Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Almost two-thirds of Americans oppose any form of U.S. military intervention in Syria, according to a new poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
The findings may reflect the public's wariness about wading into what it perceives as a protracted civil war between the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian rebels. The year-old Syrian uprising and crackdown has killed an estimated 8,000 people. The results also appear to reflect Americans' war-weariness more than a decade after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Sixty-two percent of Americans surveyed expressed opposition to bombing the Syrian military, an idea recently proposed by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), the new Pew poll found. Almost the same number--63 percent--said they oppose sending weapons to Syrian groups fighting the Assad regime.
Notably, the poll found little difference among Republicans and Democrats. "Majorities of Republicans and Democrats say the U.S. does not have a responsibility to get involved, and reject airstrikes or the shipment of arms to anti-government forces," the Pew pollsters wrote in an overview of their latest findings.
BEIRUT Syrian troops clashed with army defectors in several areas near the capital Damascus in the first significant battles there since President Bashar Assad's forces regained control of the suburbs weeks ago, activists said Friday.
The fighting came just hours before tens of thousands of people held protests in many Syrian towns and cities after Friday prayers, the activists said. The protests spread from the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest, to the central regions of Hama and Homs, southern province of Daraa.
Also Friday, Turkey urged its citizens in Syria to return home, saying some consular services will be halted in Damascus next week. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that developments in Syria have brought about serious security risks for Turkish citizens and they are "strongly urged to come home."
The statement said the Turkish embassy in Damascus will remain open. On Thursday, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain had said they will close their embassies in Syria, months after they withdrew their ambassadors from Damascus, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said.
The clashes in Damascus suburbs highlight the shifting nature of the Syrian conflict, with rebel fighters igniting new fronts soon after the regime turns its attention elsewhere.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clash in Tal, on the outskirts of the capital, lasted until the early hours of Friday. The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees said there were also clashes in other areas near Damascus, including Dumair and Qatana on Thursday night.
Both groups also reported clashes between troops and army defectors known as the Free Syrian Army in the eastern oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq. They said one person was killed.
In early February, Assad's troops launched a major military campaign during which regime forces put the suburbs surrounding capital under government control. The attack on the Damascus countryside was followed by a regime offensive to expel rebel forces from the Baba Amr district of Homs and Idlib in northern Syria.
BEIRUT, March 16 (Reuters) - Syrian forces pressed their military offensive in the northern province of Idlib, driving 1,000 refugees across the Turkish border as the bloody revolt against President Bashar al-Assad entered a second year with no sign of political solution.
Forty-five civilians were killed in the frontier province, including 23 whose bodies were found with their hands tied behind their backs, as well as five army deserters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported.
The bloodshed and continued flow of refugees prompted Turkey to suggest it might support a "buffer zone" inside Syria, a move likely to enrage Damascus.
Four members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) announced the closures of their embassies in Syria in protest against its violent crackdown, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said, quoting a statement by GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani.
Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Qatar were to close their embassies, after Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the other two GCC members, announced embassy closures on Wednesday.
In an orchestrated show of support for Assad, huge crowds took to the streets of Syria's cities on Thursday, the first anniversary of unrest which started as largely peaceful protests against four decades of iron rule by the Assad dynasty.
Opposition activists said pro-Assad forces shot at crowds in various locations when they tried to protest against the 46-year-old leader, but residents reported that demonstrators did gather in the smart Shaalan district of Damascus to voice their anger.
The U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan was due to brief the United Nations Security Council on Friday about his talks in Damascus and proposals to end the violence.
"The door of dialogue is still open. We are still engaged with Syrian authorities over Mr. Annan's proposals," Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in Geneva. "He's been in telephone contact with the Syrian foreign minister during the course of the day ... as well as with international actors, member states with influence."
Western diplomats expressed pessimism in private over Annan's chances of success.
Syria said on Wednesday it had given a "positive" response to Annan's approach. A Middle Eastern diplomat characterised the reply from Damascus as "not a 'No'". But a senior Western diplomat in the region said Damascus had spurned Annan's ideas.
The bloodshed and continued flow of refugees has prompted Turkey to suggest it might support a buffer zone inside Syria, a move likely to enrage Damascus and Assad will see such a move as a declaration of war.
The bloodshed and continued flow of refugees has prompted Turkey to suggest it might support a buffer zone inside Syria, a move likely to enrage Damascus and Assad will see such a move as a declaration of war.
Now why does Turkey want this buffer zone?
^^ Buffer Zone in Red? ^^^
It seems rather clear to me and disingenuous of Turkey (Erdogan).
Good catch Ropey, so far the Kurds in Syria have stayed out of the rebellion, they are not sure if the new regime that takes Assad's place will be better for them, alot of them think they will treat the Kurds worse.
There are also sizable Kurdish populations in Southern Turkey, Syria and Iraq.
BEIRUT Syrian security forces clashed Monday with gunmen in an upscale neighborhood of the capital Damascus that is home to embassies and senior officials in one of the worst confrontations in the tightly-controlled city center in the country's yearlong uprising. At least three people were killed.
The clash deep in Mazzeh district in west Damascus shows the shifting nature of the conflict in Syria, and suggests that rebels might be trying to offset government morale gains from recent successful offensives against opposition strongholds areas in the north and center of Syria by striking close to where senior regime members live.
