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joepouttu

Russia dismisses Syria no-fly zone call - 0 views

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    A Syrian no-fly zone has been proposed that could potentially bring safety to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. Russia is the main obstacle in the way of implementing the zone, reluctant to end its airstrikes. 
zackellogg

Egypt blows up houses for Sinai buffer zone - 0 views

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    This article talks about how Egypt recently started creating a controversial buffer zone by blowing up homes along the boarder. This move was the beginnings of a soon to be 500 meter buffer zone, if all goes to plan. This border is used for gangs to smuggle arms to and from Gaza.
kevinobkirchner

Egypt Orders Evacuation Along Gaza Border to Thwart Militants - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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    The Egyptian government has ordered the forced evacuation of homes along the 9 mile border with the Gaza strip. The homes will be demolished to make room for a 500 yard wide buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza that includes water-filled trenches to stop tunnel diggers. This buffer zone is designed to stop the flow of arms and militants from Gaza into Egypt which authorities believe are responsible for the rise in terrorism in the Sinai peninsula. This is primarily a response to the October 24th terrorist attack that killed 31 soldiers in eastern Sinai.
micklethwait

اطلعوا على خارطة انتشار "داعش" في العراق - النهار - 0 views

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    Zones under ISIS control in Iraq and Syria.
micklethwait

أسباب زيارة السيسي للمنطقة الغربية العسكرية | الموجز - 0 views

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    "The Reasons for Sisi's Visit to the Western Military Zone." Article in Arabic on Egypt's airstrikes against ISIS in Libya.
tdford333

Almost 2,500 Now Killed by Covert US Drone Strikes Since Obama Inauguration Six Years A... - 0 views

  • Almost 2,500 Now Killed by Covert US Drone Strikes Since Obama Inauguration
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    At least 2,464 people have now been killed by US drone strikes outside the country's declared war zones since President Barack Obama's inauguration six years ago. According to the BIJ, there has been a 9 time increase in drone strikes since Obama took office.
petergrossmanseu

Syria conflict: US-Russia brokered truce to start at weekend - BBC News - 0 views

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    The US and Russia have announced that a cease fire will take place on February 27 at midnight, excluding IS and other terrorist organizations. Because the first cease fire was a failure, there is a lot of skepticism surrounding this second effort. 
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    A BBC article talking about the US and Russia brokered truce that is supposed to start this weekend. The article also includes a fantastic map created by the BBC to show the zones of control and where various airstrikes have been taking place. While this doesn't have anything to do with the arms involved in Syrian conflict I think this is too significant to ignore this week and therefore I have dedicated my tags to it.
ralph0

As Syria Cease-Fire Strains, Fearful Aleppo Prepares for War's Return - WSJ - 0 views

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    I fear that this article might hold some truth. Aleppo has been a fighting zone in the past couple of weeks, and with the regime retaking control, the fear has been that the city will fall under siege. Aleppo is my hometown, and I am interested to compare what I read to what I hear from people back there.
fcastro2

Putin brings China into Middle East strategy - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East - 0 views

    • fcastro2
       
      Russia & China's negotiations involving Syria
  • one of China’s main strategic regional projects was the economic region (or belt) of the 21st century Great Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road, which intends to create a wide area of Chinese economic presence from China’s western borders to Europe
  • clearly comprises the countries of Western Asia (i.e., the Middle East)
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  • Chinese leader opened the Sixth Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum on June 5 in Beijing
  • energy cooperation; infrastructure construction and creation of favorable conditions for trade and investment; and high-tech domains of nuclear energy, the space rocket sector and new energy sources
    • fcastro2
       
