The Obama administration is weighing the opening of a new front in the air war against the Islamic State in Syria, part of an offensive to push back militants along the western portion of Syria’s border with Turkey and create a relatively safe zone for U.S.-backed Syrian rebel forces to move in. Under the plan, […]
Russia calls for end to sanctions, EU says no and imposes fresh measures
Russia urged the European Union on Saturday to lift sanctions against Moscow and promised to waive its food embargo, but a top EU official rejected such a move as the bloc imposed fresh measures on Ukrainian rebels. The European Union and the United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia in late July, targeting the Russian […]
British brothers sentenced for training in Syria rebel camp
Two British brothers who travelled to Syria apparently with the intention of attending a rebel training camp have been jailed, becoming the first to be sentenced for such offenses in the UK. Mohommod Nawaz, 30, was handed a four-and-a-half year prison term and his younger brother Hamza Nawaz, 23, was given three years at London’s […]
U.S. weighs expanded CIA training, arming of moderate Syrian rebels
The Obama administration has been weighing plans to escalate the CIA’s role in arming and training fighters in Syria, a move aimed at accelerating covert U.S. support to moderate rebel factions while the Pentagon is preparing to establish its own training bases, U.S. officials said. The proposed CIA buildup would expand a clandestine mission that […]
Iraq PM warns against a victory by Syria’s rebels
Iraq’s prime minister warned Wednesday that a victory for rebels in the Syrian civil war would create a new extremist haven and destabilize the wider Middle East, sparking sectarian wars in his own country and in Lebanon.
Syria rebels down another regime helicopter
Syrian rebels shot down another regime helicopter near a military airbase in the northern province of Aleppo on Monday, as warplanes pounded towns across the country, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “A helicopter was seen falling from the sky as it burst into flames after it was hit near Minnigh military
Syria rebels set conditions for talks with the regime
Syria is ready to hold talks with the armed opposition trying to topple President Bashar Assad, the country’s foreign minister said Monday, in the government’s most advanced offer yet to try to resolve the 2-year-old civil war through negotiations. Walid al-Moallem did not say whether rebel fighters would first have to
Syrian rebels use captured tanks in fight for Aleppo
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Rebels stormed a police academy near the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, the latest in a string of gains in the country’s north using weapons seized from the Syrian military. Turning President Bashar al-Assad’s own armaments against him,
SNC says Hezbollah occupied Syrian villages
Syrian National Council leader George Sabra met Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo and raised his concerns over Iran’s growing role in the fighting in Syria and Hezbollah’s occupation of villages on the Lebanon-Syria border .
Influx of weapons to rebels tilts the battle against Assad
ANTAKYA, Turkey — A surge of rebel advances in Syria is being fueled at least in part by an influx of heavy weaponry in a renewed effort by outside powers to arm moderates in the Free Syrian Army, according to Arab and rebel officials. The new armaments, including anti-tank weapons and recoilless rifles, have been […]