Category: Syria

Photo A Syrian opposition fighter near Aleppo last weekend during clashes with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Credit Thaer Mohammed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images ISTANBUL — Government forces across Syria — including army units, fighters with the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and other loyalist militias — were trying to advance Tuesday on more than half a dozen front lines, with close air support in places from Russian warplanes and helicopters. Syrian Army troops and allied militias inched their way closer to the contested city of Aleppo, as a slowly developing offensive stretched into its fifth day. To the east of the city, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad appeared to be pushing to retake a military airport surrounded by militants with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. There are indications that the most prominent members of a new pro-government alliance — Russia and Iran — […]

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Free Syrian Army fighters of the 101 Division stand behind sandbags near the town of Morek in the northern countryside of Hama, Syria October 14, 2015. Rebels battling the Syrian army and its allies south of Aleppo say they have received new supplies of U.S.-made anti-tank missiles from states that oppose President Bashar al-Assad since a major government offensive began there on Friday. Rebels from three Free Syrian Army-affiliated groups contacted by Reuters said new supplies had arrived since the start of the attack by the army backed by Iranian fighters and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. But officials from one of the groups said that while new quantities had arrived, the supplies were not enough for the scale of the assault. They declined to be identified due to the sensitivities of the matter. "A few will not do the trick. They need dozens," said one of the officials. A number of […]

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Syrian pro-regime forces backed by Russian airstrikes have expanded their ground offensive to the strategic city of Aleppo, one of the clearest signs yet of how Russia’s recent military intervention has emboldened President Bashar al-Assad and his loyalists. In the bitterly fought multi-sided war, Aleppo is among the most coveted prizes. Losing partial control of the city, which was once Syria’s largest and its commercial capital, was an embarrassment to the regime. But with the backing of Russian warplanes, Iranian forces and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, Mr. Assad’s forces could now be in position to regain large parts of the city and the surrounding countryside. “I suspect Assad always wanted to take back Aleppo because it is such an important city and retaking it has such strategic and symbolic importance,” said Emile Hokayem, a Middle East analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based military and security […]

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A frame grab taken from footage released by Russia’s Defence Ministry October 15, 2015, shows a Sukhoi Su-24M military aircraft landing on the tarmac at the Hmeymim air base near Latakia, Syria. Syrian troops and their allies, backed by Russian jets, attacked insurgent fighters south of Aleppo on Friday, a source in Syria and a monitoring group said, as the army expands a counter-offensive with support from Moscow’s two-week-old air campaign. "The military operation has started in rural southern Aleppo," a pro-government source in Syria said. Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there were heavy clashes near the Jebel Azzan region, about 12 km (8 miles) south of Aleppo city, control of which is divided between government forces and rebels. The area the army and Russian jets were targeting was close to a main road heading south towards the capital Damascus, Abdulrahman said. Since […]

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In the Golan Heights, there is an unassuming aqueduct used for local irrigation. Not so long ago, however, this mundane structure was part of a much grander project, known as ‘Tapline,’ a 754 mile long Trans-Arabian pipeline to transport oil straight from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. When Tapline was constructed in 1947, the idea of creating a shortcut for transporting oil over land made economic sense. This was still true twenty years later, when, despite fierce animosity, Israel and the Arab states cooperated to keep the pipeline running after Israel captured part of the Golan in the 1967 war. But, with the arrival of oil supertankers, it became more economically attractive to load the oil in the Gulf and sail it straight to Western markets, instead of using Tapline. While the Tapline project may have been buried, the idea of building a pipeline through the Middle […]

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Rebel fighters carry their weapons as they head toward their positions in the town of Kafr Nabudah, in Hama province, Syria, on which forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad are carrying out offensives to take control of the town, October 11, 2015. Insurgents in Syria are deploying more men and weapons, including significant quantities of anti-tank missiles, to resist ground attacks by the Syrian army and its allies, backed by Russian air strikes, rebels and a monitoring group said on Tuesday. With help from Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iranian soldiers, Syria is trying to drive insurgents from western areas that are crucial to President Bashar al-Assad’s survival, and has recaptured a number of towns in the provinces of Hama and Latakia. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group tracking the war, said a battle continued for control of the town of Kafr Nabuda in Hama province, which […]

