Exclusive: Turkey to deploy troops inside Syria’s Idlib
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday Turkey will deploy troops in Syria’s northern Idlib region as part of a so-called de-escalation agreement brokered by Russia last month.The “de-escalation” zones, agreed by Turkey, Russia and Iran, would be further discussed in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his trip to Ankara next week, Erdogan […]
Tillerson, Russia’s Lavrov discuss Syria, Ukraine, Middle East
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussed cooperation on the Syrian crisis, Middle East issues, and the agreement to bring peace to Ukraine in a meeting on Sunday, Lavrov’s spokeswoman said.Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said “the meeting was on cooperation in Syria crisis, Middle East issues and Minsk agreement”. No […]
Syria: Russia denies airstrike that wounded six US-backed fighters
The Russian military denied claims on Sunday that it struck a US-backed force in eastern Syria, wounding six fighters.The Kurdish-led and US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Saturday that its fighters had been hit in the airstrike near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour in an industrial area that had recently been liberated from […]
Syrian Army Crosses Euphrates River East of Deir Ez-Zor as Part of Anti-Daesh Op
Syrian troops forced a crossing over the Euphrates river east of Deir ez-Zor on Monday as a part of an operation to clear the city’s outskirts from Daesh terrorists, a Sputnik correspondent and Russian military reported.”The squadrons of the Syrian government troops, strengthened by units of the fourth rank division with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces conducted a […]
Russian MoD Denies Pentagon Allegations It Hit US-Backed Rebels in Syria
The Russian Defense Ministry denied on Sunday the Pentagon’s allegations that Russian jets had attacked the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor.Russian aircraft in Syria target only the positions of the terrorist group Daesh, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said, commenting on the claims that Russia bombed a target near Deir […]
Erdogan threatens new attack in northern Syria
Turkey will launch a new cross-border military operation into Syria if its national security is threatened by Daesh, Kurdish militants and political turmoil in Syria and Iraq. “We will take all necessary measures accordingly. We are ready,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. “They should know that whatever we did during Operation Euphrates Shield, […]
Syria may be in ruins, but it looks like Assad ‘has won the war militarily’
In southern Syria’s chilly late winter of 2011, a scrap of schoolboy graffiti that read “Your turn, Doctor” — a mocking call for the ouster of President Bashar Assad — helped spark a ferocious civil war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced. Now, there is a growing diplomatic consensus that Assad, […]
Mattis: ISIS militants caught in Iraq-Syria military vise
Expelled from their main stronghold in northern Iraq, Islamic State militants are now trapped in a military vise that will squeeze them on both sides of the Syria-Iraq border, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said. Mattis arrived in the Iraqi capital on an unannounced visit Tuesday just hours after President Donald Trump outlined a fresh […]
Armored US combat vehicles have been spotted pouring into Syria
Photos and video footage that surfaced on Twitter and YouTube this week appear to show a convoy of flatbed trucks loaded with U.S.-made MRAP, M-ATVs, and up-armored bulldozers in Syria, Military Times reports . The Kurdish activists who posted the images on social media on July 18 claim the convoy was bound for the […]
Syria war: Trump ‘ends CIA arms programme for rebels’
US President Donald Trump has ended the CIA’s clandestine programme to provide weapons and supplies to Syrian rebel groups, officials have said. The programme began in 2013 as Mr Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, decided to put pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to stand down. The decision to halt it was made almost a month ago, […]