Recent News

By Region: Middle East

Insight: Assad chemical weapons plans blocked by Moscow

(Reuters) – Increasingly under pressure by rebels intent on unseating him, Bashar al-Assad has considered using chemical weapons against his enemies but Washington and Moscow have formed an unlikely alliance to force him to abandon such plans. Analysts and diplomats across the region and beyond do not doubt that the Assad government, recoiling from a Read More »

July 24, 2012
| Filed under Europe, Middle East, North America, Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, and International
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Syrian army bombards Aleppo as rebels attempt to ‘liberate’ Old City

(The National) BEIRUT // Rebels fought regime forces at the gates of Aleppo’s ancient Old City yesterday in a battle for control of Syria’s commercial hub. Residents and opposition activists said the army was bombarding several quarters of Aleppo with artillery and mortars as helicopter gunships flew overhead. Troops and rebels clashed in Bab Al Read More »

July 24, 2012
| Filed under Middle East, North America, and Biological Weapons
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UN, OIE call for more controls on rinderpest virus

(AFP) ROME — The UN’s food agency and the OIE called on countries on Monday to comply with a 2011 global moratorium and destroy potentially dangerous rinderpest virus samples or put them into safe storage. The deadly animal virus, which caused cattle plague, was the second viral disease in history to be wiped out after Read More »

July 24, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, and Policy & Initiatives
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CIA joins the hunt for Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons

(The Telegraph) With the days and weeks of the Syrian government appearing numbered, the Central Intelligence Agency is scrambling to get a handle on the locations of the country’s chemical and biological weapons, while assessing the composition, loyalties, and background of the rebel groups poised to take power in the event President Bashar al-Assad falls.

July 23, 2012
| Filed under Europe, Middle East, North America, and Biological Weapons
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Syria admits having bio weapons

(Belfast Telegraph) Syria has threatened to use its chemical and biological weapons in case of a foreign attack, the first time it has admitted having weapons of mass destruction. The Foreign Ministry said it would not use its the arms against its own citizens. The announcement came as Syria faces international isolation, a tenacious rebellion Read More »