- Syria's civil war is threatening some of the oldest cultural heritage sites in the world. Heavy fighting has damaged castles, synagogues and many other precious artifacts.
So a group of historians and museums have joined forces with the US State Department to try to save them.
Al Jazeera's Cath Turner reports.by AJE Staff 3:15 AM - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, has been fighting alongside Syrian forces.
The Shia Muslim group's stated policy is to prevent Assad's regime from collapsing.
But it has paid a heavy political price for its involvement in the neighbour's conflict and is under increasing pressure at home.
Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports from Beirut.by AJE Staff 3:13 AM - The head of the opposition Syrian Supreme Military Council cut short a visit to France on Thursday and said he would head to Syria for talks with rebel brigades that broke with the Western-backed coalition.
General Salim Idris, who commands the coalition's military wing known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), said he would travel to Syria on Friday to meet fighters from the 13 groups which rejected on Tuesday the authority of the Turkey-based coalition.
The rebel groups, including at least three considered to be under the FSA umbrella, called on Tuesday for the rebel forces to be reorganised under an Islamic framework and to be run only by groups fighting inside Syria.
"We should deal wisely with their statement. I returned from France so as to follow up with the field commanders and work toward unifying all the ranks," Idriss told Reuters by telephone after arriving in Istanbul.
FSA spokesman Louay Meqdad said Idriss hoped to solve the grievances of the dissident rebels, who have long been wary of accepting leadership by figures who have spent much of Syria's two-and-a-half-year civil war outside the country.
"He will meet the brigades that rejected the coalition who are losing hope," Meqdad said. "The coalition maybe were not connected to the ground but now they will communicate and try to resolve this."
Rebel brigades battling President Bashar Al-Assad are fragmented and increasingly fighting internal conflicts.
[Reuters]by AJE Staff 12:26 AM - Activists say an al-Qaeda commander in Syria has been killed during clashes with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the fighting in Syria, says the commander died on Wednesday night in fighting in the northern province of Aleppo.
The Britain-based group did not provide the man's name but identified him in a statement on Thursday as a UAE national and the emir - or the commander - of Aleppo.
On Monday, a top al-Qaeda commander was killed in an ambush by rival Western-backed rebels.
Infighting between al-Qaeda-linked groups and other, more moderate rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad has spiked in recent days.
[AP]by AJE Staff 11:54 PM yesterday - Diplomats at the United Nations say the five permanent members of the divided UN Security Council appear to have reached agreement on a resolution to require Syria to dismantle its chemical weapons stockpiles.
Their comments on Thursday came a day after Russia's deputy foreign minister said negotiators had overcome a major hurdle and agreed that the text of the resolution would include a reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows for military and nonmilitary actions to promote peace and security.
The five veto-wielding members of the Security Council have been discussing for weeks what to include in a new resolution requiring that Syria's chemical weapons stockpile be secured and dismantled.
The US and Russia had been at odds on how to enforce the resolution.
[AP]by AJE Staff 11:45 PM yesterday - A young man once jailed for smuggling weapons for the Toronto 18 terror plot to attack Canada's parliament and other targets has been killed in Syria, local media said Thursday.
Somalia-born Canadian Ali Mohamed Dirie reportedly left Canada after his release from prison in 2011 to join rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The daily Toronto Star and other newspapers cited unnamed security and Toronto Muslim community sources as saying that Dirie had been killed in the civil war that has claimed more than 110,000 lives, including at least 100 Canadians who left for Syria in the past year.
Dirie was arrested in 2005 at the US border trying to re-enter Canada with two loaded handguns taped to his thighs, and pleaded guilty to importing and possessing firearms and ammunition.
The so-called "Toronto 18" suspects were arrested the following year for plotting to attack parliament, a nuclear power plant, the Toronto stock exchange and other targets using fertilizer explosives packed in rented vans.
Their plot was foiled when members of the group sought to purchase three tonnes of the bomb-making ingredient ammonium nitrate from undercover police officers, who had switched it with an inert substance.
