Holding back al-Qaeda / By Jonathan Spyer
JFebruary 22, 2014 by Jonathan Spyer – Jerusalem Post
Will Israel be dragged into the Syrian conflict?
YOUNG GERMAN & SWISS CHRISTIANS FIGHT ALONGSIDE PYD (AL MONITOR)
European Christians Fighting With Syria Kurdish Factions
By Muhieddeen Hamish – AL Monitor – 2014-02-22 08:44 GMT – A BBC Arabic report revealed that Christian European fighters are flocking to Syria to fight alongside the Kurdish factions in the face of al-Qaeda groups.
THE KEY TO PRESSURING ASSAD IS UNSCR 2118
ANALYSIS OF NEAR EAST POLICY FROM THE SCHOLARS & ASSOCIATES OF THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE / PolicyWatch 2213 – February 21, 2014 – By Andrew J. Tabler
By focusing on the Syrian regime’s faltering commitment to eliminate its chemical weapons, Washington can decisively push Damascus and Russia toward real progress on larger issues — and also set the table for limited military strikes if they prove necessary.
Assyrian International News Agency : Christian splittings in Syria
22-2-2014 – Syria (AINA) — The Assyrian group known as Dawronoye (Revolutionaries) and their branch in Syria, which goes under the name of Syriac Union Party, stand accused of name-stealing.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ON PYD-ROJAVA
[The PYD] continues to make attempts to have opposition parties or other parties participate in the government, but the largest opposition party is not yet doing that.
We were also looking at attacks on members of opposition parties, because we had recent reports of political detainees being held in the cantons. We interviewed the head of (one opposition) office and he said he’d been “disappeared” for a year and a half ad they believed the PYD was responsible for his disappearance. There are other concerns that there have been attempts to silence other opposition voices, including the media. Local Kurdish journalists talked about “red lines” they could not cross [in reporting], like the use of child soldiers by the military arm.
By Lama Fakih / Human Rights Watch
Syria: Has an Autonomous Kurdistan Been Established in the North? / HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
By Scott Lucas February 21, 2014 – eaworldview – Lama Fakih of Human Rights Watch talks to Syria Deeply about the declaration of an autonomous Kurdistan in northern Syria by the Kurdish faction PYD, and about issues such as governance, detentions, and security:
Syria Deeply: What exactly has taken place in Hassakeh?
Division Grows in U.S.-backed Anti-Assad Coalition As Key Group is Expelled
By Roy Gutman – 2014-02-21 McClatchycom – REYHANLI, Turkey — The Syrian opposition, already divided deeply over a shakeup of its top military staff, formally has split with one of its most important political components, the Syrian Nationa Council, adding to a growing leadership crisis in the group that has been the Obama administration’s primary Syrian ally.
Al-Qaeda-linked group exploits ISIS decline in Aleppo
A four-month study of residents of Aleppo organized by the mapping firm First Mile Geo and Caerus Associates, a company founded by David Kilcullen, an Australian counter-insurgency expert and former aide to retired Gen. David Petraeus, suggests that international mediators are ignoring changing dynamics in Syria that have discredited both the Damascus government and, increasingly, the externally-based Syrian National Coalition.
Syrian Kurdish Self-Rule Criticized By Many As Unrepresentative
By Susannah George – Rudaw – 2014-02-21 – BEIRUT — About a month after Kurdish groups in Syria declared self rule, the provisional government has appointed ministers, established courts and set a date for elections. But many of Syria’s Kurds remain skeptical about the venture, concerned that the government does not represent them. “I think the government is more of a political stance than an actual power,” says Nohat Bahlawi, a doctor living and working in the city of Qamishli in Syria’s Kurdish regions, or Rojava.
TODAY’S MESOP SYRIA INSIGHT : MORE AIR RAIDS & MORE IRANIAN SUPPORT FOR ASSAD
The Syrian government has increased air raids and shelling in Syria’s southern province of Daraa killing at least two people Friday. The move has come amid reports that rebel fighters are preparing to launch an offensive in the region. – Iran has been stepping up its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, deploying hundreds of additional military specialists to gather intelligence and train troops.
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