Syria

Read recent Syrian news stories and current events on Newser.com

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Feds Charge US Army Vet Who Fought in Syria

Eric Harroun faces serious WMD charges after joining foes of Assad

(Newser) - It sounds pretty serious on the surface: A US Army vet admits fighting alongside an al-Qaeda group, and the feds have charged him with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction outside the US. But the details about Eric Harroun's case are a little less frightening. The 30-year-old...

Syrian Opposition Chief Quits, Blasts Global Support

Mouaz al-Khatib says 'international parties' wrongly push for dialogue with Assad

(Newser) - The leader of the Western-backed Syrian opposition coalition resigned today, citing what he called the insufficient international support for those seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad. Mouaz al-Khatib, a respected preacher who has led the Syrian National Coalition since soon after its creation in November, said in a statement on...

Kerry to Iraq: Stop Weapons to Syria

US continues to push Iraq to inspect Iranian flights

(Newser) - John Kerry dropped in unannounced on Iraq today, the first visit by an American secretary of state in four years, and he used the opportunity to continue prodding Nouri al-Maliki to slow the Iranian weapons that flow through his skies and into the hands of Syria's Bashar al-Assad. “...

'Uncountable' Syrians Seek Refuge in Roman Caves

Villagers hide from government forces underground

(Newser) - Terrified of attacks by government forces, an untold number of Syrian villagers have found an odd refuge: Roman caves. These squatters in Syria's northwest typically stock their caves with bedrolls, blankets, and kerosene lamps; one villager even put in a wood-burning box stove. But he says his children are...

CIA Increases Help to Syrian Insurgents

Agency providing intelligence to certain rebel groups

(Newser) - The US military might not have plans to intervene in Syria anytime soon, but the CIA is a different story. The agency has actually increased its aid to insurgents of late, mostly in the form of passing along intelligence about the Syrian army, reports the Wall Street Journal . The move...

Review Suggests Syria Didn't Use 'Chemical Weapons'

But it might have been a lesser 'caustic agent,' US officials tell CNN

(Newser) - Bashar al-Assad may not have crossed the red line after all. US intelligence officials don't think Syria used chemical weapons in Aleppo this week, reports CNN . At least, that's the conclusion after an initial review, which could change as more intelligence arrives. But analysts examining video say victims...

In Israel, Obama Warns Syria on Chemical Weapons

On Iran, says there's still time for diplomacy to work

(Newser) - Maybe the most newsworthy item out of President Obama's news conference today with Benjamin Netanyahu centered on Syria, not Israel. Obama said the US is investigating claims that chemical weapons were used in Aleppo, and he warned that Bashar al-Assad will be held accountable if he employed them, reports...

House Intel Chief: I Think Syria Used Chemicals

Assad blames rebels amid much confusion

(Newser) - So did Bashar al-Assad cross the "red line" that could trigger US involvement by using chemical weapons on rebels in Aleppo? Or did the rebels use them? Or neither? Confirmation remains elusive after an attack today that Syria's official news agency says left more than 30 dead and...

Chemical Weapon Fired in Syria: Report

Rebels blame regime, regime blames rebels; no verification yet

(Newser) - Both the government and rebels in Syria say a chemical weapon has been fired—but each side blames the other, the AP reports. Official Syrian news said "terrorists" (its term for the rebels) blasted a rocket "containing chemical materials" in Aleppo province today, killing 15, mostly civilians. Meanwhile,...

Syria Opposition's New PM Comes From ... Texas

US citizen Ghassan Hitto new leader in rebel-held areas

(Newser) - Syria's main opposition council has elected American citizen Ghassan Hitto to be prime minister of a new interim government responsible for overseeing refugees and rebel-held areas. Hitto, 50, was born in Damascus but has lived in the US for decades. He abruptly quit his job at a Texas electronics...

