Special to WorldTribune.com Syrian forces are set to move into Raqqa province, held by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), to pre-empt the U.S.-led coalition sending in ground troops to fight the jihadists, reports say. U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Feb. 12 he expected Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Turkey’s military carried out attacks on Kurdish and Syrian regime targets in Aleppo province on Feb. 13, reports said. Turkish forces shelled Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) targets near the town of Azaz, and also responded to fire from Syrian regime forces on a military guard post in Turkey’s southern Hatay […]
Special to WorldTribune.com The U.S. and Russia have traded accusations over recent airstrikes in Aleppo, Syria. After the U.S. said Russian warplanes destroyed two hospitals in the besieged city, Moscow responded by claiming U.S. warplanes bombed Aleppo on Feb. 10, an accusation the Pentagon said was a total “fabrication.” “Just before 2 p.m. Moscow time […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Kurdish forces have seized a key strategic airbase in Syria’s Aleppo province. Backed by Arab rebel allies, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) drove Islamists and other rebel fighters from the Minnigh air base and the adjacent town, which are located north of Syria’s second city Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Recently released statistics detail the grim toll of Syria’s civil war: more than 10 percent of the country’s population has either been killed or injured in the past five years. Life expectancy has dropped from 70 to 55. Statistics generated by the Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR) found that more than […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) is likely to attempt “direct attacks on the U.S. homeland” this year, top intelligence officials told Congress on Feb. 9. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, in testimony at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, said ISIL is hiding jihadists among the wave of refugees […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Canada will end air strikes targeting the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq and Syria and pull out six fighter jets within two weeks, Canada’s prime minister announced on February 8. Justin Trudeau said Canada would end its bombing mission by February 22 but military personnel […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty The United States has charged the wife of an Islamic State (IS) leader killed last year with contributing to American hostage Kayla Mueller’s death. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, admitted after her capture in May 2015 that she and her husband kept […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Syrian forces, in a major offensive supported by Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, advanced toward the Turkish border on Feb. 8. The Syrian advance and relentless Russian air strikes in recent days have led to one of the biggest shifts in momentum of the five-year war. The offensive by President Bashar […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Some 35,000 Syrians are stranded at the Turkish border after fleeing a Russian-backed Assad regime offensive in Aleppo. Turkish humanitarian groups warned of a desperate situation in the making as they set up camps and sent in truckloads of aid on Feb. 8 for people, many of them women and children, amassed […]