Free Republic

(CNN)Iran's military announced on Sunday that it launched several missiles into Syria, targeting Islamic State fighters in retaliation for the attacks in Tehran on June 7. The missile strikes are the first reported ground-to-ground attack from Iran into Syria since the Arab country descended into a civil war in 2011. "In this operation, several ground-to-ground midrange missiles were fired from IRGC bases in Kermanshah Province and targeted Takfiri forces in the Deir Ezzor region in Eastern Syria," the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on its official news website, Sepah News. The IRGC uses the term Takfiri to describe ISIS.

A U.S. warplane shot down a Syrian army jet on Sunday in the southern Raqqa countryside with Washington saying the jet had dropped bombs near U.S. backed forces and Damascus saying the plane was downed while flying a mission against Islamic State militants. A Syrian army statement released on Syrian state television said the plane crashed and the pilot was missing. It said the incident took place on Sunday afternoon near a village called Rasafah. The "flagrant attack was an attempt to undermine the efforts of the army as the only effective force capable with its allies ... in fighting...

A U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian government warplane after it attacked Washington-backed fighters near ISIS' de facto capital of Raqqa, the U.S.-led coalition said Sunday. In a statement, the coalition said its aircraft "conducted a show of force" to turn back an attack by Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's forces on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the town of Ja'Din, south of Tabqah. The coalition confirmed that a U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down a Syrian Su-22 that had dropped bombs near SDF positions. The coalition said the shootdown took place "in accordance with rules of...

A U.S. warplane on Sunday shot down a Syrian military aircraft that dropped bombs near U.S.-backed fighters in Syria, the U.S. military said. The U.S. Central Command issued a statement saying the plane was downed "in collective self-defense of Coalition-partnered forces," identified as fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces near Tabqah.

IT started as a face-saving exercise by Hillary Clinton to try to explain away her election loss to a vulgarian real estate billionaire from Queens. But the absurd Russia conspiracy has somehow snowballed into a crisis that threatens to bring down Donald Trump, has all but paralysed his administration, and unleashed the most unhinged attacks on a US president in living memory. Inevitably, last week the violent language and “Assassinate Trump” memes erupted in a burst of deadly gunfire at an early morning baseball practice for Republican congressmen near Washington, DC. The gunman was 66-year-old James Hodgkinson, a left-wing Bernie...

Turkish troops have crossed the border into Southern Kurdistan. Clashes that erupted upon the response of guerrillas continue. Turkish troops moving in Çukurca district of Hakkari have crossed the border into Southern Kurdistan last night. During clashes that erupted upon the response of guerrillas, 14 soldiers have been killed. Clashes and Turkish airstrikes continue in several locations. ANF reporters on the ground provided the following details: Turkish fighter jets started to shell Çukurca borderline at 20:00 Friday evening. Turkish troops started to move and crossed the border following the aerial strikes. Heavy clashes erupted between guerrillas and Turkish soldiers that...

MOSCOW — Russia’s military said on Friday that it was looking into whether one of its airstrikes in the Syrian desert had killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-declared caliph of the Islamic State. In a statement, the Defense Ministry said that the Russian Air Force struck a meeting of Islamic State leaders on May 28 outside Raqqa, Syria, the group’s de facto capital, possibly killing Mr. Baghdadi.

MOSCOW, June 16 (Reuters) - Russia does not have 100 percent confirmation that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed, RIA news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Friday. Russia's Defence Ministry said earlier on Friday it was checking information that a Russian air strike near the Syrian city of Raqqa may have killed al-Baghdadi in late May. Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday it was checking information that a Russian air strike near the Syrian city of Raqqa may have killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in late May. The air strike was...

A U.N. humanitarian aid adviser for Syria says trucks are being prepared to ship polio vaccine into Islamic State group-held areas of Deir el-Zour governorate following confirmation of a "very dangerous" outbreak of the virus. ... He said 58 acute flaccid paralysis cases, a possible symptom of polio, had been reported in Deir el-Zour this year through June 6.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Cedar Rapids police have arrested a North Texas man they say attended church services and scammed members by claiming his family was killed in Syria. Cedar Rapids television station KCRG reported that Alan Michael Farha II, 41, of Carrolton, Texas, was arrested this week in the 1600 block of Fourth Avenue SE after the Cedar Rapids Police Department warned local churches of a man deceiving churchgoers and asking them for money. Police said Farha attended services at several area churches and told members his parents were killed in Syria in a roadside bombing and that he...

