Syrian rebels sweep into Aleppo, Russia conducts strikes in support of Assad
Amman, Jordan Reuters The Syrian army said on Saturday dozens of its soldiers had been killed in a major attack led by Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels who swept into the city of Aleppo, forcing the army to redeploy in the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air […]
Syrian rebels say they reached Aleppo city in surprise sweep
Beirut, Lebanon Reuters Syrian rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said on Friday they had reached the heart of the northern city of Aleppo, after a surprise sweep through government-held towns and nearly a decade after having been forced out of the city. The opposition fighters, led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, […]
Essay: Reconstructing heritage after war – what we learned from asking 1,600 Syrians about rebuilding Aleppo
BENJAMIN ISAKHAN and LYNN MESKELL, in an article first published on The Conversation, outline what their research revealed…
Heritage “disaster”: Restoration lags for Syria’s famed Roman ruins at Palmyra and other war-battered historic sites
ABBY SEWELL and ALBERT AJI, of Associated Press, report on the issues facing the preservation and restoration of Syria’s ancient heritage sites…
Syria quake aid blocked from parts of Aleppo province, Amnesty says
Beirut, Lebanon Reuters The Syrian Government and Turkey-backed rebel forces have blocked more than 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid from entering two zones in Aleppo province hit by last month’s deadly earthquake, Amnesty International said on Monday. The aid, which included food, medical supplies, tents and fuel, was sent by Kurdish authorities, the rights group […]
Rescuers toil on in rubble of Turkey and Syria; survivors harder to find
Antakya, Turkey/Jandaris, Syria Reuters Rescuers pulled some survivors from rubble on Saturday, five days after Turkey’s most devastating earthquake since 1939 that also killed thousands of people in Syria, but hopes were fading for many more to be found. In Kahramanmaras, close to the epicentre in south Turkey, there were fewer visible rescue operations amid […]
Syrian baby born on day of earthquake brought mother “back to life”
Aleppo, Syria Reuters When the earthquake struck, Fatmah Ahmad’s family fled their building in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo only for her to go into labour – giving birth to her third child in hospital a few hours later. The journey to hospital had been difficult, with “many deaths and damage around us”, she […]
Turkey leader acknowledges earthquake relief problems as death toll passes 12,000
Updated: 11:15am (AEST) Kahramanmaras/Antakya, Turkey Reuters President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday admitted there were problems with his government’s initial response to a devastating earthquake in southern Turkey, amid anger from those left destitute and frustrated over the slow arrival of rescue teams. Erdogan, who contests an election in May, said on a visit to the […]
Earthquake leaves Syrians across frontlines with shared catastrophe
Beirut, Lebanon Reuters On one side of Syria’s civil war, a man in army fatigues carried a lifeless child’s ashen body from the rubble of a shattered building in the government-held city of Hama. Across a frontline on another side of Syria, a rescue worker in the white helmet and black-yellow vest of the Syrian […]
Earthquake piles misery on war-ravaged Syrians in wintry north
Jandaris, Syria Reuters Wailing children, flattened buildings and hospitals full of bodies – a devastating earthquake on Monday looked painfully familiar for Syrian families and rescuers worn down by nearly 12 years of bombardment and displacement. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake sent people rushing into the streets in the country’s north, where air strikes and shelling […]