Syria

Read recent Syrian news stories and current events on Newser.com

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Targeting ISIS, France Airstrikes 'Hit Syria'

Hollande turns firepower on Assad's territory after concerns about refugee crisis

(Newser) - France has fired its first airstrikes in Syria as it expands military operations against Islamic State extremists, President Francois Hollande's office announced today. The office said that "France has hit Syria" based on information from French reconnaissance flights sent earlier this month. France has been firing airstrikes on...

$15M Picasso Sent as $37 Xmas Gift Returns Home

1911 painting was stolen more than 10 years ago from French storage room

(Newser) - A $15 million Pablo Picasso painting is back on display in a Paris museum after a long and unusual journey. La Coiffeuse (The Hairdresser) disappeared from a French storage room more than a decade ago, then turned up in a package from Belgium to New York last year—with a...

Syrian Baby Born With Shrapnel Wound

Shrapnel pierced mother's womb during airstrike

(Newser) - A baby girl named Amel, or "Hope," was born in Syria this month already bearing a shrapnel wound. Amel's mom, Amira, was nine months pregnant when she and three of her children were hurt when an airstrike (reportedly by government forces) hit near their Aleppo home on...

'Doomsday Vault' Sees Its First Withdrawal

Spurred by the Syrian civil war

(Newser) - The "Doomsday Vault" just got its first bit of doomsday press: coverage of its first-ever withdrawal of seeds. Since 2008, the vault has sat on a Norwegian island in the Svalbard archipelago, 800 miles from the North Pole where the soil is always frozen. It's a place so...

Why ISIS Members Quit: Boredom, No Luxury Cars

Should defectors be given a helping hand?

(Newser) - ISIS recruits are fleeing the Jihadist group for various reasons—including their use as suicide bombers, the lack of luxury cars, and the sheer boredom of duties that don't involve frontline fighting, according to a new report . Published today by a London-based think tank, the report calls defectors "...

US, Russian Defense Chiefs Have Rare Direct Talks

They discuss Syria, the first time they've spoken in more than a year

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Ash Carter called his Russian counterpart today, the first step in direct military talks proposed by Russia about Moscow's military buildup to support the Syrian government against ISIS. The 50-minute conversation marked the first time that American and Russian defense chiefs have spoken in more than a...

Russia: We Have No Troops in Syria—Yet

Moscow urges US to 'partner' with Assad regime

(Newser) - A spokesman for Vladimir Putin says Russia doesn't have combat troops in Syria right now but Moscow will consider sending troops if Damascus were to ask. Amid concerns over an ongoing Russian military buildup in Syria, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem denied reports yesterday that Russian combat troops are...

Happy Ending for Refugee Tripped by Camerawoman

Spain offers him a job

(Newser) - A happy ending for the Syrian refugee who was filmed being tripped by a camerawoman in Hungary: Osama Abdul Mohsen is now in Spain, and he's been offered a new job. Members of Spain's Cenafe national soccer coaching center heard that Abdul Mohsen had coached soccer in Syria,...

Hungary to Migrants: Cross This Fence and You're a Criminal

New laws boost its crackdown at border with Serbia

(Newser) - Hungary declared a state of emergency and police arrested 60 migrants at or near the country's 110-mile southern border with Serbia after new laws took effect at midnight making it a criminal offense to cross the border illegally or mess with the 13-foot razor-wire fence, the BBC reports. With...

Dad of Drowned Toddler Was Driving Boat, Say Refugees

That puts his account of what happened in dispute

(Newser) - A messy coda to the story of the drowned Syrian toddler who washed ashore while trying to reach Greece with his family. Other passengers aboard the boat are questioning the account given by the boy's father, Abdullah Kurdi, about the ship's sinking, reports Reuters . Three people—including an...

10K Syrian Refugees? We Once Did 80 Times That

The US once accepted 800K war refugees: Max J. Rosenthal

(Newser) - The US will accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, and that's great—but it's a drop in the bucket compared to the 800,000 Southeast Asian refugees we accepted after the Vietnam War. That's the argument in Mother Jones today, as writer...

US to Take 10K Syrian Refugees

White House says it's a 'significant scaling up' of the US commitment

(Newser) - The US plans to ramp up the number of Syrian refugees it will accept: President Obama has set a goal of 10,000 in the fiscal year that begins in October, up from the current year's approximate total of 1,800, reports the Wall Street Journal . It's a...

Russian Military May Be Joining Fight in Syria

The US and its allies are concerned

(Newser) - If reports from a number of anonymous sources are to be believed, Russia is increasing its military presence in Syria, where a four-year civil war has resulted in 250,000 deaths, and that's worrying to the United States and its allies. The Guardian reports increased sightings of Russian jets,...

Britain to Accept 20K Migrants, But Is It Enough?

France is taking 24K over the next 2 years

(Newser) - Austria and Germany have already accepted thousands of migrants fleeing the Middle East—now it's Britain's turn. British Prime Minister David Cameron said today that the UK will house up to 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020, the BBC reports. Britain has a "moral responsibility" to help,...

US Rethinks Rebel Training After Disastrous Launch

US-trained fighters killed, kidnapped within weeks

(Newser) - The Pentagon plans a total revamp of its plan to train an army of moderate Syrian rebels after a disastrous start to the program. Officials had aimed to train thousands of fighters in the first year, but only a few dozen made it through the vetting process , and many of...

Facebook Post on Aylan Could Get Man Imprisoned

Man allegedly celebrated drowning of Syrian migrant child

(Newser) - After a Berlin man allegedly posted a photo of a drowned Syrian child to Facebook with the message "we are not mourning but celebrating it," German police raided his home today, seizing a computer and two cellphones, the AP reports. The man is now facing up to three...

Drowned Syrian Toddler Had a Desperate Backstory

Aylan Kurdi, 3, and his family were en route to Canada from Syria

(Newser) - We now know the name of the drowned boy who has become a symbol of Europe's desperate migrant crisis. The National Post identifies the boy, whose lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach yesterday, as 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi of Syria. He perished when his small dingy, part of...

Drowned Toddler Sadly Illustrates Migrant Crisis

Syrian boy drowned trying to reach Greece

(Newser) - (Warning: Links on this story go to disturbing images.) Photos of the lifeless body of a Syrian toddler who drowned while trying to reach the Greek island of Kos were sweeping the Internet today and fast becoming THE images of Europe's migrant crisis. They're disturbing, however, so...

Satellite Confirms ISIS Did Blow Up Key Ancient Temple

UN agency confirms temple's destruction at the hands of ISIS

(Newser) - The world is indeed down one treasure after the destruction of a major temple in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. By comparing a satellite image snapped yesterday with another from Thursday—visible side by side here —a UN agency has confirmed that the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel...

ISIS Blows Up 'Most Important' Temple

Palmyra's Temple of Bel was amazingly well-preserved

(Newser) - The 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel was considered the most important temple in the ancient city of Palmyra, which is itself considered one of the world's treasures, and it's now believed to be rubble. Witnesses say ISIS militants, who seized the Syrian city in May, destroyed the temple...

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