper El País, which cited unnamed government sources.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that the United States "cannot have a say" on Tehran's uranium enrichment in its nuclear program.

"Why are you interfering in whether Iran should have enrichment or not? You cannot have a say," said Khamenei referring to the United States in a speech aired on state television.

South Korea's new President Lee Jae-myung vowed Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and bolster a trilateral partnership with the U.S. and Japan, as he laid out key policy goals for his single, five-year term.

Lee, who rose from childhood poverty to become South Korea's leading liberal politician vowing to fight inequality and corruption, began his term earlier Wednesday, hours after winning a snap election that was triggered in April by the removal of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year.

The United States doubled tariffs on imported steel and aluminum starting Wednesday, widening President Donald Trump's trade war in a move set to fan tensions with key economic partners.

The move, which Trump earlier said was aimed at protecting domestic steel and aluminum industries, takes his levies on both metals from 25 percent to 50 percent.

U.S. President Donald Trump expressed appreciation on Wednesday for Chinese President Xi Jinping, but called him hard to strike a deal with, ahead of an anticipated call this week.

"I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, the day his 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum came into effect.

Israel hit southern Syria with a series of strikes overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, a rights NGO said, as Israel said it had targeted weapons belonging to Syrian authorities following the launch of projectiles.

"Violent explosions shook southern Syria, notably the town of Quneitra and the Daraa region, following Israeli aerial strikes" that caused no casualties, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, with Israel blaming the Damascus government for the two projectiles launched onto its territory from Syria.