This Guardian article talks about the details of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel brokered by Egypt on August 26th, 2014. This article also notes the unaddressed issues that many are said to believe may result in further conflict later.
A Russia today article talking about the possible cease fire and reiterating Russia's firm stance against IS, ISIS/ISIL, Al Nusra etc. the article then talks about Turkey's continued shelling despite the peace talks.
Another article referring to the upcoming peace talks in Geneva on pi day. This one adds on the future plans for the conflict. It mentions that the aim is to successfully implement the ceasefire, create a transitional body, draft a new constitution, and hold fresh elections.
Turkey's "provocative" military buildup on the border and shelling of the Syrian territory could thwart the truce and disrupt the peace process in the Arab Republic, said the head of the Russian ceasefire monitoring center Lt. Gen. Sergey Kuralenko.
temporary ceasefire agreement issue remain to be the interest to the great powers. While suspend or forget about the central issue which is the removal of Bashar al-Assad.
Russia is playing a "constructive" role in Syria's ceasefire, the Pentagon said, having noted "developments" on the ground. It encouraged Moscow to "continue to focus" on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), while persuading Assad to stop the war.
This article references the current situation in seeking peace talks. The situation isn't going well, as only 3 of 15 groups were available to meet with the UN envoy. Moreover, the rebel groups want a cessation to the ceasefire so that they can retaliate against government forces. Their plan on doing so involves attacks in Hama and Latakia.
Al-Qaeda-linked militants have shelled the Syrian city of Aleppo, killing 16 people and injuring 86, state news agency SANA reports, as the fragile ceasefire is being threatened by resurging violence. A source at Aleppo police command told SANA on Monday that shells fired by al-Nusra fighters landed in Aleppo's al-Sulaimaniyeh neighborhood, claiming lives of four, three of them children, and injuring 19 others, many in critical conditions.
President Assad believes that there is no cease fire in sight for the civil war raging in Syria.He told a group in Damascus on Monday that "no one" was capable of bringing about the necessary circumstances for a planned truce to take effect later this week. But in his comments on the proposal, Assad seemed skeptical about whether a halt in the conflict was possible.
John Kerry has said that all alleged violations of the ceasefire in Syria will be investigated. Going forward, the US and Russia are working on ensuring that airstrikes only hit ISIS or al-Qaeda occupied areas.
Here is a personal account of an innocent civilian family affected by the daily and ongoing fight between the PKK and the Turkish Republic. A two-year ceasefire has been broke, as Turkey has increased its bombing campaign against the Kurds in the mountains.
Russia warned it will act unilaterally starting on Tuesday to end alleged violations of the "cessation of hostilities" agreement, unless Moscow and Washington urgently reach an agreement to deal with attacks. The Russian military has accused the United States of dragging its feet on responding to Moscow's proposals on rules for joint monitoring of the Syria ceasefire and response to violations, saying delays are leading to civilian casualties. The Russian Government has threatened the Syrian people who stand against the peace treaty..
This timeline by Al Jazeera details the history of conflict between the PKK and Turkey from 1920 to 2013. I chose this article because I still felt I could use some more background information about Turkey and the PKK's relationship, as it has had a great impact on Turkey's participation in the coalition against ISIS. While I knew about the conflict up until the Gulf War, I did not know that it was still active and ongoing in 2013.
as of the last year before the civil war, only about 13,500 square kilometers could be irrigated
agriculture
20 percent of national income
employed about 17 percent
Syria’s oil is of poor quality, sour, and expensive to refine
densely populated
less than 0.25 hectares (just over a third of an acre) of agricultural land per person
population/resource ratio is out of balance.
So it is important to understand how their “social contract”—their view of their relationship with one another and with the government—evolved and then shattered.
threw the country into the arms of
Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser
or three and a half years
part of the United Arab Republic
A fundamental problem they faced was what it meant to be a Syrian.
1961 Syrians were thrown back on their own resources
The majority of those who became Syrians were Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims
seven and eight in 10 Syrians saw themselves as Muslim Arab
being a Muslim Arab as the very definition of Syrian identity.
Nationalists took this diversity as a primary cause of weakness and adopted as their primary task integrating the population into a single political and social structure.
Israel
Looming over Syrian politics and heightening the tensions
A ceasefire, negotiated in 1974, has held, but today the two states are still legally at war.
or Hafez al-Assad, the secular, nationalist Baath Party was a natural choice: it offered, or seemed to offer, the means to overcome his origins in a minority community and to point toward a solution to the disunity of Syrian politics
bridge the gaps between rich and poor
socialism
Muslims and minorities
Islam
society
hould be modern
secular
defined by a culture of “Arabism”
the very antithesis of
Muslim Brotherhood
military, which seemed
o embody the nation.
help the Syrian people to live better provided only that they not challenge his rule
his stern and often-brutal monopoly of power
foreign troublemakers
Hafez al-Assad sided with Iran in the Iran-Iraq war
During the rule of the two Assads, Syria made considerable progress.
locked into the cities and towns
they f
had to compete
Palestinians
Iraqis
Syria was already a refuge
March 15, 2011
small group gathered in the southwestern town of Daraa to protest against government failure to help them
government saw them as subversives.
He ordered a crackdown
And the army,
responded violently.
Riots broke out
attempted to quell them with military
what had begun as a food and water issue gradually turned into a political and religious cause.
interpretation of Islam
the Syrian government is charged with using illegal chemical weapons
All observers agree that the foreign-controlled and foreign-constituted insurgent groups are the most coherent, organized, and effective
astonishing as they share no common language and come from a wide variety of cultures
slam has at least so far failed to provide an effective unifying force
all the rebels regard the conflict in Syria as fundamentally a religious issue
pwards of $150 billion
a whole generation of Syrians have been subjected to either or both the loss of their homes and their trust in fellow human beings.
How the victims and the perpetrators can be returned to a “normal life”
First, the war might continue.
Second, if the Syrian government continues or even prevails, there is no assurance that,
the president of Turkey think holding thew fire in Syria could give Assad a rest to take a breath. also the president think Russia, USA and European union positions are negative and they not taking the Syrian crisis seriously.
This could be good news. Apparently, the cease-fire that has been in the workings is close to success. The article states that there have been several key players to already sign the truce. This hopefully means less death and more success against ISIS, but we will have to wait and see.
This could be good news. Apparently, the cease-fire that has been in the workings is close to success. The article states that there have been several key players to already sign the truce. This hopefully means less death and more success against ISIS, but we will have to wait and see.