Russia Says No to a No-Fly Zone over Syria
Even before Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin could meet to discuss what to do about Syria, the Russian foreign ministry has made it clear that a no-fly zone is off the table.
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President Obama defended the administration's decision to "ramp up" their support to Syrian rebel forces by, among other things, providing some lethal aid, during a sprawling interview with Charlie Rose that aired late Monday night on PBS.
Even before Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin could meet to discuss what to do about Syria, the Russian foreign ministry has made it clear that a no-fly zone is off the table.
Less than a day after being accused of war crimes by the U.S. government, Syria's military got some more bad news as at it seems dozens of high-ranking officers have taken their families and fled the country.
Syria is being compared to a lot of things — Kosovo, Rwanda, Libya, Iraq — and the Obama administration is divided over which lessons should apply. Here's what the president will and will not do next.
After the White House stepped out, officials in Moscow said Friday they've seen the evidence the U.S. says is proof that Syria has used chemical weapons, but it's not going to be enough to get the Russians to turn their back on their man.
Based on multiple media reports, all citing unnamed officials, the Obama administration has decided to start supplying some Syrian rebel groups with arms and ammunition.
The Syrian civil war has passed another grim milestone, as the 25-month-old conflict has experienced an almost unthinkable increase in daily violence over the last year. The actual death toll is likely much much higher, but the numbers become even more stark when comparing the two-year struggle to casualty totals from similar conflicts in recent memory.
Although the Syrian government has been deemed guilty of numerous atrocities against its own people, the rebels trying to overthrow Bashar al-Assad may have once again crossed the line.
It looks like the U.S. government will give serious thought this week to arming Syrian rebel groups, days after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces re-captured the key city of Qusair.
Syrian's military has won a key victory against rebel forces, by driving them out of the city of Qusair, an important outpost for both sides if they hope to control the rest of the country.
The Daily Show returned from a week off last night, and Jon Stewart decided to tackle John McCain's trip to Syria, where the senator may have taken a picture with two men who may have kidnapped Shiite Muslims last year.
As the Syrian civil war drags on into its third summer, the conflict only grows larger and more vicious, with Hezbollah, Israel, Turkey, Russia, and even the North Koreans joining in the fight.
Syria, the country mired in a never-ending, devastating war after the government responded to peaceful protests with violence, is now warning its citizens not to travel to Turkey, because of "violence of [Prime Minister] Erdogan's government against peaceful protesters."
According to Syrian state media, Assad's forces just killed a woman from Flint, Michigan, along with two other westerners
Emboldened by recent gains on the ground and and new wave of support from its allies, Bashar al-Assad gave a new interview today, boasting about the arrival of new Russian missiles meant to scare off foreign intervention
John McCain is pretty sure we can identify the "good guys" in the Syrian conflict after his secret visit to the country this week.
It wasn't his first choice, but he'll have to take it. President Obama is looking at the possibility of setting up a no-fly zone in Syria, according to The Daily Beast's very well sourced Josh Rogin. What now?
Senator John McCain secretly crossed the border to meet with Syrian rebels on Monday.
The European Union agreed to lift their arms embargo so some member countries could arm the Syrian rebels, European foreign ministers agreed late Monday — a day that began with new evidence of chemical weapons being used against rebel forces, with whom Sen. John McCain met as he slipped across the border in a much talked about visit.
John McCain recently visited with Syrian rebel leaders inside the civil war torn country where he was told about alleged chemical weapons attacks from the Assad regime. These allegations seem to be supported by evidence presented in a lengthy and detailed report from the French magazine Le Monde accusing the Assad regime of using chemical weapons frequently in the fight around Damascus, the country's capital, over the last two months.
Russia, one of the few remaining friends of Bashar al-Assad's regime, just sent the Syrian government some advanced antiship missiles.
For the second time in as many weeks, the Internet usage in Syria disappeared mysteriously around 10 a.m. local time Wednesday with little to no warning. So, is it another case of the Assad regime trying to disrupt rebel communications or are they really having technical difficulties?
Every time it seems like the atrocities of the Syrian civil war have crossed another horrifying line, a new story comes along that pushes the bar even lower. And the video that's circulating — the one that appears to show a rebel commander eating the lung of a dead Syrian solider — is not the first video or the last, just the latest atrocity in this awful war.
Turkish officials arrested nine Turkish nationals accused of having ties to Syrian intelligence forces for the brutal car bombings that killed 46 people in Reyhanli, a town on the border of the two countries where Syrian refugees have started living since the conflict began.
It's been weeks since the first confirmations that chemical weapons are being used in Syria, but for the international community, nothing has changed when it comes to balancing the equation for going to war.
