Portal:Current events/2025 March 17

March 17, 2025 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war
- Western Syria clashes
  - 2025 massacres of Syrian Alawites, March 2025 Western Syria clashes
    - Two massacres of Alawite Syrians kill fifty-seven people. The number of civilians reportedly killed in coastal Syria primarily by sectarian executions from Syrian government-associated forces since March 6 increases to 1,557. (SOHR)
- Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian civil war, Hezbollah–Syria relations
  - Hezbollah–Syria clashes, Lebanon–Syria border clashes
    - According to Syria's state media, clashes occur at the Lebanon–Syria border, after the Syrian transitional government accused Hezbollah militants of kidnapping three soldiers into Lebanon and subsequently killing them. (AP)
Kivu conflict
- M23 campaign
  - The M23 rebels announce they will withdraw from peace talks that was due to occur with the Congolese government tomorrow due to sanctions imposed on the group by the European Union earlier today. (DW)
Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  - A drone strike in Astrakhan Oblast, Russia, injures one person and causes a fire at an energy facility, according to Astrakhan Oblast governor Igor Babushkin. (Reuters)
Terrorism in Lithuania, Russian hybrid warfare
- Lithuanian prosecutors accuse Russia's military intelligence of orchestrating an arson attack on an IKEA store in Vilnius in May of last year. (Reuters)
March 2025 United States attacks in Yemen
- The U.S. launches airstrikes on targets in Al Hudaydah and the Al Jawf Governorate. Tens of thousands of people attend a rally against the U.S. attacks on Yemen in the capital city Sanaa. (Euronews) (France24)

Business and economy

German economic crisis
- German automaker Audi announces it will cut 7,500 jobs in the country due to slowing electric vehicle demand. (DW)

Disasters and accidents

Aerolínea Lanhsa Flight 018
- Thirteen people, including popular Garifuna musician Aurelio Martínez, are killed and five others are rescued when an Aerolínea Lanhsa Jetstream 41 crashes into the Caribbean Sea shortly after takeoff from Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport in Roatán, Bay Islands Department, Honduras. (South China Morning Post)
Three people are killed when a Extra EA-400 plane crashes shortly after takeoff from Samedan Airport near La Punt Chamues-ch, Grisons, Switzerland. (The Times of India)
Seven migrant bodies are recovered after a boat capsizes off the coast of Cyprus. (Reuters)
A tourist dies on the stairs of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, causing a temporary closure of the monument. (O Globo)

International relations

Belgium–Rwanda relations, Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict, M23 campaign
- Rwanda expels the Belgian ambassador after Belgium accused Rwanda of supporting M23 rebels in their campaign in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Belgium expels the Rwandan ambassador in return. The two countries sever diplomatic relations with one another, with Rwanda accusing Belgium of sustaining neocolonialism. (DW) (BBC News)
Syria–European Union relations, Germany–Syria relations, Syria–United Kingdom relations
- Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas vows for the European Union to lift sanctions against Syria to restore diplomatic ties between them, acknowledging the present massacres of Alawite civilians as showing Syria's need for stability. Germany pledges €300 million in aid towards stabilizing Syria and its humanitarian situation. (Politico) (The New Arab)
- The European Union pledges €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion) to Syria for aid, while the United Kingdom pledges an additional £160 million (€190.3 million). (DW)

Politics and elections

A court in Georgia sentences former president Mikheil Saakashvili to four and a half years in prison for illegally entering the country in 2021. (BBC News)