      China & Arabian cooperation
  • suggested that the creation of a free trade zone between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) be accelerated
  • China supports the peace process and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, "enjoying full sovereignty."
  • , why shouldn’t Russia and China in the current situation — given the proximity of their interests and positions — undertake joint initiatives to unblock the peace process, while initiating steps to "introduce this activity within an institutional framework?
  • , the unilateral efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to promote the Israeli-Palestinian peace process are not bearing fruit
  • Russia is interested in using this unprecedented convergence with China in its operations on the Middle East arena, where Moscow has in many ways already been acting in unison with Beijing
  • , the Middle East Quartet is one of few international platforms where Russia can constructively engage with the United States and the EU
  • China's growing economic cooperation with Arab countries not a cause for concern in Moscow, but it is also viewed in a very favorable light
  • will not one day replace the United States as the security guarantor for the transportation routes of these resources
  • Moscow’s and Beijing’s interests converge in the joint countering of terrorism, extremism and separatism
  • . Among the militants from radical groups fighting against government troops in Syria, there are people hailing not only from Russia and Central Asia (fewer in numbers to those coming from Arab and Islamic as well as Western countries), but also from the Uighur minority in China.
  • recently, Beijing came under harsh criticism from Ankara for its actions in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region against the Uighur population, which the Turks believe to be their next of kin
  • . Disappointed by the failure of EU accession, the Turkish leadership has even started talking about the desire to join the SCO as an observer
  • Ankara expresses its willingness to cooperate with China in the fight against terrorists and condemns the separatism coming from some groups in Xinjiang
  • There is no doubt that a comprehensive strategic partnership, in which Russia and China would act in concert along the political consensus reached by their two leaders, would in the short term
  • According to both, this convergence is neither a union nor a tournament of predators, but a very pragmatic integrationist instrument of protection and projection of interests by the two powers, including in the Middle East.
  • the Middle East was not the focus of the talks between the two leaders
  • roughly 50 agreements ushering in a period of unprecedented convergence between the two countries
  • seems to allow the two parties to seek further coordination in their actions
  • Such consensus includes Syria, despite Beijing’s lesser involvement on this issue, relative to Moscow; Iran, within the P5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program; the fight against terrorism and extremism; the creation of a weapons of mass destruction-free Middle East; the condemnation of external intervention and the strategy of "regime change" as well as the push for "color revolutions;" the policy to reach a settlement in the Middle East; and relations with the new Egyptian regime and with respect to the Sudanese issues.
malbasr

Jihadis book cruise ships to join extremists in Syria - 0 views

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    MONACO (AP) - Would-be jihadi fighters are increasingly booking tickets on cruise ships to join extremists in battle zones in Syria and Iraq, hoping to bypass stepped-up efforts to thwart them in neighboring Turkey, Interpol officials have told The Associated Press.
fcastro2

Turkish Military Evacuates Soldiers Guarding Tomb in Syria - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • The Turkish Army sent armored troops deep into Syria late Saturday on a rescue mission, to recover the remains of a major historical figure and to evacuate the guards at his besieged tomb
  • The tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, is 20 miles south of the Turkish border, but it has been considered Turkish territory under a 1921 treaty with France
  • there were no clashes during the mission and only one casualty, a soldier who was killed in an accident
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  • He said Turkey notified the Syrian government, rebel leaders and the coalition forces fighting the Islamic State about the operation.
  • 572 troops, 39 tanks, 57 armored vehicles and 100 other vehicles were involved
  • Turkish flag was lowered, and the tomb and security station were destroyed to prevent any possible use by extremists.
  • operation was prompted by the chaos and instability in Syria
  • clashes were likely to erupt nearby between forces of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and Kurdish troops known as pesh merga, and that the tomb could become a target.
  • “The Suleyman Shah tomb has been a point of vulnerability for Turkey for a long time, and with this operation, such weakness has been eliminated
  • “The Islamic State could have used the presence of the tomb as leverage in case of any confrontation with Turkey
  • in accordance with the 1921 treaty, a new tomb for Suleyman Shah was being established in a part of Syria that is under Kurdish control
  • when conditions in Syria permitted, the tomb would be moved back again to the site that was evacuated, near the village of Karakozak
  • Tensions have mounted around the tomb since March, when the Islamic State took control of the surrounding area and began threatening to destroy the tomb unless guards there lowered the Turkish flag.
  • The militant group raided Turkey’s consulate in Mosul, Iraq, last June and seized 46 Turks and 3 Iraqis as hostages; they were released three months later on terms that were not disclosed
  • crisis discouraged Turkey from joining the United States-led military coalition conducting strikes against the Islamic State, though Turkey has cooperated with the United States in other ways,
  • Turkey has lobbied intensively for international military action in Syria, including no-fly zones and a presence on the ground to strengthen the more moderate Syrian rebel groups who are fighting both the extremists and the Syrian government.
  • Syrian government issued a statement on Sunday calling the military operation a “flagrant aggression” because Turkey did not wait for permission from Damascus to mount i
  • The Kurds were aided by airstrikes and other support from the American-led coalition
  • Mr. Ulgen, the analyst, said the choice of route was a sign of some improvement in relations between the Turkish government in Ankara and the Syrian Kurds, whom the Turks have regarded with deep suspicion.
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    The Turkish government recently went into an extremist-controlled territory in order to evacuate a tomb of a major historical figure, and the soldiers who guarded it. The safe passage of this mission has shown that the relations between Turkey and Syria have gotten a bit better. 
fcastro2

