syrian civil war

For her new memoir, "The Home That Was Our Country," Alia Malek, a Baltimore native, retraced her family's roots to the Ottoman Empire, telling their story in the context of Syria's tumultuous history. She'll be speaking about the book Wednesday at Bird in Hand.

By Christina Tkacik

Mar 10, 2017

Aleppo's agony

In the next few days we should know one way or another whether Russia can be counted on to help end the fighting

Saudi Arabia was the villain behind 9/11

As Easter dawns Sunday, Catholic Relief Services and other humanitarian relief agencies in Baltimore and across the U.S. are reaching out to Christians and other religious minorities facing persecution in the Middle East. This month Secretary of State John Kerry declared that Islamic State attacks on Christians and other minorities constitute genocide.

By Jonathan M. Pitts

Mar 26, 2016

Russia can't be trusted to play a constructive role in negotiating an end to Syria's civil war

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

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

The president defended a measured view of how U.S. foreign policy should be conducted that we believe most Americans share

At the end of January, a team of chemists and engineers left Aberdeen Proving Ground for the Mediterranean Sea to lead the historic destruction of Syria's chemical weapons. More than two months later, they're still waiting for the mission to start.

Neither U.S. activism in the case of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Iran, nor U.S. inaction in the case of Syria, has yet to bring the results hoped for by the Obama Administration. While U.S. policy in the Middle East has not yet broken down, except, perhaps in the case of Syria; the U.S. remains a long way from the breakthrough in the region that the Obama Administration had hoped for.

A team of civilian specialists from Aberdeen Proving Ground is heading this week to the Mediterranean Sea for what officials and others say is a historic mission to destroy Syria's chemical warfare stockpile – and one that could serve as a model in the drive to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction.

Geneva peace talks should focus on aid to Syrian refugees

Based on original survey data from rebel-controlled territory in Syria, we find that civilians are war-weary and looking for a settlement to end the war, but rebel fighters appear entrenched in the belief that Syrian President Bashar al Assad must be defeated, no matter the costs. A major challenge for Geneva will be to convince rebel forces to forgo the pursuit of victory and vengeance against Mr. Assad's regime. Though rebels may balk at a peace deal, there is growing distance between those

The violent civil war in Syria has put its population at acute risk for a large polio outbreak.

Americans and human rights activists should take pride in U.S. intervention in Syria. The use of chemical weapons stopped, and the number of victims dropped from an average of 4,000 to 3,000 a month.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons already won the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to strip Syria of its stockpile of chemical weapons. But carrying out the process is a complex feat of chemistry – one that could require the help of a team of scientists at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Syria's civil war renews the threat of the disease's spread despite decades of decline

If we can build international pressure to stop the use of chemical weapons in Syria, why not to end the war?

Vladimir Putin's New York Times op-ed wrankles, but it beats outright hostilities.

Galling as it may be to be lectured by Vladimir Putin on the topic of world peace and international law, the Russian president now has every incentive to deliver on his promises in Syria.

Attacking Assad will only help our enemies

First Putin denies Syria's chemical use, now he wants us to trust him on a diplomatic solution?

A negotiated settlement is best chance to bring peace to Syria

While the Obama administration rallies support for a military strike against the regime of President Bashar Assad, international agencies are warning that health conditions in Syria are deteriorating.

Neglect of Middle East's other conflicts could greatly damage U.S. interests even if a peace deal is achieved

Research on civil wars in the last two decades shows that outside assistance to rebel groups tends to lengthen conflicts and increase the bloodshed.

Both sides in Syria's civil war hate us, so why help either one?

After months watching the uprising in Syria, spreading support through social media and raising money for the suffering, Dr. Hassan Masri thought he understood the devastation that has sundered his parents' homeland.

Rather than another ill-conceived military intervention in the Middle East, we should focus on efforts to foster ties to the new, moderate regime in Iran.

U.S. must not be drawn into the Syrian civil war by arming rebels

Last U.S. intervention made things worse, so we should proceed cautiously this time

From Syria to China, U.S. foreign policy is currently a disaster

Jules Witcover writes that the Rice and Power appointments may signal a modest shift in the direction of human rights.

Absent peace talks, the EU's arming of Syrian rebels is apt to make a bad situation even worse

President Barack Obama is waffling on his earlier "red line" talk about Syrian arms -- for good reason.

In response to Syria's use of chemical weapons, U.S. options range from bad to worse, but the worst may be doing nothing at all

Future of peace could ride on what coalition the Israeli prime minister opts to build

The Syran civil war should prompt the U.S. to recognize Israeli control of the Golan Heights.