Syria

By EurActiv with AFP The EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini met with Syria’s regime and opposition… (23 March) to underscore the urgency of a political solution in the country, especially in the wake of the Brussels attacks. Staffan de Mistura and Federica Mogherini in Geneva on 23 March[European Commission] Mogherini came to Geneva, where […]

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Dear Trump & Cruz: Muslim Turkey arrested Brussels Terrorist & Gave him to European Authorities

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The paroxysms of hatred and bigotry spewed by the two GOP frontrunners in the 2016 presidential campaign probably do not need any pretext, since Trump and Cruz are clearly sadistic and unfair individuals. But the Brussels airport and metro attacks gave them another excuse to blame […]

Featured

Syria: Russia Targets Daesh in Palmyra despite Drawdown

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Despite the Russian announcement of a determination to withdraw the bulk of its air force from Syria, Moscow has underlined that some planes would remain and would continue to fly missions against groups the Russian Federation considers terrorists,including al-Qaeda (Jabhat al-Nusra) and Daesh (ISIL, ISIS). Thus, […]

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Putin: Russia can ramp back up in Syria “within hours”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat (Life) summarized Russian sources on Thursday’s speech by Russian president Vladimir Putin: Putin made several points: 1. Russia hopes that the ceasefire and Geneva peace negotiations can now go forward relatively smoothly toward a political settlement in Syria 2. Russia will continue […]

Russia

Putin’s Syria Gambit: Surprising Views of Russian Pundits on What Moscow Achieved

contributors

By Robert Coalson | ( RFE/RL ) | – – As Russian warplanes continued their partial withdrawal from Syria two days after President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly announced that Moscow's objectives in the country had been "generally accomplished," observers debated how the move changes the situation in the volatile region. Russian analysts are divided on what […]

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Syria’s Kurds to declare Federal Province

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Syria’s Kurds have decided to declare a federal province in the northeast of the country and along the northern border with Turkey. Many Arab states are unitary rather than federal and for the most part provincial governors are appointed by the central government and the central […]

Russia

Why is Putin Really withdrawing from Syria?

contributors

By Alexander Titov | (The Conversation) | – – Back in September 30 2015, when Vladimir Putin unexpectedly announced the deployment of the Russian air force in Syria, the consensus was that this would prove to be a costly mistake. Critics argued that airstrikes alone would not make any tangible difference to the facts on […]

Bashar al-Assad

Mystery: Russia & Hizbullah begin withdrawal from Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – al-Hayat [Life], the London pan-Arab daily, reports on the announcement Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would begin withdrawing the greater part of Russian men and equipment from Syria. Al-Hayat is careful to note that Putin says that the Russian naval base at Tartus […]

al-Qaeda

Syria: More US Weaponry goes to al-Qaeda

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – al-Akhbar (Beirut) reports that al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Levant, also known as the Support Front (jabhat al-Nusra), repeated scenarios it had previously acted out against other “moderate” remnants of the old Free Syrian Army. It launched a massive attack on the headquarters of Division […]