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A Russian warplane was shot down Saturday in Syria, according to Russian state-run news agencies. The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed one of its Su-25 warplanes was downed in Idlib province in northwest Syria, state media outlet RIA Novosti reported. Militants shot down the plane in an area controlled by al-Nusra Front fighters, according to the RIA Novosti report. Russia and Turkey, which is responsible for a de-escalation zone in Idlib, were taking measures to return the pilot's body, the defense ministry said. The ministry said more than 30 militants in the area were killed in a retaliatory strike, according...

Shocking pictures show dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles crossing over the border in a terrifying display of military might. But the Syrian-Kurdish YPG militia has denied there is a full-scale invasion underway, claiming forces clashed in Afrin but Turkish soldiers were beaten back. YPG official, Nouri Mahmoudi, said "all the Turkish military's ground attacks against Afrin have been repelled so far and they have been forced to retreat." A statement from the militia said: "Our people are holding on to their land and do not accept surrender... we repeat our determination to protect our people in Afrin against the...

Special Briefing Senior State Department Official Via Teleconference January 19, 2018 MODERATOR: Good morning. Thank you, sir. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us for today’s background call on U.S. policy on Syria, and specifically the implications of the Secretary’s speech that took place in California earlier this week. We’re joined today by [Senior State Department Official], who will be referred to as Senior State Department Official. As a reminder, today’s call is on background and will be embargoed until the conclusion of the call. With that, I’m happy to turn it over to our senior State Department official...

A series of mysterious attacks against the main Russian military base in Syria, including one conducted by a swarm of armed miniature drones, has exposed Russia’s continued vulnerability in the country despite recent claims of victory by President Vladimir Putin. The attacks have also spurred a flurry of questions over who may be responsible for what amounts to the biggest military challenge yet to Russia’s role in Syria, just when Moscow is seeking to wind its presence down. In the most recent and unusual of the attacks, more than a dozen armed drones descended from an unknown location onto Russia’s...

Russia foils massive attack on its Syrian bases by electronically “controlling” 6 drones, downing seven The Defense Ministry in Moscow revealed on Monday, Jan. 8: A massive terrorist drone attack on Russian military and naval bases in Syria was thwarted by electronic measures and anti-air weapon fire. The statement said that overnight on Jan. 6, Syrian “militants” (terrorists) sent a large swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles to attack Russia’s Tartus Naval base and Khmeimim air base. Russian defenses took control of six drones and its Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and gun system shot down another seven. .... they used electronic measures...

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria during a visit to the war-torn country on Monday. Putin was met at Russia's Hmeimim air base by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad alongside Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, according to Russian state news agency Tass. "In two years, the Russian armed forces, together with the Syrian army, have defeated the most lethal group of international terrorists," Tass quoted Putin as saying.

Syrian state media on Monday said Israel had fired missiles at a Syrian military facility in the Damascus countryside, adding that Syrian air defense systems had intercepted three of the missiles. “Our air defenses are confronting an Israeli missile attack on one of our sites in the Damascus suburbs and three of the targets were downed,” state news agency SANA said, adding the attacks happened at 11:30 p.m. Monday. A witness told Reuters late on Monday three strong explosions were heard from the direction of Jamraya, west of Damascus. Another witness said thick smoke could be seen rising over the...

Multiple projectiles and multiple interceptions in progress. Local media and Twitter currently reporting. Several reports claim, that ‘it’s something we’ve not seen in 10 years. Israeli airplanes are now carrying reportedly carrying out air strikes near Damascus - looks like an escalating conflict.

Iranian Rev Guards Gen. Soleimani sets up a forward war-room in Syria after Assad’s army and Hizballah failed to recover strategic Abu Kamal from ISIS. The Revolutionary Guards Al Qods chief Gen Qassem Soleimani, supreme commander of Iranian warfronts in Syria and Iraq, was seen on Sunday morning, Nov. 19, at the scene of the Abu Kamal battle, the key southeastern town near the border with Iraq (in Deir ez-Zour province), after Syrian and Hizballah forces had failed to recapture the town from an Islamic State counteroffensive.Military sources reporting this, disclose that Soleimani’s deputy Khairallah Samadi was killed in battle....

QAMISHLO– The deputy of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Russian Senate Ziyad Sabsabi said that Russia will abide by neutrality in the fighting between the regime Force and the Syrian Democratic Forces, indicating that Russia insists permanently on the Kurds participation in conferences and meetings related to the Syrian crisis.The General Command of the People’s Protection Units held a press conference yesterday, in which a number of IS mercenary families were handed over to the Russian Federation during a joint press conference between the People’s Protection Units and Russian military leadership.The families, which were handed over by the...

