Syria

Head of Syrian chemical arms research center said assassinated

Aug. 6, 2018 -

A Syrian scientist at the head of a research center allegedly linked to the development of chemical weapons and bombed by Israel in the past was killed in a car-bombing, according to Syrian reports early Sunday.

Aziz Azbar was the the head of the Syrian Scientific Research and Studies Center.

Source: Times of Israel

Syrian scientist killing is a message to Assad and Tehran - Jerusalem Post

Prophetic Significance of Syria

Iraq militia vows revenge for deadly Syria raid

June 22, 2018 -

A powerful Iraqi militia backed by Iran pledged on Thursday to get revenge for a deadly air raid on its fighters in Syria, blaming the United States or Israel for the attack.

According to Iraq's Hezbollah Brigades militia, 22 of their fighters were killed in a recent air strike on a military base in eastern Syria.

Source:Israel National News

Syria monitor: Missile attack kills 26, mostly Iranians

Apr. 30, 2018 - A missile attack on Syrian government outposts in the country's northern region reportedly killed 26 pro-government fighters, most of whom were Iranians.

A day earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ratcheted up the Trump administration's rhetoric against Iran and offered warm support to Israel and Saudi Arabia in their standoff with Tehran.

Source: ABC

Analysis: Who could have been behind the massive explosion in Syria? - Jerusalem Post

Syrian army, Islamic State wage fierce battle in South Damascus

Apr. 29,, 2018 - A fierce battle is being fought between Syrian forces and ISIS in the southern part of Damascus. Syria is supported by Russia, but rebel groups still control much of northwest and southwest Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday after meeting in Moscow with his counterparts from Turkey and Iran that the three countries need to help Syria's government clear its country of terrorists.

Source: Jerusalem Post

US priority is to ensure Iran does not 'Take over Syria' Haley says

April 16, 2018 - According to US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley:

Deterring Iran’s entrenchment in Syria is one of US President Donald Trump’s top three priorities there, guiding his policy on where to station troops in the war-torn country and for how long.

Source: Jerusalem Post

Syria chemical attack: Investigators allowed to visit site - BBC

UPDATE 4/17/18 - The Latest: G7 endorses US-led air strikes in Syria - The Group of Seven leading industrialized nations has issued a joint statement endorsing the U.S.-led air strikes in Syria. -Fox

Russia, Syria block inspectors from chemical weapons attack site, watchdog says - Fox

Syria chemical attack: Investigators allowed to visit site - US officials have raised concerns that Russia may have tampered with the site while inspectors were denied access. - BBC

UN council rejects Russia resolution on Syria Apr. 14, 2018 -

The U.N. Security Council has rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the “aggression” by the United States and its allies against Syria. Only three countries — Russia, China and Bolivia — voted in favor of the resolution.

Source: PBS

Rev. Franklin Graham on call for prayer for peace in Syria - Fox Video

Trump announces U.S. military strikes in Syria

Apr. 13, 2018 - President Trump on Friday announced that he has approved military strikes in Syria against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Source: Fox

Reuters witness hears large blasts in Syria's Damascus - Reuters

Trump: US, allies attacking Syria to stop chemical weapons - Yahoo

Trump orders Syria strikes: Will attacks lead to US war with Russia? - Fox

Read Trump’s address to the nation on the U.S. attack on Syria - KMIR

UPDATE 4/14/18: Putin: US-led strikes on Syria 'an act of aggression' - Al Jazeera

Syria comes under military attack on Trump's orders - Iran Daily

USA and allies strike Syria. Russia does not move into action, warns of consequences/ - Pravda

U.S., British, French air strikes target Syrian chemical capabilities - Jerusalem Post

Israel call US strikes on Syria ‘appropriate,’ says its leaders may be targeted - Times of Israel

Syria air strikes: Trump hails 'perfect' mission - BBC

Trump asks for prayer as U.S. strikes Syria - News and Tribune

Trump Weighs Strike Options on Syria as Allies Rally Over Attack

Apr. 12, 2018 - The White House is still weighing options to respond to the apparent chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, The president is planning to coordinate his decisions with French President Emmanuel Macron, In the U.K, Prime Minister Theresa May has called for an emergency Cabinet meeting on Thursday to discuss the crisis.

This is the second time in a year that Washington is gearing to respond militarily in Syria. This time, Trump is under pressure to hit harder and take bigger risks than the attack in April 2017.

