Mar. 24th, 2017

Dear Readers: Here’s your weekly update on the war in Syria. New Offensives: Syrian opposition forces launched two new offensives this week, both spearheaded by Tahrir al-Sham, a coalition of rebel and jihadist factions led by al-Qaida’s former affiliate in Syria. On Tuesday, jihadist and rebel forces advanced on Syrian military positions north of Hama, and have since taken control of at least 11 villages. Clashes between pro-government forces and several rebel units including “non-Syrian groups” were continuing on Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). On Sunday, Tahrir al-Sham launched a surprise offensive on government positions in eastern Damascus. Pro-government forces regained control of the area by Sunday night, but rebels began a new push toward the capital on Tuesday, advancing on a major road in an attempt to retake lost territory. Government forces retaliated with heavy airstrikes on Jobar, where rebels have been under pressure to surrender to the government. War on ISIS: The Pentagon said it dropped fighters with the United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) close to the Tabqa dam, opening a new front in the battle against the so-called Islamic State near the militants’ de facto capital of Raqqa. French defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday that the battle for Raqqa “will start in the coming days.” At least 33 people were reported to have been killed in an airstrike on a school sheltering displaced people in the village of al-Mansoura, near Raqqa, on Monday night. The SOHR said the U.S.-led coalition is believed to have carried out the attack. The United Kingdom-based monitor said that at least 152 people, including 19 children and 28 women, have been killed in U.S.-led coalition airstrikes between March 8 and March 24. The Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a major part of the U.S.-backed SDF, said Russia was training its fighters in Afrin, a Kurdish area in the northwest of Aleppo. Russia’s defense ministry confirmed that its forces had been deployed in the area, claiming that it is a part of its “Center for Reconciliation,” used to negotiate local truces and monitor cease-fire violations. Geopolitical Tensions: Russia’s move to train the Kurds is likely to anger Turkey, which considers the YPG a terrorist group. Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu described pictures of Russian soldiers with Kurdish fighters as “unpleasant,” and on Thursday Turkey summoned the Russian envoy in Ankara after a sniper in Afrin reportedly killed a Turkish soldier. Israel challenged reports from earlier in the week saying Russia would no longer allow it to operate without restrictions in Syria’s airspace. On Tuesday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would continue to target Hezbollah weapon convoys in Syria.

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MOST POPULAR This Week’s Top Articles

WAR ECONOMY Unseen Consequences of Sanctions on Syria’s Armed Groups The increasing use of small-money transfer shops in Lebanon to transfer funds to illicit groups in Syria is a little-known consequence of imposing sanctions on armed groups in the war-torn country.

OPPOSITION GROUPS & REBEL FORCES Al-Qaida Shifts Back to Suicide Attacks in Syria After losing significant territory, al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, has increased its use of suicide attacks in a bid to regain lost momentum, says Syrian researcher Haid Haid.

EDITOR’S PICKS Community Insight

DIPLOMACY & FOREIGN AFFAIRS Russian Public Perception Pressuring Putin to Wrap Up Syria Operation Alexander Bratersky,  Senior Foreign Policy Writer, Gazeta.Ru Though Russia is able to sustain its military support for President Bashar al-Assad, growing frustration at Moscow’s involvement in Syria is pushing the Kremlin to declare the war resolved sooner rather than later, writes Russian political expert Alexander Bratersky.

ARTS & CULTURE ‘Syria’s Disappeared’ Exposes the Horror of Detention Centers Kim Bode,  Community Editor of Syria Deeply and Refugees Deeply Filmmakers Sara Afshar and Nicola Cutcher spent two years interviewing survivors of Syrian detention centers and the families of detainees and defectors from the regime for their documentary “Syria’s Disappeared: The Case Against Assad.”

DIPLOMACY & FOREIGN AFFAIRS Ambassador Frederic Hof on the Anniversary of the War in Syria Frederic C. Hof,  Director of the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East March 15 marked the sixth anniversary of the war in Syria. The Atlantic Council’s Faysal Itani spoke to former Ambassador Frederic C. Hof about how the war has impacted the region, the broader international community and the United States’ position.

EDUCATION An Academic in Exile Torn Between Here and There Oula Abu-Amsha,  Syrian Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics While struggling to restart her career in Europe, Syrian academic Oula Abu-Amsha found solace helping refugees in Jordan access higher education through the Jamiya Project and was reunited with her former students from Damascus University.

