Syria News Wire

Israel has waged a bitter campaign for 60 years to get Jerusalem recognised internationally as its capital city. Not one single country maintains an embassy there – not even the United States – pending final status negotiations between Israel and Palestine. The UN, the US, the EU and almost every country in the world considers [...]

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To most people outside of the US, the controversy over the Muslim cultural centre a few blocks away from Ground Zero doesn’t make much sense. I can’t imagine another country in the world where this would’ve been an argument, where this issue would’ve been manipulated, or where millions of people could be so manipulatable. Needless [...]

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They survived piracy on the open seas, a murderous attack by Israeli commandos and unlawful detention in an Israeli jail. Now, the Syrians on the Gaza aid flotilla have returned home to a hero’s welcome. Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, the Bishop of Jerusalem in exile, plus Shaza Barakat, Mohammad Satlah and Hasan Rifai were welcomed back in [...]

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Arab Media Watch has been studying the UK media’s coverage of the Israeli allegations that Syria has been sending scud missiles to Hezbollah. It says that the Israel allegations have been given more prominence than the Syrian/Lebanese denials. It is concerned that analysts who question the veracity of the Israeli claims have been sidelined, while [...]

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2pm, DOWNING STREET, LONDON, TODAY, MONDAY 31 MAY 2010. At least 16 unarmed aid workers have been killed in international waters, some of whom were sleeping, after the Israeli navy stormed the ship. The least you can do is join this protest, in memory of the 16 aid workers who gave their lives to help [...]

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A couple of recent articles you may have missed on Syria and Lebanon. In ‘Russia shows US how to deal with Syria‘, James Denselow looks at some interesting details of the Russian-Syrian relationship over the past fifty years. It’s a relationship that’s rarely been written about since the fall of the Soviet Union. Deen Sharp [...]

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A few articles you may have missed lately: A route to resolution for Syria and Israel Gabrielle Rifkind, The Guardian Muallem suggested that Syria was prepared to contemplate a step-by-step approach to the return of the Golan Heights, territory that Israel captured in the 1967 war. “There could be stages of withdrawal, the timing of [...]

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People with little knowledge of the Palestine-Israel situation often sigh before uttering the following sentence: “If only the Palestinians had their Nelson Mandela”. They do. This man:Marwan Barghouti was captured in Ramallah by soldiers of Israel’s occupation army. He was sentenced to five life sentences following a trial widely labelled as flawed. The similarities between [...]

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(Photo: John Wreford) Tareq Al-Hashemi, one of Iraq’s Vice-Presidents has been campaigning in Syria, ahead of Sunday’s election. He spoke to thousands of Iraqi refugees at the Jalaa sports stadium in Damascus this afternoon.

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This Washington Post editorial speaks volumes of the battle going on behind the scenes to stop Obama, Mitchell and Feltman pushing their rapprochement with Syria. Commentators have been asking why it has taken a year for Obama to even send an ambassador to Damascus when he made this a key part of his election campaign. This editorial [...]

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