Syria

Syria: Amid terror, blockades, autonomous democratic federation struggles to meet refugee needs

An ISIS attack on May 2 near the Rajim Salibi border crossing between Iraq and Syria left 37 refugees dead and at least 20 injured. Victims were as young as three months. 鈥淭he attack was repelled [by] the intervention by Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF] fighters,鈥 Firat News Agency reported.

Most of the refugees were fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul, which for months has been the scene of heavy fighting as Western, Russian, Iranian, Iraqi government forces and allied militias try to retake the city from ISIS.

锘縉ow Turkey is bombing Kurdish-led revolutionaries in Syria 鈥 with Western complicity

Turkish war planes launched air strikes against Syria and Iraq on April 24.

For months local and foreign forces have been closing in on the main ISIS strongholds: the cities of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.聽Turkey is a NATO member and recognised as an ally against ISIS by the US-led coalition of Western powers in Iraq and Syria, that includes Australia.

But the Turkish air strikes did not target ISIS. Instead, they were aimed at the terror group鈥檚 most consistent opponents 鈥 left-wing Kurdish-led revolutionary forces.

Behind Donald Trump鈥檚 dangerous sabre-rattling

During last year鈥檚 presidential election campaign, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump favoured a more militarised foreign policy. They differed on the main target: Clinton aimed at Russia, while Trump singled out China.

Clinton wanted to continue the policy of both Republican and Democratic administrations since the collapse of the Soviet Union of steadily expanding NATO up to Russia鈥檚 borders in Europe. She also proposed challenging Russia in Syria.

Trump's 鈥榳ar on terror鈥 as barbaric as he promised

US president Donald Trump has said an April 4 chemical weapon attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Syria鈥檚 Idlib province that killed more than 70 people with air strikes against Syrian military targets.

Written days before the Idlib atrocity and the US air strikes, The Intercept co-editor Glenn Greenwald looks at Trump鈥檚 escalation of the 鈥渨ar on terror鈥 in the region.

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Bombing Syria is no solution

The released the following statement on April 7.

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Socialist Alliance condemns the unilateral use of force by US President Donald Trump against Syria on April 7.聽

The pretext for Trump's missile attack was a deadly chemical attack on civilians, which the US has blamed on the Bashaaar al Assad regime, rather than await the outcome of an investigation into who was responsible.

Bloodshed and uncertainty grow amid chemical fog of war

United States warships in the Mediterranean Sea launched a large cruise missile strike against government-held airfields in Syria on April 7. They fired about 60 Tomahawk missiles on the Shayrat air base near Homs in central Syria as the US government called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to be removed from power.

US bombs accused of killing civilians in Iraq, Syria

About 230 people were reported killed in what was thought to be a US-led coalition air strike on an聽-held neighbourhood in聽, on March 22. 聽

Photographer captures Syria鈥檚 suffering

The scene is one as old as the long history of the Middle East. A child mixes straw and dung to light a fire, some of the straw on his knee. His face is obscured by a beanie so that this child 颅鈥 not an infant but still young 鈥 could be any child.

Behind the child is a wall. Such structures are common throughout the Middle East, but it seems symbolic. The dribbles of concrete from its construction make the wall, in rural Homs, seem to weep, for this child and for Syria.

Behind the US's confusing, shifting Syria policy

After Turkish forces took the previously ISIS-held town of al-Bab on February 23, clashes have intensified in northern Syria between Turkish forces and local proxies occupying an enclave in northern Syria, on one hand, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the other.

The SDF is an alliance of progressive armed groups 鈥 the largest of which are Kurdish-based Peoples Defence Units (YPG) and Women鈥檚 Defence Units (YPJ) 鈥 that is subordinate to the grassroots democratic structures of the Democratic Federation of North Syria.

Amarg锚 cooperative. Photo: Hawzhin Azeez.

Women鈥檚 cooperatives: A glimpse into Rojava鈥檚 economic model

Amid the horrors of Syria鈥檚 multi-sided civil war, a ray of hope has broken out in the north.

New book gives inspiring account of Rojava鈥檚 revolutionary bid for autonomy and women鈥檚 liberation

Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy & Women鈥檚 Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan
By Michael Knapp, Anja Flack & Ercan Ayboga (translated by Janet Biehl)
Pluto, 2016
285 pp., $38.95

Rojava, which is Kurdish for the 鈥渨est鈥, is to be found in Northern Syria. In the middle of a conflict zone, marked by the war against the Assad regime, a Turkish invasion and ongoing conflict with the brutal jihadists of ISIS and al-Nusra, the Kurds and their allies are creating a new kind of democratic system.

Syria: New talks amid shifting alliances

New international talks aimed at ending the Syrian conflict may be unlikely to succeed, but they do mark shifts in the alignment of competing forces.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted on December 31 to support a ceasefire in Syria that started the previous day. The latest round of international peace talks are scheduled for January 23 in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana.