Reporter Anthony Loyd shot twice in the leg after he and photographer Jack Hill were taken Two Times journalists have been kidnapped, beaten and shot at by a Syrian rebel gang, before managing to escape with their lives. Reporter Anthony Loyd and photographer Jack Hill were returning to Turkey from northern Syria with their fixer when they were apprehended by the rebels, who tied them up and threw...
Physicians for Human Rights says 460 health professionals have died over the past three years according to study Continue reading... ...
Physicians for Human Rights says 460 health professionals have died over the past three years, according to study Map showing attacks on hospitals and clinics in Syria Syrian government forces have systematically attacked the healthcare system in opposition-held areas of the country over the past three years, resulting in the deaths of more than 460 health professionals and widespread destruction to...
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon describes resignation as 'a failure for all of us' in face of world's worst humanitarian crisis Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN envoy for Syria, finally announced his resignation on Tuesday, expressing regret for his inability to forge a coherent international response to the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Brahimi is to quit at the end of May, a timetable which accelerates...
Rolling coverage of all the day's political developments as they happen, including reaction to the two polls showing the Conservatives ahead and David Cameron being questioned by MPs about immigration, Ukraine at Syria at the liaison committee 9.13am BST Julian Hupper t, the Lib Dem MP for Cambridge, has just retweeted this. Chief Constable Simon Parr issues statement regarding response to UKIP Tweet...
Claim adds to growing concerns that Assad's government is still using chemical weapons after hundreds killed in attack last year A leading human rights group says it has strong evidence that Syria's army used chemical weapons on rebel-held areas last month. Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad likely used chlorine gas on three towns in northern Syria in...
The men are being kept in separate Manus Island compounds as they are pressured to return to their war-torn country Five asylum seekers detained on Manus Island who were offered repatriation to war-torn Syria had been split up to keep them quiet, according to a source with first-hand knowledge of their cases. The source told Guardian Australia some of the Syrians had requested permission to visit...
Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series Continue reading... ...
Insiders say western strategy in Syria encouraged radicals and backfired, leading to threat to European security from returning jihadis Iran and its close ally President Bashar al-Assad have won the war in Syria, and the US-orchestrated campaign in support of the opposition's attempt to topple the Syrian regime has failed, senior Iranian officials have told the Guardian. In a series of interviews in...
President's supporters rally round for first multi-candidate election denounced as a sham by opposition and the west Candidates have formally started their campaigns for Syria's presidential election, a foregone conclusion expected to return President Bashar al-Assad to the helm of a country devastated by three years of civil war. Billboards and posters taped to car windows touted Assad's credentials...
Doctor's family, who believe he was murdered in Syria, attend hearing where details of investigation into his death are given Experts on the use of chemicals for torture are to conduct tests on the body of a British doctor who died in custody in Syria, a pre-inquest hearing has been told. The Syrian regime claims Abbas Khan , a 32-year-old orthopaedic surgeon, killed himself, but his family is adamant...
UN health body fears secondary infections may be rising, raising potential for global spread and stirring memories of Sars virus The World Health Organisation (WHO) will hold urgent talks next week on the often fatal Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) virus , after a sharp increase in infections in Saudi Arabia, and the first reported case in Lebanon. Continue reading... ...
Officials say 270 rebels granted safe exit under government deal will only be let out when aid blocked by other rebels is released The Syrian army in Homs is holding around 270 rebels initially granted safe exit from the city after insurgents elsewhere failed to uphold their side of the agreement, Syrian officials said on Friday. Following a year of siege, around 1,200 rebels and residents in the old...
Foreign Office investigating reports two men were killed while fighting for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant The Foreign Office is investigating reports that two British nationals have died while fighting in Syria. The Britons are believed to have been fighting for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis), a jihadist group active in Iraq and Syria. Continue reading... ...
Home affairs committee report says alarming numbers of Britons are travelling to Syria and calls for urgent government action A cross-party group of MPs will call for more Britons travelling to fight in Syria to have their passports revoked, as two more were reported to have been killed. The report by the House of Commons home affairs committee says the number of Britons travelling to Syria has reached...
Bomb under hotel signals new focus of Syrian rebels, with struggle for city likely to be final showdown Scores of troops were killed on Thursday when insurgents detonated explosives packed into a tunnel they had dug under an Aleppo hotel that the Syrian military were using as a barracks. The attack was the biggest militants have launched in the western half of Syria's largest city, which is under regime...
Ian Black writes: Will diplomatic initiatives change the status quo amidst recent gains by both government forces and the armed opposition? Ahmed Jarba, president of the Syrian opposition coalition (SOC), is in Washington this week, flattered by the official "foreign mission" status accorded to his office- even if Barack Obama's administration has been playing down its significance. Next...
State media and activists report that huge blast hit Carlton hotel and other buildings in government-held area A "huge explosion" in northern Syria has levelled a hotel that government troops used as a military base, along with several other buildings in a government-held area, state television and activists reported. Syrian state television said the explosion on Thursday had struck on the...
Immigration officers on Manus Island recorded telling asylum seekers travel documents would be issued by Syrian consulate Syrian asylum seekers who opt to be sent home from Manus Island could be at risk after it emerged that Australias immigration department was in contact with the countrys consulate in Sydney about the detainees. In a recording obtained by Guardian Australia, two immigration officers...
Withdrawal of opposition fighters delayed after assurances sought that they would not face arrest at regime checkpoints Opposition fighters in the Old City of Homs have started withdrawing from their positions as part of a deal with Syrian forces that will leave all but one part of the "capital of the revolution" in regime hands. The withdrawal comes five days after a ceasefire brokered between...