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The Israeli military has determined that the rockets recently fired from Syria were not a spillover but an intentional attack on Israel. Amir discusses the implications of this, predicting a soon occurrence of Isaiah 17 and an eventual war, the first of Israel against a major power. The future is not all bleak, however, and will of course include great things for Israel. Look up, keep the faith, and do not live for the things of this world, is his message. Be ready, as always.

In a move that surprised many observers of the ongoing war for Deir Ezzor province, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) handed over one of Syria's largest gas fields to Russian forces on Thursday, possibly as the result of unprecedented direct talks between high ranking Russian officials and Kurdish leaders in Qamishli in northeastern Syria. Conoco gas plant (also locally called Al-Tabiya, which is the plant's main feeder field) lies on the eastern side of the Euphrates outside of Deir Ezzor city - which was recently liberated from ISIS as the Syrian Army and Russian forces approached from the west...

Since late 2015, Syrian president Asad and his government have leveraged military, financial, and diplomatic support from Russia and Iran to improve and consolidate the Syrian government’s position relative to the range of antigovernment insurgents arrayed against them. These insurgents include members of the Islamic State, Islamist and secular fighters, and Al Qaeda-linked networks in Syria. While Islamic State forces have lost territory to the Syrian government, to Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups and to U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters since early 2016, they remain capable and dangerous. The IS “capital” at the Syrian provincial capital of Raqqah has been...

When President Donald Trump boasts, the nation rolls its collective eyes. From his first moments in office, Americans on both sides of the political aisle understood that his claims of triumph usually had little to do with the facts. That was true of the talk about record attendance at his inauguration and continues to also be true about his claims of passing more legislation or getting more done than all of his predecessors. The controversies engendered by Trump’s bragging or false statements (such as those he recently made about other presidents consoling the survivors of American combat troops killed in...

A day after Israel's counter attack on a Syrian SA-5 surface-to-air missile site we are learning more about the incident, and unfortunately, some questionable outlets and commentators are spreading rumors that imply one of Israel's F-35Is was the aircraft targeted by Syrian missiliers, and that the aircraft was damaged in the attack. It appears that the first sortie put "more than one" aircraft “within the effective range” of the Syrian SA-5 missile that fired at the flight according to an Israeli Defense Forces spokesman. The engagement supposedly occurred at around 9AM local time. It remains unclear the exact mix of...

U.S.-backed forces in Syria are celebrating the defeat of ISIS in its former stronghold of Raqqa. Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces danced and chanted in the streets. Losing Raqqa is a major blow for ISIS as the terror group once called the city its capital.

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) uncovered a large weapons depot belonging to the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in the eastern countryside of the Homs Governorate, Syrian state TV reported on Monday, October 16, according to Al-Masdar News. Based on the footage released by Syrian state TV, the captured Islamic State depot in east Homs contained some Israeli manufactured weapons. The Syrian Arab Army seized this weapons depot in eastern Homs while carrying out operations around Homs-Hama axis in central Syria. Since capturing this depot, the Syrian Arab Army has cleared the last Islamic State pocket in eastern Hama, ending the...

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said on Monday that it struck and destroyed an anti-aircraft battery deep in Syria after it had opened fire on Israeli jets flying over Lebanon — the first such incident of Syrian forces targeting Israeli planes since the civil war began in 2011. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Israeli planes were on a routine reconnaissance mission near the Lebanese-Syrian border when they came under fire. They were not hit and returned to base safely. In response, Israel hit a Syrian anti-aircraft battery about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Damascus and “incapacitated”...

<p>The Islamic State group once drew recruits from near and far with promises of paradise but now bodies of jihadists lie in mass graves or at the mercy of wild dogs as its "caliphate" collapses.</p> <p>Flies buzz around human remains poking through the dusty earth in the Iraqi town of Dhuluiyah, 90 kilometres (55 miles) north of Baghdad, at a hastily-dug pit containing the bodies of dozens of IS fighters killed in 2015.</p>

AIN ISSA, SYRIA (Reuters) - A group of Islamic State fighters evacuated the Syrian city of Raqqa overnight, taking civilians with them as human shields, a militia spokesman told Reuters on Sunday. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, continued to battle Islamic State jihadists who remain in the city, SDF spokesman Mostafa Bali said.

