A Syrian military offensive backed by heavy Russian air strikes threatened to cut critical rebel supply lines into the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday, while the warring sides said Continue Reading
Asaad Al-Zoubi (R), head of the Syrian opposition delegation, and Salim al-Muslat (2nd R), spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), attend peace talks with U.N. mediator for Syria Staffan Continue Reading
The death toll from a suicide attack in Damascus on Sunday that was claimed by the Islamic State militant group has risen to more than 70, the Syrian Observatory for Continue Reading
U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura shakes hands with Syria’s Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar al Jaafari (L) during the Syria peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, January 29, 2016. A Continue Reading
Peace talks aimed at ending the Syrian war got off to a rocky start Friday, with the opposition saying it would send a team to consult on the goal of Continue Reading
In the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Moadhamiya, residents say a renewed Syrian government siege there and bombardment of the neighboring town of Daraya have cut off the last food-smuggling routes, Continue Reading
The Syrian opposition said it will not attend peace talks due to begin in Geneva on Friday, derailing the first attempt in two years to hold negotiations aimed at ending Continue Reading
Photo Palmyra, Syria, in March 2014, before it fell to militants of the Islamic State. Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times Two top United Nations relief officials expressed Continue Reading
The Syrian opposition cast doubt on whether it would go to peace talks planned for Friday, throwing U.N. diplomatic efforts into question and accusing the United States of adopting Iranian Continue Reading
Syrian regime forces backed by Russian airstrikes seized control of a rebel stronghold on Sunday, the latest in a series of gains in northwestern Latakia province aided by Moscow’s intervention Continue Reading
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he hoped for “clarity” within 24 to 48 hours on Syrian peace talks that were supposed to have started in Geneva on Monday, Continue Reading
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said scores of Syrian government forces have been killed in three days of fighting with Islamic State in the east of the country, Continue Reading
Russian warplanes have carried out 5,662 sorties for airstrike mission in Syria in the 100 days since the start of operations, said an official with the Russian Defense Ministry Friday. Continue Reading
The European Union’s foreign policy chief warned Iran’s foreign minister on Sunday that renewed tension between Shi’ite Iran and Saudi Arabia’s Sunni monarchy could wreck efforts to find a political Continue Reading
The United States criticized Russia on Tuesday for killing hundreds of civilians in airstrikes in Syria and accused Moscow of undermining hopes for a cease-fire between Bashar Assad’s government and Continue Reading
At least 32 people were killed and 90 wounded in two bomb explosions in the Syrian city of Homs on Monday, monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Continue Reading
An intensifying campaign of U.S. air strikes on the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) has nearly shut down its oil operations in Iraq and has hampered its more lucrative business in Continue Reading
A new message purporting to come from the leader of Islamic State said air strikes by Russia and a U.S.-led coalition had failed to weaken the group. “Be confident that Continue Reading
At least 200 civilians have been killed in Russian air strikes in Syria, an Amnesty International report says, quoting witnesses and activists. It says it “researched remotely” more than 25 Continue Reading
As many as nine Russian contractors died in October when a mortar round hit their base in western Syria, according to several people familiar with the matter. The incident, experts Continue Reading
Weeks of Russian airstrikes in Syria appear to have restored enough momentum to the government side to convince President Bashar Assad’s foes and the world community that even if he Continue Reading
Russia has provided air cover to a leading Western-backed opposition group in Syria, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, calling for closer coordination with the U.S.-allied coalition – comments that may Continue Reading
Russia’s defence ministry officials displayed satellite images on Wednesday which they said showed columns… Islamic State militants are engaged in oil trading worth as much as $40 million a month Continue Reading
Latest News Russia launches new airstrikes in Syria; 1st from submarine Putin’s foe Khodorkovsky summoned for questioning 3 injured by explosion at Moscow bus stop Russian activist sent to prison Continue Reading
The U.S. military alleged Monday that Russian warplanes were responsible for an attack on a Syrian army position in eastern Syria, an airstrike that Syria blamed on the U.S.-led coalition Continue Reading
Islamic State, the jihadist occupier of parts of Syria and Iraq, makes 43% of its $80 million/month revenue from illicit sales of oil, estimates the monthly Conflict Monitor at IHS Continue Reading
Syrian government officials said on Tuesday they had agreed on a deal for opposition fighters to withdraw from the last insurgent-held area of the city of Homs with their weapons Continue Reading
After the Syrian government stopped paying him, a technician who had spent two decades pumping the country’s oil received an enticing offer: do the same work for the jihadists of Continue Reading
Over the course of the last four or so weeks, the media has paid quite a bit of attention to Islamic State’s lucrative trade in “stolen” crude. On November 16, Continue Reading
