Free Republic

BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia bombed Syria for a third day on Friday, mainly hitting areas held by rival insurgent groups rather than the Islamic State fighters it said it was targeting and drawing an increasingly angry response from the West. The U.S.-led coalition that is waging its own air war against Islamic State called on the Russians to halt strikes on targets other than Islamic State. "We call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians and to focus its efforts on fighting ISIL," said the coalition, which includes the United States, major...

BEIRUT — Russian warplanes have struck targets deep inside the Islamic State’s heartland province of Raqqa for the first time, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday. The strikes were carried out against an Islamic State training camp and a command post near the city of Raqqa, expanding the scope of a three-day old air campaign that had previously focused on attacking rebel groups opposed to the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

One day after launching a campaign of airstrikes in Syria, Russia announced that it is considering going into Iraq. A foreign ministry representative said Thursday that Russia would consider any request from Iraq to conduct anti-ISIS airstrikes in the country, and Iraqi President Haider al-Abadi told Western news outlets that Russian airstrikes were "a possibility" and that Iraq would "welcome it." "Our message to the Russians — I met with Putin — please join this fight against Daesh," Abadi told PBS NewsHour. Daesh is another name for ISIS. "Daesh is a dangerous terrorist organization, not only against Iraq, against Syria,...

On Sept. 30, Russian warplanes launched their first air raids in Syria, striking eight targets around Homs, north of Damascus. In a second day of strikes on Oct. 1, Moscow’s planes hit another five targets, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The Kremlin insists it’s hitting militants from the so-called Islamic State. But the locations of the aerial strikes imply otherwise—that Russia’s bombing civilians and U.S.-backed rebels instead. Chillingly, video and photographs from Russia’s new air war seem to indicate that the attacks are inaccurate and indiscriminate.

Warplanes believed to be Russian bombed an Islamic State-held town 130 km (80 miles) northeast of Damascus overnight, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday. Islamic State captured the town of Qaryatain from government control in August.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - International monitors say they have spotted a new kind of Russian weapons system in rebel-held Ukraine this week, possible evidence of Moscow's continued interest in Ukraine even as it focuses on Syria. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is monitoring a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, reported that its monitors had seen a mobile TOS-1 'Buratino' weapons system for the first time. The Buratino is equipped with thermobaric warheads which spread a flammable liquid around a target and then ignite it. It can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage. Only...

Russian President Vladimir Putin's relentless ambition has raised his nation to prominence. Russia has become an international player in the geopolitical game of chess. There's a problem for him, however. Putin has attempted to impose Russian interests first in the Ukraine and now in the Middle East. As a result, he is gradually pushing Russia closer and closer to default, just as the arms race with the U.S. during the Reagan years helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia Can't Compete With the U.S. If you take in all the angles, Russia is playing a game it...

Syrian military weakness, painfully exposed over the last few months, is the main reason for direct Russian intervention in the war – whether its goal is to strike at Islamic State or, more likely, to take on any rebel force fighting Bashar al-Assad in order to shore up his position and stave off demands that he step down. Officials and analysts say Moscow decided to deepen its involvement after the fall of the northern towns of Idlib and nearby Jisr al-Shughour in May served as a “wake-up call” about the parlous state of the Syrian army. Both were taken by...

Last month, the Syrian civilians living in the government-controlled parts of Syria had little be optimistic about: the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) was spread too thin and on the defensive at most fronts, while the humanitarian crisis inside the country spread to the provinces that were once relatively unaffected by the violence (i.e. Al-Sweida). Well, “hope springs eternal” when hundreds of Russian Marines and dozens of Russian jets enter your country; this was the case in the overcrowded provinces of Latakia and Tartous, as large crowds gathered near the coast to welcome these Russian naval infantrymen and their advanced military...

CAIRO - Bahrain said on Thursday it had recalled its ambassador to Iran, a day after it said security forces had discovered a large bomb-making factory and arrested a number of suspects linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Bahrain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had also declared the Iranian charge d'affaires in Bahrain a "persona non grata" and gave him 72 hours to leave the country. In a statement on its website, the ministry said the decision to recall its ambassador had come "in light of continued Iranian meddling in the affairs of the kingdom of Bahrain ... in order...

Vladimir Putin has conscripted 150,000 new troops into the Russian army as the country unleashed a new wave of airstrikes in Syria - while and Iran and Islamist group Hezbollah prepare for a major ground offensive. Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria over the last ten days, backed by the country's Lebanese allies, Hezbollah, and rebel fighters from Iraq and Afghanistan, two Lebanese sources claimed today. One of the sources said the Iranian ground forces were 'soldiers and officers', not advisers, adding: 'We mean hundreds with equipment and weapons. They will be followed by more.' They are being...

