Category: Syria

Water availability in Syria has been halved since the conflict there began nearly four and a half years ago, and millions of people around the country endure “long and sometimes deliberate interruptions to their water supplies,” the United Nations said Tuesday. In a report about the scarcity of water in Syria, Unicef said it had recorded 18 deliberate cuts to the public water supply in the northern city of Aleppo this year. “Taps in some communities were left dry for up to 17 days in a row — and for over a month in some areas of the city,” the report asserted, accusing antagonists in the conflict of “using water to achieve military and political gains.” Unicef estimated that 2.3 million people in Aleppo, 2.5 million in Damascus and 250,000 in the southern city of Dara’a are suffering water shortages, and that children sent by families to fetch water […]

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ISTANBUL — The Islamic State may have used chemical agents in an attack against civilians and rival insurgents in northern Syria late last week, according to local rebels and an international aid group. The assault on Friday in the city of Marea involved more than 50 shells and was centered on civilian areas, the Syrian American Medical Society, a humanitarian group, reported . After the attack, the group’s field hospital received more than 50 patients, 23 of whom, including some children, showed symptoms of chemical exposure, including coughing, vomiting, wheezing and severe itching. Some also had blisters associated with mustard gas, the society said in a statement. The report was corroborated by local rebel forces, who claimed that shells had been fired from Isnibil, a village east of Marea that is controlled by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. “At least half of the 50 mortar […]

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There have been four long years of war. Almost a quarter of a million people dead. Millions more displaced. More rebel groups and ISIL fighters are infiltrating and taking territory. The future of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, is increasingly in question. Assad welcomed Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday. After signing a landmark nuclear deal with world powers, what is Javad Zarif doing in Damascus? The visit by the major ally of the Syrian leadership follows increased diplomatic efforts; Russia, the United States and several Middle Eastern powers are all trying to find a way to end Syria’s conflict. Presenter: Shiulie Ghosh Guests: Radwan Ziadeh : Executive Director, Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies. Arron Reza Merat: Iran analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit. Christopher Swift , from the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia. Source: Al Jazeera

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Photo The Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, met with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov on Tuesday in Moscow. Credit Maxim Shemetov/Reuters BEIRUT, Lebanon — With President Bashar al-Assad of Syria facing battlefield setbacks, diplomats from Russia , the United States and several Middle Eastern powers are engaged in a burst of diplomatic activity, trying to head off a deeper collapse of the country that could further strengthen the militant group Islamic State. Russia, Mr. Assad’s most powerful backer, has built new ties with Saudi Arabia, a fervent opponent, and even brokered a meeting between high-ranking Saudi and Syrian intelligence officials. On Tuesday, the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, met with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, in Moscow, wrangling over the fate of Mr. Assad. Unusual meetings have come in quick succession. Last week, the top Russian, American and Saudi envoys held their first three-way meeting […]

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Rebel fighters ride a motorcycle near Al-Shaar bridge, which according to activists has been closed off by rebels as it is a target for snipers from the forces of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, near Hanano barracks in Aleppo, August 1, 2015. Rebels fired dozens of rockets at central Damascus on Wednesday, a monitor and state media said, ahead of an expected visit to the Syrian capital by Iran’s foreign minister. The bombardment killed at least one person and injured more than 20 others, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitor, said. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was expected to head for Damascus from Beirut later in the day, according to Iranian state media. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said he would be discussing a new plan to resolve the war. Iran has been a crucial ally for President Bashar al-Assad during the four-year war. (Reporting by John […]

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A damaged military vehicle is seen along a road in Freikeh village after fighters from an alliance of insurgents known as the ”Army of Fatah” (Islamic Conquest) took control of the village from forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Idlib, Syria July 30,… A Syrian military source said on Tuesday the army had retreated to new defensive lines in a region of vital strategic importance to President Bashar al-Assad, seeking to avoid losses at the hands of advancing rebels. The insurgent advance into the Sahl al-Ghab plain in northwestern Syria has brought rebels including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front to the eastern edge of mountains that form the historical heartland of Assad’s Alawite people. The rapid advance so close to an area of such importance to Assad underscores the difficulties facing the army and the manner in which Syria is splintering: Assad said last month the army […]

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Syria’s oil industry, like most of its industries, is in a state of collapse. And even recent gains, according to analysts, won’t come close to bringing it back. “We have great necessity to have oil production to make the economic wheel go forward,” said Afif Dalla, a political analyst in Damascus, but “I think in general we won’t be able to reproduce the [former levels of] oil production again at the same time of the existence of these terrorist groups.” As long as the war drags on, he adds, no sector of the Syrian economy will recover fully. Since the onset of the Syrian war in 2011, government oil production has nearly stopped, with current production estimated at less than three percent of pre-war levels. In recent days, some local authorities have re-opened one of the country’s largest oil fields, more than doubling the country’s small output. But the […]

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