. View photo French navy personnel muster aboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, deployed in the eastern Mediterraean, on November 23, 2015 (AFP Photo/Anne-Christine Poujoulat) Beirut (AFP) – A breakdown of the main forces fighting Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria, after operations by warplanes from France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier were launched on Monday: – Syrian and Iraqi armies – – SYRIA: The Syrian army numbered 178,000 troops in 2015, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Syria’s army has been roughly halved from its pre-war strength by deaths, defections and increased draft dodging. In its fight against rebels and jihadists, it relies on militias, which boast 150,000 to 200,000 members. – IRAQ: The army counts 177,600 men, according to the IISS. After the US invasion in 2003, the Americans dissolved the army, which was then 450,000 strong, and rebuilt a new force, […]
Image caption IS receives a large portion of its funding from seized oil facilities A US air strike has destroyed more than 238 fuel trucks controlled by Islamic State (IS) militants in north-east Syria, the US military has said. It is thought the pilots found the trucks parked up together, waiting to be loaded at an oil production point near al-Hasakah and Dayr Az Zawr. Warning shots were reportedly fired to scare away the civilian drivers, before the destruction of the trucks began. IS makes large amounts of money from oil it produces from seized facilities. The US Department of Defense says it will release video of the air raid, which took place over the weekend. Last week another 116 tankers were destroyed in a previous air strike. "This was conducted in many ways identical to our last," Pentagon spokesman, Capt Jeff Davis, said on Monday. "It was proceeded […]
Russian air strikes in Syria have killed over 400 civilians since September this year, monitoring groups say. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the death toll from September 30 – when the strikes were launched – until November 20 stood at 403 civilians, a figure that includes 97 children. What the bombing has caused Over 400 civilians killed since September this year, including 97 children. The Syrian Network for Human Rights puts the figure at at least 526 , including 137 children. Since last October, at least 42,234 air strikes have been documented. Over 22,370 ‘barrel bombs’ have also been dropped in that period resulting in death of 6,889 civilians , including 1,436 children, and injuring another 35,000 civilians. At least 100,000 people have fled from Aleppo, while another 1,000 fled an Atma displaced camp in Idlib suburbs. The Syrian conflict has killed at least 250,000 […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was in Tehran on Monday for talks with Iranian leaders expected to focus on the Syrian crisis and an international peace plan intended to end the conflict. The visit comes as Russia, the United States, France and others are talking about possible joint action against the Islamic State group following the terror attacks in Paris and the downing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt. Putin’s trip also comes on the heels of agreement on an incomplete peace plan that calls for talks between Assad and his foes. Moscow and Tehran have been the key backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout his nation’s civil war, which has killed over 250,000 people and turned millions into refugees. Russia has shielded Syria from international sanctions, and on Sept. 30 it launched an air campaign against the Islamic State group and other insurgents, […]
Needless to say, the world’s attention is now concentrated on the activities of ISIS and the prescriptions for defeating (as opposed to containing) them. Their finances are a major part of this. The Western powers have had some success curtailing hostile groups by attacking their financial flows, restricting movements of cash from ideological supporters and/or members of an ethnic diaspora. However, ISIS has proved more resilient, partly because of its territorial control but also because as much as half of its money is thought to come from petroleum production. The U.S., in the grand tradition of Confederate General Jones’ 1863 attack on the Burning Springs oil field, attempted to cut the groups’ oil income by bombing first, the large Baiji refinery which they had captured and, recently, scores of tanker trucks in Syria carrying off petroleum for sale. For anybody who watched video of the oil well fires in […]
Syria is one of the greatest disasters of recent times. Here, I argue that the origins of the Syrian collapse are to be found in the economic downturn generated by the gradual depletion of the Syrian oil reserves. Crude oil had created modern Syria, crude oil has destroyed it. This phenomenon can be termed the “Syrian Sickness” and the question is: “which country will be affected next?” Crude oil is a great source of wealth for the countries that possess it. But it is also a wealth that comes as a cycle. Normally, the cycle spans several decades, even more than a century, so that those who live through it may completely miss the fact that they are heading to the end of their wealth. The cycle is especially visible in those areas where the amount of oil is modest; then, the cycle goes faster; wealth and misery appear […]
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U.S.-led air strikes have hit at least 177 targets in the Islamic State’s main oil-producing region over the past month, as Washington intensifies efforts to disrupt a key revenue source estimated to provide more than $1 million a day to the militant group. Those strikes include 116 oil tanker trucks hit by coalition forces earlier this week as the United States targeted the vehicles for the first time in the wake of last Friday’s suicide and shooting attacks in Paris claimed by Islamic State. The stepped-up bombing campaign has also targeted oil and gas separation plants, oil rigs, pumps and storage tanks, according to a Reuters tally of air strikes provided by the Pentagon since Oct 22. The campaign marks a more aggressive U.S. approach. Such targets had previously been considered off limits by the U.S.-led coalition as it sought to avoid civilian casualties and limit the damage to […]
