The US is reportedly building a new military base in the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, right on the Turkish border.
The US has been backing the Kurdish SDF for years, to the chagrin of Turkey and its allies in the self-proclaimed Syrian National Army (SNA). In recent weeks, intense fighting has erupted between the SDF and Turkey and their partners in SNA.
So far, the fighting has centered around the city of Manbij, which is further west than Kobani but also along the Syria-Turkey border.
Fighting has raged around the Arab-majority city of Manbij, controlled by the Manbij Military Council, a group of local fighters operating under the SDF.
According to the Observatory, “clashes continued south and east of Manbij, while Turkish forces bombarded the area with drones and heavy artillery.”
According to the Observatory, “clashes continued south and east of Manbij, while Turkish forces bombarded the area with drones and heavy artillery.”
Syrian sources told Reuters that the foreign fighters appointed to the military include Uyghurs, a Jordanian, a Turk, and an Albanian. “This is a small token of recognition for the sacrifices Islamist jihadists gave to our struggle for freedom from Assad’s oppression,” an HTS source told the media outlet.
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HTS is still designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organization, but the Biden administration has celebrated its takeover of Syria. The US has also made clear it’s willing to work with the new government and its de facto leader, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who has been going by his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The military operation’s scale and focus raise pressing questions about Israel’s intentions and its long-term impact on Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Analysts have drawn comparisons to the chaos seen in Iraq after the US-led invasion and Libya’s fragmented post-Gaddafi reality.
Israel’s occupation of additional Syrian territories near the Golan Heights compounds this uncertainty.
France has belonged to the Inherent Resolve international coalition against IS since 2014, for Iraq, and 2015 for Syria. French troops involved in the operations are based in the region, including in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“On Sunday, French Air Force forces carried out targeted strikes against Islamic State positions on Syrian territory,” Lecorni wrote on the social media platform X.
The French airstrikes followed a similar US military strike in Syria, which the US said claimed the lives of two Islamic State members.
„Wir sollten so schnell wie möglich unsere Botschaft wieder eröffnen und versuchen, die Protagonisten – die ursprünglich aus dem syrischen Ableger des Terrornetzwerks Al-Kaida hervorgegangen sind – in einem moderaten Kurs zu unterstützen“, sagte Heusgen dem Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland mit Blick auf die Islamistengruppe Haiat Tahrir al-Scham (HTS). Diese hatte Syriens Machthaber Baschar al-Assad nach einer Blitzoffensive gestürzt und führt nun mit einer Übergangsregierung das Land.
Deutschland solle dabei darauf verzichten, mit „dem erhobenen Zeigefinger aufzutreten“, sagte Heusgen weiter.
At least 10 people were killed by an Israeli drone strike on the Syrian town of Adra, located northeast of Damascus, on Sunday, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing military sources.
Dec 25, 2024
Footage shows them holding banners and speaking with officials.
There was no response from the Tartus authorities or the HTS-led administration at time of publication.
(December 20, 2024)
First public protest in Damascus against the sectarian foreign occupation regime installed in Syria by the USA, Turkey the Israelis and their terrorist proxies. Video via Jenan Moussa on Twitter.
In the capital, Damascus, Alawite protesters scuffled with Sunni counter-protesters and gunshots were heard. The Associated Press could not confirm details of the shooting.
Alawite protests also took place along the coast of Syria, in the city of Homs and the Hama countryside. Some called for the release of soldiers from the former Syrian army now imprisoned by the HTS.
In other Syrian cities, however, demonstrations took place on Wednesday in areas populated by Alawites without any disturbance Former president Bashar al-Assad belongs to the Alawite sect, which has feared reprisals under the new government. Tens of thousands of Alawites demonstrated in the cities of Damascus, Homs, Latakia, Tartus, and Qardaha on the Syrian coast, following the spread of a video of a shrine being burned for the Alawites in Aleppo.
Syrian media, quoting Interior Ministry officials, said over a dozen members of security forces were killed and 10 others injured during clashes in Tartus on Wednesday.
The clashes came after angry protests erupted in many cities across Syria, including Latakia and Homs.
The Pentagon said on Monday that the US has more troops deployed in Iraq than it has been disclosing, an admission that comes after it revealed there are significantly more US troops in Syria than the US has said.
