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Syria

BEIRUT Government forces resumed shelling of rebel-held eastern Aleppo districts on Wednesday, which stopped after about half an hour, Syrian rebel officials and witnesses told Reuters on Wednesday. “There is fierce bombardment by the regime forces on besieged Aleppo, using artillery, tanks, and mortars,” a Turkey-based official in the Jabha Shamiya faction told Reuters, citing reports from the ground. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdulrahman […]

BEIRUT An evacuation of rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo was delayed on Wednesday for reasons that were not clear, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, holding up implementation of an agreement to restore government control over the area. Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said the first group of evacuees was due to leave at 5 a.m. (0300 GMT), but nobody had left an hour later. A Reuters […]

Qatar called on Tuesday for an emergency Arab League meeting to discuss the situation in Aleppo, where Syrian government and allied forces were making a final push to capture the city from rebels, Qatar-based Al Jazeera television reported. Qatar is a main supporter of rebels who have been fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran. Thousands fled the front lines […]

In a massive (in a literal sense, printing at 25 pages and over 8,000 words as there is little new information revealed in the piece itself) expose issued by the NYT tited “The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.” and meant to piggyback on the WaPo’s recent reporting and solidify the left-leaning media’s case that Hillary lost the election, the New York Times try to […]

By Laila Bassam and Angus McDowall | ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT Syrian rebels prepared to withdraw from Aleppo on Wednesday after a ceasefire agreement that ended years of fighting in the city and gave President Bashar al-Assad his biggest victory yet after more than five years of war. The agreement was a result of talks between Russia, Assad’s main ally, and Turkey, a leading backer of the […]

ERBIL, Iraq — The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that a United States airstrike had killed three Islamic State operatives who were involved in mounting terrorist attacks in Europe, including the deadly assault in Paris in November 2015. The three men were killed on Dec. 4 in an airstrike in Raqqa, Syria, the Islamic State’s declared capital, said Peter Cook, the Pentagon press secretary. He described the men […]

ABU DHABI // The Arab world is entering a new era, involving reform and changes in its mindset, according to the former Egyptian foreign minister and secretary general of the Arab League. In an interview with The National, Amr Moussa said the region’s young citizens, who make up about 70 per cent of the population, are better educated and have aspirations for the future. “They reject what […]

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By Laila Bassam | ALEPPO, Syria ALEPPO, Syria The remains of the medieval Umayyad Mosque’s felled minaret lie in its once-elegant courtyard along with discarded mattresses, fragments of rockets and antique doors, but, after years of fighting, Aleppo’s holiest monument endures. The minaret and the covered markets that surrounded the mosque may have been destroyed in battles between the Syrian army and rebel fighters in 2012 and […]

By Laila Bassam and Stephanie Nebehay | ALEPPO, Syria/GENEVA ALEPPO, Syria/GENEVA The United Nations said on Tuesday it had reports that Syrian soldiers and allied Iraqi fighters had summarily shot dead 82 children, women and men in recaptured east Aleppo and a military source said the last rebel pocket could fall “at any moment”. The Syrian army has denied carrying out killings or torture among those captured, […]

ANKARA: Turkish warplanes pounded 28 Daesh targets in northern Syria while another 157 targets were hit by artillery and other weaponry in the latest attacks, the army said on Tuesday. The jets hit shelters, vehicles mounted with guns, ammunition depots and other targets in the strikes on Monday in the Al-Bab and Bzagah regions of northern Syria, the military said in a statement.The strikes in northern Syria are […]

By Gabriela Baczynska | BRUSSELS BRUSSELS The European Union will not pay towards rebuilding post-war Syria if Moscow and Damascus leave no space in the future for opposition to President Bashar al-Assad’s government, according to a draft joint statement from the EU’s 28 leaders. For weeks, Syrian, Russian and Iranian firepower has pounded rebels – including those backed by the West and Turkey – in what was […]

