Syria civil war - Page 3

Both Jerusalem and Washington warned Russia on Monday evening against its declared intention to provide the Syrian military with advanced surface-to-air missiles within two weeks, saying the move would further destabilize the region and increase already high tensions.

Russia has announced that it has radar data proving that Israeli jets hid behind the Il-20 to shield them from Syrian anti-aircraft missiles last week.

MOSCOW – The Kremlin on Monday accused Israeli pilots of “premeditated actions” over the downing of a Russian plane in Syria last week, warning it will harm relations between the two countries.

US-backed forces have launched an offensive on the Islamic State group’s last stronghold in eastern Syria, but the man dubbed the world’s “most wanted”– IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — could yet again slip through the net, experts warn.

The leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization warned Thursday his Lebanon-based group has acquired a stockpile of illicit weaponary and rockets despite traditional supply lines through war-torn Syria being cut.

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed Tuesday that Israel did not shoot down a Russian military reconnaisance plane with 15 people on board, saying the downing of the plane by Syrian air defenses was a “chain of tragic accidental circumstances.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid rising tensions between the two countries after a Russian spy plane was shot down by Syria during an Israeli airstrike.

Hours after an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Damascus airport in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed the country’s policy of employing military action to prevent weapons transfers to the enemies that pose an immediate threat.

Jerusalem – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday his country is taking action to stop its foes from acquiring sophisticated arms, hours after Damascus said Israeli missiles targeted its airport.

An Israeli missile attack targeted the Syrian capital’s airport late Saturday, activating air defenses which shot down a number of the projectiles, state news agency SANA reported.

The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday announced that it had officially shuttered its “Operation Good Neighbor” program, ending over five years of humanitarian assistance that the Jewish state has given Syrian nationals near the border.

AMMAN – Turkey has stepped up arms supplies to Syrian rebels to help them stave off an expected offensive by the Syrian army and its Russian and Iran-backed allies in the northwest near the Turkish frontier, rebel sources told Reuters.

BEIRUT – Government forces shelled Syria’s last major rebel bastion on Wednesday, hours after UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council any full-blown offensive in Idlib risks triggering a “bloodbath”.

KHAN SHAYKHUN, Syria — Violence in northwest Syria has displaced more than 30,000 people this month alone, the United Nations said Monday, warning that a looming assault could create the century’s “worst humanitarian catastrophe.”

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman says Germany is talking with allies about the situation in Syria but isn’t confirming a report that Berlin is mulling the possibility of participating in future military strikes.

MOSCOW — Russia on Sunday accused the United States of carrying out bombings using white phosphorous in eastern Syria against military targets in civilian areas, which is banned under international law.

WASHINGTON — The US Treasury announced sanctions Thursday targeting a network of business groups that supplies fuel to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, along with one that handles regime trade with the Islamic State group.

TEL AVIV – Israeli company ImageSat International published satellite photos of the damage to an Iranian military site in Syria from Tuesday’s airstrike that was attributed to Israel.

Syria and Russian forces prepare to ‘clean out’ the ‘terrorists’ in Idlib ahead of massive bloodbath.

ISTANBUL – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that dropping bombs and missiles on Syria’s last rebel-held province of Idlib could cause a “massacre,” in remarks published Wednesday.

Israel has threatened to attack any Iranian military assets in Iraq as it has done in Syria, following reports Tehran has moved ballistic missiles closer to the Jewish state.

Iran Interior Minister Rahmani-Fazli wants European Union member states to fund the economic, social and political costs he claims Afghan refugees impose on the Shiite country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Sunday with a US envoy for Syria for talks on the war-ravaged country and Iran, his office said.

At least two members of pro-government military forces were killed overnight in a string of explosions at a military airport near the Syrian capital, a monitoring group said on Sunday.

DAMASCUS, Syria — A string of powerful blasts from the direction of a military airport in Damascus lit up the skies and shook the capital city in the early morning hours on Sunday, residents and state TV reported.

MOSCOW — Russia has announced major military drills in the Mediterranean Sea amid growing tensions over a rebel-held enclave in Syria.

The defense ministers of Iran and Syria have signed an agreement on military cooperation and reconstruction in the war-torn country, Iranian media reported on Monday.

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami on Monday charged that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was keeping the Middle East in a perpetual state of conflict in order to damage the Iranian economy.

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami arrived in Syria on Sunday for meetings with senior defense and military officials as part of a two-day visit, according to the Tasnim news agency.

MOSCOW — Russia on Saturday said Syrian rebels were preparing a chemical attack in Idlib province which will be blamed on Damascus and used as a pretext for Western powers to hit government targets in the war-torn country.

BEIRUT — The Islamic State group has released a new militant audio recording, purportedly of its shadowy leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, his first in almost a year.

The leader of Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate has vowed to fight on in Idlib province, the country’s last major rebel stronghold, in the face of a possible government offensive there.

RIYADH – Saudi Arabia on Friday announced a $100 million contribution to a US-backed campaign to “stabilise” northeastern Syria, once a bastion of the radical Islamic State group.

TEL AVIV – Hezbollah chief on Tuesday said the Trump administration’s sanctions against Iran will not impact either Tehran or its proxies, and added that the Lebanese terror group was stronger than the IDF and ready for a new round of conflict with Israel.

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump’s administration believes missing US journalist Austin Tice is still alive, six years after he is thought to have been taken captive in Syria.

TEL AVIV – Satellite images released on Saturday by an Israeli intelligence firm show the destruction resulting from an alleged Israeli airstrike on an Iranian missile production facility in northwestern Syria last month.