Downing of Russian Helicopter Highlights Islamic State Threat to Aircraft
TEL AVIV – Russia’s military says one of its helicopters was downed by the Islamic State in Syria, killing two of its airmen.
TEL AVIV – Russia’s military says one of its helicopters was downed by the Islamic State in Syria, killing two of its airmen.
Three migrants, who are thought to be members of the Al-Nusra Front and a Shia militia, were arrested by Austrian police at asylum homes in Tirol. The three migrants who were arrested by Austrian police in Tirol are said to have
TEL AVIV – A top Islamic State-tied jihadist in the Gaza Strip claimed in an interview on Sunday that he “knows” that Omar Mateen, the Orlando club shooter, was a member of a terrorist organization. Abu al-Ayna al-Ansari, a Salafist
Contents: Report: Israel and Saudi Arabia are allying against Iran and Hezbollah; Iran and Hezbollah turn focus of hostility from Israel to Saudi Arabia; Shifting Israeli alliances in the Mideast
The Times of Israel reports: Despite a pairing up of two Islamic State-linked militant groups on Israel’s northern border and a show of boldness by the new alliance, their threat to the Jewish state remains minimal, experts on jihadi groups in Syria told the Times of Israel.
Contents: Venezuela’s Maduro accuses US of planning an imminent invasion; Syria peace talks in Vienna collapse in farce – again
Al-Qaeda may be training one of Osama bin Laden’s young sons for a leadership position within the jihadist organization, according to a newly surfaced video that features his voice.
The London Daily Telegraph reports: Three Spanish journalists kidnapped in Syria some 10 months ago have been freed, the Spanish Press Federation (FAPE) and government said on Saturday.
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s top cleric has reportedly issued a religious decree, or fatwa, ordering the tyrant’s military to “show us their rage in exterminating” civilians in the besieged and divided city of Aleppo.
Contents: Massive earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador are linked by the Ring of Fire; Syria chemical weapons accidentally kill Hezbollah militias; Latest Syrian ‘peace process’ appears near collapse; Saudi Arabia ends oil summit negotiations as Iran fails to show up
TEL AVIV – Amid reports that a Syrian jet was shot down by rebels utilizing an antiaircraft missile, questions immediately arise as to where exactly the jihadi and moderate groups fighting Bashar al-Assad’s regime may have obtained such weaponry.
Contents: Syrian jihadists shoot down regime warplane, capture pilot; Radical Islamists finding a new home in Bosnia and Balkan states
Contents: Russia declared ‘Mission complete’ in Syria and withdrew, but the war rages on; Bangladesh’s Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) terror group targets ‘atheist bloggers’
Contents: Generational Dynamics view of Brussels terror attack; Gone With The Wind
Islamic State fighters killed 26 Syrian soldiers on Monday west of Palmyra, a monitoring group said, after days of advances by government forces backed by Syrian and Russian air cover. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the Syrian
Contents: Russia announces a surprise partial military withdrawal from Syria; Opinions vary on why Russia pulled back from Syria now
The Pentagon and CIA do not believe Russia will honor the ceasefire agreement in Syria arrived at this week, according to sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal.
Militant Islamists have reportedly shot two men in cold blood in front of a mosque in the Syrian city of Idlib, charged with having furnished “relief materials to the towns of Al-Fu’ah and Kafriya,” currently under siege by the Sunni
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has called parliamentary elections in April, a decision both expected and believed to have little effect on Assad himself. Nonetheless, Russian and Iranian media are applauding Assad following an agreement between Russia and the United States to a ceasefire end to hostilities in Syria on February 27.
Contents: China building powerful new radar system in South China Sea; Report: China’s military buildup neutralizes America’s aircraft carriers; John Kerry and Russia announce a new Syria peace plan
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Monday he was sceptical that a Syria ceasefire announced for February 27 by the United States and Russia will succeed. He also said that both Washington and Moscow recognise Israeli freedom of action
The writer regarded as the greatest Arabic language poet alive today has said Islam cannot be modernised. Adunis Asbar, known by his pen name Adonis, is a Syrian-born writer often considered one of the greatest living poets of the Arabic language.
Contents: US and Russia agree to a farcical ‘cessation of hostilities’ in Syria; Russia launches massive military exercises, apparently targeting Turkey and Syria; The vitriolic hatred of Bashar al-Assad
Contents: Previous attempts at Syria ‘peace talks’ ended in farce; Syria peace process ‘proximity talks’ to begin this week in Geneva
The organization Reporters Without Borders alleged this week that one of its journalists, Japanese national Yasuda Jumpei, has been kidnapped in Syria and his captors are demanded an unspecified ransom from his family and government in exchange for his freedom.
A 22-year-old Fremont man was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday for attempting to join a terrorist group in Syria.
The number of foreign fighters who have traveled to Iraq and Syria to join jihadist groups, such as the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and the official al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front, has more than doubled in the last 18 months to between 27,000 and 31,000, revealed a new report.
Fighting has erupted between allegedly allied anti-Islamic State groups in Aleppo, Syria, killing over 20 people in the past two days.
A southern Syria Islamist coalition, led by Syria’s al Qaeda offshoot al-Nusra Front, issued an ultimatum for the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, an Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) affiliate, to surrender within 24 hours, reports the Lebanon-based NOW News.
The Free Syrian Army has been backed by Western powers until now and has been actively targeted by Russian airstrikes, but it has reportedly made overtures to Moscow to discuss military cooperation, or at least an end to Russian bombing of their positions.
Al Qaeda, in the second edition of the English-language jihadi magazine Al Risalah, is portrayed as “moderate” compared to its “extremist” rival Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
Sanafi al-Nasr, al-Qaeda’s chief financial officer and highest-ranking leader of the Khorasan Group, a terrorist organization intent on attacking America and its allies in the West, was killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike in Syria, the Pentagon has announced.
The leader of the al-Nusra Front, Syria’s al-Qaeda offshoot, reportedly called on jihadists to intensify attacks on Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite sect of Shiite Islam in retaliation for Russia’s military intervention.
The leader of al-Qaeda linked group al-Nusra Front is encouraging jihadists in the Caucasus to attack Russia. His call follows similar condemnation of Russia from rival jihadi group the Islamic State (ISIS) and a number of Saudi clerics.
Contents: Mahmoud Abbas’s United Nations ‘bombshell’ something of a dud; Russia humiliates US again as it begins striking Syria
After several dispatches from Syria reported that the few remaining American-backed rebel fighters have been compromised by the al-Nusra Front, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, U.S. Central Command released a statement late Friday confirming that the U.S.-armed New Syrian Forces had delivered equipment and vehicles to the jihadi outfit.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server went down during key moments in recent foreign policy, including terrorist attacks, rendering Clinton and her aides frustrated with their inability to communicate.
In remarks to various sympathetic pro-Russian networks, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused the West of working with the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, and claimed those not aiding his political survival were helping “terrorists.”
Contents: Russia opens a dangerous new chapter in Syria and the Mideast; ‘Putin’s Plan’ for Russia and Syria; How is Vladimir Putin different from Ronald Reagan?; Choosing the lesser of two evils
In what is potentially a major escalation in the growing sectarian wars in the Mideast, intelligence officials are saying that Russia appears to be building a new military base in Syria, in the Mediterranean port city of Latakia, with an airfield and prefabricated housing units for up to 1,000 personnel.