Syria

Earthquake Leaves Millions Homeless and without Water and Electricity in Turkish, Syrian Harsh Winter, Many Facing Death

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Jordanian newspaper al-Ghad reports that on top of the now nearly 30,000 known deaths in Turkey and Syria, millions people are estimated to have been made homeless. Not only are they without shelter, they now lack water and electricity, and often even food and the World Health Organization (WHO) […]

Featured

Palestinians Mount Blood Donation Drive for Earthquake Victims, as one Artist tells European Islamophobes, ‘Turkey is Strong and Will Rise Again’

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas authorized the Palestinian foreign ministry to send a 30-member rapid response team to Malatya in southern Turkey. They were split into two teams and are paired with Turkish colleagues combing collapsed buildings for survivors. About half of the delegation were members of Palestinian Civil Defense, 10 […]

Bashar al-Assad

Turkey-Syria earthquake: Assad blames west as agencies struggle to get aid to his desperate people

The Conversation

By Scott Lucas, University College Dublin | – (The Conversation) – It didn’t take long for Syria’s Assad regime to seek political and economic benefit from the devastation of an earthquake. As emergency services were reaching victims of the 7.8-magnitude tremor on February 6, regime-linked organisations demanded governments “immediately end the siege and unilateral coercive […]

Displaced and Refugees

Syria bears Brunt of economic Devastation caused by Quake

Michael Jansen

( Irish Times ) – The death and devastation wreaked by Monday’s massive earthquake is greatest in Turkey, but that country is in a far better position to deal with the aftermath than Syria, due to warfare and sanctions. The civil conflict and proxy interventions have left Syria divided, with 70 per cent of territory […]

Featured

With Thousands Dead or Wounded, Will earthquake Aid for Syria be Impeded by US Sanctions?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A 7.8 earthquake that struck south-central Turkey and northwest Syria early on Monday morning. Although over two thousand are being reported dead in Turkey at midnight on Monday and more than a thousand in Syria, the death toll will grow a great deal as the rubble is combed by rescue […]

Featured

If the US Aim in Helping Ukraine is a Rules-Based International Order it must Condemn Israeli Annexation of Syria’s Golan and Occupation of Palestine

Juan Cole

Zelensky Ukraine War Syria Israel Golan Occupation International Law

Displaced and Refugees

Northeast Syria: Turkish Strikes Exacerbate Humanitarian Crisis

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (Beirut) – Turkish airstrikes since November 20, 2022, are inflicting damage on densely populated areas and critical infrastructure across north and northeast Syria and exacerbating an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis for Kurds, Arabs, and other communities in the region, Human Rights Watch said today. The strikes have displaced families, caused significant power […]

Russia

The Forgotten War: what Russia could win from the reignited Conflict in Syria

The Conversation

Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham | – (The Conversation) – Largely overshadowed by the war in Ukraine, Syria remains a deeply divided and violent country, where military conflict has recently reignited. This new period of conflict in Syria, with Russia, Turkey and Israel all launching attacks, also reflects some of the battle lines of the […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria: Families of ‘Disappeared’ Deserve Answers: UN Proposal Offers Promising Pathway (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – United Nations member countries should establish an international, independent entity to track and identify those missing and disappeared since the start of the Syria crisis in 2011, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today. The Syrian conflict has been marked by prolonged arbitrary detention, torture and other […]