The rise of extremist groups swelled by fighters from the west has inflicted extra suffering on Syria's people and made a national uprising impossible The results of new research reported by the Guardian this week on young westerners who have travelled to Syria to fight in the civil war provide some fascinating insights into their motivations, their interactions with pro-jihadi communities online,...
Ukraine, Syria, Nigeria - hidden dangers ahead Little or no appetite for international action Last weekend, John Brennan, director of the CIA visited Kiev. Apart from giving moral support to the interim Ukrainian government he offered what is described as "non-lethal" assistance, almost certainly kit to counter Russian jamming and protect their own communications. "In today's digital...
Three members of a Lebanese television news crew were shot dead in the Syrian town of Al-Maaloula, 60 km south of Damascus, on Monday (14 April). They were reporter Hajj Hassan, cameraman Mohammed Mantash and technician Halim Allaw, who worked for Al-Manar, a TV station owned by Lebanon's Hezbollah. Continue reading... ...
Muslim cleric Musa Cerantonio, the third most liked person by western jihadists in Syria, called for assassination of US politicians A radical Australian preacher revealed to be using social media to encourage acts of terrorism has had his Facebook page taken down following a Guardian investigation . The California company confirmed it took action to remove the page following revelations that Musa...
Blogger Eliot Higgins charts the unreported news from parts of Syria where no journalist would sensibly visit " Wisdom reekin' outa me ..." sings Frank Zappa in his song Brown Moses. That may be why Eliot Higgins chose the name for his blog where he charts the unreported news from parts of Syria where conflict is so brutal no journalist or aid worker would sensibly visit. With a background...
The Impunity Index 2014 published by the Committee to Protect Journalists has named Iraq as the 'worst offender' and included Syria for the first time. See the full list of countries where journalists' murders are most likely to go unpunished Syria has joined a list - compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists - of countries where journalists murders are most likely to go unpunished. The 2014...
The targeted murders of journalists in Syria means that the war-torn country has entered the annual "impunity index" produced by the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ). Syria joins Iraq, Somalia, the Philippines, and others on the list of countries where journalists are murdered regularly and their killers go free. There was some (slight) good news. Four countries on the index the Philippines,...
Jordanian security source says targets were Syrian rebels in civilian cars mounted with machine guns Jordanian warplanes have hit and destroyed several vehicles trying to cross the border from Syria, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, underlining Amman's concern about incursions from areas controlled by Syrian rebels. "There was an attempt to infiltrate across the border from Syria by a...
British and foreign security services say man who appeared in video urging others to join jihadists is Celso Rodrigues Da Costa A masked al-Qaida fighter in Syria described as a former Arsenal footballer has been identified as a Portuguese citizen, it can be disclosed. The man appeared in a video released online two weeks ago urging others to join the jihadists, using a false name and speaking in a...
From pictures showing a 'five-star jihad' to identifying the sheikhs foreign fighters draw inspiration from, three researchers in a basement at Kings College, London, have tracked and analysed the torrent of social media posts coming from Syria. It is a conflict they say is 'the most socially-mediated' in history, leaving a wealth of information to help us understand what is happening Continue reading......
Messages and photos posted on sites such as Twitter and Facebook provide inside track on motives and activities In a basement beneath the Strand in London, just metres from the cafes of Somerset House, two academics sit hunched over their laptops. One routinely perches himself on a bright pink exercise ball, the other opts for a rickety office chair. Over days, weeks and months they have used their...
An analysis of social media has shown what a selection of foreign fighters in Syria are liking, following and interacting with. What are their key online influences? Since the start of the Syrian conflict, hundreds of men have left their homes in the west or elsewhere to join the country's civil war. Over the last 12 months, researchers at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and...
Academic study points to radical preachers cheerleading western Muslims in fight against Bashar al-Assad Two radical Muslim clerics have been identified as influential online cheerleaders for fighters seeking to topple the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, in a pioneering academic study published on Wednesday. Continue reading... ...
Security agencies fear a small number of the young Britons recruited online to fight in Syria will come back plotting terror "Is it possible to do jihad half a year?" asks one would-be recruit, apparently seeking to join a rebel group in Syria on a short-stay basis. The question is directed at a man on the Ask.fm website who describes himself as "a stranger currently fighting in Syria"....
Dr Richard Carter has not read Seymour Hersh's article very carefully (Doubts about Syrian chemical weapons, Letters , 15 April). He asserts it is "based on extensive interviews with intelligence staff" but its principal claims are based on only two sources: unidentified "former" officials. Nor was there any need to "interview" them since their views have been on the...
Young Vic, London Ancestral memory and a labyrinthine quest intertwine in this extraordinary piece set in Paris and the Middle East How do you present the situation in Syria on stage? The answer, in this extraordinary piece conceived and performed by Corinne Jaber and written and directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi, is to focus on a journey. In Zuabi's I Am Yusuf and This Is My Brother , seen at the Young...
France to host meeting in hope of prompting referral of Syrian government to international criminal court for war crimes Photographs of some of 11,000 Syrians allegedly tortured and killed by Bashar al-Assad's forces are to be seen on Tuesday by members of the UN security council as part of an effort to prosecute the perpetrators for war crimes. UN ambassadors are to view a selection of 55,000 digital...
The best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week Continue reading... ...
International development secretary says system must be overhauled to ensure that more is done to prepare for disasters The global humanitarian aid system is being "stretched to breaking point" by climate change, war, population growth and extremism, and must be overhauled to ensure that more is done to prepare for disasters rather than merely relieve them, the British government will warn...
No plans for inspectors to act after rebels accused regime troops of using banned chemicals in three attacks since January The international body tasked with destroying Syria's chemical weapons arsenal says it has not been asked to probe new opposition claims that regime troops have used banned chemicals on rebel groups in at least three attacks since January. The Organisation for the Prevention of...