[AFP]by AJE Staff 11:41 PM yesterday - US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed in talks on Thursday on the need for a UN Security Council resolution on Syria, a US official said.
Kerry and Wang "were in strong agreement" on the need to act quickly for "a mandatory and binding UN Security Council resolution," the official said.
[AFP]by AJE Staff 11:38 PM yesterday - Brazil is going to grant special visas to Syrians who want to leave their conflict-wracked nation, the Washington Post reports.Brazil’s National Committee for Refugees authorized the foreign ministry to issue the visas for “humanitarian reasons”, the government’s official gazette announced on Tuesday.
- Listening Post - Syria: The propaganda blitzby AlJazeeraEnglish on 4:09 PM yesterdayby AJE Staff 7:53 PM yesterday
- Sep. 26, 2013
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A mortar shell hit the Iraqi consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, killing anIraqi woman and wounding four other people, witnesses said.It was not clear whether the consulate - which is located in the upscale al-Maliki neighbourhood near the United States and Chinese embassies - had been deliberately targeted.A guard at the consulate said he had been on duty when the woman was killed. "I helped carry her to the ambulance. She was limp and covered with a coat," he said.A mortar shell landed in the Russian embassy compound in central Damascus on Sunday, wounding three people.-- Reuters and APby AJE Staff 7:44 PM yesterday - Photo: Syrian refugees begging for change on the streets of Yemen [Reuters]by AJE Staff
Fleeing the civil war in Syria, Yosra Mustafa and her family crossed into Turkey, but found life there too expensive. They tried their luck with Jordan, but were refused entry. Lebanon came to nothing.Never would they have expected to end up in Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries."There is nowhere else to go to now. We're begging on the streets," said Mustafa, who, dressed in black from head to toe, stationed herself at one of Sanaa's main thoroughfares hoping cars would slow down to pay her a few Yemeni riyals."It's cheaper here. People are kind and honourable," the elderly woman told Reuters.UNHCR says there are about 900 registered Syrian refugees in Yemen, the bulk of whom have arrived this year, and settled in the capital Sanaa, followed by the southern hub of Aden.-- Reutersby AJE Staff 7:18 PM yesterday - by AJE StaffPhoto: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov [AFP]
Russia says it is ready to help ensure security for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons.Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirming that Russia would help guard the facilities where the weapons are being destroyed.Ryabkov, speaking Thursday during an arms exhibition in Nizhny Tagil, said he hoped that other members of the Collective Security Treaty OrganiSation would also participate. The organization includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.UN inspectors returned to Syria on Wednesday to continue investigating three incidents of suspected chemical weapons use this year.-- APby AJE Staff 6:40 PM yesterday - by AJE StaffPhoto: WFP's cutbacks will likely hurt many Syrian refugees in Lebanon [AFP]
The United Nations World Food Programme has announced it would drop hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees from its food aid programme in Lebanon.Lynne Miller, head of the WFP in Lebanon, said on Tuesday that about 30 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon would no longer receive food vouchers from the programme as it tries to allocate scarce resources to those who most need help.Miller said the decision was made after an assessment determined that those refugees can meet their needs through other avenues and do not require food aid from WFP.“Humanitarian assistance is always targeted to those most in need, so no U.N. assistance is made to be given to an entire population,” Miller said.Under the current system, Syrian refugees receive $27 worth of food vouchers from the WFP every month which they can redeem for food at shops. The change will likely deal a blow to many refugees struggling to make ends meet in Lebanon, where there are no formal camps to provide a safety net, as in Jordan and Turkey.The United Nations says it has received only 27 percent of the international aid it requested from international donors last year to help Syrian refugees across the Middle East.-- Reutersby AJE Staff 4:47 PM yesterday - Photo: Syrian women at a refugee camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley [Reuters]by AJE StaffLebanon is the country that is bearing the brunt of the economic and social spillovers of the Syrian conflict, according to an assessment conducted by the World Bank.The report states that the number of refugees in Lebanon is now approaching one million, or 22 percent of the population, and that the ongoing conflict and flow of refugees will result in huge losses in trade and tourism for Lebanon and raise both poverty and unemployment rates.“I have thanked President Michel Sleiman for Lebanon’s generosity, and discussed with him how the World Bank and the international community can step up and do their part, so that Lebanon does not shoulder the costs alone,” said World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim on Tuesday.by AJE Staff 3:20 PM yesterday
