Air strikes thought to have been conducted by a US-led coalition Thursday killed 14 civilians, including six children, in a northern Syrian village held by the Islamic State group, a monitor said. “The raids hit the village of Al-Matab after midnight and were likely carried out by the coalition,” said Rami Abdel Rahman of the … Read more
US-backed forces in Syria on Monday cut off a key supply route between the Islamic State group’s stronghold Raqa and its territory in Deir Ezzor province, a commander and a monitor said. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, seized control of the only major road linking Raqa along the … Read more
Syrian troops backed by Russian jets completed the recapture of the historic city of Palmyra from the Islamic State group Thursday, the Kremlin and the army said, in another blow to the jihadists. Bolstered by air strikes and ground troops from their ally Moscow, Syrian forces battled through the desert for weeks to reach Palmyra. … Read more
In another devastating blow to ISIS, Syrian troops backed by Russian jets have finally recaptured Palmyra from jihadis. The Kremlin and the army confirmed they had regained control of the historic city, as ISIS fled the area. Bolstered by air strikes and ground troops from their ally Moscow, Syrian forces had battled through the desert for … Read more
The top US military commander for the Middle East made a secret trip to northern Syria Friday to meet a US-backed alliance fighting the Islamic State group, the alliance’s spokesman said. General Joseph Votel, who heads US Central Command (Centcom), met with leaders from the Syrian Democratic Forces in the first such trip under the … Read more
An alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters seized more than a dozen villages in eastern Syria on Tuesday in their drive to encircle the Islamic State group bastion of Raqa. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) made a major incursion into the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor as part of their push for Raqa, field … Read more
Turkish troops and Syrian rebels on Saturday entered the Islamic State-held town of Al-Bab in northern Syria, as government forces moved closer to the jihadist bastion, a monitor said. Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency quoted military sources as saying one Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded in clashes with IS fighters in Al-Bab. Turkish … Read more