Syria Fires Rockets at Lebanon
 Syria Fires Rockets at Lebanon 
Mar 18, 2013 9:00 AM CDT

Syria Fires Rockets at Lebanon

No injuries reported as empty buildings are hit

(Newser) - Syria fired three rockets into Lebanon today, as it threatened to do last week . The jet-fired rockets hit empty buildings in the border town of Arsaal, CNN reports. Syrian officials claim armed terrorists have infiltrated Syria from Lebanon, and the UN has voiced concern over the growing tension and cross-border...

Syria Warns It May Strike Lebanon

Assad's regime says rebels are crossing back and forth over border

(Newser) - With Syrian militants crossing back and forth across the northern Lebanon border, the Syrian foreign ministry has told Lebanon to put a stop to it or else face military strikes, reports Reuters via the Christian Science Monitor . "Syrian forces have so far exercised restraint from striking at armed gangs...

Iran Shipping More Weapons to Assad
Iran Shipping More Weapons to Assad
Mar 14, 2013 4:30 AM CDT

Iran Shipping More Weapons to Assad

Meanwhile, French official says they want to arm opposition

(Newser) - Iran has drastically increased its arms shipments to Syria in recent months, sending weapons to Bashar al-Assad's regime, and to its Hezbollah supporters, in what is increasingly becoming a Shiite-vs-Sunni conflict, Western diplomats tell Reuters . The weapons are flowing primarily through Iraq—despite Iraqi protestations to the contrary—but...

Fearing Syria Spillover, CIA Ups Iraq Presence

Al-Nusra Front and al-Qaeda in Iraq closely tied, experts say

(Newser) - The US military may have pulled out of Iraq in December 2011, but now the CIA is going back in, reports the Wall Street Journal . In a series of secret decisions in 2011 and 2012, the White House directed US intelligence to take over from the military in supporting Iraq'...

Entire Generation of Syrian Kids Could Be Doomed: UN

After 2 years of fighting, millions of children in serious need, says report

(Newser) - March brings the start of the third year of the Syria conflict, and UNICEF is seeing doom for the country's children. A rep for the children's aid organization warns that "the risk of a lost generation grows every hour, every day, and every month," and backs...

Journo Escapes After 5 Months in Captivity

Says she was held by Syrian rebels, defends Assad's regime

(Newser) - A Ukrainian journalist who was kidnapped in Syria on Oct. 9, reportedly by rebels, managed to escape yesterday, she tells RIA Novosti . "I took a terrible risk, as I had to walk across an area leading on to minefields," Ankhar Kochneva says. "I walked and walked, and...

Syria Using Militias for Mass Killings: UN

As more than 2.5M displaced by civil war

(Newser) - The latest travesty the Syrian government has been accused of: using local militias to carry out mass killings. UN human rights investigators say these "Popular Committees" commit killings that sometimes have "sectarian overtones," Reuters reports. (The rebels in Syria are mainly Sunni Muslims, while President Bashar al-Assad...

Syria Refugees Could Double, Triple By 2014: UN

'Risk of an explosion' in their numbers, says Antonio Guterres

(Newser) - The U.N. chief for refugees says the number of refugees from Syria could increase by "two or three times" the present level by the end of the year if the country's conflict doesn't end. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres says the international community should...

Syria Rebels Free 21 UN Peacekeepers

Rebel faction held them 4 days, gave in to pressure

(Newser) - Syrian rebels today freed 21 UN peacekeepers after holding them hostage for four days, ending a sudden entanglement with the world body that earned those trying to oust President Bashar Assad a flood of negative publicity. The Filipino peacekeepers, part of a force that has spent four decades monitoring an...

No Release for Seized UN Monitors

Their release had been expected today

(Newser) - The Philippine government was under the impression that Syrian rebels would release 21 UN monitors today—but that hasn't happened, it says. Officials say the rebels maintain that they won't release the monitors until Syrian government forces exit the Jamlah area, near the Golan Heights. "I don'...

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