Syria

That level of influence is an intelligence officer’s dream. Except he’s just Sidney Blumenthal.

The Russians have consistently denied that their troops are involved in any ground fighting in Syria, and if their special forces troops were involved in the recapture of the ‘Aleppo artillery base’ then on the face of it that would contradict this.

Brennan said that compared to al Qaeda, Daesh is a lot less “deliberate” in its planning and more “free-wheeling,” willing to carry out attacks on shorter notice.
“You look at 9/11 and other major attacks, and it was very deliberate, methodical, a lot of planning went into it. I think ISIL tries to move from idea to bang within months or within weeks,” Brennan said, using the administration’s preferred acronym for Daesh .

On the map legend, the rebels and al-Nusra are the same identifying color. It’s that hard to distinguish their operations and operating space.

Syrian activists and rescue workers in the rebel-held part of the contested city of Aleppo said that government warplanes dropped suspected chlorine bombs Tuesday on a crowded neighborhood, injuring dozens. The report could not be independently verified and it was not clear how it was determined that chlorine gas was released. Accusations involving use of […]

The probe began in September last year after an Italian was arrested in Hungary “while driving in a vehicle with several illegal migrants”, Eurojust said in a separate statement. Italian police said the smuggling ring picked up migrants who had reached Hungary, and from there they were moved on toward Germany, Austria, and more rarely to France and Italy.

A formerly classified US policy paper found within Hillary Clinton’s emails (archived byWikiLeaks), promoting the forceful overthrow of Assad as “a massive boon to Israel’s security”, and as a way to start a war with Iran.
It appears that the Clinton email quoted below was sent in April 2012 (the email’s internal date upon release is an error)

Their chief desire is to eliminate Assad, not ISIL. In fact, on the list of terrorist organizations the rebels are worried about, I bet Hezbollah ranks higher than ISIL.

The military says it holds the Syrian government accountable for the “blatant breach of Israeli sovereignty.” Israel has taken pains to stay on the sidelines of neighboring Syria’s war, but has carried out similar reprisals on Syrian positions when errant fire has previously landed in Israeli-controlled territory.

With the U.S. incapable of openly supporting anti-regime forces in Syria, and Europe facing a multitude of crises, the way is open for Putin in Syria.

Since March 2011, observers of the Syrian conflict watched with anticipation the behavior of Syria’s security forces, hoping that they would eventually follow the examples of the Tunisian, Egyptian, or Libyan security forces during the heady days of the Arab spring. Yet after five years, the Syrian security forces remain largely loyal to the Assad […]

US President Obama says an agreement with Russia on ending the violence in Syria is being hampered by “gaps of trust” between the two governments. Asked by CNN’s Michelle Kosinski about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the President described it as “candid” and “blunt” focusing mainly on Syria and Ukraine. Mr. Obama called […]