Syria

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Syria Ceasefire Goes Into Effect
Syria Ceasefire Goes Into Effect
Jul 9, 2017 5:31 AM CDT

Syria Ceasefire Goes Into Effect

Move was brokered by US, Russia at G20

(Newser) - An open-ended ceasefire in southern Syria brokered by the United States and Russia has come into effect. The ceasefire, announced after a meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hamburg last week, is the first initiative by the Trump administration in collaboration with Russia to bring some...

US-Backed Forces Surround Last ISIS Fighters in Raqqa
When ISIS Is Beaten in
Syria and Iraq, Then What?
the rundown
Jul 3, 2017 9:01 AM CDT

When ISIS Is Beaten in Syria and Iraq, Then What?

Without a clear strategy, it's a 'dangerous situation,' says one analyst

(Newser) - The Islamic State appears to be nearly ousted in the Iraqi city of Mosul, and now US-backed forces have the last 2,500 ISIS holdouts trapped in the group's other stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, reports the New York Times . The militants are cut off from supplies, though the final...

Investigators: Deadly Attack in Syria Used Sarin

Findings will be part of UN investigation

(Newser) - An investigation by the international chemical weapons watchdog has concluded that sarin nerve gas was used in a deadly April 4 attack on a Syrian town, the latest confirmation of chemical weapons use in Syria's civil war. The attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Syria's Idlib province left more...

Syria, Iran, Russia Push Back Against US Warning
Syria, Iran, Russia Push
Back Against US Warning
The Rundown
Jun 27, 2017 1:23 PM CDT

Syria, Iran, Russia Push Back Against US Warning

Syria says it isn't planning to use chemical weapons, which it says it doesn't have

(Newser) - Late Monday, the White House took the unusual step of issuing a preemptive warning against Syria, which it claims is preparing to launch a chemical weapons attack. The Wall Street Journal reports the Trump administration is basing that assertion on evidence from the same air base that the US hit...

US Issues Unprecedented 'Pre-Warning' to Syria

White House warns Assad's regime about carrying out another chemical attack

(Newser) - President Bashar al-Assad's regime will pay a "heavy price" if it carries out another chemical weapons attack in Syria, the White House said in an unusual warning Monday night. The White House statement said the US has "identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack" that would...

Trump White House Tried to Free US Hostage in Syria

CIA chief had secret talks for journalist Austin Tice, but to no avail

(Newser) - The Trump administration has been trying to get another US hostage home: Austin Tice . The New York Times reports that clandestine talks between CIA director Mike Pompeo and Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk began in February to initiate the release of the American journalist and former Marine, who went missing...

The World Now Has a Record Number of Refugees

Figure is 22.5M; in all, 65M are living displaced from their homes

(Newser) - The world broke a grim record last year, with 65.6 million people living forcibly displaced from their homes, an increase of 300,000 over 2015. Most of those people—40.3 million—were displaced but still living within their own countries, per a new report by the UN refugee...

Russia Threatens to Hit US Jets Over Syria

Moscow angry after downing of Syrian plane

(Newser) - Russia's defense ministry says it will treat US-led coalition planes in Syria that venture west of the Euphrates River as targets after the US military shot down a Syrian Air Force jet on Sunday, reports the AP . Moscow also suspended a military hotline the two nations have used to...

US Shoots Down Syrian Aircraft for First Time

It was 'collective self-defense,' Pentagon says

(Newser) - The US military shot down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet Sunday that bombed local forces aligned with the Americans in the fight against ISIS militants, an action that appeared to mark a new escalation of the conflict. The US had not shot down a Syrian regime aircraft before Sunday'...

Russia Suspects It Killed ISIS Leader Weeks Ago

Ministry says airstrike killed 30 commanders

(Newser) - The Islamic State might have been without a leader for more than two weeks, according to Russia's defense ministry. The ministry announced Friday that it suspects ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a May 28 airstrike near Raqqa, Syria, the BBC reports. After drones confirmed that ISIS...

Syrian Boy in Iconic Photo Resurfaces

Father says rebels used him as propaganda tool

(Newser) - The Syrian boy who drew worldwide attention last August after he was bloodied by an airstrike in Aleppo has resurfaced looking like any other healthy 5-year-old. But some are cautioning that looks can be deceiving. In interviews with pro-government outlets —including reporter Kinana Allouche , who once shared a selfie...

US Strike Hits Pro-Syrian Forces Seen as 'Threat': Officials

It happened near Tanf

(Newser) - US officials say an American airstrike has hit pro-Syrian government forces in southern Syria as they were setting up fighting positions in a protected area. The officials say the strike Thursday near Tanf hit a tank and a bulldozer and forces there, but it wasn't clear if they were...

US Official Warns of ISIS 'Chemical Weapons Cell'

'This is not something we want to see them get good at'

(Newser) - A US official warns ISIS could be getting all its chemical weapons experts together in a "chemical weapons cell" in a last-ditch effort to defend its remaining territory in Syria. CNN reports the unnamed official says the experts are from Iraq and Syria and haven't previously worked together....

Syria Disposing of Thousands of Bodies in Crematorium: US

Assad regime said to have built facility at Sednaya military prison

(Newser) - A Syrian military prison that Amnesty International last year called a "human slaughterhouse" is reported to be executing upward of 50 prisoners daily, and now a US State Department official says President Bashar al-Assad's regime has built and is using a secret crematorium to dispose of the bodies,...

US Will Supply Heavier Arms to Syrian Kurds to Fight ISIS

Turkey accuses the US of arming terrorists to fight terrorists

(Newser) - President Trump will provide heavier arms to Syrian Kurds in a move certain to anger Turkey, the New York Times reports. The US will supply YPG with things like anti-tank missiles and heavy machine guns so the Kurdish militia can help take Raqqa, a Syrian city serving as the capital...

Trump's Big Phone Call Tuesday: Vladimir Putin

Leaders will speak amid low point in US-Russia relations

(Newser) - President Trump has an important phone call on his docket Tuesday: He'll be speaking with Vladimir Putin at 12:30pm Eastern. The talk comes less than a month after Trump said US-Russian relations "may be at an all-time low," notes the Wall Street Journal . The most recent...

Wilbur Ross Catches Flak for Joke on Syria Strike

Wilbur Ross likened it to 'after-dinner entertainment' at Mar-a-Lago

(Newser) - Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was trying to be funny, but his recollection of his boss' decision to launch an airstrike on Syria is not going over well. At a conference Monday, Ross publicly recounted the move made by President Trump while he was entertaining Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago...

Foreign Fighters Rethinking Their ISIS Allegiance

'Guardian' reports on a wave of desertions

(Newser) - ISIS is steadily losing territory in Iraq and Syria, and a lot of foreign fighters are apparently having second thoughts about fighting to the death for it. The Guardian reports that officials in Turkey and Europe say large numbers of foreign fighters are abandoning the group and trying to flee,...

New Sanctions on Syria Among Biggest Ever by US

White House announces 271 penalties, cites chemical weapons attack

(Newser) - The White House accuses Syrian leaders of gassing their own civilians , and it's looking to punish anyone in the nation connected to the weapons. On Monday, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against 271 employees of a Syrian agency believed to have developed and produced chemical weapons, reports USA Today ...

Thorn in the Side of 9 US Presidents: the Assads

Marathon negotiations with Bashar al-Assad's father were nicknamed 'bladder diplomacy'

(Newser) - The Assad family has been in power in Syria since a successful coup in 1970, the last of dozens that occurred after the country, which is wedged between Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq, had declared sovereignty from France in 1946. Since then, each of nine American presidents has tried...

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