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Former Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi: I resigned in protest
By Henry Hullah,
Once Special Envoy to Syria for the Arab League and the U.N., Lakhdar Brahimi left his post on May 14th of this year.
He went out with a bang, telling Amanpour he resigned in protesting f the world’s refusal to act in Syria.
“I resigned because I was getting nowhere and it was the only way for me to protest the total inattention of the international community and the region to the situation in Syria”
It was a move that echoed the resignation of Former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford in February.
“I was no longer in a position where I felt I could defend the American policy”, said Ford just last week.
Syria jihadist training ‘worst since Afghanistan in 1980s’
By Mick Krever, CNN
The volume for foreign fighters seeking to battle jihad in Syria is “more significant than every other instance of foreign fighter mobilization since the Afghanistan war in the 1980s,” the International Center for the Study of Radicalization claims.
“What’s happening right now in Syria is truly profound,” Peter Neumann, director of the center, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.
“The old al Qaeda, I believe, is no longer that relevant. In five years’ time we may well be talking about a different kind of organization, and one that like Afghanistan in the 1980s has been created in Syria.”
Western powers are scrambling to deal with the very real national security blowback that is emerging from the Syrian civil war, now in its fourth year.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford: I could no longer ‘defend the American policy’
By Mick Krever, CNN
The Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria, who left his post just a month ago, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that he could no longer stand behind his government.
“I was no longer in a position where I felt I could defend the American policy,” he said. “We have been unable to address either the root causes of the conflict in terms of the fighting on the ground and the balance on the ground, and we have a growing extremism threat.”
Ford left Syria in February 2012 amid the escalating civil war. He remained ambassador until earlier this year; the embassy has been extremely active on social media.
Syria is holding presidential elections on Tuesday, but ballots are only being cast in areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad, and his only two opponents were government-approved.
“There really is nothing we can point to that’s been very successful in our policy except the removal of about ninety-three percent of some of Assad’s chemical materials. But now he’s using chlorine gas against his opponents.”
Is Assad's re-election a done deal?
Syrians around the world are casting their early ballots in a presidential election scheduled for this Tuesday. For months there has been a growing sense that the tide is turning in Bashar al-Assad’s favor.
As Middle East correspondent for National Public Radio, Deborah Amos has reported extensively on Syria from inside and out. She joined CNN’s Hala Gorani, sitting in for Christiane Amanpour, for an election preview.
Click above to watch the interview in full.
Turkey: Deterrence failing, Ukraine crisis partly result of Syria inaction
By Mick Krever, CNN
The international community’s decision not to intervene in Syria is directly linked to the crisis in Ukraine, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
“Psychologically and also strategically, let me say, there is a link between the inability of international community to stop this bloodshed in Syria on the situation in Ukraine.”
"The deterrence of international community has been deteriorating in last three years," he said.
“So you think,” Amanpour said, “the deterrence has been deteriorating because of Syria over the last three years.”
“Yeah, of course,” he responded.
Assad challenger: Opposition or cover for regime?
By Mick Krever, CNN
The task: Challenge a dictator in the middle of a devastating civil war that has killed well over 100,000 people.
That’s what facing the two candidates running against Bashar al-Assad in Syria; the government announced elections due to take place on June 3.
“I hope Assad will go and I will take his position,” Hassan al-Nouri, one of the two approved candidates, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday. “This is why I'm running for this election.”
Maybe so, but pre-war elections in Syria have usually been nothing more than a simple referendum on Assad’s rule.
“Let me tell you, this is Syria,” he told Amanpour. “In Syria, we have a constitution [which requires] a new presidential election 60 days before the end of the current president's time.”
“And I do believe that this is our right; this is our freedom. We own our decisions. This is a national decision.”
UN: Homs deal could be replicated
The deal between the Syrian government and opposition to turn the long-contested city of Homs over to Assad forces has “the potential of actually be replicated elsewhere,” Yacoub El Hillo, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
"Homs is an experiment that needs to be studied carefully, he said. “I think it’s always the case when Syrians are able to sit together, and agree to discuss the problem – and it’s a big one – there is always a possibility of reaching a solution.”
After a brutal three-year siege, residents of Homs are returning to utter devastation.
Homs was ground zero in the revolution, but the government won back the city last week, when it offered to bus the rebels out with the government looking on.
“At the end of the day there is no victor, no winner. This cost of this conflict is too high for anyone to claim victory, frankly speaking.”
But it is critical to stem the killing and return some normalcy to civilians, he said.
“I think there is a lot that can be drawn from the Homs experiment. And I do hope that the Syrians – because after all this is a Syrian-Syrian affair – they will choose to see if this can be applied elsewhere.”
Click above to watch Amanpour’s full interview with El Hillo.
Kofi Annan: I wish Nigeria action had come sooner
By Mick Krever, CNN
Action by the Nigerian government and international partners to go after the group that has held more than 200 girls captive in that country should have come sooner, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
“I think the government should do all it can to get the girls free,” he said, “and I’m very happy that the U.S., the U.K., and other governments are teaming up with Nigeria to resolve this issue.”
“I wish this had happened earlier, but it is happening, and the Nigerian people are also demanding action.”
Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls last month, and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has come under fire after waiting three weeks to publicly acknowledge the kidnappings.
The Nigerian government also now accepted U.S. and British offers of assistance, officials with those governments said.
The kidnapping, Annan said, are “abominable.”
“It is something that should not be happening in modern-day Africa.”
Annan is uniquely placed to address the issue.
Dutch priest killed in Syria
For decades, Father Frans offered sanctuary to many in Syria. He was killed this week in Syria.
CNN's Arwa Damon reports.
Ancient tragedy gives hope to Syrians
At the Za'atari Refugee Camp in Jordan, an ancient tragedy is giving hope to Syria's tragic generation today.
Christiane Amanpour reports – and draws on her own experience, watching a production of “Hair” in war-torn Bosnia, in 1993.
@camanpour on Twitter