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AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Insurgents fired two shells at the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital on Tuesday as hundreds of pro-government supporters gathered outside the compound to thank Moscow for its intervention in Syria. An Associated Press reporter was outside the embassy when the first shell slammed into the compound in central Damascus and smoke billowed from inside. As people started running away, another shell hit the area. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties. Opposition fighters in the suburbs of the capital have targeted the embassy in the past but it was not clear if Tuesday’s attack targeted the rally. Before the shelling, the demonstrators had gathered outside the embassy carrying posters of the Russian and Syrian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad, and waved the two countries’ flags. Some held placards that read: "Thanks Russia" and "Syria and Russia are together […]

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Photo Syrian soldiers under attack Sunday in Hama Province. Government troops advanced there Monday, aided by Russian air power. Credit Alexander Kots/Komsomolskaya Pravda, via Associated Press BEIRUT, Lebanon — Insurgent commanders say that since Russia began air attacks in support of the Syrian government, they are receiving for the first time bountiful supplies of powerful American-made antitank missiles. With the enhanced insurgent firepower and with Russia steadily raising the number of airstrikes against the government’s opponents, the Syrian conflict is edging closer to an all-out proxy war between the United States and Russia. The increased levels of support have raised morale on both sides of the conflict, broadening war aims and hardening political positions, making a diplomatic settlement all the more unlikely. The American-made TOW antitank missiles began arriving in the region in 2013, through a covert program run by the United States, Saudi Arabia and other allies to […]

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MOSCOW, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) — Russia n President Vladimir Putin ruled out on Sunday the possibility of sending Russian troops for ground operations in Russia’s ongoing military intervention in the war-torn Syria . "This is out of the question," Putin was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel. He said Russia is not going to do this no matter what happens, and "our Syrian friends know about it." In response to allegations from Western countries and media that the Russian air campaign in Syria has not targeted the Islamic State (IS) and has led to civilian casualties, the Russian leader retorted that Russia conducted enough reconnaissance before launching the counter-terror attacks. "We have continuously carried out aerial and space reconnaissance, comparing the data we obtained from different sources," he said. He added that Moscow notified the United States and […]

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Islamic State fighters have seized villages close to the northern city of Aleppo from rival insurgents, a monitoring group said on Friday, despite an intensifying Russian air-and-sea campaign that Moscow says has targeted the militant group. News of the advance came as the United States announced it was largely abandoning its failed program to train moderate rebels fighting Islamic State and would instead provide arms and equipment directly to rebel leaders and their units on the battlefield. The Obama administration is grappling with a dramatic change in the four-year-old Syrian civil war brought about by Moscow’s intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad. The Russian defense ministry said stepped-up air strikes on rebel positions in Syria killed 300 anti-Assad rebels and that it hit 60 Islamic State targets over the last day. There was no independent confirmation of the death toll. About 200 insurgents were killed in an attack […]

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Islamic State registered significant gains on Friday in the area of northwestern Syria that Russian warplanes have been bombing, taking six villages near Aleppo and threatening to cut off an important route north to the Turkish border. Late in the day, there were reports that rebels had reasserted control in one village. The Kremlin has said its military had entered Syria to fight the Islamic State, but the Russian forces have concentrated much of their firepower on insurgent groups aligned against President Bashar al-Assad, including the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, and relatively secular groups like the Free Syrian Army. Rival insurgents say that the Islamic State, also called ISIS or Daesh, is taking advantage. “Daesh has exploited the Russian airstrikes and the preoccupation of the Free Syrian Army in its battles in Hama, and advanced in Aleppo,” one rebel commander told Reuters. […]

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A frame grab taken from footage released by Russia’s Defence Ministry October 5, 2015, shows airstrikes carried out by the country’s air force in Syria. An intense wave of Russian air strikes hit the Syrian province of Hama and nearby areas in the neighboring province of Idlib on Wednesday, a group monitoring the conflict said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were also heavy surface-to-surface missile bombardments. Russia, a top ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, started carrying out air strikes in Syria last week.

