Foreign Affairs

bemildred

(90,061 posts) Thu Mar 10, 2016, 07:05 AM Mar 2016

Shaky steps: ending Syria’s war

Defying all predictions, a truce has held for almost two weeks, allowing peace talks to restart in Geneva. Steffan de Mistura, the UN envoy, says the full array of negotiators is likely to be in place for talks to start on Monday. America and Russia are more serious than ever before about peace-mongering. Russia’s intervention has given Bashar al-Assad a strong hand, but the Kremlin may feel military intervention has reached its limit. America’s secretary of state, John Kerry, with lame-duckery looming, wants to focus on quashing Islamic State. But a deal is still distant. Turkey and Saudi Arabia still want Mr Assad out. The regime and opposition are no closer to any agreement than in previous, fruitless talks. The truce’s biggest impact so far is that aid has reached nearly 240,000 people. But even on that front much more is needed: thousands remain hungry and millions are displaced.

https://espresso.economist.com/238ffe67a3e1be4138b2c4a8f81f05d9

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Shaky steps: ending Syria’s war (Original Post) bemildred Mar 2016 OP

IS commander ‘Abu Omar al-Shishani’ still alive, badly wounded: Syria Observatory bemildred Mar 2016 #1

Germany finds files on Islamic State on Turkey-Syria border bemildred Mar 2016 #2

bemildred

(90,061 posts)

1. IS commander ‘Abu Omar al-Shishani’ still alive, badly wounded: Syria Observatory

Reply to bemildred (Original post)

Thu Mar 10, 2016, 07:06 AM

Mar 2016

BEIRUT,— The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that Islamic State’s military commander was badly wounded but still alive, appearing to contradict U.S. officials who said he was likely killed in a U.S. air strike.

http://ekurd.net/omar-shishani-alive-badly-wounded-2016-03-10

bemildred

(90,061 posts)

2. Germany finds files on Islamic State on Turkey-Syria border

Reply to bemildred (Original post)

Thu Mar 10, 2016, 10:51 AM

Mar 2016

Police in Germany are in possession of files containing personal data on members of the extremist Islamic State group and believe them to be authentic.

The announcement by federal criminal police came after Sky News in Britain reported it had obtained 22,000 Islamic State files on the border with Turkey and Syria.

The files detailed IS fighters' real names, where they were from, telephone numbers, and even names of those who sponsored and recruited the militants.

The broadcaster said the files were passed on to them on a memory stick stolen from the head of Islamic State's internal security police by a former fighter who had grown disillusioned with the group.

Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported it had also obtained "dozens" of similar files on the Turkey-Syria border, where it said Islamic State files and videos were widely available from anti-IS Kurdish fighters and also members of the Islamic State group itself.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/germany-finds-files-on-islamic-state-on-turkey-syria-border-724620.html

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