Photo of the Day: Decommissioned Turkish Air Force F-4 Phantom – What Do You See?

Aviation is full of visuals and sometimes an image grabs your imagination. This is one such image. Looking at this photograph of a decommissioned Turkish Air Force F-4 Phantom makes you wonder about all the missions the aircraft may have flown. Who were the pilots that drove the Phantom and what experiences did they encountered […]

Tillerson hosts first anti-ISIS coalition meeting since Trump took office

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will begin hosting the first anti-ISIS coalition meeting since President Trump took office.  Delegates and foreign ministers from sixty-eight nations are in attendance with important decisions to make about the future of anti-ISIS military efforts around the world for the U.S.-led coalition. President Trump vowed to make […]

Turkey threatens to cancel immigration deals with EU as relationship falters

Turkey’s relationship with the European Union continues to deteriorate as they threaten to cancel key migration agreements. The comments from Turkey’s foreign minister are another low point in an ongoing quasi-diplomatic crisis between Turkey and a number of EU nations. Earlier this week, Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan accused government officials in the Netherlands and Germany […]

Turkey’s Erdogan renews war of words, blames Dutch peacekeepers for Srebrenica massacre

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday directed fresh verbal attacks at the Netherlands amid their growing diplomatic spat, holding the country responsible for Europe’s worst mass killing since World War II. In a televised speech, Erdogan referred to the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia, […]

Tensions high in Europe leading up to a pivotal election in Turkey

Turkish President Recep Erdogan caused controversy this weekend by likening the Netherlands and Germany to modern Nazism in the run-up to an important Turkish referendum election. The comment was instigated after authorities in the Netherlands barred Turkish politicians from participating in a number of pro-Erdogan political rallies being held inside the country. The Dutch government […]

Assad calls U.S. forces ‘invaders,’ but still hopeful on Trump

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said U.S. forces in Syria were “invaders” and he had yet to see “anything concrete” emerge from U.S. President Donald Trump’s vow to prioritize the fight against Islamic State. Assad has said he saw promise in Trump’s statements emphasizing the battle against Islamic State in Syria, where U.S. policy under President […]

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces prepared to assault Raqqa with American help

As the multitude of Syrian opposition forces converge for the offensive on Raqqa, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) claim they are prepared to take the ISIS stronghold with the help of their American supporters. The SDF made these statements as conflict between Turkey and the Syrian Kurdish contingent of the SDF continues to grow. Turkey’s […]

Conventional Troops Adding to Special Operations Forces in Syria

The US has augmented the already 500 Special Operations forces in Syria with 400 conventional troops. Reports were filtering down that a Marine Corps artillery unit and an Army Stryker unit have been sent to Syria in advance of the anticipated battle to free the major town of Raqqa. Army General Joseph Votel, Commander of […]

Turkey shuts down a U.S. aid group that helped Syrians

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey has ordered Oregon-based Mercy Corps, one of the largest humanitarian organizations delivering aid to Syria, to immediately shut down its Turkish operations, ending a program that provides regular assistance to hundreds of thousands of besieged Syrian civilians and refugees. “Our hearts are broken by this turn of events, which comes after […]

With a show of Stars and Stripes, U.S. forces in Syria try to keep warring allies apart

BEIRUT — The U.S. military is getting drawn into a deepening struggle for control over areas liberated from the Islamic State that risks prolonging American involvement in wars in Syria and Iraq long after the militants are defeated. In their first diversion from the task of fighting the Islamic State since the U.S. military’s involvement […]