The United States will for the first time vote against an annual UN resolution calling for Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights, the county’s mission to the world body said on Friday, signifying a dramatic shift in US policy towards the territory.
Washington will focus on pressuring Iran financially and contesting its activities in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, where the Islamic republic enjoys broad influence, the U.S. envoy to Syria said Wednesday, adding that Tehran should eventually withdraw all Iran-commanded forces from Syria.
The deployment of Russia’s advanced S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Syria has minimized the chances of successful Israeli air strikes, a senior Syrian officer said Thursday.
Iranian forces in Syria may present a threat to the US and in Iraq the Iranian threat is increasing, according to a new report from the US Department of Defense. The Lead Inspector General report on Operation Inherent Resolve was released on Tuesday and reviews the US role fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
Following the delivery of advanced Russian air defense systems to Syria, the Israeli Air Force held joint drills with the Hellenic Air Force in Greece over the last 12 days, as part of the growing defense cooperation between the two countries.
The Islamic State has lost the vast majority of physical territory it once held, but fully defeating the terrorist group and rooting out sleeper cells that have spread across the Middle East and Africa ‘could take years,’ the Defense Department inspector general said in a sweeping report Monday that suggests final victory remains far off.
Iranian infrastructure and strategic networks have come under attack in the last few days by a computer virus similar to Stuxnet but ‘more violent, more advanced and more sophisticated,’ and Israeli officials are refusing to discuss what role, if any, they may have had in the operation, an Israeli TV report said Wednesday.
Israel has attacked targets in Syria since the downing of the Russian intelligence plane on September 18, a senior Israeli official said on Monday.
US military officials have voiced their concerns that the ‘aggressive military campaign’ Israel is waging in Syria against Iran-backed militia groups might cause the Islamic republic to attack American targets in Syria and Iraq in retaliation, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Russia’s deputy defense minister Aleksandr Fomin accused a US airplane of manually controlling 13 drones that attempted to attack Russia’s Khmeimim air base in Syria. The surprising allegations were made at a plenary session of the Beijing Xiangshan Forum on Thursday. A Russian diplomatic source elaborated on the comments, alleging that some Syrian militants in Idlib are being used by the US to create instability in northern Syria.
Russia is demanding Israel give it more advanced notice before carrying out airstrikes on targets in Syria, Israeli television reported Wednesday, as newly published satellite photographs purported to show the deployment of four advanced Russian anti-aircraft batteries near a suspected Syrian chemical weapons site.
Iran reportedly delivered GPS components to Hezbollah in Lebanon that will allow the group to transform rudimentary projectiles into precision-guided missiles, thereby increasing the threat to Israel. Western intelligence services believe Tehran has shifted its strategy by increasingly shipping weaponry directly to its proxy in Beirut, with a view to evading Israeli air strikes.
American and western intelligence sources believe Iran has been increasing its shipments of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah, deliveries that now include Global Positioning System (GPS) components to make previously unguided rockets into precision guided-missiles, increasing the threat to Israel.
Moscow has transferred three advanced S-300PM anti-aircraft batteries to the Syrian regime, Russian news outlet Izvestia reported on Friday.
Turkish and American troops could begin conducting joint patrols in a matter of days around the northern Syrian city of Manbij within the coming days, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East said Sunday.
Israeli stealth planes reached Iran and returned without anyone noticing, Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Jarida reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Islamic State militants had seized nearly 700 hostages in part of Syria controlled by U.S.-backed forces and issued an ultimatum promising to execute 10 people every day.
Russia and Turkey agreed Thursday to allow opposition groups more time to exit Syria’s western Idlib province as they work to establish a demilitarized zone, the United Nations said.
The United States received a payment of $100 million from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the same day Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh to discuss the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a State Department official confirmed Wednesday amid global calls for answers in the case.
Israel and the United States sent a secret military delegation to Ukraine to test the Russian-made S-300 missile defense system, which Moscow recently provided to Syria, Hadashot TV news reported Monday, citing Syrian and Russian news outlets.