Post Tagged with: "Syria"

Syria-Arab League Rapprochement: U.S.  Lawmakers Threaten Sanctions 

Syria-Arab League Rapprochement: U.S.  Lawmakers Threaten Sanctions 

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has introduced a bill to oppose the normalization of relations between Syria and other nations. The Arab League reinstated the country this month, while Saudi Arabia announced the reopening of diplomatic channels with Damascus after ten years. Media reports said: The Assad Anti-Normalization Act threatens “governments considering normalization with the Assad regime” with severe consequences, according to[Read More…]

by 15/05/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Withdraw Foreign Forces From Syria, Arab States Call

Withdraw Foreign Forces From Syria, Arab States Call

The foreign ministers of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq said on Monday after meeting in Amman said the government in Damascus should re-establish the rule of law on all of Syria’s territory, ending the presence of foreign armed groups and terrorists,. Jordan hosted the meeting, the first of its kind since Syria’s membership in the Arab League was[Read More…]

by 02/05/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Earthquake Devastation—Unilateral Sanctions Against Syria Must End Immediately

Earthquake Devastation—Unilateral Sanctions Against Syria Must End Immediately

Even before the terrible damage caused by earthquake in Syria and Turkey, there was a strong case for ending sanctions against Syria as the existing sanctions imposed by the USA and its close allies, continuing for several years, had already accentuated the humanitarian crisis greatly in Syria. Now in the post-earthquake situation, it would be nothing short of a crime[Read More…]

by 09/02/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Explosion from an Israeli drone attack at the Iranian Defense Ministry's ammunition facility in Isfahan. [Photo: Moshe Schwartz/@YWNReporter

Israeli drones, warplanes strike Iran and Syria

Israeli military and intelligence units carried out multiple acts of aggression over the weekend against Iran and Iranian forces in Syria. The attacks were the first offensive military operations under the ultra-right government newly installed in Israel, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A drone attack, likely staged from within Iran by Israeli operatives, hit a weapons facility in the central[Read More…]

by 30/01/2023 Comments are Disabled World
The Real International Community must call for an End to the Illegal and Genocidal US Sanctions on Syria

The Real International Community must call for an End to the Illegal and Genocidal US Sanctions on Syria

The US continues to wage war upon the nations of the world by resorting to imposing economic sanctions. These sanctions are a continuation of war by other means, and the world has been witness to the disastrous and genocidal consequences of these illegal sanctions on Syria. Whilst the US still considers itself to the ‘Caesar’ of the world, the global[Read More…]

by 21/01/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Discussing America’s role in the Syrian civil war: A Conversation with Noam Chomsky

Discussing America’s role in the Syrian civil war: A Conversation with Noam Chomsky

by Noam Chomsky and Raghav Kaushik  This interview with world-renowned scholar and leading dissident Noam Chomsky has two goals. The primary goal is to understand America’s role in one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 21st century, the Syrian civil war. While there has been a lot of commentary on the Syrian civil war, there is confusion about the exact[Read More…]

by 17/05/2022 Comments are Disabled World, Editor's Picks
The Imperialists’ and Proxies’ War against Syria

The Imperialists’ and Proxies’ War against Syria

Review of World War in Syria by A.B. Abrams On 30 August 2021, the United States’ 20-year military occupation of Afghanistan came to an end when the removal of American forces was completed. Although the withdrawal was botched, it was the correct move. The withdrawal is ignominious because it turns out that the much ballyhooed US fighting forces were, in[Read More…]

by 28/01/2022 Comments are Disabled Book Review
Secret U.S. Drone Strikes Massacred Civilians In Syria, Claims Report

Secret U.S. Drone Strikes Massacred Civilians In Syria, Claims Report

A secret U.S. Air Force (USAF) drone strike unit was allowed to operate in Syria for five years even as it broke rules of engagement and civilian casualties mounted, it has been revealed in a report by New York Times that cited multiple current and former military and intelligence officials. The New York Times report (Civilian Deaths Mounted as Secret[Read More…]

by 13/12/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Smoke rises from a strike on Baghouz, Syria, March 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Whistleblowers expose US mass murder of women, children in Syria

Nearly three years ago, as US-led coalition forces trapped a remnant of the Islamic State (IS) in a small enclave near the Syrian town of Baghuz, the US military committed a horrific atrocity. As Air Force officers watched the scene via drone cameras in real time, US warplanes murdered at least 80 unarmed women and children with 500- and 2,000-pound[Read More…]

by 15/11/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Dangerous Games in Syria 

Dangerous Games in Syria 

 Just a few months since Joe Biden’s election, US idea of terrorism has radically changed. With the media having spared no effort making people believe that the real terrorists are indeed the armed supporters of the Republicans, who are ready to take on the crowd of BLM “looters” and express their right to protest by demonstrating that rights at the[Read More…]

by 19/07/2021 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
A Syria-story: Limit of the Empire’s power

A Syria-story: Limit of the Empire’s power

The following observations tell at least one aspect of the reality yet dominated by the Empire. Bonnie Kristian, fellow at Defense Priorities, writes in Business Insider (“Bashar Assad’s inevitable presidential victory is another sign of the limits on the US’s power”, June 2, 2021, https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/world/news/bashar-assads-inevitable-presidential-victory-is-another-sign-of-the-limits-on-the-uss-power/amp_articleshow/83175304.cms): “For the United States, Assad’s re-election should be a reiteration of the great foreign-policy lesson[Read More…]

by 03/06/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Tightening The Noose Around Syria

Tightening The Noose Around Syria

The US – with the help of Israel – has been repeatedly waging attacks on the high seas against oil tankers bound for Syria. In recent statements to parliament, Syria’s Prime Minister Hussein Arnous revealed that oil tankers loaded with crude allocated for Syria are being attacked or intercepted on the high seas. The goal is to aggravate the hydrocarbon crisis generated[Read More…]

by 19/04/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Syria: The Price Of Resistance

Syria: The Price Of Resistance

Few nations in recent decades have been targeted by a superpower the way the United States of America has subjected Syria to various forms of attack. Apart from military assaults and acts of political subversion aimed at overthrowing the government in Damascus, the US has also imposed crippling economic sanctions upon Syria, sometimes regarded as the crucible of human civilisation.[Read More…]

by 21/03/2021 Comments are Disabled World
U.S. airstrikes in Syria: Senator condemns attacking a sovereign nation

U.S. airstrikes in Syria: Senator condemns attacking a sovereign nation

The U.S. forces deadly airstrikes in Syria sparked complaints from some of U.S. President Joe Biden’s Democratic allies that he overreached, while key Republicans applauded the move. The reactions came after the Feb. 25 airstrikes targeted facilities belonging to an Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group, reportedly killing one fighter. The strike could be a test of whether Congress, which fought to[Read More…]

by 28/02/2021 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Photo: CODEPINK

Biden’s Reckless Syria Bombing Is Not the Diplomacy He Promised

Written by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies The February 25 U.S. bombing of Syria immediately puts the policies of the newly-formed Biden administration into sharp relief. Why is this administration bombing the sovereign nation of Syria? Why is it bombing “Iranian-backed militias” who pose absolutely no threat to the United States and are actually involved in fighting ISIS?[Read More…]

by 27/02/2021 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
U.S. bombs Syria at Biden’s order, hits ‘Iranian-backed militia facilities’

U.S. bombs Syria at Biden’s order, hits ‘Iranian-backed militia facilities’

The U.S. launched airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, targeting facilities near the Iraqi border used by Iranian-backed militia groups. The Pentagon said the strikes were retaliation for a Feb. 15 rocket attack in northern Iraq that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops. The airstrike was the first military action undertaken by the[Read More…]

by 26/02/2021 Comments are Disabled World
 The ‘humanitarian’ left still ignores the lessons of Iraq, Libya and Syria to cheer on more war

 The ‘humanitarian’ left still ignores the lessons of Iraq, Libya and Syria to cheer on more war

The instinct among parts of the left to cheerlead the right’s war crimes, so long as they are dressed up as liberal “humanitarianism”, is alive and kicking, as Owen Jones revealed in a column last week on the plight of the Uighurs at China’s hands. The “humanitarian war” instinct persists even after two decades of the horror shows that followed[Read More…]

by 25/01/2021 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Israel bombs targets in southern Syria amid tensions