FIRST LOOK Upcoming coverage In the coming weeks, we will keep a close eye on the rebel offensives in Damascus and Hama, as well as the situation in the opposition-held province of Idlib. We will also monitor the latest round of U.N.-sponsored peace talks that started in Geneva on Thursday.

Facts and evidences, through the daily cumulative documentation conducted by SNHR team, are telling us that we are definitely still far away from the stage of shrinking and reducing the crisis. The international community, the states that sponsor the negotiations in particular, haven’t taken any steps to limit the crisis’s deadly manifestations, in order to transition to the negotiation stage. The Syrian-Iranian-Russian alliance is responsible for the most part, as it perpetrated vastly more violations than the rest of the parties to the conflict. The warplanes haven’t ceased the bombardment of civilian neighborhoods for one day, and tens of vital civilian facilities have been also bombed. We will be including only, however, hospitals, schools, and markets. Talking about releasing detainees and ending the siege have become a distant luxury. There won’t be a settlement or a negotiation path as long as the U.N. won’t work with local partners to monitor the ceasefire, and hold those who violate it accountable. More…

I. Introduction These days mark the 6th anniversary of the popular uprising in Syria that called for freedom, justice, and dignity by overthrowing the oppressive tyrannical Assad regime for a democratically elected regime that truly represents the Syrian people, grants the right to form political parties, and guarantees the basic human rights. This was very clear and frequent in the popular slogans the Syrian people rose and chanted. Since the very first days, the Syrian regime’s response was clearly raw, as the regime met the popular uprising with live bullets, and arrested tens of people. In light of the international silence, the Syrian regime escalated its barbaric operations, where women and children were slaughtered using knives, as we recorded in many massacres. Also, the ruthless torture resulted in a huge number of deaths, as it was recorded in the first report by the Commission of Inquiry, published on November 23, 2011, describing most of the Syrian regime’s crimes as crimes against humanity given that they were perpetrated in a systematic, widespread manner. More…

Mar. 10th, 2017 Dear Readers: Here is your weekly update on the war in Syria. Battle For Raqqa: About 400 United States Marines and Army Rangers, supported by artillery units, were deployed to Syria on Wednesday to bolster the fight against so-called Islamic State. A further 1,000 troops are preparing to head for Kuwait as back-up, according to the Pentagon. U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in northern Raqqa killed 23 civilians, including eight children, on Thursday. American forces are expected to assist the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as they close in on ISIS-held territory in Raqqa. On Thursday, SDF spokesman Talal Silo told Reuters: “We expect that within a few weeks there will be a siege of the city.” U.S.-backed Kurdish forces fighting ISIS also clashed with Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria along Turkey’s border. At least 71 Kurdish forces were killed in the last week, according to the Turkish military. Government Ramps Up Offensives: Syrian government forces stepped up offensives in the Damascus suburbs and the provinces of Aleppo and Daraa. On Tuesday, pro-government forces fighting ISIS advanced to the western banks of the Euphrates, where they seized the main water-pumping and treatment station supplying Aleppo. The same day, Russia declared a cease-fire in opposition-controlled Eastern Ghouta that is expected to extend until March 20. However, regime raids continued to target the area, including rebel-held neighborhoods with long-standing truces with the government such as Qaboun, Barzeh and Tishreen. Clashes between pro-government and rebel forces continue in the southern province of Daraa. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that regime forces received military reinforcements on Thursday to broaden the offensive against opposition factions and retake neighborhoods lost in the past week. Trump Travel Ban: President Donald Trump signed a new Executive Order on Monday, replacing an earlier decree that was blocked by a federal court. The new order includes a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. for citizens of six countries, including Syria, and a 120-day ban on all refugees. The new order, unlike the previous one, does not indefinitely block all Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. READ OUR DAILY EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES MOST POPULAR This Week’s Top Articles DIPLOMACY & FOREIGN AFFAIRS Analysis: ‘Safe Zone’ on Lebanon Border Would Benefit Hezbollah, Iran Following Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s call for a safe zone in Syria along the Lebanese border, Syrian journalist Abdulrahman al-Masri explores what the Shiite militia stands to gain from such an area and the potential impact on regional powers. DISPLACEMENT Before Trump Order, Syrians Already Faced Shrinking Spaces for Refuge Amid the revised executive order suspending refugee resettlement in the U.S., Austin Schiano explores what spaces are left for Syrian refugees in countries around the world. GOVERNMENT & PRO-GOVERNMENT FORCES Analysis: Hezbollah’s Highly Versatile And Embedded Role In Syria Lebanese militia Hezbollah has vowed not to leave Syria until they have guarantees that the country will remain a key player in the Iran-led “resistance axis,” writes Levant researcher Mona Alami. EDITOR’S PICKS Community Insight HEALTH Syria’s Children Risk Being Damaged Forever by Toxic Stress Misty Buswell,  Director of Media, Communications and Advocacy in the Middle East, Save the Children The Syrian war will permanently damage a generation if the mental health needs of children are not immediately addressed, writes Save the Children’s regional advocacy, media and communications director Misty Buswell. WAR ECONOMY The Reality of Economic Reconstruction in Syria Rashad al-Kattan,  Political and Security Risk Analyst, and a Fellow with the Centre for Syrian Studies, University of St. Andrews Nearly six years of conflict have dramatically altered Syria’s economy. Political and security risk analyst Rashad al-Kattan examines the economic challenges facing the war-ravaged country. FIRST LOOK Upcoming coverage As clashes between government and rebel forces in Daraa continue, next week we will explore the impact of recent ISIS attacks in the southern province. We will also keep a close eye on the Damascus suburbs where, in addition to increased government airstrikes, residents of Eastern Ghouta are now faced with Jaish al-Islam’s attacks on civil society institutions.

