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BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a second day of raids in Syria, Russian warplanes carried out a new round of airstrikes on Thursday in the northwestern province of Idlib that targeted not the Islamic State but a rival insurgent coalition, according to accounts from journalists and activists. Russia’s entry into the Syrian conflict, which started on Wednesday with a bombing attack on Syrian opposition fighters, has been angrily condemned by United States officials. They fear that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is using their shared goal of defeating the Islamic State as a pretext for weakening other opponents of Syria’s...

Any minute, Sec of State John Kerry & Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will have a joint appearance.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel sent a highly detailed memo to National Security Adviser Susan Rice in early October that blasted the White House’s strategy in Syria. A senior U.S. official told CNN Thursday that Mr. Hagel wrote a blunt assessment of U.S. policy in the region “expressing concern about overall Syria strategy,” the network reported. The interview corroborates initial reporting on the existence of the memo by The New York Times. Mr. Hagel’s memo conveyed to Ms. Rice that the U.S. needs “to have a sharper view of what to do about the Assad regime,” CNN reported.

<p>Warplanes have carried out air strikes in Hama, Homs and Latakia in what Russia's powerful Orthodox Church has termed a "holy battle".</p> <p>“Russian and Syrian airplanes carried out numerous strikes today against terrorist positions in Hama, Homs and Latakia provinces,” according to a Syrian security source.</p>

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad must leave office or face being turfed out by force, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said Tuesday, warning of stepped up support for Syrian rebel groups. Jubeir rejected Russian calls for an international coalition to help Assad fight the Islamic State group, and said the Syrian leader's best option would be to step down. "There is no future for Assad in Syria, with all due respect to the Russians or anyone else," Jubeir told reporters in New York after meetings with Saudi Arabia's allies. "There are two options for a settlement in Syria. One option is...

<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leading Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday said he supported Russian efforts to fight Islamic State militants in the Middle East, including Syria.</p>

NEW YORK—Ankara is ready to work with the international community to combat the Islamic State (ISIS), Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Rudaw on Sunday, insisting that the government of President Bashar al-Assad is the real cause of Syria’s turmoil. “We are ready to work with any country to combat ISIS because ISIS is a threat to all of us,” said Davutoglu in New York. “But we should not forget that three years ago there was no ISIS. Who created ISIS? Assad’s crimes and tyranny created ISIS.” He said that by bombing moderate Syrian opposition forces, the Assad regime had...

Russia has reportedly reached an agreement with Iraq, Syria, and Iran to share intelligence about the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL)–without notifying the Obama administration. Nevertheless, President Obama, during his address to the United Nations Monday, indicated that he is willing to “compromise” with Iran and Russia on finding a solution to the Syrian conflict. “Lasting stability can only take hold when the people of Syria forge an agreement to live together peacefully,” said Obama. “The United States is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict.” President Obama did concede that the Bashar al-Assad regime...

Big Guy took his cracker jack team to the United Nations yesterday…Cracker Jacks vs. the JV team – now upgraded to “apocalyptic cult.” No, wagering please.He addressed the assembly, and blamed Assad for making him draw that red line in the first place… Damn you Assad!…which forced him into giving al-Assad a harsh stare when he had the audacity to cross it. And then he chastised those who had the audacity to imply that he, Barack Hussein Obama, might possibly bear some small responsibility for the result of that whole Arab Spring mess:  “Let’s remember how this got started.”The only...

"There cannot be a return to the prewar status quo. Let's remember how this started. Assad reacted to peaceful protests by escalating repression and killing that in turn created the environment for the current strife." "When a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own people, that is not one nation's internal affairs - it affects us all," Obama said, before turning his fire on IS. "Likewise, when a terror group beheads captives, slaughters innocents and enslaves women… it is an assault on all our humanity."

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Friday that an American-trained rebel commander in Syria had surrendered trucks and ammunition this week to forces affiliated with an offshoot of Al Qaeda. Military officials, who days before had denied reports of the handover, called the disclosure “very concerning” and a violation of guidelines for the American training program for Syrian rebels. United States Central Command said the rebel commander told the military that he surrendered the American-provided ammunition and trucks early this week in exchange for safe passage through an area in which the Qaeda offshoot, the Nusra Front, operates.

