Arab League Mission in Syria Ends as Crackdown Continues
KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — The Arab League monitoring mission in Syria ended Thursday with little to show for its effort.Observers were supposed to have checked if President Bashar al-Assad was fulfilling a promise to remove gover…
Syria Won’t Allow Arab Troops in Its Country to Help End Crackdown
LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — There is virtually no chance that Syria will allow Arab troops to be deployed in its country to help end the violent 10-month crackdown on pro-reform dissidents.Syria’s foreign ministry on Tuesday outr…
Former Syrian Member of Parliament Denounces Violent Crackdown
KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — A former member of the Syrian parliament has accused President Bashar al-Assad of being responsible for “blood in the streets.”Imad Ghalioun defected with his family to Cairo where he has broken his sile…
Frenchman Is First Western Journalist Killed in Syria
KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — French TV reporter Gilles Jacquier became the first Western journalist to be killed in the 10-month government crackdown on dissidents in Syria.Watchdog group Reporters Without Borders said that Jacquier…
Syria’s Assad Blames Foreign Conspiracy, Media for Continued Unrest
Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(DAMASCUS) — Syria’s embattled president, Bashar al-Assad, gave a rare speech Tuesday, his first since last summer, in which he blamed hundreds of international media outlets of trying to push his country to the brink…
Funeral Services Held for Bombing Victims in Syria
AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — Funeral services were held for victims of a Friday bombing in Damascus.BBC News reports that thousands attended the state-organized funeral at the Al-Hassan mosque on Saturday. An apparent suicide bomber detonated e…
Arab League to Consider Withdrawing Monitors from Syria
LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — The Arab League, which has sent observers to Syria to get a firsthand look at the government’s violent response to pro-democracy dissidents, will decide by this weekend whether to remove its monitors.I…
Syria Not Living Up to Arab League Agreement: US State Department
KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. State Department on Tuesday refused to join criticism from some of its allies, namely France, that the Arab League monitoring mission in Syria is flawed and not protecting civilian lives as intended….
No End in Sight to Syria’s Crackdown on Dissidents
JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — Three days into the Arab League’s investigation of the Syrian government’s crackdown on pro-democracy dissidents, the situation has reportedly not gotten any better.Opposition activists alleged that prote…
Arab League Observers Powerless to Stop Violence in Syria
KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — The presence of Arab League observers has apparently done little to stop the Syrian government’s violent crackdown against dissidents.President Bashar al-Assad had agreed to remove troops and tanks from …
Syrian Crackdown Goes on as Arab League Observers Visit
JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may be trying to get one over on Arab League observers sent to his country to ascertain that he’s sticking to an agreement to withdraw troops and tanks from cities where v…
Arab League Observers to Inspect Carnage in Syria
KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — Observers from the Arab League have begun arriving in Syria in the wake of some of the worst violence of the nine-month crackdown on pro-democracy activists.The Arab League monitors are supposed to learn…
Syrian Protests Flare Up Following Russian Resolution
Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(HOMS, Syria) — Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in the city of Homs, Syria, on Friday in protest of the al-Assad regime.The protests Friday have so far left at least a dozen people dead, according to…
No Break in Syrian Violence as UN Chief Calls for International Action
LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — Threats by the Western world, the Arab world and the international community at large have failed to stop the ongoing violence in Syria.Even after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told ABC’s Barbara W…