- by AJE StaffPhoto: Lavrov updated Kerry on his findings during their Tuesday meeting [Reuters]Speaking in the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said thatRussia has enough evidence to assert that homemade sarin was used on August 21 in a
chemical attack near Damascus, according to a report by Russian news outlets RT:"The reports by the journalists who visited the sites, who talked to the combatants, combatants telling the journalists that they were given some unusual rockets and munitions by some foreign country and they didn’t know how to use them. You have also the evidence from the nuns serving in a monastery nearby who visited the site. You can read the evidence and the assessments by the chemical weapons experts who say that the images shown do not correspond to a real situation if chemical weapons were used. And we also know about an open letter sent to President Obama by former operatives of the CIA and the Pentagon saying that the assertion that it was the government that used the chemical weapons was a fake."Lavrov emphasized that Russia stands fully committed to implementing the Geneva framework of September 14, a bilateral agreement with the United States to move forward with the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons stockpiles under the Chemical Weapons Organization’s supervision.by AJE Staff 2:36 PM yesterday - Photo: Nasser Judeh, Jordan's Minister for Foreign Affairs [Reuters]by AJE StaffA meeting of Ministers responsible for humanitarian aid of countries neighbouring Syria, major donor countries and key humanitarian agencies, took place yesterday in New York.Following the meeting, a joint statement was published by Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, and Nasser Judeh, Jordan's Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The statement called for a comprehensive UN-led aid strategy in consultation with host countries that includes humanitarian and development and macro-financial support for the millions of Syrians now inside and outside their country.by AJE Staff 1:37 PM yesterday - Europeans add $431 million in Syria aidby AJE Staff
Several European countries have announced another $431 million inhumanitarian aid for Syria.A statement released on Wednesday by the commissioner for international co-operation also expressed "the gravestconcern'' at the worsening situation in the country's torn by civil war and said almost half of Syria's population will need humanitarian aid by the end of this year.Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, the Netherlands and the European Commission contributed to the new batch of aid.
The statement called the crisis "unprecedented in its severity this century'' and warned that the financial demands of the countries will last a long time.
It also said the countries want another aid pledging conference organised "at the earliest possible date". - AP [Photo: Reuters/ Bassam Khabieh]by AJE Staff 11:17 AM yesterday - Syria's President Assad has not ruled out US attackSyrian President Bashar Assad has saidthat he does not discount the possibility of a US military attack, even though threatened action was forestalled when he agreed to give up chemical weapons.by AJE StaffAssad said in an interview broadcast by Venezuela's state-run Telesur network on Wednesday that his government had confessions from rebels that theybrought chemical weapons into the civil war-wracked nation.According to the broadcast's Spanish dubbing, Assad said all evidence pointed to rebel responsibility for the attack.
He said that Syrian authorities had uncovered chemical arms caches and labs and that the evidence had been turned over to Russia, which brokered the deal that helped persuade US President Barack Obama to pull back from threatened military action over an August 21 gas attack that killed civilians in a Damascus suburb.Assad predicted during the 40-minute interview that "terrorists'' would try to block access of UN inspectors who enter Syria to secure the government's chemical arsenal.While Assad said he had evidence that countries including Saudi Arabia were arming Syrian rebels, he said he had no proof that any particular country had supplied them with chemicalweapons. - AP [Photo: AFP/ SANA]by AJE Staff 11:06 AM yesterday - UN says Lebanon faces social explosion over Syria refugeesby AJE StaffThe UN has said that Lebanon faces an explosion of social tensions unless the international community helps to handle hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.Lebanon's President Michel Sleiman told foreign ministers from the world's leading nations on Wednesday that his country faces an "existential crisis" because of the influx fleeing the war between President Bashar al-Assad and opposition rebels.
