IS Withdraws From Syria’s Aleppo Province

The Islamic State group no longer has a presence in Syria’s Aleppo province after withdrawing from a series of villages where regime forces were advancing, a monitor said on Friday. “IS withdrew from 17 towns and villages and is now effectively outside of Aleppo province after having a presence there for four years,” said Rami … Read more

Washington’s Anti-IS Envoy In Ankara After Syria Visit

The White House envoy coordinating the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group was holding talks in Ankara on Friday a day after visiting a Syrian Kurdish militia deemed by Turkey to be “terrorists”. The visit by Brett McGurk, which was not announced in advance, comes a month after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called … Read more

IS Retakes Raqa District From US-Backed Forces

Islamic State group jihadists recaptured an eastern district of their Syrian bastion Raqa on Friday, a monitor said, rolling back the advance of US-backed fighters. “IS fully retook Al-Senaa, which was the most important neighbourhood taken by the Syrian Democratic Forces,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “IS fighters … Read more

Five Militants Blow Themselves Up During Raids In Lebanon

Seven Lebanese soldiers were wounded on Friday as five militants blew themselves up and a sixth threw a grenade during raids on two refugee camps near the border with Syria, the army said. The civil war, which has raged in Syria since March 2011, has triggered an exodus of more than 1.1 million refugees into … Read more

Sarin Used In Deadly Attack On Syria Town In April

A fact-finding mission by the UN’s chemical watchdog, the OPCW, concluded that sarin was used as a chemical weapon in the April 4 attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun, a confidential report said Thursday. The findings by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will now be taken up by a … Read more

US-Backed Forces Cut Off Last IS Escape Route From Raqa

US-backed forces cut off the last escape route for the Islamic State group from Raqa on Thursday, a monitor said, trapping the besieged jihadists inside their de facto Syrian capital. Fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces captured two villages on the southern bank of the Euphrates River the jihadists had been passing through to withdraw … Read more

US-Backed Force Cuts Off Last IS Escape Route From Raqa

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on Thursday sealed off the last route used by the Islamic State group to flee an offensive on its Syrian bastion Raqa, a monitor said. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, SDF fighters captured the villages of Kasrat Afnan and Kasab on the southern bank of the Euphrates … Read more

US Envoy To Anti-IS Coalition Visits Syria’s Tabqa

The White House envoy to the US-led coalition bombing the Islamic State group, Brett McGurk, met on Thursday with local officials in the northern Syrian town of Tabqa. IS jihadists were ousted from Tabqa and an adjacent dam on May 10 by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces as part of the group’s flagship offensive for … Read more

Children Lead the Way As Raqa Families Escape Jihadists

Trapped in their homes in Raqa and running out of supplies, Ahmad Shaabu, his family and their neighbours were increasingly desperate. It was the children who finally helped them to escape. Shaabu was among some 20 civilians who managed this week to flee the northern Syrian city, which a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab … Read more

30 Civilians Dead In Air Strikes On IS-Held Area of Syria

Most of the Syrian town of Deir Ezzor province is controlled by the jihadists and it has been the target of air strikes by the US-led coalition as well as the regime and Russia At least 30 civilians were killed in air strikes on an area of eastern Syria held by the Islamic State group … Read more

UN Refugee Cash Card Scheme Boosts Lebanese Grocers

In three years, Lebanese grocer Ali Khiami hired six staff, invested in property and funded his children’s university education. Business is booming — thanks to Syrian refugees using UN debit cards. Displaced Syrian families in Lebanon are using electronic cards, topped up each month by the United Nations’ World Food Programme with $27 (24 euros) … Read more

Macron, Trump Vow ‘joint Response’ If Chemical Attack In Syria

US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron agreed during a telephone call Tuesday on the need for a “joint response” in the event of another chemical attack in Syria, the French presidency said. Their call came a day after Washington said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may be preparing another chemical weapons … Read more

Dozens Dead In US-Led Strikes On Jihadist-Run Syrian Prison

US-led coalition air strikes killed nearly 60 people at a Syrian prison run by the Islamic State group, a monitor said Tuesday, as Washington insisted the jihadists remain its only target. The coalition has been hitting IS in Syria and Iraq since mid-2014 but has also been involved in recent confrontations with President Bashar al-Assad’s … Read more

57 Dead In US-Led Strikes On IS Syria Prison

US-led coalition air strikes on a jail run by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria killed at least 57 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. “The strikes hit an IS jail in Mayadeen at dawn on Monday, killing 42 prisoners and 15 jihadists,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. … Read more

US Wants To Steer Clear of Syrian Civil War

The United States will not be drawn into Syria’s civil war, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said, despite an increasingly complicated battle space that has seen US warplanes down pro-regime aircraft. Speaking to reporters on a military plane late Monday as he headed for meetings in Europe, Mattis said the US-led coalition was determined … Read more

US-Backed Force Has Seized A Quarter of Raqa From IS

US-backed fighters have seized a quarter of Syria’s Raqa from the Islamic State group, a monitor said Monday, less than three weeks after they first entered the northern city. Arab and Kurdish militiamen from the Syrian Democratic Forces smashed into the jihadists’ main Syrian bastion on June 6 after a months-long drive to encircle it. … Read more

Syria Regime Penetrates IS-Held Eastern Province

Syrian regime forces on Friday broke into the eastern Deir Ezzor province for the first time since 2014, a monitor said, after seizing territory from Islamic State group jihadists. Government forces control part of Deir Ezzor city and the adjacent military airport, but IS holds the vast desert province and most of the provincial capital. … Read more

472 Civilians Dead In Month of US-Led Syria Strikes

US-led coalition air strikes on two Syrian provinces targeting jihadists have killed 472 civilians over the past month, a monitor said Friday, more than double a previous 30-day toll. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the period between May 23 and June 23 saw the highest civilian death toll in coalition raids for a … Read more

Russia Warships and Sub Fire Cruise Missiles At Syria

Two Russian warships and a submarine in the Mediterranean have fired missiles at Islamic State group targets in Syria, the defence ministry said Friday. It said that Turkish and Israeli military “were informed in a timely manner of the missile launches through communication channels,” but it did not mention the United States. Russia suspended its … Read more

The US Must Take Responsibility For Their Crimes In Syria

At the background of the previous incidents, the development of the current situation in Syria has taken a different turn. The U. S. is extremely concerned about the decisive steps of the Syria’s allies regarding the criminal actions of the Western coalition. Considering Russia’s decision to suspend cooperation with the U. S. within the framework … Read more