Syria

After A Year Of Bombing ISIS, U.S. Campaign Shows Just Limited Gains

12:46pm August 07, 2015

by David Welna

Airstrikes have helped push back the Islamic State in some places, but the group has gained in other areas. Pentagon officials say the U.S. operation may need another two years or more to succeed.

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Flags of member nations wave outside NATO headquarters in Brussels. For just the fifth time in its 66-year history, NATO ambassadors met in an emergency, Article 4 session to gauge the threat that the so-called Islamic State poses to Turkey.

World News

NATO Says It Stands With Turkey In Fight Against ISIS

10:02am July 28, 2015

by Eyder Peralta

After it began an air campaign against the so-called Islamic State, Turkey called a meeting of the 27 allies to raise the possibility of a need for NATO involvement.

Civil defense workers wear gas masks near damaged ground in a village near the Syrian city of Idlib in May. Activists said there had been a chlorine attack.

World News

In Syria, Chlorine Attacks Continue To Take A Toll

2:08pm July 27, 2015

by Alison Meuse

Activists say the Syrian regime continues to attack its people with chlorine gas — with little reaction from an international community once focused on preventing Syria's use of chemical weapons.

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Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks during his meeting with the heads and members of public organizations and professional associations in Damascus, on Sunday. Assad acknowledged that the fight against rebels had suffered setbacks, but vowed to win again

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Syria's Assad Admits Setbacks In Civil War, But Vows To Win

2:48pm July 26, 2015

by Scott Neuman

Speaking in a televised address in Damascus, Assad promised: "We will resist and we will win."

"What we are doing now has nothing to do with what we expected to be doing," says Rami Jarrah, who protested against the Assad regime in Damascus in 2011 and now runs a radio station from southern Turkey that broadcasts to civilians in rebel-controlled te

World News

As Challenges Shift, Syria's Moderates Navigate Unexpected Territory

2:52pm July 24, 2015

by Deborah Amos

They protested against the Assad regime in 2011, hoping for democracy. Now they're in exile, fighting extremists for their country's future and trying to provide a lifeline for others back in Syria.

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A U.S. Air Force plane takes off as a Turkish air force fighter jet taxis at the Incirlik airbase, southern Turkey, in 2013. Reversing an earlier policy, Ankara has agreed to allow the U.S.-led coalition to fly anti-ISIS airstrikes from the base.

Turkey Agrees To Allow Use Of Its Soil For Airstrikes Against ISIS

11:55pm July 23, 2015

by Scott Neuman

Ankara has okayed allied airstrikes from its airbase near Syria against the self-declared Islamic State. State-run television also says Turkish warplanes have carried out air strikes.

Saeed al-Batal, a Syrian photographer, posted this image from Douma, Syria, on his Facebook page on March 31.

World News

The View From Inside Syria

2:29pm July 17, 2015

by NPR Staff

Saeed al-Batal is a pseudonym for a Syrian photographer who lives in a rebel area near the capital, Damascus. In one of his periodic talks with NPR, he says he has just lost his home again.

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World News

In 'Escaping ISIS,' An Underground Railroad Forms To Save Yazidi Women

6:58pm July 15, 2015

A new Frontline documentary explores what life is like for the girls and women who have been enslaved by Islamic State militants, and also tells the story of those fighting to free them.

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World News

To Syrians, Deal With Iran Simply Steadies Assad Regime

8:25am July 15, 2015

Not everyone is cheering the nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran. Among the critics is Saeed al Batal, a Syrian photographer who decries Iran's support of President Bashar al-Assad.

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In The Middle East, Iran Deal Called 'Bad Mistake,' 'Great Victory'

1:13pm July 14, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

Israel has sharply criticized the historic agreement that the U.S. and its five allies struck with Iran on its nuclear program. Iranian allies Syria and Iraq have welcomed the deal.