Assad Says Refugees May Be Terrorists, Should Return to Syria

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said some refugees who have fled his country are “definitely” terrorists, Yahoo News reported.

Nearly 5 million people have fled Syria in the past six years, after largely peaceful demonstrations were met with state violence in 2011. Since then, the country has spiraled into a complex proxy war, with half the pre-war population internally displaced amid the violence. Most of the country’s refugees have settled in Syria’s neighboring countries.

“For me, the priority is to bring those citizens to their country, not to help them immigrate,” Assad told Yahoo News. He added that he would not take sides on President Donald Trump’s attempted ban on refugees and immigrants from Syria. “It’s an American issue,” he said.

Russian Warplanes Accidentally Kill Turkish Soldiers in Syria

Russian aircraft accidentally killed three Turkish soldiers in Syria on Thursday, Reuters reported. Both countries were involved in an operation against the so-called Islamic State in Syria, a Turkish military statement said.

“During an operation by a Russia Federation warplane against Islamic State targets in the region of the Euphrates Shield operation in Syria, a bomb accidentally hit a building used by Turkish army units,” the Turkish military said in a statement.

Eleven other people were wounded in the incident, for which Russian president Vladimir Putin blamed poor coordination between the two countries. Putin also called his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, to express his condolences.

A statement from the Kremlin on Thursday said Ankara and Moscow have agreed to increase military cooperation in Syria.

More Than 100 Women, Children, Released in Prisoner Swap

The Syrian government and rebel factions exchanged more than 100 prisoners and hostages on Tuesday, some of them children, Reuters reported.

Some 112 people, including 24 children, were swapped between rebel and government representatives in Hama, according to the United Kingdom-based monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Half of them were female prisoners released from government-held areas and then taken to opposition-held areas. In exchange, rebels freed female hostages and three unidentified men who were then taken to government-held areas in the coastal region.

Prisoner swaps in Syria are rare, but have been increasing recently, the SOHR said.

We review key developments in Syria, including President Assad’s claim that some refugees are terrorists, Russian warplanes accidentally killing Turkish troops and more than 100 women and children freed in a prisoner swap in Hama.

PUBLISHED ON Feb. 10, 2017

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The Basics · The Government · ISIS · The Opposition · Global Players WEEKLY UPDATE February 3, 2017 Dear Readers,Welcome to the weekly Syria Deeply newsletter. We’ve rounded up the most important stories and developments about Syria and the Syrians in order to bring you valuable news and analysis. But first, here is a brief overview of what happened this week:The Syrian army, Turkey and the United States-led coalition continued their separate offensives against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) group in northern Syria. The Syrian army plans to move on militants in the northern Aleppo countryside. In recent weeks, they advanced to within 4 miles (6km) of the ISIS-controlled city of al-Bab, where Turkish military and Ankara-backed Syrian rebels are also fighting militants.The Syrian Defence Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces, are advancing on ISIS’s de facto capital, Raqqa. As they get closer to encircling the city, the SDF is also planning the next phase of the operation in other ISIS-controlled areas such as neighboring Deir Ezzor province to the south. The U.S. is assisting the operation with airstrikes, which reportedly destroyed a pipeline near Raqqa, cutting off the water supply to the militant stronghold, and by providing supplies. An SDF spokesman said on Tuesday that the coalition provided them with armored vehicles for the first time.In Idlib, infighting between rebel groups reached a tipping point over the weekend, when several Syrian Islamist armed groups announced a merger with the former al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS). The new alliance, named the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Liberation of the Levant Committee), is now fighting against Ahrar al-Sham, a powerful rebel group on the ground.As fighting continues on the ground in Syria, the United States dealt a devastating blow this week to those trying to escape the conflict. Syrian nationals are now banned from entering the United States, after U.S. president Donald Trump signed an executive order barring the entry of nationals from seven countries in the region for 90 days. The order also suspends the entry of all refugees for 120 days, but Syrian refugees are banned indefinitely.We will be keeping a close eye on diplomatic developments next week as Iran, Russia and Turkey are set to meet for the second round of peace talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Tuesday. They will discuss how the cease-fire in Syria is being implemented, Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said in a statement. The talks will be followed by the next round of U.N.-sponsored Syria peace talks in Geneva, which has been scheduled for February 20, after being briefly postponed last week. After Trump Order, Syrian Family Endures Anguish of Changing Rules Following Trump’s executive order barring Syrians indefinitely from the U.S., Tania Karas reports on how its chaotic implementation hit one Syrian family who were already in transit as the order was inked. Hanan, 8, and Lian, 5, were meant to be reunited with their father, Fadi Kassar, last Saturday, after years of a meticulous procedure that legally qualified them for family reunification. But Trump’s ban barred them and their mother, Razan, from entering the U.S. Family Photo Afrin: Kurdish Town Isolated by Siege, Geography The predominantly Kurdish district of Afrin in northwestern Syria has been under near-continuous siege for four years but remained relatively calm, attracting hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Now, it is under threat from Turkish military operations in Syria. Rebel fighters of the Syrian Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) pay their respects during a funeral ceremony in the village of Afrin, August, 2013. AFP/STR  Trump Order on Refugees Is ‘Amateur Hour’: Konyndyk The whirlwind of executive orders from the new administration risks alienating the bureaucrats needed to implement them. Former USAID senior official Jeremy Konyndyk says U.S. government bureaucracy is now entering uncharted territory. Jeremy Konyndyk Additional Reading: Analysis: Russia Plans Syria Name Change in Draft Constitution Top image: Protesters take part in a rally to oppose President Donald Trump’s executive orders. AP/Elaine Thompson For new reporting and analysis every weekday, visit www.newsdeeply.com/syria. You can reach our team with any comments or suggestions at info@newsdeeply.org.