Free Republic

The Islamic State just lost its capital at Raqqa and with it the last of the terrorist group's fantasies of establishing a Middle East caliphate. In recent years, ISIS has horrified global audiences with video clips of unspeakable atrocities. What sort of humans could behead, incinerate, drown, torture and blow up innocent civilians, mock and record such horror, and then narrate their macabre videos for a world audience? How could such pre-modern psychopaths ever be defeated, given that in a matter of months ISIS had managed to overrun vast swaths of Iraq and Syria? The zealotry of the Islamic State...

A Russian airstrike has killed around 40 Islamic State fighters, including four senior commanders, near the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, Russia’s defense ministry said Friday. The strike, carried out by Su-34 fighter-bombers and Su-35 fighters, came after an intelligence report Sept. 5 showed that top Islamic State commanders were meeting at a secret underground command post in the vicinity of Deir al-Zor, the ministry said on its Facebook page.

Operations are ceased as a ‘precautionary measure’ says American ally’s defense ministry Australia has suspended air operations in Syria amid escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow after Russia threatened to track American and coalition aircraft in the war-torn country as targets. “As a precautionary measure, Australian Defense Force strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased,” a statement from the Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The American ally’s decision to back out of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria comes hours after the U.S. shifted some of its own flight patterns in the country to minimize risks, following Russia’s warning on Monday that...

Intensified coalition air strikes have killed at least 300 civilians in the Syrian northern city of Raqqa since March, as U.S.-backed forces close in on the stronghold of Islamic State forces, U.N. war crimes investigators said on Wednesday. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of Kurdish and Arab militias supported by a U.S.-led coalition, began to attack Raqqa a week ago to take it from the jihadists. The SDF, supported by heavy coalition air strikes, have taken territory to the west, east and north of the city. "Coalition air strikes have intensified around the city," said Paulo Pinheiro, chairman...

Egyptian fighter jets have struck militant camps following the deadly attack on Egypt’s Coptic Christians, President Abdel Fattah Sisi has announced. The strikes were carried out in eastern Libya, state television said.Egypt’s president also vowed to continue striking bases used to train militants and who carry out terrorist attacks in his country, regardless of the camps' location.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV4jfKiaSsk  

Women's Protection Units (YPJ) spokeswoman Nesrin Abdullah. Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) spokeswoman, Nesrin Abdullah, has said that the group’s forces will withdraw from the operation to capture the Islamic State’s stronghold, Raqqa, if the US doesn’t take concrete action against Turkish airstrikes targeting Kurdish forces in Syria.“The is unacceptable in international law. If the USA or coalition or the US [State Dept.] spokesperson can only say, ‘We are concerned or we are unhappy’ [about Turkey’s airstrikes] then we will not accept this. If this is the reaction, we do not accept it. It means they accept what was done to us,” Abdullah...

YPJ members at a military parade in northern Syria's autonomous region Rojava. Twelve members of the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) were killed in Turkish airstrikes targeting the group’s headquarters in northeastern Syria early Tuesday morning.The YPJ, in a statement on Wednesday, confirmed that of the 20 Kurdish fighters killed in the multiple airstrikes, 12 belonged to the YPJ, while the other eight were members of the People’s Protection Units (YPG). 18 other militants were injured in the air raid.In the statement the group, which came to prominence following several victories against the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group, also accused...

Turkish airstrikes on Tuesday morning targeted Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq killing dozens of fighters and civilians according to first reports.Fighter jets hit Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) positions in northeaster Syria’s Derik city (Al-Malikiyah) and Kurdish Yazidi positions in northern Iraq’s Shingal (Sinjar) at around 02:00am local time, according to reports.Information gained by Kom News suggests at least eighteen YPG members were killed in an airstrike on the group’s headquarters in Derik, which is on the border with Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.A radio station and villages were also hit, however the number of civilian casualties has not been confirmed. Turkish warplanes...

PYD co-leader Salih Muslim Democratic Union Party (PYD) co-leader Salih Muslim condemned Turkish airstrikes targeting Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq on Tuesday morning and said coalition forces should not to remain silent on the matter.Speaking to Europe based News Channel, the leader of the largest Syrian Kurdish party said the attack was expected due to the heavy military deployment at the Turkey-Syria border.“There is a tense situation. There were already aerial attacks at the border and reconnaissance flights [by Turkey]. We were expecting this, it is not a surprise. They cannot scare the people of Kurdistan with these attacks. The people of...

A Chinese state-run media outlet said that if North Korea continues nuclear and missile development, China may not provide military support to China even if the U.S. launches preemptive strike on the North. China and North Korea have agreed to provide military assistance if one of them gets under military attack, and hence the latest report is construed as Beijing's stern warning against Pyongyang. If the U.S. launches surgical strikes on North Korea's nuclear facilities, China will seek diplomatic deterrence but military intervention is not needed, China's state-run Global Times said on Saturday. However, the daily repeated its previous stance...

