Syria

With Tony Gamal-Gabriel in Beirut Daraa (Syria) (AFP) – Syria’s army launched an assault on the flashpoint southern city of Daraa Tuesday, state media said, after a week of deadly bombardment on the nearby countryside caused mass displacement. Government forces have set their sights on retaking the south of the country, a strategic area that […]

Syria

Plot Thickens: Israeli Airstrike blamed for Killing 22 Iraqi Shiite Militiamen in Syria

AFP

Baghdad (AFP) – More than 20 fighters from an Iraqi paramilitary force key to the battle against the Islamic State group were killed in an eastern Syria air raid the United States linked to Israel. The bombing raid hit Al-Hari, a town controlled by regional militias fighting in Syria’s complex seven-year war alongside President Bashar […]

Syria

Nearly 1 Mn. Syrians made Homeless Already this Year, & UN Fears 2 Mn. to Come

Nina Larson

Geneva (AFP) – More than 920,000 people were displaced inside Syria during the first four months of 2018, the highest level in the seven-year conflict, the United Nations said Monday. “We are seeing a massive displacement inside Syria… From January to April, there were over 920,000 newly displaced people,” Panos Moumtzis, the UN regional humanitarian […]

Displaced and Refugees

Can America Heal the Psychological Wounds of our Syrian Refugees?

Arash Javanbakht

Detroit (The Conversation) – War in Syria and the refugee crisis have been the subject of a heated debate in United States politics, leading to a travel ban and drastic reduction in the number refugees to the U.S. this year. We occasionally hear about brutal deaths and starvation of civilians in Syria from the news, […]

Syria

Syria’s Assad gives Kurds option of Negotiation or War, Demands US Leave

AFP

Damascus (AFP) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned US-backed Kurdish forces he would not hesitate to use force to retake the third of the country they control. “The only problem left in Syria is the SDF,” Assad told Russia Today in an interview aired Thursday, referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces which has […]

Featured

Legal? Despite Withdrawal Pledge, Trump’s Massive Mission Creep in Syria

Juan Cole

The US is warning Syria against attempting to recover lands lost to rebels south of Damascus. Some of those rebels are ISIL or affiliated in some way to al-Qaeda. That is, the US is now doing the opposite of what it said it was going in to Syria to do. It is often alleged that […]

Syria

Syria’s New Map: War Has Created Ethnic Cantons, Massively Displaced Communities

Maya Gebeily

Co-author: Rouba El Husseini | – – Beirut (AFP) – Seven years of war and massive displacement have redrawn Syria’s demographic map, erecting borders between the country’s ethnic, religious, and political communities that will be hard to erase. Displaced Syrians, analysts, and rights defenders have described to AFP a divided country where regime opponents have […]

Syria

With Palestinian help, Syria forcing ISIL Terrorists from last pocket near Damascus

AFP

Beirut (AFP) – Islamic State group fighters began evacuating their final stronghold in southern Damascus on Sunday, a monitor said, bringing Syria’s government closer than ever to flushing out the last threat to the capital. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used a combination of military pressure and evacuation deals in recent months to recapture territory […]

Iran

Largest Israeli raids on Syria in Years hit ‘Iranian’ Targets after Rocket Fire

AFP

by Laurent Lozano | – – Jerusalem (AFP) – Israel’s army said Thursday it had carried out widespread raids against Iranian targets in Syria overnight after rocket fire towards its forces which it blamed on Iran, marking a sharp escalation between the two enemies. The incident came after weeks of rising tensions and followed US […]