Alex Thomson
Syria: A quick reminder
The pitiless Syrian engine of war grinds on. The waves of the displaced seek refuge. The only realistic escape route is Lebanon and Turkey.
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Death and Destruction in Yarmouk: Inside Syria’s largest Palestinian refugee camp
“You have turned it into a death Camp” – the United Nations verdict on the Syrian government. For five years Syrian, Russian and Iranian forces besieged and bombarded Yarmouk, the largest Palestinian camp in Syria. The assault was designed to drive out militant Islamic State fighters holding onto what was to become the last…
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Over 40 killed in suspected poison gas attack in Douma, Syria activists say
Syrian activists say at least 40 people have been killed in a poison gas attack on Douma – the last rebel-held town in Eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus… rescue teams described finding families suffocated in their homes. Relief workers in the town said hundreds more people had been brought into clinics, with symptoms…
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Footage shows impact of shelling near Damascus
Footage from Damascus shows the impact of rebel shelling in sites I visited within an hour of them being hit. The rebels – who include extremists linked to Al Qaeda – have been firing on a much smaller scale but it is bringing fear and shoring up support for President Assad.
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Alex Thomson
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Alex Thomson
Bad and getting worse: why politicians must grasp the Syrian nettle now
What Europe has seen so far is nothing as to what is to come. That means asking some hard questions, including whether the war against Assad should be put on hold?
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Lindsey Hilsum
Defiance and desperation inside the siege of Douma
Rebel fighters in besieged Douma say they will never surrender. But conditions for civilians are becoming desperate.
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Alex Thomson
Why we still need Vladimir Putin on our side
So Crimea has voted. It was messy, ugly, but it is also undeniably true that the majority will of the people in Crimea has prevailed – so what does the west do now?
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Lindsey Hilsum
Kerry and Lavrov: picking up the baton for peace in Syria
After August’s chemical attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, prospects for peace in Syria looked remote. But then Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart, John Kerry, managed to pull the world back from the brink.
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Lindsey Hilsum
‘My son was killed here and I will stay here until I die too’
As they drove off, down another street littered with rubble and glass, I wondered how any Syrians, whatever their religion or political allegiance, would ever be able to live a normal life again.
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Lindsey Hilsum
A Damascus funeral: ‘He died defending the nation’
Mourners wept in the Catholic church in Tabala, near the old city of Damascus, as a priest performed funeral rites for Major General Joseph Fadlallah Dakhlallah, “the best in the Syrian army at fixing tanks”.
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Lindsey Hilsum
Is Beirut bomb a harbinger for Syria’s vulnerable neighbour
Every time I visit, Lebanon seems more fragile. In August, Beirut was recovering from a car bomb that killed 27. Today, a suicide bomber followed by a car bomb exploded outside the Iranian embassy, killing 23.
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Alex Thomson
Syria: what the draft UN resolution on chemical weapons really means
From imminent intervention to the realpolitik of Moscow, outplaying the west at every turn – what a difference a few weeks makes.
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Alex Thomson
Syria: chemical weapons plan is a success… at buying time
The plan to hand Syria’s weapons over to international control has no chance of success, but it has achieved one thing – buying global leaders some time.
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Alex Thomson
Baghdamascus: Iraq’s long shadow
There’s a new town in town. Not on any map, but deep in the public psyche of the UK, US and France. It’s Baghdamascus.
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Alex Thomson
Spooks’ view on Syria: what wikileaks revealed
A Wikileaks disclosure of an email from a military officer reveals why special foreign forces were in Syria in 2011 – and why back then, there was caution about airstrikes.