Syria

( 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 […]

Bashar al-Assad

Turkey mobilizes for war with Syria and Russia as Nearly 3 Dozen Turkish Troops Killed

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera reports that nearly three dozen Turkish soldiers in a barracks in Syria were killed Friday by an air strike. Although most reports say that the bombing was carried out by the Syrian Air Force, some Syria experts suggest that it was instead done by the Russian Aerospace Forces, […]

Bashar al-Assad

With a Million Fresh Refugees and a 9-Year Civil War, Can Impoverished Syrians Survive?

Stasa Salacanin

( Middle East Monitor ) – A devastating civil war and international sanctions have destroyed Syria’s economy, leaving it with a GDP that is a third of what it was in 2010. The monetary crisis and depreciation of the currency is the latest chapter of the country’s economic meltdown. Despite the lack of accurate statistics, […]

Russia

As Tensions Flare between Russia and Turkey in Syria, will Trump be Drawn in on side of Ankara?

Middle East Monitor

By Bakr Sidqi | – Amid international neglect of the tragedy of an additional one million displaced individuals from the “de-escalation” zones in the countryside of Idlib and Aleppo provinces, Moscow and Ankara announced that the talks that took place on Monday and Tuesday failed to reach any new understandings. “We did not accept the […]