May the sound of arms be silenced in war-torn Ukraine! May there be the boldness needed to open the door to negotiation and to gestures of dialogue and encounter, in order to achieve a just and lasting peace.
May the sound of arms be silenced in the Middle East! In contemplating the Crib of Bethlehem, I think of the Christian communities in Palestine and in Israel, particularly the dear community in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave. May there be a ceasefire, may the hostages be released and aid be given to the people worn out by hunger and by war. I express my closeness to the Christian community in Lebanon, especially in the south, and to that of Syria, at this most delicate time. May the doors of dialogue and peace be flung open throughout the region, devastated by conflict. Here I also think of the Libyan people and encourage them to seek solutions that enable national reconciliation.
The final outcome in Syria appears stark: Assad’s regime has fallen, and the Syrian army has been entirely dismantled—an unprecedented event even compared to the 1967 war. Israel now firmly controls the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon. Turkish forces have seized more than 13 cities, cementing their influence. The United States has solidified its presence in oil-rich regions while extending legal protection to the Kurds and the SDF.
(December 18, 2024)
Leading world media outlets have given front-page coverage to a potential attack by Turkey and Turkish-backed jihadist groups on Kobani (Kobanê), a Kurdish city renowned for its symbolic victory against ISIS, as efforts to maintain a ceasefire between Turkey and Kurdish-led forces falter.
(December 18, 2024)
Im Norden Syriens könnte ein Großangriff der türkischen Armee und ihrer aus Islamisten und faschistischen »Grauen Wölfen« gebildeten Söldner der Syrischen Nationalarmee (SNA) auf die an der Grenze gelegene Stadt Kobani unmittelbar bevorstehen. Davor warnten hochrangige US-Beamte laut Wall Street Journal vom Dienstag unter Verweis auf die Truppenkonzentration westlich und östlich der Stadt. Lediglich die Präsenz eines symbolischen Kontingents von US-Soldaten, die am Wochenende nach Abzug russischer Truppen in deren Stellungen eingerückt waren und demonstrativ ihre Fahne auf dem Rathaus von Kobani hissten, scheint den NATO-Partner Türkei vorerst noch vom Einmarsch abzuhalten.
(December 22, 2024)
Assad‘s fall has left the Kurdish factions on the back foot as they seek to retain political gains made in the last 13 years.
In an interview with France 24, Fidan said Ankara‘s preferred option was for the new administration in Damascus to address the problem in line with Syria‘s territorial unity, sovereignty, and integrity, adding that the YPG should be disbanded immediately.
Konkret sprach sie über ein neues Bundespolizeigesetz und die Einführung der biometrischen Überwachung. „All diese Gesetzentwürfe von uns könnten sofort beschlossen werden, wenn Union und FDP sich dem nicht verweigern“, kritisierte sie. Konkret sprach sie über ein neues Bundespolizeigesetz und die Einführung der biometrischen Überwachung. „All diese Gesetzentwürfe von uns könnten sofort beschlossen werden, wenn Union und FDP sich dem nicht verweigern“, kritisierte sie.
(December 19, 2024)
“They did not tell us how it would happen,” Bashar al-Mashadani, an RCA commander, told The Telegraph. “We were just told: ‘Everything is about to change. This is your moment. Either Assad will fall, or you will fall.’ But they did not say when or where, they just told us to be ready.”
In October, the US brought several other Sunni Muslim militias under the command of the RCA, swelling the force from 800 fighters to about 3,000. All of the fighters are armed by the US, and the US pays their salaries of $400 per month.
(December 18, 2024)
RCA fighters who captured the Russian-controlled Syrian air base on the outskirts of the town last week said they had been told to prepare for Assad’s possible fall in early November, nearly three weeks before the offensive began.
Until one month earlier, Capt Mashadani had been second-in-command of the Abu Khatab brigade. This small unit of 150 men was created by US Special Forces and trained by their British counterparts in Jordan until 2016, to hunt down Isis fighters near Deir ez-Zor, a city in eastern Syria.
(December 20, 2024)
The Israeli army claimed that soldiers opened fire in accordance with open-fire procedures, shooting one protester in the leg.