MANILA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday strongly condemned the Islamic State (IS) group for killing a Chinese national and expressed his deep sympathy to the victim’s family. Xi made the remarks on the sidelines of the 23rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting in the capital city of the Philippines . "Terrorism is the common enemy of human beings," Xi said, adding that China firmly opposes terrorism of all forms and will resolutely crack down on any terrorist crime that challenges the bottom line of human civilization. China on Thursday confirmed the death of a Chinese hostage Fan Jinghui who had been held by the IS, saying the criminal must be brought to justice. Expressing condolences for Fan’s death and deep sympathies to his family, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said, "the Chinese government strongly condemns the atrocity against humanity and the criminals must […]
The U.S. has stepped up its attacks on Islamic State’s industrial base, striking on Monday more than 100 trucks used to carry oil that helps the militant group earn tens of millions of dollars each month. The strikes, part of a broader campaign that began weeks ago, come as the French government conducts airstrikes against Islamic State in retaliation for the series of attacks in the Paris area Friday that killed more than 120 people. The U.S. is providing intelligence and targeting information to the French military to assist in their new campaign. Syrian opposition activists said Monday that the round of French airstrikes against Islamic State ’s self-proclaimed capital in Syria on Sunday night may not have killed any members of the group that claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks. Four A-10 Thunderbolt fighters and two AC-130 gunships were used Monday to target as many as 300 trucks […]
Thirty minutes of terror on the streets of Paris looks to become the catalyst for a broad shift in international politics with implications that could last for years. Much of Continue Reading
Photo A United States Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle on Thursday in Lakenheath, England, before operations over Iraq and Syria. Credit Senior Airman Erin Trower/USAF ERBIL, Iraq — The United States and its allies have sharply increased their airstrikes against the sprawling oil fields that the Islamic State controls in eastern Syria in an effort to disrupt one of the terrorist group’s main sources of revenue, American officials said this week. For months, the United States has been frustrated by the Islamic State’s ability to keep producing and exporting oil — what Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter recently called “a critical pillar of the financial infrastructure” of the group — which generates about $40 million a month, or nearly $500 million a year, according to Treasury Department estimates. While the American-led air campaign has conducted periodic airstrikes against oil refineries and other production facilities in eastern Syria that the […]
Image caption Syrian government forces launched an offensive in Aleppo province last month Government forces have broken a siege by Islamic State (IS) of an airbase in northern Syria, state media report. Army units had made contact with troops defending Kuwairis airbase, east of Aleppo, and eliminated large numbers of militants, the Sana news agency said. The facility had been under attack by the jihadists for nearly two years. Meanwhile, at least 22 people were killed and many more wounded by rebel shellfire in the Mediterranean city of Latakia, state media and activists say. The blasts hit two separate areas of the city, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. With many of the wounded in serious condition, the death toll is expected to rise, the Observatory said. Latakia, which lies in the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite sect, has largely escaped the conflict that […]
Clashes over Syrian oil and gas assets continue as regime warplanes carry out raids on the country’s al-Izba oilfield, according to a statement from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Clashes over Syrian oil and gas assets continue as regime warplanes carry out raids on the country’s al-Izba oilfield, located north of Deir Ezzor, according to a statement from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which monitors the conflict in Syria through a network of sources on the ground. The raids led to the outbreak of fire in the area, according to SOHR, which has recorded several violent encounters between the regime militia and Islamic State over the past year. Some of the most fought over fields in 2015 have been the Sha’er and Jazal assets , which both saw clashes at the end of September with casualties reported on both sides. SOHR reported further violent clashes around […]
A man walks out of a crater caused by what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad in the town of Dael, north of Deraa, Syria November 8, 2015. Syrian soldiers fought their way into an airbase in northern Syria on Tuesday, state television said, breaking a nearly two-year siege by Islamic State insurgents at the facility and freeing military personnel holed up inside. A military source close to the government said the army was working to secure the Kweires airbase in Aleppo province, where soldiers and officers have been under attack since 2013. State television broadcast live footage from the airbase of an emotional, fatigue-clad reporter announcing the news, played victory songs and ran archive footage of military exercises. "We, the heroes of Kweires, are now celebrating with our brothers this victory," one of the freed soldiers told state TV, […]