Many Russian analysts maintain that Russia's intervention in Syria is driven by Vladimir Putin’s desire to reinstate the status of the world's largest nation as a superpower and his genuine belief that the United States has deliberately seeded chaos in the region to secure its reign there. While this assessment may be accurate, it only reveals part of the Russian president's intentions. Russia’s military engagement in Syria comes on the backdrop of three major factors: a serious threat to the survival of President Bashar Assad's regime, Russia's old Middle Eastern client; Putin's success at securing the occupation of Crimea and...

There is no question that the airstrikes launched by Russia in Syria on Wednesday would cause a lot of trouble and damage. However, American evangelist Franklin Graham believes some good could still come out of it. Speaking on Newsmax TV, Graham said the Russian airstrikes in Syria might just end up saving the lives of countless persecuted Christians. "What Russia is doing may save the lives of Christians in the Middle East," said Graham. "You understand that the Syrian government for their good and for their bad over the history of this country, they have protected Christians, they have protected...

Saudi Arabia has expressed deep concern over Russia’s airstrikes in Syria, saying there was no evidence of Daesh operating in the areas targeted and that innocent civilians had been killed. Russia launched several strikes in Hama and Homs on Thursday, the second day of operations, with Kremlin officials saying that they targeted members of Daesh. Russian warplanes bombed a camp run by CIA-trained rebels, the group’s commander said. Abdullah bin Yahya Al-Moallemi, the Kingdom’s permanent representative to the UN, criticized Russia’s actions in a speech delivered at the Security Council on Wednesday. “As for those countries that have claimed recently...

Vladimir Putin is having a field day in the Middle East. He has sent Russian planes to bomb rebels in Syria. He has reached an intelligence-sharing agreement with Syria, Iran and Iraq. At the U.N. Monday, he reaffirmed his commitment to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He seems determined to fill the regional vacuum allegedly left by the United States.What should the Obama administration do? Let him. Republicans regard this as a calamity. But what's the downside? There are two main ways this gambit could go. And neither would be a bad deal for us.The first possibility is that he will...

Amid conflicting reports about Moscow targeting U.S.-alllied groups in Syria, GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said late Wednesday that she backs military readiness against Russian forces. “I believe we must tell the Russians that we will conduct [and] we will secure a no-fly zone around anti-Assad rebel forces that we’re supporting,” she said on Fox News’s "Hannity." “Does that mean we might use force against Russian jets?” host Sean Hannity then asked. “Well, hopefully not,” Fiorina responded. "Hopefully, if we are signaling clearly to the Russians are intention, it will not come to that.” “But if it does come to...

Russia launched its first round of air strikes in Syria, hitting eight sites that it claimed were Islamic State targets only hours after president Vladimir Putin’s request to use military force was unanimously approved by parliament. The Pentagon disputed Russia’s claim that it targeted only jihadi groups, with secretary of defense Ash Carter saying that evidence suggested strikes “were in areas where there probably were not Isis forces”. Carter said the Kremlin’s current strategy is “doomed to failure” and American air strikes will continue “unimpeded”. Syrian activists, civilians and rebels asserted that Russian strikes had targeted moderate forces who...

Secretary of state’s legacy increasingly linked to Iranian regime fortunes Growing speculation that John Kerry will receive a Nobel Peace Prize for finalizing the Iranian nuclear deal is generating renewed criticism of his close relationship with the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, a key public face for the theocratic regime who is rumored to be a probable co-recipient with Kerry. Rumors have been circulating for months that Kerry and Zarif will be co-selected for the prize. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a leading Swedish think-tank, recommended in July that the two be selected for the Nobel in 2016. Lawmakers...

MAHMOUD ABBAS addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday in his capacity as "President of State of Palestine," or so the official text posted on the UN website identifies him. In reality, Abbas is no more the lawful president of Palestine than George W. Bush is the lawful president of the United States. Both were sworn in for four-year terms in January 2005. Those terms expired more than six years ago. If Bush had appeared before the UN plenum this week and presumed to announce a change in American policy, he would have been thought delusional and jeered off...

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told FRANCE24 in an exclusive interview on Thursday that he is open to allowing Russia to carry out air strikes against Islamic State group militants in Iraq. "Not yet. It is a possibility. If we get the offer, we will consider it," Abadi told FRANCE24. "It is in our interest to share information with Russia. Russia has a lot of information. The more information we gather the more I can protect the Iraqi people," Abadi added. On Wednesday, Russian warplanes began air strikes in neighbouring Syria, saying it would hit the Islamic State group "and...