Free Syrian Army

By Hakim Khatib | ( Your Middle East ) – – War in Syria The Syrian upheaval has, increasingly, been fixed in a religious framework – Sunnis against the rest, writes Hakim Khatib. “Non-religious books were substituted by religious or religiously coloured ones” When the crowds of the Iranian revolution initially rose up against Muhammad […]

Bashar al-Assad

Putin pitches Grand Alliance against Daesh/ ISIL, but Syria Rebels want al-Assad Gone

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Russian Federation is a key player in Syria, and backer of the dictatorial government of Bashar al-Assad. Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday attempted some diplomacy, however, welcoming a delegation of Syrian rebels against the authoritarian al-Assad in Damascus. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said just […]

al-Qaeda

Syria’s al-Qaeda captures US-Linked Free Syrian Army Commander, troops

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The 30th Infantry Division of the moderate Free Syrian Army says that the al-Qaeda-linked Support Front captured one of its commanders and several troops the day before yesterday. Some 56 members of Division 30 were among the 70 fighters so far trained in a multi-million dollar […]

Alevis

Why defeating ISIL/ Daesh with military might is starry eyed idealism

contributors

By David Alpher | (The Conversation) | – – Just this past weekend of July 4, US-led coalition aircraft targeted the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria. It was one of the “largest deliberate engagements to date,” said a coalition spokesman, and it was executed “to deny [ISIS] the ability to move military capabilities throughout […]

Featured

Obama: No more US troops to fight Daesh/ ISIL, but more Training

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Obama on Monday went for a briefing at the Pentagon on the fight against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). In remarks afterwards, he acknowledged that training of Iraqi troops has been going much slower than originally envisaged (about 5,000 have been trained in the past year, and […]

Bashar al-Assad

US Air Force Absent as Daesh/ ISIL advances on North Aleppo against Sunni Rebels

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – Daesh (ISIL, ISIS), the murderous terrorist organization that has taken over the eastern desert of Syria and the western desert of Iraq, along with perhaps 3 million townspeople, is now making a move on Syria’s largest city, Aleppo. For the past five days, Daesh has been fighting […]

al-Qaeda

Syria: Signs of Popular Backlash Against al-Qaeda

contributors

By Robert S. Ford and Tony Ghazal Mouawad | (Informed Comment) As the Syrian civil war drags into its fifth year, the al-Qai’da linked Nusra Front [Support Front] has a reputation as being among the toughest fighters and has consolidated its position on the Syrian scene. At the same time, there are hints that many […]

Bashar al-Assad

Climate Change helped Provoke Syrian Conflict & it won’t be the Last

contributors

By Thalif Deen | – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Was the four-year-old military conflict in Syria, which has claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, mostly civilians, triggered at least in part by climate change? A new study by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory says “a record drought that ravaged Syria in 2006-2010 was likely […]

Bashar al-Assad

Paying the Piper: How America’s Iraq War haunts its Failed Syria Policy

contributors

By Michael MacDonald, author of Overreach: Delusions of Regime Change in Iraq | (Special to Informed Comment | – If recent reports in the New York Times are to be believed, the Obama administration just got serious about the political realities gripping Syria and Iraq. Up to this point, the US has sought, for reasons […]