French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said March 14 Paris may begin supplying arms to anti-Assad rebels if partners don’t respond to a Franco-British appeal to lift the embargo.
civil war
Must-Reads from Around the World
Syria’s refugee crisis worsens, the Thai government agrees to hold peace talks with southern Muslim rebels and Shell Oil pauses drilling in Arctic seas
Syria’s Proxy Wars: In Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, the Specter of Conflict Looms
Lebanon is a minefield of potential flashpoints. But few hold as much possibility for serious violence as the northern Bekaa.
As Bashar Assad Shows His Defiance, Syria Nears Its Existential Cliff
If the geological metaphor fashionable in Washington these days can be applied in Damascus, then Syria is moving perilously closer toward an existential cliff. President Bashar Assad on Sunday delivered a dramatic aria of …
Syria’s Rising Death Toll: The Darkness Before the Dawn or Sign of a Grinding Stalemate?
At least 60,000 Syrians have been killed in the country’s civil war since March 2011, U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay reported Wednesday. Despite that death toll, which Pillay described as “truly shocking,” U.N. envoy …
Assad’s Roll of the Dice: Is Winter Coming for the Syrian Rebellion?
President Bashar Assad knows his regime can’t win Syria’s civil war — his foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, admitted as much in an interview published last week by a sympathetic newspaper. But nor does he believe he’s about …
Is Syria’s Civil War Entering Its Final Act, or Poised for a New Phase?
The stern warnings by President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials this week that Syria‘s President Bashar Assad would face “consequences” and be “held accountable” for any use of chemical weapons against his own people, has …
France Recognizes Syria’s Opposition—Will the West Follow Suit?
French President François Hollande becomes the first Western leader to recognize the newly-formed coalition leadership of Syrian rebel forces, and ups pressure on other nations to follow his lead.
Syria’s Opposition Wins Western Backing, But What About Western Weapons?
Syria‘s new opposition leadership structure announced in Qatar on Sunday could mark a turning point in the stalemated 20-month old rebellion against the Assad regime. But it could just as easily prove to be another chimerical …
Syria’s Cease-Fire: A Peace Process for Pessimists
Few expect that the four-day truce in Syria’s civil war scheduled to take effect Friday will hold, much less serve as the prelude to a more sustained peace process.
Is the Glass Half Full for Syria’s Assad?
He may no longer control huge swathes of Syrian territory, but his forces appear nowhere near collapse. Over the past 18 months, at least, the dictator has beaten the odds
Who Will the Tribes Back in Syria’s Civil War?
Tribes dominate the rich agricultural belt that is now a huge prize in the battle for Syria. Can they affect the tide of battle?
Despite Syria’s Bloodbath, Libya-Style Intervention Remains Unlikely
Besides growing reservations about the dynamic on the ground in Syria, last week’s killings at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi have raised new questions about Libya as a model for intervention