Syrian rebels trained by the United States gave some of their equipment to the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in exchange for safe passage, a U.S. military spokesman said on Friday, the latest blow to a troubled U.S. effort to train local partners to fight Islamic State militants. The rebels surrendered six pick-up trucks and some ammunition, or about one-quarter of their issued equipment, to a suspected Nusra intermediary on Sept. 21-22 in exchange for safe passage, said Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, in a statement. "If accurate, the report of NSF members providing equipment to al...

<p>Washington (CNN)—A U.S. official told CNN Thursday that Russian fighter jets turned off their transponders as they flew into Syria in an apparent attempt to avoid detection. The official said the fighters flew very close to a transport plane that had its transponder on and functioning.</p>

This spring, many Syrian Christians rejected protestors' demands for embattled president Bashar al-Assad to resign. But Christians did broadly endorse democratic reforms that would bring an end to dictatorship. "We do not support those who are calling for the fall of the regime, simply because we are [for] the process of reform and changes," said Yohanna Ibrahim, Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, at a religious summit in France. In late May, International Christian Concern, an evangelical ministry to the persecuted church, released to Christianity Today an anonymous open letter from a "trusted Syrian source" that explains why many Syrian Christians...

'Tacit' deal between US, Russia to end Syria war: Assad adviser AFP 6 hours ago Damascus (AFP) - Russia and the United States have reached a "tacit agreement" on ending Syria's bloody crisis, a senior adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said.

Israel Military Says It Is Coordinating With Russia on Syria By aron heller, associated press JERUSALEM — Sep 24, 2015, 6:15 AM ET Israel has set up a joint mechanism with the Russian military to coordinate their operations in Syria and avoid any accidental confrontations, a senior Israel military official said Thursday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of military regulations, said that teams headed by each of the militaries' deputy chiefs will hold their first meeting in two weeks and will discuss coordination of aerial, naval and electromagnetic operations around Syria.

Russia to Send Four Warships On Exercise in Mediterranean, Near Syria By Damien Sharkov9/23/15 at 5:40 PM Filed Under:Law & Order Russia is sending four warships on a military exercise to the Mediterranean Sea near Syria, the country's southern military district told state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday. The agency did not report on the exact whereabouts of the exercise, however Russia's Southern Military District, which is sending the ships, told RIA that it would take place in "the eastern Mediterranean." Russia's main naval facility in the region is a resupply base in Syria, near the port of Tartus....

Russia's military intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad has dismayed Gulf Arab enemies of the Syrian leader who say it will prolong the war and keep Syria firmly in the orbit of their arch regional rival Iran. Russia says it is providing arms to the Syrian leader, a longtime ally, and has sent servicemen to advise on their use in the fight against Islamic State (IS) and other jihadist groups. Moscow has also staged naval exercises off Syria. Washington, which opposes both IS and Assad, says Moscow has also sent fighter jets, tanks and other heavy equipment to Syria....

Netanyahu, Putin agree plan to avoid Syria clashes AFP 5 hours ago Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed on a plan to avoid "misunderstandings" in Syria amid an apparent military build-up by Moscow to support President Bashar al-Assad. The two leaders reached an agreement on Monday during talks in Russia, with Israeli media reporting that the discussions involved avoiding clashes between the two militaries' jets over Syria. "The conversation revolved, first of all, on the issue that I raised regarding Syria, which is very important to the security of Israel," Netanyahu...

Russia and Iran have stepped up coordination inside Syria as they move to safeguard President Bashar al-Assad’s control over his coastal stronghold, according to officials in the U.S. and Middle East, creating a new complication for Washington’s diplomatic goals. Senior Russian and Iranian diplomats, generals and strategists have held a string of high-level talks in Moscow in recent months to discuss Mr. Assad’s defense and the Kremlin’s military buildup in Syria, according to these officials. U.S. officials said they haven’t unraveled the full extent of the cooperation or its intention. “We assume [the Russian buildup in Syria is] being coordinated...