Syria

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

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Asthma Attack Kills Famed NYT Reporter

Anthony Shadid snuck into Syria to cover uprising

(Newser) - One of the world's great foreign correspondents has died while covering the Syrian uprising. Anthony Shadid, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times correspondent, died from an apparent asthma attack a week after slipping across the border from Turkey to gather information on the resistance movement. Times photographer Tyler...

UN to Syria President: Time to Go

Russia, China vote against General Assembly resolution

(Newser) - The UN General Assembly has voted to support an Arab League call for Syria's Bashar al-Assad to quit as president. The assembly voted 137-12 for the resolution, which isn't legally binding but is a barometer of international opinion, the AP notes. Seventeen countries abstained from voting, while Russia...

Trapped Syrians Communicate With Pigeons

Activists in Homs resort to age-old method

(Newser) - Syrian activists have resorted to using carrier pigeons to send out messages for help. The protesters are trapped in the central city of Homs, where government forces have laid siege. With no access to telecommunications or electricity, the isolated protesters in various neighborhoods have been communicating with each other by...

Assad Orders Referendum on New Constitution

It would allow more parties, and include term limit

(Newser) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ordered that a referendum be held later this month on a new constitution that would allow for additional political parties and limit the president to two 14-year terms, Syria's state-run TV station announced today. But opposition leaders immediately dismissed the gesture as an attempt...

Defiant Syrians Changing Streetscape —Via Google

Streets renamed in honor of fallen revolutionaries via Map Maker

(Newser) - Defiant Syrians are winning a virtual battle over President Bashar al-Assad. They're eradicating the name Assad from streets and bridges, and renaming them in honor of fallen Syrian rebels—with the help of Google crowdsourcing program Map Maker . The map modifications are believed to be the first time a...

Arab League Resolution OKs Arming Syrian Rebels

Homs shelling continues as UN warns of civil war

(Newser) - The Arab League has delivered a veiled threat to Bashar al-Assad's regime in the form of a resolution passed Sunday urging Arabs to "provide all kinds of political and material support" to Syrian rebels—and yes, "material support" means guns, diplomats confirm for Reuters . "We will...

Syria Continues Assault on Homs

23 reported killed yesterday as Arab League seeks peacekeepers

(Newser) - Syrian tanks have relaunched their assault on Homs, shelling the beleaguered city for a 10th day today after the government's rejection of the Arab League's attempts to launch a UN peacekeeping mission in the country. The League's push was today also rejected by Russia, which said a...

Arab League Wants UN Peacekeepers in Syria

Saudi minister: 'Bloodshed is a disgrace for us as Muslims and Arabs'

(Newser) - The Arab League called today for the UN Security Council to create a joint peacekeeping force for Syria and urged Arab states to sever all diplomatic contact with President Bashar Assad's regime, the League's latest effort to bring an end to the violence that has killed more than...

Al-Qaeda: Help Syria Boot Assad

Al-Zawahri confirms terror group seeking to turn tide in Syrian uprising

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda's chief has called on Muslims from other countries to support rebels in Syria seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, saying they cannot depend on the West for help. Ayman al-Zawahri, in a videotaped statement released late yesterday, asked Muslims in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey to join the...

Gunmen Kill Syrian General in Capital

Fighting continues in Homs, elsewhere

(Newser) - Here's yet another milestone that doesn't bode well for Syria: Gunmen killed a Syrian general as he left his home in the capital of Damascus today, reports AP . The attack on Brig. Gen. Issa al-Khouli marks the first time a high-ranking military official has been killed in Damascus,...

US Suspects al-Qaeda Behind Syria Bombings

Group may be looking to exploit the chaos

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda's Iraq branch is moving into the chaos in Syria, and is responsible for two recent bombings and most likely yesterday's bombing in Aleppo , US officials tell McClatchy . Intelligence reports seem to back up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad assertions—disputed by the opposition—that al-Qaeda has been involved...

Syrian Tanks Surround Homs

 Syrian Tanks Surround Homs 
UPDATED

Syrian Tanks Surround Homs

Plus: Blasts kill 25 in Aleppo

(Newser) - Time is running out for Syrian civilians as tanks surround Homs and the UN continues to fiddle for answers. Food, water, and medicine are running out, and sealed roads are preventing the evacuation of children and the wounded, witnesses tell the Guardian . "Communications have been completely cut off,"...

Arab League, UN Struggle to Respond to 'War on Syrians'

Even worse is yet to come, fears Ban Ki-Moon

(Newser) - As Syrian forces continue to bombard civilians in Homs , a desperate Arab League is considering reviving a monitoring mission with the help of the United Nations in a bid to stem the violence. UN chief Ban Ki-Moon said the "disastrous" failure to agree on a UN resolution on Syria...

Doctors' Group: Syrian Forces Commandeer Hospitals

Wounded can't get proper care, says international agency

(Newser) - Many Syrian civilians who have been wounded in their country's violence are unable to get adequate medical treatment—in part because security forces have taken over many public hospitals, an international aid group said today. Doctors Without Borders released a video in Paris showing interviews with 10 wounded Syrians...

Pentagon Weighs Syria Options
 Pentagon Weighs Syria Options 

Pentagon Weighs Syria Options

Arming rebels not being considered 'right now'

(Newser) - As the slaughter continues in Syria, the Pentagon has begun looking at options for supporting the rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad's regime—though officials were quick to note that US policy remains focused on using only non-military options at present. Arming the rebels "is not being considered for now,...

Assad's Staff Needs Better Computer Passwords

Anonymous hacks into emails, showing he tried to manipulate 'American psyche'

(Newser) - The hackers of Anonymous got their hands on emails going in and out of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's office, and two items stick out:
  • Gullible Americans: As Assad prepped for an interview with Barbara Walters last year, a press official wrote: "It is hugely important and worth mentioning
...

Syria Still Pounding Homs as Russia Arrives

Sergei Lavrov reportedly has own peace plan

(Newser) - Syria's regime is raining devastation down on Homs for a fourth day today, with the Telegraph reporting that hundreds of shells are hitting the city with each passing hour. Rebels there have been rendered defensively helpless, incapable of responding with anything more than gunshots. "We can't count...

US Closes Embassy, Flees Syria
 US Closes Embassy, Flees Syria 

US Closes Embassy, Flees Syria

Ambassador Robert Ford and other diplomats leave country

(Newser) - The US closed its embassy in Damascus today, pulling Ambassador Robert Ford and his 16 remaining staffers out of the country. Two of the staffers flew out last week, and the rest headed to Jordan today via convoy, CNN reports. Syria was notified of the move only after all the...

Syrian Troops Step Up Homs Bombardment

Activists say 50 people have been killed so far today

(Newser) - Syrian troops resumed their shelling of Homs this morning, with the BBC reporting near-constant explosions in the restive city. Some rebels are reportedly returning fire (though a BBC correspondent describes their efforts as a "futile gesture"), and Reuters reports that 50 people have been killed today. According to...

Syria Releases Mastermind of 7/7 Bombing

Al-Suri's release likely a warning to US over Syria unrest

(Newser) - The alleged mastermind behind the 2005 7/7 bombings in London has been released from a Syrian prison, reportedly as a warning to the United States and West by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, reports the Telegraph . Abu Musab al-Suri, also known as Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, is also suspected of being...

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