Israel bombs targets in southern Syria amid tensions

Citing the Israeli military media reports from Jerusalem said: Israeli fighter jets and attack helicopters struck military targets in southern Syria belonging to the Syrian army Monday night, hours after thwarting an infiltration attempt from Syria by suspected militants trying to plant explosives. In a rare statement acknowledging strikes in neighboring Syria, the Israeli army said the targets included “observation[Read More…]

by 04/08/2020 Comments are Disabled World
Driving to the front with Commander Simon

Idlib- Reportage From The Last Front In Syria

Text and photos: Andre Vltchek For a while, all the guns have fallen silent. I am near Idlib, the last stronghold of the terrorists in Syria. The area where the deadliest anti-government fighters, most of them injected into Syria from Turkey, with Saudi, Qatari and Western ‘help’, are literally holed up, ready for the final showdown. Just yesterday, mortars were[Read More…]

by 08/03/2019 Comments are Disabled World
US will Retain Hundreds of Troops in Syria despite Withdrawal

US will Retain Hundreds of Troops in Syria despite Withdrawal

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement on Thursday, February 21, “A small peace keeping group of about 200 US troops will remain in Syria for a period of time,” as reported by the CNN [1] on Friday. According to the report: “The 200 troops who will remain will be divided between al-Tanf, an area near[Read More…]

by 25/02/2019 1 comment Imperialism
Syrian Holocaust And Syrian Genocide By US Alliance State Terrorism

Syrian Holocaust And Syrian Genocide By US Alliance State Terrorism

US President Trump’s announcement of US withdrawal from its illegal and war criminal occupation of Syrian territory has evoked passionate denunciation from Republicans, Democrats and the US military and intelligence Deep State. However there is no such outcry over the Syrian Holocaust and Syrian Genocide inflicted on this formerly peaceful and religiously tolerant land by jihadi psychopaths variously backed by[Read More…]

by 23/01/2019 2 comments Imperialism
Land Swap between Ankara and Damascus to Avoid Standoff over Manbij

Land Swap between Ankara and Damascus to Avoid Standoff over Manbij

The regions currently administered by the Kurds in Syria include the Kurdish-majority Qamishli and al-Hasakah in northeastern Syria, and the Arab-majority towns of Manbij to the west of the Euphrates River in northern Syria and Kobani to the east of the Euphrates River along the Turkish border. The oil- and natural gas-rich Deir al-Zor governorate in eastern Syria has been[Read More…]

by 30/12/2018 2 comments World
Is Manbij Handover to Syrian Government a ‘Psyops’ by Kurds?

Is Manbij Handover to Syrian Government a ‘Psyops’ by Kurds?

The Syrian army said it entered Manbij on Friday for the first time in years, after the Syrian Kurds urged Damascus to protect the town from the threat of impending Turkish military offensive, though Turkish President Erdogan has termed the handover a “psyops” by the Kurds. If Turkey mounts an offensive in Manbij, it would be the third invasion by[Read More…]

by 30/12/2018 1 comment World
Trump’s Midterm Electoral Defeat and Syria Withdrawal

Trump’s Midterm Electoral Defeat and Syria Withdrawal

Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to withdraw American troops from Syria was reportedly made during a telephonic conversation with the Turkish President Erdogan on December 14, before President Trump made the momentous announcement in a Tweet on Wednesday, December 19. The decision was so sudden that even the Turkish president was caught off-guard, according to a December 22 Associated Press report[Read More…]

by 22/12/2018 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Leaving Syria: President Trump’s Withdrawal

Leaving Syria: President Trump’s Withdrawal

“The President announced an apparently impulsive decision that shook the world, showed little sign of nuanced consideration, confounded top advisers and by the end of the day left Washington in chaos and confusion.”  So goes a typical contribution from CNN, this time by Stephen Collinson, pooh-poohing President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out some 2,000 US troops based in Syria.[Read More…]

by 21/12/2018 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Khashoggi’s Murder and Trump’s Syria Withdrawal

Khashoggi’s Murder and Trump’s Syria Withdrawal

In a momentous policy decision on Wednesday, the Trump administration has decided to pull out the US troops from Syria. Although the current redeployment of American troops will be limited only to northern Syria to appease the US-ally Turkey where it has been a longstanding demand of the Turkish President Erdogan that Turkey will not tolerate the presence of the[Read More…]

by 20/12/2018 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Celebrating birthday of Prophet Mohammed in Holms

In Syria The Entire Nation Mobilized And Won

Text and Photos: Andre Vltchek Yes, there is rubble, in fact total destruction, in some of the neighborhoods of Homs, Aleppo, in the outskirts of Damascus, and elsewhere. Yes, there are terrorists and ‘foreign forces’ in Idlib and in several smaller pockets in some parts of the country. Yes, hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives and millions are[Read More…]

by 14/12/2018 Comments are Disabled World
Did U.S. and Allies Commit War Crime by Bombing Syria on April 14th?

Did U.S. and Allies Commit War Crime by Bombing Syria on April 14th?

INTRODUCTION Bombardment (or other military invasion) of a country that has not invaded nor threatened to invade the attacking country(s) is “aggression” under international law, and is the chief crime that the Nazis were hanged for at Nuremberg after World War II. The U.S. and its allies have routinely committed aggression, in places such as Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen.[Read More…]

by 14/10/2018 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Syria: A False Flag Operation Thwarted?

Syria: A False Flag Operation Thwarted?

An organised expose by the Syrian and Russian governments over a 3 day period starting 27th August may have thwarted a British backed plan to stage a “false flag” chemical weapons attack in Idlib province that would have forced the US to launch a missile and air assault on Syria. According to Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson, Igor Konashenkov, a militant[Read More…]

by 01/09/2018 1 comment Imperialism
 Assad Rejects Trump’s ‘Peace’ Terms

 Assad Rejects Trump’s ‘Peace’ Terms

Elijah Magnier, one of the world’s most respected reporters in and about the Middle East, reported on Sunday, July 15th, that Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad, has rejected a proposed offer from the U.S. Trump Administration. The offer was that U.S. forces will leave some of its key military bases in its military occupation of Syria, if all of Iran’s forces,[Read More…]

by 16/07/2018 Comments are Disabled World
Why is Israel desperate to escalate Syrian conflict?

Why is Israel desperate to escalate Syrian conflict?

After seven years of utter devastation and bloodletting, a consensus has emerged among all the belligerents of the Syrian war to de-escalate the conflict, except Israel which wants to further escalate the conflict because it has been the only beneficiary of the carnage in Syria. Over the years, Israel has not only provided medical aid and material support to the[Read More…]

by 02/05/2018 1 comment Imperialism
Syria: Chemical Weapons Use, Destruction Of Children, The Ethical Vacuum

Syria: Chemical Weapons Use, Destruction Of Children, The Ethical Vacuum

  At the heart of this growing phenomenon of mass violence and social disintegration is a crisis of values. Perhaps the most fundamental loss a society can suffer is the collapse of its own value system. Many societies exposed to protracted conflicts have seen their community values radically undermined if not shattered altogether. This has given rise to an ethical[Read More…]

by 11/04/2018 2 comments World
Who Are The ‘Arsonists And Firefighters’ In Syria?

Who Are The ‘Arsonists And Firefighters’ In Syria?

Recently, General Joseph Votel, the head of US Central Command, accused Kremlin of playing as both arsonist and firefighter in Syria. This projection is farthest from truth because in fact it’s Washington which kindled the fires of militancy in Syria and now it appears desperate to douse those fires. First, Washington nurtured militants against the Syrian government for the first[Read More…]

by 02/03/2018 1 comment World
Arab Leader’s Shame And The Bloodbath At Ghouta (Syria)

Arab Leader’s Shame And The Bloodbath At Ghouta (Syria)

Are the Arab-Muslim leaders waiting for the unknown and unthinkable catastrophic end to their own life and time in history?  To inhabit the world of new political imagination beyond the obvious horizon, these leaders could encompass the same ending as happened to the Romans.  Would the estranged Arab leaders ever know and understand the cruelty of civilian bombardment, pains, destruction[Read More…]

by 26/02/2018 3 comments World
Why Washington Struck Russian Contractors In Syria?

Why Washington Struck Russian Contractors In Syria?