A massive combination of Tomahawk cruise missiles, air-launched cruise missiles and B-2 stealth bombers would arguably ensure enough firepower to silence North Korean president Kim Jong Un's increasingly bellicose regime. Question is: Would that also be enough to prevent a catastrophic counter-attack against Seoul? Such surgical strikes are fraught with intangibles, particularly since with its population of some 25 million people, Seoul is only 35 miles from the Korean Peninsula's demilitarized zone (DMZ). The most likely response would be with either air-launched cruise missiles from B-52s or B-2s, or Tomahawks cruise missiles launched from U.S. warships, Terence Roehrig, professor of...

Tucker Carlson interviews Senator Graham and asks for specifics on what his call for 7,000 troops in Syria means. Who would they fight, how long would they stay, how much would it cost. In the interview, Senator Graham expresses support for fighting ISIS, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Russia. I may be missing a few nations.

Some Democrats are commending President Trump for giving the go ahead on retaliatory airstrikes on Syria after Tuesday's chemical attack, which killed nearly 100 people. “I think it was the right thing to do," Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said on Fox News Friday. Echoing those remarks, Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said in a statement that the airstrikes sent a "clear and measured message" to the Bashar al-Assad regime (although she also blamed Trump in part for the tension because of his travel ban.) My statement on last night’s US military strike on Syria here ? https://t.co/CmOjND88Ba pic.twitter.com/HlQ5uErLVG— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) April 7, 2017 You'll notice another caveat in...

Russia’s Rossiya 24 news channel has revealed the first footage from the Shayrat airbase, which the United States hit with a volley of 59 Tomahawk missiles after an alleged “chemical attack” in Idlib earlier this week.

Eleven weeks into his administration, Trump's Syrian airstrikes appear to have achieve what until last night appeared impossible: unite much of Congress in support of a Trump decision. As Bloomberg report, U.S. lawmakers mostly expressed support for Trump's strike against a Syrian airfield in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack, though some cautioned that Congress needs to be consulted on a comprehensive strategy if the strike is a harbinger of things to come.

Israeli jets allegedly struck targets near the Syrian capital overnight on Wednesday, reportedly a weapons shipment to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, Lebanese media reported. Syrian media reported witnesses hearing "loud explosion sounds" in the early morning hours. According to Lebanese media, the targets that were hit around 3.00 a.m. were affiliated with the Assad regime and were the regime army's 3rd Division in the al-Katif suburbs of the capital. The report also claimed that the IDF struck from within Lebanon, circling the Beqaa Valley and Baalbek, so as not to be blocked by the Russian defense systems operating in...

Barack Obama’s plan for military intervention in Syria was abruptly derailed by David Cameron and British members of parliament, US secretary of state John Kerry claimed on Thursday. The American president said he would bomb the Syrian regime if it used chemical weapons but he did not follow through on his promise. The failure to enforce his stated “red line” after President Bashar al-Assad used sarin gas in a Damascus suburb in August 2013 is seen by some as the worst stain on Obama’s legacy. The British parliament’s vote against air strikes has long been cited by Obama and others...

A U.S. pilot got into the Christmas spirit Sunday when he wore Santa Claus hats on his bombing runs against the Islamic State. The Department of Defense shared some photos of an F-16 Air Force pilot wearing the bright red cap most commonly associated with the present-delivering elf. One photo shows the pilot giving the cameraman a thumbs-up as he flies to deliver his payload. An F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot dons a red Santa hat as he flies to his target. Source: Senior Airman Tyler Woodward/U.S. Department of Defense Festive as the hat may have been, the pilot was still...

Israeli aircraft attack a facility in the Syrian part of the Golan Heights in retaliation for Sunday's attack on IDF soldiers. Israeli aircraft attacked early Monday morning a facility belonging to the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization in the Syrian part of the Golan Heights. The attack was in retaliation to Sunday's attack on IDF forces who were engaged in operations along the Syrian border. The patrol returned fire, first with small arms and then with mortars. The Israel Air Force then located the armored vehicle that had been the source of the fire and destroyed the vehicle, killing all...

Russia has ordered the US not to carry out airstrikes on Syrian army positions, warning that sophisticated air defence systems are now up and running. Putin has ordered the deployment of S-300 and S-400 units in order to protect troops on the ground. And Russian army bosses have warned that the weapons' radius may be 'a surprise' to unidentified planes, helicopters and drones in the area, according to Russia Today . Russia says it has deployed the anti-aircraft batteries because members of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria are working “ on the ground ” delivering aid.