Jan 23, 2014, Interfax Dear participants in the conference, Today the world expects from you decisive actions aimed at settling by peaceful means the sanguinary conflict in Syria. It is hard to overestimate the responsibility that lies with you. The scale of the tragedy, which has been …

Jan 21, 2014, Ajamu Baraka There is one thing that the so-called peace conference on Syria is guaranteed to achieve and that is that when the last speech is made and the delegates leave the hall, the grotesque bloodletting and devastation will continue for the people of Syria. Why? Because …

Jan 21, 2014, AFP President Bashar al-Assad gave an interview to Agence France Presse. Following is the full text of the interview: Mr. President, what do you expect from the Geneva conference? President Assad: The most basic element, which we continuously refer to, is that the Geneva Conference should produce …

Jan 20, 2014, ITV News They emerged from the shadows of a rubble-strewn street, hands raised and stripped to the waist to ensure they weren’t wearing suicide vests. But this wasn’t a trap or a staged piece of propaganda. These were defectors from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) who had …

  Jan 22, 2014 The camp at Yarmouk – the largest centre of Palestinian refugees in Syria – is more of a small town than a refugee camp. There are no tents to be seen, but instead streets of houses that are home to every strata of Palestinian society and …

Jan 20, 2014, Mahdi Nazemroaya As Turkey works for harmonization with Iran and Russia, an internal struggle has developed between the PM and the Gulenists that may threaten the process. If the leadership of the AKP is to be believed, it’s part of a foreign conspiracy to remove them. Regarding …

  Jan 16, 2014, interview with Ken Stone The UN human rights office says a soaring number of executions in northern Syria could amount to war crimes. In a statement released on Thursday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has warned militants and armed opposition groups that such executions …

Jan 21, 2014, Interventions Watch Today saw the release of a report, commissioned by the regime in Qatar via the law firm Carter Ruck, alleging the systematic mass killing and torture of detainees by the Assad regime in Syria. Up to 11’000 people, and perhaps more, could have died in this …

  Jan 21, 2014, Press TV Foreign-backed militants continue attacks on a Christian town on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, Press TV reports. Militants targeted Cherubim Monastery, which is located on top of a mountain in Qalamoun region. The armed militants continuously attack the monastery from Rankus village …

Jan 21, 2014, Finian Cunningham There is a good reason why Iran has been blocked from attending the Geneva II conference on Syria – because the meeting is not about finding a peaceful settlement. Rather, it is merely an American mechanism for engineering regime change in Syria. What the Americans …