Syria civil war - Page 18

Despite its very public military setbacks in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State has persisted with iron fist policies toward the subjects of its “caliphate.” The global terror group’s propaganda organ has recently published photos purporting to show “verdicts” on people charged with prostitution, blasphemy, and treason.

Any military or intelligence cooperation between the United States and Russia to strike targets in Syria would include measures to ensure U.S. operational security and would not be based on trust, a top U.S. military official said on Monday.

Air strikes and barrel bomb attacks killed 16 civilians in rebel-held parts of Aleppo province on Monday, with rebel rocket fire onto government areas killing three more, a monitor said.

MISGAV AM, Israel — When Israeli army commanders describe how the next war against Hezbollah could unfold, they often search for words not used in military manuals. The future conflict, they warn, will be “ferocious” and “terrible.”

The Islamic State’s propaganda apparatus has suffered a setback in recent weeks, loyalists in Gaza told Breitbart Jerusalem, admitting that the decline in the organization’s online presence came as it experienced a series of defeats on the battlefield.

Nearly 40 Syrian soldiers and pro-regime fighters were killed when rebels blew up a tunnel under a government position in Aleppo city, a monitor said Friday.

At least 43 civilians, including 11 children, were killed in bombardment of several rebel-held areas across Syria on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

Opposition-controlled parts of Syria’s battered northern city of Aleppo are now completely besieged, a monitor said Sunday, after government forces cut the last rebel supply route.

Secretary of State John Kerry has said the United States and Russia have agreed to “concrete steps” for trying to revive a crumbling ceasefire in Syria, following a day of marathon talks in Moscow.

TEL AVIV – Hezbollah has renewed its efforts to mediate between Hamas and Iran after a Revolutionary Guard official accused the movement of seeking a truce with Israel brokered by Turkey. Hasro Aruj, a top commander in Iran’s elite unit, said that

In front-line villages of south Lebanon, the posters of Hezbollah members killed fighting Israel 10 years ago still stand, but have faded. Now rising up around them is a new generation of posters, bearing the faces of young fighters from the militant group killed in Syria.

Fierce clashes erupted between rebels and pro-government forces around Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, Saturday despite a proclamation from the Syrian military that it would extend its own cease-fire through Monday.

A Syrian rebel alliance agreed to a three-day nationwide ceasefire announced by the Syrian army on Wednesday and the United States voiced hope a more significant truce could be achieved, though fighting and air attacks continued.

TEL AVIV – Islamic State has faced significant difficulties in enlisting Western recruits, an Arab intelligence official has told Breitbart Jerusalem.

Islamic State militants on Saturday pushed back U.S.-backed forces trying to advance into their stronghold of Manbij for the first time since a major offensive to capture the city and cut off the militants’ main strategic access route to Turkey, a monitoring group and Kurdish sources said.

Reports have emerged that Islamic State enforcers lashed and crucified three people in Syria for breaking the Ramadan fast.

U.S.-backed Syrian forces edged closer to an Islamic State stronghold on the border with Turkey on Saturday while Russia’s defense minister visited President Bashar al Assad to discuss military operations.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met in Damascus on Saturday with President Bashar al-Assad to discuss anti-terrorist “cooperation” in Syria’s conflict, a bone of contention between Moscow and Washington.

Dozens of US State Department employees have endorsed an internal document that advocates for US military action to pressure Syria’s government into accepting a cease-fire and engaging in peace talks, officials said Thursday.

BEIRUT (AFP) – At least 42 civilians including five children were killed in regime, Russian and US-led coalition air strikes in northern Syria on Wednesday, a monitor said.

Islamic State on Tuesday urged Muslims to destroy their satellite TV sets to prevent hostile channels “destroying their beliefs and polluting their ethics”. The ultra-hardline Sunni group issued its call as military pressure increased against it with offensives targeting its

TEL AVIV- The challenge that Islamic State fighters in Iraq pose to US-trained Iraqi troops does not bode well for the future of Iraq, an Arab security official told Breitbart Jerusalem.

A U.S.-backed alliance of Syrian militias is widening an offensive against Islamic State near its de facto capital of Raqqa, targeting an area where the group controls a disused air base, a monitoring group and a Kurdish official said on Monday.

The Times of Israel reports: The IDF is establishing a special liaison unit to manage its growing contacts with Syrian civilians living across Israel’s northeastern border in the war-ravaged nation. The Syrian regime of Bashar Assad holds almost no sway

The Washington Times reports: The Pentagon insisted Thursday that U.S. forces in Syria and elsewhere in the region remain in noncombat roles despite reports that they are fighting alongside Syrian front-line troops in their push to retake the Islamic State group’s capital in Raqqa.

The Washington Post reports: BEIRUT — In an unusual announcement Wednesday, Russia said it would halt air raids against Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra, to give other rebel factions a chance to distance themselves from the extremist group.

Ynetnews reports: Four residents of the Israeli-Arab town of Jaljulia who were planning to travel to Syria and join ISIS were convicted by the Lod district court on Monday.

BBC News reports: New satellite imagery appears to reveal extensive damage to a strategically significant airbase in central Syria used by Russian forces after a reported attack by so-called Islamic State (IS).

JAFFA, Israel – Fierce fighting has been taking place in Alghouta region, near Damascus, for several weeks, but the parties are rebel groups fighting each other.

Bomb blasts killed scores of people in Jableh and Tartous on Syria’s Mediterranean coast on Monday and wounded many others in the government-controlled territory that hosts Russian military bases, monitors and state media said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the

TEL AVIV – The Islamic State has toughened its until now largely open recruitment policy, subjecting candidates to vetting, profiling and interviews, an IS-supporting Palestinian jihadi source told Breitbart Jerusalem.

TEL AVIV – The Islamic State organization has published pictures of its militants destroying stacks of alcohol and cigarettes found in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in the vicinity of Damascus. The pictures, obtained by Breitbart Jerusalem from the Islamic State Telegraph Forum, an encrypted message service for IS and its supporters, seem part of a new public relations push attempting to discredit the al-Qaeda-aligned Nusra Front, a rival jihadi organization that controlled the camp until recently.

More than 20 percent of Syria’s Palestinian refugees have fled the country and its five-year war, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Thursday.

JAFFA, Israel – Washington’s hands-off approach to the Middle East has never been as apparent as during the last few weeks, an Arab diplomat told Breitbart Jerusalem.

KIDMAT ZVI, Golan Heights (AP) — With his wide-brimmed hat, Wrangler jeans and ornate belt buckle, Yehiel Alon could easily pass for one of the Montana ranchers he once worked with.

Berlin (AFP) – US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Syria’s Bashar al-Assad of “repercussions” if his regime flouts a new truce being negotiated, as talks to halt the violence shifted to Berlin Wednesday.