Damascus has been largely free of the daily shootings and deaths reported across the country since the uprising against Assad began in March last year. But in addition to gunbattles in Mazzeh and in the suburbs, the capital has witnessed several major bomb attacks targeting security facilities, most recently on Saturday. The government blames "terrorists" for the bombings but the opposition says that the regime itself may be carrying them out to discredit the uprising.
Monday's fighting broke out when security forces stormed an apartment used as a hideout by an "armed terrorist" group in Mazzeh after evacuating the building of all inhabitants, the state-run news agency SANA said.
It added that the forces killed two of the gunmen and arrested the third while a member of the security forces also lost his life. SANA gave no further details.
A resident of the western Mazzeh district said automatic rifles and machine guns were used in the two-hour clash that ended at about 4 a.m. local time. "We also heard three strong explosions," said the man who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal.
Syria's dictator has ONE HOT wife ...
Syria: 'I am the real dictator', declares Asma al-Assad - Telegraph
One year ago, on March 19, 2011, Western leaders, alarmed by the disaster unfolding in Libya, voted in the U.N. Security Council to intervene militarily with "all necessary means," arguing that they could not stand by and watch civilians get massacred. As a result of the U.N. resolution, NATO launched a bombing campaign, led by Britain, France and the U.S., and flew about 10,000 bombing sorties over Libya, helping to obliterate Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year dictatorship in just seven months.
So, could it happen in Syria? Probably not, according to two reports out on Monday. Both suggest that the Western powers would face significantly bigger challenges in intervening against President Bashar Assad, both politically and militarily, than they did in Libya. Says the British military think tank Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) in a report marking the anniversary of the U.N. vote: "The Libya intervention took place in a singularly unique moment where the international stars, as it were, were aligned in a set of propitious circumstances."
Unlike Gaddafi, Assad has hugely upgraded his air- and sea-attack capabilities since the revolt against him erupted a year ago, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which tracks the opaque defense industry. In its yearly report on global arms transfers, also to be published on Monday, SIPRI lists billions spent by Assad on state-of-the-art Russian systems, much of which has been delivered during the past year. "This is a major upgrade," says Paul Holtom, SIPRI senior researcher on arms transfers. "Any discussions about an air attack on Syria would be more challenging than it would have been previously."
Last year, Russia delivered as many as 36 Pantsyr-SI antiaircraft missiles to Syria, according to SIPRI. Lightweight and mobile, the medium-range missiles can be mounted on the back of trucks, making them difficult for combat jets to target. In addition, the organization believes Russia has recently delivered upgraded versions of the MiG-29 combat aircraft to Syria. And it has upgraded hundreds of T-72 tanks every year since 2007, fitting them with far more modern weapons; in recent weeks, opposition activists in the besieged city of Homs filmed video footage showing T-72 tanks in action during the assault on the city.
According to ABC News, Russian news reports claim that an Iman tanker carrying an "anti-terror squad" from the Russian Marines has arrived in Syria.
Al Arabiya writes that DEBKAfile, an open-source military intelligence website based in Israel, has reported that two Russian ships have arrived in Syria's port of Tartus.
However, ABC also points out that Russia's Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has denied the reports.
BEIRUT, March 20 (Reuters) - Armed opposition groups in Syria have kidnapped, tortured and executed members of the security forces and supporters of President Bashar al-Assad, the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
The rights group condemned the tactics by opposition fighters, who have long accused government troops and loyalists of carrying out similar abuses.
"The Syrian government's brutal tactics cannot justify abuses by armed opposition groups," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, in an open letter to dissident groups including the official opposition body the Syrian National Council (SNC).
"Opposition leaders should make it clear to their followers that they must not torture, kidnap or execute under any circumstances," she added.
Syria's armed opposition is highly fragmented and many militias do not appear to belong to an organised command structure or to be following SNC orders.
The year-long uprising in Syria, in which the United Nations says more than 8,000 people have been killed, started as a peaceful protest movement. But it has become increasingly violent with daily clashes between rebels and security forces around the country.
Russian troops have been in Syria for many years. There is a Russian Naval base there. There are nuclear submarines stationed there. The Russians will not stand by while the muslim brotherhood replaces Assad.
Russian troops have been in Syria for many years. There is a Russian Naval base there. There are nuclear submarines stationed there. The Russians will not stand by while the muslim brotherhood replaces Assad.
If push comes to shove, will Russian troops intervene on Assads behalf?
Russian troops have been in Syria for many years. There is a Russian Naval base there. There are nuclear submarines stationed there. The Russians will not stand by while the muslim brotherhood replaces Assad.
If push comes to shove, will Russian troops intervene on Assads behalf?
Of Course! They aren't going to willingly give up a major military base to keep a bunch of fundamentalist clerics happy. If the coalition of Al quaeda and the muslim brotherhood topples Assad, the next battle will be to force the "infidels" out. Only in this case, it's Russian infidels. I would suspect that the Russians have already intervened on Assad's behalf. The Russians don't really want to start slaughtering Syrians, they'll help Assad do it. No way will the Russians let that base fall into opposition hands.
I should have paid better attention. As you posted, Russian Troops are already helping Assad.
I should have paid better attention. As you posted, Russian Troops are already helping Assad.
Will Russians actively come out into the streets and start killing Syrians? will they go that far to keep their base? they may have to.
I should have paid better attention. As you posted, Russian Troops are already helping Assad.
Will Russians actively come out into the streets and start killing Syrians? will they go that far to keep their base? they may have to.
Would we? Of course, if nothing else, then by covert operations. Russians have the same special forces we do.
