Syria's News Smugglers: They go where professional journalists won't On the Ground With Syria's News Smugglers They go where professional journalists won't From Antakya, the seat of the Turkish province of Hatay, it is a 40-minute drive to the town of Reyhanli, the last ten minutes of which follow the jagged line of the Syrian border. The border is protected by high watchtowers and barbed wire, but the towers are frequently unmanned, and making your way east on Route D420, you can see Syrian refugees—men, children, and women with babies strapped to their chests—slipping easily between the gaps in the fence. Reyhanli was, until recently, a sleepy backwater. But as the Syrian civil war approaches its third bloody year and the refugee count soars, Reyhanli has been transformed. Photographs by Bradley Secker Wassim, a journalist with the Syrian Media Center. On a mild morning in August, one of those journalists, a 26-year-old named Wassim, was dozing on the couch of the Syrian Media Center (SMC), an amateur operation headquartered above the local barbershop.
Syria: Executions, Hostage Taking by Rebels *Update: In response to Human Rights Watch’s report "You Can Still See Their Blood", the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces sent this letter on October 11. The Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army sent this letter on the same day. On October 14 Ahrar Al Sham sent this response. (New York) – Armed opposition groups in Syria killed at least 190 civilians and seized over 200 as hostages during a military offensive that began in rural Latakia governorate on August 4, 2013, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 105-page report, “‘You Can Still See Their Blood’: Executions, Indiscriminate Shootings, and Hostage Taking by Opposition Forces in Latakia Countryside,” presents evidence that the civilians were killed on August 4, the first day of the operation. “These abuses were not the actions of rogue fighters,” said Joe Stork, acting Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. My mom was here in the house with me.
Dispatches: Syria – The Dark Stories Children Tell Nearly three years ago, when I first traveled to Syria to interview children about the worsening events in their country, they all had a story to tell. Those stories were awful—16-year-olds detained and tortured in dark government cells , and boys who sustained serious bullet wounds in anti-government protests. But these days, children with just one story are the lucky ones. Yesterday, the United Nations secretary-general released his first report focused solely on the children affected by the armed conflict in Syria. How many of these violations has each child experienced in Syria’s war to date? With Ghouta under siege, Fouad said he and his family had no access to humanitarian aid, leaving them without food or medicines. In these desperate circumstances, Fouad cast his lot in with a unit of the Free Syrian Army. The secretary-general’s report contains recommendations to end the abuses children like Fouad face.
Syria Comment - Syrian politics, history, and religion Syria Video - a powerful web service that maps Syrian war video by town and province - Syria Comment Syria Video – a powerful web service that maps Syrian war video by town and province Posted by Joshua on Sunday, March 31st, 2013 Syria Video Syria Comment Announces a new web service: Syria Video, which can be found at Syria Video is a web application that maps and aggregates Syrian war videos by tracking a large number of YouTube channels. Syria Video is our first attempt to bring order to the online Syrian war-sphere and has the potential to provide valuable insight to the conflict. The Syrian government has tried to exploit the fog of war to gain advantage over its opponents by barring foreign journalists, restricting what Syrian journalists can report, and attacking its own citizen journalists. Opposition activists have struggled to counter this blackout by posting a growing stream of YouTube videos. The footprint of the Syrian conflict on the web has been tremendous. Inquiries about Syria Video can be directed to info@SyriaVideo.net
Syrian Blood Tests Positive for Sarin Gas, U.S. Spies Say | Danger Room A U.S. Army chemical weapons crew takes samples from an M55 rocket. Photo: U.S. Army Updated 4/26/13 4:58 p.m. The U.S. intelligence community has uncovered strong evidence that chemical weapons have been used in Syria. In March, the Assad regime was accused of using chemical weapons during an attack on the city of Aleppo. “This is more than one organization representing that they have more than one sample from more than one attack,” the source tells Danger Room. What’s clear is that the samples are authentic, and that the weapons were almost certainly employed by the Assad regime, which began mixing up quantities of sarin’s chemical precursors months ago for an potential attack, as Danger Room first reported. “It would be very, very difficult for the opposition to fake this. The U.S. military initially tests for evidence of nerve gas exposure by looking for the presence of the enzyme cholinesterase in red blood cells and in plasma. When sarin binds to cholinesterase it loses a fluoride.
New Al-Qaeda Generation May Be The Deadliest One Veteran jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar speaks in this undated still image taken from a video released by Sahara Media on Jan. 21, 2013. Belmokhtar has claimed responsibility in the name of al-Qaeda for the Algerian hostage-taking. (photo by REUTERS/Sahara Media via Reuters TV) Author: Bruce Riedel Posted January 24, 2013 The dramatic attack in Algeria this month on a natural gas facility underscores the emergence of a new generation of al-Qaeda across the Arab world, "al-Qaeda 3.0" or the movement's third generation. Summary⎙ Print Al-Qaeda has exploited the chaos and turmoil of revolutionary change in the Arab world to create operational bases and new strongholds, writes Bruce Riedel. Despite Osama of bin Laden's death, al-Qaeda has exploited the Arab Awakening to create is largest safe havens and operational bases in more than a decade across the Arab world. The first generation of al-Qaeda was the original band in Afghanistan created by bin Laden in the 1990s.
Syria – Traffic Graph – Google Transparency Report People have been unable to access certain Google products and services at some point in more than 30 countries. Causes for these disruptions vary, and include network outages and government-mandated blocks. Review current disruptions below or browse all documented disruptions. This list is not comprehensive. Learn more. YouTube June 13, 2014–Present Duration: 90 days Google Sites inaccessible. YouTube March 23, 2009–Present Duration: 1998 days Google Sites partially accessible YouTube June 13, 2009–Present Duration: 1916 days YouTube September 17, 2012–Present Duration: 724 days ACCESS to the Website named be BANNED pursuant to Article 8 of the Law no 5651
Syria in Crisis Is Turkey Going to War? While Turkey is likely to lend assistance to the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State, the recent parliamentary vote won’t trigger any military action by itself. The Syrian Army Closes in on Homs The rebel stronghold in the Old City of Homs, which has withstood nearly two years of government siege and shelling, is close to falling.
Home - Syria in Crisis On October 2, the Turkish parliament voted to authorize Turkey’s government to order a military intervention in Syria and Iraq, if and when that becomes necessary to protect the nation. Until now, Turkey has stayed out of the U.S.-led international coalition bombing extremists from the so-called Islamic State, an al-Qaeda splinter group also known as ISIS or ISIL, in neighboring Iraq and Syria. The parliamentary vote and the emergence of new crises on the border have raised expectations that Turkey will now join in the attacks on the Islamic State, whether in Kobane or elsewhere, ruffling the feathers of some regional states. But the Turkish decision is far less dramatic than it seems. Iraq Since 2007, Syria Since 2012 The first of such resolutions was passed in October 2012, after several exchanges of fire across the Syrian-Turkish border. However, no intervention ever came. New Resolution, New Targets Two things are different this time around. Turkey’s Priority is a No-Fly Zone