The worldwide number of annual terrorist deaths has more than quadrupled since President Barack Obama was inaugurated in January 2009. Deaths from terrorism increased 80 percent last year to an all-time-record of 32,658 people killed, compared to 18,111 in 2013.
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad had some harsh words for President Francois Hollande and praise for Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an interview with the conservative French magazine Valeurs Actuelles to be published Thursday. Unfortunately for Putin, Syrian state media omitted Assad’s praise from its official “full” text of the interview.
British hostage John Cantlie allegedly penned an article in the Islamic State’s (ISIS/ISIL) Dābiq magazine. It is his first appearance in over six months.
Contents: Turkey soccer fans boo during moment of silence for Paris attack; Rwanda’s president Kagame becomes another leader refusing to leave office
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro blamed the terror attacks in Paris this week on the “irresponsibility” of the United States in the Middle East, asserting that supporting Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is more important now than ever because “if he is taken down, what happened in Paris will be nothing in comparison to what will happen around the world.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists at the G-20 summit in Turkey that funding for ISIS comes from 40 different nations, including members of the Group of 20.
In an impromptu meeting at the sidelines of the G-20 summit currently underway in Turkey, President Barack Obama met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and, according to the White House, both parties agreed on a “political transition” in Syria. The meeting precedes a report claiming Putin has already begun pressuring Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to step down.
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad blamed French foreign policy for the Paris massacre, saying France’s policies had contributed to the “spread of terrorism.”
Contents: Lebanon’s government in paralysis following Beirut terror attack; France closes borders in state of emergency after Paris attacks; Europe’s Schengen zone is put at risk by Paris attack
Contents: ISIS claims credit for suicide attack on Hezbollah in Beirut Lebanon; Commodities and stocks continue to plunge
The Free Syrian Army (FSA), which includes fighters trained by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has reportedly been decimated by widespread desertions.
Hundreds of Christians have teamed up with many Muslims in the ranks of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s army to prevent the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) from conquering the biblical town of Sadad, according to the leader of the Syriac Orthodox church.
Russian intelligence reports are claiming that the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terror group has amassed 80,000 soldiers in Iraq and Syria for its drive towards the goal of a global caliphate.
The Russian government provided the United Nations with an 18-month plan to end the Syrian civil war. Syrian opposition groups resist the plan, as it makes no mention of a transition process for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that Turkey would consider sending ground forces into Syria to fight the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS), but not unilaterally.
Forces from the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad have been able to break the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) siege of a key military airbase in the northern province of Aleppo, handing ISIS one of its worst defeats to date.
In what may have been the most cordial meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since Obama’s ascendancy to the White House, the two leaders discussed how to protect Israel’s interests during the ongoing civil war in neighboring Syria.
A new report from Amnesty International charges the Assad regime with making over 65,000 Syrians ‘disappear’ during four years of civil war, an “organized attack against the civilian population” carried out not just for political gain, but for profit.
The regime in Tehran is recruiting Shiite refugees in neighboring Afghanistan and sending them into battle in defense of forces loyal to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nearly 9 out of 10 airstrikes launched by the Russian military in Syria have hit so-called moderate rebels opposed to the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, killing civilians as well as destroying hospitals and shelters in the process, a senior U.S. State Department official told lawmakers.
Iran has accused its Russian ally of being divergent on its goals of keeping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that, before talks on a cease-fire in Syria can move forward, Western powers must agree to identify the “terrorist” groups within the Syrian opposition.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — America’s Arab allies have discussed deploying their own ground forces to Syria to combat the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), a senior U.S. State Department official told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The Pentagon is deploying to Turkey up to a dozen F-15Cs, specializing in air-to-air combat, allegedly to combat the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), which has no aerial fighters.
The Pentagon denied Russian Defense Ministry claims that the U.S. and Russia conducted a joint training exercise in the skies over Syria, adding that they did carry out a planned communications test.
WASHINGTON D.C.—The Pentagon has denied claims by Vladimir Putin’s defense ministry that the Russian air force held an air space cooperation exercise with its U.S. counterpart in Syria, aimed at staving off dangerous encounters between their warplanes.
T-shirt souvenirs reading “Support Assad” and “Polite Invaders” have saturated Moscow as the Putin government continues its military campaign to stabilize the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
The government of Iran has strongly rejected a round of news stories claiming it was ready to compromise its support for the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria.
Caged prisoners believed to be former army officers from dictator Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect were paraded through streets of a rebel-held suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, apparently used as human shields to deter further bombardments in the area, according to video clips and images posted on social media.
With 95 percent of the vote in, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) appear to have solidified their control of the nation’s Parliament, with significant losses for Kurd-friendly leftist People’s Democratic Party (HDP) and main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Contents: Russia warns that Syria war could become a ‘proxy war’; Syria’s civil war and Generational Dynamics; Generational Dynamics and crisis civil wars; Generational Dynamics and war between Palestinians and Israelis
New Jersey Governor and Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said, “we have to work with the rebels in Syria to be able to find out who’s best to be able to bring stability to that country” on Saturday’s “Fox &
ISIS is a fear merchant. It depends heavily upon using fear to intimidate those opposed to it.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appears ready to cooperate with the European Union to remove economic sanctions–after having gained enormous international leverage through his surprise military intervention in Syria.
One of the factors spurring Russia to action in Syria was the success of ISIS recruitment in certain parts of Russia. A notable example of this is the province of Dagestan, which has a large and impoverished Muslim population, a history of unrest, some hot spots of radical Salafist Islam, and lingering resentment against heavy-handed police tactics.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told the Syrian Kurdish PYD forces, who have worked with the United States in the past, “Pull yourself together” and keep east of the Euphrates River–or face military attack by Turkish forces.
Iran and Saudi Arabia, two states on polar opposite sides of the ongoing civil war in Syria, are set to meet face-to-face in Vienna on Friday, as part of international talks which hope to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
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.
Reuters, citing two Obama Administration officials, reports that U.S. special operations in Iraq and Syria may occur in the near future.
The office of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad issued a statement Tuesday claiming to welcome “any political solution” to the Syrian civil war, days after insisting that an election is out of the question until Assad achieves “victory over terrorism.”
