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What Concessions Do Aid Groups Want from Geneva?
This week, hundreds of civilians were evacuated from besieged areas of Homs, the result of concessions made during the first round of Geneva II peace talks.
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Eye on the Battle: Yabroud
Today, Syrian government forces stepped up their offensive on Yabroud, a village near the Lebanese border, as part of its ongoing campaign to secure the mountainous, strategically important Qalamoun region.
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One on One: David Kenner, Middle East Editor, Foreign Policy
As the security situation in Syria deteriorates, the way editors choose to cover the story changes. For Foreign Policy’s David Kenner, it has meant more coverage from the borders, and an “ethical, legal and moral” refusal to send writers into the country.
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Eye on the Battle: Air Attacks on Aleppo Escalate During Peace Talks
As peace talks resumed this week in Geneva, the government escalated aerial bombardment of Aleppo in a continued siege of rebel-held areas.
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Should Assad’s Chemical Weapons Be Destroyed In-Country?
Plans to remove the Syrian government’s chemical weapons cache by transporting them from Damascus to ships off the coast of Latakia province have missed deadlines throughout December and January. .
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Attack on Maan Scares Alawites, Bolsters Assad
On Monday, activists said 40 people had been killed in a weekend attack on the Alawite village of Maan, in central Hama province.
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What to Expect From This Round of Geneva Talks
A new round of peace talks kicked off today in Geneva, as aid efforts continued in Homs. More than 700 civilians were evacuated from Homs this weekend, despite an attack on the United Nations convoy carrying out the mission.
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How Syrian Children Are Recruited Into Battle
Last week, the United Nations released a report detailing the myriad abuses of Syrian children by those on each side of the conflict.
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Week in Review: While Geneva Talks Move Forward, US Policy Falters and Syria Falls Apart
Geneva II peace talks resume on Monday, after a one-week pause. They pick up on a sense of positive momentum, despite limited grains of concrete progress.
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How Turkey Is Facing the Challenges of a Syrian Escalation
Last week, the Turkish army attacked a convoy of al-Qaida-linked vehicles in Syria, destroying three. The escalation triggered speculation that Turkey now considers the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) a bigger enemy in Syria than the Assad regime. .
- Religious & Ethnic Groups
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In Tartous, a Family Split By Politics
TARTOUS — Political and sectarian divisions created by Syria’s three-year conflict have affected most everyone in the country, even families far removed from the front lines.
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One on One: Martin Chulov, Middle East Correspondent, The Guardian
Since 2005, Guardian correspondent Martin Chulov has covered crises across the Arab world, but none, he says, are as “emotionally exhausting” as the Syrian civil war.
- Opposition Groups & Rebel Forces
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Far From Yarmouk, Economic Hardship for A Palestinian Patriarch
JDEIDET ARTOUZ—Abu Nidal, 65, is not used to rising early in the morning to the sound of a ringing phone.
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How Does the Regime Stand in Aleppo and Homs?
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has released a report on the regime’s campaign in Aleppo and Homs cities in 2013 and the military situation on the ground in each situation going into 2014. .
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Why Did al-Qaida Disavow ISIS in Syria?
On Feb. 2, [al-Qaida disavowed the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant][1]. In May 2013, al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ordered ISIS to leave Syria and return to Iraq, and said that Jabhat al-Nusra, which is more popular with both civilians and other rebel fighting groups, was its [official branch in the country.[2].
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How Do You Measure Geneva’s Success?
The second round of Syrian peace talks concluded in Switzerland on Friday Jan. 31, leaving experts underwhelmed by what they say were inadequate humanitarian aid concessions and open hostility between the government and opposition delegations.
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Conversations: Snapshots of Civilian Life in Hama
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between Syria Deeply and Noor, a 30-year-old woman who lives in a regime-held neighborhood of Hama, about the hardships of life in the city.
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Week in Review: Talks Inch Ahead, Stirring Power Politics Towards an End Game
There was more rhetorical sparring than there was actual negotiating this week in Geneva.
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In Homs, Civilians Want More Than Aid
HOMS – Nearly 600 days have passed since the Syrian government laid siege to neighborhoods in Homs. Now residents of those areas hope that concessions made this week in Geneva conference will help the approximately 250 families who need to be evacuated.
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Why the Government Razed Whole Neighborhoods in Hama and Damascus
Yesterday, Human Rights Watch released a 38-page report on the Syrian government’s illegal demolition of neighborhoods in opposition-held areas.
