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Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

05 Feb

For those who try to keep up with the shifting nature of radical Islamist groups – groups too many in the media sometimes wrongly link to Al Qaeda –the stories earlier this week on the group formerly known as Al Qaeda in Iraq, now calling itself ISIS, are significant: Early Monday morning the leadership of al-Qaeda disowned Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), the most effective of its two franchises fighting in Syria, in a maneuver that could alter the trajectory of the fight against President Bashar Assad....
05.02.14 | |

12 Feb

...international involvement to protect people’s vote. To this end, the Security Council Resolution 1975 (2011) installed Alassane Ouattara as the President of Ivory Coast and the Security Council Resolution 2337 (2017) endorsed the recognition of Adama Barrow as the President of Gambia. Prioritizing “democratic legitimacy” over “effective control” by the Security Council is an important practice to consider. Security Council’s complete disregard for the decisions made by the electoral authorities in the Ivory Coast and Gambia over the election results, provides further evidence to support Thomas Franck argument that elections...
12.02.20 | |

29 Jan

...a ransom. Of course, paying the ransom wins the release of the individual hostage. However, it also emboldens and encourages ISIS and other terrorists to perpetrate more kidnappings. It is precisely for this reason that the U.S. refuses to negotiate and pay money to ISIS. The ransom payments are bankrolling the ISIS war in Iraq and Syria. So the European countries that are paying the ransoms are providing (indirectly and under duress) the resources for ISIS to fight the military coalition that is trying to stop them from carving its...
29.01.15 | |

02 Apr

...the daily number of civilian casualties in Syria. Al Jazeera has an exclusive about the UN’s plans should the Syrian regime fall–a plan that includes deploying peacekeeping forces, a move beyond its normal role as no others in the international community are interested in getting involved. The mood in the Malian city of Timbuktu is tense in the wake of deadly clashes between rebel and Malian forces over the weekend. Relatives of approximately 90 Yeminis held at the US Guantanamo Bay prison are protesting their “very poor” conditions at Gitmo...
02.04.13 | |

16 Jun

...permanently powerful, and no people are permanently protected from war, persecution, collapse, or exile. This history is personal to me in another way. I come from Syria, a country now known through war, exile, camps, and refugee arrivals. But during the Second World War, European civilians fleeing war and occupation found safety in parts of the Middle East, including Syria. Poles, Greeks, and Yugoslavs were among those supported through refugee camps across the region. The direction of refuge is never fixed. The lands we now associate with displacement were once...
16.06.26 | |

21 Mar

Mauritania has agreed to extradite ex-Libyan chief-of-intelligence Abdullah al-Senussi to Libya. The Economist outlines the world’s biggest arms exporters based on a new report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. US President Barack Obama is slated to visit the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea today ahead of his upcoming visit with South Korean president, Lee Meyung-Bak. Western powers diluted the language of a U.N. Security Council resolution regarding Syria in order to garner Russian support; in response, speaking from Jakarta, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon once again...
21.03.12 | |

11 Apr

...Syria. Foreign Policy outlines the options for Syria, in case the plan does not succeed. According to its Foreign Minister, William Hague, the UK may seek a Security Council decision referring Assad to the ICC. In a Reuter’s exclusive, China’s ZTE trading firm had planned on selling $10.5 million (€8 millon) worth of embargoed computing equipment to Iran, shedding some light on how Iran is able to get American tech products despite sanctions. The Philippine Navy is in a standoff with Chinese ships. Colombia’s foreign minister reports that Venezuelan President...
11.04.12 | |

18 Jul

The UN Security Council prepares for a new vote on Syria today, amidst raging battles in Damascus and tension between Russia and the West. Among the battles, a suicide attack in Damascus has killed the Syrian Minister of Defense. Foreign Policy looks in-depth into whether it matters that the ICRC has labeled the violence in Syria a non-international armed conflict. For more from Lawfare on the discussion surrounding the label of NIAC, click here and here. The European Court of Human Rights has asked Poland hand over secret documents detailing...
18.07.12 | |

28 Nov

In Syria, rebel forces have for the first time downed a government helicopter using a surface-to-air missile they acquired during the recent capture of an army base. The EU is reviewing its sanctions on Syria, and the UK, with France’s backing, is arguing for a review every three months to make it easier to arm the opposition. The head of the Palestinian commission investigating the death of Yasser Arafat has stated that the Palestinian state would go to the ICC, should it be established that Arafat was poisoned. In Eastern...
28.11.12 | |

31 May

related news, an 11-year old survivor of the Houla massacre recounts how he avoided being executed by covering himself in his brother’s blood and playing dead. Syrian rebels have given the government 48 hours to withdrawal its troops and adhere to a UN-backed peace plan, otherwise they would renew their attempts for a coup. US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, believes that a political/diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict is best. Russia has pledged to block the UN Security Council in any moves for intervention, claiming that any military...
31.05.12 | |

26 Apr

...this tragedy is unlikely to spur reform. North Korea has rejected the demands from South Korea to reopen the joint industrial zone and warned its neighbors to the south of “grave measures.” As the discussion intensifies about Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons, which the US suspects has happened on a “small scale,” a few articles are of note. First, Julian points out an editorial in the LA Times about possible ramifications and Obama’s “red line,” Lawfare also opines about this red line and Foreign Policy asks what Syria is...
26.04.13 | |

04 Mar

By now, many readers -especially those who follow me on Twitter, will have figured out that I have a weird hobby: I like keeping track of who says what about international law in times of crisis. I’ve done it for the Syria strikes of 2018, the Venezuelan elections of 2018, the recognition of Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela in 2019, the attack on Qasem Soleimani in 2020, and now, of course, the crisis in Ukraine. In the beginning, I tracked the reactions to Russia’s recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk...
04.03.22 | |