Salem-News.com Syria articles Page 4

Militants Kill 30 Iraqi Troops; Seize Iraq-Syria Border Crossing

The capture of the Qaim border crossing deals a further blow to prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.

(BAGHDAD, Iraq) - Sunni militants have seized an Iraqi crossing on the border with Syria after a daylong battle in which they killed some 30 Iraqi troops, security officials said on Saturday.

Police and army officials said the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and allied militants seized the crossing near the border town of Qaim, about 200 miles west of Baghdad, after battling Iraqi troops all day Friday.

Arab Foreign Ministers to Meet to Discuss Iraq, ISIL

Oil prices have risen to the highest level this year over fears of the violence disrupting exports from OPEC member Iraq.

(BAGHDAD, Iraq) - The insurgent offensive that has threatened to dismember Iraq spread to the northwest of the country on Sunday, when Sunni militants launched a dawn raid on a town close to the Syrian border, clashing with police and government forces.

As the rapid advance south by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) towards Baghdad appeared to slow over the weekend, fierce fighting erupted in the town of Tal Afar 40 miles west of Mosul near the Syrian border.

Iraq Now Open to U.S Airstrikes Against ISIS Jihadists

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, which wants to establish an Islamic caliphate, or state, in the region.

(BAGHDAD, Iraq) - As radical Islamist militants surged through Iraq -- and threatened its capital -- U.S. President Barack Obama conceded the turbulent situation demanded significant assistance immediately and over the long-term for the Baghdad-based central government.

"It's going to need more help from us, and it's going to need more help from the international community," Obama said Thursday.

Syrians Head to The Polls Despite Bloody Civil War

President Assad still has control to run state television broadcast footage of people queuing to cast their votes in several cities.

(DAMASCUS, Syria) - Even though a bloody civil war rages on in Syria, the government held areas of the country have headed to the polls to choose their next President, which looks to remain the same.

While tens of thousands of people have died during the civil war, which is now three years old, government leaders have put in place a massive campaign to have the vote as a way to try and end the war.

Syrians Working to Preserve Jewish Cultural Heritage

A volunteer with the Sabra-Shatila Scholarship Program, Franklin Lamb is in Syria doing research.

(Jewish Quarter, DAMASCUS) - It’s always encouraging when one comes upon some inspiring human enterprise, here in Syria or elsewhere, that refutes the worn shibboleths and clichés about how this or that group, or this or that religion, hates others and won’t cease targeting them until they are destroyed and burning in Hell.

In Syria today there is much evidence to refute the claims, often politically motivated, that Jewish cultural heritage sites are being singled out for destruction by rabid anti-Semites.

Rights Groups Urge Abbas to Let ICC Prosecute War Crimes Committed on Palestinian Territories

Amnesty, Human Rights Watch call on PA to resist U.S. and Israeli pressure and apply for International Criminal Court membership.

(TEL AVIV Ha'aretz) - Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday to promptly seek access for Palestine at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

``Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently``

The author has also been given eye-witness accounts of events surrounding late April-early May, 2014 from persons who escaped from Raqqa, some of whom now reside in Palestinian refugee camps and elsewhere in Lebanon.

(DAMASCUS) - The following is a transcript of an interview conducted by the author at the National Museum of Syria with an employee of the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM).

Engineering Chaos: Mother Agnes-Miriam Lectures Neo-Cons on their Bad Behavior

Syria Solidarity Movement offers this excellent report about a recent visit from Mother Agnes-Mariam.

(MORAGA, Ca.) - I just went to hear Mother Agnes-Miriam, a Syrian nun dressed in a serious nun outfit, give a talk on the horrible situation that her country finds itself in today.

I ended up with ten pages of notes on the shocking details of what she said. Her talk can be summed up in just a few words. "[Western neo-colonial] powers have been engineering chaos in Syria..."

The Death of Yarmouk Palestinian Camp

Yarmouk is a symbol of Palestinian insistence—insistence that the right of return be addressed, insistence that their narrative be recognized, that their need for safety be respected, that their rights be upheld, that they live in dignity.

(YARMOUK PALESTINIAN CAMP, Damascus) - This observer does not write these words casually.

And he is no huge fan of some of the intellectually lazy quick spun internet conspiracy theories, too many of which appear given to flights from reality when facts get complicated and dispositive information is obscure.

Palmyrenes: Risking their Lives to Preserve our Global Cultural Heritage

The international community is obligated to preserve and protect, and also, where necessary and where possible to reconstruct the damaged archeological sites...

(PALMYRA, Homs Governorate, Syria) - This observer, seemingly ever miscalculates life’s realities.

For example, he deluded himself recently into believing that Hezbollah guys were about the wildest, luckiest and fastest drivers from the archeological sites in Baalbek in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, or for a fast trip from the charming village of Britel, to Beirut’s southern suburbs.