On February 7, the US B-52 bombers and Apache helicopters struck a contingent of Syrian government troops and allied forces in Deir al-Zor that reportedly killed and wounded dozens of Russian military contractors working for the Russian private security firm, the Wagner group. In order to understand the reason why the US brazenly attacked the Russian contractors, we need to[Read More…]

by 20/02/2018 1 comment Imperialism
2018 Portends Intensification Of Syria’s Civil War

2018 Portends Intensification Of Syria’s Civil War

Hama, Syria: Rather than the conventional wisdom of a “wrapping up,” of Syria’s seven years of civil war, this observer calculates that the conflict is on a trajectory to expand during 2018. Granted, over the past six monthsthere have been perhaps more than a dozen inflated declarations of “Victory.”  including 2 or 3 of the “Devine Victory” variety from three[Read More…]

by 23/01/2018 1 comment World
Who Will Pay The $250+ Billion Reconstruction Cost In Syria?

Who Will Pay The $250+ Billion Reconstruction Cost In Syria?

  The United States Government says that Syria’s Government caused the U.N.-estimated “at least $250 billion” cost to restore Syria from the destruction that Syria’s war produced, and so Syria’s Government should pay those reconstruction costs. That link is to a New York Times article, which explicitly blames Syrian “President Bashar al-Assad’s ruthless triumph” — which was won against all[Read More…]

by 06/01/2018 2 comments Imperialism
Occupiers Of Syria Crib Bush’s 2003 “Mission Accomplished” Boast

Occupiers Of Syria Crib Bush’s 2003 “Mission Accomplished” Boast

 Idlib, Syria: George W. Bush’s  “Mission Accomplished!” boast takes its name from a banner that was displayed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during his May 1, 2003 televised address. It referred to his claimed victory in Iraq fourteen years ago. In a less publicized incident, US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld also declared an end to combat operations referring to “Mission Accomplished” in Afghanistan on May 1, 2003,[Read More…]

by 06/12/2017 Comments are Disabled World
Iran,  Russia And Turkey Agree To Hold ‘Syrian People’s  Congress’ To Bring Together All Warring Sides

Iran,  Russia And Turkey Agree To Hold ‘Syrian People’s  Congress’ To Bring Together All Warring Sides

  Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his Iranian and Turkish counterparts have supported a proposal to hold a “Syrian people’s congress” that will bring together government and opposition figures. The Russian President on Wednesday (Nov 22) hosted Hassan Rouhani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, just as some Syrian opposition groups met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, before United Nations-sponsored talks in Geneva.[Read More…]

by 24/11/2017 1 comment World
The Syrian War Orphans One Million Children

The Syrian War Orphans One Million Children

  As many as a million children have been orphaned by the war in Syria which is in its sixth year, Aljazeera reported Sunday (Nov 19). The UN has warned against the dangers facing children without parents such as lack of education, trafficking and being indoctrinated by armed groups. Many children are living in orphanages being run by local charities[Read More…]

by 20/11/2017 Comments are Disabled World
Washington’s Face-Saving By Shifting Goalposts In Syria

Washington’s Face-Saving By Shifting Goalposts In Syria

In order to simplify the Syrian theater of proxy wars, it can be divided into three separate and distinct zones of influence: that are, the Syrian government-controlled areas, the regions administered by the Syrian Kurds and the areas occupied by the Syrian opposition. Excluding Idlib in northwestern Syria, which has been occupied by the Syrian opposition, all the major population[Read More…]

by 17/10/2017 1 comment Imperialism
What Are Washington’s Stakes In The Syrian Conflict?

What Are Washington’s Stakes In The Syrian Conflict?

Washington’s interest in the Syrian civil war is partly about ensuring Israel’s regional security and partly it is about doing the bidding of America’s regional Sunni allies: Turkey, Jordan and the Gulf Arab States. Saudi Arabia, which has been vying for power as the leader of the Sunni bloc against the Shi’a-dominated Iran in the regional geopolitics, was staunchly against[Read More…]

by 20/09/2017 2 comments Imperialism
Chemical Attacks In The Syrian Arab Republic

Chemical Attacks In The Syrian Arab Republic

A Synopsis of the Presentation, before a United Nations Panel in Geneva, made by Ms Niloufer Bhagwat on 18th September, 2017 The allegations directed against the Syrian Arab Republic in the recent 28 August 2017 report of what is referred to as the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic , with the word ‘ Independent’ emphasized[Read More…]

by 19/09/2017 1 comment India
Russia, US, Iran And Israel War For Syria

Russia, US, Iran And Israel War For Syria

Editor’s Note: The University of Oxford Interviews Professor Franklin Lamb about the Future of Syria. Interview conducted by graduate students from Oxford Universities Middle East Center, St Anthony’s College, UK. August, 2017. Franklin Lamb is Oxford University Research Fellow, Oxford, UK Franklin Lamb is a Doctor of Philosophy in international law and is currently a visiting fellow at the University of Oxford,[Read More…]

by 03/09/2017 2 comments Imperialism
US Air Strike Slaughters Over 40 Civilians In Syria

US Air Strike Slaughters Over 40 Civilians In Syria

An air strike launched by the United States on the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa in northeastern Syria Monday claimed the lives of 42 civilians, 19 of whom were children. It is the bloodiest incident thus far in a ramped-up series of strikes over the past eight days that have killed at least 167 civilians, including 59 children. The air assault[Read More…]

by 23/08/2017 1 comment Imperialism
 Burning Raqqa :The U.S. War Against Civilians In Syria 

 Burning Raqqa :The U.S. War Against Civilians In Syria 

It was midday on Sunday, May 7th, when the U.S.-led coalition warplanes again began bombing the neighborhood of Wassim Abdo’s family. They lived in Tabqa, a small city on the banks of the Euphrates River in northern Syria. Then occupied by the Islamic State (ISIS, also known as Daesh), Tabqa was also under siege by U.S.-backed troops and being hit[Read More…]

by 28/07/2017 1 comment Imperialism
Fear And Trepidation In Tel Aviv: Is Israel Losing The Syria War?

Fear And Trepidation In Tel Aviv: Is Israel Losing The Syria War?

Israel, which has played a precarious role in the Syrian war since 2011, is furious to learn that the future of the conflict is not to its liking. The six-year-old Syria war is moving to a new stage, perhaps its final. The Syrian regime is consolidating its control over most of the populated centers, while ISIS is losing ground fast[Read More…]

by 27/07/2017 1 comment World
Journalist Seymour Hersh

The Useful Idiots Who Undermine Dissent On Syria

There has been much disingenuous criticism of those, like me, who question why the western corporate media have studiously ignored the latest investigation by renowned journalist Seymour Hersh on Syria. Hersh had to publish his piece in a German newspaper, Welt am Sonntag, after the entire US and UK media rejected his article. There has still been no mention of[Read More…]

by 05/07/2017 2 comments Imperialism
Escalations In Syria

Escalations In Syria

To become enmeshed in a war of incalculable variables; to be at bloody bruised loggerheads – this is the Syrian nightmare, where there are more punters than odds. Savagely, Syria as a state is being ravaged and mauled to the point of non-recognition. It is now a mere terrain for heavily armed bullies, a smoky crusted ruin of dust and[Read More…]

by 23/06/2017 1 comment World
Simplified Proposals To Resolve The World Conflagrations, Part II – Syria

Simplified Proposals To Resolve The World Conflagrations, Part II – Syria

  The American Revolution has characteristics that guide understanding of the Syrian insurrection. In both situations, ardent and semi-popular groups rebelled against injustices and hoped to create new regimes. In both situations, foreign powers, France and Spain in the American Revolution, and Russia, Iran, United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other nations in the Syrian revolution, stoked the violence,[Read More…]

by 20/06/2017 1 comment Uncategorized
US Shoots Down Syrian Government Aircraft

US Shoots Down Syrian Government Aircraft

In a marked escalation of the war in Syria, a US F-18 fighter jet yesterday shot down a Syrian government fighter bomber for the first time, claiming that it had been attacking pro-US rebel forces on the ground near Raqqa. While nominally fighting Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) forces, the US shoot-down makes clear that the real target[Read More…]

by 19/06/2017 1 comment World
US Forces Accused Of Firing White Phosphorus Into Mosul And Raqqa

US Forces Accused Of Firing White Phosphorus Into Mosul And Raqqa

Videos published by the Amaq news agency show artillery exploding over Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria that analysts believe could be white phosphorus rounds. Amaq, which often publishes information provided by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) sources, claims that the areas which are shown being bombarded are ISIS-held sectors of the cities still populated by large[Read More…]

by 12/06/2017 1 comment World
Al-Nusra’s Name has been Removed From Terror List After Rebranding

Al-Nusra’s Name has been Removed From Terror List After Rebranding

According to a recent report [1] by CBC Canada, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, which was formerly known as al-Nusra Front and then Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) since July 2016, has been removed from the terror watch-lists of the US and Canada after it merged with fighters from Zenki Brigade and hardline jihadists from Ahrar al-Sham and rebranded itself as Hayat[Read More…]

by 12/06/2017 1 comment World
Who Are The Green, Yellow And Red Militants In Syria?

