Category: Syria

Over the last two weeks, Obama administration officials have signaled – sometimes intentionally, sometimes not – that a worst-case scenario is emerging in Syria. Peace talks are at a virtual standstill. An emboldened President Bashar al-Assad has missed two deadlines to turn over his deadliest chemical weapons. And radical extremists who have fought in Syria are carrying out attacks in Egypt and allegedly aspire to strike the United States as well. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told members of Congress last week that Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda aligned group in Syria, "does have aspirations for attacks on the homeland." American and Egyptian officials expressed alarm this week at signs that Egyptians who fought in Syria have returned home to mount an insurgency. Critics of Obama administration policy in Syria argue that none of this should come as a surprise. For years, they have predicted that […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

; Al Qaeda’s central leadership has officially cut ties with a powerful jihadist group that has flourished in the chaos of the civil war in Syria and that rushed to build an Islamic state on its own terms, antagonizing the wider rebel movement. The animosity between the group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and other rebel groups has fueled the deadliest infighting yet between the foes of President Bashar al-Assad and has sapped their campaign to depose him. Though the isolation of the group could lead to greater unity among other rebel forces, it is unlikely to assuage fears in the United States and elsewhere about the increasing power of extremists in Syria. The break between Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, announced late Sunday on jihadist websites, served both […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com

– Syria plans to send a large shipment of toxic agents out of the country this month and can complete the removal process by March 1, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov was quoted as saying on Tuesday. "Literally yesterday the Syrians announced that the removal of a large shipment of chemical substances is planned in February. They are ready to complete this process by March 1," state-run Russia news agency RIA quoted Gatilov as saying. The operation to dispose of Syria’s chemical stockpile under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States is far behind schedule and a deadline for sending all toxic agents out of Syria this week will be missed, Reuters reported last week. U.S. officials accused Damascus of dragging its feet and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last Friday to put pressure on Assad’s government […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has said progress at the Syria peace talks has been slow but can form a basis on which the two sides can build, as he closed the week-long conference in Geneva. He said he had seen a "little bit of common ground" between government delegates and the opposition. Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, however, said there had been no tangible results from the conference. Another round of talks has been scheduled for 10 February. The opposition has agreed to take part, but Mr Muallem refused to commit. "We represent the concerns and interests of our people. If we find that [another meeting] is their demand, then we will come back," he told reporters. The two sides discussed humanitarian issues and how to end the violence. More than 100,000 people have died in Syria since the uprising against President […]

Click here to view full article at www.bbc.co.uk

Syrian rebels, some of which are aligned with al-Qaida, may be financing their rebel campaign through the sale of oil, an Emirati oil executive said. Syria relies on oil and natural gas revenue to help pay off its government debt. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says Syria’s energy sector is in decline because of war and Western economic sanctions. A report published Tuesday by the New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. counter-terrorism officials, says much of Syria’s oil and natural gas resources are in the hands of the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria, a group affiliated with al-Qaida. The report said ISIS is selling petroleum products to the Syrian government. "Even sold at discounted prices, this oil could be generating significant revenue for rebels to arm themselves," Badr Jafar, chairman of Emirati energy company Crescent Petroleum, was quoted in the report as […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Syria has given up less than five percent of its chemical weapons arsenal and will miss next week’s deadline to send all toxic agents abroad for destruction, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The deliveries, in two shipments this month to the northern Syrian port of Latakia totaled 4.1 percent of the roughly 1433 metric tons of toxic agents reported by Damascus to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It’s not enough and there is no sign of more," one source briefed on the situation said. The internationally backed operation, overseen by a joint OPCW-United Nations mission, is now 6-8 weeks behind schedule. Damascus needs to show it is still serious about relinquishing its chemical weapons, the sources told Reuters. Failure to eliminate its chemical weapons could expose Syria to sanctions, although […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

The World Food Program has said it is poised to enter besieged areas with 500 bags of family rations and 500 sacks of wheat. But the aid trucks remain stranded outside Homs, and on Tuesday, the U.S. government laid the blame squarely on the government. “The only reason this assistance has not been delivered is that the regime has refused to let the convoy through,” said State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez, rejecting government claims that rebel snipers and armed groups were preventing entry. “The regime’s actions speak volumes to how little they value the lives of innocent civilians.” Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, in Geneva, said the government wanted to be sure the aid deliveries would not go to “armed groups” or “terrorists,” Reuters news service reported. “We want them to go to the women and children. We are still waiting for these assurances,” he said. Several areas […]

Click here to view full article at www.washingtonpost.com

Islamist rebels and extremist groups have seized control of most of Syria’s oil and gas resources, a rare generator of cash in the country’s war-battered economy, and are now using the proceeds to underwrite their fights against one another as well as President Bashar al-Assad, American officials say. While the oil and gas fields are in serious decline, control of them has bolstered the fortunes of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria , or ISIS, and the Nusra Front, both of which are offshoots of Al Qaeda. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is even selling fuel to the Assad government, lending weight to allegations by opposition leaders that it is secretly […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com

Attempts to send convoys of food and medicine to thousands of people under siege in a rebel-held area of Homs failed Monday, lowering hopes about the regime’s commitment to confidence-building measures coming out of peace talks in Geneva. Syrian government and United Nations officials met for talks in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, but they couldn’t agree how to implement a U.N. plan proposed to the regime more than a week ago. The regime insisted on Sunday in Geneva and on Monday in Homs that it would only discuss the evacuation of civilians. The opposition is demanding that aid be delivered before any evacuation, fearing that once some civilians leave, the government will launch a military offensive against rebels who remain. The government’s siege of the old quarter of Homs for the past 20 months has trapped an estimated 3,000 civilians and up to 4,000 rebels. Both the U.N. […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

The United States has restarted deliveries of nonlethal aid to the Syrian opposition, officials said Monday, more than a month after al-Qaida-linked militants seized warehouses and prompted a sudden cutoff of Western supplies to the rebels. The communications equipment and other items are being funneled for now only to non-armed opposition groups, said the U.S. officials. But the move nevertheless boosts Syria’s beleaguered rebels, who saw their international support slide after Islamic militants seized bases near the Turkish border that had been under the authority of a key U.S.-backed leader. It could also be seen as a U.S. reward to the opposition for its participation in ongoing peace talks with President Bashar Assad’s government in Geneva. The U.S. officials, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity, said the aid was being sent through Turkey into Syria, with the coordination […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org