by WorldTribune Staff, May 27, 2016 U.S. special operations forces are “present at all positions along the front” and are assisting a Kurdish-Arab coalition “on the ground and in the air,” in the offensive against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in its de facto Syria capital of Raqqa. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) field […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 27, 2016 It is not acceptable for U.S. soldiers to wear the insignia of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) when embedded with the Kurdish fighters, a Turkish official said. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said photos showing U.S. special operations forces wearing the YPG insignia on their shoulders during operations against […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 26, 2016 A religious freedom group is calling on the United Nations to “mobilize the international community” to take action to protect Christians against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) atrocities. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), in a letter to the UN, detailed ISIL’s executions of Christians […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 25, 2016 Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) is mimicking a tactic long used by Hamas in the Gaza Strip by using residents of its de facto capital in Syria as human shields. The tactic is complicating efforts of a Kurdish-Arab alliance to drive the terrorists out of Raqqa, a […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 25, 2016 Moscow is countering reports that four of its attack helicopters at a base in central Syria were destroyed in an attack by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). Amaq, an ISIL-linked news agency, on May 15 first reported the “burning of four Russian attack helicopters and 20 trucks […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 24, 2016 Syria’s Kurds have opened a representative office in Paris, following similar openings in Moscow, Berlin and Stockholm. The Kurds, who in March unilaterally proclaimed the creation of the Rojava federal region in northern Syria, opened the new office in central Paris on May 23. “Our priority is to defeat […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 24, 2016 Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) killed at least 100 people in bombing attacks on a pair of Assad regime strongholds that had gone relatively untouched in the five-year Syrian conflict. ISIL attacks on May 23 killed 53 people in the northwestern coastal city of Jableh in Latakia […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 24, 2016 A force of 50,000 Kurdish and Arab fighters have launched a major offensive aimed at driving Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) from its de facto “capital” of Raqqa, Syria. An alliance led and dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) along with fighters from the Syrian Democratic […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Geostrategy-Direct, May 16, 2016 Edition After years of neglect and decay that saw its ranks shrink from five to one million personnel, Russia signaled with its mission in Syria that it has returned as a major military force. Millions of Russians saw on nightly news casts how Russia’s modernized force dominated on […]
By World Tribune Staff on May 17, 2016 Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) blew up several pumping stations at a major Syrian gas field on May 16. The explosions at the Shaer gas field were reportedly felt as far away as Palmyra, which is 50 meters (30 miles) southeast of Shaer. “There were […]