WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Friday it will redirect $230 million in frozen funding away from Syria and had raised $300 million from coalition partners for recovery efforts in areas retaken from Islamic State militants in northeast Syria.
An American-Israeli historian criticized New York Times reporter Max Fisher last week for recycling a “myth” that Israel’s founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion fretted the Jewish state’s occupation of territories won in the 1967 war would undermine its democratic principles.
Syrian First Lady Asma al-Assad is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, according to a tweet Wednesday from the office of the Syrian Presidency.
An attempt by Syrian government officials and the Islamic State to negotiate a prisoner exchange in southern Syria has failed.
As Bashar al-Assad retakes southwestern Syria, Israel is concerned. On July 1, the IDF moved tanks and artillery to the Golan border, a signal to the Syrian president to proceed with caution. To ensure the message was received, the Israeli army uncharacteristically announced the military reinforcement. The Jewish state seeks to ensure several red lines: 1) that Iran and its proxy Hezbollah leave Syria; 2) that Assad honors the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement; and 3) that a horde of refugees doesn’t storm its border.
The Syrian military, backed by Russian forces, renewed its offensive in southwestern Syria on Thursday after a four-day pause during which rebels attempted to negotiate an end to violence with Russian officials.
Activists working to uncover mass graves are struggling to identify human remains and shed light on atrocities committed by Islamic State in northeastern Syria, a former IS stronghold where thousands of bodies have yet to be recovered.
BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) – More than 120,000 civilians have been uprooted by a Syrian army offensive in the southwest since it began last week, a war monitor said on Friday, and a senior U.N. official warned of catastrophe as they risked being trapped between warring sides.
The United Nations estimates up to 50,000 people have been displaced by a government offensive in Syria’s Daraa province as Pro-Assad forces continue to move deeper into rebel-held territory.
Iranian civilian protestors, in a surprising turn of events in the country, are taking to the streets to express opposition to the hardline ruling regime by chanting, “Death to Palestine” and “Leave Syria, think of us,” according to an independent translation of videos showing the protests.
