The presidents of Turkey and Russia spoke by phone Friday to try to defuse tensions that rose significantly in Syria after at least 33 Turkish troops were killed in an airstrike blamed on the Syrian government, and a new wave of refugees and migrants headed for the Greek land and sea border after Turkey said it would no longer hold them back.
Turkey says its forces have retaliated against Russia-backed Syrian government forces after at least 33 of its soldiers were killed in air strikes in Idlib Province, as NATO condemned Damascus and Moscow for what it called “indiscriminate” bombing in the region.
Israel’s military says its warplanes struck Islamic Jihad targets in Palestinian-ruled Gaza and near Damascus in Syria after a barrage of rocket fire into Israel from Gaza Sunday.
Talks between Russia and Turkey meant to reduce tensions in northwestern Syria did not yield a ‘satisfactory result’ for Ankara, but both sides agreed to continue negotiations, a spokesman for Turkey’s president said Tuesday.
Syria says that Israel attacked five separate targets near Damascus overnight with missiles from the Golan Heights. Israel did not accept responsibility for the attacks but news reports said the targets were Iranian weapons. Iran has threatened a harsh response to any Israeli attacks.
Satellite images released Monday showed significant damage to warehouses and office buildings at Damascus International Airport, following airstrikes last Thursday that were attributed to Israel.
US President Donald Trump has called for Russia to end its support for the Syrian regime’s ‘atrocities’ as he expressed US concern over violence in the Idlib region, the White House said Sunday.
The IAF launched an airstrike in the Damascus area, according to the Syrian news agency SANA, in addition to multiple sources.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is threatening to escalate fighting against Syrian government forces following Monday’s killing of Turkish soldiers. The warning comes in the face of calls for restraint from Moscow, but Erdogan is facing growing domestic pressure for an uncompromising stance.
Russian Ambassador to Syria Alexander Yefimov on Monday condemned Israel for its alleged strikes in Syria, the latest of which was reported to have killed more than 20 Syrian and Iranian military officials.
A persecuted Christian from Iran who escaped to Switzerland detailed the conditions believers are facing in the Islamic Republic at the Family Research Council Wednesday, telling a story of how her father was told by God to hand their church over to the government.
Syrian state media said early Thursday that Israel launched strikes against several targets near Damascus and claimed the country’s air defenses downed a number of missiles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan agreed to take immediate measures to improve coordination of their countries’ actions in Syria, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
The new leader of the Iranian Quds Force who is stepping into the shoes of slain terrorist mastermind Qassem Soleimani has met with Palestinian leaders to assure them that Iran will do everything in its power to oppose the recently released ‘Deal of the Century’ peace plan.
U.S. troops reportedly blocked a Russian military convoy from reaching strategic oil fields in northeastern Syria on Sunday – the fourth confrontation between the two sides in Syria in less than two weeks.
ISIS released a video Monday detailing a new mission for the group under al-Baghdadi replacement Sheikh Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Qurashi in response to the Trump team’s ‘Deal of the Century’ peace plan, declaring war on Israel and Jews inside and outside of the Jewish state.
President Trump says he is determined to keep control of Syrian oil fields as the country’s civil war plays out, but exactly how far the U.S. military is willing to go to protect those valuable energy reserves remains a mystery and represents a key question for the administration’s broader policy in the Middle East.
In what many observers see as an effort to exert substantial control over the Mediterranean in view of restoring the former glory of the Ottoman Caliphate, Turkey has begun sending Syrian mercenaries to Libya to bolster the UN-backed government there against General Khalifa Haftar and his rebels.
U.S. troops last weekend reportedly found themselves in a standoff with Russian forces trying to gain access to key oil fields in northeastern Syria.
French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting several African leaders this week to discuss Islamic extremism that is spreading across the continent, seeming to give heed to a recent warning from a French philosopher that a Rwanda-style genocide is developing there.