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MOSCOW — Russia signaled deepening intervention Monday in the Syria war, strongly hinting that its “volunteer” ground forces would soon be fighting there, as NATO officials warned the Kremlin after a Russian warplane invaded Turkey ’s airspace. Russia called the air incursion an innocent mistake because of foul weather, a claim that the Americans rejected. The unfolding developments reflected a dangerous new superpower entanglement in the war, which has left a quarter-million people dead and half the country’s population displaced since it began more than four years ago. The addition of Russia ground forces to the assaults already underway by Russian warplanes particularly threatens to undermine Turkey’s Syria policy, which aims for the establishment of a “safe zone” along the Turkish border where some Syrian refugees could return in the future. Russia and Iran have moved aggressively in the past few weeks to strengthen their ally, President Bashar al-Assad […]

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Photo President Obama has ordered the Pentagon, for the first time, to directly provide ammunition and perhaps arms to Syrian rebels. Credit Jim Lo Scalzo/European Pressphoto Agency WASHINGTON — The American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State has begun preparing to open a major front in northeastern Syria , aiming to put pressure on Raqqa, the terrorist group’s de facto capital, according to military and administration officials. President Obama last week approved two important steps to set the offensive in motion over the coming weeks, officials said. Mr. Obama ordered the Pentagon, for the first time, to directly provide ammunition and perhaps some weapons to Syrian opposition forces on the ground. He also endorsed the idea for an increased air campaign from an air base in Turkey, although important details still need to be worked out. Together, these measures are intended to empower 3,000 to 5,000 Arab fighters who would […]

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Photo President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Credit Remy De La Mauviniere/Associated Press BEIRUT, Lebanon — After two days of attacks directed exclusively against insurgents opposed to the Syrian government, there is little question that Russia is determined to re-establish President Bashar al-Assad as Syria ’s leader. “Russia’s goal is to defend Assad; whoever is against him is a destabilizing factor,” said Aleksei Makarkin, the deputy head of the Center for Political Technologies, in Moscow. “Russia wants Assad to get engaged in a political settlement from a position of strength.” Yet to restore Mr. Assad to full control of Syria or, for that matter, to stitch Syria back together without putting troops on the ground, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will have to accomplish what no other outside power has dared attempt. Mr. Putin can achieve a number of short-term goals. By inserting Russian military forces directly into the […]

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Photo A vehicle at a base controlled by rebel fighters from the Ahrar al-Sham insurgent group that activists said was targeted by Russian airstrikes near Idlib, Syria, on Thursday. Credit Khalil Ashawi/Reuters BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a second day of raids in Syria , Russian warplanes carried out a new round of airstrikes on Thursday that once again — contrary to Moscow’s assertions — appeared for the most part to be targeting not the Islamic State but a rival insurgent coalition. However, anti-government activists, including the opposition news agency Khoutwah, or Step, reported Thursday night that what they believed to be Russian jets had struck the Islamic State-held town of Al Shedadi in Hasaka province, in Syria’s northeast. If confirmed, it would be the first Russian strike in undisputed Islamic State territory. The area is hundreds of miles from the sites of previous Russian strikes. Russia sent more than […]

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WASHINGTON — Russian aircraft carried out a bombing attack against Syrian opposition fighters on Wednesday, including at least one group trained by the C.I.A. , eliciting angry protests from American officials and plunging the complex sectarian war there into dangerous new territory. Russia ’s entry into the Syrian conflict, foreshadowed by a rapid military buildup in the past three weeks at an air base in Latakia, Syria , makes the possibility of a political settlement in Syria more difficult and creates a new risk of inadvertent incidents between American and Russian warplanes flying in the same area. And it adds a powerful but unpredictable combatant to a civil war that has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and a flood of refugees. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia justified his country’s entry into the conflict by saying that Russia was acting “preventatively, to fight and destroy militants […]

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Russia launched airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday, catching U.S. and Western officials off guard and drawing new condemnation as evidence suggested Moscow wasn’t targeting extremist group Islamic State, but rather other opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. One of the airstrikes hit an area primarily held by rebels backed by the Central Intelligence Agency and allied spy services, U.S. officials said, catapulting the Syrian crisis to a new level of danger and uncertainty. Moscow’s entry means the world’s most powerful militaries—including the U.S., Britain and France—now are flying uncoordinated combat missions, heightening the risk of conflict in the skies over Syria. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Russia’s approach to the Syrian war—defending Mr. Assad while ostensibly targeting extremists—was tantamount to “pouring gasoline on the fire.” “I have been dealing with them for a long time. And this is not the kind of behavior that we should expect professionally from […]

