Tag: Syria

  • Americans Retreat, Turks Invade, Syrians Return, Kurds Die

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    I did not have a lot of time to cover this story last week. So let us try to get into it a little bit today. The New York Times published this morning an article about what is next for Syria, titling the online version 4 Big Questions About Syria’s Future. So I went with…

  • Where Syria Struck with Chemical Weapons

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Friday night the US, UK, and France struck targets in Syria that play a role in the chemical weapons programme of the Bashir al-Assad regime. This is despite “eliminating” his chemical weapons several years ago. And so not surprisingly the media this past weekend covered Syria and the airstrikes. This print piece from the New…

  • The Shrinking Extent of ISIS

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Yes, ISIS does receive a lot of attention in the media and during the presidential debates. But you might be surprised to learn that actually the organisation has lost a significant amount of territory lately. This BBC article details the territorial changes through a nice interactive map slider. You could create a single map showing…

  • Syria’s Refugees

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    We go from one crisis to another, as we go back to Syria. This piece from Bloomberg is very nicely designed and is almost entirely in black and white. We often think that because computer, everything needs to be in a rainbow of shiny, shiny colours. But here we have places where the designers smartly…

  • Making Sense of the Syrian Civil War

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Well, I mean trying to is this piece by the Washington Post. Included are several diagrams at key phases of the conflict that attempt to show how the various parties interacted with each other. Ultimately the key takeaway is that Syria is a mess and it is not getting any better. So let’s just add…

  • Organising and Structuring ISIS

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Yesterday we looked at the Russian sale of advanced surface-to-air missiles to Iran. Let’s stay in the Middle East and look at one of the forces that Iran—among many others, the US included—is fighting: ISIS, or Islamic State.  We all know it from its ruthless, zealous, brutal application of Islamic law to the territories it…

  • How ISIS Got This Far

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    The Washington Post is also helping us understand the spread of ISIS. This time a bit more interactively than we have seen from the Times. This is a step-by-step (ish) explanation. Though, I quibble with the decision to link cities by dotted lines. That can create the illusion that ISIS fighters moved directly from city…

  • The Spread of ISIS

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    ISIS is the main militant group threatening Iraq (and Syria) these days. The New York Times put together a nice graphic showing how in recent years the group has grown ever more violent by launching ever more attacks within Iraq. Of course, the other country of ISIS operations is Syria, where it has been involved…

  • Iraq. Again.

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Well, Iraq is in the news again. Basically because the Islamist insurgency in Syria has now crossed the border—to be fair, though, that happened awhile back—and taken control over swathes of northern Iraq. Part of that swath includes the city of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city with a population of almost 2 million. The New York…

  • Syrian Anti-tank Missiles

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Rebels in Syria have recently acquired American-made anti-tank missiles. But for those who don’t know how exactly the TOW missile system works, the Washington Post illustrated it. In theory, these weapons will give the rebels an advantage over Syrian armour. Credit for the piece goes to Richard Johnson.