Free Republic

The U.S.-led military coalition in Syria likely used a unique variant of the beloved Hellfire missile to kill a mercenary trainer who recently worked with an al Qaeda-affiliated militant group there, according to photos from the scene of the strike. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported last week that a drone strike likely affiliated with the U.S.-led international military coalition in the country was responsible for killing Abu Yahya al-Uzbeki, an independent "military trainer" recently affiliated with the al Qaeda-linked Hurras Al-Din organization, while he was traveling in Syria's Idlib province. Photos of the aftermath of the strike on...

Maaret al-Numan (Syria) (AFP) - Thin mattresses, children's toys, a gas heater: Abu Ismail packed a pick-up truck with scant belongings before fleeing a northwest Syria town nearly emptied of residents by recent regime attacks. "I don't know where I am going, if I will find a house for my family, or what will happen to us," the 42-year-old father of seven told AFP, plumes of smoke rising around him. Tens of thousands of people like Abu Ismail have fled the Maaret al-Numan region, located in jihadist-held Idlib province, since December 16, following a rise in air strikes, according to...

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) “knowingly” siphoned off millions in American taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance into the coffers of the al-Qaeda wing in Syria, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) reported this week. In post-Islamic State (ISIS) caliphate Syria, the al-Qaeda-linked Ha’yat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) group has surfaced as the strongest jihadi group in the region. On Tuesday, the Pentagon OIG’s Lead Inspector General for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the official name of the U.S. mission against ISIS, revealed: Since late 2017, USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] OIG investigations have uncovered numerous instances of...