Full Coverage: Syria

05/30/2008 Despite the Bush administration's claims that the Arab world is united behind U.S. efforts in the Middle East, U.S. allies in the region are increasingly seeking reconciliation with states that America considers "the bad guys," writes Middle East analyst Phyllis Bennis.

05/02/2008 Iraqis that have fled to Jordan and Syria are only managing to get by because they help each other, writes a U.S. peace advocate after meeting with refugees and the groups that support them in Amman.

04/22/2008 Through the stories of the Rabban and Karana families, Adam Doster relates the immense difficulties facing Iraqi refugees -- including the few who manage to receive asylum in the United States.

04/16/2008 While General Petraeus and the American Ambassador to Iraq testified recently about security improvements and a decrease in violence in Iraq, they failed to mention the almost 5 million Iraqis displaced by the war. Jamal Dajani reports.

11/29/2007 With tensions running high between Israel and Syria, a peace park agreement in the Golan Heights area could be essential to regional stability and should be put on the table at the current Middle East peace talks, write Saleem Ali and Michael Cohen.

11/20/2007 Needy Iraqi refugees living in Syria have begun to receive food aid from a coalition of international agencies who will be working in the region over the next two months.

08/01/2007 Although the UN's refugee office has recently amplified its efforts, a U.S.-based group is insisting that other UN agencies have yet to respond adequately to the Iraqi refugee crisis and must do so promptly.

07/13/2007 The Syrian regime no longer feels weak and as its prospects of survival improve, its self-confidence is increasingly apparent, says Rime Allaf.
From: Chatham House

12/08/2006 Disabled students attend a computer training course in the newly established UNDP ICT-centre for the motor handicapped in the Barzeh area of Damascus. Ahmad, a 17-year old student on crutches, comes every day from a village 30 km outside of Damascus to attend computer courses at the Computer Training Centre.

11/15/2006 They are caught in no-man's land--literally. Palestinians who have lived in Iraq for years now face only threats and death there, and the Syrian border has been closed to them.

11/09/2006 The abrupt replacement of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld with former CIA director Robert Gates, combined with the Democratic sweep in Tuesday's mid-term elections, appears to signal major changes in U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East. Jim Lobe reports.

10/27/2006 Canadian Maher Arar was recently given a human rights award for his struggle against U.S. authorities who sent him to Syria to face nearly a year of torture. Arar, who has since been completely vindicated of any links to terrorism, vividly recounts the ordeal in his video acceptance.

08/30/2006 UN officials, scientific experts, and Mediterranean environment ministers have agreed on an international action plan to clean up last month's oil spill that has become Lebanon's worst-ever environmental disaster.

08/22/2006 There is increasing evidence that Israel instigated a disastrous war on Lebanon largely at the behest of the United States. Analyst Stephen Zunes says one of the most unsettling aspects of the plan is how closely it corresponds to historic anti-semitism: setting up a Jewish proxy to take the fall for unpopular policies.

08/08/2006 Israeli bombing has caused a major environmental disaster along much of the Lebanese coastline, writes Kassem El-Saddik. Clean-up operations cannot start without a ceasefire

07/26/2006 SAN FRANCISCO, Jul 25 (OneWorld) - Humanitarian agencies in war-torn Lebanon are calling on the Israeli government to open a "humanitarian corridor" so they can help the sick without risking their lives.

07/19/2006 Escalating clashes between the Hezbollah militia and Israeli armed forces are raising concerns about whether Iran and Syria could become embroiled in the conflict, and if they do, what that would mean for a possible global escalation.

06/15/2006 Poverty is subjective, complex, and multidimensional. While poverty is primarily about income, limited access to the necessary natural resources for agricultural production is a major constraint to poverty alleviation in the dry areas.

05/16/2006 Appeals have been made for the release of journalist, rights activist and political scientist Michel Kilo - "an emblematic figure in Syria’s struggle for democracy" - who was arrested on Sunday.

03/06/2006 Activists have slammed a Syrian government decision to close the country’s first human rights centre, which opened in mid-February with support from the European Union.