Syrien

„Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the news conference that Moscow would not stop bombing, as the deal did not apply to Islamic State and to a rebel group called the Nusra Front, which is affiliated with al Qaeda. ‚Our airspace forces will continue working against these organizations,‘ he said. But since Russia considers all Assad’s opponents to be terrorists, the…

„Some experts now say the line often repeated by Kerry and many of his western counterparts – that there is ‚no military solution‘ to the crisis in Syria – has actually allowed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies to pursue such a military solution with impunity. … Analysts generally agree that any attempt to pursue a political solution while…

„Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that IS had previously utilized mustard gas, evidencing the continued advancement of the terrorist organization’s sophistication on the battlefield. ‚[The Syrian government] has used chemicals against the opposition on multiple occasions since Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. ISIL has also used toxic chemicals in Iraq and Syria,…

Abdalaziz Alhamza ist der Mitbegründer und Sprecher der syrischen Menschenrechtsorganisation „Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently“ (RBSS). Seit Truppen der jihadistischen Terrororganisation Islamischer Staat (IS) die syrische Stadt Raqqa einnehmen konnten und diese zur Hauptstadt ihres Kalifats erklärten, ist RBSS die einzige zuverlässige Quelle, die weiterhin aus Raqqa berichtet. Der Publizist und Blogger David Kirsch sprach mit Abdalaziz Alhamza über die…

„The troubling thing is that the Putin policy on Syria has become hard to distinguish from the Obama policy. Sure, the Obama administration still pays lip service to the notion that Assad is part of the problem and not the solution, and that if the Syrian leader may survive through some political transition period he cannot remain beyond that. But…

Abdalaziz Alhamza ist der Mitbegründer und Sprecher der syrischen Menschenrechtsorganisation „Raqqa is Being Slaughtered silently“ (RBSS). Seit Truppen der jihadistischen Terrororganisation Islamischer Staat (IS) die syrische Stadt Raqqa einnehmen konnten und diese zur Hauptstadt ihres Kalifats erklärten, ist RBSS die einzige zuverlässige Quelle, die weiterhin aus Raqqa berichtet.Die RBBS-Aktivisten riskieren seit April 2014 ihr Leben, um den Alltag unter der…

Bei der internationalen Geberkonferenz in London wurden Milliardenbeträge für Hilfe für syrische Flüchtlinge in Aussicht gestellt. Obwohl die Summen beeindruckend klingen mögen, handelt sich angesichts der schieren Größe des Problems um kaum mehr als einen Tropfen auf den heißen Stein, meint Thomas von der Osten-Sacken, Geschäftsführer der deutsch-irakischen Hilfsorganisation WADI, im Gespräch mit Florian Markl von Mena Watch. Hilfsprojekte wie…

„It is hardly a coincidence that the bombardment of Aleppo, a symbol of the 2011 anti-Assad revolution, started just as peace talks were being attempted in Geneva. Predictably, the talks soon faltered. Russian military escalation in support of the Syrian army was meant to sabotage any possibility that a genuine Syrian opposition might have its say on the future of…

„Britain has said Russia could be trying to carve out an Alawite mini-state in Syria for its ally President Bashar al-Assad by bombing his opponents instead of fighting Islamic State militants. … ‚Is Russia really committed to a peace process or is it using the peace process as a fig leaf to try to deliver some kind of military victory…

„Die Delegation des Oppositionsbündnisses HNC ist aus Genf abgereist und will erst wiederkommen, wenn die Angriffe auf die Opposition eingestellt werden. Aber waren die ‚Verhandlungen‘ ohnehin je mehr als eine Inszenierung, die davon ablenken sollte, dass das Regime und seine Verbündeten mit der Vernichtung der Opposition vollendete Tatsachen schafft? Die westlichen Staaten, die den Syrienkonflikt erst entdeckt haben, als sich…

Von Florian Markl Im Laufe des Jänners 2016 haben russische Truppen in Syrien mehr Zivilisten getötet als alle anderen Konfliktparteien. Das geht aus einem Bericht des Syrian Network for Human Rights (sn4hr) hervor. Russland hat damit in dieser unrühmlichen Statistik die Truppen des Assad-Regimes hinter sich gelassen – und im Zuge seines angeblichen Anti-Terror-Kampfes allein binnen dieses einen Monats fast…

„By kowtowing to Russia and accepting that Bashar al-Assad might be able to stay on, America all but guaranteed Syria’s bloody war will drag on. … [T]he Obama administration itself has increased the odds of failure. Its recent tilt toward Russia’s position on the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – accepting that he might have a role in a…

„Even since the talks convened on Friday, 47 civilians have been killed by the regime and its allies, according to the normally reliable Syrian Network of Human Rights, a monitoring group. You might say that such stories are exactly why talks are necessary: to bring an end to this whole bloody business before the deaths become even more routine, even…

„In a confidential strategy paper exclusively obtained by Foreign Policy, the office of the United Nations’ top envoy to Syria warns that the U.N. would be unable to monitor or enforce any peace deal that might emerge from landmark political talks underway in Geneva. The paper raised concerns the world might harbor unrealistic expectations about the U.N.’s ability to oversee…

„More than a hundred Russian soldiers have died since Moscow launched a military campaign in Syria last September to support President Bashar al-Assad, sources close to the Syrian regime told Anadolu Agency. The sources said hundreds of Russian troops in Syria routinely take part in commanding a number of regime offensives on opposition front lines, while Russian special forces occasionally…