Earlier this week, the coalition estimated that 300 to 400 militants remained in the city. On Friday, a local official said an estimated 100 militants surrendered.

SOUTHWEST ASIA – A convoy of vehicles is staged to depart Raqqah Oct. 14 under an arrangement brokered by the Raqqah Civil Council and local Arab tribal elders Oct. 12. The arrangement is designed to minimize civilian casualties and purportedly excludes foreign Daesh terrorists as people trapped in the city continue to flee the impending fall of Daesh’s so-called capital. People departing Raqqah under the arrangement are subject to search and screening by Syrian Democratic Forces. The Coalition was not involved in the discussions that led to the arrangement, but believes it will save innocent lives and allow Syrian Democratic...

Turkey’s latest intervention in the Syria conflict appears to reflect a 180-degree shift in its policy of backing Al Qaeda-linked takfiris and a range of largely fundamentalist insurgents, as well as the Saudi-sponsored Syrian opposition with the aim of bringing down President Bashar Assad. Last weekend, Turkish tanks, armoured vehicles and troops gathered in the western sector of the border between Turkey and Syria and exchanged fire with Al Qaeda’s Hay’at Tahrir Al Sham, a coalition headed by Jabhat Fatah Al Sham (formerly Jabhat Al Nusra). Ankara is deploying Syrian insurgents belonging to the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), allegedly,...

Gilbert Chagoury donated millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation. He also donated to a Lebanese organization with financial ties to Hezbollah, designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department. Let that sink in. Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. A huge donor to her family foundation had ties to an organization that the State Department had designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. How extensive were Chagoury’s ties to an organization that funded Hezbollah? So extensive that he was denied entry into the U.S.

ISIS emir (*) Salih Xelef El-Eli was taken captive by SDF fighters during the Operation Cizire Storm. Salih told how he joined ISIS and became an ISIS emir even though he was a simple and uneducated man. ISIS emir Salih Xelef El-Eli is from the town of Kesra west of Deir ez-Zor city. He was born in 1992. Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured El-Eli in El-Kuber town, west of Deir ez-Zor city. Rojava based Hawar News Agency (ANHA) interviewed captive ISIS emir Salih El-Eli who told the story of his life, how he joined ISIS and became...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday accused the United States and its allies of orchestrating "deadly provocations" against Russian troops in Syria. "There are a lot of questions to US-led forces in Syria," Lavrov told pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Aswat Wednesday. "Either they accidentally bomb Syrian troops, after which Islamic State militants launch an offensive, or they get other terrorists to attack strategically important objects...or they stage deadly provocations against our military servicemen." Moscow has complained about what it says are suspiciously friendly ties between US-backed militias, US special forces, and the Islamic State.... Lavrov's deputy, Sergei Ryabkov, said last...

The terror group used the Syrian city to showcase its savagery. Now a sense of vengeance is galvanising the final fightback. snip I don’t even hate them,” he said. “They are ignorant people. They have been brainwashed. If we treat them like they treat us, we become like them.”

A Frenchwoman nicknamed “Mama Jihad”, who traveled to Syria three times to support her jihadist son was handed a 10-year jail sentence on Friday in the latest case against parents of ISIS fighters. Christine Rivière, 51, was convicted of being part of a terrorist organization. She was given the maximum sentence for her “unfailing commitment” to jihad and for helping a number of young women travel to Syria as part of her attempts to find a bride for her son Tyler Vilus, with whom she was described as having an “inseparable relationship”. Vilus traveled to Syria to fight alongside the...

The (ISIS) jihadists' last remaining strongholds are the central hospital and a nearby stadium – but they are holding civilian hostages in both of them, and both buildings are surrounded by snipers, booby traps and tunnels that emerge behind SDF lines. Raqqa's hospital, a big complex pocked with bullets holes, lies just 200 yards/metres from the SDF's frontline base. Beyond it is a roundabout where the jihadists once displayed the heads of their enemies, crucified people and held military parades at the height of their expansion. Commanders say seizing these and the stadium from the few hundred remaining militants is...

Russia and Turkey confirm the decision to politically resolve the conflict with Syria. The conditions for stopping the fratricidal war have already been set up in the country. Vladimir Putin said that after meeting with Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The meeting took place in Ankara for 3 hours, behind closed doors. Afterwards, the leaders made short statements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WeP4F6Zkak