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NATO ally Turkey considers the Kurdish fighters, known as the YPG, a terrorist
organization. But the YPG forms the main force to retake Raqqa, the Islamic
State militants' self-proclaimed capital and base of operations. Some in the
Pentagon have suggested giving the Kurds heavy weapons, including
rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and heavy combat vehicles, but the Obama
administration rejected the idea.
Other options include sending more Apache helicopters into the fight, and
sending in more U.S. troops to help train Syrian forces.
April 5:
Sen.
Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Wednesday said it was no coincidence that a
suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria followed comments Secretary of State
Rex Tillerson made suggesting that Syrian President Bashar Assad can remain in
power.
April 7:
Responding to a Syrian chemical weapons attack on Tuesday
that left scores dead, the United States initiated a military strike Thursday on
an airbase in
Syria, multiple U.S. officials have confirmed, launching 59 missiles at an
air base in the country.
The Pentagon said that the airstrike, which targeted Shayrat
Air Base in Homs Province -- where the chemical attack was initiated earlier in
the week -- struck multiple targets with tomahawk missiles launched between 8:40
and 8:50 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, from destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross in
the Mediterranean Sea.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-launches-military-strike-syria/story?id=46632349
April 7: Re US airstrike on Syrian airbase:
Key developments
--Pentagon probing possible Russia involvement in attack
--Syrian airbase suffers "extensive damage" in strike.
--Nikki Haley to UN: US 'prepared to do more' in Syria
--Trump acted after dozens killed in chemical attack on
Tuesday.
--Western allies offer strong backing, saying the gas
attack cannot go unpunished.
--Russian President Vladimir Putin said US strike
violated international law.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/07/world/syria-military-strikes-donald-trump-russia/index.html
April 7:
US missile strike against Syrian regime draws Russian fury
Russia and Syria have condemned the first US military strike against the Syrian
regime, launched after a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians
earlier in the week.
Back to top April 7:
Russia on Friday condemned a U.S. missile strike against
Syrian government forces as an attack on its ally and said it was suspending an
agreement to minimize the risk of in-flight incidents between U.S. and Russian
aircraft operating over Syria.
Even as Russian officials expressed hope that the strike
against Syrian President Bashad Assad’s forces would not lead to an irreversible
breakdown in U.S. relations with Moscow, the Kremlin’s decision to suspend the
2015 memorandum of understanding on the air operations immediately raised
tensions in the skies over Syria.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/07/world/syria-military-strikes-donald-trump-russia/index.html
April 7: Although [Senator Tim] Kaine agreed with
several of his colleagues -- specifically, fellow Sen. Marco Rubio --
that "from a moral standpoint ... it was the right thing to do," he said
Trump was wrong to not obtain the go-ahead from Congress.
April 7:
President Vladimir Putin believes that U.S. cruise missile
strikes on a Syrian air base broke international law and have seriously hurt
U.S.-Russia relations, Russian news agencies cited the Kremlin as saying on
Friday.
The Russian leader, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, regarded
the U.S. action as “aggression against a sovereign nation” on a “made-up
pretext” and as a cynical attempt to distract the world from civilian deaths in
Iraq, Dmitry Peskov, Putin‘s spokesman, was cited as saying.
http://fortune.com/2017/04/07/us-strike-syria-russia-putin/
April 11:
A 'Heartbroken' Ivanka Trump Influenced President Trump's
Syria Strike, Eric Trump Says ... President
Donald Trump‘s decision to launch a
missile strike against Syria following a deadly chemical attack in the
northwestern part of the country was influenced by his “heartbroken and
outraged” daughter Ivanka, according to one of her brothers.
In an interview with
The Daily Telegraph, Eric Trump said Ivanka likely swayed their father.
“Ivanka is the mother of three kids and she has influence,” he said. “I’m sure
she said, ‘Listen, this is horrible stuff.’ My father will act in times like
that.”
http://time.com/4734340/donald-trump-ivanka-syria-strike/ April 12:
With a ‘no’ vote from permanent member Russia, the United
Nations Security Council today failed to adopt a resolution that would have
condemned the reported use of chemical weapons in Syria and called on the
Government to cooperate with an investigation into the incident.