Feb. 17th, 2017 Dear Readers: Here’s your weekly update on the war in Syria. Despite a nationwide ceasefire that came into effect in December, civilians came under attack this week in several Syrian provinces. For the first time in more than a year, rebels launched an offensive in the southwestern city of Daraa on Sunday. The offensive, named “Death Rather than Humiliation,” targeted regime-controlled areas in an attempt to prevent their troops from gaining control of the border crossing with Jordan. The Syrian government and Russia responded with intense airstrikes on the city. A Syria Civil Defense worker told Anadolu Agency that bombings destroyed six hospitals in the city, but the civilian death toll is still unclear. In Idlib, we are beginning to see the civilian cost of excluding groups such as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), al-Qaida’s former affiliate in Syria, from the ceasefire as factional fighting rages. Thursday’s bombardment on the countryside of the rebel-held province killed at least five people. In the northern city of al-Bab, at least 45 civilians, including 14 women and 18 children, have been killed since Wednesday by Turkish warplanes and Turkey-backed rebel forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The U.K.-based monitoring group said at least 110 civilians had been killed in al-Bab since Turkey started its anti-ISIS operation in the city on February 7. Roughly 10 miles (15km) from the Turkish border, al-Bab is the so-called Islamic State’s last stronghold in Aleppo province. READ THE FULL SUMMARY MOST POPULAR This Week’s Top Articles WAR ECONOMY After Battle for Wadi Barada, the Damascus Water War Isn’t Over Muhammad Fares, a Syrian journalist from Wadi Barada, discusses the long history of water as a weapon in the Damascus suburbs and the river valley that contains the larger story of the Syrian conflict. ARTICLE Clowning Around: Refugee Women Find Confidence With Circus Skills Young Syrian refugee women have been learning to juggle, walk on stilts and hula-hoop as part of a new scheme in Turkey designed to break down language and social barriers and help the girls make friends. EDITOR’S PICKS Community Insight ARTICLE How Amnesty Uncovered ‘a Universe of Degradation’ at Saydnaya Prison Alessandria Masi,  Managing editor of Syria Deeply Nicolette Boehland, lead researcher on Amnesty’s recent report on Saydnaya prison, discusses the human rights NGO’s yearlong investigation of the Syrian government’s alleged campaign of mass hangings and extermination. DIPLOMACY & FOREIGN AFFAIRS Defeating Terror in Syria: A New Way Forward Frederic C. Hof,  Director, Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East On February 14, Ambassador Frederic C. Hof spoke before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, in Washington, D.C., at a hearing titled ‘Defeating Terrorism in Syria: a New Way Forward.’ Here is a transcript of his statement. FIRST LOOK Upcoming coverage Next week, we’ll have a report on the shrinking number of safe spaces around the world for Syrian refugees. We will also keep a close eye on the ongoing conversation between world powers to create safe zones in Syria, as well as the next round of U.N.-sponsored peace talks set to begin in Geneva on February 23.