Category: Syria

BEIRUT Syria’s air force carried out at least 15 strikes in and around the central city of Palmyra early on Monday, targeting buildings captured by Islamic State, a group monitoring the war said. Fighters from the militant group overran the ancient city, the site of some of the world’s best preserved Roman ruins, last week. They have killed at least 217 people execution-style in the area since May 16 including children, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. This was in addition to at least 300 soldiers killed by Islamic State in fighting leading up to the city’s capture, according to the Observatory’s toll. It said the hardline group had detained around 600 soldiers, pro-government fighters and those accused of being loyalists in and around the city, also a key military gain as it stands on a crossroads to the cities of Damascus and Homs. The air force […]

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BEIRUT Islamic State militants stormed the Syrian city of Palmyra on Wednesday, seizing it from government forces in fierce fighting as civilians were evacuated and Syria’s antiquities chief called on the world to save its ancient monuments. The capture of Palmyra is the first time the al Qaeda offshoot has taken control of a city directly from the Syrian army and allied forces, which have already lost ground in the northwest and south to other insurgent groups in recent weeks. The central city, also known as Tadmur, is built alongside the remains of a oasis civilization whose colonnaded streets, temple and theater have stood for 2,000 years. It is home to modern military installations, and sits on a desert highway linking the capital Damascus with Syria’s eastern provinces, mostly under rebel control. "Praise God, (Palmyra) has been liberated," said an Islamic State fighter speaking by Internet from the area. […]

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WASHINGTON — If President Obama hoped that the danger of chemical warfare in the Middle East receded when Syria gave up tons of poison gas, mounting evidence that toxic weapons remain in the strife-torn country could once again force him to decide just how far he is willing to go to enforce his famous “red line.” The discovery of traces of ricin and sarin in Syria, combined with the use of chlorine as a makeshift weapon in the country’s grinding civil war, undercut what Mr. Obama had viewed as a signal triumph of his foreign policy, the destruction of President Bashar al-Assad ’s chemical arsenal. But Mr. Obama appears no more eager to use military force against Mr. Assad’s government today than he was in 2013 when he abruptly called off a threatened airstrike in exchange for a Russian-brokered agreement in which Syria voluntarily gave up its chemical weapons. […]

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Photo Villagers in Syria headed away from what activists said was a chlorine gas attack this month in insurgent-held areas. Credit Abed Kontar/Reuters International inspectors have found traces of banned toxic chemicals in at least three military locations in Syria , four diplomats and officials said, less than two years after President Bashar al-Assad agreed to dismantle the country’s chemical arsenal. Traces of sarin, a nerve agent, were found in drainage pipes and in artillery shells in two places, and traces of another banned toxin, ricin , were found in a third location, a scientific research center, according to a United Nations diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential reports from the inspectors. The discovery of the small amounts of banned materials, first reported by Reuters, comes as Syrian government forces are being accused of continuing to bombard insurgent-held areas with chlorine bombs. Taken together, […]

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ENLARGE Children react after what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Wednesday. A U.S. diplomat termed chemical weapons use allegations against Syria ‘credible.’ Photo: Bassam Khabieh /Reuters Three U.S. diplomats stepped up pressure against the Syrian government on Friday by accusing it of continuing to use chemical arms against its opponents in the country’s four-year civil war. The American ambassador to The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Robert Mikulak, cited a “steady stream” of accounts that the government is using chlorine as a chemical weapon, as recently as this month. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that accounts by people in Syria over such chemical attacks are “strong and credible.” And Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said evidence makes clear that Syria is killing people by dropping chlorine-filled barrels from helicopters […]

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Security forces battled armed men in Damascus on Monday, killing the attackers as one blew himself up, state news outlets reported, in a type of clash that remains rare in the capital even after more than four years of war in Syria . Websites that are for and against the government displayed photographs of a column of smoke towering above six-story apartment houses in Rukineddine, a northern district of central Damascus. A pro-government radio station reported that opposition fighters had crossed an agricultural area from insurgent-held suburbs, perhaps to carry out an attack on Berniah Street, a major thoroughfare near the scene of the clash. A Twitter account associated with the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, said that three members of the group had carried out the attack, which was on a military supplies and logistics headquarters. The Nusra Front has in the past […]

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Photo Rebel fighters took up positions in Jobar, Syria, last week for what they called a battle to unite rebel factions against forces loyal to the president. Credit Amer Almohibany /Reuters BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian Army has suffered a string of defeats from re-energized insurgents and is struggling to replenish its ranks as even pro-government families increasingly refuse to send sons to poorly defended units on the front lines. These developments raise newly urgent questions about the durability of President Bashar al-Assad ’s rule. “The trend lines for Assad are bad and getting worse,” said a senior United States official in Washington, who, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential intelligence assessments, nevertheless cautioned that things had not yet reached “a boiling point.” The erosion of the army is forcing the government to rely ever more heavily on Syrian and foreign militias, especially Hezbollah , the Lebanese […]

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