Photo Families that fled violence in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo on Tuesday arriving in the Fardous area, where shooting was also reported. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images GENEVA — Pro-government forces retaking the eastern neighborhoods of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 82 civilians on Monday, the United Nations estimated, in what one official called “a complete meltdown of humanity.” Zeid […]

An untold number of Syrians trapped in an ever tightening patch of rebel territory in Aleppo are desperately seeking a way to safety as the opposition’s final foothold in a major city looked on the verge of collapse. The International Committee of the Red Cross called for all sides to urgently agree a deal to evacuate people as it warned that time was running out for trapped […]

GENEVA Many unaccompanied children, possibly more than 100, are trapped in a building that is under heavy attack in besieged eastern Aleppo in Syria, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said in a statement on Tuesday, citing an unnamed doctor in the city. “According to alarming reports from a doctor in the city, many children, possibly more than 100, unaccompanied or separated from their families, are trapped in […]

The battle for eastern Aleppo will be over soon, but tens of thousands of Syrians there will find little peace. The victory for the government of President Bashar al-Assad will open another violent, disorienting chapter in their lives, and a dangerous one for the opposition. Soon, civilians and rebel fighters alike will either be punished or have to flee the city and join the many thousands of […]

We launched The Review’s Crossroads podcast about a year ago and our best episodes of 2016 reflect the unique stories that shaped the year. We travel from modern-day UAE to 1960s Turkey, from 1990-era Grozny to Aleppo through music, books, news and history. For example, we hear about the hidden history of Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island, where people lived until the 1990s. In Turkey, a record collector […]

By Laila Bassam | ALEPPO, Syria ALEPPO, Syria The Syrian army and its allies have taken full control over all the Aleppo districts abandoned by rebels during their retreat in the city, a Syrian military source said on Tuesday. Rebel defences collapsed on Monday, leading to a broad army advance across more than half of the remaining insurgent pocket in Aleppo and a retreat of opposition fighters […]

December 13, 2016 by: Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington Donald Trump is poised to name Rex Tillerson, chief executive of ExxonMobil, as his secretary of state, ignoring criticism that the oil and gas man is too close to Russian president Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. Mr Trump tweeted on Monday that he would formally unveil his choice for the high-profile cabinet position on Tuesday morning. US media reported […]

International heads of state named on the rolls of clandestine companies in tax havens. Canada’s big banks facilitating tax avoidance through thousands of offshore enterprises. Strawmen fronting businesses to mask the identities of the real owners. After a year-long investigation into 11.5 million leaked tax haven documents, the Panama Papers were finally made public last April — and they landed like a bomb. […]

By Doina Chiacu and Gina Cherelus | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK WASHINGTON/NEW YORK The front-runner for secretary of state in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, Exxon Mobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, faces a struggle getting confirmed by U.S. senators concerned about his close ties to Russia. Lawmakers from both major parties also raised questions on Monday about former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, who has been mentioned as a possible […]

MANAMA, Bahrain — The political shock waves from the American presidential election are being felt here in the Persian Gulf, where diplomats, military commanders and other senior leaders say they are both fearful and excited about which Donald J. Trump shows up after he is sworn in as president on Jan. 20. Will it be, they ask, the President Trump who has vowed to cut off American […]

ABU DHABI // Women members of parliament have an important role in brokering peace in the Middle East and beyond, a conference heard on Monday. About 50 women who preside over parliaments met in Abu Dhabi for the Global Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament. For the first time men were invited to participate, including Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister, who […]

ALEPPO, SYRIA: The Syrian army recaptured a major district of Aleppo on Monday, leaving opposition fighters cornered in a small pocket as the battle for the city entered its “final phase.”President Bashar Assad’s forces held more than 90 percent of the onetime opposition stronghold of east Aleppo, a monitor and military official said, and appeared on the verge of retaking the entire city.A Syrian military official in […]

More than two million people lived in Mosul when it fell to the Islamic State on June 10, 2014. It was a conservative city where most women already covered their hair with a scarf and their arms with long sleeves. But as in other places where the militants imposed their creed, the new rules took enforced modesty to such an extreme that it riled families in Mosul, […]

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