Syrien

„Recent comments by Iranian military personnel suggest that their support for the Assad government in the Syrian Civil War includes previously unknown contributions by the country’s conventional armed forces (the Artesh). Specifically, the deployment of advisors including those from the 65th Airborne Special Forces Brigade. This revelation is significant because it hints at an increasingly expeditionary role for a branch…

„As Hezbollah, Iran and Assad are relentlessly using ‚Palestine‘ to justify their massacres and interference in Syria, we have rarely heard a word of sympathy toward the Syrian people from Palestinian political and public figures. As a matter of fact, except for a couple of writers, Palestinian journalists, intellectuals and artists have kept silent toward the atrocities against to the…

„Diplomacy has meanwhile made little progress with no compromise over the future of President Bashar al-Assad, his position strengthened by Iranian and Russian military support. A top Iranian official, in comments to Iran TV, rejected what he described as a U.S. request for Tehran’s help to make Assad leave power, saying he should serve out his term and be allowed…

„Two of Rabe’s brothers, Hassan and Hameed, were arrested in 2012 for helping to treat protesters injured while demonstrating against the Assad regime, Rabe said. Both had gone to pharmacy school, and had their own shop in Aleppo where they sold medicine. Rabe said they were detained for two months in the regime’s notorious Tadmor prison in Palmyra, the city…

„The women in the Syrian city of Raqqa suffer greatly under the oppression of the terrorist organization ‚Islamic State.‘ DW had exclusive access to some of those women, who spoke about their daily lives.“ (hier)

„‚Schlecht organisierte Terrorgruppen leben nicht lang‘, sagt Leah Farrall von der Universität Sydney, Expertin für die Geschichte des Dschihadismus (‚The Arabs at War in Afghanistan‘). ‚Der IS profitiert davon, dass er Formulare und Prozesse von Al-Kaida geerbt hat.‘ Die straffe Organisation ist aber nur die Oberfläche. Viel brisanter ist der Inhalt: Die ‚Anmerkungen‘ der IS-Grenzer gewähren Einblicke in die Persönlichkeiten…

„Russia decided to partially withdrawal its troop from Syria due to Moscow’s disappointment over failures by pro-regime Iranian and Hezbollah forces to achieve victories against opposition forces fighting to topple the Assad government, the Saudi news-site Elaph reported Monday night. According to the report, Russia had been concerned about air support and bombed regions where Iranian and Hezbollah troops were…

„Isis has killed at least 10 people in just two days in Syria and displayed their bodies in gory mock crucifixions. One man’s body was hung from a post on a busy roundabout in its de-facto capital of Raqqa, dressed in one of the orange jumpsuits that have become synonymous with the group’s execution videos.“ (hier)

„In Syrien formiert sich eine neue Opposition, die Präsident Baschar al-Assad gefährlicher werden könnte als alle militanten Gruppen in den vergangenen Jahren. Denn der neue Widerstand braut sich in seiner eigenen Volksgruppe zusammen. In einer Erklärung, die der „Welt am Sonntag“ vorliegt, distanzieren sich Vertreter alawitischer Großfamilien von der Regierung und bieten der sunnitischen Bevölkerungsmehrheit eine umfassende Versöhnung an. ‚Die…

„Einer Feuerpause wie im Donbass hat Putin in Syrien zugestimmt, nachdem seine kriegerische Intervention keineswegs auf die Terrormiliz IS, sondern auf die Anti-Asad-Rebellen gezielt und sie entscheidend geschwächt hatte. Deren Stillhalten nutzt er jetzt, um dem Asad-Regime eine Offensive nun auch gegen den IS und somit weitere Gebietsgewinne zu ermöglichen.Wenn die IS-Horrormiliz, von wem auch immer, aus Städten wie Palmyra…

„The $500 million Russia spent on the military operation in Syria may soon pay off for the Kremlin, reports business daily Kommersant, as Moscow expects $6-7 billion worth of new arms contracts. According to the newspaper’s source, close to military exports and technical cooperation, potential customers are looking to buy the weapons proved in action. These are armaments in the…

„North Korean military units are in Syria to help President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, a member of the Saudi-backed Syrian opposition recently claimed. ‚Two North Korean units are there, which are Chalma-1 and Chalma-7,‘ Asaad al-Zoubi, who is heading a delegation for the Syrian opposition’s High Negations Committee (HNC) to the upcoming Geneva talks told state-owned Russian news agency TASS. ……

„Although the eruption of popular protest, regime violence, and civil war created conditions under which jihadist militancy could thrive, Syria had already been fertile ground for Sunni extremism. For many years prior to 2011, the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had maintained a consistently flirtatious relationship with Sunni jihadists. Damascus aimed at manipulating them into acting as proxies for…

„Die Zerstörung und das menschliche Leid sind immens, aber das scheint Putin nun fast so wenig zu kümmern wie die fortwährende Existenz des IS und seiner russischen Kämpfer. Der Kremlchef erklärte zu Wochenbeginn, dass seine Armee die wichtigsten Aufgaben in Syrien erfüllt habe und der Großteil der Truppen deshalb abgezogen werden könne. Das syrische Regime von Bashar al-Asad sei nicht…

Der Journalist Gavino Garay berichtet für Reuters über eine aktuelle Welle an Demonstrationen in Syrien, auf denen der Rücktritt von Diktator Bashar al-Assad gefordert wird.