Israeli forces struck targets near the Lebanon-Syria border on Wednesday, foreign media reported. The Al-Mayadeen channel, closely associated with the Assad regime, reported the attack targeted a security facility in an industrial zone in a Homs suburb. They also reported Syrian forces responded with surface-to-air missiles. The Lebanese Anshara website reported huge explosions near the villages of al-Eyn-al-Jedida, located in the eastern mountain range on the Lebanon-Syria border. Local residents reported Israeli jets circling the area prior to the explosion......

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,...

Turkey and Russia are aggressively conspiring against U.S. interests in Syria. That's my takeaway from the joint press conference on Thursday, between Presidents Erdogan and Putin in Turkey. First off, on Syria, Putin stated that Turkey and Russia have agreed to a cease-fire in Syria's north-eastern Idlib province. That statement might sound positive, but with Idlib the last major holdout of the Sunni rebellion fighting the Assad-Putin-Iran axis, Putin's words suggest that Erdogan is about to cut-off the rebel supply lines from Turkey. As I warned last December, Russia's endgame has always been the annihilation of the rebels in Idlib....

Israeli jets have reportedly targeted a suspected chemical weapons factory in western Syria. The Syrian National Army said four IAF warplanes hit a military site in Hama province, near Masyaf, in the early hours of Thursday morning, killing two soldiers and causing massive damage. It is believed the site was linked to the sarin gas attack in April, which UN investigators said was the work of the Syrian government. The UN confirmed the chemical attacks in Khan Sheikhoun, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians and prompted a US missile attack, were perpetrated by Assad regime forces. Israel...

Syria confirms: Israel targeted military facility killing two-Opposition forces say four Israeli planes hit plant in Masyar-Incident comes amid massive Israeli drill, weeks after outgoing air force chief admits Israel targets Hezbollah convoys. The Israeli military struck Thursday a chemical arms plant in Syria, foreign media reports claimed. The Syrian army general command confirmed in a statement the attack on what they called a military facility, and said that two people were killed and extensive damage was caused. Israel refused to comment on the reports. A Syrian military statement said that at 2:40 A.M. Israeli warplanes struck the site from...

The Obama administration likely hid information about Iran illicitly ferrying militants into Syria on commercial aircraft in order to promote the landmark nuclear deal and foster multi-billion dollar business deals with Tehran's state-controlled airline sector, according to lawmakers and other sources familiar with the matter. The Washington Free Beacon first disclosed last week that congressional leaders are calling for an investigation into Iran for using its state-controlled air carrier, Iran Air, to ferry militant fighters into Syria, where they are taking up arms in defense of embattled President Bashar al-Assad. Photographs provided to Congress show Iran using Iran Air to...

North Korea shipments to Syria chemical arms agency intercepted: U.N. report UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Two North Korean shipments to a Syrian government agency responsible for the country's chemical weapons program were intercepted in the past six months, according to a confidential United Nations report on North Korea sanctions violations. The report by a panel of independent U.N. experts, which was submitted to the U.N. Security Council earlier this month and seen by Reuters on Monday, gave no details on when or where the interdictions occurred or what the shipments contained. "The panel is investigating reported prohibited chemical, ballistic missile...

Two North Korean shipments to a Syrian government agency responsible for the country's chemical weapons programme were intercepted in the past six months, according to a confidential United Nations report on North Korea sanctions violations. The report by a panel of independent U.N. experts, which was submitted to the U.N. Security Council earlier this month and seen by Reuters on Monday, gave no details on when or where the interdictions occurred or what the shipments contained. "The panel is investigating reported prohibited chemical, ballistic missile and conventional arms cooperation between Syria and the DPRK (North Korea)," the experts wrote in...

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump was shown a disturbing video of Syrian rebels beheading a child near the city of Aleppo. It had caused a minor stir in the press as the fighters belonged to the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, a group that had been supported by the CIA as part of its rebel aid program. The footage is haunting. Five bearded men smirk as they surround a boy in the back of a pickup truck. One of them holds the boy’s head with a tight grip on his hair while another mockingly slaps his face. Then, one of...

[Editor’s Note: Below is Thomas Joscelyn’s testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee’s Task Force on Denying Terrorists Entry into the United States. The hearing is titled, “The Terrorist Diaspora: After the Fall of the Caliphate.” A version with footnotes will also be posted.] Chairman Gallagher, Ranking Member Watson Coleman, and other distinguished Committee Members, thank you for inviting me to testify today concerning foreign fighters and the threat some of them pose to the U.S. and Europe. The fall of Mosul and the likely fall of Raqqa won’t be the end of the Islamic State. The group has already...