Syrian Government Forces Recapture Historic Palmyra From ISIS

The Atlantic - Photo
Alan Taylor
Mar 29, 2016 - 20 Photos - In Focus

After several weeks of fighting, Syrian government troops backed by Russian airstrikes were able to gain control of the ancient city of Palmyra this weekend, driving out ISIS militants who took the city last May. Archaeologists were rushing to the site to assess the damage, after earlier evidence of looting and destruction by the jihadist group. Officials have reported that demining experts have removed dozens of bombs planted by ISIS across the historic city. Following the pattern of other recent recaptures from ISIS, such as Kobani in Syria and Sinjar in Iraq, the occupation and battle to re-take Palmyra wreaked havoc on the city, leaving buildings and historic sites in ruins.

Germany recruits 8,500 teachers to teach German to 196,000 child refugees

The Guardian 

Agence France-Presse

Monday 28 December 2015 01.22 GMT

‘Special classes’ have been created to help children who have fled war and poverty to catch up with their new peers

Refugee mothers and children look through games and books in another initiative by the German education ministry, the reading start for refugee children. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Key migration flows to Europe - animation

A Year of Syria's War Seen Through the Lens of Bassam Khabieh

The Atlantic

ALAN TAYLOR
DEC 30, 2015
42 PHOTOS - IN FOCUS

Each December, I like to finish the year with a focus on a single photographer’s work over the previous 12 months. Several years ago, Bassam Khabieh was an IT administrator working in Damascus, Syria, near his hometown of Douma. Then, the Syrian war began. Soon, Khabieh picked up a camera and returned to Douma—an area controlled by rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad—to document the effects of years of shelling and urban warfare. Khabieh’s images often focus on the children still living in the neighborhood, showing fleeting moments of normal life, as well as the horror and struggle amid battle-scarred neighborhoods. Khabieh has worked as a freelancer for Reuters since 2013, giving the rest of the world a window into the ongoing conflict in Syria. His photos gathered here from 2015 are listed in rough chronological order, including two photos from an attack that took place earlier today, December 30.

Christians are disappearing from the Middle East

By Sara Sidner, CNN

Updated 2156 GMT (0556 HKT) December 25, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

'This is not our policy. We are not evil': Syrian rebels force ISIS fighters to their knees... then SPARE them to prove 'Muslims are not evil'

• Prisoners paraded to desert location in orange jumpsuits, as in ISIS videos
• At the moment where ISIS would pull the trigger, the soldiers holster guns
• Pull off their masks and spare lives of ISIS soldiers seemed certain to die
• Cleric in white Islamic robes tells them to repent, adding: 'We are not evil'
• Video created by a coalition of Syrian rebel groups known as Islamic Front

By TOM WYKE and JAY AKBAR FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:23 GMT, 8 December 2015 | UPDATED: 13:46 GMT, 8 December 2015

A way of life destroyed: Intimate photos of relaxed Sunday lunches and playing by the pool give a rare insight into life in the once-beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo before it was laid to ruin by ISIS thugs

• Stunning images of family life in Syria before Islamic State lay siege
• Children's birthday parties and family lunches are seen along with visits to Aleppo attractions
• Aleppo's ancient buildings and even its new amusement park are pictured before they were reduced to rubble 
• The Beloune family was forced to flee when extremists fired on their home
• IS looters took more than $1 million of equipment from their business
• The battle for control of Syria's largest city by various forces has destroyed many neighbourhoods

By FRANK COLETTA FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
PUBLISHED: 22:07 GMT, 28 November 2015 | UPDATED: 01:04 GMT, 29 November 2015

Welcomed to Europe

The Atlantic

As politicians debate the status of refugees, volunteers are working tirelessly to provide them with basic care.

• 
  Nov 22, 2015
• EMILY ANNE EPSTEIN

Gravediggers forced to build giant terraced cemetery to cope with the sheer number of people killed in Syria's bloody war

• Daily aerial bombardments have forced gravediggers to dig a large new terraced cemetery
• Douma has regularly been bombarded with Assad regime artillery and air strikes, killing many civilians
• The cemetery has become so full that gravediggers have been forced to wait until the new cemetery is built

By TOM WYKE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 22:23 GMT, 9 November 2015 | UPDATED: 23:17 GMT, 9 November 2015

Gaza war, a year on

How to make it rain in the DESERT: UAE fires salt rockets in attempt to seed clouds and trigger much-needed downpours

• Salt flares are fired into clouds over the desert nation to trigger a downpour
• Method is known as cloud seeding and works by increasing condensation
• Technique's effectiveness at inducing rain has been called into question
• China used it to 'burst' clouds to make sure it was dry for Beijing Olympics

