TEL AVIV – Amid reports that a Syrian jet was shot down by rebels utilizing an antiaircraft missile, questions immediately arise as to where exactly the jihadi and moderate groups fighting Bashar al-Assad’s regime may have obtained such weaponry.
Rebels shot down a second Syrian warplane in less than a month on Tuesday and a monitoring group said they captured its pilot in an area near Aleppo where heavy fighting has erupted in recent days despite a cessation of
Ynetnews reports: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry informed several Arab countries that the U.S. and Russia have reached an understanding that Syrian President Bashar Assad will leave to another country as part of the future peace process aiming to
The presidents of Russia and Iran agreed on Monday to step up bilateral contacts, including over the Syrian conflict, in which both countries are allies of President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government and Western-backed opposition are currently holding U.N.-mediated peace
The Jerusalem Post reports: Syrian government forces backed by heavy Russian air support drove Islamic State out of Palmyra on Sunday, inflicting what the army called a mortal blow to militants who seized the city last year and dynamited its
One of the Syrian opposition delegates to peace talks in Geneva has claimed that North Korean military units are deployed in Syria, fighting on behalf of dictator Bashar Assad.
TEL AVIV, Israel – The Syrian army’s recent victories over the Islamic State will foster cooperation between Syria and the U.S., despite the latter’s reticence, a Damascus official told Breitbart Jerusalem. Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad succeeded in pushing IS
Syrian government forces backed by heavy Russian air support drove Islamic State out of Palmyra on Sunday, inflicting what the army called a “mortal blow” to militants who seized the city last year and dynamited its ancient temples. The loss
The outcome of Secretary of State John Kerry’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was a renewed push for a “political solution” in Syria, with a call to draft a new Syrian Constitution by August.
The Syrian opposition said on Tuesday there was no common ground with the government after more than a week of peace talks, accusing Damascus of renewing sieges and stepping up barrel bombings on civilians. “We are not finding any common
Islamic State fighters killed 26 Syrian soldiers on Monday west of Palmyra, a monitoring group said, after days of advances by government forces backed by Syrian and Russian air cover. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the Syrian
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The ultimate decision of whether or not Kurds should be allowed to establish their own region in northern Syria lies with the Syrian people, according to the U.S. Department of State (DOS).
Kurds will combine three Kurdish-led autonomous areas in northern Syria into a federal system, Kurdish officials have announced.
Last week, the United States and 11 other countries hammered China on its appalling human rights record at the United Nations, particularly the current crackdown on dissidents and human-rights activists. China struck back on Monday, accusing the U.S. of hypocrisy and lambasting American society for rape, murder, racism, and plunder.
TEL AVIV, Israel – Sham Maher Assad, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s niece, has claimed on Facebook that Russia’s announced military withdrawal from her war-torn country is not as significant as it seems. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly ordered the withdrawal of most of his military forces from Syria.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned that “Armageddon” could begin in Syria if a satisfactory peace agreement is not worked out soon. He proceeded to make it clear Iran will not accept the ouster of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, making such a peace agreement much more difficult to negotiate.
In a hospital in northern Israel, wounded Syrian rebel Malek is waiting until he is well enough to pick up his gun again to battle President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “I will return to Syria and fight until Assad is gone,”
A Russian diplomat sought to reassure Israel on Tuesday that its security would not be harmed by the winding down of Moscow’s military intervention in Syria’s civil war, but a top Israeli lawmaker said the ramifications could not yet be
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that his government will withdraw some its military from Syria six months after the Kremlin began airstrikes in the region.
Saudi Arabia declared that anyone linked to Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah will be deported from the kingdom, Al Arabiya News Channel reports.
Syria has lost millions of citizens since the civil war started, but the last known American citizen in Damascus will not leave.
Despite complaints of violations from all sides, and some ominous comments from faction leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon insisted on Monday that the Syrian cease-fire is holding “by and large.”
TEL AVIV – Israel is deeply concerned over Iran’s increasing strength in Syria, fearing an Iranian terror front on Israel’s northern border, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told his Italian counterpart, Roberta Pinotti, on Monday. Israel is “very concerned by the
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif warned Saudi Arabia not to send ground forces into Syria, as the Saudis have declared their intention to do. Anticipating charges of hypocrisy over the thousands of troops Iran has deployed in Syria, Zarif insisted they were merely “military advisers.”
CNN offers a man-on-the-street view of the Syrian civil war, showing residents of the mostly Shiite town of Nubl, close to the Turkish border, celebrating the ejection of rebel forces by dictator Bashar Assad’s troops. Citizens displayed photos and banners of Assad, as well as photos of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran.
Saudi Arabia’s military spokesman said on Thursday that his country’s decision to deploy ground forces in Syria was “final” and “irreversible,” despite warnings from Russia, Iran, and the Shiite government of Iraq that such a deployment could escalate the Syrian civil war into a regional conflict.
Munich (Germany) (AFP) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned Thursday that if Arab forces entered the Syrian war they could spark a “new world war” and urged ceasefire talks instead. Asked about proposals by some Arab countries to enter
TEL AVIV – A relative of President Bashar Al-Assad published an open letter in which she called the Syrian president a traitor, an enemy of humanity, a devil, a murderer, and a terrorist who will end up “in history’s filthiest
An AFP-Reuters report on Tuesday highlighted the difficulty of getting Syria’s many warring factions together for U.N.-brokered peace talks, as many of the parties involved consider the presence of other parties to be non-starters. Turkey, for example, has announced that it strongly opposes participation by Kurdish groups.
During a Sirius XM town hall meeting hosted by Stephen K. Bannon of Breitbart News, Senator and presidential candidate Rand Paul was asked the question that has defined much of his political career: how can Americans be effectively protected from terrorist threats like ISIS, without unduly compromising individual liberty?
The city of Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, scene of a recent mass abduction by the Islamic State, looks to be a decisive battle between ISIS and the Syrian army in the eastern region of the country—and there are indications ISIS is winning.
JAFFA, Israel – Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian civil war has delivered a significant blow to the Lebanese militia’s popularity in the Arab world. Pan-Arab adulation for Hezbollah culminated in the wake of its 2006 war with Israel, when it was
Israel’s Minister of Defense Moshe “Bogey” Ya’alon told an international security conference in Tel Aviv Tuesday that if he had to choose, he would prefer to have the Islamic State (ISIS) next door in Syria, rather than Iran.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared the use of man-made famine in Syria to be a “war crime” on Thursday. He described “all sides, including the Syrian government” as “committing this and other atrocious acts prohibited under international humanitarian law.”
A U.S. non-governmental organization called the Syrian Emergency Task Force told Foreign Policy their field office in the Idlib province was hit by a Russian airstrike on Saturday. Other civilian damage in the area has been reported, and the strike is being cited as evidence Russia is not focusing its attention on Islamic State targets, as it frequently claims.
The Associated Press reports it has seen documents that show the State Department expects Syrian dictator Bashar Assad to remain in power until at least March 2017, which is “two months after President Barack Obama leaves office and more than five years after Obama first called for Assad to leave.”
A watchdog group called the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reports finding more evidence of chemical weapons deployment, including sarin gas, or a substance very similar to it.
State Department Spokesman John Kirby on Monday provided a boastful recap of his cabinet’s achievements in 2015 and highlighted “bringing peace [and] security” to war-torn Syria as one of its wins this past year.
Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold confirmed to a Saudi-owned website on Monday that the IDF thwarted attempts to transfer advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah. This is the first time an Israeli official makes such a statement not under the cover
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saluted Kurdish efforts against the Islamic State, and offered Moscow’s support, by way of Damascus.
