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by Valérie Leroux Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – Diplomats from 29 countries including US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meet in Paris on Tuesday pushing for sanctions and criminal charges against the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria. Tillerson and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian will also co-host a meeting of ministers ahead of a new round of peace talks in Vienna later this week and again in Sochi in Russia the week after. The […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) – More than three dozen Syrian rebel groups, including influential Islamists, have rejected a Russian-led initiative for talks next month in Sochi on ending Syria’s war. Russia and Iran, both key allies of Syria’s regime, agreed with opposition backer Turkey on Friday to hold a “Congress of National Dialogue” in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on January 29 and 30. Syria’s government swiftly said it would attend but rebels have pushed back, calling […]
by Shaun Tandon Agence France-Presse UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday to fight an “Iranian curtain” descending on the Middle East, pledging to prevent Tehran from ever establishing a permanent foothold in Syria. Netanyahu — who in recent years has coined his own sort of theater at the annual United Nations speech marathon with podium props and dramatic warnings — was in a lighter mood for 2017, cracking jokes and […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — US President Barack Obama warned Russia and Damacus that the “world will be watching”, hours before a partial truce was due to come into force in war-torn Syria on Saturday. Obama said “the coming days will be critical” for the ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington, and agreed to by both President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and Syria’s top opposition grouping. The deal — which excludes the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group and […]
UNITED STATES, United States (AFP) — The UN Security Council is expected to vote Friday on a US-Russian draft resolution endorsing the Syria ceasefire, diplomats said. The 15-member council is set to meet as of 2000 GMT to hear a report from UN envoy Staffan de Mistura and could vote on the measure at that session. The draft text obtained by AFP welcomes the truce as “a step towards a lasting ceasefire” and endorses the US-Russian agreement […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Barack Obama put the onus for upholding a ceasefire in Syria firmly on the regime and its Russian ally Thursday, warning Moscow and Damascus that the “world will be watching.” Hours before the Saturday cessation of hostilities comes into force, Obama huddled with his top national security advisors to plot the way forward and discuss the campaign against the Islamic State group. “Everybody knows what needs to happen,” Obama […]
WASHINGTON D. C., United States (Reuters) — U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday (February 25) expressed confidence that the United States would prevail in its fight against the Islamic State, but said that an end to the conflict in Syria would be key to dismantling the group. Obama made the comments following a meeting with the National Security Council at the State Department. Obama said his security team was realistic about how difficult the fight […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Russian air strikes in and around the city of Aleppo against opponents of the Syrian regime are benefitting the Islamic State group, a senior US official charged Wednesday. “What Russia’s doing is directly enabling ISIL,” Brett McGurk, President Barack Obama’s special envoy to the coalition fighting the group in Syria and Iraq, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. US Secretary of State John Kerry has taken the lead over the past […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin is undermining international efforts to end the Syrian civil war by bombing opponents of Islamic State in an attempt to bolster Bashar al-Assad, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Monday (February 1) during a visit to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, about 10 km (six miles) south of the border with Syria. In a clear sign of frustration with the Kremlin, Hammond scolded Putin for paying lip service to […]
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday (January 28) that defeating “terrorism” had to be Syria’s main priority problem, not who is leading the war-ravaged country. Rouhani said that the main issue in the devastating five-year war in Syria was the threat from the Sunni militant group Islamic State and their supporters, and not Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “The problem today in Syria and the region is not a question of ‘this person’ or ‘that […]
Amateur videos posted to social media websites purported to show air strikes on rebel positions in Homs province of Syria on Wednesday (January 27), as well as intense fighting for control of the strategic town of Sheikh Maskin. Fighting raged as plans to hold the first negotiations to end the civil war in Syria for two years were in doubt. The main Syrian opposition group said on Wednesday that they would not show up for […]
Saudi Arabia signaled on Tuesday (January 6) that the breach in its relations with Iran would not affect talks on Syria, another round of which is scheduled in Geneva this month. Riyadh and Tehran, which support opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, have attended previous talks on the conflict but there is concern that the new rift between the arch rivals could set back diplomatic efforts to bring peace to Syria. Speaking after talks […]