While 10 of the Council’s 15 members
voted in favour,
Russia rejected the text, as permanent member China, as well as non-permanent
members Ethiopia and Kazakhstan abstained. A negative vote – or veto – from one
of the Council’s five permanent members means a resolution cannot be adopted.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56554#.WnytJ91MFkh
April 13:
An anonymous senior US official told CNN that, while the US
allegedly has proof that Damascus is responsible for the chemical incident in
Idlib, Syria, it has uncovered no such evidence implicating Moscow, because
Russia is wilier in scrambling its communications.
The anonymous official
reportedly told the American news channel that the US intelligence community
had intercepted communications “featuring Syrian military and chemical
experts talking about preparations for the sarin attack in Idlib last week.”
While the source failed to provide any concrete details about the alleged
communication – such when it was intercepted or what names or other information
it contained – they did note that the US “did not know prior to the attack
it was going to happen.”
More than 80 people were killed in a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held
town of Khan Sheikhoun in north-western Syria on 4 April.
Hundreds suffered symptoms consistent with reaction to a nerve agent after what
the opposition and Western powers said was a Syrian government air strike on the
area.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the incident was fabricated, while his
ally Russia said an air strike hit a rebel depot full of chemical munitions.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39500947
May 18: The
intelligence behind the US ban on laptops and other electronics is considered so
highly classified that CNN, at the request of US government officials, withheld
key details from a
March 31 story on the travel restrictions.
May 18:
The apparent U.S. strikes against forces backing Bashar al-Assad
on Thursday could mark a major shift in the Trump administration’s approach to
Syria. Coalition jets reportedly hit Syrian forces and their allies in al-Tanf,
near the border with Jordan and Iraq.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/05/syria-trump-assad-iran/527352/
October 22:
Pro-government news outlets denied that the S.D.F. [a
Kurdish-led group]
had taken control of the oil field, and said fighting was continuing. In
the past, they have accused the United States of using the Islamic State
as a de facto ally against its enemies — an accusation also leveled
against the government when the Islamic State has attacked rival
opposition fighters.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/22/world/middleeast/syria-isis-oil.html
October 22:
... the S.D.F. [the American-backed group]
now controls Syria’s largest hydroelectric dams and oil fields as well as
sprawling gas fields and agricultural lands.
That ... could give Kurds and their allies leverage to get
a seat at the table in any future peace talks. Up to now, they have not
been recognized as a party to the long-stymied talks held in Geneva
between the Syrian government and a coalition recognized by the United
States and its allies as the sole representative of the Syrian opposition.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/22/world/middleeast/syria-isis-oil.html
November 7:As Syria embraces Paris climate deal, it’s the United States
against the world
President Trump has put
America at odds with the rest of the world, literally, when it comes to
the goal of combating climate change.
The BBC has uncovered details of a secret deal that let hundreds of IS
fighters and their families escape from Raqqa, under the gaze of the US
and British-led coalition and Kurdish-led forces who control the city.
November 24:Turkish FM: Trump agreed to
stop arming Kurdish militia ...
The decision would cut the
flow of weapons from the US to the YPG, the Kurdish militia fighting with
the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, just six months after Trump
approved the plan over Turkey's strenuous objections.
The White House did not dispute the top Turkish diplomat's account of the
Friday morning call between Trump and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but
suggested there were no impending plans to stop supplying weapons to the
YPG.
December 11:
Trump to Let Assad Stay Until 2021, as
Putin Declares Victory in Syria
Despite the deaths of as
many as half a million people, dozens by chemical weapons, in the Syrian
civil war, the Trump Administration is now prepared to accept President
Bashar al-Assad’s continued rule until Syria’s next scheduled Presidential
election, in 2021, according to U.S. and European officials. The decision
reverses repeated U.S. statements that Assad must step down as part of a
peace process.
https://www.newyorker.com/sections/news/trump-to-let-assad-stay-until-2021-as-putin-declares-victory-in-syria
The Trump Administration hasn't challenged Assad or Russian and
Iranian-backed forces directly in offensive operations. Instead,
the U.S. has tried to re-establish limited deterrence to prevent
those forces from pushing into areas controlled by the Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF) that oppose Assad.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-syria-after-islamic-state-1514500724
January 18:Democrats draw red line on
Trump’s new Syria policy
Already frustrated with the Donald Trump administration’s refusal to
provide concrete details on US military activity in Syria, congressional
Democrats today firmly rebuked the president’s plan to further expand
American troops’ mandate beyond fighting the
Islamic State (IS).
