[Published here on February 11, 2019]
Two French women who fled the Islamic State group’s last pocket in Syria told AFP on Monday more foreigners were trapped inside, barred from leaving by Iraqi jihadists.
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Syria
Canadian jihadist says IS foreign fighters ‘hung out to dry’ | AFP
[Published here February 11, 2019]
A Canadian jihadist detained in Syria told AFP on Sunday he has been “hung out to dry” by the Islamic State group like other foreign fighters and appealed to his government for help.
Barely alive after IS, Syrian babies haunted by malnutrition | AFP
[Published here February 8, 2019]
They survived the Islamic State group’s crumbling “caliphate” by a thread, but skeletal babies streaming into this displacement camp in northeastern Syria now face a race against malnutrition.
HRW warns against secret repatriations from Syria | ِِAFP
[Published here on February 7, 2019]
Any transfers of suspected foreign jihadists and their relatives out of Syria should be transparent, Human Rights Watch told AFP, as camps in the northeast fill with families of different nationalities.
The group chat catching fleeing ISIS fighters | Popular Front
I was a guest on Jake Hanrahan’s podcast Popular Front last week to discuss low-tech ways that non-government forces are catching Islamic State group fighters on the run from their collapsed ‘caliphate’ in Syria and Iraq. Listen to the episode here:
Syrians in ex-rebel zones struggle after aid groups withdraw | AFP
[Published here October 8, 2018]
Beirut (AFP) – Tens of thousands of Syrians in areas recaptured by government troops this year remain starved of humanitarian aid, with the relief agencies helping them for years now unable to reach them.
As clock ticks, little progress visible on Idlib deal | AFP
[A joint piece with colleague Tony Gamal Gabriel, published here on October 4, 2018]
The clock is ticking to implement a Russian-Turkish deal for the Syrian rebel region of Idlib, but its terms remain hazy and little has changed on the ground.
Confusion among Syria rebels as Idlib deadline nears | AFP
[A joint piece with Beirut’s Deputy Bureau Chief Layal Abou Rahal, published here on October 1, 2018]
With a deadline for establishing a demilitarised zone around Syria’s Idlib inching closer, confusion and apprehension is rife among Turkish-backed rebels who fear it will cost them their last stronghold.
Live from Idlib, an American broadcasts from Syria’s last rebel zone | AFP
[Published here on September 23, 2018]
Beirut (AFP) – Pointing to a green screen as if presenting a weather forecast, Bilal Abdul Kareem analyses the Turkish-Russian deal over Syria’s Idlib, broadcasting in his native English from inside the war-torn country’s last rebel stronghold.
Foreign fighters in Syria’s Idlib face last stand | AFP
[Published here on September 10, 2018]
Hailing from far and wide, they flocked to Syria to wage “holy war”. Now foreign jihadists face a fight to the last to hold onto Idlib, their final bastion.
MAYA GEBEILY 