Israel‘s recent actions include extending its control in the occupied Golan Heights and advancing to within 25 kilometers of the capital, Damascus.
Julani fought for al-Qaeda in Iraq against American soldiers during the Iraq War. He then founded al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the al-Nusra Front. In recent years, he has attempted to soften his image by giving friendly interviews to Western journalists, often appearing in a suit and with a trimmed beard to obscure his jihadist ideology.
Leaf said of Julani after the meeting, who is also going by Ahmad al-Sharaa, “I heard him on his priorities, which are very much rooted in getting Syria on the road to economic recovery.”
“We’ve been hearing this for some time, some very pragmatic and moderate statements on various issues, from women’s rights to protection to equal rights for all communities,” she added. “It was a good first meeting. We will judge by deeds, not just by words.”
Regional premier says suspect is doctor, 50, who lived in Germany since 2006, showed support for far-right AfD;
Holger Münch, Präsident des Bundeskriminalamts (BKA), besichtigt vor Beginn der Herbsttagung des BKA mit dem Schwerpunkt künstliche Intelligenz den Veranstaltungssaal. (…)
Der Chef des Bundeskriminalamts (BKA), Holger Münch, hat bestätigt, dass das BKA im November 2023 einen Hinweis aus Saudi-Arabien zu dem mutmaßlichen Attentäter des Magdeburger Weihnachtsmarktes bekommen habe. Im heute-journal des ZDF sagte er, „hier ist auch ein Verfahren eingeleitet worden.
„Als Gegenleistung für ihre Unterstützung und ihr Geld, so sagte mir der Israeli, würden die Vereinigten Staaten der saudischen Führung ein erweitertes Verteidigungsabkommen anbieten, das Saudi-Arabien in ihren nuklearen Schutzschirm einbeziehen würde – für den Fall, dass der Iran, Israels letzter verbliebener Feind, in den Besitz einer Atombombe gelangen sollte. “
(…)
„Der Israeli sagte mir, dass das saudische Paket einen zusätzlichen Anreiz enthält: Die Saudis würden wegschauen, wenn die Israelis Bombenangriffe durchführen, einschließlich der Bombardierung militärischer Ziele im zerrissenen Syrien, und würden Israel Zugang zu einem Flugplatz innerhalb der saudischen Grenzen gewähren. Auf diese Weise könnten israelische Bomben, die zumeist von den Vereinigten Staaten geliefert werden, innerhalb von Minuten, nicht Stunden, auf wichtige iranische Ziele abgefeuert werden.“
(December 16, 2023)
Israeli leaders believed that Hamas was more interested in governing than fighting. By the time the agents discovered the ledgers in 2018, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was encouraging the government of Qatar to deliver millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip. He gambled that the money would buy stability and peace.
Mr. Levy recalled briefing Mr. Netanyahu personally in 2015 about the Hamas portfolio.
In return for its support and money, the Israeli told me, the Saudi leadership would be offered an expanded defense treaty by the United States that would include Saudi Arabia in its nuclear umbrella—its zone of protection—in case Iran, Israel’s last standing enemy, were to acquire a nuclear bomb.
(…)
There is an added inducement in the Saudi package, the Israeli told me: the Saudis would look the other way as the Israelis conduct bombing raids, including bombing of military targets inside fractured Syria, and would give Israel access to an airfield within Saudi borders. This would bring Israeli bombs, most supplied by the United States, within minutes, and not hours, of key Iranian targets.
(December 18, 2024)
Israel and Saudi Arabia have reached a breakthrough in talks around normalising relations, Haaretz reported on Tuesday, adding that the normalisation could be related to an elusive ceasefire deal that would bring about an end to Israel‘s war on Gaza.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told Haaretz that rather than Israel agreeing to Saudi Arabia‘s demand for the recognition of a Palestinian state, the two sides agreed that Israel would give a vague commitment on a „path towards Palestinian statehood“.
20.12.2024, 10.30 Uhr
Der Präsident des Bundeskriminalamts warnt: Internationale Krisen und Konflikte verschärfen die Lage im Inland. Deutschland braucht eine Zeitenwende der inneren Sicherheit.
The State Department said early Friday that three senior American diplomats had arrived in Damascus, the capital of Syria, to meet with leaders of the militias that have seized control of the country, and to look for signs of the journalist Austin Tice and other missing U.S. citizens.
