KHAN SHAYKHUN, Syria — Violence in northwest Syria has displaced more than 30,000 people this month alone, the United Nations said Monday, warning that a looming assault could create the century’s “worst humanitarian catastrophe.”
Contents: Russia’s Syria peace talks in Sochi dissolve into farce as Lavrov gets heckled; Russia sidelines the failed United Nations Syria peace process; War continues in full force, with Syria and Turkey killing ‘terrorists’
Contents: Syria regime walks out of UN-sponsored Geneva peace talks; Syria and Russia repeat Aleppo war crimes in massive destruction of Eastern Ghouta
Contents: Russian-led Syria peace talks collapse in Astana, Kazakhstan; The four de-escalation zones; Is the end of the Syrian war in sight?
Syria’s chief negotiator said on Saturday that the “only thing” achieved at 10-day talks in Geneva was an agreed agenda and that the government wanted a unified opposition delegation as its negotiating partner.
Syria’s main opposition camp on said Saturday it condemned “terrorism” after the Syrian government demanded all delegations at Geneva peace talks reject terrorist acts or be branded accomplices.
Syria’s opposition on Sunday announced its 21-member delegation, including 10 rebel representatives, for a new round of UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva scheduled for February 20.
The UN envoy for Syria said Tuesday that a final declaration was close to being achieved at indirect talks between Syrian rebels and their war-torn country’s regime in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana.
The Syrian government on Sunday refused a U.N. proposal to grant the eastern districts of Aleppo autonomy as part of an approach to restore calm to the war-torn city.
Contents: Communal violence grows in Myanmar (Burma) between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims; Syria and Russia resume bombings of women and children in Aleppo
Rebel forces launched a new offensive to break the siege of Aleppo over the weekend, evidently with limited success, as the assault was said to be “slowing” by Monday morning.
Contents: UN envoy Staffan de Mistura ask al-Nusra fighters to leave Aleppo; Staffan de Mistura predicts total destruction of Aleppo by Christmas
The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura offered on Thursday to go to eastern Aleppo and escort up to 1,000 Islamist fighters out of the city for the sake of a halt to the bombardment by Russian and Syrian forces.
Warplanes launched some of the heaviest air strikes yet on rebel-held areas of Aleppo on Friday after the Russian-backed Syrian army declared an offensive to fully capture Syria’s biggest city, killing off any hope of reviving a ceasefire.
Contents: Syria blocks humanitarian aid to Aleppo; Report: Turkey will build ‘residential cities’ in Syria buffer zone
Contents: Stephen K. Bannon is named chairman of Donald Trump’s campaign; Furious UN envoy Staffan de Mistura excoriates Syria’s Bashar al-Assad; Six years of UN envoys and Syrian peace talks
Government air raids struck at least five medical facilities in the northern province of Aleppo, where violence has intensified in recent weeks amid a siege by government forces, Syrian opposition activists said Sunday.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces pushed into the outskirts of the Islamic State group’s stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria on Thursday and were advancing slowly to the center of town, an adviser to the predominantly Kurdish force and a monitoring group said.
BEIRUT – At least 60,000 people have died in Syrian government prisons over the past five years due to either torture or dire humanitarian conditions such as lack of food, a monitor said Saturday.
Contents: Venezuela’s Maduro accuses US of planning an imminent invasion; Syria peace talks in Vienna collapse in farce – again
Air strikes and shelling pounded Aleppo for a third straight day on Sunday, killing two young siblings and at least 24 others in Syria’s largest city and former commercial capital. The northern city has been bitterly contested between insurgents and
Contents: Syria peace talks collapse as Russia carpet bombs opposition in Aleppo; John Kerry warns of ISIS expansion in Syria
