ARAB NEWS Thursday 10 January 2013 BEIRUT/DAMASCUS/CAIRO: A core Syrian opposition group is proposing that the leading National Coalition set up a transitional government in areas outside regime control, according to a document obtained by AFP. The Syrian National Council called on the Cairo-based umbrella group the Syrian National Coalition […]
Rebels free 48 Iranians seized in August, in exchange for more than 2,000 prisoners held by Syrian government. Forty-eight Iranians held hostage by Syrian rebels for five months have arrived in a Damascus hotel on Wednesday after being freed in a prisoner swap for more than 2,000 regime prisoners. The […]
ARAB NEWS Wednesday 9 January 2013 GENEVA: The World Food Program said on Tuesday it is unable to help an estimated 1 million Syrians who are going hungry, blaming a lack of security in the war-stricken country. This month, the agency aims to help 1.5 million of the 2.5 million […]
MOSCOW: The second round of Russia-US consultations on Syria involving international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will be held in Geneva on Friday, Moscow’s top negotiator in the talks said Wednesday. “The trilateral meeting between (Russian Deputy Foreign Minister) Mikhail Bogdanov, (US Undersecretary of State) William Burns, and (UN-Arab League envoy) […]
AMMAN — Violent riots erupted at the Zaatari Refugee Camp on Tuesday as heavy rain submerged hundreds of tents. According to a security source, Syrian refugees clashed with security forces […]
by David Ignatius, The Daily Star, Lebanon Story Summary To help oust President Bashar Assad, a Syrian opposition group has drafted a plan for a transitional justice system that would impose harsh penalties against diehard members of his inner circle but provide amnesty for most of his Alawite supporters. To […]
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Epiphany mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, in Vatican, on January 6, 2013. VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict on Monday urged the international community to end what […]
Ian Black, Middle East editor The Guardian, Sunday 6 January 2013 Rebels say Syrian president offered no meaningful concessions in his first public speech in seven months Syria’s opposition and […]
Story Summary The ageing Christians holed up inside a retirement home in the devastated northern Syrian city of Aleppo have no light, no telephone lines, and little idea of what […]
Daniel McAdams Lew Rockwell.com July 14, 2012 Thanks once again to the indispensable Moon of Alabama blog for highlighting, among other interesting facts, the amazingly open ties of the Syrian opposition to their Western paymasters. As the astonishing Guardian story linked in the MoA piece outlines, down to the person […]
ARAB NEWS Thursday 3 January 2013 AMMAN: More than 60,000 people have died in the Syrian uprising and civil war, the UN said yesterday, dramatically raising the death toll in […]
By Christoph Reuter DER SPIEGEL GERMANY After spending months reporting on the conflict, a SPIEGEL journalist has pieced together a realistic view of the situation on the ground, and reports that dictator Bashar Assad’s fall seems inevitable. But as the fighting grows more barbarous on both sides, he worries what […]
DAMASCUS: Syria’s government yesterday welcomed any initiative for talks to end bloodshed in the country, after UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said he had a peace plan acceptable to world powers. The Damascus regime’s stand, expressed by Prime Minister Wael Al-Halaqi, came amid a flurry of diplomatic activity led by […]
Agence France Presse ARABNEWS CAIRO: International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned Sunday the Syrian war was worsening “by the day” as he announced a peace plan he believed could find support […]
by Taylor Luck, JORDAN TIMES AMMAN — Dozens of injured Syrians crossed into Jordan late Saturday as fighting continued to intensify in what Syrian rebels are describing as “the decisive […]
AF JORDAN TIMES BEIRUT — Jihadist rule must spread over Syria after the ouster of Bashar Al Assad, the head of the hardline rebel Al Nusra Front said on Friday, […]
by Julia Slater, swissinfo.ch Dec 29, 2012 – 10:44 “Forced exile is the worst situation you can have,” says Caroline Nanzer, Swiss delegate in Lebanon of the disaster relief organisation […]
By Jim Hoagland, Washington Post Saturday, December 29, 3:01 AM Jim Hoagland is a contributing editor to The Post. His e-mail address is jimhoagland@washpost.com. Syria’s Alawite regime collapses from within and without. High-level defections march in step with rebel gains through the Sunni heartland. The Obama administration’s signature regional strategy […]
By REUTERS Moscow says Assad’s exit cannot be precondition for talks; Brahimi in Moscow Saturday to discuss peace proposals; Russia has invited head of opposition Syrian National Coalition. ALEPPO PROVINCE, Syria/MOSCOW – Russia invited the leader of Syria’s opposition on Friday to visit for the first time, but the opposition […]
Looting, feuds and divided loyalties threaten to destroy unity of fighters as war enters new phase Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in Aleppo The Guardian, Thursday 27 December 2012 t wasn’t the government […]