Unwelcome Refugees

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attend a meeting on Jan. 8 in Istanbul. Alexey Druzhinin/Getty Images An airstrike in northwestern Syria late Thursday inflicted significant casualties on Turkish forces stationed there, killing at least 36 and raising fears of direct conflict between NATO-allied Turkey and…

By: Reuters | Ankara/istanbul | Published: February 28, 2020 11:04:16 am Nearly a million civilians have been displaced in Idlib near the Turkish border since December as Russia-backed Syrian government forces seized territory from Turkey-backed Syrian rebels, marking the worst humanitarian crisis of the country’s nine-year war. (File Photo)Turkey, faced…

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey has decided to no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe by land and sea, a senior Turkish official told Reuters on Thursday, in anticipation of the imminent arrival of refugees from Syria’s Idlib where nearly a million have been displaced. Turkish police, coast guard and…

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Tensions have been mounting on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios over plans to construct new migrant camps More than 60 people have been hurt, many of them riot police, in clashes with protesters on Lesbos and Chios over plans to build new migrant…

BRUSSELS (AP) — Increasing numbers of people applying for asylum in the European Union are arriving from countries with visa-free travel agreements with the bloc, notably from Latin America, rather than entering without permission, the EU’s asylum agency said Wednesday.More than 714,000 people applied for asylum or some form of…

* Greek islanders protest new migrant camps * Authorities will press ahead, says government * (Adds government spokesman comment, details) ATHENS, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Clashes broke out on two Greek islands early on Tuesday between police and residents protesting the construction of migrant detention centres as the government vowed…

Developments in Syria's northern Idlib region have put Turkey's President in a tight corner, perhaps the tightest since he first hijacked state power ten or more years ago. Upwards of a million refugees, purged by Assadist forces operating under Russian air support, are stumbling northwards toward the Turkish border. The…

“I’m here to tell you the facts,” an agitated U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the assembly on Saturday after quoting Steinmeier and similar comments other Western leaders have made in the recent past. “Those statements do not reflect reality.” Pompeo, who served as an Army soldier protecting West…

Rebels in northern Syria say they shot down a military helicopter on Friday, killing everyone on board.Government forces are trying to take the last opposition-held areas in an operation that has displaced more than 800,000 people since the beginning of December.Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reports from Reyhanli on the Turkey-Syria…

The USA has largely withdrawn from Syria. Europe never really got involved. The consequences are terrible — for Europe too, writes Rainer Hermann of the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in a guest opinion. A humanitarian catastrophe is taking place in Idlib, and the world is looking the other way.…