Who Are The Green, Yellow And Red Militants In Syria?

In order to simplify the Syrian theater of proxy wars, it can be divided into three separate and distinct zones: that are, the Syrian government-controlled areas, the regions administered by the Syrian Kurds and the areas that have been occupied by the Syrian opposition. Excluding Idlib Governorate which has been occupied by the Syrian opposition, all the major population centers[Read More…]

by 09/06/2017 1 comment World
Syria: The Afghans Are Coming!

Syria: The Afghans Are Coming!

  There’s a phrase that keeps popping up in discussions of Syria. It’s a string of words that always appear together, without variation, which is a tell for propaganda phrases and talking points. In the context of Libya, there was a line about “African Mercenaries”. The one I keep hearing about Syria is that Assad has “Afghan Shia militias” fighting[Read More…]

by 19/05/2017 1 comment World
If Assad Must Go, So Must All The Warmongers

If Assad Must Go, So Must All The Warmongers

The real truth revealed by the chemical weapon tragedy in Syria’s Idlib Province is that as the world continues to tear itself asunder and make a mockery of the United Nation’s concept of international law and the sovereign rights of nations – supposedly intended to protect them from such unprovoked, preemptive attacks by rogue countries like the United States and[Read More…]

by 13/04/2017 1 comment World
Proven US Alliance Lying Over Chemical Weapons Attack & Trump Pretext For Destruction Of Syria

Proven US Alliance Lying Over Chemical Weapons Attack & Trump Pretext For Destruction Of Syria

  The Russian and Syrian denials are true if they are innocent and lies if they are guilty of the suspected  chemical weapons attack that killed 90 people including 30 children in Syria. However Trump, US and US Alliance certitude over Russian and Syrian guilt is clear, proven, warmongering lying in the absence of findings from expert and independent investigators.[Read More…]

by 12/04/2017 1 comment Imperialism
The Silver Lining of Trump’s Ownership of Regime Change Policy in Syria

The Silver Lining of Trump’s Ownership of Regime Change Policy in Syria

On a positive note, it has been a good development that the Trump administration has owned the “regime change” policy of the Obama administration in Syria by launching cruise missiles strike against the Syrian air force in al-Shayrat air base. Because over the decades, it has been a convenient stratagem of the Western powers with two-party political systems, particularly the[Read More…]

by 12/04/2017 1 comment Imperialism
School in Aleppo - still smiling despite pain

Photo Essay: Reflecting On Syria

Ms. Yayoi Segiis based in Beirut, Lebanon, and she has worked in Syria for almost 3 years. She is extremely passionate about the country, which she admires and tries to support in her position as an accomplished specialist in national education development. She agreed to share her collection of personal photos from Damascus, Homs and Aleppo.

by 12/04/2017 1 comment World
Al-Shayrat Airfield Attack Violates UN Charter

Al-Shayrat Airfield Attack Violates UN Charter

In early morning darkness on April 7th the United States fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian al-Shayrat Airfield from two American destroyers stationed in the Eastern Mediterranean. It described the targets as Syrian fighter jets, radar, fuel facilities used for the aircraft. It asserted prior notification of Russian authorities, and offered the assurance that precautions were taken to[Read More…]

by 11/04/2017 1 comment Imperialism
Joining The War Train: Trump’s Liberal Cheer Leaders

Joining The War Train: Trump’s Liberal Cheer Leaders

“Action is consolatory.  It is the enemy of thought and the friend of flattering illusions.” Joseph Conrad, Nostromo (1904). At the psychological heart of every liberal is a milk soft tendency to succumb to the authoritarian personality, a feeling that, just around the corner, resistance will fold.  Before such authority, adoration and bruising follow in menacing union. As US President[Read More…]

by 11/04/2017 1 comment Imperialism
A Syrian man collects samples from the site of a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, on April 5, 2017.
International outrage is mounting over a suspected chemical attack that killed scores of civilians in Khan Sheikhun on April 4, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Omar haj kadour

 The Gassing Game In Syria: Regime Change And Beyond

  The use of chemical weapons in Sheikhun, in the Idlib province of Syria on 4th April 2017 was a heinous act. The world has rightly condemned it. Because it was so cruel and callous, it is vital that the truth about the attack is established as soon as possible.  The United States of America and a number of its[Read More…]

by 11/04/2017 1 comment World
Trudeau Poodles For Empire

Trudeau Poodles For Empire

“Russia needs to be aware, made aware of its responsibility in the bloody actions last week by the Assad regime and therefore we are always open to working with our friends, allies and partners allies to send clear messages through sanctions and other means to Russia.” PM Justin Trudeau. Canada’s PM Trudeau displayed all the sycophancy of a stalwart U.S.[Read More…]

by 11/04/2017 1 comment Imperialism
Syria Chemical Weapon Attack:  Truth Comes At A Cost

Syria Chemical Weapon Attack:  Truth Comes At A Cost

  Shooting from the hip with unerring accuracy was the Wild West according to Hollywood.  As anyone who has ever fired a pistol will tell you it is improbable, and historically the West’s few gun duels were rather unremarkable.  The latest hip-shooter is of course Donald J. Trump whose foreign policy seems to turn on a dime — from not[Read More…]

by 10/04/2017 2 comments World
Trump’s Syria Attack Poses New Conundrums For The Anti-War Movement

Trump’s Syria Attack Poses New Conundrums For The Anti-War Movement

There is widespread criticism of Trump’s Syria attack on the left, and many of the reasons stated are spot on: The attack was surely not motivated by humanitarian considerations, contrary to what is claimed. The attack is illegal, both under US and international law, and hence constitutes an act of war. The US has been conducting military strikes in Syria[Read More…]

by 10/04/2017 1 comment World
Arms And The Babies: Unbridled Compassion For All The Casualties of War

Arms And The Babies: Unbridled Compassion For All The Casualties of War

We must not conceal from ourselves that no improvement in the present depressing situation is possible without a severe struggle; for the handful of those who are really determined to do something is minute in comparison with the mass of the lukewarm and the misguided. And those who have an interest in keeping the machinery of war going are a[Read More…]

by 09/04/2017 1 comment Imperialism
Trump Strikes Syria

Trump Strikes Syria

All bets are off in the latest round of escalation in the Syrian conflict.  The attack on al-Shayrat airbase involving 59 cruise missiles launched from the USS Ross and Porter in the Eastern Mediterranean was meant to be a lesson of sorts. For US President Donald Trump, it was in the “national interest of the United States” to deter the[Read More…]

by 09/04/2017 1 comment Imperialism
Trump Attacks Syria: A Gambit And A War Crime

Trump Attacks Syria: A Gambit And A War Crime

There are contradictory opinions about who on last Tuesday April 4th used chemical weapons, which killed more than 80 civilians including children in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun in Syria. Some pundits impute the deadly Sarin gas attack to Bashar al-Assad, while others believe terrorists belonging to the al-Nusra Front, which is an al Qaeda surrogate and friends with[Read More…]

by 09/04/2017 1 comment Imperialism
US Threatens More Strikes After Cruise Missiles Hit Syria

US Threatens More Strikes After Cruise Missiles Hit Syria

The day after US warships rained some 60 Tomahawk missiles on a Syrian government airbase, US officials made it clear that this unilateral and criminal attack against an oppressed former colonial country is merely the first shot in what is to be an escalating and widening campaign of American military aggression. The governor of Syria’s central Homs province reported Friday[Read More…]

by 08/04/2017 1 comment World
The Civilized World Strikes Again

The Civilized World Strikes Again

It is apparent given the timelines and the lack of time given to verifying the validity of accusations concerning the gas attack in Homs, Syria, that plans had already been coordinated for such an attack. Watching the mainstream media the viewer receives the impression from the wording of the announcers reports and questions for the “experts” that the matter was[Read More…]

by 08/04/2017 1 comment Imperialism
And The Winner Is Raytheon

And The Winner Is Raytheon

The attack on Syria is a violation of the U.S. Constitution, International Law, and the Geneva Convention.  Why did President Trump make this disastrous decision? We may never know why. BUT we do know that the decision was not made to protect those ‘beautiful little babies’.  No U.S. president in recent history has ever placed any value on the lives of babies,[Read More…]

by 08/04/2017 2 comments Imperialism
American Unlimited Imperialism:Syria

American Unlimited Imperialism:Syria

Historically, this latest eruption of American militarism at the start of the 21st Century is akin to that of America opening the 20th Century by means of the U.S.-instigated Spanish-American War in 1898. Then the Republican administration of President William McKinley stole their colonial empire from Spain in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines; inflicted a near genocidal war[Read More…]

