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It wasn‘t so long ago that London was accusing Russia of plotting to partition Syria. The context of the allegation was that supposedly Russia has begun to see it will not be able to win in Syria and had now settled for carving out an Alawite mini state for Assad.

Yet three weeks later and one Turkey-rebel supply route less and it‘s Washington which is talking up partition instead.

51-year-old Mahmut Duymak was one of the over 200 victims savagely massacred by state forces in Şırnak‘s Cizre district some 3 weeks ago.

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Kurdish militias are eyeing the Islamic State‘s (Isis) de facto Syrian capital of Raqqa after capturing a strategic town to its east, as regime forces were also taking on the jihadis and other rebel groups in a last gasp push just hours before a truce is due to take effect. The People‘s Protection Units (YPG) and allied Arab forces have consolidated their hold on Shadadi, which fell earlier this week with the backing of US air strikes.

(30.1.2016) Saleh Muslim, head of the powerful Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union party (PYD), travelled to Geneva last week in the hopes his movement would have a seat at the table. But he and his advisers left Geneva late on Friday, a member of his party‘s team in Switzerland said.

„Yes, we left Geneva because we did not get invitations,“ the member said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

Another advantage of a federalized Syria is that neither Russia nor America would have to face the political challenges of completely partitioning the country — a possibility Secretary of State John Kerry warned of on Tuesday. A federalist solution would help to head off the risk of an independent Kurdish state’s emerging in northern Syria.

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Fast alle europäischen Länder waren dabei: Als die USA die Koalition der Hörigen zusammentrieb und im Dezember 2001 in Afghanistan nach Osama bin Laden suchte:

The Activation of Article 4 of the NATO can force Austria and FYROM to consultation on refugees, migration and closed borders. This proposal comes from General Christos Manolas, until February 2015 Chief of Staff for Greek Land Forces.

In a statement submitted to Greek website for military affairs OnAlert, , Manolas argues that the activation of Article 4 would get Austria and FYROM on the table for consultations and would give Greece a tool to exert pressure to these two countries with regards to closure of the borders to refugees and migrants.

Index on Censorship welcomes the release of journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül after Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that their rights had been violated by their arrest. Index strongly reiterates its call for Turkish authorities to drop all charges against the pair.