Syrians headed to polling stations in government-held parts of the war-torn country on Sunday to elect a new parliament amid strict health measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus amid an increase of cases in recent days.
The vote is the third to take place in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011. It has killed more than 400,000, displaced half the country's population and sent more than five million as refugees mostly into neighboring countries.
The vote this year comes amid a new wave of U.S. sanctions that came into effect last month and a campaign to fight corruption that saw a wealthy cousin of President Bashar Assad come under pressure to pay back tens of millions of dollars to the state.
