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Archives: Free Syrian Army

Trump’s Escalations of War in Syria—Sleepwalking into a Global Confrontation

By Reese Erlich | (The Progressive) | - - Syrian President Bashar al Assad claims to have won the war and that he is merely mopping up remaining rebel groups. With its…

Russo-US dog fights over Syria?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Yara Bayoumi at Reuters reports on the complicated minuet being danced by Russia, the Syrian Air Force, and the United States. The Syrian…

Putin’s End Game in Syria

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Syrian press is watching Oliver Stone's interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin and likes what it sees. Syria's al-Watan (The Nation) reports…

Syria’s forgotten pluralism and why it matters today

By Andrea Williams | (The Conversation) | - - The Syrian Civil War has been raging for six years. It has killed nearly half a million people and left over 12 million,…

Syria: to Assad & Kurds go the Spoils; Sunni extremists have Lost

By Mehmet Ozalp | (The Conversation) | - - The devastating gas attack in Syria, attributed to the Assad regime, and the swift US missile response is a game-changer for all parties…

Will the US missile strike be the turning point in Syria’s shifting war?

By Harout Akdedian | (The Conversation) | - - The US has struck the Syrian airbase used to launch a suspected sarin gas attack against Khan Sheikhun that killed more than 80…

Washington’s Supreme Hypocrisy on Chemical Weapons and Civilian Deaths

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Army in Idlib is an atrocity and the pictures of dead children tug at the…

Has Trump deferred to Russia in Syria?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Elizabeth Palmer reported from Ankara last Thursday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had difficult and inconclusive discussions with Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan…

Why Russia and Regime want all of Aleppo before Trump is sworn in

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In the past two days, the Syrian Arab Army and its Shiite militia allies (Hizbullah from Lebanon and others from Iraq) has taken…

Syria Truce holds, despite questions on Humanitarian Aid

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The London pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-`Arabi reports that the truce that began Monday night held during its first twenty-four hours, in the areas…

As Truce Starts, Russia Tells Free Syrian Army to Stop Fighting Kurds

TeleSur | - - Moscow added it would continue its own air strikes against the Islamic State group and the militants formerly known as the Nusra Front Russia's Defense Ministry called on…

US: Turkish-backed campaign against our Allies in Syria ‘unacceptable’

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - On Sunday evening, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told a rally in Gaziantep, a city near the border with Syria, “We will make any…

America’s Syria SNAFU: Pentagon’s Militias fight Turkey & CIA’s Militias

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Turkish incursion into Syria at Jarabulus was advertised as an attack on a Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) stronghold and smuggling station in conjunction…

Is Turkey’s incursion into Syria about Daesh, or about the Kurds?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Turkish military sources told the Anadol news agency that Wednesday's military attack on the Syrian border town of Jarabulus, held for years by…

Monsters to Destroy: Top 7 Reasons the US could not have forestalled Syrian Civil War

by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The interventionist temptation, muted since the Iraq imbroglio, is now returning. Sec. Clinton's team are already talking about taking steps to remove Syrian…

US to ‘Reconsider’ Backing for Syrian Rebels After Boy Beheaded

TeleSur | - - The killers claim to be fighters om a rebel group that has received both financial and arms support from the United States and allies. A disturbing video circulating…

Is Kerry Right? Are Freemen of Syria and Army of Islam Radical Terrorists?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Josh Rogin of the Washington Post caused a stir by noticing something Secretary of State John Kerry said at Aspen last month. Kerry…

Syrian Troops foil al-Qaeda riposte in Aleppo as France warns al-Qaeda could replace ISIL

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Even as the Syrian army defeated a counter-offensive by al-Qaeda in Syria and its battlefield allies at Aleppo, French President Francois Hollande warned…

If East Aleppo Falls to Regime, is the Syrian War over?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Reuters is reporting that the Syrian Arab Army and its Shiite militia allies have taken Malah Farms to the northwest of the city…

Not the Onion: US asks Russia not to Bomb al-Qaeda in Syria

TeleSur | - - The Russian foreign minister said his Washington counterpart asked Moscow not to target the extremist groups out of fear of hitting moderate rebels. The United States has asked…