Current World Issues

Russia-sponsored truce begins in Syria's Eastern Ghouta A five-hour "humanitarian pause" called by Russia has come into effect in Syria's Eastern Ghouta to allow civilians to evacuate the area that has been under continuous aerial bombardment. Russia's President Vladimir Putin had ordered a truce from 9am-2pm (7:00-12:00 GMT) on Tuesday, as air attacks and ground operations killed more than 550 civilians in the last eight days, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). On Monday, a suspected chemical attack killed one child, according to Syria's Civil Defence rescue team, also known as the White Helmets. The reported chlorine gas attack injured at least 18 others when it hit  Eastern Ghouta's Al-Shifaniyah  town close to the front lines, where rebels are fighting Syrian ground forces who have been trying to penetrate into the besieged enclave since Sunday.The bombardment of the rebel-held Damascus suburb ha...

Turkey denies reports Syria will help YPG in Afrin Turkey's deputy prime minister has dismissed as "false" media reports that Syrian government forces were poised to enter a Kurdish enclave in Syria's Afrin. Bekir Bozdag, however, warned any move by Syrian soldiers to help the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, repel a Turkish offensive in northwestern Syria would be a "major disaster" for the region. Turkey will continue its air and ground offensive against the YPG "with determination until the last terrorist is rendered ineffective", Bozdag told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting on Monday. He was responding to a report by the Syrian state-run SANA news agency earlier in the day that said pro-government forces would enter Afrin "within a few hours to support its people's stand against Turkish regime's attack".  The report by SANA raised fears of a potential clash between Turkish troops and Syrian ...

Air raids on rebel-held Idlib province intensified Images of death and destruction from Syria's northern Idlib province have flooded social media with local activists and aid workers saying shelling by Russian and Syrian government warplanes in the area has intensified. Rescue workers from the Syrian Civil Defence, a volunteer search and relief team, say at least 18 civilians have been killed and more than 45 wounded in continuous bombardment and a gas attack on the rebel-held province since Sunday night. "The Russians are on a frenzy. They're going mad. The shelling is ongoing throughout the day and night. The warplanes are hitting residential areas," Hadi Abdullah, a local journalist, told Al Jazeera by phone from the town of Kafr Nabl in the northwestern Syrian province bordering Turkey. "The massacres started yesterday night. The whole area was vibrating. About 12 homes came crumbling down," continued Hadi, describing the attacks on the town on...