Syrian Civil War

Turkey Summons Top US Envoy Over Syrian Kurds

Turkey is not happy that the US has continued to support and arm Syrian Kurdish fighters, and their foreign ministry has summoned the top US diplomat in the country to voice its “discomfort” over the situation.

Turkey’s state-run media, the Anadolu news agency quoting government sources, said that US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Phillip Kosnett was summoned to the ministry. Kosnett is the most senior US Embassy official in Turkey since Ambassador John Bass departed in 2017. No replacement has been named yet.

The People’s Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, is seen by the US as the most effective ground partner for the US-led coalition fighting ISIL in Syria.
The YPG has received arms shipments and training from the US, in a move that angered Turkey which considers the Kurdish forces to be a “terrorist group” that threatens its security.
Ankara says YPG fighters are linked to Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) separatists inside Turkey, who have waged an armed campaign since 1984 that has killed more than 40,000 people.
Wednesday’s move was not the first time Turkey has announced its displeasure with the US about the issue. In May 2017, Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli called the supply of weapons to the Kurdish forces “unacceptable”.

Ankara’s ire isn’t just centered on the United States. The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also called out Russia and Iran to stick to the joint accord they signed with Turkey last year agreeing on a “de-escalation zone” in Idlib which were set up to scale back the conflict.

However, Syrian regime forces, with Russian backing have stepped up attacks trying to regain control of the area controlled by the rebels. “Iran and Russia need to carry out their responsibilities. If you are guarantors, which you are, stop the regime,” Cavusoglu said.

To read the entire article from Al Jazeera, click here:

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Two Russian Troops Killed in Shelling of Syrian Airfield

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that two military servicemen were killed during a shelling of a Syrian airfield on December 31 by militants according to the official news agency Tass.

“On December 31, 2017, at nightfall, the Hmeymim airfield came under a sudden mortar fire from a mobile militant subversive group. Two military servicemen were killed in the shelling,” the ministry said.
Ministry also stated that reports on seven aircraft destroyed by militants at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria on December 31 are not true. “A report in the Kommersant newspaper on the alleged destruction of seven Russian warplanes at the Hmeymim airbase is fake. Russia’s air group in Syria is combat ready and continues to accomplish all its missions in full,” the ministry said.
The Kommersant newspaper earlier wrote citing some sources that on December 31 militants from one of terror groups shelled the Hmeymim airbase with mortars destroying four Sukhoi Su-24 bombers, two Sukhoi Su-35S fighter jets, one Antonov An-72 transport plane and an ammunition depot. According to the paper, more than ten military servicemen could be injured.

On January 3, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the December 31 Russia’s Mi-24 helicopter crash was due to a technical malfunction during a flight to Syria’s Hama airfield and not enemy fire as militants later claimed. Both pilots were killed in the crash and a technician injured. The ministry denied reports that the Mi-24 had been in the line of fire.

According to official Defense Ministry reports 41 Russian troops have been killed in action during the Syrian operation which began on September 30, 2015, at the request of the Assad government. On December 11, President Putin claimed victory and said a sizable number of Russian troops will be soon withdrawn.

To read the entire article from Tass, click here:

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Putin Says War in Syria Shows Off Russia’s Military Might

Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted of his nation’s military strength at a ceremony where he praised Russian soldiers for their actions in Syria. The Russians supported the government of President Assad in ridding Syria of the Islamic State.