Empire’s Aggression On Syria

Empire’s Aggression On Syria

With the pounding of 59 Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles on Shayrat airbase in Syria the Empire has widened its aggression in the strategically crucial country. The sounds of destruction announce imperialism’s and aggression, interference and intervention. This is the sound of “peace” imperialism likes to impose on peoples of other countries. Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Donald[Read More…]

by 07/04/2017 3 comments Imperialism
US Launches Cruise Missile Attack Against Syrian Government

US Launches Cruise Missile Attack Against Syrian Government

  Between 8 and 9 p.m., US Eastern Time Thursday, two US warships in the Mediterranean fired a barrage of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base at Shayrat, near the city of Homs. The attack is the first direct assault by the United States on the Russian- and Iranian-backed government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has[Read More…]

by 07/04/2017 1 comment World
Trump, Syria, And Chemical Weapons: What We Know, What We Don’t, And The Dangers Ahead

Trump, Syria, And Chemical Weapons: What We Know, What We Don’t, And The Dangers Ahead

Let’s start with what we don’t know. Experts remain uncertain what chemical(s) were involved in the horrific chemical attack, almost certainly from the air, on the village of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib province in Syria.  The nerve agent sarin, chlorine, and unknown combinations of chemicals have all been identified as possible, but in the first 48 hours nothing has been[Read More…]

by 06/04/2017 1 comment World
Trump Administration’s Reversal of Obama Era Policy in Syria

Trump Administration’s Reversal of Obama Era Policy in Syria

   The editor-in-chief of Lebanon’s prestigious al-Akhbar newspaper, Ibrahim al-Amin, has revealed in his recent editorial [1] that Tulsi Gabbard, the United States Representative for Hawaii whose trip to Syria in January and meeting with Bashar al-Assad was widely reported in media, had conveyed President Trump’s offer of cooperation to Assad during the meeting. The editorial in Arabic is full[Read More…]

by 04/04/2017 1 comment World
The Much-Maligned Views Of Rania Khalek On Syria

The Much-Maligned Views Of Rania Khalek On Syria

When journalist Rania Khalek’s lecture was cancelled on February 27, the group that invited her, Students for Justice in Palestine – University of North Carolina (SJP-UNC) issued a statement saying that the cancellation was because of Rania’s “views” on Syria, and that they believed “her invitation would mistakenly imply SJP to hold such views”. They also added that they “do[Read More…]

by 01/04/2017 1 comment World
How the Conflict in Syria Benefits Washington’s Allies

How the Conflict in Syria Benefits Washington’s Allies

In the wake of Arab Spring uprisings in March 2011, protests began in Syria against the government of Bashar al-Assad. In the following months, violence between demonstrators and security forces led to a gradual militarization of conflict. Moreover, the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq was completed in December 2011. Thus, during the initial few months of the Syrian[Read More…]

by 30/03/2017 1 comment World
Parallels Between Syrian Civil War And Soviet-Afghan Jihad

Parallels Between Syrian Civil War And Soviet-Afghan Jihad

If we were to draw parallels between the Soviet-Afghan jihad of the ‘80s and the Syrian civil war of today, the Western powers used the training camps located in the Af-Pak border regions to train and arm the Afghan Mujahideen against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan with the help of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies. Similarly, the training camps located in the[Read More…]

by 14/03/2017 1 comment World
Issues At Stake In Syria’s Peace Talks

Issues At Stake In Syria’s Peace Talks

  Syria’s peace-talks are about settling a horrific six-year-long war, but this is more of an international war that’s being waged on the battlefields of Syria, than it is a civil war within Syria itself. This fact is often ignored by the press, but the peace-talks are really more between the foreign powers than between their proxies who are killing[Read More…]

by 01/03/2017 1 comment World
Life And Death Struggle For The Children Of Syria

Life And Death Struggle For The Children Of Syria

The Story of One Child’s Struggle to Survive: On 2/17/2017 ten year old Ghina Wadi, who has spent the past seven months often in unbearable pain, which for the first month was periodically relieved for only approximately 15 minutes at a time- by heavy injections of morphine, had another of what hopefully this time will be a leg saving operation.[Read More…]

by 21/02/2017 1 comment World
The Three-Way Tug Of War That’s Pulling Syria Apart

The Three-Way Tug Of War That’s Pulling Syria Apart

Last month, the Islamic State recaptured Palmyra from where it was evicted by the Syrian army only in March; and this week, the Islamic State has launched a fierce assault in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, near Syria’s border with Iraq, and has successfully managed to surround the military airport, thus cutting off food supplies to the besieged city.[Read More…]

by 19/01/2017 1 comment World
The State Of The State Of Syria

The State Of The State Of Syria

Significant developments took place regarding Syria in December 2016. The partial cease-fire brokered, or rather, brokered and imposed, by Russia and Turkey, with Iran’s concurrence, on President Basher al Assad and a part of his foes, known as ‘moderates’, might mark a turning point in Syria’s tortuous and painful journey since 2011. Left to himself, Assad would have preferred to[Read More…]

by 03/01/2017 3 comments World
NATO’s Playbook Of Proxy Wars In The Middle East

NATO’s Playbook Of Proxy Wars In The Middle East

Since the times of the Soviet-Afghan jihad, during the eighties, it has been the fail-safe game plan of the master strategists at NATO to raise money from the oil-rich emirates of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and Kuwait; then buy billions of dollars’ worth of weapons from the arms’ markets of the Eastern Europe; and then provide those weapons and guerilla[Read More…]

by 02/01/2017 1 comment World
Putin Orders Expansion Of Russia’s Naval Base In Tartus, Syria

Putin Orders Expansion Of Russia’s Naval Base In Tartus, Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday (Dec. 23) ordered the expansion of the Russian naval base in the Syrian port city of Tartus, according to the Russian media. The expansion of the naval base comes days of the capture of the Syrian city of Aleppo by the Russian-backed Syrian forces. This comes also four days after the assassination of the Russian[Read More…]

by 27/12/2016 4 comments Imperialism
Syrian Civil War Is The Reenactment Of Soviet-Afghan Jihad

Syrian Civil War Is The Reenactment Of Soviet-Afghan Jihad

George Santayana presciently said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The only difference between the Afghan jihad back in the ‘80s, that spawned the Islamic jihadists like the Taliban and al Qaeda for the first time in history, and the Libyan and Syrian civil wars, 2011-onward, is that the Afghan jihad was an[Read More…]

by 27/12/2016 1 comment World
Russia, Iran And Turkey Issue Joint Declaration On Syrian Settlement

Russia, Iran And Turkey Issue Joint Declaration On Syrian Settlement

After meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, top officials of the Russian, Iranian and Turkish governments issued a joint eight-point statement of principles calling for the extension of a ceasefire throughout Syria and a negotiated settlement between the Syrian government and its opponents. Much of the statement, dubbed by Russian officials as the “Moscow Declaration,” was boilerplate. It declared the three[Read More…]

by 22/12/2016 1 comment World
Nagham and Lucy with their new puppy, “Lucy” on December 6, 2016.Ghina’s leg is much better and she is also receiving physical therapy in Damascus.Photo: Franklin Lamb

Will Proxy Politics Bring Death For Madaya Siblings Manal And Mohammed-Kamal?

