syriastew.com

The belief that Iraqi refugees have money seems a  prevalent idea in Syria.  One man even confided to me his theory that many Iraqis in Syria were looters that had brought platinum bars into Syria which they use to live very nice lifestyles in Damascus.
The truth is that most Iraqis are not wealthy.  They are […]

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Syria hosts the largest number of Iraqi refugees, but stringent new visa requirements have all but barred most Iraqis from fleeing the violence at home. The only Iraqi citizens that will be issued Syrian visas are those on official business or truck and taxi drivers. The New York Times reports.

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Lebanon asked the UN to stop Syria from shipping illegal arms into Lebanon:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hP1nzvAyhwFBGWaFNv2Bl7huxn7w
A UN tribunal of the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri could be in the works:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=85920
The son of a slain anti-Syrian leader calls to China and Russia to help prevent interference in Lebanese presidential election:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/09/news/UN-GEN-UN-Lebanon.php

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A North Korean official is leaving for meetings with Syria and Italy, adding fuel to the fire in the international community that the two are partners in nuclear development inside Syria.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/13/asia/AS-GEN-NKorea-Syria.php

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Several leading US analysts think Syria should attend the Mid-East peace conference which will be held in Annapolis, Maryland in November:
http://www.prospectsforpeace.com/2007/10/bipartisan_foreign_policy_lead.html
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/121764.html
Syria says it won’t go unless the discussion involves the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 war:
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/104610.html
Meanwhile, Syrians living in the Golan Heights cannot see their family members living in Syria:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/1f3234e3df63d876504d22cdbea6dda1.htm 

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I visited Syria in September 2007. The streets of Damascus were improbably full at all hours, finding a taxi was as difficult as hailing one in Manhattan, and budget hotels were booked. In 8 days, I stayed in 4 different hotels.
Why?
Iraqi refugees.
Syria hosts the largest number of Iraqi refugees of any country. Up to […]

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Both Andrew Tabler and Joshua Landis have people discussing Syrian/Mid-East issues on their blogs:
www.joshualandis.com
www.andrewtabler.com
Lonely Planet has an active discussion board about travel in Syria:
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/categories.cfm?catid=18&iCountryId=81
Yahoo News UK has active mid-east discussion board with references to Syria:
http://uk.messages.news.yahoo.com/World_Regions/forumview?bn=UKN-REG-Middle+East
http://uk.messages.news.yahoo.com/World_Regions/threadview?m=tm&bn=UKN-REG-Middle+East&tid=34357&mid=34357&tof=17&frt=2
Creative Syria also has people discussing Syria:
http://www.creativesyria.com/syrianbloggers/

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1. Two blogs, one by a journalist working in Syria and another by an American professor:
www.joshualandis.com/blog
www.andrewtabler.com
2. New organizations:
news.yahoo.com
www.ap.org
www.time-blog/middle_east
www.bbc.co.uk (middle east news page)
www.irinnews.org
www.english.aljazeera.net
www.syria-news.com
www.syria-today.com (independently produced English-language on-line magazine)
mideastwire.com

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There are several “hot topics” right now in Syria. Here are a few I expect to be following over the quarter:
1. Syria has until recently accepted up to 30,000 Iraqi refugees a month. But the Sryian government has clamped down on the influx. Where will the refugees go?
http://voanews.com/english/2007-10-05-voa35.cfm
2. Israel attacked a target in […]

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