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Conflict in Syria

Rocket Hits Syrian Trade Fair

  • A rocket struck a Damascus trade fair, which had not been held since Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, killing at least six people (Middle East Eye)

Monitor: Coalition Air Strikes Kill Twenty-Nine Syrian Civilians

  • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, reported that air strikes in Raqqa by the U.S.-led coalition against the self-proclaimed Islamic State killed twenty-nine civilians, including fourteen children, over a twenty-four-hour period. The coalition has yet to respond to the accusation (Al Jazeera)

Prosecutor Quits UN Panel on Syria

  • Carla Del Ponte, a former war crimes prosecutor for the United Nations, announced she is quitting a UN commission probing rights abuses in Syria, saying the panel “is not backed by any political will” (BBC)

Russia Announces Cease-fire, Creating Third Safe Zone

  • After negotiations with opposition forces, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a cease-fire in the region north of Homs (AP)

Russian Military Police Deployed to Monitor De-Escalation Zones

  • Russian military police arrived in southwestern Syria to monitor de-escalation zones after the Syrian military declared a cessation of hostilities in the rebel-controlled region. It is the first deployment of foreign personnel to monitor the zones negotiated by Russia, Iran, and Turkey (Reuters)

U.S. Reportedly Ends Covert Arming of Syrian Rebels

  • President Trump has ended a covert CIA program to arm Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to unnamed administration officials (New York Times)

Turkey Publishes Locations of U.S. Forces in Syria

  • Turkish state news agency Anadolu published a map showing the alleged locations of U.S. forces in Syria (Wall Street Journal)

Syrian Rebel Groups Shoot Down Assad Airplane

  • Two Syrian rebel groups shot down an airplane belonging to the Assad regime in territory controlled by the government. The shooting took place close to the cease-fire zone brokered in early July by the United States and Russia (The Atlantic)

Cease-Fire Appears to Hold in Southwestern Syria

  • A cease-fire between opposition forces and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime appeared to hold through the weekend in three southern provinces. Jordan, Russia, and the United States negotiated the agreement, which includes the withdrawal of Iranian-backed fighters and Hezbollah forces. Iran’s foreign ministry called for the truce to extend to all of Syria (Reuters)

Suicide Bombing in Central Syria Kills Three, Injures Eleven

  • A suicide bomber blew himself up at a bus station in Hama, killing at least three people and wounding eleven. The city is controlled by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces (ABC News)

U.S. Reviewing Air Strike on ISIS Prison

  • U.S. military officials said they are reviewing allegations by an independent monitoring group that an air strike by the U.S.-led coalition in Syria on a prison run by the self-proclaimed Islamic State killed at least sixty people (Voice of America)

U.S. Says Assad May Be Preparing Chemical Attack

  • White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the United States identified what could be preparations by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for a new chemical weapons attack. Spicer said that if the regime carries out another such attack, the Syrian military will “pay a heavy price” (Wall Street Journal)

United States-Backed Syrian Coalition Takes Al-Qadisia District

  • The United States backed Syrian Coalition pushed the Islamic State out of the al-Qadisia district of Raqqa. The coalition has been making substantial progress retaking territory across Syria that the Islamic State had been occupying (Reuters)

U.S. Sends Civilian Team to Syria

  • The United States sent a seven-person team of State Department officials and their security personnel to Syria to assist Syrians in returning to their country by organizing efforts to clear roadside bombs and restore basic services like electricity and clean water (New York Times)

WHO: Seventeen Children in Syria Paralyzed by Polio

  • At least seventeen children have been paralyzed recently in a polio outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Health workers have been unable to immunize children in some conflict zones due to limited access and poor sanitation. A WHO spokesman said four hundred thousand children in the city of Deir ez-Zour are in urgent need of vaccination (New York Times)

Australia Temporarily Suspends Syria Air Strikes

  • Australia announced it will “monitor the air situation in Syria” before deciding when to resume air strikes there. The announcement comes amidst rising tensions between U.S. coalition and Russian forces after the United States shot down a Syrian jet (Voice of America)

U.S. Fighter Jet Shoots Down Syrian Plane

  • A U.S. fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane that the U.S.-led coalition against the self-proclaimed Islamic State accused of bombing allies, according to the Pentagon. The incident marked the fourth time in a month that the United States attacked pro-government forces in Syria (Washington Post)

UN: Three Hundred Civilians Killed in Raqqa Strikes

  • A UN panel said that air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition against the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Raqqa, Syria, have led to a “staggering” loss of life, with investigators documenting some three hundred civilian deaths since March (Voice of America)
  • The intensification of air strikes has led 160,000 people to flee their homes, commission chair Paulo Pinheiro said

United States Deploys Long-Range Rocket System to Syria

  • This is the first time that the U.S.’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System has been deployed in Syrian territory. It had previously been stationed in Jordan, but its new location in southern Syria will allow the United States to strengthen its position in the area, and better defend itself from pro-Assad forces (CNN)

U.S. Begins Sending Arms to Syrian Kurdish Militia

  • The United States began sending small arms to Kurdish fighters within the Syrian Democratic Forces who are battling to retake the city of Raqqa from the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Turkey, a NATO ally, has opposed the move (Al Jazeera)

U.S.-Led Coalition Strikes Pro-Government Forces in Syria

  • The U.S.-led coalition struck Syrian forces and regime allies as they neared U.S.-backed rebels near the Jordanian border, marking a rare intentional strike against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Russia called the air strike “unacceptable” (Wall Street Journal)

New Syrian Peace Talks Begin in Geneva

  • A new round of peace talks on the Syrian conflict began in Geneva with an eighteen-person delegation from the Syrian government (BBC)

U.S. Says Syrian Crematorium Hides Mass Executions

  • The U.S. State Department provided satellite images of a military prison north of Damascus it says has a crematorium used to dispose of prisoners executed there. Amnesty International reported that weekly mass hangings took place there between 2011 and 2015 (Al Jazeera)

U.S.-Backed Militia Claims to Capture Syrian Town

  • The Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia, said that it retook Syria’s largest dam and the town of Tabqa, which sits about twenty-five miles west of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (Reuters)

U.S. Will Arm Syrian Kurds for Raqqa Battle

  • President Trump approved arming the Syrian Democratic Forces, a largely Kurdish militia, so they can take part in retaking the city of Raqqa from the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The decision was made over objections by Turkey (New York Times)