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.

The Russian Defense Ministry blasted the U.S.' shooting down of a Syrian regime fighter jet as a "massive violation of international law" and said it will begin treating U.S.-led coalition jets flying west of the Euphrates River in Syria as targets. The ministry's comments Monday came after a U.S. Navy fighter jet on Sunday shot down a Syrian fighter jet that had dropped bombs on Syrian rebel forces who are fighting ISIS in the country. It was the first time the U.S. has engaged in air-to-air combat in Syria and signaled an escalation of the conflict. The incident is also...

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Monday it would view as targets any flying objects over Syria in the areas of the country where its air forces operate, Russian news agencies reported. The statement followed after 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. [nL8N1JF0YG] The Defense Ministry also said that it was suspending its interaction with the United States on preventing air incidents over Syria from...

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...

Israel shot down a Syrian aircraft on Tuesday as it attempted to fly over the ceasefire line into the Golan Heights, according to IDF Radio. "This Syrian aircraft, apparently a MiG-21 (fighter jet), which was approaching the Israeli side of the Golan, was shot down by a surface-to-air Patriot missile," the radio said. The wreckage of the aircraft landed on the Syrian-controlled side of the strategic plateau, it added.