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An Israeli missile attack that killed a senior commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force in Syria last week has sparked criticism of the military partnership between Russia and Iran. On 25 December, Seyyed Reza Mousavi, a key figure in shaping Iran's military presence in Syria, was killed in a missile strike on his residence in the Zainabiyah neighbourhood of Damascus. Although it wasn't the first time that Israel had targeted Iranian forces in Syria, this incident has drawn attention to Russia's failure to deploy its advanced S-300 anti-missile defence system in support of Iran, its primary...

BEIRUT, LEBANON (2:00 P.M.) – The Russian Armed Forces have allegedly given the Syrian military the green light to use their S-300 system against Israeli warplanes that enter their airspace, the Russian aviation publication Avia.Pro reported. “Against the background of how Israel was repeatedly seen striking at Syria despite the previously reached agreements between Russia and Israel, a source told Avia.pro that the Syrian military received permission to use its air defense systems in case of the slightest threat from Israel, provided that the Syrian side bears responsibility for such actions,” Avia.Pro said. Despite completing the installation of their S-300...

The last contact Grigoriy Gancherov and his wife had with their son, a Russian private military contractor fighting in Syria, was on Feb. 4 last year. The father subsequently learned from a friend and fellow fighter of Sergei's that the 25-year-old had died several days later in a major battle against U.S.-led forces in the Deir al-Zor region. It was not until mid-April that he received formal notification of his son's death and the body was returned, accompanied by a death certificate stating he died on March 7 on the other side of Syria. Gancherov's account is one of half...

Defense Secretary James Mattis revealed Tuesday that U.S. forces nearly bombed Russians fighting on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sometime in the past week, but a call with Moscow's own armed forces defused the situation. Mattis said he believed Russian military officials when they said they were not giving orders to private Russian citizens battling the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) and rebel groups as part of a coalition of pro-Syrian government militias. Following an incident last month, in which the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS killed a large number of these pro-Assad fighters, including Russians, Mattis said another clash...

The Russian parliament is working on a bill to regulate private military companies, a senior lawmaker said Wednesday after reports that an unknown number of Russian military contractors were killed in a U.S. strike in Syria.... Along with the Russian military, which has waged a military campaign in Syria backing the government since 2015, thousands of Russians have also reportedly fought there as private contractors.... The U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces have been vying with Russian-backed Syrian troops reinforced by Iranian-supported militias for control of the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province. But it was unclear why pro-government forces there advanced on an oil...

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.

Full Title.............................American fighter jet shoots down armed Assad drone that was 'threatening' US troops - as tensions escalate days after Russia threatened to shoot back after F-18 shot down Syrian fighter jet................................CNN reports the drone dropped several weapons it was carrying near a position where coalition personnel are training and advising partner ground forces in the fight against ISIS. The armed pro-regime Shaheed-129 UAV was shot down by a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle at approximately 12:30 a.m. after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces,' according to a statement issued by Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led coalition fighting...

Operations are ceased as a ‘precautionary measure’ says American ally’s defense ministry Australia has suspended air operations in Syria amid escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow after Russia threatened to track American and coalition aircraft in the war-torn country as targets. “As a precautionary measure, Australian Defense Force strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased,” a statement from the Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The American ally’s decision to back out of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria comes hours after the U.S. shifted some of its own flight patterns in the country to minimize risks, following Russia’s warning on Monday that...

(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...

Full text of the agreement reached between Iran, Russia and Turkey in Astana on May 4 on the creation of de-escalation areas in Syria has been released. The memorandum released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that the aim was “to put a prompt end to violence, improve the humanitarian situation and create favorable conditions to advance political settlement of the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic”. Full text of the agreement made between Iran, Russia and Turkey in Astane on May 4 is as follows: “The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation...

Oh noes, how is the U.S. media going to find a way to spin this? It was only a matter of time. President Trump and Secretary Tillerson played out the global strategy perfectly. By assembling international allies in a coalition of influence, specifically by pulling China into a close relationship with President Trump, Russia has been cast into a brutally diminished role. Secretary Tillerson’s exceptionally well received visit to the U.N. Security Council yesterday appears to have been the final straw. The international diplomacy of President Trump, Vice-President Pence, Secretary T-Rex and even Ambassador Nikki Haley has been incredibly well...

Full Title: Syria crisis: Russia raises prospect of war if it is given G7 ultimatum as it mocks Boris Johnson's no-show Russia and Iran has threatened military retaliation against the US, accusing Donald Trump of crossing “red lines” by ordering a cruise missile attack on a Syrian air base. The two military allies of Syria said the US bombardment had violated international law and, in a statement, added: “From now on we will respond with force.” Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, is understood to be working on a proposal from the G7 group of nations which will demand that Vladimir Putin...

MOSCOW (AP) -- President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said Thursday that Russia's support for Syrian President Bashar Assad is not unconditional, but that the country demands a full investigation of the suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held province in Syria before the United Nations takes any action.

Russia's deputy U.N. envoy, Vladimir Safronkov, warned on Thursday of "negative consequences" if the United States carries out military strikes on Syria over a deadly toxic gas attack. "We have to think about negative consequences, negative consequences, and all the responsibility if military action occurred will be on shoulders of those who initiated such doubtful and tragic enterprise," Safronkov told reporters when asked about possible U.S. strikes.

Thursday, October 27, 2016 It's a Mad, Mad War Posted by Daniel Greenfield Russia and the West are fighting to decide whether Syria will be run by Sunni Islamists backed by Saudi Arabia or Shiite Islamists backed by Iran. This insane civil war has burned up countless lives, not to mention plenty of dollars, rubles, euros and pounds. The only certain winners of this war, once the dust has settled, will chant “Allahu Akbar” and call for the death of the infidels. Sadly this is nothing new. Russia got the PLO started before Bill Clinton decided to become its sugar...