After learning of the fluctuation in number of troops, Fox News’ Pentagon correspondent Jennifer Griffin pressed Ryder about the correction to the number of troops and timing.
„This is more than double the number of troops that we’ve been told for quite some time. So, are we talking about this has been going on for months? For Years?“ Griffin asked. „Is this something that just happened this summer? We need a time frame.“
„Yeah, I think it would probably be fair to say at a minimum, months,“ Ryder said. „I’ll go back and look. But it’s…yeah, it’s been going on for a while.“
Turkey and their allies, collectively known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), hold territory in Syria’s northeast, but have gained considerable influence having backed the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the takeover of most of the country. HTS officials are already suggesting that stamping out Kurdish separatists is a near-term goal, and that Turkish involvement in Syria’s reconstruction is a priority.
US officials have been trying to reassure the Kurds that they don’t face any immediate threats to existence from Turkey’s allies, despite Turkish officials saying the “elimination” of the SDF’s largest faction, the YPG, is their strategic goal.
(December 19, 2024)
There is no talk of a ceasefire deal between Turkey and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria, contrary to a U.S. announcement, a Turkish defence ministry official said on Thursday.
The State Department had said…
Und was Israel angeht – auf kurze Sicht profitiert es wohl davon. Israel hat die Situation dazu genutzt, mehr Land zu besetzen, angeblich Waffenlager zerstört. Aber ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass ein islamischer Staat auf längere Sicht gut für Israel ist.
Vor einem guten Jahr hat sich in der israelischen Führung ein riesiger Wandel vollzogen. Ein wichtiges Ziel dieser neuen Strömung: Es darf keinen Palästinenserstaat geben. Man will einen durch und durch jüdischen Staat. Israels Bevölkerung ist zerrissen, was diese Themen angeht, fast am Rande eines Bürgerkrieges. Netanjahu ist autoritärer denn je, er hat alles persönlich unter Kontrolle.
Und es hat sich noch etwas drastisch verändert: Die Israelis in den 70er- und 80er-Jahren waren säkulare Europäer, diese Menschen an der Regierung heute sind alttestamentarisch. Sie sind nicht der Logik und der Ratio zugänglich, sondern sie fühlen sich ihrer quasi biblischen Vision verpflichtet. Da ist magisches Denken am Werk.
(…)
Für mich ist das eine Art geopolitisches Schneeballsystem. Netanjahu setzt alles daran, die Kämpfe am Laufen zu halten – würde man innehalten und das Ganze hinterfragen, würde das System kollabieren wie bei einem Schneeballsystem.
Since Assad’s downfall, the US, Turkey, and Israel have all been bombing Syria. On December 8, the day Assad fled, the US launched heavy airstrikes in Syria, saying it hit 75 ISIS-related targets.
US officials justify the strikes by saying they don’t want ISIS to reconstitute itself following the regime change. But on the other hand, the US has supported the HTS takeover even though the group is designated by the US as a terrorist organization and has a similar ideology to ISIS.
The US has also made clear it has no intention of withdrawing the approximately 900 troops that it has occupying eastern Syria.
Residents in Tadamon said that executions in the area were common. In interviews in 2022, they described at least 10 other incidents of summary killings between August 2012 and January 2014 in Tadamon, Daraya, Moadamiya, and surrounding areas. This evidence suggests that other bodies were buried in and around the area. The area was also the site of armed clashes between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters affiliated with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) at numerous points between 2012 and 2013.
Human Rights Watch began investigating the massacre in October 2021, after receiving a leaked video discovered by a member of a Syrian militia on a laptop and handed to Annsar Shahhoud and Uğur Ümit Üngör, researchers at the University of Amsterdam and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam, and ARD, a German Public Broadcaster.
“This video, filmed by the perpetrators themselves who laughed as they killed their victims, shows the Syrian government’s callous disregard for people’s lives,” Zayadin said. “This massacre is just one horrific incident in a pattern of state violence and apparent war crimes.”
After countless social media users shredded CNN’s story, a fact-checking organization with ties to the US government has exposed the prisoner seemingly liberated in Ward’s theatrical performance turns out to have been a low level Syrian intelligence official jailed for corruption and abuse charges.