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Geneva II Elicits Hopes and Hopelessness in Aleppo
ALEPPO – While negotiations between the Syrian government and the opposition inch forward in Geneva, little has changed for civilians on the ground.
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Q+A: Josh Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies, University of Oklahoma
On the opening day of peace talks in Switzerland, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry came out stronger than predicted against the Syrian government, calling for regime change. .
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Survey of Syrian Attitudes Finds Both Sides Seek Peace, Unified Country
Today, polling veteran Craig Charney launched a new report, Syrian Perspectives on Transitional Justice, looking at the views of Syrian civilians still living in the country. .
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Eye On the Battle: ISIS Reclaims Raqqa But Loses Ground in Aleppo
Earlier this month, rebel fighting groups led by the Islamic Front (IF) battled the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in Raqqa, the first Syrian city to come under extremist control. The clash quickly spread to neighboring Aleppo and Idlib province.
- Opposition Groups & Rebel Forces
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Conversations: A Jihadi, Praising Jabhat al-Nusra
Mohammad, a jihadi rebel from northern Syria, is describing his wedding night. His family had insisted on a non-religious ceremony. At the reception, just as his relatives began to dance and celebrate, he went home.
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Assessing the Latest Developments from Geneva
As the second round of Geneva peace talks enter their first full week, the Syrian government agreed to let women and children leave the besieged old city of Homs, one of the country’s hardest-hit areas. .
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Week in Review: Small Steps Forward in Geneva, as Powerful Patrons Force Talks
After the long road to Geneva II came a small win: an agreement to deliver food, and release women and children from the besieged areas of Homs.
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An Activist in Montreux
Rami Jarrah is one of Syria’s original media activists and organizers. In 2011, he spent time in Syrian government detention before fleeing to Cairo and then to the U.K., where he has continued to be one of the conflict’s most vocal activists.
- Religious & Ethnic Groups
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One on One: Mike Giglio, Middle East Correspondent, Buzzfeed
In November, Buzzfeed correspondent Mike Giglio traveled to Syria’s Kurdish areas, reporting on what life was like for residents and Kurdish fighters as extremists moved into the area.
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Eye On: Fighting in Deraa
The Syrian government began to barrel bomb the southern province of Deraa last month, which had previously been overshadowed by attention on Aleppo and rebel infighting in Raqqa. .
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In Montreux, Syrian Women Look to Find Their Voice
Last week, Syrian women’s rights activists concluded a two-day conference in Geneva by demanding equal involvement in the war-torn country’s male-dominated peace-building process.
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Twice Raped in Syrian Prisons
DAMASCUS – Last December, Alaa was laid down on an interrogator’s bed, her hands tied and her legs spread apart.
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Week in Review: Geneva II Gives Hope to Syrians in an Unbearable Status Quo
When Syrian peace talks known as “Geneva II” begin in Switzerland on Wednesday, they’ll revive a process that’s been on hold since June 2012.
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How Will the Kuwait Donor Conference Help on the Ground?
This week’s U.N. donor conference in Kuwait aimed to raise $6.5 billion for Syrian humanitarian aid. So far only $2.4 billion has been pledged, with the U.S. making a $380 million promise.
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In Turkey, Syrian Students Turned Laborers, or Jobless
GAZIANTEP — Syrian university students unable to complete their degrees due to the country’s ongoing conflict and displaced to Turkey are now jobless, or scraping by as day laborers.
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Syria Deeply Asks: What’s the Best That Geneva Can Deliver?
On Jan. 22, representatives of global powers, the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition will gather in Switzerland for a second round of peace talks, known as Geneva II.
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Syria ER: ‘Blasts Lead to Horrible Multiple Injuries’
Anesthesiologist Dr. Ben Gupta spent nearly three months on the Jordan-Syria border, working to treat patients from Daraa who made the journey to his field hospital, many with blast injuries and requiring multiple surgeries.
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How is al-Qaida Changing the Fabric of Syrian Life?
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an al-Qaida affiliate that’s dominating the fight in Syria, has imposed its own conservative rule of law in Raqqa and other eastern areas.
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Syria’s Socially Mediated Civil War
Yesterday, the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) released its latest report, “Syria’s Socially Mediated Civil War.”.
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Playing an Oud, a Bard of the Revolution
BASRA AL-SHAM, DARAA — Maan, a Syrian musician, was turned back at the Jordanian border in April 2011 after an arduous journey from his hometown of Basra al-Sham.