Syria

Most of the arms shipped at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply Syrian rebel groups fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad are going to hard-line Islamic jihadists, and not the more secular opposition groups that the West wants to bolster, according to American officials and Middle Eastern diplomats. That conclusion, of which President Obama and other […]

DAMASCUS, Syria –  A Syrian antiquities official says demining experts have so far removed 150 bombs planted by the Islamic State group inside the archaeological site in the historic town of Palmyra. Syria’s head of antiquities and museums, Maamoun Abdul-Karim, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that a technical team has returned to Damascus after […]

The ancient ruins of Palmyra, one of Syria’s oldest cities, have stood for 3,000 years, but since last May, the Unesco World Heritage site has been facing some of the most brutal threats to its existence. Located in an oasis northeast of the Syrian capital of Damascus, Palmyra has become a significant symbolic and military position in the […]

It may not mean the end for IS, whose heartlands of Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, and Mosul remain safe havens, but it is a step in chipping away at the group’s power base, both geographically and strategically, as well as debasing the myth that the caliphate’s armies are all-conquering and unable to be defeated. Quite apart […]

Two things about Russia under President Vladimir Putin: First, never bet too heavily on what the former KGB strongman will do next; second, things are not always what they first appear to be. Only two weeks ago, I remarked that Russia would not withdraw from Syria till a political settlement regarding Syria’s future was achieved […]

A senior commander in Iran’s Army told reporters on Mar. 23 that Special Forces would be deployed as “advisors” to Syria and Iraq. This would mark the first time that Army forces – in this case, commandos and snipers of the Rapid Response Battalions – will have operated outside Iranian borders since the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. The Islamic Revolutionary […]

Syrian opposition groups believe a Russian withdrawal will pressure the Assad regime into reaching a deal during the latest peace talks in Geneva.

Any fighter design in the past forty years has experienced its share of problems. Anyone remember the days when the F-16 was referred to as the Lawn Dart? Or the F-22 as the “Craptor?” The F-35 is our most recently example of a new MDS experiencing some pretty ugly glitches and growing pains. Well, FighterSweep […]

Syrian militias armed by different parts of the U.S. war machine have begun to fight each other on the plains between the besieged city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, highlighting how little control U.S. intelligence officers and military planners have over the groups they have financed and trained in the bitter 5-year-old civil war. The […]

The Western media immediately picked up on the story, hailing the Russian “Rambo” who went out in a blaze of glory fighting ISIS savages.

Despite the hype and panic in the media, it does appear that the noose is slowly tightening around ISIS. The question remaining is what will Syria look like after ISIS is destroyed?

Here is the latest breakdown of which airframes are flying the most sorties over Iraq and Syria during Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR). Not surprisingly, the Viper is sitting at the top of the list for the most sorties flown in the AOR while the B-1, again–not surprisingly, is dropping the largest percentage of the ordinance. […]