Speaking at a Kremlin awards ceremony for troops who fought in Syria, Putin says Russia has “made the main, decisive contribution to the destruction of a criminal group that cast a challenge to the entire civilization.” He added that the Islamic State group was seeking to turn Syria into a base for “global aggression” and threaten Russia.
Putin said the more than 48,000 Russian troops who took part in the Syria campaign were fighting for their “homeland, for a just and fair cause.”
“Your heroic actions and professionalism helped preserve the Syrian state, stop mass killings, executions and terror against civilians,” Putin told hundreds of soldiers who gathered in the Kremlin’s opulent, gold-and-white St. George’s Hall.
Russia launched a campaign in Syria on Sept. 30, 2015 when Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government was on the verge of collapse, quickly turning the tide of conflict in his favor. Thanks to Russian air cover and its special operations forces, Assad’s military has routed both the IS militants and the rebels and seized wide swathes of land.
Putin declared victory in Syria on a visit to the Russian air base there on Dec. 11 and ordered a partial pullout of Russian forces from the country. He emphasized that the military will maintain its presence at both the Hemeimeem air base in Syria and a naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus.
“They are an important factor in protecting our national interests, ensuring Russia’s security in one of the key strategic regions,” Putin said.

With a thinly veiled jab at the U.S. Putin said, “The army has radically changed,” he said. “It has changed because people have felt themselves on top, which was very important, and because they saw how our weapons work. The entire world saw it, and our people saw it.”

He was referencing weapons that the Russians had used for the first time including ship and submarine-launched cruise missiles. Russian pilots flew 34,000 combat sorties and launched 166 cruise missiles during the war on ISIS. Putin failed to mention the U.S. led coalition which also fought in Syria.

To read the entire article from ABC News click here:

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Australia To End Airstrikes in Iraq Due to Defeat of ISIS

Australia will begin to pull out its attack aircraft from Iraq following an announcement from their Defense Minister. Marise Payne announced that after discussions with the Iraqi government and other allies, Australia will begin to scale back its air operations due to the crushing of the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria.

The country’s six super hornets will head home from the Middle East, marking the end of Australia’s airstrike operations.
Payne said the decision follows discussions with the Iraqi government and other allies.
“I want to particularly acknowledge the phenomenal efforts of the hornet and super hornet pilots and support crew over the last three years,” she told reporters at RAAF Base Glenbrook on Friday.
Despite the hornet air personnel returning home in the new year she insisted it was not the end of Australia’s contribution in Iraq.
Earlier this month Iraq’s prime minister declared victory over the terrorist group.
Labor’s former defence spokesman Stephen Conroy described the announcement as great news.
“I remember being in the room in the briefings when Isis first starting rolling through all those towns in Iraq and there was enormous pessimism that Iraq would never come together,” he told Sky News.
“The troops over there have done a fantastic job and this is a real tribute to their professionalism.”

The attack aircraft pullout will not end Australia’s commitment to Iraq however. Payne said that 80-man Special Operations Task Group will continue to support Iraq’s forces and help ensure that the Islamic State or Daesh, as she called it, doesn’t try to make a comeback. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will also continue to fly surveillance and refueling aircraft over Iraq for the foreseeable future.

To read the entire article from The Guardian, click here:

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US: Russian’s Increasingly Violating Syria Agreement, Crossing Airspace

The Russians are pushing the envelope in regard to violating an agreement that is intended to prevent accidental clashes in the air over Syria and the Pentagon isn’t happy about it. The US has accused Russia of intentionally violating this agreement following another recent unsafe encounter between US F-22s and Russian Su-25 ground attack jets.

“Russia is failing to genuinely de-conflict airspace in Syria. Some of these incidents are not mistakes,” Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana W. White told CNN.
“We are working to address this issue at the highest levels,” she added.
The Pentagon’s statement comes just days after Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said it was unclear why the Russians were violating the agreement, which separates Russian and US-led coalition forces operating in Syria.
“I don’t expect perfection, but I don’t expect dangerous maneuvers, either,” Mattis told reporters Friday when asked about the recent violations of the de-confliction line, suggesting that some of the violations may have been due to pilot error.
“One Su-25 flew close enough to an F-22A that it had to aggressively maneuver to avoid a midair collision,” US Air Forces Central Command spokesman Lt. Col. Damien Pickart told CNN last week, saying the US planes conducted multiple maneuvers, released chaff and flares, and made “multiple calls on the emergency channel to convey to the Russian pilots that they needed to depart the area.”
The Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement last week denying its planes crossed the de-confliction line, saying the incident took place west of the Euphrates River.

