Syrian uprising
‘In Syria there is no black and white,’ says this Syrian filmmaker
When it comes to the Syrian war, we often hear about good versus evil. But anti-regime Syrian filmmaker Ali Sheikh Khudr found a more complicated picture when he began filming a documentary on his cousin, who later joined the Syrian Army.
American warplanes have effectively become Assad’s best weapon
Everyone agrees that ISIS needs to be stopped in Iraq and Syria, but there’s almost no agreement among Western countries and their allies on how to get rid of Bashar al-Assad. And as they focus on terrorist groups, they may find themselves actually turning to Assad for help.
The US has lots at stake in the Syrian border town of Kobane
Syrians in the Turkish border town of Kobane say they’re on the verge of being overrun by ISIS militants. But while American warplanes are coming to their aid, the US is still reluctant to get involved — but may be forced into much wider action that it wants.
Turkey prepares to make a military move into Syria, but NATO needs convincing
The Turkish government has asked parliament to authorize military action in Syria and Iraq, hoping to provide safe spaces for Kurds and keeping them on their side of the Turkey-Syria border. But Turkey’s NATO allies aren’t convinced the intervention is a good idea.
Syrian activists worry they won’t be the ones who gain from US airstrikes
Although the US military has the militants of ISIS in its crosshairs, it’s not clear who will step in to fill any territory they may leave behind. Some activists worry that, despite finally receiving direct US intervention, the Syrian opposition will still fall short in the wake of airstrikes.
A former UN relief coordinator says Iraqi and Syrian refugees pose the biggest humanitarian crisis of our generation
Jan Egeland says the current crisis caused by the Syrian civil war affects far more people than the notorious violence in Rwanda and the Balkans more than a decade ago. And the former UN official says no nation is addressing it — from the West to the Arab World, or powers like China and Russia.