Source: Bloomberg

Syria war: WHO demands access to 'chemical attack site'

Apr. 11, 2018 -

The World Health Organization (WHO) has demanded "unhindered access" to Douma in Syria, to check reports from its partners that 500 people have been affected by a chemical attack there... The WHO cited reports that 70 people had been killed.

Source: BBC

US Mulls 'Coordinated' Response to Syria Gas Attack - French President Emmanuel Macron said ... that any airstrikes would target the Syrian government's chemical facilities. - Voice of America

US warning at the UN: 'The world must see justice done' on Syria - Fox

Syria 'chemical attack': US weighs up military response - BBC

Why the Syrian Civil War Is Becoming Even More Complex Apr. 9, 2018 -

Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani met last week in Ankara to plot a way forward [in Syria] —and all that was before the Assad regime launched a chemical attack... killing at least 42.

This article explores the involvement of Russia, Iran and Turkey in Syria and the interest of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in the area. President Trump has warned that the U.S. will conduct some form of direct military response in the near future.

Source: Time

Russia, Syria blame Israel for deadly strike on Syrian air base

Apr. 9, 2018 - Following Syria's chemical attack on rebels in their own country, a predawn missile strike on an air base in central Syria reportedly killed 14 people, including some Iranian nationals. Russia blamed Israel for the attack, but Israeli officials refused to comment on the issue.

The Russian defense ministry said the Israeli aircraft launched eight missiles at the base from Lebanese airspace, five of which it said were intercepted.

Source: Times of Israel

Syria war: Attacks hit Syrian airbase in Homs province - Al Jazeera

Why it looks like Israel was behind today's strike on a Syrian airbase - ABC

Trump: 'big price to pay' for Syria chemical weapons attack - Guardian

Syria war: At least 70 killed in suspected chemical attack in Douma

Apr. 8,, 2018 - Rescuers say that at least 70 people have died from a chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma, which is the last rebel-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta.

The pro-opposition Ghouta Media Center tweeted that more than 75 people had "suffocated", while a further 1,000 people had suffered the effects of the alleged attack... It blamed a barrel bomb allegedly dropped by a helicopter which it said contained Sarin, a toxic nerve agent.

Source: BBC

Syria war: Trump condemns Syria for 'chemical attack' on Douma - BBC

Will the Latest Syrian Chemical-Weapons Attack Prompt a U.S. Strike? - President Trump blasted Vladimir Putin and “animal” Assad for the assault on Douma. - The Atlantic

'Assad the Animal will pay for chemical weapons attack' - Israel National News

Russia warns of 'most serious consequences' if US strikes Syria over alleged chemical attack on its citizens - ABC News

Syria war: New UN truce plea as deaths in Eastern Ghouta mount

Feb. 26,, 2018 -

The UN has renewed its appeal for an immediate truce in the besieged Syrian rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area... But the Syrian government's ally Russia said the truce would begin only once they had agreed how to implement it.

Source: BBC

Syrian conflict 101: A 2018 guide to the main factions

Feb. 22, 2018 - This analysis lists the various phases of the Syrian conflict that blend together:

- 2011 - Protest (Arab Spring)
- 2013 - Brutal regime suppression
- 2014 - Rise of Islamic State (ISIS)
- 2015 - Intervention of Russia
- 2016 - Intervention of the United States and Turkey
- 2017 - Defeat of ISIS

At the present, Syria's regime's main ally is Russia. Iran is also a key supporter, along with Hezbollah in Lebanon, aiming to form a “Shia” crescent or “corridor” to the sea.

Source: Seth J. Frantzman - Jerusalem Post

'It's not a war. It's a massacre': scores killed in Syrian enclave

Feb. 20, 2018 - The Syrian regime has escalated bombing attacks in Ghouta, the rebel-controlled suburb of Damascus, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds more.

Seven hospitals have also been bombed since Monday morning in eastern Ghouta, which was once the breadbasket of Damascus but has been under siege for years by the government of Bashar al-Assad and subjected to devastating chemical attacks.

According to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, after seven years of efforts by regional and global powers, the humanitarian crisis is getting worse, and Russia and Iran continue to back Assad's effort to gain a n outright military victory instead of a negotiated political settlement.

