( Independent )- Almost exactly four years ago, a Syrian called Abu al-Zein, from the village of Katbiya in Aleppo province, appeared before the ‘General Court of the Revolutionary Police’ in the town of Deir Hafer to betray his cousins. Saeed and Ibrahim Abdul al-Ghafour, he testified,...

( Washington Post )- The Islamic State’s headquarters in this city at the western gateway to Raqqa has been crushed like a sandcastle by American bombs. At a dam complex on the Euphrates River where the Islamic State was torturing prisoners and hurling alleged homosexuals from a giant concrete...

( The Guardian )- The senseless destruction of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul last week is not only a monumental loss for the people of Iraq but for all humanity. The 12th century place of worship and its famed leaning minaret were landmarks in the Old City and featured on local currency....

( The Guardian )- What has the White House alleged? The Syrian military is making preparations for a chemical weapons attack that “would result in the mass murder of civilians, including children”. How has the Assad regime used chemical weapons in the past? It has deployed them in...