Foreign minister Laurent Fabius targets young with package of measures amid fears French nationals were hostages' captors Urgent measures to prevent young people from going to wage jihad in Syria are to be unveiled by the government in Paris amid fears that its nationals were among the captors of four French hostages. The measures include a plan to stop minors leaving France without parental consent,...
The sources and conclusions used to support Seymour Hersh's argument just don't stack up. The perpetrators lie closer to home Last week the London Review of Books published an article by the respected Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, The Red Line and the Rat Line , in which he details the alleged involvement of the Turkish government with the Syrian opposition group Jabhat al-Nusra...
Unverified footage claims to show the aftermath of a chemical attack in Telmenes in north-west Syria on Monday. Adults and children struggle to breathe and are treated with oxygen in a hospital. The film also claims to show the remains of the barrel bomb containing the chemicals, and a goat lying dead. The US says it suspects another chemical attack in Kfar Zeita in Hama province, 10 days ago, where...
Australia's foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, announced on Monday that Australia would provide US$20m for children in Lebanon and Jordan who have fled across the borders as refugees because of the Syrian crisis. Bishop, speaking in Amman, Jordan, said the funding would go towards the No Lost Generation strategy Continue reading... ...
Opposition calls presidential poll a 'parody of democracy' and says vote will wreck efforts to negotiate peace settlement Syria has called a presidential election for 3 June, preparing the ground for Bashar al-Assad to defy widespread opposition and extend his grip on power days after he said the war was turning in his favour. The three-year-old rebellion against Assad's rule has killed more than 150,000...
'If you see this interview, please, please come home,' says Abubaker Deghayes in first detailed interview A Brighton father of six has made an emotional plea to his two remaining sons to return home from Syria after one was killed by sniper fire and another was shot in the stomach during a battle in the north-west of the country. Speaking for the first time in detail about his three sons' decision...
Reporters recently released from captivity in Syria reveal details of 10-month ordeal Four French journalists released from captivity in Syria have said they were chained together in underground cells with no natural light for much of their 10-month time in captivity. Didier François, Nicolas Hénin, Edouard Elias and Pierre Torres were met by their overjoyed families and François...
Church leaders highlight plight of Ukrainians and Syrians in Easter messages, as Justin Welby also focuses on UK poverty Pope Francis has urged the international community to work for peace in Ukraine and called on warring sides in Syria to negotiate a "long overdue peace" in his Easter Sunday message. As he celebrated mass at St Peter's Square, the pope asked that in Ukraine, where there...
François Hollande says France has 'information' that toxic gases have been used against opposition in recent attacks Allegations that Bashar al-Assad's forces used chemical weapons in recent attacks gained traction on Sunday when France said it had "information" of toxic gases being used against opposition targets. Continue reading... ...
Relentless bombardment has destroyed opposition strongholds. For those trapped inside, the choice from Assad is stark: submit or die The routine has become familiar. An approaching whump of rotor blades, then the piercing plummet of a giant bomb as it shreds the sky above. The few who have stayed behind in east Aleppo know exactly what to do. "We run to the basement and we stay still, very still,"...
Six civilians describe their increasingly desperate daily battle for food, water and shelter amid the chaos of civil war Abu Issa, 60 Continue reading... ...
Syrian refugees tell their stories, both funny and horrific, to the aroma of frying onions Given the potential of theatre to appeal to at least four of the senses, it's surprising that more directors don't make use of the most evocative of them all: smell. Not so in this mesmerising hour-long play, written and directed by the Palestinian theatre-maker Amir Nizar Zuabi and performed by Corinne Jaber...
Syrian blockade of Yarmouk refugee camp raises fears for 18,000 people left starving inside, with some already resorting to eating leaves and animal feed The desperate residents of a besieged district of Damascus are expected to run out of food on Sunday, leaving 18,000 people facing starvation and leading relief agencies to declare the crisis "unprecedented in living memory". Food packages...
Nicolas Hénin, Pierre Torres, Edouard Elias and Didier François are found safe and well on Turkish border Four French journalists held hostage in Syria since June have been found blindfolded and bound on the Turkish border. Turkish soldiers found the four in good health on Saturday after they were released by a radical Muslim rebel group. Continue reading... ...
Father of 18-year-old Abdullah Deghayes says he learned of son's death on Facebook A father whose 18-year-old son died on a Syrian battlefield has described him as a martyr, revealing that he only learned that his child had been killed when he read it on Facebook. Abdullah Deghayes, from Brighton, arrived in Syria in February in defiance of his father. He was accompanied by his 16-year-old brother...
Harry Potter had Voldemort, Batman had the Joker but real life is complex, and the good-versus-evil narrative is sounding tired A despicable villain is a critical element of any successful narrative. Heroes are important, but where would Harry Potter be without Voldemort? Or Batman without the Joker? Heroes aren't heroes unless they have someone or something terrible to conquer. Villains are just as...
Family of East Sussex 18-year-old Abdullah Deghayes, whose uncle was detained at Guantánamo Bay, learned the news via Facebook Police are investigating reports that an 18-year-old Briton from East Sussex has been killed in Syria. Abdullah Deghayes from Saltdean, near Brighton, told his family that he was travelling to Libya in January but did not tell them he was going to Syria. Continue reading......
The cultural tragedy that is the bombing of Syria's ancient monuments would be compounded if they are not rebuilt I doubt if there are many "monuments men" in Syria just now. George Clooney is not filming on the streets of Damascus. When people are dying in their thousands, it is hard to look at the fate of monuments. But when the horrors of civil war pass, Syria's heritage, the most glorious...
Even al-Qaida has finally come to realise that you need a celebrity to get your message across To Syria, and an exciting development in jihadist PR. For far too long, fighter recruitment videos have felt stuck in some idealised past, where you didn't need a celebrity angle to get your message across. But at last, al-Qaida and its affiliates seem to have accepted the reality: that their only real star...
Government forces step up efforts to advance on city following months of siege as rebel forces cling to their positions Syrian government forces stepped up efforts to advance on opposition areas of the central city of Homs on Thursday amid warnings of a potential massacre following months of siege and starvation. But reports from the scene described rebels clinging to their positions despite tank shelling,...