It's still relatively unclear whether the Assad regime broke the Syrian Internet — even if nobody else, even "terrorists," really could — but after a 19-and-a-half-hour near complete shutdown across Syria, service started coming back today, according to multiple analytics firms.
Did the Assad regime just shut down Syrian online access again? For several hours on Thursday — beginning around 3 p.m. Eastern time, or 10 p.m. in Damascus — Internet traffic in the warring country ground to an almost complete halt, just like it did in November when the government blacked out web usage to stymy opposition maneuvers.
After more than two years of civil war, tens of thousands of deaths, a refugee crisis, ethnic cleansing, religious strife, terrorism, chemical warfare, and an international conflict that has engulfed all of its neighbors, Syria is still in the hands of Bashar al-Assad. Just the way he planned it. Here's how we got to the current state of play after the Israel attacks, and what's next.
A member of the United Nations commission of inquiry announced on a Swiss-Italian television show that they believe the Syrian rebels have used chemical weapons on Assad's troops.
For the second time in as many days, Israel mounted a late night air raid on Syrian military facilities that were allegedly holding weapons destined for Hezbollah. This attack produced some of the biggest explosions seen in Damascus since the two year old conflict began.
Reports came out late Saturday night that Israel made the curious decision to attack Syria, potentially entering the armed conflict, but as more information came out it was clear Israel was trying to protect its own interests.
Even though the administration has said that a "red line" would involve chemical weapons, there remain a lot of questions about the Assad regime. "For instance, did he use them in a boat? Did he use them with a goat? Did he use them in a house? Did he use them with a mouse?"
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, is running his mouth about Syria again, only this time the Assad ally sounds like he's actually getting ready to make a move.
The Obama administration is getting ready to send arms to Syrian rebels, The Washington Post's Karen DeYoung reports, by way of very convoluted descriptions from anonymous senior administration officials attempting to describe the Obama administration's thinking. Got that? Didn't think so. Here's a guide to where we're at — almost.
A new CBS News/New York Timespoll suggests that most Americans aren't concerned about conflict with North Korea or Syria. However, the results also suggest that the reason Americans don't care about the conflict is because they aren't paying attention.
Syria's government has come forward to deny accusations that it has used chemical weapons, saying the United States lacks credibility. However, everyone from David Cameron to Barack Obama to Chuck Hagel and Jay Carney are stepping carefully around any response to the big question: "What are you going to do about it?"
Around the same time that the White House announced that it believe the Assad regime had crossed the "red line" President Obama set months ago, some troubling videos of alleged victims of a chemical attack made their way around the web.
John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Bob Corker told reporters they believe the presence of the chemical weapons signals that the Assad regime has crossed the so-called "red line" the administration laid out previously that should dictate increased action by the U.S.
In a stunning admission, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, as well as the White House and Secretary of State John Kerry, announced today that the U.S. intelligence services have evidence that chemical weapons have been used in the Syrian civil war
Last month at a meeting in Israel, President Obama defined his "game changer" on American involvement in the Syrian civil war as Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons against his people. Today in Israel, a major Israeli military intelligence official said that Assad had done just that. With British and French officials appearing to believe the same, is the game about to change?
Just when we thought that those Syrian chemical weapons attack claims were another false alarm, The Times is reporting that British scientists have found "hard evidence" that chemical weapons were used "at least once." We just don't know which side used them.
A YouTube video of Syrian men graciously offering their services in defending the U.S. from impending annihilation by North Korea is a window into the sad reality of tens of thousands of murdered and disappeared people.
Reportedly facing pressure from U.N. security council allies, the U.S. is considering jumping into the Syrian conflict.
There aren't a lot of rebels fighting against the Assad regime in Syria who update Facebook regularly. There are fewer still who were born in Phoenix, Arizona, and are U.S. Army veterans. But that's not why Eric Harroun faces federal charges. The FBI arrested him because he fought alongside Al Qaeda, employing a "weapon of mass destruction."
U.S. intelligence sources spent most of last week tamping down the idea that the Syrians have begun using chemical weapons on each other. So why isn't Representative Mike Rogers going along with them?
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib announced his resignation as National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces chief on Sunday, but there are conflicting reports over who wanted him out and whether or not he'll end up leaving in the end.
Secretary of State John Kerry made a surprise trip to Iraq on Sunday to urge Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to at the very least do something about the continued Iranian flights to Syria that go right through Iraq's airspace. Right now they're not doing very much.
This week delivered a familiar narrative from Syria. Allegations of a chemical weapons attack bubbled up to the international stage, eliciting shock and awe across the board, only to be disproven a couple days later.
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