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Conflict in Syria

Syrian Government Forces Enter Daraa

  • Syrian government forces entered the rebel-held city of Daraa after agreeing with rebel forces to end a siege of the Daraa al-Balad neighborhood and to deploy Russia-monitored checkpoints in the area (Al-Monitor)

Ceasefire Begins in Deraa, Syria

  • A ceasefire that Russia negotiated earlier this week has begun in Deraa, as Russian troops confiscated weapons and patrolled the city to bar Iranian-backed forced from entering (Reuters)

Syrian Rebels Evacuated From South in Russia-Backed Deal

  • Syrian rebels and their families began evacuating from the last opposition-controlled area in the country’s south as part of a Russia-sponsored deal to avoid open military combat in the area, which is close to Syria’s border with Israel and Jordan (Reuters)

Droughts Threaten Twelve Million People in Iraq, Syria

  • Amid droughts across Iraq and Syria, more than twelve million people are losing access to water, food, and electricity, aid groups warned in a new report. Humanitarian organizations called for regional authorities and donor governments to act quickly, both to provide emergency aid and to invest in long-term solutions to the water crisis (Al Jazeera)

UN Calls for End to Escalating Violence in Southern Syria

  • The UN special envoy for Syria called for an end to the “near siege-like situation” in the Daraa al-Balad district, where clashes between government forces and rebels have caused thousands of people to flee their homes in recent weeks (Al-Monitor)

Four Children Killed in Syrian Government Shelling

  • Government artillery shells struck the northwestern Syrian village of Qastoun, killing four children and seriously injuring five other people. The attack is related to ongoing military escalation in the rebel enclave (Al Jazeera)

Assad Regime Ramps Up Offensive in Southern Syria

  • Syrian government troops escalated an ongoing offensive targeting the opposition controlled enclave of Deraa in southern Syria, shelling sections of the city yesterday. An estimated two thousand people have fled the area since late last week as the Assad regime struggles to reassert control over the territory (Reuters)

Biden Administration Imposes Its First Sanctions on Syria

  • The United States imposed new sanctions on Syrian prisons, government officials, militant groups, and militia leaders in response to reported human rights abuses. They are the Biden administration’s first sanctions on Syria and deviate from the previous administration’s preference for sanctioning businesses, financial groups, and associates of President Bashar al-Assad’s family (Associated Press)

U.S. Troops to Remain in Syria

  • Roughly nine hundred U.S. troops will remain in Syria to continue supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces fighting the Islamic State, according to a senior Biden administration official (Politico)

Regime Attack Kills Nine in Northwest Syria

  • A rocket attack by government forces killed at least nine civilians in the northwestern Idlib Governorate, Syria’s last rebel enclave, according to rescue workers and a war monitor (Associated Press)

UN Security Council Extends Mandate for Aid Operation in Syria

  • The UN Security Council agreed to renew a cross-border aid corridor from Turkey into Syria for twelve months. The resolution was achieved after Russia agreed to a compromise following weeks of negotiations with the United States. The resolution will require a review by the UN secretary-general after the first six months (Al Jazeera)

Rocket, Drone Attacks Target U.S. Personnel in Iraq, Syria

  • A series of rocket and drone attacks have targeted facilities housing U.S. diplomats and troops in Iraq and Syria since Monday, with one attack wounding two U.S. service members. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, which come amid rising tensions between the United States and Iran-backed militias (Reuters)

Rockets Strike U.S. Base in Syria

  • An American military base in eastern Syria came under rocket fire a day after U.S. air strikes targeted facilities tied to Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq, prompting the U.S. forces to return fire, a military spokesperson said. No injuries were immediately reported (CNN)

U.S. Air Strikes Target Iran-Backed Militias in Iraq, Syria

  • The United States carried out air raids on facilities used by Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria in response to drone attacks on U.S. interests in Iraq, the Pentagon said (Financial Times)

UN Calls for Extension for Aid Delivery in Northwestern Syria

  • UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the Security Council to extend permission to deliver cross-border aid from Turkey into northwestern Syria, an area outside government control where some 3.4 million people live, for another year. Russia and China questioned the need for the operation, arguing that aid should be delivered into the area from regime-controlled Damascus (Voice of America)

OPCW: Seventeen Cases of Chemical Weapons Used in Syria

  • The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an international watchdog, said that such weapons were likely or definitely used in seventeen cases in Syria. The OPCW said Damascus blocked efforts to investigate the presence of a new chemical weapons agent identified in large storage containers in September (Associated Press)

Syria Holds Election Sure to Deliver Assad Win

  • Syria holds an election today that is predicted to give President Bashar al-Assad a fourth seven-year term. The foreign ministers of the United States, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom released a joint statement criticizing the election as “neither free nor fair” (Deutsche Welle)

Israel Strikes Syria After Missile Enters Southern Israel

  • The Israeli military said a missile launched from Syria entered southern Israel today, triggering alarms near a facility believed to be part of Israel’s unofficial nuclear weapons program. The military said it launched retaliatory strikes against Syrian anti-aircraft defenses (Washington Post)

War Crimes Complaint Filed Against Syrian Officials

  • Four nongovernmental organizations said they filed a criminal complaint in Sweden against Syrian government officials for alleged chemical weapons attacks in 2013 and 2017. Swedish police can investigate alleged war crimes wherever they were committed (Al Jazeera)

Investigation Finds Syria May Have Used Chlorine Bomb in 2018

  • The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found “reasonable grounds to believe” that the Syrian air force dropped a chlorine bomb on a Syrian town in 2018 (Associated Press)
  • The Syrian government has not commented on the conclusions of the investigation (Reuters)

Aid Pledges for Syria Fall Short of Target

  • At a conference hosted by the United Nations and EU, international donors promised $6.4 billion in aid for people in Syria and refugees who have fled the country’s decade-long conflict. The pledges, which included roughly $600 million from the United States, fell short of the conference’s $10 billion target (National)

U.S. Urges UN Security Council to Reopen Border Crossings in Syria

  • U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed the UN Security Council to reopen border crossings used to deliver aid to Syria. Russia has used its veto power to block such efforts in the past. Meanwhile, an international donor conference for Syria is underway (Al Jazeera)

Syria Marks Ten Years of Conflict

  • As Syria marks a decade of civil war, missiles fired from a Syrian government–controlled base injured civilians in Turkey-controlled northern Syria, the Turkish defense ministry said (Al Jazeera)
  • Meanwhile, advocacy groups launched a landmark case in Moscow against Russian mercenaries operating in Syria (Agence France-Presse)

Turkey Launches Process With Russia, Qatar on Political Resolution in Syria

  • Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that his country, along with Qatar and Russia, launched a consultation process to discuss how to foster a “lasting political solution” to Syria’s decade-long conflict. Russia has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, while Turkey and Qatar have supported anti-government rebel groups (Reuters)

UN Documents Abuses Against Detainees in Syria

  • A UN report said tens of thousands of people arbitrarily detained in Syria are missing and thousands have suffered torture, sexual violence, or death while in custody. The report alleged that almost all major parties in Syria’s decade-long conflict have committed detention-related violations and abuses (OHCHR)