By JACK MILLNER FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 10:51 GMT, 27 July 2015 | UPDATED: 11:52 GMT, 27 July 2015

ISIS barbarians lured 115 people to their deaths with promise of cheap ice in sweltering conditions... before detonating a truck packed with explosives

• Terrorist drove lorry laden with ice into a market in Khan Bani Saad, Iraq
• He encouraged locals to gather around, offering discounts for Eid al-Fitr
• But beneath the thin layer of ice were three tonnes of deadly explosives
• Killer driver waited until truck was surrounded before blowing himself up
• 115 people were killed and scores injured as the blast left a massive crater

By JOHN HALL FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 10:40 GMT, 20 July 2015 | UPDATED: 10:45 GMT, 20 July 2015

Eid Mubarak! Over 70,000 Muslims gather in Birmingham for Europe's largest celebration of festival to mark the end of Ramadan as millions join in around the world

• Up to 70,000 Muslims attended morning prayers at Small Heath Park in Birmingham this morning to celebrate Eid 
• The 'Feast of Sacrifice' is the biggest day in Islam calender and marks the end of Ramadan - holy month of fasting 
• Day-long celebration is marked by exchanging gifts, wearing new clothes and throwing parties for friends and family 

By EMMA GLANFIELD FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:33 GMT, 17 July 2015 | UPDATED: 11:46 GMT, 18 July 2015

Tied to a bed, injected with morphine to stay 'silent' and beaten so badly she couldn't walk for two months: Two Yazidi sex slaves relive the unspeakable cruelty they suffered at hands of ISIS fighters

• WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
• A mother, 19, 'submitted' to her captor when he beat her one-year-old son
• She felt like killing herself but could not do it, fearful of her son's welfare 
• Another woman, 25, beaten so severely she could not walk for two months
• Both sold at vile slave auctions, then passed from one fanatic to another
• They told how 'European' fighters also took part in the sick trade 
• Hundreds of Yazidi women have been captured, kept as sex slaves by ISIS

By OWEN HOLDAWAY IN DOHUK, IRAQ FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 13:29 GMT, 7 July 2015 | UPDATED: 19:00 GMT, 7 July 2015

Migration: Are more people on the move than ever before?

BBC
By Paul Adams
BBC News - 28 May 2015
From the sectionWorld

From the Mediterranean to the Andaman, it's been a season of despair, the faces of migrants haunting television screens and dominating headlines.

There Have Never Been More Displaced People Across the World Than Now

TIME

Helen Regan @hcregan 4:48 AM ET

Laughing at their own cruelty, ISIS fighters revel in the misery they bring as they force desperate Syrians to turn back from the Turkish border as they try to flee Islamic State territory

• Armed ISIS terrorists forced thousands of desperate Syrian refugees to abandon an escape to freedom at gunpoint 
• The men, women and children carried everything they could as they shuffled up to the Tal Abyad border crossing
• But many were forced to return after laughing fighters rounded up the refugees and marched them back into Syria 

By JENNIFER NEWTON and EMMA GLANFIELD FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 09:23 GMT, 15 June 2015 | UPDATED: 11:58 GMT, 15 June 2015

Thousands flee Ramadi on foot, by trailer and even on a WHEELBARROW as desperate Iraqi government asks for volunteers to fight alongside its army as it bids to reclaim the city from ISIS

• Residents are fleeing Ramadi in the thousands following its capture by ISIS
• Desperate refugees are using any means necessary to reach Baghdad
• Iraqi PM says recruitment drive is needed to bolster its shattered army
• Cabinet also threatened 'harsh penalties' for troops who abandoned city
• U.S. considers accelerated training and extra weapons for militia groups

By SIMON TOMLINSON and COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 07:26 GMT, 20 May 2015 | UPDATED: 22:07 GMT, 20 May 2015

Dubai goes green! Plans unveiled for ambitious Sustainable City in the desert with a 100% solar-powered hotel, organic farms, recycled water and a grass amphitheatre

• Intercontinental Hotels Group set to launch Hotel Indigo in Dubai's new eco-resort
• As well as being powered entirely by solar energy, hotel will recycle all waste water
• Diamond Developers, who head the project, describe Indigo as 'perfect brand for new community'

By JOHN HUTCHINSON FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 08:26 GMT, 20 May 2015 | UPDATED: 09:48 GMT, 20 May 2015

Jerusalem's underground city of the dead: Israel begins $50million construction of vast catacombs with 22,000 crypts and elevators as city runs out of cemetery plots

• Construction has begun on huge cemetery, to be built beneath a mountain
• The $50million network of tunnels will provide another 22,000 burial plots
• It offers a solution for Israel, which is struggling to find room for its burials

By COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 08:30 GMT, 20 May 2015 | UPDATED: 09:37 GMT, 20 May 2015