Tag - syria

 
 

SYRIA

Japan Times
WORLD
May 21, 2015
Syrian forces, civilians flee as Islamic State storms ancient city of Palmyra
Islamic State insurgents stormed the historic Syrian city of Palmyra on Wednesday, fighting off pro-government forces who withdrew after evacuating most of the civilian population, state television said.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
May 20, 2015
Under pressure, Syria's Assad may need friends now more than ever
When Lebanon's Hezbollah first joined Syria's war on the side of President Bashar Assad, its role was a closely guarded secret. Today, as Hezbollah plants its flag in land won from rebels north of Damascus, its role could hardly be more public.
WORLD
May 19, 2015
U.S. to grill captured wife of key Islamic State leader about hostages, officials say
The captured wife of a senior Islamic State leader who was killed in a weekend raid will face questions over what she and her husband knew about the group's treatment of hostages, including Americans, U.S. officials said.
WORLD
May 17, 2015
Raid on Islamic State group illustrates reach, limits of U.S. power
President Barack Obama's order for U.S. commandos to target an Islamic State commander in Syria was part of an evolving strategy to disrupt the militant group, which has proven resilient to airstrikes intended to break its grip on parts of the Middle East.
WORLD
May 13, 2015
U.S. will 'work tirelessly' to find journalist abducted in Syria in 2012
The United States vowed on Tuesday to "work tirelessly" to bring home missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, and appealed to his captors to free him.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 9, 2015
Weapons inspectors find traces of undeclared sarin and VX in Syria
International inspectors have found traces of sarin and VX nerve agent at a military research site in Syria that had not been declared to the global chemical weapons watchdog, diplomatic sources said on Friday.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Apr 28, 2015
U.S. plan for Syria rebels already mired in doubt
Hundreds of Syrian rebels will soon start U.S. training to battle the Islamic State group without knowing whether or how Washington would come to their aid on the battlefield.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 17, 2015
U.N. Security Council envoys reduced to tears watching Syria gassing video
Members of the United Nations Security Council teared up on Thursday when Syrian doctors showed a video of failed attempts to resuscitate three children after a chlorine gas attack in March, prompting renewed calls for accountability.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 12, 2015
Iraqi leader to seek arms with deferred payment on U.S. visit
Iraq's prime minister will seek President Barack Obama's help to acquire billions of dollars in drones and other U.S. arms to fight the Islamic State group during a U.S. visit this week, a senior Iraqi official said.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 7, 2015
Malaysia reinstates detention without trial
Malaysia's lawmakers passed an anti-terrorism bill Tuesday after more than 10 hours of heated debate over a law that reintroduces detention without trial, three years after it was revoked.
JAPAN / Media
Apr 7, 2015
Photographer seeking to enter Syria may be allowed limited travel
The Foreign Ministry is considering issuing a new passport that would allow limited travel overseas to a freelance photographer after it confiscated his previous one to stop him from going to Syria, a diplomatic source said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 7, 2015
IS victims' mass graves being exhumed in Iraq
Iraqi forensic teams began on Monday excavating 12 suspected mass grave sites thought to hold the corpses of as many as 1,700 soldiers massacred last summer by Islamic State militants as they swept across northern Iraq.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2015
Japanese experts to call conference on protecting Syria heritage sites
Hoping to restore and protect Syrian heritage sites threatened by civil war and robbery, Japanese researchers say they are making arrangements to hold an international conference on the issue in Beirut, possibly in December.
WORLD
Apr 4, 2015
Iraqi prime minister orders arrest of gangs looting in Tikrit
Sunni politicians said looting raged out of control in Tikrit on Friday, hours after Iraq's prime minister called on security forces to arrest anyone breaking the law after the city had been wrested back from Islamic State militants.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 30, 2015
Syria's Assad says Islamic State has expanded since start of U.S. airstrikes
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a U.S. television interview that Islamic State, which has seized swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, has been gaining recruits since the start of U.S.-led air strikes against the militant group.
WORLD
Mar 27, 2015
Syria's Assad says he's open to dialogue with U.S.: CBS interview
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is open to having a dialogue with the United States, but there can be no "pressuring of the sovereignty" of his country, he said in an excerpt of an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" that aired on Thursday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 24, 2015
Iraq request for U.S.-led Tikrit airstrikes "imminent": diplomat
Iraq's request to the U.S.-led coalition for airstrikes in the campaign to retake Tikrit from Islamic State insurgents is "imminent," a senior diplomat from a Western nation that is part of the coalition said Tuesday.
WORLD
Mar 24, 2015
Islamic State has recruited 400 kids since January: Syria monitor
Islamic State has recruited at least 400 children in Syria in the past three months and given these so-called "Cubs of the Caliphate" military training and hard-line indoctrination, a monitoring group said Tuesday.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2015
Syrian insurgents 'mimicking ruthlessness' of army, rights group says
Insurgent groups in Syria have carried out scores of indiscriminate attacks that have killed and maimed civilians in violation of the laws of war, a Human Rights Watch report said on Monday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 23, 2015
Crashed Syrian army helicopter crew captured by rebels; one executed
A Syrian military helicopter crashed in northwestern Syria on Sunday and at least four of its crew were captured by rebels, according to a monitoring group.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals