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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said on Sunday the Middle East would be more stable if Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein were still in power in Libya and Iraq, saying it's "not even a contest". Trump mentioned the countries in comparison to current efforts to drive Syrian President Bashar al-Assad out of power. "You can make the case, if you look at Libya, look at what we did there, it's a mess," Trump said on NBC. "If you look at Saddam Hussein with Iraq, look what we did there, it's a mess. It's going to be...

LONDON: Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly sending 150,000 soldiers to Syria to wipe out the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). According to The Daily Star, he is apparently mounting an enormous military mission to take control of the terror group's stronghold of Raqqa. Raqqa is the self-declared capital of ISIS which is patrolled by as many as 5,000 jihadi members. Putin is set to mobilise 150,000 reservists whom he conscripted into the military earlier this week.

Russia's intervention in Syria will curtail the spread of terrorism and help deal a fatal blow to Islamic State in the war-torn country, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Saturday. Russia launched air strikes in Syria on Wednesday in its biggest Middle East intervention in decades, marking a dramatic escalation in a more than four-year-old civil war in which every major country in the region has a stake. "Russia's entrance, given its potential and capabilities, is something we see is going to have an effect on limiting terrorism in Syria and eradicating it," Shoukry said in a televised interview...

With Syria making national headlines on a daily basis, it’s easy to forget about the Middle East’s other proxy war raging in Yemen. For months, a Saudi-led coalition has been battling Iran-backed militants for control of the country which was effectively wrested from Mansour Hadi earlier this year when the Sauid-backed President was forced to flee to Riyadh as the Houthis advanced on Aden. Sadly, Yemen has since descended into chaos, an embarrassment for the Obama administration which just a little over a year ago held the country up as an example of Washington’s successful counterterrorism efforts (no mention was...

Egypt awarded Russian arms vendor Rosoboronexport a contract for 50 Kamov Ka-52 Alligator combat helicopters, according to Russian media reports. Details of the transaction remained scarce, but it is thought that some of the Egyptian helicopters are maritime version Ka-52K Katran, which was unveiled earlier this year. The Katran may equip the two Mistral class landing ships that were built by DCNS/STX France for Russia. France stopped delivery after joining the sanctions regime against Russia for its annexation of Crimea. Almost the same day the Ka-52 deal became public, Egypt was revealed as the buyer of the ships. Russian sources...

A senior Saudi prince has launched an unprecedented call for change in the country’s leadership, as it faces its biggest challenge in years in the form of war, plummeting oil prices and criticism of its management of Mecca, scene of last week’s hajj tragedy. The prince, one of the grandsons of the state’s founder, Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, has told the Guardian that there is disquiet among the royal family – and among the wider public – at the leadership of King Salman, who acceded the throne in January.

On Thursday evening, we detailed a Reuters report which suggested that the influx of Russian technical and logistical support to Bashar al-Assad’s depleted army at Latakia might have breathed new life into the regime as it seeks to rout Islamic State and a whole host of other armed groups fighting for control of Syria. “Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Thursday Russia had provided new weapons and trained Syrian troops how to use them,” Reuters said, before describing what certainly sounds like an invigorated air campaign against the de facto ISIS capital at Raqqa. Importantly, al-Moualem also indicated that Syria...

A humanitarian crisis threatens the future of Western institutions. ... According to the U.N. refugee agency, 53% of the migrants are from Syria, 14% from Afghanistan, 7% from Eritrea, and 3% each from Pakistan, Nigeria, Iraq and Somalia. Seventy-two percent are men, only 13% women and 15% children.

Fox News has learned Quds head Qassem Soleimani and Putin discussed such a joint military plan for Syria at that meeting, an encounter first reported by Fox News in early August. "The Russians are no longer advising, but co-leading the war in Syria," one intelligence official said. The Quds Force is the international arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, involved in exporting terrorism to Iran's proxies throughout the Middle East including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Intelligence sources told Fox News that -- in addition to the previously reported arrival of nearly 50 Russian marines, 100 housing units and armored vehicles...

This Syrian girl eloquently breaks down the origin or the crisis and she even speaks on the young baby found on the beach. I guess the reason why I believe her is because I don't trust our media. The things she describes in her video shows she's done a lot of research and it's extensive. I applaud her getting the truth out! If believed, these specific details and some of these accusations are shocking! It's being used to bomb the country the refugees are running fromThe war was started by the US, and those now crying about the refugees in...