A daring plan to rebuild Syria - no matter who wins the war - Ideas - The Boston Globe - 0 views

  • The first year of Syria’s uprising, 2011, largely spared Aleppo, the country’s economic engine, largest city, and home of its most prized heritage sites. Fighting engulfed Aleppo in 2012 and has never let up since, making the city a symbol of the civil war’s grinding destruction
  • Rebels captured the eastern side of the city while the government held the wes
  • , residents say the city is virtually uninhabitable; most who remain have nowhere else to go
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  • In terms of sheer devastation, Syria today is worse off than Germany at the end of World War II
  • ven as the fighting continues, a movement is brewing among planners, activists and bureaucrats—some still in Aleppo, others in Damascus, Turkey, and Lebanon—to prepare, right now, for the reconstruction effort that will come whenever peace finally arrives.
  • In a glass tower belonging to the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, a project called the National Agenda for the Future of Syria has brought together teams of engineers, architects, water experts, conservationists, and development experts to grapple with seemingly impossible technical problems
  • It is good to do the planning now, because on day one we will be ready,”
  • The team planning the country’s future is a diverse one. Some are employed by the government of Syria, others by the rebels’ rival provisional government. Still others work for the UN, private construction companies, or nongovernmental organizations involved in conservation, like the World Monuments Fund
  • As the group’s members outline a path toward renewal, they’re considering everything from corruption and constitutional reform to power grids, antiquities, and health care systems.
  • Aleppo is split between a regime side with vestiges of basic services, and a mostly depopulated rebel-controlled zone, into which the Islamic State and the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front have made inroads over the last year
  • The population exodus has claimed most of the city’s craftsmen, medical personnel, academics, and industrialists
  • It took decades to clear the moonscapes of rubble and to rebuild, in famous targets like Dresden and Hiroshima but in countless other places as well, from Coventry to Nanking. Some places never recovered their vitality.
  • Of course, Syrian planners cannot help but pay attention to the model closest to home: Beirut, a city almost synonymous with civil war and flawed reconstructio
  • We don’t want to end up like Beirut,” one of the Syrian planners says, referring to the physical problems but also to a postwar process in which militia leaders turned to corrupt reconstruction ventures as a new source of funds and power
  • Syria’s national recovery will depend in large part on whether its industrial powerhouse Aleppo can bounce back
  • The city’s workshops, famed above all for their fine textiles, export millions of dollars’ worth of goods every week even now, and the economy has expanded to include modern industry as well.
  • Today, however, the city’s water and power supply are under the control of the Islamic State
  • Across Syria, more than one-third of the population is displaced.
  • A river of rubble marks the no-man’s land separating the two sides. The only way to cross is to leave the city, follow a wide arc, and reenter from the far side.
  • Parts of the old city won’t be inhabitable for years, he told me by Skype, because the ground has literally shifted as a result of bombing and shelling
  • The first and more obvious is creating realistic options to fix the country after the war—in some cases literal plans for building infrastructure systems and positioning construction equipment, in other cases guidelines for shaping governanc
  • They’re familiar with global “best practices,” but also with how things work in Syria, so they’re not going to propose pie-in-the-sky idea
  • If some version of the current regime remains in charge, it will probably direct massive contracts toward patrons in Russia, China, or Iran. The opposition, by contrast, would lean toward firms from the West, Turkey, and the Gulf.
  • At the current level of destruction, the project planners estimate the reconstruction will cost at least $100 billion
  • Recently a panel of architects and heritage experts from Sweden, Bosnia, Syria, and Lebanon convened in Beirut to discuss lessons for Syria’s reconstruction—one of the many distinct initiatives parallel to the Future of Syria project.
  • “You should never rebuild the way it was,” said Arna Mackic, an architect from Mostar. That Bosnian city was divided during the 1990s civil war into Muslim and Catholic sides, destroying the city center and the famous Stari Most bridge over the Neretva River. “The war changes us. You should show that in rebuilding.”
  • Instead, Mackik says, the sectarian communities keep to their own enclaves. Bereft of any common symbols, the city took a poll to figure out what kind of statue to erect in the city center. All the local figures were too polarizing. In the end they settled on a gold-colored statue of the martial arts star Bruce Lee
  • “It belongs to no one,” Mackic says. “What does Bruce Lee mean to me?
  • is that it could offer the city’s people a form of participatory democracy that has so far eluded the Syrian regime and sadly, the opposition as well.
  • “You are being democratic without the consequences of all the hullabaloo of formal democratization
  • A great deal of money has been invested in Syria’s destruction— by the regime, the local parties to the conflict, and many foreign powers. A great deal of money will be made in the aftermath, in a reconstruction project that stands to dwarf anything seen since after World War II.
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    While it is still unclear as to who will win the Syrian conflict, there are people who are already looking towards the future and a better Syria. Plans are being made but, of course, these plans will entirely depend on who wins the war. 
jshnide