CNN finally addressed the deepening scandal on December 15, declaring that it would investigate the subject of Ward’s piece. However, the network continues to protect the correspondent responsible for the journalistic flim-flam, while rebroadcasting the staged report for its views day after day.
On December 12, CNN published a video report on its website, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter) titled, „CNN Reporter Documents a Shocking Moment of Finding a Prisoner Held in a Secret Syrian Jail, Unaware of Assad’s Overthrow.“ In the footage, CNN’s correspondent Clarissa Ward is seen accompanied by an armed individual as they open a cell in a Damascus prison. The report features a man named „Adel Gharbal“ from Homs, who claims he was arrested three months earlier for having his phone searched and was taken to Damascus, initially held in an unnamed prison before being transferred to the location shown in the video. According to the report, this transfer occurred three days after the fall of Assad‘s regime.
The man, hidden under a blanket despite the gunshots used to break his cell lock, claimed he had not seen sunlight for three months.
Germany plans talks with representatives of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Damascus on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said, joining the United States and Britain in establishing contact with the group after it led the overthrow of Syria‘s Bashar al-Assad.
Israeli armoured vehicles on Tuesday entered the vicinity of Saida al-Golan, a village south of the Quneitra governorate, according to local media reports.
The area is beyond the disengagement line between Israel and Syria that was agreed in 1974.
The U.N. envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, told reporters in Damascus that setting Syria back on track after the past few tumultuous weeks will be helped by a speedy relief of sanctions.
„We can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around building of Syria,“ he said.
In a significant development, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced that the bloc‘s top diplomat for Syria will head to Damascus on Monday to initiate contact with the new Syrian government.
„Using all the channels that we have available, and those are diplomatic and, of course, intelligence-led channels, we seek to deal with HTS where we have to.“
On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has had direct contact with HTS.
“Earlier today, an Israeli fighter jet carried out an airstrike on radars in Deir Ezzor Military Airport,” it said.
“Moreover, an anonymous explosion took place at the only bridge on Euphrates River that connects between the city and Hatla Village, which is one of the seven villages in SDF-held areas.”
Israeli military aircraft carried out a series of powerful airstrikes on military targets in the Syrian port city of Tartus, home to an important Russian naval base and ship repair facility, on the night of 15-16 December.
“Strengthening the Golan is strengthening the State of Israel, and it is especially important at this time. We will continue to hold onto it, cause it to blossom, and settle in it,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Since Islamist rebels overthrew the decades-long Assad family regime on Dec. 8, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes across Syria and carried out a land incursion that stretches past the occupied Golan Heights into a previously demilitarized buffer zone.
(Ooctober 20, 2022)
Though it has on several occasions harshly criticized Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Jerusalem has so far avoided providing direct military aid to Kyiv — neither offensive arms nor advanced defensive technology — in an attempt to avoid sparking a crisis with Moscow.
/,,,)
An encrypted phone connection was installed in 2017 between a Russian air base in western Syria and the Israeli Air Force command center in Tel Aviv.
The S-300 system was moved to Syria is 2018. Control of the batteries was never handed over to Syrian government.
(…)
Russia still maintains its more advanced S-400 air defense system in Syria, but the missiles are reportedly tasked only with defending Russian assets.
Israeli officials now say they have total air superiority over Syria due to the lack of air defenses, which could make it easier to launch airstrikes on Iran. Israeli warplanes used to have to avoid air defenses when bombing Syria, but now Israeli officials say they’re able to fly over Damascus without having to worry about getting shot down by Russian-made air defenses.
(December 12,2024)
With the Israeli army advancing into Syria following Assad‘s fall, a group promoting settlements in Lebanon is casting its gaze eastward.
14 December 2024 22:42 GMT
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is reporting that Israel has launched 61 fresh air strikes on Syrian territory in the last few hours.
The bases in Syria are an integral part of Russia‘s global military presence: the Tartous naval base is Russia‘s only Mediterranean repair and resupply hub, with Hmeimim a major staging post for military and mercenary activity in Africa.
Russia also has eavesdropping posts in Syria which were run alongside Syrian signals stations, according to Syrian military and Western intelligence sources.