Syria

TeleSur | – – The meeting signals a shift towards dialogue between what have previously been opposing camps throughout most of Syria’s war. The presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey – Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan – have met in Ankara, Turkey to discuss their nations’ respective roles in Syria. The meeting […]

Donald Trump

Trump: “US out of Syria ‘Very Soon'”– Quip or Policy Reversal?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump in the course of a speech on infrastructure in Ohio, yesterday, observed that the US was near to completely defeating the ISIL “caliphate” and that the US would be withdrawing from Syria very soon. CBS News: “Trump says U.S. to pull out of Syria “very […]

Kurds

A Second Palestine? Neo-Ottoman “Sultan” Erdogan Captures Syria’s Kurdish Enclave of Afrin

contributors

By Dr. Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkey’s capture of the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria has added a new dimension to the highly volatile geopolitical environment in the Middle East. Not only is it a major assault on war-ravaged Syria’s territorial integrity and political sovereignty, the event speaks of […]

Bashar al-Assad

Trump Happy, Bolton Sad? Syrian Regime claims 90% of E. Ghouta as 105k civilians Flee

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – One of the last major rebel enclaves in Syria, East Ghouta, is near to falling back completely under the control of the Baath regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The enclave consists of three districts, Harasta, Zamalka-Irbin-Jobar, and Douma, east and south of the capital. Although […]

Displaced and Refugees

Turkey: Mass Deportations of Syrians to dangerous Areas

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – EU Should Raise Issue, Pledge Aid at Conference (Brussels) – Turkish security forces have routinely intercepted hundreds, and at times thousands, of asylum seekers at the Turkey-Syria border since at least December 2017 and summarily deported them to the war-ravaged Idlib governorate in Syria, Human Rights Watch said today. […]

Featured

Syria: A Market bombing kills 38 and Explains why Government won Syria War

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A rocket fired by rebel forces at a market, Kashkul, in the Jaramana suburb of Damascus on Wednesday killed dozens of people. It strikes me that this incident encapsulates the deep tragedy of the Syrian civil war. Jaramana is a mixed Christian and Druze neighborhood 3 […]

Featured

Turkey takes Afrin, pulls down Statue Now-Ruz Revolutionary Kaveh

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Tuesday, March 20, is the spring equinox this year. Iranians, Kurds, Central Asians and many in Pakistan and India celebrate the equinox as the New Year, which after all makes a lot more sense than starting it in the dead of winter. Spring is symbolically the […]

Featured

Thousands flee E. Ghouta as Regime Army Advances, Rebels ask for Talks

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Thousands of civilians fled the southern pocket of the East Ghouta suburb of Damascus on Thursday and Friday and Saturday, carrying what few belongings they could with them. The rate seems to have been about 10,000 people a day until today. Russian sources are saying 11,000 […]

Kurds

Turkey says US & Kurds will Leave Manbij or Else, Prepares for Iraq Incursion

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – Turkey and the US will oversee the withdrawal of forces allied to the YPG (People’s Protection Units) from the northern Syrian city of Manbij, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced today, according to Hurriyet Daily News. Speaking to reporters during a flight to Moscow, Cavusoglu said Turkey and the […]