Free Syrian Army - Page 2

Contents: US-backed Kurdish militias in Syria make surprise announcement of Raqqa operation; Is Syria’s Bashar al-Assad a ‘necessary evil’?

Syrian rebels backed by the Turkish military have succeeded in capturing nine important border areas from the Islamic State—including the village of Dabiq, which features very prominently in the Islamic State’s propaganda and apocalyptic ideology.

The latest WikiLeaks document dump on Hillary Clinton includes an August 18, 2014 email she sent to John Podesta, who is currently her campaign chairman, but was a counselor to the Obama White House at the time.

Contents: As Syria ceasefire begins, Bashar al-Assad quickly rejects it; Confusion grows over role of al-Nusra Front in US-Russia peace plan

AMMAN- The top military commander of the militant group Jabhat Fateh al Sham, the former al Qaeda offshoot in Syria, was killed in an aerial raid that targeted a meeting of the group’s leaders, both the group and rebel sources said on Thursday.

Turkey is seeking a greater role in fighting the Islamic State in Syria, even hoping to collaborate with the U.S. military to liberate Raqqa, according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The declaration has alarmed Russia, which is expressing “concern” at an expansion of Turkey’s military action in the region.

Turkey and its rebel allies opened a new line of attack in northern Syria on Saturday, as Turkish tanks rolled across the border and Syrian fighters swept in from the west to take villages held by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).

Fighting has erupted in northern Syria between two US allies on opposing sides of a Turkish military offensive — the now Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Contents: Turkey’s invasion of Syria continues, bombing Kurdish targets; America may be forced to choose between Turkey and Kurds

Contents: Kurds, Assad forces, US and ISIS converge in Hasaka, alarming Turkey; Turkey launches rebel army to fight both ISIS and Kurds in Syria

The Syrian opposition has formally officially disavowed the person who addressed the Herzliya Conference that took place last week, claiming to speak on behalf of the Syrian opposition.

The Syrian-based Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda offshoot, has launched a surprise attack against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Western Syria, prompting a war between the two terrorist groups, reports AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA).

TEL AVIV – Israeli and Jordanian F-16s confronted Russian warplanes in January, warning them to stay away from the two countries’ shared border, King Abdullah of Jordan told U.S. lawmakers. According to a report by the Middle East Eye on Abdullah’s briefing to members of Congress on January 11, Russian warplanes were observing Israeli defense measures in the Golan Heights, which borders Syria.

The “spymaster” of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), considered a key moderate Syrian rebel group, has accused the CIA of “ignoring” detailed intelligence since 2013 that could have prevented the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).

A disgruntled former member of the Islamic State has presented Sky News with files on thousands of jihadis — in essence, their “job applications” to join ISIS, filled with personal data.

CNN offers a man-on-the-street view of the Syrian civil war, showing residents of the mostly Shiite town of Nubl, close to the Turkish border, celebrating the ejection of rebel forces by dictator Bashar Assad’s troops. Citizens displayed photos and banners of Assad, as well as photos of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) sources warned Prime Minister David Cameron that his claim there are 70,000 Syrian fighters ready to take on Islamic State was misleading before the House of Commons debated whether to engage in airstrikes, it has emerged. A source has

Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force squad, was reportedly injured while fighting in Syria last month. According to an Iranian opposition group, he was far more severely injured than Tehran wants to admit.

Fighting has erupted between allegedly allied anti-Islamic State groups in Aleppo, Syria, killing over 20 people in the past two days.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is willing to “cooperate” with the West in Syria against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) but does not believe the West is ready to work with their coalition.

Iranian media are denying a report circulating in various Arab media sources, which has reached the White House, claiming that General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s notorious special Quds Forces, was injured in Syria by rebel fire while fighting on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Free Syrian Army, a conglomerate of several rebel groups fighting against Bashar al-Assad’s forces in Syria, has uploaded a video to YouTube showcasing its apparent success striking a direct hit on a Russian helicopter that had recently landed.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA), which includes fighters trained by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has reportedly been decimated by widespread desertions.

The head of the Syrian rebel group the Raqqa Revolutionaries Front has announced in a video uploaded to YouTube that his group will “soon” announce a military offensive on Raqqa, the “capital” of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) terrorist group.

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.

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.”

United States State Department spokesman John Kirby called Iran’s “destabilizing activity” in Syria “unhelpful” but noted that the Islamic Republic would need to be more involved in the diplomatic process of achieving an end to the violence in the region sooner rather than later.

The Russian government wants Syria to hold presidential and parliamentary elections. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has allegedly stated he would rather wait until “terrorism” is eradicated from the country to hold elections again.

Russian lawmakers meeting with Syrian head of state Bashar al-Assad on Sunday claim he is open to holding elections that may result in his removal from power, but only after “terrorists”–a word Assad has often used as a blanket term for any Syrian opposition–are defeated.

A round of Russian air strikes on the ISIS-free province of Latakia reportedly killed Basil Zimmo, a brigade commander in the U.S.-aligned “moderate” Free Syrian Army, along with a number of civilians.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made incendiary remarks on Thursday, warning that he does not fear chilling diplomatic relations with Russia if Russian planes continue to violate Turkish airspace in their campaign to support Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Russian propaganda outlet Pravda implied in a report this week that U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) wants to fund arms for the Islamic State, to be used to shoot down Russian fighter jets.

After several days of pounding enemies of the Assad regime from the air – with a preference for bombing forces trained by the CIA and backed by the United States – Russia kicked in a swarm of 26 cruise missiles launched by its Caspian Sea fleet, some 900 miles away

Iranian ground forces are pouring into Syria and preparing for action under Russian air cover, in an effort to help Syrian military forces recapture ground taken by rebels, including al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front.

The Russians are still insisting their air campaign is targeting the Islamic State, but U.S. officials say the bombs have been dropping on CIA-backed rebel groups.

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.