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Syria post Israel-Iran Conflict
The June Conflict Between Israel and Iran: Consequences for Syria and Future Implications The June 2025 escalation between Israel and Iran marked one of the most intense confrontations between the two regional adversaries in recent years. While the direct clash remained largely between Israeli and Iranian forces, Syria once again found itself entangled in the…
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Israel strikes sites in Iran
What happened on June 12–13, 2025 Syria’s Role & Its Relationship with Israel & Iran Summary The June 12–13 strikes mark a dramatic escalation in the shadow war, combining covert (Mossad drones, covert targeting) and overt airstrikes to inflict serious damage on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure—and eliminate key leadership. Iran retaliated in kind, largely…
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USAID funding for Syria radically reduced
USAID’s Role in Syria Before 2025 🚨 Major Cuts in Early 2025 📌 Immediate Impact in Syria 🔄 Partial Reversal by April 2025 🧭 Summary Period Action Syria-Specific Impact Pre-2025 USAID heavily funded Syria (food, health, White Helmets, investigations) >$465M/year, >$18B since 2012 Jan–Mar 2025 Freeze → review → mass program cancellations >$126M aid cut;…
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HTS role in Post-Assad Syria
Following the resignation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the role of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria is expected to evolve significantly. HTS, an extremist group primarily based in the northwestern Idlib province, has been one of the most powerful factions operating in Syria during the ongoing civil war. It emerged from the al-Qaeda-linked group…
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Syrian rebels topple Assad who flees to Russia in Mideast shakeup
Syrian rebels seized the capital Damascus unopposed on Sunday after a lightning advance that sent President Bashar al-Assad fleeing to Russia after a 13-year civil war and six decades of his family’s autocratic rule. In one of the biggest turning points for the Middle East in generations, the fall of Assad’s government wiped out a bastion from which Iran…
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United in faith: Iraqis celebrate the Feast of Cross
A historic moment in Erbil, northern Iraq. In Ankawa, a suburb of the capital city of Iraqi Kurdistan located in the north of the country, hundreds of Christians are participating in the Feast of the Cross, which began on Monday 9 September and will continue until Friday. The joyous event is marked by high hopes…
Acero Advocate
Middle-East Outreach with Nadia Cavner
Ten years ago, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launched a campaign of mass atrocities to achieve the religious and ethnic cleansing of Yazidis, Assyrian-Chaldean-Syriac Christians, Shi’a and Sunni Muslim Turkmens, Shabaks, and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria. In 2016, the U.S. State Department determined ISIS’s atrocities against Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’a Muslims constituted crimes against humanity and genocide. In 2019, an international coalition defeated ISIS’s last territorial hold in Iraq and Syria. However, ten years on, survivors face multiple threats to their religious freedom, security, and existence within their homelands.
Jamileh Naso, President, Canadian Yazidi Association; Nadia Cavner, Philanthropist and Advocate for Assyrians; and Dr. Ali Akram Albayati, Co-Founder, Turkmen Rescue Foundation join USCIRF Senior Policy Analyst Susan Bishai to discuss religious minorities’ ongoing struggles to rebuild in the region.
The Assyrian Church of the East Relief Organization (ACERO)
ACERO is the international aid agency of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. They serve as a lifeline for Assyrians facing hardship throughout the Middle East and beyond, and they are passionately supported by church members and allies across the world. Nadia’s fierce and unrelenting support of ACERO and their much-needed work continues to make an impact in the lives of thousands of people every year.
For centuries, Assyrians have called this region home. However, ongoing conflicts and persecution have forced many to flee their homes, live as refugees, or face desperate poverty. ACERO steps in to provide essential aid, ensuring families have access to food, water, shelter, medical care, and education.
Nadia Cavner
Advocate & Activist