Syrian rebels take major city from ISIS, with U.S. help

Islamic State resistance “melted” away in the strategically important Syrian city of Shaddadi, giving a rag-tag force of Syrian rebels — backed by U.S. air power and special operations troops on the ground — a key victory after only a few days of combat. “We expected a tougher fight inside the city,” said Army Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. Defense […]

U.S. considering even more special operators in Syria, no-fly zone

Featured photo credit: AP (Maya Alleruzzo, File) Washington (CNN) – The Obama administration is holding internal discussions on military options if the ceasefire in Syria fails, including the possibility of increasing the number of Special Forces on the ground in Syria, though no decision has been made, a senior U.S. official told CNN. Other potential […]

Car bomb reported to have killed dozens of Russian officers in Syria

Dozens of Russian generals at a military base near the eastern Syrian city of Latakia were killed Sunday afternoon in a deadly car bomb attack committed by two opposition factions (video below), Ahrar al-Sham and Bayan movement, Syrian opposition groups reported on Wednesday. According to the media office of Ahrar al-Sham, the two factions, in […]

Report: 51 Companies Are Legally Supplying ISIS With Bomb-Making Material

More than 50 companies worldwide are legally supplying the Islamic State with bomb-making material, either willingly or because they and the countries in which they operate are failing to monitor the sales, according to a Conflict Armament Research report released today. CAR is a non-governmental organization funded by the European Union that identifies and tracks conventional weapons […]

Swedish girl ran away to Syria, rescued from ISIS by Kurdish Special Forces

Kurdish special forces rescued a 16-year-old Swedish girl from ISIS captivity in Iraq last week, Kurdish military officials said on Tuesday. The Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) released a statement on Twitter that identified the girl as Swedish national Marlin Stivani Nivarlain and revealed that she was rescued near ISIS-held Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. “She […]

Reports reveal ceasefire deal between U.S. and Russia in Syria

A new deal between the US and Russia to enforce a ceasefire in Syria has been reached, with the cessation of hostilities set to come into force on 27 February. The ceasefire, subject to the agreement between the warring parties, would exclude Islamic State, al-Nusra Front and other groups deemed to be terrorist organizations. Skepticism […]

Daesh (ISIS) fighter numbers indicate they are on the defensive

LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. estimates of the number of Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria have been reduced while cuts in their pay are evidence they are on the defensive, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting the group said on Monday. But the task of defeating Islamic State is complicated by Russian air […]

Pentagon requests that Russia be mindful of U.S. Special Operations Forces in Syria

(CNSNews.com) – After saying for months that the U.S. is not cooperating with Russia in Syria – beyond basic air safety “deconfliction” measures – a senior military official disclosed Thursday that the Pentagon has asked Russia to avoid areas where U.S. Special Forces troops are located in northern Syria. The U.S. and Russia are both […]

French foreign minister slams Obama over lack of leadership in Middle East

The United States is coming under increasingly bitter criticism for its perceived lack of leadership over Syria as the country’s brutal civil conflict heads toward new levels of intensity. Washington appears unable or unwilling to prevent its ally Turkey from bombing Kurdish fighters inside Syria, its critics say. And it has done little to rein […]

The CIA’s Back Channel to Putin: Preventing U.S.-Russian Clashes in Syria

During the course of an interview that aired on February 14, 2016, on the CBS program “60 Minutes,” CIA Director John Brennan revealed that he is personally acting as a back channel to Russian President Vladimir Putin, communicating through Russian intelligence, to deconflict U.S. and Russian operations in Syria. In the interview, Brennan stated that he had […]

New Russian Spyplane Deployed To Syria

The Tu-214R is a Russian ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) aircraft. In other words, a quite advanced spyplane. As we have already explained here in the past, it is a special mission aircraft equipped with all-weather radar systems and electro optical sensors that produce photo-like imagery of a large parts of the ground: these images are then used […]

New Russian Spyplane Deployed To Syria?

Editor’s Note: This was first reported yesterday afternoon by David Cenciotti over at The Aviationist, but it appears as though the Russian Air Force has deployed it’s most sophisticated Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform to its forward operating base in Syria. The Tupolev Tu-214R is designed specifically for SIGINT and ELINT operations, and it […]