The US Defense Department confirmed Thursday that there are actually around 2,000 American troops currently deployed in Syria, rather than the previously stated figure of around 900, MediaLine reports. The updated information follows the ouster of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamic insurgent group on December 1.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Friday that its forces carried out a precision airstrike on Thursday in Syria’s Dayr az Zawr Province, targeting ISIS leader Abu Yusif. The strike successfully eliminated him along with another ISIS operative. This action comes as the U.S. intensifies efforts to prevent the terrorist group’s attempts to liberate 8,000 ISIS operatives currently detained in Syrian jails.
The U.S. military says it has conducted airstrikes targeting a missile storage facility and a command-and-control post operated by Houthis in Yemen after the Iran-backed group struck Israel, injuring dozens of people.
The second oldest church in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, was among sites hit by Russian ballistic missiles and other weapons, killing at least two personals and injuring over 20 people, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces were winning on the bloodstained frontlines.
After an empty school in central Israel was damaged by a partially intercepted Houthi missile overnight, Israel carried out retaliatory air strikes in Yemen which killed nine people on Thursday morning, Deutsche Welle (DW) reports. No one was injured in the Houthi strike but extensive damage was caused to the school and to surrounding cars in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv.
The United States military says it has killed 12 fighters of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, in Syria amid concerns it will carve out a caliphate in central areas of the country.
Israel carried out one of its most intense military campaigns in Syria in over a decade, striking air defense systems, missile depots, and strategic sites in Tartus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the strikes as the “heaviest in years,” with massive explosions registering as a magnitude 3.0 seismic event. Videos on social media captured fireballs and mushroom clouds lighting up the night sky.
Israel and Jordan held secret talks on Friday to coordinate the situation in Syria, according to three Israeli officials cited by Axios.
In a move that worries neighboring countries, Russia launched a massive air strike against western Ukraine on Friday in what Kyiv called “one of the largest attacks” on its power infrastructure since the war erupted in February 2022.
The head of NATO has told member states to prepare for war, describing the current security situation as “the worst in my lifetime.”
Israel announced this week that its airstrikes have destroyed 70-80% of Syria’s military capabilities following the rapid collapse of President Bashar Assad’s regime in Damascus.
Concerned that the recent toppling of Syria’s government will allow Islamic terror groups to fill the power vacuum left by ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad, the United States and its regional allies are seeking to ensure that chemical weapons accumulated by the fallen regime do not fall into the wrong hands, Axios reports. Assad notoriously used chemical weapons against his own peopl during the Civil War that has wracked Syria since 2011.
The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned on Thursday that Iran is rapidly enriching uranium to close to nuclear bomb-grade, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports.
Poland’s prime minister suggested Tuesday that peace talks on the war in Ukraine might start within weeks and said Warsaw wants to play a leading role in ending Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two.
Following the ouster of Syria’s despotic President Bashar al-Assad by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamic rebel forces on Sunday, the United States announced it will maintain a presence in the country and take steps to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, Reuters reports.
Israel struck more than 100 targets in Syria in less than 12 hours on Monday, a war monitor said, after the Israeli military admitted it crossed into Syrian territory to protect the Jewish nation amid concerns about chemical weapons.
Amid the West’s ongoing concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program and suspected intentions to build an atomic bomb, Iran on Friday announced it successfully launched its heaviest-ever payload into space using a domestically manufactured rocket, DW reports. A payload is the cargo or mission equipment that is carried into space on a rocket.
Israeli Air Force jets struck dozens of targets across Syria on Sunday, neutralizing weaponry at risk of falling into hostile hands amid the rapid collapse of the Assad regime. Israel also secured the Syrian side of Mount Hermon to expand the demilitarized buffer zone and strengthen key defensive positions along the border.
Syria’s 50-year Assad dynasty abruptly ended this weekend when a lightning 10-day rebel offensive overran government-held territory and seized Damascus with little resistance. Bashar al-Assad, who ruled for nearly 25 years, fled by plane to an unknown destination as rebels took the capital.
Israel rushed to send reinforcements to the Golan Heights as they border Syria, where Islamic rebels rapidly gain territory, threatening long-time Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s grip on power.