Syrian Girl, as she’s known, explains the migrant crisis into Europe and the way the media is handling it like no one else I’ve heard, and I highly recommend it to you. It’s very good analysis with the slight exception that she’s somewhat pro-Palestinian, so you’ll have to ignore a couple of brief comments she makes in the video. But otherwise it seems she’s right on the money, especially with respect to Obama and Turkey. Watch:

Russia and Iran have changed the stakes in Syria, and the U.S. should act accordingly. Refugees streaming into Europe, and the limp body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, have brought the horrific conflict in Syria into greater focus again. With over 250,000 dead and more than half of Syria's population displaced, it should not be surprising that the conflict finally found a new way to force itself into the collective consciousness of the world. The only surprising thing is that it took so long to create a crisis in Europe. To be sure, those countries were feeling the effects of the...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia called on Friday for Washington to restart direct military-to-military cooperation to avert "unintended incidents" near Syria, at a time when U.S. officials say Moscow is building up forces to protect President Bashar al-Assad's government. The United States is leading a campaign of air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syrian air space, and a greater Russian presence would raise the prospect of the Cold War superpower foes encountering each other on the battlefield. Both Moscow and Washington say their enemy is Islamic State. But Russia supports the government of Assad, while the United States says his...

Most of the Syrians we see on the nightly news and on newspaper front pages are not fleeing war-torn Syria. The three-year-old Aylan Kurdi (his real name is Alan Shenu) whose heartrending death was broadcast around the world was not fleeing Syria. He’d lived his whole short life in Turkey, where his parents had been living in safety. The Shenu family, like so many of these refugees, left Turkey on a smugglers’ boat, ultimately trying to reach Canada in pursuit of better economic prospects and a better life. This distinction is often lost in the coverage of the European “refugee...

The father of the three-year-old boy whose lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach, rocking the whole world to its core, has been accused of being a people smuggler who captained the fateful voyage. A woman, who claimed to have lost her two children on the vessel, made the stunning claims to Network Ten via her cousin who lives in Sydney on Friday night. The image of Aylan Kurdi’s dead body was the catalyst for Australia to accept 12,000 Syrian refugees who are fleeing persecution in their homeland. It was claimed last night that his ­father Abdullah was a...

Trump reverses himself on Syrian refugee question, says we have too many problems of our own! Posted by Ann Corcoran on September 10, 2015 The other day, Presidential candidate Donald Trump sounded a bit squishy on the issue of bringing in large numbers of Syrian refugees, but on Hannity last night he says what sure sounds like a NO! Watch the clip, he does mention that the wealthy Gulf Arab States and Russia aren’t taking any (terrorism fears?). He could mention that China is never asked to take any as well! The UN does pound Japan to take refugees, but...

President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered his administration to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees for resettlement in the United States next year, amid international pressure to act as heartbreaking images emerge of sometimes-deadly attempts to escape to Europe. California is the top resettlement destination, but some likely will come to centers in the Baltimore area, where refugees will be provided with furnished apartments, classes in English and American culture and help finding work. The International Rescue Committee office in Highlandtown, which has helped to resettle 26 Syrian refugees this year, anticipates receiving many more. The agency helps to resettle...

DNC leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the 15th Jewish Democrat to stand with Iran and support Obama’s controversial nuclear deal. Wasserman Schultz made the announcement this morning on CNN. Was there ever any doubt she would put party before Israel’s survival?Video: Here is (the whip list) of Democrats in support of the Iranian nuclear deal. DNC Leader Wasserman Schultz Is Latest Jewish Democrat to Stand With Iran – Back Nuclear Deal (VIDEO) Jim Hoft Sep 6th, 2015 10:01 am 101 Comments DNC leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the 15th Jewish Democrat to stand with Iran and support Obama’s controversial nuclear...

Russian military officers are now in Damascus and meeting regularly with Iranian and Syrian counterparts, according to a source with close contacts in the Bashar al-Assad regime. “They’re out in restaurants and cafes with other high officials in the Syrian Army,” the source told The Daily Beast, “mainly concentrated in Yaafour and Sabboura, areas that are close to each other, and in west Mezze,” referring to a district in the capital where Assad’s praetorian Fourth Armored Division keeps an important airbase. “The Russians aren’t in uniform, but they’re constantly hanging out with officers from the Syrian Army’s central command.” Other...

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, who heads the national Democratic Party, has announced she will support the controversial Iran nuclear deal that is a top priority for President Barack Obama but has faced widespread voter criticism, including in Florida. In a five-and-a-half page statement released exclusively to the Miami Herald on Sunday morning, Wasserman Schultz wrote that after wrestling with the agreement she still has concerns but will support it.