Syrian rebels recaptured a village and surrounding areas in the west of the country on Friday, consolidating significant advances made the day before at the expense of pro-government forces, a monitoring group said. Fighters from the Ahrar al-Sham Islamist group and other rebel forces took over the village of Atshan in their latest gains in Hama province, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Syrian government forces and allied militia, backed by Russian air strikes and ground support by Iranian troops and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, have been waging a fierce campaign that the United States says has mostly targeted foreign-backed or moderate insurgents. Moscow, which intervened more than a month ago, has said its campaign targets Islamic State. Atshan is close to the town of Morek, which rebels took in an assault led by Islamist insurgents of the Jund al-Aqsa group on Thursday. Syrian government forces had captured […]
An air display in Ankara on August 30, 2015. (AFP/File) Turkish military has destroyed 16 positions of PKK in airstrikes in northern Iraq and in Turkey’s southeast Tuesday, Turkish army said Wednesday. According to a statement posted on the Turkish General Staff’s official website, Turkish Air Forces jets bombed PKK positions in Avasin-Basyan region in northern Iraq as well as in Daglica village in Turkey’s southeastern Hakkari province. Several shelters, underground coves and weapon emplacements said to be used by PKK militants were also destroyed in the airstrikes, it said. Meanwhile, four PKK militants were killed during Turkish security forces’ operation in Hakkari’s Yuksekova district. Security forces seized many weapons and two hand grenades during a search in the region, the military said. Also, in Hakkari’s Cukurca district, two PKK militants surrendered to the security forces. Moreover, 10 people in southeastern Mardin province’s Nusaybin district and three people in […]
Rigzone highlights which Syrian oil and gas fields have been fought over most in 2015, highlighting the country’s current production levels and the potential future of Syria’s petroleum industry. The Syrian civil war began in early 2011 as part of the Arab Spring protests, which originated in Tunisia in December 2010 and quickly spread to neighbouring countries such as Egypt, Libya and Yemen. In July 2014, Syria’s oil minister stated that the country’s oil sector had lost around $23.5 billion due to damage to facilities and pipelines, looting and production delays since the start of the country’s crisis. As of July of last year, Islamist militants and other rebel groups were in control over most of Syria’s oil producing regions and were showing no signs of slowing down the pace of their assault on the country’s oil and gas fields. According to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy, Syria’s […]
Syrian refugees walk at Al Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria, November 1, 2015. Syrian government officials and members of the country’s splintered opposition could meet in Moscow next week as Russia pushes to broker a political solution to the crisis, a senior official said on Tuesday. "Next week, we will invite opposition representatives to a consultation in Moscow," Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying. "The meeting … will possibly be with the participation of government representatives," Bogdanov said. He did not say which opposition members could attend. After initially dismissing Syrian opposition groups fighting its regional ally President Bashar al-Assad, Moscow has shown increasing flexibility as it steps up diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict that has killed some 250,000 and displaced millions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet U.N. Syria envoy Staffan […]
Two days after Syrian government forces shelled a rebel-held suburb of the capital, Damascus, killing at least 40 people in a market, according to antigovernment activists , Islamist rebels in the area unveiled a plan to use caged prisoners as human shields to prevent further bombardment. Continue reading the main story Video of caged prisoners being paraded through the Damascus suburbs posted online by Syrian opposition activists. ShaamNetwork, via YouTube The threat was accompanied by video clips and photographs posted on social networks under the hashtag “ Cages of Protection ,” which offered the macabre spectacle of male and female prisoners being driven through the streets of Douma, in the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus. Continue reading the main story Interviews with caged prisoners in a rebel-held suburb of Damascus posted online Sunday by a Syrian satellite channel. Orient News, via YouTube According to Baraa Abdulrahman, a media activist […]
WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Friday that he had ordered several dozen Special Operations troops into Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria to assist local fighters battling the Islamic State, authorizing the first open-ended mission by American ground forces into the country. While the deployment was small in scale, it was large in import for a president who until now had refused to send American ground troops for any sustained operations into a country devastated by more than four years of civil war. But with the fight against the Islamic State stalled, Mr. Obama concluded that a change was needed. The White House said the troops would number “fewer than 50” and insisted that they would only train and advise the local forces, not play a direct combat role against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. But administration officials acknowledged that Americans operating closer to the […]
