Syrian uprising

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Kofi Annan Strikes UN Monitoring Deal

As UN chief blasts regime, calls for 10 times more monitors

(Newser) - Kofi Annan today touted an agreement he has reached with Syria over how to handle the UN's 30-member advance monitoring team, outlining the "tasks and responsibilities" of the government. An Annan spokesman tells the AP that he's having "similar discussions" with rebels. The team is supposed...

Syrian Ceasefire Blows Up
 Syrian Ceasefire Blows Up 
Apr 18, 2012 7:02 AM CDT

Syrian Ceasefire Blows Up

Regime uses helicopters and tanks, but says it's responding to opposition

(Newser) - Syria's tattered ceasefire appears to have basically collapsed, with activists accusing the regime of rampant and brazen violations yesterday, including sending helicopters to fire on rebels holed up in mountain villages, and shelling at least two cities, the New York Times reports. They reported death tolls as high as...

1 Dead as Syria Protests Test Ceasefire

Opposition doubts government restraint, though truce seems to largely hold

(Newser) - Syria's fragile ceasefire seems to be largely holding, as renewed protests today put it to its first real test. But one Hama protester was shot dead by security forces as thousands of protesters again took to the streets, reports the BBC, while the New York Times notes that clashes...

Syrians Actually Cease Fire
 Syrians Actually Cease Fire 
Apr 12, 2012 8:52 AM CDT

Syrians Actually Cease Fire

But opposition complains that Assad still hasn't withdrawn troops

(Newser) - Against all odds, both sides appear to be more or less honoring this morning's ceasefire deadline in Syria. Though the night saw heavy fighting, in most places the gunfire stopped by dawn. "Everywhere is quiet," a Syrian Observatory for Human Rights official tells the Washington Post. "...

Kofi Annan Asks Iran for Help With Syria

UN envoy says he still thinks ceasefire will somehow work

(Newser) - Kofi Annan isn't panicking just because the Syrian regime blew off yesterday's ceasefire deadline . Annan says Bashar al-Assad's regime has assured him that it will respect the ceasefire plan and end hostilities tomorrow morning, the BBC reports. "If everyone respects it, I think by six in...

Turkey: Syria Firing Across Our Border

Signs mount that cease-fire likely won't happen

(Newser) - Syrian government forces killed two and wounded three in a cross-border shooting into Turkey yesterday, according to Turkish officials. The shots, which rang out near one of the biggest Syrian refugee camps, came days before a UN-brokered cease-fire was set to begin, further indicating that the deal is on thin...

UN: Syria Ceasefire in Place by April 12

Syrian troops have reportedly started withdrawing

(Newser) - Fierce clashes continue to erupt in Syria, even as the UN's deadline for a ceasefire looms a week from today. Kofi Annan's peace plan requires Syrian troops to withdraw from towns and cities by April 10 , and the UN expects both sides to stop fighting within two days...

Syria Agrees to Annan's Peace Plan

Plan to be implemented April 10, in theory

(Newser) - Bashar al-Assad's regime has agreed to begin implementing Kofi Annan's UN- and Arab League-backed peace plan by April 10, and to cease hostilities entirely 48 hours later, diplomats told reporters today. Syrian officials confirmed as much for al-Jazeera , but said the deal would fall through if Annan couldn'...

Syrian Rebels to Get Paychecks

'Assad must go,' declares Hillary Clinton at Syria conference in Turkey

(Newser) - It looks like rebels in Syria are not going to be fighting only for their freedom—now they'll be fighting for a paycheck, too. Sixty nations gathered in Turkey yesterday for a “Friends of the Syrian People” conference, pledging financial support for the Syrian Free Army to encourage...

Syria: 'Battle to Bring Down the State' Is Over

Top official also balks at Kofi Annan request to pull back troops

(Newser) - The Syrian government will not pull troops from cities and towns engulfed by the country's unrest before life returns to normal in these areas, a top official said. The statement by Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdessi was the first response to an appeal by Kofi Annan to Syrian authorities...

