Tag Archives: Assad

A Call for Peace in Syria

January 7, 2023 In 2009, the communique issued at the end of the Damascus meeting of the “Turkish-Syrian High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council” referred to a “strategic partnership”, at the time a fashionable label for Türkiye’s external relationships. It mentioned common … Continue reading

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“Retreat” or “Normalization of Relations”?

August 25, 2022 In the military context, the word “retreat” means “the usually forced withdrawal of troops from an enemy or from an advanced position”. In a broader context, it is defined as “an act or process of withdrawing especially … Continue reading

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Turkish Foreign Policy Must Restore Its Republican Settings

October 19, 2021 Afghanistan developments could only divert Turkey’s attention from Syria for a while. With the meeting on September 29 between Presidents Putin and Erdogan, and the latter’s comments signaling another  operation against the PYD/YPG, we are back to … Continue reading

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A Critical Meeting in Moscow

July 20, 2016 The need for US-Russian cooperation for the resolution of Middle East problems, prominently among them the Syrian conflict, had been obvious from the start (1). On February 22, the United States and the Russian Federation, Co-Chairs of … Continue reading

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Time to Boost Syria’s Political Transition

May 9, 2016 “Cessation of Hostilities in Syria”, worked out between Russia and the US and approved by the UNSC through Resolution 2268, entered into force on February 27, 2016. For two months, despite violations, it seemed to hold inspiring … Continue reading

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Ripple Effect of the Syrian Conflict

March 25, 2016 In early February scientists announced that they had finally detected gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space and time that Einstein predicted a century ago. They are only to be congratulated. Their achievement must have … Continue reading

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Geneva III: A Rocky Start

February 3, 2016 The road map for Syrian political transition which the UN Security Council (UNSC) approved through Resolution 2254 envisaged the Syrian government and the opposition engaging in formal negotiations in early January 2016. It also envisaged a nationwide … Continue reading

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Fighting ISIL on the Battlefield and Beyond

November 23, 2015 Following the terrorist attacks in Paris President Hollande declared that France was at war. President Obama called the attacks “an attack on the civilized world”. In a telegram to his French counterpart, Russian President Vladimir Putin said … Continue reading

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Russia’s Intervention in Syria (2)

October 22, 2015 Despite growing evidence of a build-up of military personnel and equipment around Latakia the scale of Russian military intervention in the Syrian conflict caught the West by surprise. Many analysts tend to see it as a new … Continue reading

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Russia’s Intervention in Syria

October 7, 2015 Russia’s airstrikes in Syria, particularly the targets chosen, have added further confusion to an already complicated picture. Since March this year, with the Islamic State (ISIL) controlling half of Syrian territory and the “Army of Conquest” consolidating … Continue reading

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