Syria - Page 91

The federal case against an Air Force veteran accused of trying to join the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) is a “fantasy,” the defendant’s attorney argues during trial.

Contents: Bulldozers bury the ‘Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais France; Russian and Syrian war crimes are ‘weaponizing’ the refugee crisis for Europe

Most reporting on the Syrian Kurds depicts them as fairly unified behind their Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia against the menace of the Islamic State. In truth, there are Kurdish opposition parties, and they have been complaining about the PYD using heavy-handed tactics to suppress them.

An anonymous U.S. official told CNN on Monday that Army Delta Force special operators have begun operations against the Islamic State in Iraq.

The much-heralded “cessation of hostilities” in Syria does not seem to be holding up very well, as the Syrian opposition claims at least 15 violations so far.

Iran, prompted by a decision reached by the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, is reportedly withdrawing 2,500 Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGCs) and Basiji paramilitary combat soldiers deployed to Syria.

Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdad assigned Nada al-Qahtani, a female jihadi, to lead a battalion in Hasakah, located in northeast Syria.

An Islamist militant group in Syria called Ahrar al-Sham claims to have killed “dozens of Russian generals” with a car bomb attack in Latakia on Sunday afternoon.

A Turkish court determined authorities violated the rights of Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül during their arrest, releasing the men on Friday.

The Moroccan government has broken up an Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) cell that planned to carry out attacks across the country.

The Wall Street Journal reports: KHIRBA AL-BAQAR, Syria—In a farmhouse surrounded by wheat fields some 45 miles north of Raqqa, a frustrated rebel commander bides his time, his battle plans on hold as apartial cease-fire in Syria’s five-year war officially

The Guardian reports: A fragile, temporary and partial cessation of hostilities has come into force inSyria after 97 fighting groups, as well as the Syrian government and Russian air force, signed up to a ceasefire. A monitoring group said early

The Islamic State has published pictures of a newly opened, state-of-the-art snack factory in Raqqa, its self-declared capital in Syria. Pictures of modern assembly lines, where snacks are being produced and packaged for the benefit of the so-called caliphate’s children, have been flaunted across the terrorist group’s propaganda platforms. The snacks look strikingly similar to Bamba, one of the leading Israeli-produced snack foods.

Secretary of State John Kerry said this week he is seeking more evidence against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) to label their crimes genocide.

Lebanon must take action to stop Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah from exporting its “mercenaries” into Yemen and Syria, reportedly urged a Saudi military spokesman.

Contents: Greece facing humanitarian crisis with thousands of refugees on Macedonia border; Tsipras: ‘Greece will not become a warehouse for souls’; Greece recalls ambassador to Austria as refugee crisis worsens

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Two prominent Turkish journalists from a leading opposition newspaper have been freed in the early hours of Friday after Turkey’s top court ruled that their detentions had violated their rights. The arrest of Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of

Foreign Desk News reported on Wednesday that Syrian jihadis have been using Facebook as a marketplace to “buy, sell and barter a wide variety of American-made weapons and munitions ranging from rocket launchers to machine guns.” Shortly after this report was posted, Facebook administrators took the page down.

Images from Iraq reveal that vandals have painted a Kurdish flag over a seventh-century BC Assyrian relief in Dohuk, Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Pentagon and CIA do not believe Russia will honor the ceasefire agreement in Syria arrived at this week, according to sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal.

Contents: Macedonia closes borders to thousands of stranded Afghan migrants in Greece; Belgium closes border to France after announcement to close Calais ‘Jungle’; Refugee crisis becomes devastating for Europe

The Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo has slammed Europe for encouraging young people to duck military service by fleeing north, leaving behind an impoverished society. And he warned that the Western view of Syrian President Assad as a dictator is “propaganda,” accusing

Militant Islamists have reportedly shot two men in cold blood in front of a mosque in the Syrian city of Idlib, charged with having furnished “relief materials to the towns of Al-Fu’ah and Kafriya,” currently under siege by the Sunni

Long-standing Conservative Party ‘eurosceptic’ Robert Halfon MP has written in today’s Daily Telegraph at how he is switching his allegiance from the campaigns he supported for so long, to work with the Prime Minister to keep Britain in the European

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has called parliamentary elections in April, a decision both expected and believed to have little effect on Assad himself. Nonetheless, Russian and Iranian media are applauding Assad following an agreement between Russia and the United States to a ceasefire end to hostilities in Syria on February 27.

The Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet reported Monday that a prosecutor’s investigation had uncovered phone conversations between Turkish military officers and a senior Islamic State jihadist that indicate the military was aiding passage of ISIS jihadists into the Syrian war theater. The Cumhuriyet report,

Contents: China building powerful new radar system in South China Sea; Report: China’s military buildup neutralizes America’s aircraft carriers; John Kerry and Russia announce a new Syria peace plan

The Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and rebel opposition forces are reportedly fighting each other in the small Syrian town of Marea, north of Aleppo.

Turkey has refused entreaties from the U.S., France, and Russia to halt its shelling of Kurdish positions in Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the artillery strikes as self-defense against a terrorist threat, continuing his effort to link the Syrian Kurdish militia to Kurdish separatists in Turkey and blame them for the Ankara bombing.

The Jerusalem Post reports: The United States and Russia have agreed on a plan to pause the fighting in Syria’s civil war at the stroke of midnight on Saturday, February 27, marking the first serious effort to broker a cease-fire

Contents: Delhi in crisis as India sends thousands of troops to quash Jat riots; Jats demand entry into the ‘reservation system’ for jobs and education; Bomb explosions strike Assad strongholds in Syria as Kerry speaks of ‘provisional’ peace

Contents: Latest Syria peace plan officially fails; Shifting alliances across the Mideast

At least 46 people were killed in twin car bomb blasts that hit Syria’s Homs on Sunday in one of the deadliest such attacks in the city in five years of civil war, a monitoring group said, and state media

The Jerusalem Post reports: As the cold winter wind lashes makeshift tents and families struggle through the deep muddy paths, the IsraAID professional response team met refugees desperate for aid and support. Refugees in the region of Northern France arrived after

The Russian government has promised to increase military cooperation with Iran as both countries continue to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The U.S. State Department has asserted that any Russian arms sales to Iran without approval from the Security Council would violate the United Nations arms embargo.