ISIS Takes Last Government Oil Field

Islamic State has seized the last oil field under the control of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Fighting between government forces and ISIS was fierce in the eastern region of Homs province on Monday, reports the Guardian, adding that the clashes resulted in the closure of the Jazal oil field.

The Jazal oil field is a midsized field situated northwest of Palmyra, the ancient city where ISIS has launched a campaign to destroy archeological treasures and other pre-Islamic historical antiquities.

ISIS controls more than half of all Syrian territory, while the Syrian government is still hanging on to some 20-30 percent, the Syrian Observatory estimates.

Amnesty: Syrian Kurds Carrying Out ‘Arbitrary Detention’

A Kurdish group in northern Syria has been arresting people without providing them fair trials, according to the international watchdog Amnesty International.

The human rights group’s new report – in which it interviewed ten prisoners held by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) – concluded that detainees “were denied basic rights including the right to defend themselves, to see the evidence against them, and access to a lawyer and their family,” as reported by Agence France Press.

“The PYD-led autonomous administration cannot use their fight against terrorism as an excuse to violate the rights of individuals under their control,” Lama Fakih, Amnesty International’s crisis director, said.

Many of those detainees were Arabs, the group added. Earlier this summer, Kurdish militias, including the People’s Protection Units (YPG), were accused of ethnically cleansing Arabs from towns and villages under YPG control.

France, New Zealand to Take Syrians as Refugee Crisis Escalates

France and New Zealand both announced that they will accept Syrian refugees on Monday as Europe continues to be rocked by the refugee crisis, reports Newsweek.

France will accept 24,000 Syrians across the coming two years, while New Zealand will absorb a mere 750 over the next three years. The announcements come shortly after German Prime Minister Angela Merkel announced that her country would allow Syrian refugees to stay.

Germany is expected to absorb 800,000 Syrians this year alone, adds Newsweek. “Europe as a whole must move,” Merkel said at a press conference on Monday.

Tens of thousands of refugees have attempted to reach Europe by boat – many of whom die along the way – since the war in Syria broke out in March 2011.

Top photo: Kurdish fighters from male and female brigades gather during a break before going back to the battlefield in northern Syria’s Kobani. (Associated Press/Jake Simkin)

Recommended Reads

• The Guardian: The Syrian Refugee Crisis Can Only Be Resolved When All Concerned Shoulder Their Responsibilities
• Wall Street Journal: Another Syria Failure
• PBS: What Increased Russian Support for Assad Could Mean for Syria
• International Business Times: As Syrian Refugee Crisis Worsens, U.S. Hasn’t Taken Any Syrian Refugees From Lebanon