MAFRAQ, Jordan — To the caches of ammunition and medicines that they lug each day from this border city back into their homeland, Syrian rebels have added new tools to support their fight against President Bashar al-Assad: metal detectors and pickaxes. The rebels, struggling to finance their effort, have joined an emerging trade in illicitly […]
Syria’s FSA captures a village near Turkish borders
The Free Syrian Army ( FSA) captured the Syrian village of Khirbat al-Joz, close to the village of Jisr al-Shughur, about 2 km from the Turkish border after hours of fierce fighting on Saturday in which 25 troops and three FSA members ( including a commander ) were killed, the spokesman for Syrian Observatory for […]
Free Syrian Army rebel leaders face internal challenges
Free Syrian Army commanders hope that transferring their leadership to Syrian territory from exile in Turkey will make the rebel force more effective, but the challenge of unifying the disparate fighters is as great as ever.
Syria sectarian divide turns to fear and flight
Abu Qais, a Sunni Muslim in Syria’s capital Damascus, says six members of his extended family have been killed by gunmen who belong to the minority Alawite sect of President Bashar Assad.
Deadliest day of the Syrian uprising. Over 370 killed
At least 370 people were reported dead Saturday in Syria, marking the highest single-day death toll since the start of the uprising, according to opposition activists. With one week left to go, August is already the deadliest month. Here are some of the other key developments
Is Assad’s brother Maher dead?
The Syrian Information Ministry on Monday denied the news reported by Russia Today that a high-ranking Syrian officer died in a Moscow hospital earlier on Monday. “The news is baseless and falls within the framework of desperate psychological warfare to undermine the determination of the Syrian people,” the statement said
Rebels needs 2 months to topple Assad regime, interview
Malik al-Kurdi, deputy commander of the Free Syrian Army, has told Al Jazeera the government of Bashar al-Assad “cannot destroy the will of the people”, and that opposition fighters only need another two months to take the regime down.
UN: Syria has ‘chosen the path of war’
Syria’s government and rebels have “chosen the path of war”, a U.N. peacekeeping chief said as the world body ended its doomed monitoring mission to Damascus and deadlock persists among world powers over how to contain the spreading conflict. Two weeks after former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan quit as mediator in frustration with the failure […]
Syrian Rebels State Terms for Freeing the 48 Iranians
The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) has laid out conditions for releasing 48 Iranians who were kidnapped in Damascus this month. In an interview with VOA’s Persian News Network, Deputy FSA Commander Colonel Malik al-Kurdi said the hostages would be freed if the Iranian government respected the human rights of “its own people”
Assad’s brother Maher may have lost leg in bombing, report
President Bashar al-Assad’s feared brother Maher lost a leg in a bomb attack on the Syrian leader’s security cabinet a month ago, Western and Gulf sources said on Thursday. While a Lebanese politician with ties to the Assads questioned their assertion that Maher al-Assad had been badly wounded, it would be a heavy blow to […]