April, 2024

• 12 April

  The Open-Air Prison for ISIS Supporters—and Victims

  

  Since the Islamic State fell, tens of thousands of people—many of them children—have been herded into Al-Hol, a giant fenced-in camp in Syria, and effectively given life sentences. The dead turned up everywhere. Two decapitated corpses in a cesspit. The remains of a woman with a pierced skull. A child …

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• 12 April

  The Forgotten Palestinians in Syria

  

  The Syrian Civil War was the longest and most complex geo-political conflict to emerge out of the Arab Spring, thus creating a complicated legacy for leftist analysts to interrogate. In this interview, exclusive for Counterpunch, former United Nations special rapporteur, and international relations scholar Richard Falk, breaks down Palestine and …

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• 12 April

  Hamas is writing the new terror playbook – opinion

  

  Israel is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to global terrorism. In the 1990s, after the Oslo Accords, when Palestinians resorted to suicide bombings, the world largely ignored them, blamed Israel, and failed to see these attacks as an ominous portent. Just a few years later, the …

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• 12 April

  U.S.-India Ties Remain Fundamentally Fragile

  

  For the United States, foreign policy has always been a mix of securing interests and promoting values, and India checks the box on multiple counts. Washington and New Delhi routinely highlight that the world’s oldest democracy, the United States, is cooperating with the world’s largest democracy, India. Partnering with India …

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• 12 April

  Georgia launches new push to adopt Russian-style foreign agent law

  

  Georgia’s ruling party is pushing ahead with plans to pass legislation tightening restrictions on civil society, despite widespread domestic alarm along with expressions of concern from the EU and US. The new law mirrors earlier draft legislation that was shelved in spring 2023 following widespread protests and comes as the …

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• 12 April

  Western weakness in Ukraine could provoke a far bigger war with Russia

  

  Does the West actually want Ukraine to defeat Russia? That is the question many in Kyiv are now asking amid continued signs of Western indecision as the biggest European invasion since World War II approaches its third summer with no end in sight. The mounting sense of frustration among Ukrainians …

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• 12 April

  Qatar Not an Honest Broker, New Report Concludes

  

  Latest Developments A group of veteran American and Israeli intelligence professionals assert in a new report that Qatar should not mediate between Hamas and Israel, The Times of Israel revealed on April 8. The report, which draws on English, Arabic, and French sources, concludes that Qatar is “not an independent …

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• 9 April

  ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in March 2024

  

  ISIS carried out at least 69 confirmed attacks in March in the Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Raqqa, and Deir Ez Zor governorates. These attacks killed at least 84 pro-Assad regime soldiers and 44 civilians and wounded at least 51 more soldiers and civilians. There were also 19 high quality* attacks during …

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• 9 April

  US on high alert for Iran threat in region after Israeli strike in Syria

  

  The United States is on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran targeting Israeli or American assets in the region in response to Israel’s strike on the Iranian embassy in Syria, a U.S. official said on Friday. “We’re definitely at a high state of vigilance,” the official …

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• 9 April

  Notorious Iraqi extremist killed in suicide bombing in Syria

  

  A notorious Iraqi extremist leader was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria’s rebel-held north-west, it was revealed on Friday. Abu Maria Al Qahtani was killed in an attack by an ISIS fighter using an explosive belt, said former Al Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, which rules Syria’s last …

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