Syria Sells Oil to China—Thanks to Iran

Meanwhile, Annan has message for Assad: Cease-fire, now

(Newser) - With the West united against the Syrian government and implementing a series of punishing sanctions, it's Iran and China to the rescue—as Chinese state-run firm Zhuhai Zhenrong bought an estimated $84 million in crude oil, and Iran supplied the boat to transport it, reports Reuters . The Malta-flagged vessel...

Clashes Sweep Syria as Arab League Mulls Peace
Arab League Hems, Haws on Whether Assad Must Go
AS VIOLENCE RAGES
Mar 29, 2012 7:43 AM CDT

Arab League Hems, Haws on Whether Assad Must Go

At least 15 killed today as violence continues

(Newser) - Even as the Arab League met in Baghdad today to discuss implementation of a Syria peace deal, clashes between rebels and security forces continued, killing at least 15. With only 10 of 22 leaders in attendance, the League is apparently backing down from a call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad...

Kofi Annan: Syria OKs Peace Deal

Tells Chinese that Assad has agreed to 6-point UN plan

(Newser) - Syria has agreed to a six-point peace deal that will implement a cease-fire in the bloody conflict that has claimed an estimated 8,000 lives in the past year, UN envoy Kofi Annan said today. In Beijing today, Annan told reporters that "I had received a response from the...

Turkey Closes Syria Embassy
 Turkey Closes Syria Embassy 
Mar 26, 2012 10:27 AM CDT

Turkey Closes Syria Embassy

And agrees with the US to provide 'nonlethal' aid

(Newser) - Turkey shut down its embassy in Syria today, and plans to join with the US to provide “nonlethal” aid to Syria's rebels. White House officials tell the New York Times that the two nations will provide things like communication equipment and medical supplies directly to opposition groups, and...

Medvedev: Annan Syria's 'Last Chance'

Russia backs UN envoy as only way to avoid war

(Newser) - Russian President Dmitri Medvedev today got definitively behind Kofi Annan's mission to end the yearlong violence in Syria, reports Reuters , calling it the " last chance for Syria to avoid a long-lasting and bloody civil war." Medvedev met with Annan, the UN envoy to Syria today in Moscow,...

EU Bans Assad's Wife From Travel, Shopping

Asma Assad will likely have to tone down free-spending ways

(Newser) - It may not mean much to the forces fighting Syria's government, but it's something: The EU decided today to impose sanctions on first lady Asma Assad, Reuters reports. That means she is no longer welcome for travel and her beloved shopping sprees, adds AFP . She and about a...

Syrian Rebels Accused of Kidnapping, Torture

Human rights group calls out freedom fighters for abuses

(Newser) - It's tempting to paint the conflict in Syria as a brutal regime fighting virtuous rebels, but Human Rights Watch today issued an open letter to the Free Syrian Army accusing insurgents of a variety of brutalities, including kidnapping and torturing security forces and government supporters. "The Syrian government'...

Syrian Leader's Wife: 'I Am the Real Dictator'

Asma al-Assad also mocks the people of Homs in hacked emails

(Newser) - So the Syrian president's wife can do more these days than buy pricey candlesticks and chandeliers . Hacked emails reveal that Asma al-Assad, British-born wife of Bashar, also mocks the people of Homs (not long before hundreds died there ) and jokes with friends that she is "the REAL...

5 Questions to Ask Before Starting a War

Bill Keller offers lessons from Iraq

(Newser) - As the drum-beating grows louder on Iran and Syria, Bill Keller looks back on Iraq and beyond. To avoid a debacle, there are five questions we should ask ourselves before entering a war, he writes in the New York Times :
  1. "How is this our fight?" Are American interests directly
...

Things Get Ugly in Syria's Capital

Damascus witnesses report clashes in key neighborhood

(Newser) - Machine guns and explosions were audible as violence overtook a high-security section of Damascus last night, killing at least three and wounding 18 Syrian troops. Locals began hearing gunfire at about midnight and say "intensive gunfire" continued for hours in the Mazzeh district of the Syrian capital, an upscale...

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