Tag - syria

 
 

SYRIA

Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 31, 2014
Islamic State militants behead captive Lebanese soldier
Islamic State militants beheaded a Lebanese soldier who was one of 19 captured by hard-line Syrian Islamists when they seized a Lebanese border town for a few days in August, a video posted on social media showed on Saturday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 29, 2014
43 Golan peacekeepers seized by Syria militants, 81 trapped, U.N. says
Militants fighting the Syrian army have detained 43 U.N. peacekeepers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and trapped another 81 in the region, and the world body is working to secure their release, the United Nations said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2014
A broken man living on dreams pulls Japan into Islamic State hostage drama
When Haruna Yukawa was captured in Syria earlier this month, a video apparently released by his captors showed them pressing the Japanese man to answer questions friends say he had struggled with for years: Who are you? Why are you here?
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 28, 2014
Islamist fighters seize Syria crossing near Israel, monitors report
Al-Qaida's Syria wing Nusra Front and other Islamist fighters have taken control of a border crossing on the line dividing Syria from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a group monitoring the Syrian conflict said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 27, 2014
U.S. man fighting with Islamic State believed killed in Syria
An American man suspected of fighting alongside Islamic State militants who have seized large areas of Iraq and Syria to the alarm of the Baghdad government and its allies in the West has been killed in Syria, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2014
Syria promises to do best to save Japanese believed held by militants
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said his country will do its best to save the life of a Japanese man believed to have been captured earlier this month in northern Syria by the extremist Islamic State militant group.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 25, 2014
Britain says it's close to identifying beheading suspect
Britain is close to identifying a suspected British national shown beheading American journalist James Foley in a video released by Islamic State militants last week, the British ambassador to the United States said on Sunday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 25, 2014
Kidnappers free U.S. journalist missing in Syria since 2012
Kidnappers in Syria have freed a U.S. journalist missing since 2012, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday, following what Qatari-owned Al Jazeera said were efforts by the Gulf Arab state to win his release.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 21, 2014
Malaysian militants inspired by the Islamic State plotted bomb attack on Carlsberg brewery
Suspected Malaysian militants loyal to the extremist Islamic State movement bought bomb-making material ahead of a proposed attack on a Carlsberg brewery near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, a top anti-terrorism official said.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Aug 21, 2014
Are Islamic State's anti-U.S. threats mere bluster?
Islamic State's beheading of a U.S. journalist and its threat to "destroy the American cross" suggests it has gained enough confidence seizing large areas of Iraq and Syria to take aim at American targets despite the risks.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2014
Japan seeks help from Syrian rebels to help free suspected captive
Japanese officials met with the leader of a major Syrian rebel group in Turkey on Monday night to seek its assistance in securing the release of a Japanese man believed to have been captured in northern Syria by the Islamic State militant group.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2014
Japanese believed held by Islamic State in Syria said he planned to support rebels
A Japanese man believed to have been captured in northern Syria by Islamic State militants said he came to the conflict-ravaged country in preparation for his plan to supply rebels fighting the Assad regime, a rebel leader said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2014
Islamic State says it's holding Japanese man captured in Syria
Militants from the Islamic State claim they've detained a Japanese man who is believed to have been traveling with a rival Islamist group fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2014
Japanese man feared captured by Islamic State in Syria
The Foreign Ministry tries to confirm whether a Japanese man has been captured by the Islamic State in Syria after his purported interrogation is uploaded to the Internet.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2014
Devastating use of barrel bombs in Syria, Iraq
In spite of a U.N. Security Council resolution banning the use of 'barrel bombs' — a type of improvised explosive device filled with shrapnel, oil and chemicals — both the Syrian and Iraqi governments continue to use them against civilians.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Aug 15, 2014
Islamic State puts 'invincible' Kurd warriors to sword
The Kurdish peshmerga fighter ran out of ammunition but saved two bullets to end his own life in case Islamic State militants caught up with him as he fled the front line in northwest Iraq.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2014
Obama adviser Axelrod fires back at Clinton over 'stupid stuff' remarks
President Barack Obama's longtime political adviser fired back at Hillary Clinton over her recent criticism of the commander-in-chief's foreign policy doctrine of avoiding messy entanglements.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 11, 2014
No optical illusion: Obama balances world crises with golf, time off
President Barack Obama gave Americans an update on U.S. military strikes in Iraq on Saturday from a podium on the White House lawn with Marine One, the presidential helicopter, parked in the background.
WORLD
Aug 11, 2014
Saudi Arabia jails four for seeking to fight in Syria
Saudi Arabia's Specialised Criminal Court has sentenced four men to prison for travelling abroad to fight in Syria's civil war, local and state media reported on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2014
Deadly geopolitical games
The destabilization of Ukraine, Syria and Libya is a result of the geopolitical games that big powers continue to play when they target specific regimes. This destabilization in turn contributes to the rise of dangerous extremists and terrorists.

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