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by Rana Moussaoui with Dave Clark in Geneva BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — A barrage of airstrikes on rebel-held areas in Syria have killed scores of people, just hours after the government in Damascus approved a US-Russian plan to halt fighting in the country’s suppurating civil war. It was not immediately clear who carried out the raids, which hit the key northern cities of Idlib and Aleppo. But they came as a new ceasefire, agreed […]
(Reuters) — Speaking to media after talks on the crisis in Syria in the early hours of Saturday (September 10) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also spoke of their worries over North Korea and its latest nuclear missile test, which took place on Friday (September 9). John Kerry said he expected President Barack Obama to address the issue and said there would be discussions at the United […]
(Reuters) — The United Nations Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) Special Envoy Angelina Jolie called on world leaders gathering in New York later this month to put the “root causes of the Syrian conflict and what it will take to end it” at the centre of their discussions. During a visit to the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan on Friday (September 9), Jolie said all of the camp’s 60,000 residents had suffered loss and trauma, yet […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) – by Rouba El Husseini The commander of Syria’s largest rebel coalition has been killed in an air strike near Aleppo, in what analysts say is the biggest blow to the alliance since its formation. The strike on a meeting of leaders of the Army of Conquest came after a major defeat for the rebels, which saw them once again besieged inside Aleppo after a pro-government advance this week. Former Al-Qaeda affiliate […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Dozens of people had to be treated for breathing problems in the Syrian battlefront city of Aleppo after regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on a rebel-held district Tuesday, a monitor said. In addition, rebel gunfire killed five people in Azamiyeh, a government-controlled area in Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The bombs that left more than 70 people choking and in need of treatment were dropped from helicopters on […]
HANGZHOU, China (AFP) — This year’s most exclusive and closely-watched diplomatic party –- the G20 summit –- saw presidents and prime ministers from countries representing 85 percent of the global economy gather in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. How did the first China-hosted G20 go? While analysts correctly foresaw little prospect of big economic breakthroughs, there were some notable moments –- and notable flops. As heads of state bid farewell to the scenic city, which […]
DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) – by Rim Haddad Bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed dozens in mainly government-controlled areas of Syria on Monday, as Washington and Moscow failed to agree a deal to stem the violence. The blasts killed at least 48 people and wounded dozens a day after IS lost the last stretch of the Syria-Turkey border under its control. In China, where world powers were gathered for the G20 meeting, US President […]
by Sarah STEWART HANGZHOU, China (AFP) — G20 leaders met Monday under pressure to reboot the world economy, but a stumbling push for a Syria ceasefire and Asia’s heated territorial disputes intruded on the summit in Hangzhou. There had been hopes of a breakthrough in stemming the Syria conflict after the US said it was close to a deal with Russia. But frantic diplomacy ended in failure, with Moscow accused of backtracking. A US official […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) – by Rana Moussaoui Rebels and jihadists battled pro-government forces in the central Syrian province of Hama Thursday as the country’s UN envoy warned that more people could be forcibly evacuated from towns besieged by the regime. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 25 civilians, including children, were killed in government air strikes as fighting raged in Hama, south of the opposition-held Idlib province. Anti-government groups, which […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) – by Nina LARSON The UN Syria envoy on Thursday criticised Damascus’ “strategy” of forced evacuation from Daraya following a brutal four-year government siege, warning that other besieged towns could follow. Staffan de Mistura told reporters in Geneva that there were “indications that after Daraya we may have other Darayas,” adding that “there is clearly a strategy at the moment to move from Daraya” to other besieged areas “in a similar pattern”. Long […]
by Maria PANINA MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — The G20 summit starting in China on Sunday gives Russian President Vladimir Putin one more chance to try to strongarm US leader Barack Obama over Syria and Ukraine as their fraught relationship nears an end. In recent years the two world leaders have barely been able to hide their disdain for each other as ties between Washington and Moscow fell to their lowest level since the Cold War […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — The Islamic State group said Tuesday its spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani was killed in the Syrian province of Aleppo, as the US confirmed an IS “senior leader” was targeted in the same area. Quoting an IS “military source”, the group’s news agency Amaq said: “Sheikh Abu Mohamed al-Adnani… was martyred while surveying operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo.” It said he died after a “long voyage crowned by sacrifice” […]
