Syria

By Ora Szekely | – Despite many attempts at negotiations, the Syrian war – a conflict with a complicated and constantly changing cast of characters that has killed as many as 585,000 people and displaced over half of Syria’s prewar population – has proved extremely difficult to resolve. As the war grinds on, conditions are […]

Children

The Children of Syria: Millions of Young Lives Blighted by a Decade-Long War

Human Rights Watch

By Philippa H Stewart (Senior Media Officer) and Bill Van Esveld (Associate Director, MENA, Children’s Rights Division) | – ( Human Rights Watch) – The war in Syria has been taking its toll on children for nine years – their lives forever marked by the conflict. Hundreds of thousands of children are now fighting to […]

Bashar al-Assad

Millions of Homeless Syrian Refugees are Suffering Because of Russo-Turkish Rivalry

The Conversation

Juline Beaujouan, University of Edinburgh and Amjed Rasheed, Durham University The Syrian province of Idlib, the remaining holdout of rebels fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad, has experienced fierce fighting in recent months as the Syrian army, supported by Russia, has pushed to reclaim the territory. Meanwhile, the expansionist impulses of Turkish President Recep Tayyip […]

Bashar al-Assad

Are Syria’s Social Media Meme Wars the Face of Modern Warfare?

Omar Ahmed

( Middle East Monitor) – Social media continues to influence our perception of conflicts around the world, though rapid updates around the clock on developments on the battlefield often hours before mainstream news picks it up, disseminating propaganda or spreading misinformation and fake news to the sharing of graphic content and the ugly brutality of […]

Pentagon

Assad and Putin have Waged Total Air War on Idlib’s Civilians, Learning from US Bombing of Iraq

Open Democracy

Paul Rogers | – ( OpenDemocracy.net) – The tactics of Syrian and Russian forces are unforgiveable – but scarcely different to what the US and its allies were doing just a few years ago. Around the world, people are watching the suffering of the people of Idlib with pity; their governments are alarmed at the […]

Displaced and Refugees

Top 5 Ways Syria is the Worst Humanitarian Crisis of the 21st Century

The Conversation

By Shelley Inglis | – Remember former President Barack Obama’s infamous red line speech in 2012? In that speech, the president made it clear that the U.S. would not stand for the use of chemical or biological weapons by President Bashar al-Assad against opposition forces in Syria. But, despite subsequent evidence of the use of […]

Featured

Russia backs Damascus as it closes Syrian Airspace, Threatens to down Turkish Jets

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkey shot down two Syrian fighter jets over Idlib province this weekend and Turkish drones and artillery took out armor on the ground, allegedly killing over a hundred Syrian troops, along with Lebanese Hizbullah fighters and Iran-supplied Shiite forces. Syria on Sunday announced that it was closing its air space […]

Russia

Turkey and Russia lock horns in Syria as fear of outright war escalates

The Conversation

By Mehmet Ozalp | – As the nine-year Syrian civil war enters its final turn, Turkey and Russia, long-time allies in Syria, are on the brink of war over the Syrian province of Idlib. Both sides are sending stern messages of warning as diplomacy to end the conflict has so far failed to de-escalate the […]

Featured

Clouds of War: Russia sends Warships as Turkey kills 45 Syrian Troops and blackmails Europe with Migration

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkey and Russia engaged in a tense dance of negotiation and threat on Friday in the wake of the killing of 34 Turkish soldiers in an air strike the previous day. Russian sources maintained that the Turkish troops were “where they were not supposed to be,” and were nested among […]