Tag: conflict

Strikes on Syria’s Ghouta kill 500 civilians, including 121 children, in seven days: monitor

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Air strikes and artillery fire on the Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta have killed 500 civilians in seven days, 121 of them children, a monitor said on Saturday. Deadly new strikes hit the enclave as the UN Security Council prepared to vote on a ceasefire resolution, while more bodies were recovered from the rubble from previous raids, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.   Few of Eastern Ghouta’s nearly […]

Strikes pound Syria’s Eastern Ghouta as world fumbles for response

by with Carole Landry at the United Nations / Hasan Mohamed © Agence France-Presse DOUMA, Syria (AFP) — Syrian regime air strikes and artillery fire hit the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta for a sixth straight day Friday killing 38 civilians, as world powers struggled to reach a UN deal to stop the carnage. More than 460 civilians, including over 100 children, have been killed in nearly a week of bombardment that has been one of the […]

Fresh rocket fire on Syria enclave kills 13: monitor

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Rockets fired by Syrian regime forces killed at least 13 civilians in the besieged rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus on Thursday, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 13 people were killed in Douma, the main town in Eastern Ghouta, three of them children. “It was raining on the area so there are no warplanes but it seems the regime chose to use rockets instead,” Rami […]

UNICEF issues blank statement slamming ‘war on children in Syria’

AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) — The UN children’s fund on Tuesday expressed “outrage” over the killings of children in Syria by issuing a blank statement, adding in a footnote that “no words will do (them) justice”. The statement came after a ferocious Syrian regime bombing campaign pounded the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta on Monday, killing 127 civilians, 39 of them children. “No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and […]

US ‘deeply concerned’ about attacks on Syria rebel enclave

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States said Tuesday it was “deeply concerned” about the escalating Syrian and Russian attacks on the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta, which have left more than 250 civilians dead in two days. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert blamed the Assad regime’s “siege and starve tactics” for adding to the humanitarian disaster in the Damascus district, and endorsed the United Nations’ call for a monthlong halt to violence. “The United States […]

100 civilians dead in Syria bombardment of rebel enclave: new toll

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — At least 100 civilians, 20 of them children, were killed in a Syrian army bombardment of the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta, a war monitor reported in a new toll Tuesday. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the civilian death toll from Monday’s bombardment of the enclave outside Damascus was the heaviest since early 2015. © Agence France-Presse

New UN draft on Syria ceasefire seeks to win Russian backing

by Carole Landry © Agence France-Presse UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Sweden and Kuwait on Thursday presented a revised draft UN Security Council resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria that diplomats said could win backing from Russia. The new text, obtained by AFP, specifies that the 30-day humanitarian truce would not apply to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda. That would allow the Syrian government offensive to continue against Al-Qaeda-linked rebel groups in Idlib, […]

UN envoy sees possible South Sudan deal from talks in Ethiopia

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The latest round of Ethiopia-led peace talks on South Sudan will wrap up on Friday with a possible agreement that could pave the way to further negotiations on ending the war, the UN envoy said. The talks that opened on February 5 in Addis Ababa are aimed at finding a settlement to one of Africa’s worst conflicts. “We are hoping that there will be some form of agreement signed tomorrow,” UN […]

France threatens Syria strikes if chemical attacks proven

PARIS, France (AFP) – France will launch strikes if proof emerges that the Syrian regime has used banned chemical weapons against its civilians, President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday. “We will strike the place where these launches are made or where they are organized,” Macron told the presidential press corps. “But today our services have not established proof that proscribed chemical weapons have been used against civilian populations,” he added. “As soon as such proof is established, […]

11 Turkish troops killed in deadliest day of Kurdish offensive

ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — Eleven Turkish soldiers were killed on Saturday, including two military personnel when a helicopter was downed, in the bloodiest day in Ankara’s offensive against a Kurdish militia in northern Syria. On January 20, Turkey launched a military operation against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia in the Afrin region, backing Syrian rebels with air strikes and ground troops. “At this stage, we can say that one out of two helicopters was downed. […]

Israel targets ‘Iranian’ positions in Syria after F16 downed

by Jonah Mandel © Agence France-Presse JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel attacked what it said were Iranian positions inside Syria on Saturday in “large-scale” raids after one of its warplanes was targeted by Syrian air defences and crashed. Following the most serious confrontation between arch foes Israel and Iran since Syria’s civil war began in 2011, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to prevent Tehran from establishing a threatening military presence in the Arab state. Israel’s raids came […]

‘Large-scale’ Israeli raids hit Iranian targets in Syria

by Jonah Mandel © Agence France-Presse JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel struck a dozen Syrian and Iranian targets inside Syria on Saturday after an Israeli fighter jet crashed under fire from Syrian air defences, the military said. The confrontation was the most serious between arch foes Israel and Iran since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011. Israel’s raids came after it intercepted what it said was an Iranian drone entering its airspace from […]