Russia-Turkey-Iran summit on Syria
The Russian, Turkish and Iranian presidents are scheduled to meet on Syria in February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday. “An agreement has been preliminarily reached and there is a basic understanding of holding the next summit next month,” Lavrov said at a joint press conference with his Kazakh counterpart Beibut Atamkulov. He did […]
THE ‘RUSSIAN BEAR’S’ JUGGLING ACT IN SYRIA
“The Russian estimate about Syria was wrong from the beginning but the military convinced Putin that it would be a very quick operation.” former Kremlin adviser Alexander Nekrassov said. Russia stormed back into the Middle East in 2015 riding a proverbial high-horse to the rescue of Bashar al-Assad’s then-crumbling regime in Syria. More than three […]
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 […]