Tag: ISIS

Residents of Kirkuk’s southern territories have been abandoning their homes for fear of Islamic State attacks and kidnappings. They say that Iraqi security forces only maintain a presence within the main city and larger villages; that Hashdt al-Shaabi is not an acceptable anti-terrorism element and has not performed as a security force well. A resident […]

The Islamic State has regrouped in Iraq and is conducting increasingly deadly attacks in territories across northern Iraq, taking advantage of the hostility between the central government and the Kurdish people, according to both Iraqi and Kurdish officials. The Iraqi government declared a final victory over IS last December after Iraqi forces drove its last […]

In a recent interview, US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon who is a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve said that the Turkish military’s incursion into Afrin was directly affecting the coalitions efforts to combat the Islamic State. The Syrian Democratic Forces have recently relocated a large amount of their forces in an effort to defend Afrin, effectively […]

The top U.S. general in Afghanistan has said the Russians are supporting and supplying arms to the Taliban, adding more fuel to the already tense relationship between the two superpowers. General John Nicolson said in an interview with the BBC that he’s seen “destabilizing activity by the Russians.”  He said Russian weapons are being supplied […]

Turkey has put Iraq on edge with a bold campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan’s northern mountains where they have conducted airstrikes against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), a long time enemy of Turkey and Operation Olive Branch in Syria. Iraq has made it clear that it does not want any help from Turkey with the foreign […]

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has been touring the world, bolstering relationships with foreign nations like Vietnam and Indonesia. Mattis was in Oman just on 11 March, and has since left for other nations in the region. On Friday, he traveled to Bahrain to meet with the King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and his son, the […]

A British citizen who was fighting on behalf of the Syrian Democratic Forces, under the YPJ, has been confirmed killed in Afrin by Turkish military forces. Anna Campbell was part of the all female YPJ militia and one of several foreign volunteer fighters to be killed during Operation Olive Branch since it’s start in January. […]

Turkish military forces and their Free Syrian Army (FSA) proxies continued their offensive in northwest Syria on Sunday and captured the city of Afrin. Operation Olive Branch has been steadily moving forward and the Kurdish fighters who had taken the city from the Islamic State were themselves removed by the Turks who consider the Kurds […]

U.S. officials have confirmed that a U.S. military helicopter with seven troops on board has crashed in western Iraq. Reports state that there is no indication currently that the aircraft was shot down. The HH-60 Pave Hawk is an aircraft that the U.S. Air Force uses for combat search and rescue and was in transit […]

The main city of Afrin is being bombarded by heavy artillery fire and airstrikes carried out by the Turkish Military. An official with the Rojava government, Hediye Yusuf, stated, “Turkey is bombing the center of Afrin and there are dead and wounded among the civilians.” While the count of injured and dead so far is not […]

An Iranian drone was shot down over Israeli airspace on Saturday morning according to a statement made by the Israeli Defense Force. The IDF continued to simultaneously engage Iranian targets from within Syria via airstrikes near the city of Damascus; this was collaborated by Syrian media outlets as well. Local Syrian media was quoted saying […]

In the once hotly contested region of Makhmour, Iraq the United States led coalition executed an airstrike on a position controlled by the Islamic State. The airstrike killed 7 militants who were, at the time, occupying a bunker located roughly 60km South of Kurdistan’s capital city, Erbil. Though the majority of Iraq and Kurdistan are under […]