Tag: syria

40 dead as Turkish shelling, raids hit Syrian civilians

by Layal Abou Rahal with Stuart Williams in Istanbul BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Turkish shelling and air strikes killed at least 40 Syrians on Sunday, a monitor said, in the first significant civilian casualties in Turkey’s intensifying campaign in northern Syria. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said the army had killed 25 Kurdish “terrorists” in air strikes as part of its unprecedented operation inside Syria. The bombardments came after Ankara suffered its first military fatality […]

Rebels, civilians to evacuate Syria’s Daraya under deal

DARAYA, Syria (AFP) — Ambulances and Red Crescent vehicles entered Syria’s besieged town of Daraya as thousands of rebels and civilians prepared to evacuate on Friday ahead of its takeover by government forces. It was unclear exactly when residents and fighters would start leaving the devastated town near the capital Damascus that has been under rebel control since 2012. An estimated 8,000 people remain in the town, despite a government siege lasting four years and […]

Barrel bombing kills 11 children in Syria’s Aleppo

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Eleven children were killed on Thursday in a barrel bomb attack carried out by government forces on a rebel-held neighborhood of Syria’s Aleppo city, a monitor said. “Fifteen civilians, among them 11 children, were killed in a barrel bomb attack on the Bab al-Nayrab neighborhood” in the south of Aleppo city, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. The group also reported eight civilians, including two children, were killed […]

Ten more Turkish tanks head across border into Syria

by Bulent KILIC KARKAMIS, Turkey (AFP) — At least 10 more Turkish tanks on Thursday crossed the border into Syria a day after pro-Ankara Syrian opposition fighters ousted jihadists from the town of Jarabulus, an AFP photographer said. The tanks were set to join around a dozen others which had crossed the frontier on Monday in Operation Euphrates Shield, which Turkey says aims at ridding the border area of Islamic State (IS) extremists and also Kurdish […]

Syria regime launched chemical attacks, IS used mustard gas: UN report

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – by Carole LANDRY A UN investigation has established that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces carried out at least two chemical attacks in Syria and that Islamic State jihadists used mustard gas as a weapon, according to a report seen by AFP on Wednesday. The panel was able to identify the perpetrators of three chemical attacks carried out in 2014 and 2015, but was unable to draw conclusions in the other six […]

Turkey strikes IS as Syria border tensions flare

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) – by Stuart WILLIAMS Turkey on Tuesday pounded Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria with new artillery strikes as expectations grew of a major Ankara-backed offensive against the group after a deadly suicide bombing on its soil. With tensions flaring on the Turkey-Syria border following the bombing in the nearby city of Gaziantep that left 54 people dead, Turkish howitzers on Monday hit jihadist and Kurdish rebel targets across the frontier. Turkey has […]

China state media casts doubt on Syria Omran video

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s state broadcaster has questioned the authenticity of the video of Syrian boy Omran which went viral worldwide, alleging it may have been faked as part of a Western “propaganda war”. The video showed the stunned-looking four-year-old covered in blood and dust after an air strike in Aleppo last week, with the US State Department calling the child “the real face” of the Syrian war. Beijing supports the Syrian government led […]

Photo of boy pulled from rubble reminder of ‘unimaginable horrors’ Syrian children face – UNICEF

  (United Nations/UNICEF)   The heart breaking photograph of Omran Daqneesh, the little boy sitting alone in an ambulance with his face and body covered in blood and dirt after being pulled from a destroyed building has reminded the world, yet again, of the unimaginable horrors that Syrian children face every day, a spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today. “No child in Syria [is] safe while the conflict drags on,” Christophe Boulierac, […]

Syrian regime jets hit Kurdish positions, even after US warning

HASAKEH, Syria (AFP) – by with Thomas Watkins in Washington Syrian regime jets pounded US-backed Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria for a second day Friday, even after the US-led coalition scrambled jets to protect its military advisers working on the ground. In another escalation of Syria’s bloody conflict, warplanes from President Bashar al-Assad’s regime were bombarding the city of Hasakeh — targeting Kurdish forces that for months have worked closely with coalition military advisers helping local […]

Photo of dazed Syrian boy symbolizes Aleppo’s plight

by Karam al-Masri A shocked Syrian boy pictured sitting in an ambulance covered in blood and dust after an air strike has become a symbol of civilian suffering in Aleppo, drawing worldwide attention. As international concern mounted, President Bashar al-Assad’s key ally Russia said it was ready to halt fire in the battleground northern city for 48-hour “humanitarian pauses” from next week. The announcement Thursday followed pleas from the United Nations and the European Union […]

U.S. assessing if Russian use of Iran base violates U.N. resolution

  (REUTERS)  The United States is looking at whether Russia has violated a U.N. Security Council resolution on military dealings with Tehran by using an Iranian air base to carry out strikes inside Syria, the State Department said on Wednesday. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said U.S. government attorneys had not yet decided whether they think Russia’s use of the Iranian base is a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which was passed as […]

Russia launches first Syria raids from Iran base

by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia said Tuesday its warplanes flew out of an Iranian airbase for the first time to bomb jihadist groups in Syria, as fighting raged for control of the ravaged city of Aleppo. The United States said the Russian move made the Syrian crisis even more difficult, but it credited Moscow with having given it a brief advance warning. The defense ministry in Moscow said long-range warplanes took off […]