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Roy Gutman

Syrian government accused of targeting hospitals, health workers as war rages

The national hospital in Azaz lies in ruins; government aircraft bombed an entire wing. In nearby Aleppo, a barrel bomb forced the closing of the Dar al Shifa hospital. Those are just two examples of the toll on Syria’s hospitals in nearly two years of war. Half of them are now out of service, according to Syria’s government. International officials decry what they say is a government campaign against health care facilities and medical professionals that constitutes a war crime. | 02/25/13 15:44:49 By - By Roy Gutman and Paul Raymond

U.N. numbers on Syrians in need of help far too low, survey suggests

The first detailed survey of the humanitarian crisis in northern Syria suggests that the United Nations has grossly underestimated the number of civilians in dire need of assistance, a situation that experts say plays down the scope of the catastrophe. | 02/18/13 17:39:14 By - By Roy Gutman

Syrian air attacks worry some at camps for displaced people

On Jan. 13, bombs dropped by Syrian aircraft destroyed this town’s open-air market and at least five buildings around it. U.S. officials and Syrian opposition leaders say the bombings were part of a Syrian government tactic to target people who’ve fled because of violence in their home cities. | 02/07/13 15:08:17 By - By Roy Gutman

Aid doesn’t reach camp for displaced Syrians just outside Turkey

The Atma camp jars the senses of any visitor. Syrian jets routinely fly over it or nearby villages, scaring everyone inside. The Atma clinic is in chaos: unheated, unlighted and with threadbare supplies. But the most surprising thing here is the near-complete absence of the international community. | 02/07/13 17:57:54 By - By Roy Gutman

U.S., Israel pressure EU over Hezbollah after Bulgaria says group behind bus attack

Israel and the United States on Tuesday urged the European Union to declare the Lebanese group Hezbollah a terrorist organization after the Bulgarian government announced that Hezbollah militants were behind the bombing of a tour bus last July that killed five Israeli tourists in that country. | 02/05/13 18:17:48 By - By Sheera Frenkel and Roy Gutman

Syrian government offensive forces thousands to find shelter in caves, cars

Under bombardment from combat aircraft, tanks and rocket launchers, at least 100,000 people have fled the towns and villages north of Hama in central Syria in the past 10 days, rebels say. But shelter has run out in this part of northern Syria, and many have been forced to live in the open or even in nearby caves. | 02/01/13 18:32:17 By - By Roy Gutman

Syrian government has pattern of attacking bakeries, bread lines

After a week without bread, people in the small central Syrian town of Halfaya got word two days before Christmas that a shipment of flour had arrived at the main bakery, prompting several hundred to queue up for the staple of life in the war-ravaged land. | 01/21/13 00:00:00 By - By Roy Gutman and Paul Raymond

In Turkish border town, charity fields Syrians’ pleas for help

Syrian towns and villages seeking to survive the extreme deprivations of daily life 22 months into their country’s political crisis are inundating a Turkish charity with requests to send flour, fuel, clothes and blankets across the border into their devastated land. | 01/07/13 00:00:00 By - By Roy Gutman and Paul Raymond

Syrians sounding alarm over growing food shortages

With bread scarce in major cities and towns, infant formula in extremely short supply and fuel costs skyrocketing, civilians in war-ravaged Syria face an acute food crisis that might end in starvation for many, according to activists from around the country of 22 million. | 12/14/12 19:02:11 By - By Paul Raymond and Roy Gutman

Turkey, Iraq exchange sharp rhetoric with Syria as backdrop

Turkish and Iraqi leaders exchanged sharp, rhetorical assaults Friday, each warning of growing instability in the other’s country, in the latest sign that tensions stoked by Syria’s civil war are spilling over into the region. | 11/23/12 16:57:12 By - By Roy Gutman

U.S. warns Bahrain’s society ‘could break apart’

The strategic Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, scene of continuing protests since early last year by the majority Shiite Muslims against the Sunni minority monarchy, is on the verge of severe disruption, the State Department warned Tuesday. | 11/20/12 19:34:43 By - By Roy Gutman

International court overturns war crimes convictions of two Croatian generals

An international court Friday acquitted two Croatian generals of war-crimes charges, sparking nationwide celebration in the small country where the recapture of territory from ethnic Serbs in 1995 has long been seen as an act of liberation, not a crime against humanity. | 11/16/12 18:02:18 By - By Roy Gutman

Obama says he won't embrace Syria's new opposition coalition yet

Unlike France, Saudi Arabia and several other U.S. allies in the Gulf, President Obama Wednesday held back from recognizing a new Syrian opposition group as the core of a government-in-exile, a caution that appeared to reflect concern over issues that have emerged since its formation on Sunday. | 11/14/12 20:56:25 By - By Roy Gutman

U.S. dilemma: How to avoid another Libya when Syrian regime falls

Rebel military leaders are frustrated with the U.S.’s hands-off approach to their movement. To be sure, some cash is flowing to the rebels, as are some small arms. But nobody, one opposition leader said, is helping to unify the rebels’ disparate military factions. | 11/13/12 16:12:36 By - By Roy Gutman

U.S. hails creation of new Syrian exile opposition group

Political opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad established a new organization Sunday and elected an activist Muslim cleric to lead it, a move that could open the spigot of international humanitarian aid to Syria. But questions remained on when and if a step-up of military aid will follow. | 11/11/12 19:34:38 By - By Roy Gutman

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