He said major financing was needed to pay for the refugees, reinforce public services because of the burden and bolster the army.
The Syria conflict will cost Lebanon $7.5 billion from 2012 to 2014, according to an estimate given by
World Bank president Jim Yong Kim to the meeting held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.The UN says there are already 760,000 Syrians registered in Lebanon and there will be one million by the end of the year.
Lebanon's government estimates there are already 1.2 million with many not bothering to register.It is says there will soon be a strain on electricity supplies and is having to start school lessons by shifts to cope with an extra 90,000 Syrian children.Kim said that by the end of 2014 there could be 200,000-300,000 more Lebanese unemployed which would double the unemployment rate to more than 20 percent.
"Without question social tensions could increase as competition for jobs and services intensifies,"
he said.
"If we do not act decisively, now and fast, the Lebanon that we know today will not resemble the Lebanon that we will see tomorrow."
Antonio Guterres, UN high commissioner for refugees said: "I do not recall any country having suffered a more dramatic impact in its economy and in its society by an inflow of refugees than Lebanon today."
Guterres and other officials and ministers praised the "the extreme generosity" of Lebanon in keeping its borders open to refugees during the 30-month-old war.
He said Lebanon "has been to a large extent left alone by the international community and this needs to change". - AFP [Photo: Reuters/ Jamal Saidi]by AJE Staff 10:59 AM yesterday - by AJE StaffArms sent to Syrian rebels worry IraqIraq's foreign minister has said outside nations should not supply weapons to any of Syria's rebels for fear they could fall into the hands of extremist or terror groups.Iraq has long urged other countries against meddling in the 2 ½ year civil war to its west, even as Baghdad acknowledges that the continued fighting has escalated violence in Iraq.
But Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Wednesday that nearly 10,000 foreign fighters have joined Syria's rebel opposition. He said foreign military aid could help jihadist groups that are fighting among Syrian rebels against President Bashar Assad's regime.
The US began sending small arms to the Syrian opposition within the past few weeks, and has arranged for anti-tank weapons to be funneled to vetted rebel fighters through allied nations. - APby AJE Staff 8:49 AM yesterday - Britain's UN Ambassador has reported progress in UN Permanent Security Council permanent members' talks on the crisis in Syria."We are still working in the P-5 constructively on a text,'' Mark Lyall Grant told AP."But there are still some differences,'' Lyall Grant said."We hope to be able to iron them out, maybe even today, but certainly in the next few days so that we can adopt a resolution - a strong binding enforceable resolution with a united voice of the Security Council as soon as possible.''
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations are continuing, said
the two sides were "very, very close'' and the US "fully expects to have a resolution by the end of the week.'' - APby AJE Staff 8:18 AM yesterday - by AJE Staff
Western envoys tout Syria draft deal, but Russia says work ongoing
The US, Russia, France, China and Britain have finally agreed on the core of a UN Security Council resolution to rid Syria of its chemical weapons, three Western diplomats have said.However, Russia denied on Wednesday that such an agreement and insisted work was "still going on."The development came after the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the council met over lunch with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier in the day, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.The three diplomats said a draft resolution could be presented to the full 15-nation council soon, and the five permanent members would also meet on Friday to discuss a proposed Syria peace conference in Geneva."It seems that things are moving forward," said a Western diplomatic source, adding that there was "an agreement among the five on the core".
"We are closer on all the key points," he said.A third diplomat also suggested that a deal on the draft resolution was within reach.
But Russia rejected the suggestions.
"This is just their wishful thinking," the spokesman for Russia's UN delegation said. "It is not the reality. The work on the draft resolution is still going on."
A US official cited progress while cautioning that there was still work to be done. - Reutersby AJE Staff 6:21 AM yesterday - Russia's deputy foreign minister says agreement on a UN Security Council resolution requiring Syria to dismantle its chemical weapons stockpiles is likely in the next two days.
Gennady Gatilov told The Associated Press that the text of the resolution will include a reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which includes military and nonmilitary actions to promote peace and
security.But he stressed that there will not be an automatic trigger for Chapter 7 measures, which means another Security Council resolution will be required if Syria fails to comply.
