Humanitarian Aid

BEIRUT — Syrian troops backed by Hezbollah fighters pressed forward with their offensive in the country's opposition-held heartland on Friday, taking two small villages and entering a third near a strategic town that was captured by the government earlier this week, while the U.N. asked donor countries for $5.2 billion in humanitarian aid as it predicted the number of refugees could more than double by the end of the year. Buoyed by Wednesday's victory in the strategic town of Qusair,...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration hopes its decision to give lethal aid to Syrian rebels will prompt other nations to beef up assistance, now that the U.S. has cited evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people. But the international reaction Friday ranged from flat-out disbelief of the U.S. intelligence assessments to calls for negotiation before more weapons pour into the vicious civil war. The administration now says it has "high confidence" that President Bashar...

ROME — The Obama administration announced Thursday that it will seize a small chunk of the billions of dollars in frozen Libyan assets in U.S. institutions and use it for humanitarian aid in Libya, in what officials called a fresh signal to the country's leader, Moammar Gaddafi, that his resources are imperiled. The move was disclosed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a meeting here of Arab and NATO countries, which was called to show support for Libyan rebels, who have been trying to topple Gaddafi for...

BEIRUT — Syrian troops backed by Hezbollah fighters pressed forward with their offensive in the country's opposition-held heartland on Friday, taking two small villages and entering a third near a strategic town that was captured by the government earlier this week, while the U.N. asked donor countries for $5.2 billion in humanitarian aid as it predicted the number of refugees could more than double by the end of the year. Buoyed by Wednesday's victory in the strategic town of Qusair,...

The United States and its European allies are considering the use of naval assets to deliver humanitarian aid to Libya and to block arms shipments to the government of Moammar Gaddafi, even as they weigh the legality of imposing a no-fly zone without United Nations authorization, according to U.S. and European officials. NATO military officials began briefing governments Tuesday night on a range of options that will be presented to defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday. The Obama...

The 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq has prompted plenty of analysis of the mistakes made there, along with a few tendentious claims that "the same people" who supported war in Iraq are now pressing for U.S. intervention in Syria. I'm one of those people. So, to paraphrase the polemicists : Did I learn nothing from the last decade? Do I want to repeat the Iraq "fiasco"? Let's start with the second question. Iraq was unquestionably costly and painful to the United States — in dollars, in political comity...

The leader of a military coup in the West African country of Mali received military training in the United States on "several" occasions, a U.S. defense official said Friday. Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo, who led a renegade military faction that on Thursday deposed Mali's democratically elected president, visited the United States several times to receive professional military education, including basic officer training, said Patrick Barnes, a U.S. Africa Command official based in Washington.

Last week, a heavily armed rebel militia, M23, took control of the eastern Congolese city of Goma, the economic center and capital of the country's North Kivu province. Unfortunately, to those of us who work in eastern Congo , the only surprise in this turn of events was how little attention it received. Two years ago, almost to the day, I wrote in The Post about the bloodiest war since World War II and its continued toll on the Congolese people. From 1998 to 2003, eight African nations fought on Congolese soil,...

ALEPPO, Syria — In the heart of rebel-held territory in Syria's northern province of Aleppo, a small group of intrepid Westerners is undertaking a mission of great stealth. Living anonymously in a small rural community, they travel daily in unmarked cars, braving airstrikes, shelling and the threat of kidnapping to deliver food and other aid to needy Syrians — all of it paid for by the U.S. government. So secretive is the operation, however, that almost none of the Syrians who receive the help are aware of its American...

A few clarifications need to be made with regard to Ignacio Sosa's Sept. 11 op-ed column, "Cuba's Katrina. " Mr. Sosa wrote that the United States is only pledging $100,000 in aid. This is the initial funding until a team from the U.S. Agency for International Development team can get on the ground and assess the damage, which will provide the basis for increased aid. The United States sent assessment teams, as is standard procedure after a...

ALEPPO, Syria — In the heart of rebel-held territory in Syria's northern province of Aleppo, a small group of intrepid Westerners is undertaking a mission of great stealth. Living anonymously in a small rural community, they travel daily in unmarked cars, braving airstrikes, shelling and the threat of kidnapping to deliver food and other aid to needy Syrians — all of it paid for by the U.S. government. So secretive is the operation, however, that almost none of the Syrians who receive the help are aware of its American origins.

The 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq has prompted plenty of analysis of the mistakes made there, along with a few tendentious claims that "the same people" who supported war in Iraq are now pressing for U.S. intervention in Syria. I'm one of those people. So, to paraphrase the polemicists : Did I learn nothing from the last decade? Do I want to repeat the Iraq "fiasco"? Let's start with the second question. Iraq was unquestionably costly and painful to the United States — in dollars, in political comity and,...

The Obama administration is moving toward a major policy shift on Syria that could provide rebels there with equipment such as body armor and armored vehicles, and possibly military training, and could send humanitarian assistance directly to Syria's opposition political coalition, according to U.S. and European officials. The administration has not provided direct aid to the military or political side of the opposition throughout the two-year-old conflict, and U.S. officials remain opposed to...

IT MIGHT seem as though the horrors of Syria, where more than 60,000 people have died violently in the last 22 months, could not grow worse. Yet steadily, week by week, they do. One measure is the refu­gee flows : In the past month more than 30,000 people have fled to neighboring Jordan alone, threatening to overwhelm an already unstable monarchy. More than 200,000 Syrians are now in Lebanon , 150,000 in Turkey and 75,000 in Iraq , according to the United Nations.

Planning for the day after the anticipated fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has become a race against time that many proponents of a pluralistic, democratic Syria fear they are losing. In Washington, Istanbul and elsewhere, opposition activists and their supporters are establishing databases and drafting the outlines of an interim structure to govern Syria until something more permanent can take its place. But even those who have been working on the plans doubt they will...

BEIRUT — For months, the Lebanese government has tried to remain neutral on the conflict in neighboring Syria. But the passions unleashed by what is happening next door are proving harder and harder for Lebanon to contain, adding to concerns that it, too, could become enmeshed in the bloodshed. In the latest turn, a Lebanese parliamentarian, Oqab Sakr, has been implicated in a plan to arm Syrian opposition fighters in their battle against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

BEIRUT — For months, the Lebanese government has tried to remain neutral on the conflict in neighboring Syria. But the passions unleashed by what is happening next door are proving harder and harder for Lebanon to contain, adding to concerns that it, too, could become enmeshed in the bloodshed. In the latest turn, a Lebanese parliamentarian, Oqab Sakr, has been implicated in a plan to arm Syrian opposition fighters in their battle against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

NAIROBI -- U.N. officials on Wednesday ratcheted up their criticism of U.S. policy in Somalia, declaring that recent restrictions intended to prevent al-Qaeda-linked Somali Islamists from gaining strength are holding up humanitarian aid to some of the world's most desperate people. In recent months, the United States has withheld millions of dollars in funding to Somalia, citing concern that some humanitarian aid was being diverted to al-Shabab, an insurgent group that Washington deems a...

Last week, a heavily armed rebel militia, M23, took control of the eastern Congolese city of Goma, the economic center and capital of the country's North Kivu province. Unfortunately, to those of us who work in eastern Congo , the only surprise in this turn of events was how little attention it received. Two years ago, almost to the day, I wrote in The Post about the bloodiest war since World War II and its continued toll on the Congolese people. From 1998 to 2003, eight African nations fought on Congolese soil, killing millions,...