KCK Executive Council Co-chair Besê Hozat stressed that the control over Raqqa will be significant for Syria in general as well, and stated that ISIS will receive the lethal blow in Raqqa. KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council Co-chair Besê Hozat spoke about the latest developments in Raqqa to the News Channel TV. Hozat stated that the just-launched Raqqa operation created intense conflict and squabbles among the international and regional powers and said: “The strategic location of Raqqa makes it strategic for the future of Syria. The war is at Raqqa’s door, and the conflicts and rivalries increased. There is...

Syrian Democratic Council (MSD) Co-chair Îlham Ehmed stated that Turkey wants to prevent the liberation of Raqqa and become permanent in the Shehba region. Syrian Democratic Council Co-chair Îlham Ehmed wrote an article published in the Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper titled “What is happening in Shehba?” and commented on Turkey’s plans in Shehba, Manbij and Raqqa, stressing that international powers are silent in the face of Turkey’s plans for invasion. The article, translated by ANF English service, is below: As the operation to liberate Raqqa continues successfully and the city is cleared of gangs street by street, an ethnic cleansing project...

Leaders of the Syriac Military Council, a Christian force that is part of the US- backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighting ISIS (Photo: Courtesy)The battle for Raqqa, the Syrian city serving as the “capital” of ISIS’ caliphate, has begun. You’d never know it from the media coverage, but a Christian force is taking part and is asking for U.S. support and prayers.The Syriac Military Council (SMC) and its female wing, the Bethnahrin Women Protection Forces (HSNB), have issued a press release announcing their participation in the offensive on Raqqa. The SMC is a part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed,...

SDF fighters take position on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in southwestern Kobane during clashes with ISIS militants. File photo: ARA News A senior Syrian Kurdish official on Monday accused Turkey of cutting of the water of the Euphrates River, causing a drop in water levels in the Kurdish town of Kobane and in Tabqa.“The Turkish government cut off the waters of the Al-Furat [Euphrates] River, causing a significant drop in the Tishreen Dam [near Kobane] and the dam of the Al-Tabqa [in Raqqa province],” said Abdulkarim Omer, the head of foreign relations for the Cezire Canton...

SULAIMANI — The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Sunday (June 11) the opening of a third front inside the Islamic State’s Syrian de facto capital of Raqqa, killing 11 militants. The SDF, a US-backed group of Kurdish and Arab fighters, said the area of al-Romaniya, on the western outskirts of ISIS-held Raqqa, is now free from the ultra-hardline group. There was an ISIS Emir among the militants killed at the hands of SDF fighters, the group added. The SDF fighters broke into a second front inside the northern Syrian town on Saturday (June 10), capturing the western district...

This F/A-18F Super Hornet, belonging to VFA-213 "Blacklions" and operating aboard the USS George H.W. Bush in the eastern Mediterranean, is equipped with one uniquely massive and highly destructive payload. No less than ten 1,000lb GBU-32 JDAMs are slung under its wings. In addition, a pair of 188lb AIM-9X Sidewinders adorn its wingtips. A 400lb ATFLIR targeting pod is attached on its left intake station, and a 480 gallon centerline fuel tank rounds out its external stores list. Add in the four multiple ejector racks and the pylons, not to mention 412 rounds of 20mm ammo, and this "Rhino's" stores...

1735 HRs Local, Sunday, June 7, 1981. Al-Tuwaythah Nuclear Research Facility, outside Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi Colonel Fakhri Hussein Jaber is in shock. His jaw drops, mouth gaping open as a strained moan leaves his throat. Despite the hot desert temperature his limbs feel cold. He cannot believe what he is seeing. Eight F-16s painted sand-colored desert camouflage flying in a single-file attack formation at rooftop level hurtles over the outskirts of Baghdad from the southwest. They bank hard left, slicing white tendrils of vapor from their missile-clad wingtips in the evening air. One at a time they light their afterburners...

For the first time in more than four decades, American forces have come under aerial attack after a drone released an unspecified weapon near U.S. special operators and their Syrian partners at a garrison in the town of At Tanf. The strike has huge implications for the conflict in the country, as well as the future of warfare as a whole. U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, the spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), the top American task force leading the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, announced the incident in talking to the press on June...

The Sukhoi Su-35S supermaneuverable multirole fighter in service with the Russian Air Force is optimized for air-to-air combat but is quite useless as a ground attack aircraft as proven by its combat experience in Syria. Russian state-controlled media reports the air force as being "more or less satisfied with the Su-35S" and its performance in Syria. The "less" in this case is the result of the failure of the fighter's PESA (Passive Electronically Scanned Array) radar to accurately and consistently locate and guide bombs onto their targets. "Since the aircraft was employed for ground strike missions -- more with smart...

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Tuesday it had launched an operation to capture Raqqa, Islamic State's de facto Syrian capital. ..."They have had three years to establish their defences there. We expect a fight very similar to what we've seen in Mosul," he said, while adding that Raqqa is a much smaller city.