Several congressional Democrats are accusing the administration of
exceeding its legal mandate following Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s
Wednesday announcement that the 2,000 or so US soldiers in Syria will
remain in the country to counter President Bashar al-Assad and his Iranian
backers.
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/01/congress-democrats-red-line-syria-policy-trump-tillerson.html
February 8:The US-led coalition
fighting ISIS in Syria conducted air and artillery strikes against
pro-regime forces in Syria on Wednesday, killing an estimated 100
pro-regime fighters, according to a coalition statement.
The coalition described its action — which if confirmed could represent
the largest number of pro-regime casualties inflicted by the US-led
coalition — as carried out in “self defense.”
Syrian state news agency SANA described the action as an “aggression” by
the coalition against “popular forces” who were fighting ISIS and the
US-backed Syrian Democratic
Forces. The attack had left “scores of persons dead and others injured”
and caused “huge damage” to the area, SANA added.
According to a coalition
statement, its strikes were carried out after forces allied with Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad “initiated an unprovoked attack” against a
well-established Syrian Democratic Forces headquarters where coalition
advisers were working with US-backed Syrian fighters.
http://fox59.com/2018/02/08/u-s-led-coalition-strikes-kill-pro-regime-forces-in-syria/
February 8:
Where does this end? Dangers if US leaves
Syria -- or stays
There is no immediate
answer. Maj. Gen. Jarrard, who commands special operations in Iraq and
Syria ... said: "We've learned lessons the hard way about the
wrong way to do this ...
"We are working to make sure it's the governing body here," added Jarrard,
"that are providing the guidance for whatever we try to do to help."
February 22:
The Syrian civil war, which began almost seven years ago, is a seemingly
intractable regional morass that has only become more dangerous as global
powers have been drawn into the conflict and are increasingly at risk of
clashing.
Iran, Turkey, Russia, the US, the militant group Hezbollah and Persian
Gulf nations are among the entities on the ground, either with their own
forces or through proxies. Efforts to de-escalate the war or spare
civilians have consistently fizzled.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/politics/us-state-department-syria-violence/index.html
February 22:State
Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert struggled to describe specific steps
the State Department and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are taking to
end the violence in Syria at the agency's briefing on Thursday,
exclaiming, "I don't know what some of you expect us to do," while arguing
that the administration is "fully engaged."
February 24:
Not long after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution
calling for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria, regime military aircraft hit
targets in the besieged Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, activists said
Saturday night.
Earlier, after the ceasefire vote, Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari
said the regime would continue to go after what it deemed terrorist
groups.
April 4:
Trump’s big (non)decision
on US troops in Syria, explained ... Trump could change his mind in the
future.
As the
Washington Post reports, Trump told military leaders on Tuesday to
prepare for a withdrawal from Syria, although he did not set an official
return date. But per
NBC News, Trump decided to allow the approximately 2,000 troops in
Syria to stay there until ISIS is defeated, even though he was unhappy
about it.
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/4/17192656/trump-syria-troop-withdrawal
April 8:
An alleged
weekend chemical attack in a Damascus suburb would be at least the
eighth since Donald Trump took office and the worst since he launched a
military strike at Syrian government forces in April of last year.
April 10:
Russia vetoed a US draft resolution at the UN Security Council Tuesday
that would have established an independent investigation into a suspected
chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime in Douma, Syria.
April 10:
As a
presidential candidate, Donald Trump complained the Obama administration
talked too much about when and where it would attack the Islamic State in
Iraq, ruining the element of surprise.
