@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Noto+Sans:400,700&subset=latin-ext');
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Noto+Serif:400,700&subset=latin-ext');
.undoreset td {
border-spacing: 0 !important;
}
.tab
{
margin-left: 40px;
}
body {
width: 100% !important;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;
-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
html,
body {
margin: 0 auto !important;
padding: 0 !important;
height: 100% !important;
width: 100% !important;
background: #ffffff;
font-family: 'Noto Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
}
body,
td,
input,
textarea,
select {
font-family: 'Noto Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
}
.fallback-font {
font-family: 'Noto Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
-webkit-padding-start: auto;
}
.fallback-font-serif {
font-family: 'Noto Serif', 'Times New Roman', serif;
}
* {
-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;
}
table,
td {
mso-table-lspace: 0pt !important;
mso-table-rspace: 0pt !important;
line-height: normal;
}
table {
border-spacing: 0;
border-collapse: collapse;
table-layout: fixed;
margin: 0 auto;
font-family: 'Noto Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
}
table table {
table-layout: auto;
}
img {
-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic;
}
.yshortcuts a {
border-bottom: none !important;
}
a[x-apple-data-detectors],
a[href^=tel] {
color: inherit !important;
text-decoration: underline !important;
}
.border-top {
border-top: 2px solid #111;
}
.related-stories {
color: #000;
}
/*@media only screen and (max-width: 640px) {
.email-container, .email-container table, .email-container tr, .email-container td, .email-container img {
width: 100%;
}
}*/
@media only screen and (max-width: 640px) {
.fallback-width {
width: 100%;
}
.fallback-width-sm {
width: 90%;
}
.fallback-width-auto {
width: auto;
}
.fallback-width-half {
width: 40%;
}
}
| |
1. In Syria, eyes on Putin’s next move
‘Acutely vulnerable’: UN Syria envoy Geir Pedersen has called for a nationwide cease-fire in Syria in response to the first reported case of COVID-19 in Syria. The Syrian government this week acknowledged its first five cases of coronavirus, some or all of them originating in Iran. In response, the government has shut down public transportation; closed schools, restaurants, parks and most public institutions; and implemented a curfew. The border with Lebanon is closed. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad decreed a wide-ranging amnesty, allowing for the release of many prisoners from jails to prevent the spread of the virus.
Pedersen said Syrians are “acutely vulnerable” to a widespread outbreak. Syria’s health sector is in disrepair after nine years of war. There is steady traffic from Iran to Syria; Iran’s Mahan Air is still flying to Damascus, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sends its people and supplies across the border from Iraq. In areas outside of government control, there are 6.2 million internally displaced people in Syria — the largest of any country in the world. The Syrian offensive in Idlib alone generated another 900,000 displaced Syrians, who are living in crowded and miserable conditions.
Syrian Kurds accept cease-fire, implement lockdown: With the Syrian government announcement, the autonomous Kurdish region in northeast Syria imposed its own lockdown, curfew and cancellation of school and public events, while sealing its borders, except for humanitarian and medical deliveries. The region has only 16 hospitals and 11 adult respirators. “The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) calls on all parties of the Syrian conflict to refrain from any military initiatives or actions,” the SDF said in a statement March 24. The primarily Kurdish SDF, which partnered with the US-led coalition in Syria to fight the Islamic State, is seeking a “humanitarian” truce. Amberin Zaman and our staff have the reports here and here.
Turkey weighs next move: The main adversary of the SDF is Turkey, not the Syrian government. Turkey sent its forces and proxies into northeast Syria in October 2019 to both neutralize the threat from Syrian Kurds, which Ankara considers terrorists, and establish a safe zone to transfer some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees. The SDF has since had its own understanding with Damascus. Meanwhile, Turkey’s forces and proxies have again shut down the water supply to the northeastern city of Hasakah and other areas under Kurdish control, as Zaman explains here. | | | |
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