Outside of Madaya, Syria: It was this past July that ten year old Ghina and six year old Nagham, old sisters of four year old Manal and three year old Mohammad-Kamal, left their apartment near the main street in Madaya, Syria to collect some medicine from the nearby town’s clinic for their mother Sahar. As they left the clinic and[Read More…]

by 22/12/2016 1 comment World
Turkey, Russia, Iran Sign Deal On Syria After Shooting Of Russian Ambassador To Turkey

Turkey, Russia, Iran Sign Deal On Syria After Shooting Of Russian Ambassador To Turkey

Yesterday, top Russian, Turkish, and Iranian officials met in Moscow and signed a declaration they billed as ending the US-instigated war in Syria. Coming after Russian-backed Syrian army units captured the key city of Aleppo from US-backed Islamist fighters, the deal shows that moves to improve ties between the three countries are continuing despite Monday’s assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov.

by 21/12/2016 1 comment World
IS Re-Occupies Palmyra

IS Re-Occupies Palmyra

  The National Museum, Damascus: It’s a god-awful situation today in Palmyra.  How much of our priceless cultural heritage will be destroyed during the expanding re-occupation by Islamic State (IS)? This observer has received more than two dozen emails in the past 72 hours asking for details of what is happening in Palmyra.  Many scholars and citizens interested in Palmyra[Read More…]

by 17/12/2016 1 comment World
As Syria Suffers …. A Message From A Kashmiri Student To The World

As Syria Suffers …. A Message From A Kashmiri Student To The World

   Long before the conflict began, many Syrians complained about high unemployment, widespread corruption, a lack of political freedom, and a state repression under President Bashar al-Assad. Pro-democracy protests erupted in march 2011. Many teenagers painted revolutionary slogans on school walls with which we are quite familiar in Kashmir. What happened next was heartrending, the killing of these peaceful demonstrators.[Read More…]

by 16/12/2016 1 comment World
Navigating War: Has The War In Syria Also Destroyed Journalism?  

Navigating War: Has The War In Syria Also Destroyed Journalism?  

When a veteran war reporter like Robert Fisk constructs his argument regarding the siege of Aleppo based on ‘watching’ video footage, then one can truly comprehend the near impossibility of adequate media coverage on the war in Syria. In a recent article in the British ‘Independent’, Fisk reflects on the siege, uprising and atrocious Nazi massacres in Warsaw, Poland in[Read More…]

by 15/12/2016 2 comments World
Battle For Aleppo Ends With Beseiged City In Syrian Government Control

Battle For Aleppo Ends With Beseiged City In Syrian Government Control

The Syrian government is reportedly in control of eastern Aleppo, according to news reports on Tuesday afternoon, with a deal having been reached to evacuate civilians and opposition fighters. Damascus confirmed the evacuation deal and the United Nations envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, reportedly told the Associated Press in a text message that the safe withdrawal of people from[Read More…]

by 14/12/2016 2 comments World
How ‘Moderate Rebels’ Are Supported By Islamic State In Syria

How ‘Moderate Rebels’ Are Supported By Islamic State In Syria

During the last couple of months, two very similar military campaigns have simultaneously been going on in Syria and Iraq, while the Syrian offensive with Russian air support against the militants in east Aleppo has been reviled as an assault against humanity, the military campaign in Mosul by the Iraqi armed forces and Shi’a militias with American air support has[Read More…]

by 12/12/2016 1 comment World
Why Turkey Is Seeking Close Cooperation With Russia In Syria?

Why Turkey Is Seeking Close Cooperation With Russia In Syria?

The sudden thaw in Turkey’s relations with Russia and latent hostility towards America is partly due to the fact that Erdogan holds the US-based preacher, Fethullah Gulen, responsible for the July coup plot and suspects that the latter had received tacit support from certain quarters in the US; but more importantly Turkey also feels betrayed by the duplicitous American policy[Read More…]

by 07/12/2016 1 comment World
Syrian War Threatens To Escalate As Turkey Accuses Damascus Of Attacking Its Troops

Syrian War Threatens To Escalate As Turkey Accuses Damascus Of Attacking Its Troops

Turkey’s Prime Minister and armed forces both accused the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad Thursday of conducting an airstrike on Turkish troops in the vicinity of al-Bab in the country’s north, resulting in three casualties. The incident threatens to escalate already sharp tensions between Ankara and Damascus into all-out war, posing the very real risk of direct clashes between the[Read More…]

by 26/11/2016 1 comment World
“I am from Deraa camp” reads a sign held by a girl during a demonstration outside UNRWA’s Gaza City headquarters in October 2013./ Ashraf Amra APA images

Uprooted From Syria, Stranded In Gaza

Nassar al-Adeeni has vivid memories of how an uprising began in Syria more than five years ago. At least 15 children were captured and tortured in Deraa, the city where he lived, after graffiti critical of the Damascus government was found on a school wall. The authorities’ “barbaric deeds were the main factors behind how the uprising spread quickly,” Nassar[Read More…]

by 13/11/2016 1 comment Palestine
Inside The Invisible Government: War, Propaganda, Clinton And Trump

Inside The Invisible Government: War, Propaganda, Clinton And Trump

The American journalist, Edward Bernays, is often described as the man who invented modern propaganda. The nephew of Sigmund Freud, the pioneer of psycho-analysis, it was Bernays who coined the term “public relations” as a euphemism for spin and its deceptions. In 1929, he persuaded feminists to promote cigarettes for women by smoking in the New York Easter Parade –[Read More…]

by 29/10/2016 3 comments World
Domestic U.S. Politics Of War With Russia

Domestic U.S. Politics Of War With Russia

  First, the context in which the issue of war against Russia is being raised: Syria’s government is allied with Russia’s government, and ‘The West’ is trying to overthrow Syria’s government and is bringing into Syria, and arming, tens of thousands of jihadists there, as the footsoldiers to do it. Syria and Russia are bombing the people that we are[Read More…]

by 29/10/2016 2 comments World
Obama Administration Split On “Plan B” For Syria Intervention

Obama Administration Split On “Plan B” For Syria Intervention

The Obama administration’s National Security Council has discussed proposals for a “Plan B” in Syria, involving a major escalation of the five-year-old US intervention aimed at toppling the government of President Bashar al-Assad. “Plan B”—meant to signal Washington’s response to its failure to secure its goal of “regime change” by means of a negotiated agreement with Russia, the main ally[Read More…]

by 25/10/2016 3 comments Imperialism
Turkish Bombing In Syria Threatens Wider War

Turkish Bombing In Syria Threatens Wider War

  The threat of the US military intervention in Iraq and Syria erupting into a far wider war has increased sharply in the wake of a series of Turkish air strikes against Syrian Kurdish militia forces that are aligned with Washington. The Turkish government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reported that Turkish war planes carried out 26 strikes against[Read More…]

by 22/10/2016 1 comment World
US-Led Sanctions Targeting Syria Risk Adjudication As War Crimes

US-Led Sanctions Targeting Syria Risk Adjudication As War Crimes

Beirut: As many of us would agree, the continuing conflict in Syria has created a devastating humanitarian crisis: the magnitude of humanitarian needs is overwhelming in all parts of the country and affects the region and beyond. The Syrian conflict has become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, the estimated number of people in need of the[Read More…]

by 22/10/2016 1 comment World
The Many ‘Truths’ On Syria: How Our Rivalry Has Destroyed A Country 

The Many ‘Truths’ On Syria: How Our Rivalry Has Destroyed A Country 

“The United States has the power to decree the death of nations,” wrote Stephen Kinzer in the Boston Globe.  Kinzer’s article was entitled: “The media are misleading the public on Syria.” In his piece, the scholar at a Brown University Institute contested that his country’s media misinformation on Syria is leading to the kind of ignorance which is enabling the[Read More…]

by 20/10/2016 Comments are Disabled World
Debunking “El Comercio” On Syria

Debunking “El Comercio” On Syria

The most prestigious newspaper in Peru is no more than another mouthpiece for power. But this shouldn´t surprise anyone familiar with mainstream media and its propagandistic role in our society. Sadly, most people remain unaware of this reality and still approach this kind of media for understanding on the appalling problems of contemporary life. For them there are real news:[Read More…]

by 16/10/2016 1 comment World
Political Defamation Campaign Targets Rescue Workers In Syria

Political Defamation Campaign Targets Rescue Workers In Syria

“Attacking hospitals and medical workers is a non-negotiable red line. As such, it must be set out – in clear and simple terms – in all military manuals, rules of engagement and standard operating procedures. Too often, unverified intelligence, or opaque claims that a hospital is a quote “command and control center,” is justification enough for an attack. To stop[Read More…]

by 15/10/2016 2 comments World
No-Fly Zone Madness:  Catastrophe And Conflict In Aleppo

No-Fly Zone Madness:  Catastrophe And Conflict In Aleppo

Tuesday’s House of Commons debate in Britain was filled with the hollow anguish of impotence, fresh with statements about Russian war criminality tossed about like freshly made blinis. Ever easy to point to, Russian support for a regime which Western powers wish to remove, at the expense of further catastrophe, has accelerated the ruthless disposition of the conflict.  Peace talks[Read More…]

by 15/10/2016 2 comments World
Hillary Clinton Wants To Do This Again — Now To Syria

Hillary Clinton Wants To Do This Again — Now To Syria

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (and President Obama — and some NATO partners) did it previously to Libya, and here was the result (as discussed by the retired British career diplomat Craig Murray, at his craigmurray.org.uk, who has kindly allowed me to distribute it to other newsmedia) [and I as editor will add a few clarifiers and questions in brackets] (and then afterward, I[Read More…]

by 14/10/2016 3 comments Imperialism
The Day After the Fall Of Aleppo Will International Humanitarian Law Still Be Relevant?

