Syria

TeleSur | – – As the U.S. looks to tighten its policies on refugees and illegal immigrants, people seeking refugee status have been pouring over the Canada-U.S. border. Eight asylum-seekers, including four children, barely made it across the Canadian border on Friday as a U.S. border patrol officer tried to stop them and a Reuters […]

Donald Trump

Pentagon To Recommend US Deploy Ground Troops in Syria?

contributors

TeleSur | – – Countries opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will meet on Friday for the first time since Donald Trump’s U.S. administration took office. The U.S. Defense Department may recommend that the United States deploy regular combat troops to Syria to fight Islamic State group militants, CNN reported on Wednesday. The idea is […]

Syria

Al-Qaeda Rising? After Aleppo defeat, Syrian Rebels turn on Each other

contributors

By David Patrikarakos | ( RFE/RL ) | – – 2017, it seems, will be no less chaotic than its predecessor — an aphorism made plain by a mere glance at the state of international politics extending from Paris to Washington. But nowhere is this trend clearer than in that most tumultuous of countries, Syria. […]

Donald Trump

The Catch-22 of Trump’s Muslim Ban: First, Bomb them, then Demand Vetting

contributors

By M. Safa Saracoglu | (Informed Comment) | – – On January 30, 2017, the President issued an executive order suspending entry of people from seven countries for 90 days. This ban proclaimed that people coming from these nations “would be detrimental to the interests of the US.” The suspension was designed to “temporarily reduce […]

Donald Trump

Syrian refugees ‘detrimental’ to Americans? The numbers tell a different story

Juan Cole

By Jeffrey H. Cohen | (The Conversation) | – – President Donald Trump wants to close the door on Syrian refugees, barring them indefinitely from settling in the U.S. In an executive order signed on Jan. 27, the president wrote: “I hereby proclaim that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to […]

Donald Trump

Trump sends heavier weapons to Leftist Syrian Kurds to Fight ISIL

contributors

TeleSur | – – A Syrian militia led by the Kurdish leftist group YPG said they received armored vehicles from the U.S. military, the first such support. The U.S. has boosted support for its Syrian ally, Syrian Democratic Forces, SDF, alliance, supplying them with armored vehicles for the first time as they prepare for a […]

Displaced and Refugees

The Trump Effect: What will happen to 3 mn Syrian Refugees in Turkey?

contributors

By Katharine Jones and Esra Kaytaz | (The Conversation) | – – On Holocaust Memorial Day 2017 and amid the world’s greatest refugee crisis since World War II, Donald Trump imposed a four-month suspension of all refugee admissions into the US and indefinitely banned entry to all Syrian refugees. The president’s executive order suspends the […]

Bush

Trump Visa Denials target same countries Bush vowed to Overthrow

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump’s shameful halt to the admission of refugees for 6 months and his 3-month pause in allowing entry to the US from seven countries is being advertised as driven by security concerns. The countries targeted are Syria, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, and Yemen. What is […]

Bashar al-Assad

Trump to al-Sisi: Syria’s al-Assad is a Brave, steadfast Man (Beirut Report)

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – al-Diyar (The Lands) [Beirut] reports on what Egyptian officials allegedly leaked about the telephone conversation between Donald J. Trump and Egyptian president `Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. There is no way to certify the truth of this report. For all I know it is Egyptian propaganda, or Syrian […]