Published: 16/01/2020 Highlights of the events On January 12, 2020, a ceasefire agreed upon between Turkey and Russia entered into effect in the Idlib region. Even after the ceasefire was declared (January 13 and 14, 2020), military friction continued between the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham and the Syrian forces. In the ITIC’s assessment, […]
by Diliman Abdulkader and Tiffany J. Howard | January 16, 2020 12:00 AM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The death of Iranian Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani placed the entire Middle East, if not the world, on edge. Iran’s recently growing stronghold only demonstrates that it is time for the United States to support an option that […]
Flüchtlinge aus Nordsyrien in einem informellen Lager in der Provinz Idlib warten auf dringend benötigte Hilfsgüter.Über den irakisch-syrischen Grenzübergang Al-Jarubija erreicht vor allem medizinische Hilfe mehr als eine Million Menschen. Nach einer Blockade Russlands ist die Versorgung der Notleidenden nun in Gefahr. „Syrer werden sterben“, warnen die Amerikaner.
Nach wochenlanger Blockadehaltung Russlands hat sich der UN-Sicherheitsrat kurz vor Ablauf einer Frist auf die Offenhaltung humanitärer Hilfswege nach Syrien geeinigt – der Kompromiss könnte aber mehr als eine Million Notleidende im Nordosten des Landes von Lieferungen abschneiden. Das mächtigste UN-Gremium stimmte am Freitag für eine Resolution zum grenzübergreifenden Zugang für die Vereinten Nationen in das Bürgerkriegsland. Der verabschiedete Text fällt jedoch deutlich hinter die bisherige Regelung zurück und liegt näher an der Position Moskaus, das mit Syriens Machthaber Assad verbündet ist.
The Future of Northeastern Syria: In Conversation with SDF (PKK/PYD)Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi
Wladimir van Wilgenburg is the co-author of the recently published book The Kurds of Northern Syria: Governance, Diversity and Conflicts. Also available in العربية January 10, 2019 – FIKRA FORUM
With the latest unexpected escalation between Iran and the United States in Iraq, the ongoing challenges of Syria have, for the moment, become a less-discussed point of regional tension. However, for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which precariously continues to control an autonomous region of Northeastern Syria, the last few months have tested the organization’s hold over the region.
The U.S. Army is transferring tons of gold from Daesh-held areas in Syria to the U.S., multiple reports said.
According to a source who spoke to Kurdish Bas News Agency, the U.S. forces transferred about 50 tons of gold from areas seized from Daesh terrorists in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zour region and gave a portion of the remaining gold to the PKK’s Syrian offshoot People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Over 20 shepherds have been killed in a massacre in the Maadan area of eastern Syria.Syrian activists have reported that 21 shepherds were killed in a massacre on Sunday in the Maadan area which is located between Raqqa and Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria. The massacre took place two days after the killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in a US airstrike near Baghdad Airport in Iraq.
The area where the massacre happened is under Syrian regime control. Syrian Facebook pages and news websites blamed Iranian militias, who have a significant presence in the regime-held areas of eastern Syria, for the massacre.
Hospitals and Schools Are Being Bombed in Syria. / A U.N. Inquiry Is Limited.
We Took a Deeper Look.
By Malachy Browne, Christiaan Triebert, Evan Hill, Whitney Hurst, Gabriel Gianordoli and Dmitriy KhavinDec. 31, 2019 NEW YORK TIMES
The bombs smashed into a child care center, a refugee camp and a school. They destroyed makeshift clinics and hospitals, disabling essential services for tens of thousands of people.
Over the past year, attacks on buildings in northwestern Syria, which are supposed to be off limits during wartime under international law, grew so frequent that the head of the United Nations launched an inquiry to document the violations.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS STATEMENT BY PKK/PYD AFFILIATED AGENCY : Darar refutes what media reported about SDC’s participation in constitutional committee
Riyad Darar denied what the media reported on the participation of SDC in the upcoming Constitutional Committee sessions, and confirmed that what he meant was that he hoped that Cairo would have a prominent role in pushing for the participation of representatives of the region in the Syrian political process.
NEWS 30 Dec 2019, Mon – 11:37 2019-12-30T11:37:00 NEWS DESK ANHA – Media outlets reported the statements of the co-chair of the Syria Democratic Council SDC, Riyad Darar, regarding the participation of the Syrian Democratic Council in the meetings of the so-called future Constitutional Committee.
To clarify this, Riyad Darar stated to (ANHA) agency, saying, “It was the journalist who fabricated the news, and I really talked about I hope that Cairo will have a role in advancing our participation in the upcoming political process in general.”
“We are counting on the development of the Cairo conference, which we will definitely contribute to,” Darrar added.
ENKS refuses to reopen offices in Syrian Kurdistan after permit
Pro-Turkey ENKS meeting in Qamishlo city, Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), December 17, 2019. Photo: Rudaw
QAMISHLO, Syrian Kurdistan,— The Syrian Kurdish opposition parties, affiliated with Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP party leader Massoud Barzani, have refused to re-open their offices in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) in northeast Syria, citing a lack of trust in the ruling Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), Rudaw reported.
The decision was made by the pro-Turkey Kurdish National Council (ENKS), an umbrella group of opposition parties in a Friday meeting in Qamishlo city.
The self-administration in Syrian Kurdistan NES said in a December 17 statement that they would allow the ENKS to reopen offices in the region – shut down by the ruling authorities in 2016.
A number of significant developments under way in Syria reflect the confusing strategic situation in the region, as a variety of players compete for supremacy. The forces engaged include global powers, regional powers and sub-state forces – and combinations of the above. No player or group of players is currently able to conclusively vanquish the others and then arrange affairs according to its will. This situation reflects the conclusive disappearance over the last decade of the post Cold War order in the region, and the emergent fierce competition to fill the vacuum it has left.
26/12/2019 SYRIAAHR – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that members of the Turkish-backed of the Turkish military operation, “Peace Spring”, tried to escape from the operation areas in Tal Abyad, where they offered the Syria Democratic Forces to withdraw and hand over all their heavy weapons and weapons they have; in exchange for opening a road for them to move to Manbij so that they can escape from it to Jarabulus then Idlib.
According to a very reliable SOHR source, the “Syria Democratic Forces” agreed to the offer and prepared several buses to allow them to move to Manbij, but the Russian forces refused it completely, reliable sources said that “a large number of members of these factions are still arriving in the area in order to escape to Idlib.”
