
A report claims British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived at the United Nations on Sunday to work on a deal that could end the Syrian civil war without removing dictator Bashar Assad from power.
by John Hayward27 Sep 2015, 9:00 PM PST0

Someone claiming to represent the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s franchise in Syria, says the newest reinforcements for the U.S.-backed “moderate” Syrian force have already surrendered, according to a report in the UK Telegraph.
by John Hayward23 Sep 2015, 7:26 PM PST0

Russia’s military buildup in Syria continues at a rapid clip, with dozens of attack planes and helicopters already in position, along with two new bases appearing on the Mediterranean coast. On Tuesday, it was reported that Russian drone aircraft have taken to the skies over Syria.
by John Hayward22 Sep 2015, 2:55 PM PST0

The Dalai Lama, who has been exiled from his own country of Tibet for over half a century, offered some thoughts on the Syrian refugee crisis during the dedication of his Center for Compassion at Oxford, as related by the UK Telegraph.
by John Hayward16 Sep 2015, 9:50 AM PST0

The immense migration wave pushing out of the Middle East will not stop in Europe. It is already coming ashore in the United States, as the number of Syrian refugees to be resettled in America has increased dramatically over the past year. Where do the presidential candidates stand on this issue?
by John Hayward9 Sep 2015, 12:18 PM PST0

On Monday, AFP reported that the U.S. government has asked Greece to deny its airspace to Russian supply flights. The Greek foreign ministry is said to be “examining” the request.
by John Hayward8 Sep 2015, 8:29 PM PST0

Former CIA director and retired Army general David Petraeus is suggesting America should team up with al-Qaeda to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
by John Hayward1 Sep 2015, 9:17 AM PST0

A month after Turkey agreed to allow U.S. and allied forces to use its airfields for operations in Syria, the first armed drone strike has been conducted by the United States.
by John Hayward6 Aug 2015, 6:28 PM PST0

The Jerusalem Post presents a dismaying roundup of reactions from the Arab world to the performance of the U.S.-trained and equipped New Syrian Force, the tiny group of “moderate” rebels that hit the battlefield just a few weeks ago, and was swiftly picked apart by al-Qaeda, with nearly two dozen of its fighters and officers taken captive.
by John Hayward6 Aug 2015, 4:04 PM PST0

A matter of days after 54 American-trained moderate Syrian Rebel Army fighters reported for duty, the New York Times reports that the commander of the unit plus seven of his fighters—including his second-in-command—have been kidnapped by the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda franchise, while they were returning from a meeting in Turkey.
by John Hayward30 Jul 2015, 6:51 PM PST0

Discussing Turkey’s recent military action in Syria and Iraq, CNN quotes Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blaming the Western world for creating ISIS by failing to remove Bashar Assad from power in Syria–a long-standing strategic objective of the Turks.
by John Hayward29 Jul 2015, 2:19 PM PST0

Republican members of the House made headlines for grilling Secretary of State John Kerry on the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday, but Democrat Rep. Ted Deutch landed a solid punch by noting the Administration is absurdly downplaying how much damage Iran can do with all the money Obama wants to give them, long before they detonate a nuclear bomb.
by John Hayward28 Jul 2015, 7:41 PM PST0

Australia’s ABC News reports on dictator Bashar al-Assad’s “remarkably frank assessment of the strains affecting the Syrian military.” Assad used his first public address in a year to admit he has lost control of a good deal of his country, and is digging in to defend what his regime has left.
by John Hayward28 Jul 2015, 8:23 AM PST0

The Turkish government has faced strong criticism, including criticism from its own Kurdish citizens, for not doing enough to fight ISIS and help Kurds in Syria. A massive suicide bombing attributed to ISIS earlier this week greatly exacerbated these tensions.
by John Hayward25 Jul 2015, 9:12 AM PST0

Al-Jazeera reports that a brainstorm by the Syrian state news agency, SANA, to boost the image of that war-torn nation—and its dictatorship—did not pan out. SANA’s English-language division asked its Twitter following to contribute photos to a #SummerInSyria hashtag.
by John Hayward26 Jun 2015, 8:05 AM PST0

ISIS has reportedly commenced beheading prisoners immediately in the captured Syrian city of Palmyra.
by John Hayward22 May 2015, 7:36 PM PST0

Just two days after Islamic State fighters were supposedly routed and driven into the desert by Syrian government troops, ISIS has reportedly taken the entire city of Palmyra, placing both its population and historical treasures in grave peril.
by John Hayward21 May 2015, 8:39 AM PST0

The Islamic State was supposedly in a defensive crouch after its defeat in the Iraqi city of Tikrit, but in fact it’s lashed out aggressively on both Iraqi and Syrian fronts, with disastrous consequences in the fallen city of Ramadi.
by John Hayward18 May 2015, 1:38 PM PST0

Imam Abdul Hadi Arwani, described by the UK Daily Mail as “a Syrian preacher at a fundamentalist mosque,” was gunned down on the streets of London on Tuesday, possibly because he was an outspoken critic of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.
by John Hayward8 Apr 2015, 11:02 AM PST0

There is a major Palestinian refugee camp on the road to Damascus, which the Islamic State is still marching down, despite efforts to “degrade and ultimately destroy” their war machine by Bashar Assad’s de facto allies in the U.S. coalition.
by John Hayward6 Apr 2015, 3:37 PM PST0

Al-Monitor delivers one of the most sobering assessments of the bloody mess in Syria to date, as author Edward Dark returns to his hometown of Aleppo for a look at the plight of the dwindling Christian community, and finds them turning to dictator Bashar al-Assad for protection from the jihadis fighting to overthrow him.
by John Hayward25 Mar 2015, 2:56 PM PST0

The Associated Press reports that a Syrian military helicopter has crashed following an equipment malfunction, resulting in the capture and killing of its crew by “insurgents” of the al-Nusra Front.
by John Hayward23 Mar 2015, 10:38 AM PST0

File this report from the Daily Star of Lebanon under the category of “Yay … I Guess,” or perhaps “Two and a Half Cheers.” It’s good news that Islamic State (ISIS) forces have been pushed out of over 20 Syrian villages. The bad news is that Bashar al-Assad’s regime did most of the pushing, with an assist from Kurdish militia units.
by John Hayward3 Mar 2015, 12:03 PM PST0

The long and lonely search for a white hat posse of “moderate” Syrian rebels that could be armed by the United States and turned into a weapon against both the Assad regime and its most effective military adversaries—namely, ISIS and al-Qaeda—suffered another grievous setback over the weekend, as the first Syrian rebel force, armed with American weapons, threw in the towel and pronounced itself kaput.
by John Hayward2 Mar 2015, 6:23 PM PST0

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gave a half-hour interview to the BBC on Tuesday in which he discussed, among other things, just how much his government is cooperating with the United States and its anti-ISIS coalition.
by John Hayward11 Feb 2015, 6:35 AM PST0