17 October 2018
Syria’s most powerful jihadists have neither agreed to nor impeded the creation by Turkey and Russia of an “extremist”-free buffer zone in Idlib Province. For now, all actors seem content to leave the matter at that.
Idlib
With the return of mass peaceful Friday demonstrations in Syria, disputes have emerged regarding the tradition of giving each protest a name, with complaints that armed factions and foreign powers are trying to impose their agendas on civilian activists on the ground.
Though the pro-regime axis has its own reasons for wanting to avoid an Idlib offensive, there is ultimately no reason to think last week's cessation of hostilities has any more chance of holding than its predecessors, argues James Snell.
In an open letter to the United Nations, over 100 prominent writers, academics, and activists say the time has come to consider radical reform of the U.N. Security Council, given its abject failure to protect Syrians from the Bashar al-Assad regime's mass violence.
Friday’s summit in Tehran brings together the Iranian, Russian, and Turkish presidents to settle Idlib’s fate—and declare their tripartite tutelage over the country.
The Assad regime has signaled it may soon begin a large military offensive in Idlib, the last province remaining in opposition hands—an offensive likely to have devastating humanitarian and political consequences for Syria, its neighbors, and even Europe.
A military defector recounts his remarkable journey from the Assad regime’s army to a rebel brigade in Homs—via Palmyra prison—to exile in Idlib and, finally, menial labor in Turkey, where he still searches for the dignified life he hoped the revolution would bring him.
Russia, Iran, and Turkey have now clearly delineated their zones of control in northern Syria, and are looking next to re-open the international highway extending from Turkey to Jordan.
In the second of four articles written during the forced displacement of Eastern Ghouta’s residents, our reporter looks at the local efforts to house almost 50,000 new arrivals in the country’s already-saturated northern provinces, often relying entirely on private funds, donations, and coordination.
Russia hints it will press Iran to leave Syria, in line with recently renewed Israeli and American demands. But serious doubts remain as to whether a forced Iranian withdrawal is even possible, let alone likely.
In the first of a series of translations of articles from the final days of Eastern Ghouta’s siege, Al-Jumhuriya looks back on the initial phase of civilians’ forced displacement.
By declining to link their attack on pro-Assad forces earlier this month with the regime’s ongoing chemical weapons use, the US has failed to deter the latter, argues James Snell.