Syria

President Obama has announced the deployment of 250 more Special Operations troops to Syria in a move that nearly doubles the U.S. presence in the country. This comes just days after the Obama administration announced 217 more troops would be…

Live from Damascus: The Syrian Election Results By Ken Stone “Syria’s ruling Ba’ath Party and its allies have won the majority of the votes in the recent parliamentary elections in the country, official results show.  The Syrian electoral commission announced…

On 17 March, 2016, the “federal democratic system of Rojava” (a Kurdish term for northern Syria) was proclaimed officially.  Some 150 representatives of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian (largely Christian) groups met in the city of Rmelan in north-east Syria and…

On March 23, 2011, at the very start of what we now call the ‘Syrian conflict,’ two young men – Sa’er Yahya Merhej and Habeel Anis Dayoub – were gunned down in the southern Syrian city of Daraa.  Merhej and…

Russia’s decision to greatly reduce its military presence in Syria, coming as it did with little warning, has left the world struggling for explanations. Russia is to maintain a military presence at its naval base in Tartous and at the…

Russia to withdraw from Syria: The beginning of the end? By Dr. Farhang Jahanpour Oxford University & TFF Board member On Monday 14 March, in a surprise move and without any warning to Western leaders, President Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal…

The UNHCR have published figures for the first two months of 2016, giving details of some 138,280 people who came by sea to Greece and Italy, 36% of whom are children while 410 deaths or missing people in the Aegean…

On March 4, 2016 a large majority of Danish political parties agreed to send F16s and special forces to Syria. The decision is likely to soon be confirmed by the Danish parliament. It’s important that intellectuals criticise the policies of…

Five years ago In 2012 when it all started, an educated conflict analyst or otherwise conflict competent person would have said about the conflict in Syria that it was a very complex thing, caused by history, environment, traumas, external factors,…

 The threat to European interests in the Middle East comes not from Russia, but from Turkey and Saudi Arabia, says French Middle East expert Roland Lombardi. Ankara in particular has a great deal to lose, and in its desperation might…