Sectarianism and the Irrational New Discourse: Why Arabs Must Worry
by Ramzi Baroud My friend Hanna is Syrian and also happens to be Christian. The latter fact was rarely of consequence, except whenever he wished to boast about the contributions […]
US says it will give military aid to Syria rebels
The US is to supply direct military aid to the Syrian opposition for the first time, the White House has announced. President Obama made the decision after his administration concluded Syrian forces under Bashar al-Assad were using chemical weapons, a spokesman said. Ben Rhodes did not give details about the […]
Early, forced marriages haunt Jordan’s Syrian refugees
Source: ET JORDAN: With no end in sight to Syria’s conflict, some refugees in Jordan are offering their daughters for early marriage in the hope of securing them protection as they face growing economic pressure. Syrian refugee Abu Mohammad says he reluctantly opted to marry off his teenage daughter to a […]
Syria doomed if Geneva-2 fails: Russia’s Bogdanov
STORY SUMMARY Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has warned that Syria will be “destroyed” if an international conference expected to be held in Geneva next month fails to resolve the two-year-old crisis between President Bashar Assad and rebels. While calling on world countries to respect the U.N. Charter and […]
Syrian teenager Mohammad Qataa ‘executed by Islamists for blasphemy’
Source: abc.net.au The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group opposed to the Syrian regime, says Mohammad Qataa was shot in the mouth and neck a day after being seized. It has released a photo showing Qataa’s face with his mouth and jaw bloodied, as well as a bullet wound […]
Robert Fisk: The Lebanese army fears rise of the Sunni Muslim Salafists As Shia Hezbollah fighters rush to Assad’s aid
The Lebanese army claims there is a “plot” to drag Lebanon into the Syrian war. The ‘plot’ – ‘al-moamarer’ – is a feature of all Arab states. Plots come two-a-penny in the Middle East. What the military authorities really fear is that Sunni Muslim Salafist groups – perhaps paid by […]
Syrian opposition to name hajis
RIYADH: ARAB NEWS Tuesday 11 June 2013 The Kingdom has decided to give Syria’s opposition National Coalition the right to process applications of Syrians wishing to perform Haj to Makkah, […]
Assad may prevail in Syria’s civil war – Israeli minister
June 10, 2013 – 15:07 By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, may prevail in the more than two-year-old uprising against him, Israel’s intelligence minister said on Monday. Though the assessment was quickly disavowed by others in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s […]
Russia’s new Middle Eastern role
Source: Asia Times: Russia has thrown a monkey wrench into Western plans for Syria by promising to deliver its top-of-the-line S300 surface-to-air missile system to the Bashar al-Assad government. Exactly when the missiles might arrive remains unclear; the last word from Moscow is that the missiles are not yet in […]
Opinion: The Syria the World Forgot (or, The Syria the World managed to destroy).
By ALIA MALEK Published: June 8, 2013 The New York Times LAST month, while we waited at the Lebanese border for our papers to be processed so that we could […]
Austria to quit U.N.’s Golan force over Syria violence
June 7, 2013 – 00:22 By Crispian Balmer BEIRUT (Reuters) – Austria said on Thursday it would pull out of a U.N. force on the Golan Heights after battles between […]
Al Qaeda leader Zawahri urges Syrians to unite against Assad, US
STORY SUMMARY Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged Syrians to unite to bring down President Bashar al-Assad and thwart what he said were U.S. plans to set up a client […]
Syrian Forces Claim Victory in Battle for Strategic Town
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian government forces and their allies in Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, seized most of the strategic crossroads town of Qusayr early on Wednesday, a painful defeat […]
4,000 Hezbollah fighters reach rebel-held Aleppo: FSA
Story Summary Over 4,000 fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah have reached the northern Syrian city of Aleppo as part of military preparations to retake the rebel-held city, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army told The Daily Star Tuesday. According to Meqdad, Hezbollah’s military involvement in Syria showed that Syrian government […]
Salih Muslim: World Powers Not Serious About Peace in Syria (a Kurdish view)
Monday, 03 June 2013, 07:50 GMT Source: Kurdish Globe, Erbil, Kurdistan (autonomous region of Iraq) SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – Intransigence on the part of both the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) and international actors is undermining prospects for a solution to the conflict in Syria, Democratic Union Party (PYD) co-chairman Salih […]
ongoing battle: Switzerland ʻextremely concernedʼ about Syria
June 3, 2013 – SWISSINFO.CH The Swiss foreign ministry has said it is “extremely concerned” about the situation in Syria, particularly the intense fighting in the city of Qusair, and […]
Hezbollah has been lured into unknown territory in Syria as it wages costly battle for survival
by Robert Fisk, The Independent Mohammed Nour is the spokesperson for the Northern Storm Brigade, accused of kidnapping 11 Lebanese pilgrims in Syria “Hezbollah suspects Hamas has been teaching Sunni […]
Syria’s Aleppo: Who cares who wins? A city’s people caught in the crossfire
The tiny, honey-coloured Al-Shuwaibiya Mosque is the oldest in Aleppo and one of the few that remains undamaged. Unlike many, its low minaret is protected by surrounding buildings and still […]
Top Muslim preacher urges Sunnis to join Syria war
Story Summary Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has called on Sunni Muslims to join the rebels fighting the Syrian regime, as he lashed out at Shiite group Hezbollah for sending […]
Robert Fisk: ‘We ran up to the roof. That was when the second missile killed Loulou’: Lebanon is counting the cost in human lives of the Syrian conflict
Village after Shia village had hung photos of men who went to fight for Qusayr two weeks ago Loulou Awad’s blood still stained the concrete of her broken home, the latest Lebanese innocent to pay the price of Syria’s war. Her almost equally broken father Abdullah pressed the hands of […]