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BEIRUT - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has blamed Europe's refugee crisis on Western support for "terrorists", as people fleeing his country's civil war stream towards the European Union. In his first public comments on the mass migration, broadcast on Wednesday, Assad said Europe could expect more refugees.

Let's clarify the substance of Assad's comments with reference to the "Daily Life In Syria" article.

Assad continues to claim that his regime will prevail in shutting down the now 18 month old rebellion despite a series of recent defections, international sanctions, and the constant outflow of refugees to Turkey and other neighbors. He also has denied rumors that he has gone into hiding. He's generally trying to present himself as firmly in power.

Should other countries or NATO intervene militarily in Syria? Why did former UN Secretary Kofi Annan resign from his post as mediator in the Syrian conflict? Was he right to resign?

I find it very interesting that the Damascenes' opinions on U.S. intervention seem to differ based on socio-economic status, but yet the majority of them all agree that Obama should be more decisive about his plans for or against invasion. In general, this article surfaces a lot of interesting points to ponder surrounding the conflict in Syria.

The article makes a very important point. U.S. engagement is not aimed at overthrowing Assad and establishing a new political government or regime, rather American involvement is serving as a deterrent for the prevention of chemical weapon usage by other countries. Such reasoning undercuts the moral virtue of American involvement in Syria and will serve to fuel greater anti-American sentiments in the region.

Russia has been accused of abusing their veto power by vetoing a UN resolution that would halt Aleppo airstrikes. Russia has supported the Assad regime, which has led to disagreements with the US.

Turkish foreign minister Davutoglu announces that Turkey will stop sending weapons to Syria. Businessmen who support Assad's regime will have their assets frozen in Turkey. Turkey is hoping that these sanctions will persuade Assad to stop the violent crackdowns

Possible non-militant solution to Syria's chemical weapons. Met with skepticism from White House.

I think the divide among Syrian officials and Assad about ceding control of chemical weapons is very interesting. It seems that in addition to gaining Russia's support, Kerry's proposal has also gained the support of many of Syria's top officials including its foreign minister, Wallid al-Moallem. Nevertheless, it appears that Assad is still extremely against giving up Syria's chemical weapons, even if doing so would avert a U.S. strike on Syria.

President: Bashar al-Assad In power since succeeding his father 2000, Bashar al-Assad is fighting for control of his country after protests against his rule turned into a full-scale armed rebellion. This source provides a brief overview of Assad's regime and actions in recent years.

This situation reflects on Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" in an interesting way. It appears that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad prioritized Syria's relationship with Iran, what some might call a civilizational tie, over the political interests of Syria as an individual state in his decision to turn down a deal with Israel that would have returned the Golan Heights to Syria's control. The discussion of the influence of upcoming elections in Israel and the US on the release of this news also adds an interesting dimension. Is it the Obama administration that is manipulating the facts about these peace talks so as to appear more effective in Middle East policy? Or is it Netanyahu who is misrepresenting his involvement in an effort to appear strong and unyielding towards the rest of the Arab world in an election year?

Interesting!

Further development in the relationship between the US and Russia in Syria. John Kerry will meet with Russia's Sergey Lavrov in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday along with foreign ministers from a few other countries that support the rebels and possibly Iran (which supports Assad). PS: This article is way more interesting than my first one so I recommend this one more unless you're in the mood to question humanity and be sad.

I read this article and Aleisha's article about the Syrian civil war, and I was surprised at how complicated the conflict is. I also was not aware of the growing tension between the United States and Russia, so it was interesting reading about the power dynamic happening again. The CNN article, published just one day before the NYT article, portrays US involvement very differently, so I'm interested to see how that develops.

The US has decided to pull support for Syria. They are not able to come to agreements with Russia, and after both the US and Russia have dropped bombs that have killed civilians, the ceasefire is "at risk". It is possible that with this the war will be over sooner rather than later with the rebels losing, but it will not be a peaceful end.

I found it interesting how both sides believe the other is "the bad guy" in this situation: US thinks Russia is helping Syrians attack civilians, and Russia is upset that the US 'accidentally' dropped a bomb. I hope that the ceasefire will hold out and that the war will be over soon. I wonder if there is something that can be done for the end to have a chance of being peaceful.

Yay! Another Profile of the Syrian Republic. In April 2011 Bashar Al-Assad made an end to the 48-year-old state of emergency but demonstrations continued. Massive anti-regime protests broke out in several cities in Syria. Protesters demanded the release of all political prisoners, more freedoms for individuals and an end to pervasive corruption. In this source the European Forum analyzes and writes a profile of Syria in recent years- allowing for quantitative and qualitative analysis on my part.

Follow up on the Syrian refugee crisis. I know we have sort of stopped talking about this in class because of individual projects but I think we should still stay in the loop. The Syrian conflict has been pushing citizens out of their homes since 2011, but the internal turmoil caused by shifting borders between different factions since March 2014 has been particularly tumultuous. The UN undersecretary estimated in August 2015 that 250,000 civilian deaths have been caused by the conflict. Today world leaders are meeting to discuss the power of Assad and it's going to be interesting to see the results/conclusion they draw.

While countries like Venezuela are dependent on oil and called petro-states, Syria is starting to become a narco-state due to its flourishing illegal drug industry