Bashar al-Assad

Middle East Monitor | – – Rescuers in Syria’s eastern Ghouta said the bombing would not let up long enough for them to count the bodies, in one of the bloodiest air assaults of the seven-year war. Warplanes pounded the rebel enclave on Saturday, the seventh day in a row of a fierce escalation by […]

Bashar al-Assad

The Age of Total War in Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – One of the most distressing take-aways of the Syria War since 2011 is that the United Nations does not work and all the hopes of the framers of its charter in 1945 have been dashed. World War II was a total war that polished off some […]

Bashar al-Assad

Is the Syria War over and has Putin won it?

contributors

By Danny Makki | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | – – The end game is clear: Assad, Russia and Iran will emerge victorious. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (2nd L, Front) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin (2nd R) view a military parade in the Russian-run Hmeimim Air Base in the coastal city of Latakia, Syria, on Dec. […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria: Deir al-Zor attack on US Troops, allies, Shows their Vulnerability

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – US troops and the Kurdish and Arab fighters among whom they are embedded came under a coordinated attack by pro-Damascus militias on late Wednesday into Thursday morning. The action took place in Deir al-Zor Province, in Syria’s far east. It is possible that the pro-regime militias […]

Bashar al-Assad

Turkey threatens war against US/Kurdish Force in Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US announcement that it would form a 30,000 strong policing force in northeast Syria from the YPG leftist Kurdish militia has provoked unprecedently strong words from Turkey, and signs of an unusual convergence of Syrian and Turkish foreign policy objectives. In the cross-hairs are 2,000 […]

Bashar al-Assad

Russia: Permanent Bases planned in Syria to fight Terrorism

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (informed Comment) | – – The US military says that the number of ISIL fighters in eastern Syria has fallen from 3000 a month ago to only 1000 today. Moreover a lot of the latter are fleeing into al-Assad-controlled territory, a severe security concern for the Syrian state. The US is […]

Bashar al-Assad

Putin’s talk of Draw Down in Syria isn’t about Russia leaving, but staying

contributors

By Moritz Pieper | (The Conversation) | – – Standing on the Russian military airbase at Khmeimim on his December visit to Syria, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will withdraw the bulk of its forces from Syria following the “successful intervention” in Syria’s armed conflict. This is Putin’s second withdrawal announcement within two years. And […]

Bashar al-Assad

Will Trump manage to stab both Syrian Kurds and Turkey in the Back at same time?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump is alleged to have promised Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan that he will cease arming the YPG Kurds in Syria. This news comes just around the time there is a flurry of articles about how the Trump administration wants to stay long term in eastern Syria, […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syrian Army Liberates City of Deir Ezzor from ISIL

contributors

TeleSur | – – This marks a decisive defeat for the terrorist group which has seen its territory shrink at an exponential rate during 2017. The Syrian Army has declared a total military victory over the Islamic State group in Deir Ezzor city, the provincial capital of Deir Ezzor, an oil rich province that was […]