Syria

TeleSur | – – A report by an anti-slavery group also details how Syrian refugee girls are being forced into child marriage and sex slavery. Up to 70 percent of Syrian refugee children are being forced into child labor in Lebanon, the anti-slavery Freedom Fund group said in a report Tuesday. The report also pointed […]

Featured

Saudi’s King Salman in Turkey signals thaw in Ankara-Riyadh Tensions

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman is visiting Turkey today, after his trip to Egypt this past weekend (I wrote about that at The Nation). There are things that have driven Saudi Arabia and Turkey apart, and things that have brought them together again. The tensions center on […]

Human Rights

Syria won’t have Peace until there is Accountability for War Crimes

contributors

By Neil Sammonds | (Inter Press Service) | – – GENEVA (IPS) – The negotiations on April 11, 2016 in Geneva and the recent reduction of hostilities in Syria may represent important steps towards a peaceful solution to more than five years of turmoil. Few would not welcome the guns falling silent once and for […]

Iraq

Visualization: How ISIL vastly exaggerated its Influence and Everyone Bought it (The Atlantic)

contributors

By Kathy Gilsinan, Caitlin Cadieux, Daniel Lombroso | (The Atlantic Video Report) | – – “Americans are constantly being told that ISIS is a massive threat—but what does that mean? Are there ways to quantify how big the Islamic State actually is? Atlantic senior editor Kathy Gilsinan breaks down ISIS by the numbers, including the […]

Featured

Syria: Is al-Qaeda rising as ISIL is rolled Back? Is the US de facto Allied with it?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The cessation of hostilities in Syria never included Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) or al-Qaeda (the Nusra Front or Support Front), but it did include some of the de facto allies of al-Qaeda. The Syrian Arab Army and its Shiite militia allies, with Russian air support, have taken […]

Corruption

Syria: Al-Assad Family’s Massive Stolen Wealth in Panama Papers helps explain Revolution

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The revelation in the leaked Panama Papers that Mossack Fonseca and Swiss bank HSBC serviced the companies of corrupt Syrian billionaire Rami Makhlouf (first cousin of dictator Bashar al-Assad) long after the US imposed sanctions on him is a reminder of why Syrians revolted against the […]

Displaced and Refugees

Dear GOP: Top Myths about Syrian Refugees, refuted by Actual Facts

contributors

By Jeffrey H. Cohen | (The Conversation) | – – Following the March 2016 bombings in Brussels, Donald Trump stated: We have to be smart … We’re taking in people without real documentation. We don’t know where they are coming from … they could be ISIS-related. Not to be outdone, Sen. Ted Cruz added: We […]

Featured

Syrian Ceasefire in Tatters as al-Qaeda & allies attack in South Aleppo

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The London pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat reports that the rebel opposition allied with al-Qaeda broke the ceasefire Saturday morning, taking several villages and towns in the southern hinterlands of Aleppo. The attack was launched with suicide car-bombers who detonated their payload, targeting Syrian Arab Army troops and […]