Syria

Tensions continue to rise in Syria as all the warring parties jockey for advantage. And a number of recent events demonstrate the fragility of the situation. Yesterday, the Turkish military in Idlib broke up a protest along the all-important M4 highway on Monday after members of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a militia group, and civilians […]

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are not subtle when it comes to their archenemy Hezbollah. And when they saw a high-ranking Syrian officer touring Hezbollah units in the Golan Heights region, they didn’t pull any punches. The IDF released on Twitter a short, although somewhat grainy, video which they claimed depicted a visit by General […]

Islamic State (ISIS) fighters attacked Syrian troops loyal to the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The intense fighting left nearly 50 dead.  The fighting took place, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), around the villages of Badiya Al-Sukhnah and Badiya Al-Sham in Syria’s central province of Homs. ISIS fighters tried to […]

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has released the results of a long investigation on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. It concluded that the Syrian air force used such weapons on attacks on its own people in 2017.  Although the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly denied this, the […]

The fighting in Syria between Turkish Syrian government troops has once again reignited. Turkish military forces have launched a new attack against the Syrian Army in the northern area outside of Aleppo. Meanwhile, Syrian troops are massing in the Jabal Al-Zawiya area as they seem to be preparing to resume offensive operations. According to a […]

Lebanon isn’t in the news much these days but has the potential to blow up into a major conflict.  The country is facing a couple of big problems right now Firstly, Lebanon is going through one of the deepest economic crises in the world today — a crisis that puts it in the precipice of […]

The Israeli Air Force conducted another airstrike inside Syria, at the al-Shayrat airbase located in Homs. The Syrian state-run television channel, SANA, reported that their air defense systems fired on what they identified as Israeli warplanes flying over Lebanese airspace.  SANA media, quoting an Army official said that “the air defenses shot down a number […]

A little over two years ago, a combined assault force comprised of Delta Force and Special Air Service operators went after an ISIS high-value-individual (HVI) somewhere in Syria. As the commandos neared their objective, an improvised explosive device (IED) went off killing one American and one British operator. The consequent investigations by the U.S. and […]

American troops stationed in eastern Syria have the difficult and dangerous job of guarding the very oil-rich Kurdish-held land. And everyone — the Syrian government, the Russians, the Turks, and ISIS — wants to control it.  The area is developing into a very dangerous place for the American troops: They’ve come under attack from a […]

The tenuous ceasefire in Syria that was signed by Turkey and Russia is in danger of falling apart as various factions are maneuvering forces for what seems an inevitable resumption of hostilities in northern Syria.  The Syrian army of President Assad is intent on pushing the rebel forces out of their last stronghold in Idlib […]

The Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) community is looking for its future leaders. More specifically, the Navy EOD community is looking for either civilian candidates or Sailors already serving in the fleet who are looking into commissioning through the Enlisted to Officer Commissioning Program (OPNAVINST 1420.1B). Both categories of candidates will have to complete the […]

While the Coronavirus is dominating the news, an ominous series of events is unfolding once again in Syria. A rocket attack killed two Turkish soldiers and wounded a third in Syria’s northwest Idlib province on Friday, the Turkish military said in a statement.  The Turkish Defense Ministry said that the rocket attack was carried out […]