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Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during an opening ceremony of the MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, Russia, August 25, 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for unilateral air strikes against Islamic State in Syria if the United States rejects his proposal to join forces, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. Russia has increased its military presence inside Syria and its arms supplies to the Syrian army as it steps up support of longtime ally President Bashar al-Assad, drawing warnings of further destabilization from Western countries that oppose Assad. A Russian diplomatic source told Reuters on Wednesday that Moscow sees a growing chance to reach international agreement on fighting terrorism in Syria and end the crisis that has stretched into its fifth year. Bloomberg reported that Putin’s preferred course of action was for the U.S. government and […]

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While the attention of the world is on the refugee crisis we need to look at the causes of this mass exodus. Fig 1: Refugees walking on Hungarian motorway towards Austria in Sep 2015 In May 2013 the Guardian had an article “Peak oil, climate change and pipeline geopolitics driving Syrian conflict” http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/13/1 In March 2015, a group of researchers led by climatologist Colin Kelley (University of California) published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with the title “Climate change in the Fertile Crescent and implications of the recent Syrian drought” “Between 2006 and 2009, the people of Syria suffered during the most severe drought that country has experienced since the beginning of its instrumental record. As water became scarce, crops failed and cattle died on a huge scale. As many as 1.5 million Syrians, out of a population of just over 20 million, […]

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While the attention of the world is on the refugee crisis we need to look at the causes of this mass exodus. Fig 1: Refugees walking on Hungarian motorway towards Austria in Sep 2015 In May 2013 the Guardian had an article “Peak oil, climate change and pipeline geopolitics driving Syrian conflict” http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/13/1 In March 2015, a group of researchers led by climatologist Colin Kelley (University of California) published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with the title “Climate change in the Fertile Crescent and implications of the recent Syrian drought” “Between 2006 and 2009, the people of Syria suffered during the most severe drought that country has experienced since the beginning of its instrumental record. As water became scarce, crops failed and cattle died on a huge scale. As many as 1.5 million Syrians, out of a population of just over 20 million, […]

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TRIPOLI, Lebanon—As hundreds of thousands of refugees flee Syria for Europe, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has been coming down hard on those who have stayed behind, particularly people viewed as potential threats. Ahmed al-Hamid is one of them. The 37-year-old doctor said security agents picked him up in late 2013 for his role establishing field hospitals in opposition areas in Homs and Damascus. After six months in jail—where he said he was beaten with batons and whips while strapped to boards—Dr. Hamid was released by a sympathetic judge. Last year, he fled to nearby Lebanon, joining an exodus of professionals, dissidents and others who were driven out for being on the wrong side of the Syrian regime. “There is no order, per se, but all conditions are being put in place so that people do not dare go back,” says Dr. Hamid, a stocky man with a […]

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LONDON—The British government will move toward participating in Syrian airstrikes if there is a political consensus to do so, a senior minister said Sunday, the latest sign of building momentum within the U.K. to step up military action. George Osborne, U.K. Treasury chief and close political ally of Prime Minister David Cameron , said the West hadn’t done enough to contain Islamic State militants that control territory in Syria and Iraq. Speaking in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, Mr. Osborne said Mr. Cameron’s government would seek parliamentary approval to extend the U.K.’s current involvement in Iraq airstrikes to Syria. The prime minister and other senior government ministers believe “there is a strong case” for doing so, but that there needs to be support for the move from parliament, Mr. Osborne said. It comes days after Mr. Cameron said Britain would take “thousands” of Syrian refugees , which […]

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PARIS — France will begin reconnaissance missions over Syria on Tuesday and could launch air strikes against Islamic State militants in the country, President Francois Hollande said on Monday. France until now had only taken part in air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq because it feared strikes against the group in Syria could strengthen Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "We have proof that attacks have been planned from Syria against several countries, notably France," Hollande told a news conference. "My responsibility is to ensure that we are informed as much as possible on the threats to our country … so I have asked the defence minister that from tomorrow reconnaissance flights begin over Syria that will enable us to consider air strikes against Islamic State." France was poised to join air strikes on the Assad regime in Syria in 2013, before U.S. President Barack Obama unexpectedly backed off the […]

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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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