Syria

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The left-leaning Beirut daily al-Safir (The Ambassador) discusses the beginning of a new campaign by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in the northern half of al-Raqqa Province. The south of the province and its capital, also named al-Raqqa, are a base […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Why total Victory for Russia and Assad is a Pipedream: ISIL strikes in deep in Regime Territory

contributors

By Scott Lucas | (The Conversation) | – – Months after Russia spectacularly entered the Syrian conflict, [the so-called] Islamic State (IS) is still thumbing its nose at both Moscow and the Assad regime in murderous fashion. On May 23, the group detonated between seven and nine car and suicide bombs in the coastal cities […]

Alawites

ISIL hits Syrian Regime in Shiite northwest, killing 150

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The leftist Beirut daily al-Safir reports that security in Syria broke down dramatically on Monday, as seven bombs timed to go off simultaneously hit soft targets in the Syrian Mediterranean cities of Jebleh and Tartus, killing some 150 persons and wounding 225 , the vast majority […]

Kurds

As they Liberate Villages from ISIL, Kurds drawing Syrians into Feminist Democracy

contributors

By Rahila Gupta | ( OpenDemocracy | – – Rojava is a fast moving, dynamic place where things change by the minute. What are the material conditions which support this woman-centred revolution ? Part 5 of 50.50’s series Witnessing the revolution in Rojava, northern Syria. There is a real sense of a people responding to […]

Featured

US Centcom Commander in Syria to Coordinate Kurds, Arabs against ISIL

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Robert Burns of AP reported on the visit inside Syria of the head of the US Middle East Command (Centcm), Army Gen. Joseph Votel, to assess the progress in US training of the Syrian Democratic Forces division. It is said to comprise 25,000 Kurdish fighters of […]

al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda’s Al-Zawahiri, 9/11 Mastermind, Plays Syrian Politics

contributors

By Sam Heller | ( RFE/RL ) | – – When the self-proclaimed Islamic State declared the establishment of a global Muslim “caliphate” in 2014, the move accelerated a race for legitimacy within the international jihadist movement. IS’s rival Al-Qaeda — which had long held out a righteous Islamic state as a far-off ideal, not […]

Displaced and Refugees

Give Syria’s Survivors a Voice

contributors

By Hadeel al-Shalchi | ( Human Rights Watch ) | – – Twelve days ago Fatema Qaitani, a 35-year-old mother of four, was sitting in a tent teaching her daughter how to read when her life was changed forever. Fatema’s tent, one of many that sprang up in a camp for displaced Syrians on the […]

Featured

Top 4 Reasons Iran will stand by Syrian gov’t despite High Casualties

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Saturday, Iran announced that 13 members of the Revolutionary Guards Corps had been killed and 21 wounded when the al-Qaeda-led Army of Islam fundamentalist Sunni coalition took the village of Khan Touman near Aleppo. Iran will nevertheless continue to back the regime of Bashar al-Assad […]

Bashar al-Assad

A Tale of Two Cities: Muslim Rebels strike back at Hospital in Gov’t held West

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment)| – – Muslim fundamentalist rebels, including al-Qaeda, took revenge Tuesday on West Aleppo for the heavy government bombardment of East Aleppo that has killed dozens in the past week, including at a hospital run by Doctors without Borders. At the same time that the government was bombarding the slums […]