Latest Articles about Syria
Kurdish Strategy Towards Ethnically-Mixed Areas in the Syrian Conflict
Kurdish fighters in Syria have taken greater control of areas inhabited by both Arabs and Kurds since July 16, and aim to capture three other mixed areas in the governorates of Raqqah, Aleppo and Hasakah in order to connect existing Kurdish areas (al-Monitor, October 25).... MORE
Kazakhstan Offers to Dispose of Syrian Chemical Weapons
On November 28, the deputy head of the Department for Multilateral Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Anuar Tanalinov, said that his country was considering the possibility of taking part in the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons. According to the Kazakhstani diplomat,... MORE
Chechens Among the Syrian Rebels: Small in Number, but Influential
The situation of Syria’s Chechen community is changing rapidly. Three commanders—Emir Muslim (Muslim Margoshvili), Emir Seifullah (Ruslan Machaliashvili) and Emir Abu-Musaaba (Musa)—joined forces on October 31 (https://usudusham.com/ru/2013/11/1004/#more-1004), resulting in the establishment of a new group under the command of Emir Muslim, who had previously led... MORE
A Profile of Former Syrian Defense Minister: Ali Habib – The SNC’s Alawite Defector
Former Syrian Defense Minister General Ali Habib defected from the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on September 4 and turned himself over to the rebel backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) along the Turkish-Syrian border (al-Sharq al-Awsat [London], September 5). General Habib (a.k.a. Ali Habib... MORE
Afghan and Syrian Links to Central Asian Jihadism
Since September 2013, Central Asian jihadists, including returnees from Syria, have attempted to carry out high-profile attacks in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Other Central Asian jihadists in Syria have increasingly publicized their activities with al-Qaeda in Iraq and al-Sham (Levant and the Eastern Mediterranean). As the... MORE
Snapshots of Abd al-Hamid Hajj Darwish and Abdulhakim Bashar: The KDP and PUK’s Kurdish Proxy Leaders in Syria
The Syrian government has routinely harassed, repressed and discriminated against the Syrian Kurds for decades. Since the Arab Spring arrived in Syria, the country’s government forces have abandoned many Kurdish populated areas, allowing the Syrian Kurds to fill the power vacuum in those areas. Most... MORE
War in Syria Has Reverberations in the North Caucasus
On September 20, the first deputy director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Sergei Smirnov estimated that 300-400 Russian citizens are participating in the conflict in Syria. “They will come back and that, naturally, is posing a serious danger,” the Russian security official said in... MORE
Hundreds of North Caucasians Have Joined the Ranks of Syria’s Rebels
Following Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem’s September 9 visit to Moscow at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (https://kommersant.ru/doc/2275019), the issue of the involvement of Chechens in the Syrian war once again came to the fore.At a press conference, Muallem insisted that his... MORE
An Uneasy Russo-American Accord on Syrian Chemical Weapons
The agreement between Russia and the United States to destroy the Syrian arsenal of chemical weapons was signed in Geneva last weekend on September 14, after several days of strenuous negotiations between delegations led by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State... MORE
Kata’ib al-Farouq al-Islamiya: A Key Armed Opposition Group in the Battle to Cut Assad Off from Damascus
Kata’ib al-Farouq al-Islamiya (KFI - Islamic al-Farouq Brigades) is a newly formed Syrian Islamist armed opposition group that constitutes an important faction within the powerful umbrella rebel organization Jabhat Tahrir Suria al-Islamiya (SILF-Syrian Islamic Liberation Front). This fighting group is currently growing in public visibility... MORE