This Guardian piece takes you inside Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s giant prison and torture chamber, where people seized by Assad’s forces undergo horrific abuse.
“Now ex-detainees and architects have built an accurate model, using ‘ear-witness’ testimony, of the dictator’s hellish torture house, ” the news service reports.
To read the story, please hit this link.
Russian airstrikes against, Russia asserts, Islamic State in Syria from an airbase in Iran were the first time in 70 years in which Russian forces have operated on Iranian soil. It’s major expansion in the collaboration among the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s and his two main allies — Russia and Iran.
The Guardian noted that hosting Russian jets on Iranian territory is a major change by Tehran from its previous history of mostly just covert operations in regional conflicts.
To read The Guardian’s article, please hit this link.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on July 26 that the U.S. hopes to announce in early August details of planned military cooperation and intelligence-sharing with Russia on Syria.
But given Moscow’s actions so far in going all out to support the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and how the Russians have generally ignored U.S. pleas to stop bombing anti-Assad forces that are not connected with Islamic terror groups such as Isis and al-Qaida, most observers expect little change. The U.S. is increasingly seen as lacking will in the Syrian conflict.
Reuters reported that the latest proposals “would have the two powers share intelligence to coordinate air strikes against the al Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front and prohibit the Syrian air force from attacking rebel groups labeled as moderate.”
To read the Reuters article, please hit this link.
51 U.S. mid- to high-level diplomats have signed an internal memo critical of U.S. policy in Syria. They call for military strikes against President/Dictator Bashar Assad’s government to stop its persistent violations of a civil war ceasefire.
The memo calls for “targeted military strikes” against the Syrian government in light of the near-collapse of the ceasefire brokered earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing copies of the cable it had seen.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Reuters on Friday: “It’s an important statement and I respect the process, very, very much. I will … have a chance to meet with people when I get back (to Washington).”
To read The Wall Street Journal story, please hit this link.
To read the Reuters story, please hit this link.