Syria

Read recent Syrian news stories and current events on Newser.com

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7 Red Cross Workers Kidnapped in Syria

Team was trying to bring medical aid to dangerous rebel-controlled area

(Newser) - Another high-profile kidnapping in Syria's civil war: Gunmen have abducted a team of seven workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross, after stopping their convoy early today in northern Syria, according to an ICRC spokesman. The abduction took place near the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province...

Syrian Rebels Executed Villagers: Human Rights Watch

Opposition forces tried to 'kill entire families': report

(Newser) - In August, Islamist rebels in Syria executed almost 200 unarmed villagers—pro-regime members of the minority Alawite sect—in Latakia province, Human Rights Watch said in a report today. Opposition forces sometimes even tried to kill "entire families," or else killed adult males and held the women and...

Nobel Committee Turned to Twitter to Find Winner

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons currently working in Syria

(Newser) - A 16-year-old won this year's Nobel Peace Prize, but, no, it wasn't Malala . Instead, the honor goes to the group currently at work trying to get rid of Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons in Syria—the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, reports the LA ...

Bachmann: 'We're in God's End Times'

Because Obama is 'sending arms to terrorists'

(Newser) - Michele Bachmann says we're facing "God's end times," and she finds the proof in President Obama's actions in Syria. He recently waived some arms-export rules in order to offer "non-lethal assistance" to the opposition there, according to the National Security Council, the Hill notes....

Destruction of Syria's Chemical Weapons Begins

Inspectors have 9 months to destroy 1K tons

(Newser) - And it's on: Disarmament experts have begun the massive undertaking that is dismantling and destroying Syria's estimated 1,000-ton stockpile of chemical weapons. The UN-endorsed inspectors have only nine months to get rid of the entire arsenal—the tightest deadlines the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons...

Assad: I Won't Make Peace Deal With Rebels

But admits his gov't has made mistakes

(Newser) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad admits he's made mistakes ... but gassing his own people wasn't one of them. "We did not use chemical weapons," he insists in a new interview with German magazine Der Spiegel . "This is a misstatement. So is the picture you paint of...

Assad: I May Run Again Next Year

But not if Syrians don't want me: interview

(Newser) - Syrian president Bashar Assad says it's still too early to say whether he'll run for re-election in next year's presidential vote. Assad says "the picture will be clearer" in the next four to five months because Syria is going though "rapid" changes on the ground....

Aid Barred From Gassed, Starved Syrian Town

'Let them starve,' says one pro-regime fighter

(Newser) - A month after a sarin gas attack in Moadhamiya outside Damascus, Syrian officials have blocked aid workers from getting food and medical supplies into the town, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some 12,000 residents, including some rebel fighters, have been forced to forage, picking olives, vine leaves, figs, and...

Syria's Assad: I'll Comply With UN Resolution

Says he's open to talks with opposition if they give up their arms

(Newser) - Bashar al-Assad is vowing to stand by the terms of the United Nations' resolution last week to destroy Syria's chemical weapons, reports the AP . "Of course we have to comply," he told Italian television in an interview today. "This is our history to comply with every...

Syria's Weapons Inspections Start Next Week

Security Council adopts resolution, though it doesn't include penalties

(Newser) - The first international inspectors will be on the ground in Syria Tuesday to start assessing the nation's chemical weapons, reports Reuters . The move is part of a UN resolution adopted unanimously last night by the 15-member Security Council demanding that Bashar al-Assad's illegal arsenal be destroyed. The AP...

Russia Will Send Troops to Syria's Chemical Sites

5 key members of Security Council reach a deal on resolution

(Newser) - The five permanent members of the UN Security Council have finally agreed on the wording of a resolution that requires Syria to destroy its chemical weapons, reports the New York Times . As part of the deal worked out mainly between the US and Russia, Moscow and some former Soviet republics...

Syrian Rebels Disavow Western-Backed Leaders

Groups want Sharia as basis for all law

(Newser) - Some of Syria's most powerful rebel groups have disavowed the Western-backed National Syrian Coalition's government in exile, in a move that may further complicate efforts to find a diplomatic resolution to the country's civil war. Thirteen groups, spearheaded by the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, released a statement last...

Assad's Chemical Weapons List 'Surprisingly Thorough'

Officials call it a 'serious document'

(Newser) - Bashar al-Assad handed over a document containing the locations of "dozens" of chemical weapons sites over the weekend, and it's apparently not half bad. Western officials yesterday categorized it as a "serious document" that's many pages in length and, in the words of the Los Angeles ...

Obama: We Must Talk With Iran

President touches on Syria, Egypt, Israel/Palestine in wide-ranging UN speech

(Newser) - President Obama is directing John Kerry to pursue fresh negotiations with Iran, the commander in chief announced today in a wide-ranging UN speech that also dealt extensively with the US position on Syria and other parts of the Middle East. Obama said that statements from President Rouhani and Ayatollah Khamenei...

Can Syria Really Wipe Out Chemical Weapons in a Year?

After all, US has spent decades on the process

(Newser) - The US has spent decades ridding itself of a chemical weapons stash that dates back to 1917, using all sorts of methods to achieve disarmament—yet the plan for Syria calls for wiping out its chemical weapons by next year. What's more, Syria's got to take action amid...

Al-Qaeda Militants Capture Syrian Town—From Rival Rebels

It's more evidence of infighting among Assad's enemies

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda militants seized a town near the Turkish border today after expelling Western-backed rebels from the area, demonstrating the growing power of jihadis as they seek to expand their influence across opposition-held Syrian territory. The infighting—now engulfing many parts of northern Syria—threatened to further split opposition forces outgunned...

For the Record, Obama Has Done Pretty Well on Syria

But you wouldn't know that from all his critics: David Ignatius

(Newser) - The many, many critics of President Obama's Syria strategy say it has amounted to nothing short of a national embarrassment. Which David Ignatius of the Washington Post find a little "puzzling" given how things have worked out. The threat of force got Russia invested in a resolution, got...

Looks Like Syria Will Miss First Arms-Deal Deadline

Plus: Pentagon says US could train some rebels

(Newser) - Syria probably won't get a full inventory of its chemical weapons to international authorities by Saturday, as proposed—but the US, it seems, isn't panicking. "Our goal is to see forward momentum," rather than the whole inventory, by Saturday, says a State Department rep. "We'...

Assad Scoffs: 'Anyone Can Make Sarin in His House'

He tells Fox News his regime isn't to blame

(Newser) - Bashar al-Assad continues making the interview rounds and denying that his regime used chemical weapons. In the latest sit-down—conducted by Fox News , with former congressman Dennis Kucinich as one of the interviewers—the Syrian leader said it will take about a year to destroy his chemical stockpile, reports NPR...

Obama's New Hurdle: Ticked-Off Democrats

Opposition has centered on Syria, NSA, Summers

(Newser) - House Republicans haven't made things easy for President Obama—but now, he's facing hurdles within his own party. The New York Times notes that liberals have lately disagreed with Obama on Syria, NSA surveillance, and the consideration of Larry Summers for the Fed chairmanship; they're also unhappy...

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