Protection of Civilians

More than 3,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan during 2011, the deadliest year on record for residents of the war-torn country, according to a UN report.

A total of 3,021 civilians died last year, up eight per cent from 2,790, the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Saturday in its annual report. The toll marked the fifth year in a row that the number of civilian deaths had increased.

JOHANNESBURG, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) - The belief that the end is nigh for Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) - a small but ruthless transnational armed group operating in four African states - underestimates its resilience and overestimates the unity and capability of the forces ranged against it, say analysts. 

The Obama administration's recently released Defense Strategic Guidance has officially brought the COIN era to a close. But debates over counterinsurgency's accomplishments in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its role in America's future national security posture show no sign of letting up. Steven Metz, Bing West, Michael Mazarr, Crispin Burke and Andrew Exum examine lessons learned and the path ahead for COIN.

ISTANBUL — In his most blatant criticism yet of Syria’s political repression, the prime minister of Turkey said for the first time on Tuesday that the Syrian president should resign, raising the pressure on him from a country that Syria had once counted as its friendliest neighbor and economic partner.

The Arab League has offered the government of Bashar al-Assad three more days to stop violence or else face economic sanctions after a previous deadline for Syria to act passed on Wednesday.

The announcement followed the regional bloc's foreign ministers meeting in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, to decide their next move after Assad ignored the ultimatum issued on Saturday.  The Arab League is "giving the Syrian government three days to stop the bloody repression" of its civilian population, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, the Qatari foreign minister, said in Rabat.