Washington, United States | AFP | Despite a bizarre boast about his “unmatched wisdom,” President Donald Trump found himself dangerously isolated Monday as his erratic policy on Syria infuriated the Republicans he needs to save him from impeachment. The new Washington upheaval began late Sunday when the White House announced removal …
Read More »How has war affected Syria’s oil and gas sector?
Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | Syria’s eight-year war has seen the Damascus regime lose control of key oil fields and caused state hydrocarbon revenues to plummet by billions of dollars. Weak production has forced President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to import oil, but Western sanctions on Damascus and Tehran are hampering incoming …
Read More »IS loss affirms Pentagon plan, but end game vague as US pulls out
Washington, United States | AFP | Now that the Islamic State group has officially lost its geographic “caliphate,” the Pentagon is marking a historic moment in its years-long campaign to defeat the jihadists. From a military perspective at least, the United States can claim significant success in its strategy of …
Read More »370,000 dead: Syria’s war in numbers
Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | The Syrian conflict, which entered its ninth year on Friday, has ravaged the lives of millions of people since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. Here are some figures: – Victims – The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which …
Read More »Britain to strip IS teen of citizenship: lawyer
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Britain will strip citizenship from a UK teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria but now wants to return home with her newborn baby, a lawyer for her family said Tuesday. Shamima Begum’s fate has stirred controversy since she and two friends fled London to join the …
Read More »Germany wants trial for Syria jihadists but warns of difficulties
Berlin, Germany | AFP | Germany vowed Monday to prosecute German IS fighters but warned that it would be “extremely difficult” to organise the repatriation of European nationals from Syria, after US President Donald Trump called on allies to take back alleged jihadists. Syria’s US-backed Kurdish forces, which are battling Islamic State group jihadists in …
Read More »UK teen who joined IS gives birth in Syrian refugee camp
London, United Kingdom | AFP | A teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria but now wants to return to Britain on Sunday gave birth in a refugee camp, as European governments grapple with what to do with returning jihadists ahead of a US troop pullout. Shamima Begum, whose fate has stirred controversy …
Read More »Governments ponder what to do with returning jihadists
Paris, France | AFP | The imminent fall of the Islamic State’s caliphate in Iraq and Syria has left many countries grappling with what to do with jihadists who want to return. Several hundred foreign jihadists are being detained by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the main fighters on the …
Read More »IS defends last Syria redoubt, as family members flee
Near Baghouz, Syria | AFP | Jihadist fighters made a desperate last stand in eastern Syria on Wednesday, while their wives and children fled the final, blood-soaked implosion of the Islamic State group’s “caliphate”. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on Saturday launched a final push to expel IS fighters from the sole remaining morsel …
Read More »Senate rebukes Trump over Syria, Afghanistan pullouts
Washington, United States | AFP | The US Senate approved by a large majority Monday an amendment critical of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan, in a sign of the deep discontent caused by the policies within his own Republican ranks. The resolution was sponsored by the Republican leader of …
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