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Geopolitics

As Death Toll Rises In Syria, Assad Says Things Are 'Better'

ADDOUNIA TV (Syria), AL ARABIYA (UAE), LE MONDE (France)

Worldcrunch

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the situation in Syria is getting "better," although his government needs more time to "win the battle" against rebels trying to overthrow him.

Al-Assad was speaking in an exclusive interview with the Syrian pro-government TV station Addounia, which will be broadcast Wednesday night; however, excerpts were released this morning (with English subtitles):

Attempting to quell rumors of his whereabouts since the July bombing that killed four of his top regime officials, Assad asserted he was speaking from the presidential palace in Damascus.

Assad also dismissed the prospect of a UN-sanctioned no-fly zone: "It will not happen and even the foreign countries that are against us know it's not possible."

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and France’s President François Hollande are spearheading the proposal for a buffer zone.

Hollande declared Monday that he would recognize a provisional Syrian government as soon as it has been established, and urged rebel leaders to try to do so, reports Le Monde.

Al-Assad's comments come as fighting continues in Damascus and Syria's second-city Aleppo. Opposition groups on Tuesday told reporters they had found up to 400 bodies in the town of Daraya, Al Arabiya reports, in what appears to be the worst massacre since fighting broke out in the country 17 months ago. The Syrian government is in-turn blaming rebels and terrorists for carrying out the massacre.

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Society

Why Every New Parent Should Travel Alone Without Their Children

Argentine journalist Ignacio Pereyra travels to Italy alone to do some paperwork as his family stays behind. While he walks alone around Rome, he experiences mixed feelings: freedom, homesickness and nostalgia, and wonders what leads people to desire larger families.

Photo of a man sitting donw with his luggage at Athens' airport

Alone at Athens' international airport

Ignacio Pereyra

I realize it in the morning before leaving: I feel a certain level of excitement about traveling. It feels like enthusiasm, although it is confusing. I will go from Athens to Naples to see if I can finish the process for my Italian citizenship, which I started five years ago.

I started the process shortly after we left Buenos Aires, when my partner Irene and I had been married for two years and the idea of having children was on the vague but near horizon.

Now there are four of us and we have been living in Greece for more than two years. We arrived here in the middle of the pandemic, which left a mark on our lives, as in the lives of most of the people I know.

But now it is Sunday morning. I tell Lorenzo, my four-year-old son, that I am leaving for a few days: “No, no, Dad. You can’t go. Otherwise I’ll throw you into the sea.”

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