The agreement states the Russians are to operate west of the Euphrates River and are supposed to coordinate via a hotline to the US or coalition troops when they intend on crossing it. Any suggestion that it could be pilot error was erased when Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian troops were acting responsibly, and the US had no legal justification to be there.

The 6-8 “pilot errors” every day that the Russians are conducting are no mistake. They’re pushing and attempting to get our troops out of Syria. This has all the makings to be a dangerous precedent.

To read the entire article from CNN click here:

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Coalition-Backed Syrian Troops Kill 20 ISIS Fighters at Tanf

U.S.-led coalition and its Syrian partners killed more than 20 Islamic State fighters and captured 17 others Wednesday in fighting outside U.S. base at Tanf, the coalition said Thursday.

It was the second combat action around that key US base and coalition officials took issue with what they described as ISIS has been able to move freely through Syrian regime-controlled territory with a Russian military presence.

“Despite the presence of Russian-backed, pro-Syrian regime forces in the area, Daesh still finds ways to move freely through regime lines and pose a threat,” coalition director of operations Brig. Gen. Jonathan Braga said in the statement, using an alternate name for ISIS. “We shall continue to work by, with and through our partner forces to deny Daesh the ability to regroup and reorganize.”
Given its location, the base has been seen as an important outpost as the United States, Russia and Iran jockey for influence in the region. Iran in particular is said to want to control a route running from Iran to the Mediterranean that would runs through that area.
Reports citing unnamed U.S. officials said the convoy had about 10 vehicles and got within 55 kilometers of the base. The United States has established a so-called deconfliction zone of 55 kilometers around al Tanf.
“Though Daesh has lost over 98 percent of the land it once controlled, this exchange is evidence that Daesh still poses a threat to the people of Syria,” the statement. “The coalition remains committed to standing with our partner forces to see a lasting defeat of Daesh.”

During the summer, the area around Tanf has been the scene of several operations. US airstrikes hit Syrian-backed militias inside the 55-kilometer zone around the US base and coalition troops shot down an Iranian drone.

To read the entire article from The Hill, click here:

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Pentagon Doubts Russian Withdrawal From Syria Claim

The Pentagon isn’t buying into the claims by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Russian are pulling a “significant part” of their troops from Syria after their mission in the war-torn country has been completed.

Putin visited the country on Monday and it is estimated to have 10,000 active duty troops and private contractors currently in Syria. But his message of “mission accomplished” is being met with a healthy dose of skepticism in Washington.

But Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway said such declarations were not necessarily reflected by action.
“Russian comments about removal of their forces do not often correspond with actual troop reductions, and do not affect US priorities in Syria,” he said. A US official told AFP that Putin was likely to carry out a “token withdrawal” of some aircraft, then follow up by demanding the United States pulls its forces out of Syria. The US military last week said it would stay in Syria, where it is fighting the Islamic State group, as long as necessary to ensure the jihadists don’t return.
The “coalition will continue to operate in Syria in support of local forces on the ground to complete the military defeat of ISIS and stabilize liberated territory, in turn allowing for displaced Syrians and refugees to return,” Rankine-Galloway said.

The Syrian civil war against the government of President Assad started off as simply protests against the strongman’s totalitarian regime. But soon escalated into civil war. With the addition of the Islamic State, trying to set up a “caliphate” inside Syria, the US became involved, supporting peshmerga units in 2015.

To read the entire article from The Al-Monitor click here:

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Russian Military Says Mission Accomplished, ISIS Defeated in Syria

In a sharply contrasting statement from an earlier one from the US that they’d done little in combating ISIS, the Russia’s military said on Thursday it had accomplished its mission of defeating Islamic State in Syria. The spokesman for the Russian Federation said that their bombers had used, “unprecedented force” in the last battles of the campaign to push forces from the Islamic State out of Syria and that there were no remaining settlements there under the group’s control.

