14 April 2016
Children play near a bus barricading a street, which serves as protection from snipers loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in Aleppo's rebel-controlled Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, Syria, April 6, 2016.
photo by REUTERS; Abdalrhman Ismail
Featured
by Mohammed AlKhatieb via Al Monitor Syria Pulse
The cease-fire agreement between the opposition and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has allowed life to return to many areas, including Aleppo and Idlib, that had long ago grown weary of the civil war.
Inside Syria
By Seina Karam and Philip Issa & Associated Press via ABC News
Syrian government troops pushed an offensive Tuesday against militants in the country's north on the eve of parliament elections — a vote that is expected to rubber-stamp an assembly loyal to President Bashar Assad ahead of a new round of peace talks in Geneva resuming this week.
by Tamer Osman via Al Monitor
An unprecedented plummet in the Syrian pound’s value against foreign currencies is contributing to skyrocketing food prices and compounding Syrians' already-dire economic situation as the war here enters its fifth year.
Refugees
Syria's Refugees- Paresh
By Constanze Letsch via The Guardian
Areas established for geopolitical goals may put refugees in danger, aid workers and rights groups warn.
via Reuters and Al Arabiya
A growing number of children whose families have fled the Syrian war to Lebanon are being forced to work for little or no pay, many of them in dangerous conditions, anti slavery experts said on Tuesday.
Conflict Analysis
By Kamal Sheiko via Al Monitor Syria Pulse
On April 1, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) started making military movements in northern Syria, at the Tishrin Dam west of the Euphrates, to level ground offensives against Manbij and Jarablous.
By Asharq al-Awsat via Mid East Wire
Diplomatic sources in Paris said that the round of new talks that will be launched in Geneva today will be “decisive” in respect to the method that UN Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, will employ to find solutions to the Syrian crisis.
Proxy Politics
By Charlotte Alfred via The Huffington Post
The Assad cronies who got rich and crushed dissent had no problem moving their money offshore.
The Panama Papers: Victims of Offshore & Syria via ICIJ
Associated Press via US News
The vote - expected to be a rubber stamp of President Bashar Assad's loyalists - will only proceed in government-controlled areas as the Damascus authorities are unable to organize any balloting in rebel-controlled areas or the territory under the Islamic State group.
via BBC News
Turkey has illegally forced thousands of refugees to return to Syria, a report by Amnesty International says.
By Aidan Lewis and Ahmed Elumani via Reuters Online
Packed into a battered car, a family of nine joined the steady flow of residents fleeing Islamic State's Libyan stronghold of Sirte. They were heading to a nearby town to pick up essentials: cash, medicine and food.
