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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that US troops withdrawing from Syria would remain in the region to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group. “United States troops coming out of Syria will now redeploy and remain in the region to monitor the situation and prevent a repeat of 2014, when the neglected threat of ISIS raged across Syria and Iraq,” Trump said in a statement, using an acronym for […]
by Delil Souleiman QAMISHLI, Syria (AFP) — Syria’s Kurds on Sunday announced a groundbreaking deal with Damascus on a Syrian troop deployment near the border with Turkey, as Ankara pressed a deadly cross-border offensive that has sparked an international outcry. The announcement came as the United States ordered the withdrawal of almost its entire ground force in Syria. Defence Secretary Mark Esper said the move to withdraw 1,000 US troops came after Washington learned that […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Turkey’s deadly assault on Kurdish positions in northeastern Syria has forced 130,000 people to flee their homes, the UN said Sunday, adding it was preparing for that figure to more than triple. “We have moved into a planning scenario where up to 400,000 people could be displaced within and across the affected areas,” Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA told AFP in an email, adding that […]
by Nazeer al-Khatib with Delil Souleiman in Tall Tamr Agence France Presse RAS AL-AIN, Syria (AFP) — Battles raged in Syria as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to press on with a deadly assault against Kurdish forces, while the Pentagon said Friday US troops came under artillery fire from Turkish positions. Erdogan’s pledge to keep up the offensive, which the UN says has displaced more than 100,000 people since it began on Wednesday, […]
by Delil Souleiman TALL TAMR, Syria (AFP) — Syria’s Kurds battled to hold off a Turkish invasion on Thursday as thousands of civilians fled airstrikes and shelling that deepened fears of a humanitarian crisis. US President Donald Trump tried to justify the de facto green light he gave his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for an assault seen as a blatant betrayal of Washington’s erstwhile Kurdish allies. Later Trump suggested that Washington could mediate between […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Turkey’s assault on Syrian Kurdish forces has not breached a red line declared by President Donald Trump, a US official said Thursday, as he added that Washington wanted to broker a ceasefire. Trump, in a week of mixed messages, initially voiced understanding for Turkey before criticizing the offensive and warning of sanctions if the operation is not “humane.” Asked to define what actions would violate Trump’s vague warning, the US […]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — The UN secretary-general on Thursday expressed “deep concern” and called for a “de-escalation” of the spiralling violence in Syria, a day after Turkey launched an offensive in Kurdish-controlled areas. “I want to express my deep concern about the escalation of conflicts we are witnessing in eastern Syria,” Antonio Guterres told a press conference in Copenhagen. “At the present moment what we must do is to make sure that we have a […]
AKCAKALE, Turkey (AFP) — Turkey on Tuesday sent more armored vehicles to the border with Syria, an AFP correspondent said, after the defense ministry said Ankara was ready for a cross-border offensive. Dozens of vehicles made up a large convoy seen by the correspondent in the town of Akcakale in Sanliurfa province. Different types of construction equipment were also part of the convoy which had been sent to reinforce the military units on the border, […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Thousands of children risk missing out on their education in northwestern Syria after a months-long regime assault on the jihadist-run bastion that has closed dozens of schools, a charity said. A fragile ceasefire has held in the Idlib region since Saturday, following four months of air strikes that have killed hundreds of civilians and caused mass displacement. “Thousands of children due to start the school year in northwest Syria may […]
(AFP) — UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Thursday strongly condemned air strikes in northwest Syria following reports that four health facilities were hit during a single day of bombing. An ambulance center, a clinic and two hospitals including one in Maarat al Numan that is among the largest in the area were attacked on Wednesday, according to the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, a Syrian doctors’ group. “Civilians and civilian infrastructure, including […]
by Jorge GUERRERO GIBRALTAR, United Kingdom (AFP) — Iran on Thursday condemned the “illegal interception” of one of its oil tankers in Gibraltar where authorities said they suspected it was carrying crude to Syria in violation of EU sanctions. The detention of the 330 metre (1,000 feet) Grace 1 vessel comes at a sensitive time in Iran-EU ties as the bloc mulls how to respond to Tehran announcing it will breach the maximum uranium enrichment […]
WASHINGTON D.C. (AFP) — The US-led coalition said Thursday it had unintentionally killed at least 1,319 civilians in strikes during its fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria since 2014. The figure is far lower than the death tolls given by groups that have monitored the conflict in the two countries. “The coalition conducted 34,514 strikes between August 2014 and the end of May 2019,” it said in a statement. During […]
