Free Republic

Two days after the disbandment of the second U.S. backed “moderate” rebel militia in six months, the Syrian Al-Qaeda branch “Jabhat Al-Nusra” (Al-Nusra Front) seized a large cache of TOW (wire-guided anti-tank) missiles inside Regiment 46 Base in southwestern Aleppo after defeating Harakat Hazzm (Movement of Steadfastness) in a short battle. Images of Jabhat Al-Nusra fighters with the U.S. supplied TOW missiles surfaced on Monday morning, as they paraded around the captured Regiment 46 Base, posing for pictures in front of boxes with the U.S.’ insignia. The growing fear of hardline Islamist groups getting ahold of these potent weapons has...

The recent arrival of the Russian Marines and Air Force to the Syrian port-city of Tartous has generated a significant amount of interest around the world, as the possibility of Russia’s direct military intervention becomes the focal point of the war on ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham). [....] Instead, the Russians appear to have a contingency that involves another world power that was absent from the U.S. led Anti-ISIS Coalition: China. On Tuesday morning, a Chinese naval vessel reportedly traveled through Egypt’s Suez Canal to enter the Mediterranean Sea; its destination was not confirmed. However, according to a...

This past weekend, the Russian Air Force was given full access to the Hmaymat Military Airbase inside the Latakia Governorate’s western countryside after the Syrian Arab Army’s Central Command approved the Russian Navy’s recent delivery of Sukhoi fighter jets through the Syrian port-city of Tartous. The Hmaymat Military Airbase is located inside the Bassel Al-Assad International Airport, which sits just east of the densely populated coastal city of Jableh in western Latakia. With full access to the Hmaymat Military Airbase’s airfields, the Russian Air Force possesses a temporary airbase to begin their aerial operations above the Islamic State of Iraq...