Source: The Guardian

Analysis: The Syrian War is now threatening world peace

Feb. 17, 2018 - With the near-expulsion of ISIS from Syria it seemed that tensions would decrease in the area but, according to York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Southern Syria has become the world's most dangerous war zone, even more dangerous than the Korean Peninsula.

The U.S. strategy now is to undo the land corridor leading from the Iranian border to the Golan Heights and the Mediterranean Sea.

Source: Israel National News

How Israel could take the fight directly to Iran - Israel is not seeking an escalation, [but] its so-called “red lines” – namely, the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran’s military entrenchment in Syria – continue to be violated - Jerusalelm Post

Ahead of Munich confab, Netanyahu says he won’t accept limits on Syria strikes - Times of Israel

Netanyahu to UN chief: Israel won’t allow Iran to establish foothold in Syria - Times of Israel

The next Iranian-Israeli engagement in Syria is due in late April, early May

Feb. 12, 2018 - In April or May Iran is planning to move a special Russian-backed Iraqi Shiite force from southern Iraq into Syria to expand its anti-Israel war front.

The Iraqi group is composed of 5,000 Shiite fighters, who are undergoing special training course for combat in Syria.

Source: DEBKAfile

Syria explained: Why other countries poked their noses in a tiny nation’s civil war - The ongoing conflict has already drawn in several other nations, including the United States, Russia and Turkey - USA Today

Israel squares off for showdown with Iran in Syria - On Saturday, Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone of Israel's intention to counter Iran's actions, while Putin urged the Israeli leader to avoid any steps that could escalate tension. - Al Jazeera

Israel to be key player in the next chapter of Syria's war - Jerusalem Post

Israel caused serious harm to Syria’s air defenses, says IAF second-in-command

Feb. 10, 2018 - According to Israeli Air Force Staff Commander Brig. Gen. Tomer Bar. an unmanned Iranian drone invaded Israeli airspace. Israeli jets responded by attacking Syria's air defenses targets. In the process one Israeli jet was shot down.

Bar, the Israeli Air Force’s second-in-command said the response was “the biggest and most significant attack the air force has conducted against Syrian air defenses” since 1982, during the First Lebanon War.

Source: Times of Israel

F-16 crashes due to Syrian fire, pilot in serious but stable condition - Times of Israel

Israeli fighter jet crashes under Syria fire, military says - The IDF... struck targets inside Syria in the latest raids, including three aerial Syrian defence batteries and four Iranian military sites - BBC

Israel's military strikes in Syria, downs Iranian drone - first round of strikes targeted Syrian troops and their Iranian-backed allies, including Hezbollah, in central Syria ... The second round hit outposts in the southwestern suburbs of Damascus, - Fox

Despite missiles and sirens, Israelis not worried about northern threat - Telegraph - UK

Riding high after IS defeat, Iranian axis tries its luck with Israel, US - Times of Israel

Netanyahu: Airstrikes Dealt 'Severe Blows' to Iran, Syria - "We will continue to strike at every attempt to strike at us. This has been our policy and it will remain our policy." - NewsMax

Preparing for war in the north, Israel boosts air defenses - Jerusalem Post

Tillerson: Russia 'ultimately bears responsibility' for chemical attacks in Syria

Jan. 24, 2017 - The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has apparently launched another chlorine gas attack against rebels in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the event a "crime against humanity."

"Whoever conducted the attacks, Russia ultimately bears responsibility for the victims in east Ghouta and countless other Syrians targeted with chemical weapons since Russia became involved in Syria," Tillerson said in Paris.

Source: ABC

U.N.: Haley criticizes Russia, calling it 'complicit in the Assad regime's atrocities' - Fox

Turkey attacking Kurds in Syria
Caught in the Syrian Quagmire

Jan. 22, 2018 - Following the near-extinction of ISIS in Syria, the U.S. announced they would help Kurds build “Syrian border security forces” to control the border between Turkey and Iraq. This would apparently amount to a Kurdish autonomous zone,

Countries such as Russia, Iran and Turkey, bent on clawing long term strategic gains from the chaos, are now floundering in the quagmire and wondering whether they will be drawn into a new round of bloodshed.

Now Turkey has begun to attack the Kurdish forces in northwest Syria near the Turkish border, but there are conflicting reports on the scope of the attack.

Source: Zvi Mazel - Jerusalem Post

Syria offensive: Turkish troops 'capture villages' in Afrin - BBC