The Syrian government is negotiating with rebels to release 12 nuns seized earlier this month from a convent north of Damascus, the Associated Press quoted two activists during the weekend. The rebels are demanding that hundreds of imprisoned women activists be freed in exchange for the nuns, they said. A spokesman for the rebel brigade Read more
A sharia committee in the rebel-held region of the Syrian city of Aleppo has banned croissants as symbols of “colonial” oppression. Syria is a former French colony, so some there apparently associate this culinary symbol of Frenchness with France and with imperialism more generally. They specifically targeted croissants, al-Arabiya reports, because the pastry’s “crescent shape Read more