The Day After the Fall Of Aleppo Will International Humanitarian Law Still Be Relevant?

  Aleppo University Faculty of Law, Aleppo, Syria: Contrary to most recent media reports, and frankly to this observer’s surprise, forces defending both rebel controlled East Aleppo as well as government controlled West Aleppo during the unrelenting slaughter of this savage war, do sometimes appear restrained in their attacks. This observer does occasionally sense some concern among belligerents for civilian[Read More…]

by 07/10/2016 2 comments World
The New York Times Suddenly Embraces International Law To Condemn Russia

The New York Times Suddenly Embraces International Law To Condemn Russia

As the Syrian Arab Army dug in for a fight against the self-declared Islamic State on September 17, they were struck by an air raid that killed 62 soldiers and injured 100 more. The culprit was a foreign military that has never been attacked by, and has not declared war on, Syria. Two weeks later, that same nation’s military killed[Read More…]

by 05/10/2016 2 comments World
Honoring Aylan Kurdi By Ending The War In Syria

Honoring Aylan Kurdi By Ending The War In Syria

“A photograph, no matter how emotionally wrenching, can only do so much,” wrote Paul Slovic and Nicole Smith Dahmen in QZ.com. The photograph referenced in their comment was that of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, whose body was washed ashore on some Turkish beach in September 2015. It has been over a year since that tragic photograph – of an innocent child, face-down and[Read More…]

by 21/09/2016 1 comment World
Security Council Meets After US Coalition Strike Syrian Forces

Security Council Meets After US Coalition Strike Syrian Forces

The Syrian crisis has now moved into a serious zone where the next developments will bring the opposite groups, which were recently involved in a ceasefire deal, to a direct confrontation in more lethal way than the prevailing stage. The reason is not very hard to comprehend as in a strike by US led coalition forces; 62 Syrian soldiers have[Read More…]

by 18/09/2016 1 comment World
Can The Growing Number Of Government-Rebel Reconciliation Agreements End The Bloodshed In Syria?

Can The Growing Number Of Government-Rebel Reconciliation Agreements End The Bloodshed In Syria?

Al-Moaddamiyeh, Damascus Countryside: September 8, 2016 was a long hot tense day at the border-crossing at al-Moaddamiyeh, at town roughly ten kilometers southwest of Damascus. Approximately 135 Syrian soldiers and 35 volunteers from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society (SARCS) evacuated more than 300,  mainly civilians, who have spent the past more than four years trapped, two years in Daraya and[Read More…]

by 12/09/2016 1 comment World
U.S. Caves To Russia On Syria — Won’t Continue Protecting Al Qaeda

U.S. Caves To Russia On Syria — Won’t Continue Protecting Al Qaeda

  On Friday, September 9th, America’s Secretary of State John Kerry, and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, came to an agreement on Syria, for the second time. (The previous agreement fell apart). Like the first ‘cease-fire’, this one concerns the ongoing occupation of many parts of Syria by foreign jihadists, who have been hired by America’s allies Saudi Arabia and[Read More…]

by 11/09/2016 1 comment World
Syria: Potential Fuse For Greater Conflagration

Syria: Potential Fuse For Greater Conflagration

As the world is now well aware, Syria has been consumed by violence for years now. What people are less aware of, however, is why it has been raging for so long. According to the western narrative, the Syrian conflict — the deadliest conflict of the 21st century — started with Assad’s forces violently clamping down on peaceful oppositions and[Read More…]

by 09/09/2016 1 comment World
Biden Meets With Erdogan, Backs Turkish Invasion Of Syria

Biden Meets With Erdogan, Backs Turkish Invasion Of Syria

Under the pretext of “strengthening Turkey’s security by clearing terrorist groups from the border and maintaining Syria’s territorial integrity,” the Turkish army launched a major escalation of the war in Syria on Wednesday with a cross-border operation codenamed Euphrates Shield. Turkish units began their assault on ISIS and Kurdish militia forces at 4 AM local time, backed by tanks and[Read More…]

by 25/08/2016 1 comment World
Turkey Shells ISIS And Kurdish Forces In Syria

Turkey Shells ISIS And Kurdish Forces In Syria

Following last week’s threats by Washington to attack Syrian government war planes bombing US-backed Kurdish forces in the northern Syrian town of Hasakeh, Turkey has launched artillery barrages against both ISIS fighters and Kurdish militia in and near the Syrian border town of Jarablus. Turkey claims shells that fell Monday on its border towns of Karkamis and Kilis were fired[Read More…]

by 24/08/2016 1 comment World
U.S. Invades Syria, And Warns Russia

U.S. Invades Syria, And Warns Russia

On Monday, August 22nd, the United States government — which demands the overthrow of the internationally-recognized-as-legal government of Syria — officially announced that America’s military forces in Syria will continue to occupy Syrian land, no matter what the Syrian government says, and will shoot down any Syrian planes that fly over U.S. forces there and that attack them. As reported[Read More…]

by 23/08/2016 3 comments Imperialism
The Boy In The Ambulance Offers Glimpse Of ‘Profound Horrors’ In Syria

The Boy In The Ambulance Offers Glimpse Of ‘Profound Horrors’ In Syria

Laying bare the horrors of Syria’s ongoing civil war, heartbreaking footage of a young boy rescued from the rubble following an airstrike in Aleppo has gone viral. Much as last year’s photos of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi—”The Boy on the Beach“—offered a stark reminder of the human toll of the refugee crisis, the images of five-year-old Omran Daqneesh—”The Boy in the[Read More…]

by 19/08/2016 2 comments World
Growing Disquiet In Washington Over Russian-Iranian Actions In Syria

Growing Disquiet In Washington Over Russian-Iranian Actions In Syria

Russian bombers used an air base in the northwest of Iran for a second day Wednesday to attack targets inside Syria described by Moscow as arms depots and command centers used to support jihadist militias fighting Syrian government forces for control of the city of Aleppo. The air strikes, carried out by Tupolev-22M3 long-range bombers and SU-34 tactical bombers, mark[Read More…]

by 18/08/2016 3 comments World
Photo: Franklin Lamb. Yabroud citizens repairing their Cathedral in March of 2014. (Photo: Franklin Lamb 8/11/2016).

As Our Cultural Heritage In Syria Hemorrhages, Villagers Work To Restore It

Qalamoun Mountains, Syria: Reports continue nearly daily of yet more damage to our archeological treasures Syria. A few examples include the recent ISIS destruction at Tal Ajaja, one of Syria’s most important 2nd century AD Assyrianperiod. “More than 40 percent of Tal Ajaja was destroyed or has been ravaged by IS recently”has revealed Khaled Ahmo, the Director of Antiquities in Hasakeh.[Read More…]

by 15/08/2016 1 comment World
Why Intervention Is Worse Than Dictatorship

Why Intervention Is Worse Than Dictatorship

Let me take this opportunity to make it clear that I am in no way sympathetic towards the unrepresentative Middle Eastern dictators in general and Bashar al-Assad in particular, but in order to assign blame for the wrongdoing in Syria, we need to remind ourselves of the elementary distinction between the constant and variable factors. Bear in mind that Bashar[Read More…]

by 15/08/2016 1 comment Imperialism
US Military Prepares New Offensives In Syria And Iraq

US Military Prepares New Offensives In Syria And Iraq

Even as tensions are rising with Russia in Eastern Europe and China in Asia, the United States has launched a new war in Libya and is preparing a major military escalation in the Middle East, nominally directed against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In an interview yesterday with USA Today, Air Force Lieutenant General Jeffrey Harrigan confirmed that[Read More…]

by 13/08/2016 2 comments World
Washington Escalates Covert Backing For Al Qaeda Militias In Aleppo

