Politics of Syria

On the same day that the front pages of a number of Turkish newspapers were suggesting that, at long last, U.S. President Barack Obama had got closer to the Turkish leadership’s line that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must go first, the Hürriyet Daily News’ headline quoted the new U.S.

Last week I had the chance to have a tête-à-tête conversation with Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), one of the United States’ most established think tanks. He was in Istanbul for the publication of the Turkish edition of his latest book, “Foreign Policy Begins at Home.”

Senior U.S. officials have denied that the Obama administration is reviewing its Syria policy to include the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the program, reiterating that Iraq remains the current focus.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on a large scale in areas under its control in war-ravaged Syria, UN investigators said Nov. 14.
      

Prime Minister David Cameron on Nov. 14 outlined plans to seize passports from British jihadists and stop them returning from fighting overseas, while proposing landing bans on airlines that fail to comply with London's no-fly lists.
      

The jihadist threat is the key issue facing the US and Turkey, John Bass says, stressing the importance of relations between Ankara and Washington The United States regards the threat posed by the extremist jihadists in both Iraq and Syria as the most “acute” challenge and is focusing its efforts on defeating them, the new American envoy to Ankara has told the Hürriyet Daily News, stressi

The jihadist threat is the key issue facing the US and Turkey, John Bass says, stressing the importance of the relations between Ankara and Washington The United States regards the threat posed by the extremist jihadists in both Iraq and Syria as the most “acute” challenge and is focusing much of its efforts to defeat them, the new American envoy has said, underlining that they will contin

Military officials from the United States and Turkey are meeting for a third time to finalize discussions on equipping and training moderate Syrian rebels, as U.S. media outlets report that Washington is considering a shift in in its Syria policy.

“I was there, watching the parade in the Red Square, and everything was the same as the year before,” said Ali Reza Bigdeli, the Iranian ambassador to Ankara, speaking about the Soviet Union’s traditional October Revolution celebrations in 1990. “Yes, there was some unrest around, but the parade was no different to the one in 1989, or in 1979.

President Barack Obama wants his advisers to review the administration's Syria policy after determining it may not be possible to defeat militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) without removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, CNN reported on Nov. 13.