The West’s latest ‘Arab Hitler’ continues to rule despite the widespread predictions of his downfall. Just what is the man’s secret, asks Robert Fisk ROBERT FISK Thursday 12 March 2015 How has Bashar Hafez al-Assad survived these past four years? Ever since the Syrian revolution of 2011, his overthrow has […]
The Daily Star The situation on the ground in Syria is extremely complicated, in contrast to the skies, where things are crystal-clear. The U.S.-led coalition carries out daily airstrikes against ISIS targets, while Syrian aircraft bomb regime opponents and anyone who happens to be in the way. After a series […]
The Daily Star Monday’s announcement that President Bashar Assad will study a proposal by the U.N. envoy to Syria to “freeze” fighting in Aleppo should generate skepticism rather than optimism. […]
It is easy to be cynical about candidates winning 80 per cent of the vote but for some Middle East regimes the appearance of democracy is enough to secure the covert backing of Western powers Why do dictators love elections? It’s an old question in the Middle East, but it […]
DAMASCUS: The Free Syrian Army has sacked its military chief after the Western-backed rebels suffered battlefield setbacks, amid signs the warring parties are escalating the fighting that has already killed […]
Everyone knows that the Assad regime – from father Hafez onwards – has employed torture and executions to preserve the doubtful purity of the Baath party by Robert Fisk, The Independent The pictures are horrific, the torture details revolting, the numbers terrifying. And the integrity of the three former prosecutors […]
DAMASCUS: Prospects for a Syria peace conference in Geneva next month looked dim Wednesday after key opposition leaders spurned efforts by Western and Arab powers to persuade them to attend. […]
August 10, 2013 – 15:42 By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) – Warplanes bombed a village in Syria’s north overnight in an apparent effort by President Bashar al-Assad to prevent rebels fighting him from advancing on communities in the stronghold region of his Alawite sect. Assad’s forces are on the defensive […]
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 […]
May 25, 2013 – 03:19 By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Syrian opposition talks aimed at presenting a coherent front at an international peace conference to end the civil war faced the prospect of collapse after President Bashar al-Assad’s foes failed to cut an internal deal, opposition sources said […]
BY AFSIN YURDAKUL | APRIL 28, 2013 FOREIGN POLICY SOMEWHERE IN NORTHERN SYRIA — On a chilly morning in late March, I met the Free Syrian Army (FSA) Chief of […]
Story Summary ARABNEWS Jan. 11, 2013 Sen. John Kerry has held up Syria as a country that could bring peace and stability to the Mideast and predicted that the now-disgraced […]
Bomb kills 5 in capital as fighting continues at Palestinian camp BEIRUT — Syria’s civil war has reached a stalemate and international efforts to persuade President Bashar Assad to quit […]
Story Summary; Syria’s crisis has caused a stalemate in the relation between Hezbollah and Hamas, Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official in Lebanon told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency Saturday. However, Hamas […]
Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter has pledged an additional SFr2 million ($2.1 million) to Syria. Governments and humanitarian organisations in various locations discussed Tuesday how best to help victims of […]
By Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star For months now, speculation by analysts, diplomats, scholars and journalists about the nature of the post-Bashar Assad transition in Syria has been as dynamic as the events on the ground. But with one big difference: Most analyses of events on the ground rely […]
Even when his country was not convulsed by war, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria rarely gave televised interviews to foreigners. His session with Barbara Walters in December was a public […]
By Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star Amid the many scenarios for Syria are two widely discussed possibilities: that President Bashar Assad will respond to his imminent collapse by retreating with his Alawite compatriots to an Alawite mini-state in the northwestern coastal area of Syria; and that Syria will fragment […]
TARIQ ALHOMAYED ARABNEWS Sunday 27 May 2012 The New York Times has revealed that US — Russian talks are taking place to implement the Yemeni solution in Syria, and this is in the hopes of securing Bashar Assad’s withdrawal from power along the lines of Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh. The […]
LONDON: Bashar Assad has taken advice from Iran on countering a revolt against his rule and joked about his promises of reform, according to a trove of e-mails taken from […]