syria

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley criticized former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for waiting weeks to call on the White House to accept more refugees fleeing violence in Syria, suggesting the front runner was following rather than leading public opinion on the issue.

The U.S. isn't to blame for Syria's woes

President Obama's Press Secretary Josh Earnest recently said that the administration was unsure about Russia's motivations for its military build-up in Syria. While Middle East policy has not been a bright spot for the Obama administration — except for the nuclear agreement with Iran — the lack of understanding of Vladimir Putin's purpose is quite surprising. In my own view, Mr. Putin's motives are quite clear: He wants to keep his ally, Bashar Assad, in power.

Admitting more Syrian refugees into the U.S. is the right thing to do but it won't end the war driving their exodus

The U.S. strategy in Syria isn't working

The U.S. is to blame for Syria's misery

The U.S. should avoid doing anything that makes the situation in Syria and Iraq worse than it already is

President Obama on Thursday ordered his administration to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees for resettlement in the next year, amid international pressure to act as heartbreaking images continue to emerge of refugees' sometimes deadly attempts to escape to Europe.

The E.U. must do more to accommodate the asylum seekers from North Africa and the Mideast

Congress should reject any Iran deal that allows that nation to keep perpetuating humanitarian crisis in Syria.

Assuming that the IAEA's tight supervision of Iran's nuclear facilities is successful, and that the IAEA is not impeded when checking out suspected nuclear facilities — two very big ifs — the question becomes how the United States and Israel will utilize the 15 year period before Iran is allowed to increase its enrichment (It will be allowed to start producing advanced centrifuges after 10 years) thereby drawing near to the capability of producing a nuclear weapon.

An elite Army unit based at Fort Meade is sending veteran soldiers overseas to get a close look at the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and develop ways to fight against America's newest foe in a decade and a half of war in the Middle East.

This week, the replica of the Hermione, the French tall ship which brought the Marquis de Lafeyette and French soldiers in 1780 to help Americans defeat the British at Yorktown, is visiting Baltimore. It's also the week that Congress is debating whether or not to expand or contract U.S. aid to anti-Assad rebels on Syria's civil war. What do they have in common? They are both cases of big powers intervening in other people's civil wars.

Gov. Larry Hogan's office said an online threat claiming the Islamic State has a terror cell based in Maryland preparing to launch an attack is not credible. Doug Mayer, a spokesman for Hogan, said officials are aware of the reports and that Maryland's director of homeland security has been in touch with federal authorities.

Conflict in Iraq and Syria has driven millions from their homes, and Baltimore's international aid community is doing what it can to help.

The brutal civil war that has embroiled Syria entered its fifth year last week. Once a vibrant hub of Middle Eastern culture and history, and one of the most stable countries in the region, it is now instead a scene of death and destruction. With a shattered economy, Syria now mainly produces refugees.

The murder of one of its pilots has failed to cow Jordan into submission

A hacker displaying sympathy for terrorist group ISIS commandeered the main Twitter feed of an Eastern Shore TV station.

President Barack Obama's latest foray into the Middle East is unfortunately reactive and uninformed, and shows how very little he seems to take into account our bloody history in the region.

As the administration tries to recover from three years of naive ideological spin that Islamic radicals had been crushed it is time to reassess what our world view should be.

Is America responsible for the chaos engulfing the Middle East?

The president's strategy to defeat ISIS sounds reasonable enough, but recent history suggests achieving that goal may be far more difficult than it appears

Congress and the president must not let politics dictate our strategy for combating ISIS — and they must make sure the public understands what's at stake.

Any success in minimizing the threat of ISIS hinges on democracy in Syria and whether Iraq has trust and confidence in its leadership

Congress must act to stop the atrocities committed by ISIS

American airstrikes targeting ISIS in Syria risk drawing the U.S. more deeply into that country's messy civil war

The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stocks has made the whole world a safer place

A team of scientists from Aberdeen Proving Ground has completed the historic mission of destroying the most dangerous of Syria's declared chemical weapons stocks, Pentagon officials said Monday.

The recent alignment of American and Iranian strategic interests, which last significantly occurred with the unseating of the Taliban in 2001, should not merely be viewed as a fleeting moment in which coordination — or even cooperation — between the two countries is possible. Rather, it should be taken as an opportunity to re-evaluate Iran's behavior as a state more generally and juxtapose it with the type of threat posed by ISIS.

A team of chemists and engineers from Aberdeen Proving Ground is ready to begin the historic destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, the Pentagon said Thursday.

How far can President Obama involve the U.S. in Iraq without taking ownership of a war he opposed and supposedly ended?

Syria's surrender of its remaining chemical weapons stocks this week vindicates President Obama's handling of the threat