by Richard Hall Rebels in Syria are becoming increasingly radicalised as more and more foreign fighters join the battle to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, United Nations human rights investigators have warned. The UN team, expressing concern at the “increasing… Read More ›
Common criminals also getting in on the game, with wealthy families being targeted An epidemic of kidnapping has broken out in Syria, with rebels using ransoms to fund their military operations and common criminals taking the opportunity to cash in…. Read More ›
By Richard Becker History shows U.S. viciously attacks—not supports—real revolutions Sandinistas enter Managua, July 19, 1979 On July 18, a huge bomb blast killed or critically wounded several top Syrian security officials. While the “Free Syrian Army,” claimed credit, the… Read More ›
He’s a virtual dictator who presides over a virtual one-party state controlled by his own ethnic minority. True, he has been elected multiple times, but he relies on violence and intimidation to win “mind-bogglingly one-sided elections.” (1) In the last… Read More ›
By Hadeel Al Shalchi ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) – Syrian rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad need the protection of no-fly zones and safe havens patrolled by foreign forces near the borders with Jordan and Turkey, a Syrian opposition leader… Read More ›
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, sources familiar with the matter said. Obama’s order, approved earlier this year and known… Read More ›
Turkey sent tanks and missile batteries to the border next to Syria’s Kurdish region Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he will not tolerate a Kurdish safe-haven in Syria following reports that Kurdish rebels and a Syrian Kurdish political party had taken… Read More ›
By ROD NORDLAND CAIRO — It is the sort of image that has become a staple of the Syrian revolution, a video of masked men calling themselves the Free Syrian Army and brandishing AK-47s — with one unsettling difference. In… Read More ›
By Rami Ruhayem BBC News, Baghdad In the late evening, a busload of Iraqis arrived in Baghdad after a 12-hour journey across the desert. With a mixture of anger and resignation, they said that they had been forced to leave… Read More ›
By Roy Gutman ISTANBUL — President Bashar Assad, facing a growing rebel presence in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and its commercial hub, has turned control of parts of northern Syria over to militant Kurds who Turkey has long branded as… Read More ›
By Stephen Gowans Syrian government forces may or may not have been responsible for the killing of 108 civilians at Houla. Witness accounts point to militias that may have been acting independently of the Syrian government. One account describes the… Read More ›
The Red Phoenix 