“The mission to defeat bandit units of the Islamic State terrorist organization on the territory of Syria, carried out by the armed forces of the Russian Federation, has been accomplished,” Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi, head of the general staff’s operations, said on Rossiya 24 TV channel.
Syrian government forces were now combing and de-mining areas where Islamic State had had their strongholds, he said.
“The final stage of the defeat of the terrorists was accompanied by the unprecedented deployment and intense combat use of Russia’s air force,” he said. The air strikes included 14 sorties of groups of long-range bombers from Russia made in the past month, he said.

The Russian spokesman made no mention of the US-led coalition that partnered with Kurdish fighters who had done much of the fighting. The US and Russians have been critical of each other’s efforts. He only added that Syrian forces loyal to President Assad were busy “preserving cease fires and restoring peaceful life” to the region.

To read the entire article from Reuters click here:

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US Slams Russia, Syria Over Halfhearted Attempts to Oust IS

The White House and the Pentagon have publicly blasted the Russians and Syrians for what is viewed as a weak attempt to oust the Islamic State and ISIS from the Syrian borders.

In a scathing statement, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning said, “The Syrian regime and Russian Federation’s actions have thus far demonstrated that countering ISIS and other violent extremist groups like Nusra Front and al-Qaeda is not their foremost priority.”

Manning added, “Their collective actions call into question their commitment to deal a lasting defeat to ISIS and other extremist groups.”

Manning read from a prepared statement as he said the U.S. was reorganizing its forces in Syria to try to stabilize so-called de-escalation zones in support of the Geneva peace process, which he accused Russia of undermining.
“They also do not appear to have a plan for how to bring a meaningful conclusion to the civil war that addresses the fundamental problem that led to the rise of ISIS nor do they appear to be serious about the withdrawal of Iranian-backed militias,” Manning said.
Last week, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis pronounced peace talks sponsored by Russia in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana a failure.
“Astana has not been productive. A lot of effort went into it. Nothing much has come out of it. Now, it is going into Geneva,” Mattis said.
The Geneva process is “starting to gain traction,” and so he said American troops and U.S.-backed Syrian fighters are changing their stance as a result.

Mattis told reporters that the US was changing it’s the composition of its forces to something that supports its diplomats and the Geneva process. Mattis also admitted that US troop strength was far above what had been reported. Instead of the 503 troops officially acknowledged by the Pentagon, Mattis said the number was around 2000.

To read the entire article from The Washington Examiner, click here:

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Israel Strikes Iranian Base in Syria Outside of Damascus

An Iranian military base near Damascus came under attack just after midnight Saturday by missiles from the Israeli military, according to Lebanon’s Al-Mustaqbal TV and the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya network.

Twelve Iranian military personnel were killed in the air strike, Syrian sources claim that they intercepted and shot down two Israeli missiles.

Arab media reports said Israel fired missiles at a military base Iran has been building near the Syrian city of al-Qiswa, reportedly destroying an arms depot.
Some media outlets affiliated with the Assad regime and Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah initially reported that Israeli warplanes targeted an ammunition bunker belonging to the Syrian Army. But other media outlets reported that the target was a military base that Iran is building in the area, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Israeli border, and that loud explosions were heard after the attack.
There was no immediate official Israeli comment. Israel does not, as a rule, comment on reported strikes in Syria.
Hours after the reported strike, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a warning to Iran about troops in Syria.
“Let me reiterate Israel’s policy: We will not allow a regime hell-bent on the annihilation of the Jewish state to acquire nuclear weapons. We will not allow that regime to entrench itself militarily in Syria, as it seeks to do, for the express purpose of eradicating our state,” said Netanyahu.

Israel has stated that the Iranians were trying to build a permanent base in Syria, close to the Israeli border. As their aims are to build up a larger presence in the Mediterranean. Thus far, Tehran has been silent over this latest development.

To read the entire article from The Times of Israel click here:

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