April 11:
President Donald Trump's morning declaration that
"nice and new and 'smart'" missiles would soon be fired toward Syria
caught most of his aides off guard and came before an agreement had been
reached between key US allies, multiple American and Western officials
said on Wednesday.
August 31:
Abdul Ghafour Halasi [one of around 82,000 forcibly disappeared people]
was last seen in Saydnaya prison just outside Damascus. Amnesty
International dubbed
Saydnaya "the human slaughterhouse" in a 2017 report after extensively
documenting mass hangings at the detention center.
Until May, Syria's government refused to disclose the status of its
unaccounted-for prisoners, and President Bashar al-Assad dismissed leaked
photographs of
thousands of dead inmates as "fake."
With Russian and Iranian backing, Assad remains in control. And, in an
apparent attempt to turn the page on one of the darkest chapters in the
country's seven-year war, human rights groups say that Syrian officials
released the death notices of more than 800 prisoners over the course of
this summer. However, the bodies of loved ones, have not been returned.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/30/middleeast/syria-prisons-death-notices-intl/ September 7:
Idlib on Brink of “Humanitarian Catastrophe” as Syrian Military Threatens
to Invade Rebel-Held City
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/9/7/idlib_on_brink_of_humanitarian_catastrophe
September
24:
The Trump administration is warning Russia that supplying
Syria with an
advanced missile defense system would be a “major mistake” and should
be reconsidered. It also says U.S. forces will not leave Syria until Iran
leaves.
National security adviser John Bolton said Monday that delivery of the
Russian S-300 would be a "significant escalation" in already high tensions
in the region and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he would raise the
matter this week with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov at the U.N.
General Assembly.
"We think introducing the S-300s to the Syrian government would be a
significant escalation by the Russians and something that we hope, if
these press reports are accurate, they would reconsider," Bolton said.
https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2018/09/24/us-says-russia-supplying-missile-defense-system-to-syria-would-be-a-significant-escalation/
October 18:Putin Says ISIS Has Hundreds of Hostages in
Syria, Including U.S. and European Citizens
December 19: ... the Pentagon still
says that ISIS has as many as
17,100 fighters in Syria, and about 30,000 total between Syria and
Iraq. That’s about how many militants the group had at its peak strength
in 2014.
December 19:A
State Department official says that department's staff members who have
been working to stabilize the area — helping with water, electricity,
schools and other basic needs — will be leaving Syria, and that it has
advised U.S. citizens in the country to do the same. The official says
their withdrawal was a White House decision.
On Twitter, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., voiced his displeasure with a
troop withdrawal plan.
"Withdrawal of this small American force in Syria would be a huge Obama-like
mistake," Graham
tweeted. "With all due respect, ISIS is not defeated in Syria, Iraq,
and after just returning from visiting there — certainly not Afghanistan.
President @realDonaldTrump is right to want to contain Iranian expansion.
However, withdrawal of our forces in Syria mightily undercuts that effort
and put our allies, the Kurds at risk."
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/19/678150756/reports-white-house-intends-to-pull-u-s-troops-from-syria
December 19:
... declaration of victory is far from
unanimous, and the withdrawal decision immediately triggered demands from
Congress -- including Republicans -- for more information and a formal
briefing on the matter. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., who just returned
from Afghanistan, said he was meeting with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
late in the day.
January 2:Trump’s
meandering policy in Syria drifts deeper into incoherence
In mid-December, Donald Trump spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan about Syria, and during their chat, Erdogan
extended a curious offer: if the United States withdrew from Syria,
Turkey would gladly target and eliminate the remaining ISIS forces.
For reasons that
few have been able to explain, the American president
endorsed the plan, and less than a week after the phone call with his
counterpart in Ankara, Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. forces from
Syria.
January 3:Is this
the Islamic State group's last stand in Syria?
US President Donald Trump has described Syria as just "sand and death", as
he defended his decision to withdraw American troops from the conflict.
But the Kurdish militia and Arab tribes who are battling the Islamic State
group in the country are warning that his decision could result in
disaster.
The Syrian Democratic Forces say the move could lead to a resurgence of
the extremist Islamist group, even though it has lost nearly all of the
territory it once controlled.