Syria

By Moritz Pieper | (The Conversation) | – – As Syrian government forces crush the country’s largest remaining rebel strongholds and with Bashar al-Assad apparently here to stay, Syria is turning into an arena for three new proxy conflicts. In the south, Israel is facing off against Iran; in the northern region of Afrin, Turkey […]

Yes, Newsweek & RT, Syria’s Regime uses Chemical Weapons

By Brian Whitaker | ( al-Bab.com) | – – False claims in the UN security council: Syria’s Bashar Ja’afari At a meeting [last month] of the UN security council Syria claimed the US and France now doubt that the Assad regime has ever used chemical weapons. The claim was false but it provides an interesting […]

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UN: War Crimes being Committed in Syria’s East Ghouta

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Reuters reports that Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned Syrian (and Russian?) officials that there is credible evidence that they are committing war crimes in East Ghouta, and perhaps crimes against humanity. A war crime is a single action that violates […]

Britain may join US strikes against Syria if chemical weapon use proven

Middle East Monitor | – – UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told BBC radio “If we know that it has happened, and we can demonstrate it, and if there is a proposal for action where the UK could be useful then I think we should seriously consider it.” Britain would consider joining US military strikes […]

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UN Security Council calls for 30-Day Ceasefire in Syria’s East Ghouta

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The United Nations Security Council finally passed a resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire between the Damascus government and the al-Qaeda-dominated guerrillas in Eastern Ghouta. UN Secretary-General António Guterres reminded all sides of their absolute duty in international law to safeguard the life of innocent noncombatants. […]

Rescuers say cannot keep up with air strikes battering Syria’s Ghouta

Middle East Monitor | – – Rescuers in Syria’s eastern Ghouta said the bombing would not let up long enough for them to count the bodies, in one of the bloodiest air assaults of the seven-year war. Warplanes pounded the rebel enclave on Saturday, the seventh day in a row of a fierce escalation by […]

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Are Kurds, Shiite Militias and the Baath Gov’t allying against Turkey’s Afrin Op?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Fundamentalist Salafi militias, some linked to al-Qaeda, and backed by Turkey, have allegedly taken three new villages in the Afrin canton away from the leftist Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Over all, the Turks and their allies claim the conquest of 71 villages in northern […]

The Age of Total War in Syria