Japanese Journalist Is Freed After 3 Years As Captive In Syria
Jumpei Yasuda was taken hostage by al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, in 2015. Japanese officials say he was freed on Tuesday and is now in Turkey.
Syria
U.N. Syria Envoy Staffan De Mistura Is Stepping Down
De Mistura told the U.N. Security Council he was leaving for "purely personal reasons." In his final month, he plans to make a major push to try to lay the groundwork for a new constitution in Syria.
In Syria, A School Helps Children Traumatized By War
"What we found is children had been so traumatized, they couldn't even recognize numbers or letters," says a U.S. official. "We had to work through that before we could start educating them again."
German Minister Apologizes For Mistakenly Imprisoning Syrian Who Died After Jail Fire
The man was arrested for failing to pay a fine for theft, but police officers did not thoroughly check his identity. The 26-year-old died of injuries after a fire broke out in the jail.
U.S. Envoy Warns That Syria Preparing To Use Chemical Weapons In Idlib
Special Representative for Syrian Engagement Jim Jeffrey says the U.S. has "lots of evidence" that the Damascus government is preparing for a "reckless escalation" of the conflict.
A German Far-Right Group Aids Syrian Refugees — To Stop Them From Reaching Europe
A far-right movement is providing aid to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, but not for purely humanitarian reasons. The few refugees who received help didn't know the group aims to keep them out of Germany.
An Aunt's Memoir: Remembering The Drowned Syrian Boy On The Beach
Tima Kurdi has written a book that tells the story of the family's attempt to cross from Turkey to Greece in a rubber boat — and the struggle to make sense of the tragedy.
ISIS Releases Purported Audio Recording Of Leader Al-Baghdadi
In the message, which is nearly an hour long, the speaker says he knows followers are suffering from "hunger and fear" and urges patience. He also calls on them to engage in small-scale attacks.
U.S. Threatens Further Sanctions Against Turkey Over Detained Pastor
Rising tensions between the two countries have caused Turkey's currency, the lira, to plunge by about a third of its value against the U.S. dollar since January, sparking fears of an economic crisis.
With Syria's War Nearly Over, Victims Take The Battle To European Courts
Syria's President Bashar Assad is on the verge of winning the war. But refugee activists are waging new battles against the regime from Europe.