The Free Zone - Palestine Chronicle | Palestine Chronicle - 0 views

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    This Palestinian news paper says that the Palestinians would reduce anti-semitism is Israel did not call itself a Jewish state. They call Israel criminals and think they are acting on behalf of all Jewish people.
mcooka

Education caught in the crossfire of conflict | #ChildrenofSyria - 0 views

  • he attack on Al Hayat Primary School in Qaboun, eastern Damascus in November 2014 killed 11 children and injured many more.
  • But the Qaboun assault was just one of at least 68 attacks on schools across Syria between January and December 2014 alone
  • round 1 in 5 – have been damaged, destroyed, or are currently sheltering internally displaced people according to data gathered by UNICEF
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  • nside Syria, two million children and adolescents are currently out of school.
  • “We simply cannot allow an entire generation of children and adolescents to be lost to ignorance, exploitation, despair and radicalisation.”
  • International humanitarian law, which declares that schools be respected as zones of peace and safe havens for children, has counted for little. The long-term consequences for children – and their place in the Syria of the future – can only be guessed at.
  • utside Syria, more than 50 per cent (600,000) of Syrian refugee children and adolescents are out of school, and this number continues to grow.
  • The campaigns include distribution of teaching and learning materials as well as school bags with stationary. Similar campaigns have been rolled out in countries hosting refugees.
  • When I go to the refugee camps and see the smiling faces of children, then I think we should not give up in the face of difficulties,
  • ublic schools receiving Syrian children are overstretched. Non-formal education spaces cannot absorb large numbers of students.
  • achers are not well equipped to work with stress, overcrowding and difference. Syrian children and adolescents are receiving multiple and dispersed forms of curricula and content that are not adapted to their capacity and needs and that come with enormous challenges in certification and accreditation.
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    This article also talks about the problems Syrian children face regarding education. International laws about "schools remain out of conflict" has gone ignored for a long time. Public Schools are overstretched in neighboring countries due to extra children in schools. The most interesting part of this article is the video which goes into more details about the growth of education in the last four years. 
blantonjack

Army's Delta Force begins to target ISIS in Iraq - 0 views

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    The U.S. Army's elite Delta Force operations to target, capture or kill top ISIS operatives have begun in Iraq, after several weeks of covert preparation. The official said the group has spent the last several weeks preparing, including setting up safe houses, establishing informant networks and coordinating operations with Iraqi and Peshmerga units. It's the same strategy that Special Operations forces have used in previous deployments to combat zones. This is a strong move shown by the United States that says ISIS is the main priority in the Syrian War. Many officers of high rank have said that this has taken weeks of planning and scouting out enemy positions so that it would be swift missions that would demand very accurate precision.
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