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A report on Monday claimed that U.S. intelligence has determined that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has already made a decision to use chemical weapons against enemy positions in Idlib as his forces, combined with Russian airpower, attack the last rebel stronghold following seven years of civil war. The Wall Street Journal [source], citing unnamed intelligence sources, even noted the type of gas Assad has allegedly chosen: Chlorine gas, which was first used in World War I and has the effect of an asphyxiation compound. In addition, according to sources who spoke to the WSJ, President Donald Trump has also reportedly...

Poland’s foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz on Monday headed to Georgia on a visit marking 10 years since Russia’s invasion of that country. “Ten years ago, as a result of the Russian Federation’s military aggression against Georgia, Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia found themselves under a separatist rule established and supported by Moscow that is not recognised by the international community,” “We oppose all efforts that interfere with the sovereign right of the Tbilisi authorities to exercise dominion over the territory of Georgia within its internationally recognised boundaries. “We condemn actions aimed at actually integrating the separatists regions of Abkhazia...

The shadow war between Israel and Iran in Syria escalated sharply on Monday after suspected Israeli strikes killed 26 Iranian and Assad regime fighters, according to monitors. One strike tore through a military base dug into a mountain near the central city of Hama on Sunday night, causing an explosion so large it registered as a 2.6 magnitude earthquake. A second strike targeted an airbase near the northern city of Aleppo. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack but suspicion immediately fell on Israel, which has carried out a number of strikes as it tries to prevent Iran...

US coalition jets hit attacking forces believed to include Iranian-backed militias operating in Deir Ezzor area: Diplomat US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they expelled Syrian troops who briefly took control of a string of villages in oil rich areas east of the Euphrates River near the Iraqi border on Sunday.SDF forces led by the Kurdish YPG militia said they launched a counter-attack against Syrian troops backed by Russian forces, adding they were driven "far away" from four villages they had seized earlier in the day."Our forces regained the initiative," they said in a statement.It did not say if the...

The hidden battle in Syria – the one that rarely appears on our television screens – has been raging for years between Israel and a coalition comprising the Syrian government, Iran and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Watching over the proceedings without directly intervening has been Russia, although that might be about to change. The prize is control over Syrian territory but the battlefield is Syria’s skies.

Moscow will shoot down any U.S. missiles fired at Syria and retaliate against American launch sites, the Russian ambassador to Lebanon has warned. Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin made the comments on Tuesday while speaking on the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar TV channel, Reuters reported. President Donald Trump is currently considering military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad following Saturday’s suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the capital city of Damascus. Medical relief groups say the attack killed dozens of civilians.

When more than 8 million Soviet troops died during World War II, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin said that a “single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” Stalin is not the only autocrat who has appeared to care little about the loss of his own forces at war. In 1991, Saddam Hussein’s front-line army lost nearly half its men to casualties or desertions. Even his elite Republican Guard lost a quarter of his men. Soviet forces in Afghanistan suffered roughly 50,000 casualties during the 1980s. Compare these figures to Russia’s losses in several years of fighting in...

The US-led coalition killed more than 100 Assad regime fighters in eastern Syria on Wednesday, officials said, in the largest deliberate strike carried out by Western forces against pro-Syrian government troops. The coalition said it struck regime fighters with airstrikes and artillery after they launched an "unprovoked attack" against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Western-backed rebels fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in Syria. "We estimate more than 100 Syrian pro-regime forces were killed while engaging SDF and coalition forces," a US military official said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his troops recently advanced on the Kurdish stronghold of Afrin only after Ankara got a green light from Russia. Moscow has denied giving such assent, but Erdogan on Monday said that indeed, Turkey had an agreement with Russia to launch the offensive. It’s a page straight from the Kremlin playbook. Moscow is capitalizing on the discord between the U.S. and Turkey over the Kurds to cozy up to a member of NATO, an alliance the Kremlin still regards as an existential threat on its western border. Aggravate the rift between Washington and Ankara, Moscow...