Washington Escalates Covert Backing For Al Qaeda Militias In Aleppo

US-backed militias fighting against the Syrian government of Bashar al Assad have broken through the Russian and Syrian government encirclement of their positions inside the war-ravaged northern Syrian city of Aleppo, according to Western media. During fierce battles over the weekend, the US-backed, Islamist-led militia coalition known as Jaysh al Fateh overran military bases in southwest Aleppo and secured an[Read More…]

by 09/08/2016 2 comments Imperialism
FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015 file photo, relatives and comrades pray as they surround the Hezbollah flag-draped coffins of Shiite fighters who were killed in Syria, during a rally to mark the 13th day of the Shiite mourning period of Muharram, in Nabatiyeh, Lebanon. At tightly guarded facilities in south Lebanon, men as young as 17 undergo intensive training on how to use automatic rifles and heavy machine guns before being shipped off to Syria to fight alongside President Bashar Assad's forces. The training is part of a massive Hezbollah recruitment effort to make up for its human losses in Syria's war, now approaching the death toll incurred by the group during 18 years of fighting Israeli occupation.(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)

Team Clinton Focuses On The Demise Of Hezbollah

  Tel Hara, on the Golan Plain, Syria: The likely next American President, Hilary Clinton is fielding an array of foreign policy advisers, a few being sort of table scraps from the Bush administration and others having resigned from Obama’s. They are today preparing white papers on all manner of “adjustments” to what the presumed 45th American President reportedly believes was a[Read More…]

by 07/08/2016 1 comment Imperialism
U.S. Gov’t. Refused U.S. Entry To Jihadist It Employs For Overthrowing Assad

U.S. Gov’t. Refused U.S. Entry To Jihadist It Employs For Overthrowing Assad

  A four-minute video that was posted to youtube on April 29th documents that the U.S. government has been lying about an organization, the White Helmets, the U.S. government hires to assist Syria’s Al Qaeda, called “Al Nusra,” to dispose of corpses of persons Al Nusra executes. Nusra kills Syrian government soldiers; and, according to Seymour Hersh and other investigative journalists, has, throughout the Syrian war,[Read More…]

by 05/08/2016 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Russian Helicopter Shot Down In Syria As Battle Rages Over Aleppo

Russian Helicopter Shot Down In Syria As Battle Rages Over Aleppo

Five Russian servicemen were killed Monday when US-backed Islamist opposition militias shot down a helicopter in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province. The downing of the helicopter took place as fighting raged in Aleppo between US-backed opposition militias and Russian and Syrian government forces. The helicopter was shot down near Saraqeb, halfway between Aleppo and Khmeimim air base, where many Russian aircraft[Read More…]

by 02/08/2016 2 comments World
America’s Recent Achievements In The Middle East

America’s Recent Achievements In The Middle East

Here are before-and-after pictures, at https://twitter.com/MAL0mt/status/701077438525263873/photo/1, of what the U.S. government has achieved, in the Middle East: What’s especially interesting there, is that in all of these missions, except for Iraq, the U.S. was doing it with the key participation of the Saud family, the royals who own Saudi Arabia, and who are the world’s largest buyers of American weaponry. Since Barack Obama came[Read More…]

by 01/08/2016 1 comment Imperialism
Up To 28 Civilians Reportedly Killed In US-Led Strike in Syria

Up To 28 Civilians Reportedly Killed In US-Led Strike in Syria

The U.S.-led coalition has been accused of killing as many as 28 civilians, including a woman and seven children, near the northern Syrian city of Manbij on Thursday—the same area where U.S.-led airstrikes last week may have killed scores of civilians. “The Manbij area,” as the Associated Press describes, “has seen extensive battles between IS [Islamic State or ISIS] extremists[Read More…]

by 30/07/2016 1 comment Imperialism
Many Syrian youngsters vow never to abandon their country as they work to ease the suffering of others. (photo: Khaled Younis 7/23/2016)

“Don’t Cry For Us Syria … The Truth Is We Shall Never Leave You!”

Jablah, North Syria: “Don’t cry for us Syria” has recently become a motto/logo of sorts for many physically and psychologically brutalized youth around this ancient land. They are the youngsters who represent a new generation of Syrians, many of whom were born in this century. It is into their patriotic hands that the Syria’s Torch has been passed. Amid all[Read More…]

by 30/07/2016 Comments are Disabled World
Reconciliation Is The Only Way Forward For Syria

Reconciliation Is The Only Way Forward For Syria

Here is a brief update on the activities of the US Peace Council delegation in Syria. I could spend many words and hours debunking every lie you have been told about Syria and Syrians in the last 5 years, a Sisyphean task in today’s environment. Instead I will share some of my perceptions of recent events based on my experiences[Read More…]

by 30/07/2016 1 comment World
Motives Behind The Rebranding Of Al-Nusra Front

Motives Behind The Rebranding Of Al-Nusra Front

Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, in August 2011, to April 2013, Islamic State and al-Nusra Front were a single organization that chose the banner of “Jabhat al Nusra.” Although, the current al-Nusra Front is led by Abu Mohammad al Jolani but he was appointed as the Emir of al-Nusra Front by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader[Read More…]

by 30/07/2016 1 comment World
Farewell To Yarmouk: A Palestinian Refugee’s Journey From Izmir To Greece 

Farewell To Yarmouk: A Palestinian Refugee’s Journey From Izmir To Greece 

(Based on interviews with Palestinian refugees from Syria.) The refugee camp of Yarmouk was ever present in his being, pulling him in and out of an abyss of persistent fears that urged him to never return. But what was this refugee without Yarmouk, his first haven, his last earth? How could any other spot in this unwelcoming universe ever be[Read More…]

by 27/07/2016 1 comment Palestine
US Air Raids Kill More Than 200 Civilians In Northern Syria

US Air Raids Kill More Than 200 Civilians In Northern Syria

Airstrikes by the American-led war coalition killed as many as 212 civilians in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo on Tuesday, according to estimates published Thursday by Al Jazeera. The original civilian death toll produced by the strikes was reported to be 56. The strikes, which were allegedly carried out with significant support from the French military, “pulverized entire families, including[Read More…]

by 23/07/2016 1 comment World
Accusation Claims Syrian And Russian Troops Are Looting Palmyra! Indictment Not Proved

Accusation Claims Syrian And Russian Troops Are Looting Palmyra! Indictment Not Proved

Palmyra: “Syrian Troops Looting Ancient City Of Palmyra, Says Archaeologist.”  So shouted the highly respected UK Guardian’s headline of June 1, 2016 on the eve of the opening day of this month’s two-day Berlin Convergence attended by more than 170 scientists, archaeologists, architects and planners.  The gathering of experts was convened to discuss how best to preserve Syria’s, and our heritage,[Read More…]

by 29/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Life/Philosophy
How 100 Syrians, 200 Russians And 11 Dogs Out-Witted ISIS And Saved Palmyra

How 100 Syrians, 200 Russians And 11 Dogs Out-Witted ISIS And Saved Palmyra

According to the Syrian General who commanded the whole neutralization of the ISIS “Erase” project, and who generously gave these observer hours of his and his staff’s time, all of Palmyra and the close-in surrounding area are now cleansed of bobby-traps and are safe. The General proclaimed just this week that Palmyra and our cultural heritage sites here are ready and waiting to again receive foreign friends.

by 25/06/2016 1 comment World
Warmongering And Necromancy: The US State Department Dissent On Syria

Warmongering And Necromancy: The US State Department Dissent On Syria

 “To get 51 signatures on a dissent channel message is remarkable and suggests a very broad consensus at the working level responsible for implementing policy decisions, that the current [Syria] policy is failing and is destined to keep failing.” Robert Ford, The Detroit News, Jun 18, 2016 The entire messiness of the Syrian conflict should be an object lesson repudiating[Read More…]

by 21/06/2016 1 comment Imperialism
NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg Toes The Line On Power And Politics

NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg Toes The Line On Power And Politics

I wasn’t at first going to listen to Rosemary Barton’s interview (CBC) with NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg considering I would probably not learn anything new. But I did and I didn’t – I did listen and I didn’t learn anything new, the interview only reinforced previously held ideas. In general that falls into two parts. First it reminded me[Read More…]

by 20/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Imperialism