The U.S. and Russia had been at odds on how to enforce the resolution.
Britain's UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told the AP he expects the remaining differences to be worked out "in the next few days". -AP - by AJE Staff
A man cleans one of the vehicles of the UN chemical weapons investigation team,
following their arrival in the Syrian capital Damascus, ahead of new investigations into the use of the banned arms.
[AFP]by AJE Staff 4:38 AM yesterday - Fighting in Syria between regime troops and rebels are raging in different parts of the country, especially in the south, where opposition fighters are battling to seize control of the border crossing with Jordan.Opposition activists told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the fighters were now "in control of most of Ramtha post" in the southern province of Deraa.
Read Wednesday's developments in Syria hereby AJE Staff 4:33 AM yesterday - The British government has announced a further 100 million pounds ($160.7 million) in humanitarian funding to help bring food, water and medicine to those affected by Syria's civil war.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced the funding on Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, saying that as the international community seeks a political solution to the crisis, it mustn't ignore the needs of ordinary Syrians.
He said there is a "huge gap" in humanitarian funding for Syria and urged other nations present at the assembly to meet the shortfall.
The new funding means Britain has now committed 500 million pounds to the Syrian humanitarian crisis.
One day earlier, the U.S. announced $339 million in additional humanitarian aid to refugees and countries affected by the war.
[AP]by AJE Staff 4:32 AM yesterday - The UN says chemical weapons experts who returned to Syria will be investigating three alleged incidents of chemical weapons use earlier this year and seeking information on three alleged incidents last month.
The inspectors reported last week that the deadly nerve agent sarin was used in an Aug. 21 attack outside Damascus.
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said Wednesday the mission will also discuss with the Syrian government "information that it may possess regarding allegations it reported on the use of chemical weapons'' in incidents on the following days - Aug. 22, 24 and 25.
He said the inspectors will visit the village of Khan al-Assal near Aleppo to probe a March 19 incident and two other sites.
The inspectors identified them in last week's report as Sheik Maqsood and Saraqeb.
[AP]by AJE Staff 4:31 AM yesterday - UN leader Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday pressed the major powers to overcome differences on the Syria war amid difficult talks on a UN Security Council resolution on Syria's chemical arms.
Countries suffering the refugee fallout from the 30-month-old conflict separately made pleas for help to cope with growing numbers of fleeing Syrians.
Ban hosted a lunch with the foreign ministers of the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France -- the permanent Security Council members -- to put across his message, UN officials said.
The meeting discussed a Russia-US plan to destroy President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapon arsenal, said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.
[AFP]by AJE Staff 4:18 AM yesterday - Medical aid is running desperately low in Syria, forcing doctors to use industrial pipes and valves for treating broken limbs. The international aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontiers says the public health-care system has collapsed, with hospitals and doctors often under attack by both sides of the conflict.
An Al Jazeera film crew has been in Ghouta to see how doctors there are coping.by AJE Staff 4:17 AM yesterday - As the fighting continues in Syria, so does the suffering of its people.
Food, water and medicine are in short supply and with winter approaching, charities are warning of a humanitarian disaster.
Al Jazeera's James Bays talks to Executive Director of WFP Ertharin Cousin.by AJE Staff September 25 at 10:45 PM - A Syrian man was killed and two others wounded when Lebanese troops opened fire on their minibus on Wednesday after it failed to stop at a checkpoint, the army said.
"At 4:45am (0145 GMT), the driver of a minibus carrying Syrian passengers... failed to comply with orders from the Lebanese army to stop at a checkpoint in the Arsal region, forcing the soldiers to open fire," the army said in a statement.
"One passenger was killed and two others were lightly injured," the statement said, adding that the bus had continued on despite the shooting but the driver later turned himself in.
Lebanon's National News Agency said the Syrian killed was a member of the Al-Nusra Front, a jihadist rebel group fighting in Syria.
Arsal is a majority Sunni Muslim region that is broadly supportive of the Syrian uprising.
[AFP]by AJE Staff September 25 at 9:42 PM
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