Contents tagged with Syria

  • Russian State Duma: The Russian military will remain in Syria indefinitely

    The Russian military will continue to support the Syrian government in their fight against terrorism for as long they are needed. According to Interfax, this was said on Tuesday by the head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Vladimir Komoedov. He went on to say that “we will remain in Syria for as long as is necessary”.

    According to Komoedov, the Russian Navy has always been present in Syria as “there was a small base for the ships in the Mediterranean” in the port of Tartus. He added that “ …

  • Israel fired at Russian drone after it crossed over from Syrian airspace

    Deutsche Welle has reported that a Russian drone had violated Israel’s airspace on the 17th of July.

    According to media reports, on the 7th of August, Russia acknowledged the violation and explained that it had been caused by a “human factor”.  The media continued to report that the issue had already been telephonically discussed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    The media also reported that the Russian drone returned to Syrian airspace after …

  • Obama: We must test Russia to see if we can cooperate in Syria

    At a press conference at the Pentagon, US President Barack Obama said he does not trust Russia to cooperate militarily with the US to bring peace in Syria, but the proposition must be tested.

    The US State Department recently announced that it is pursuing military cooperation with Russia to end the war in Syria, a proposal over which some defense officials have expressed concern.

    When asked why he trusts Moscow to cooperate, Obama said "I am not confident that we can trust the Russians and …

  • Obama: Cooperation in Syria will not end US pressure on Russia with regard to Ukraine

    During a joint press conference with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, US President Barack Obama explained the difficulties in attempting to cooperate with Russia to end the violence in Syria while simultaneously attempting to force Russia to implement the Minsk Agreements and end its role in the war in eastern Ukraine.

    “I think we’ve already got a lot of differences with Russia on a whole bunch of issues,” Obama stated, according to a press release on the White House’s website. “But I …

  • Ash Carter: Cooperation with Russia in Syria will not create a military partnership

    The agreements made between the US and Russia with regard to Syria does not signal the beginning of a deepening of their military partnership. This was said by the US Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter.

    On the 26th of July, AFP reported Carter as saying that discussions on military cooperation in Syria are only being carried out to “coerce Russians to make the right steps”, specifically to support a political solution to the conflict in Syria.

    However, according to Carter, Russia is “still …

  • Kerry: Progress is being made with Russia on Syria despite Defense Department's doubts

    US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Laos, said that progress is being made in pursuing closer cooperation between the two countries in Syria, the Washington Post reported.

    Kerry hopes that Washington and Moscow will share intelligence to coordinate attacks against extremist groups in Syria. The Secretary of State also seeks to persuade the Kremlin to convince the Syrian government to focus its attacks on groups such as the …

  • Wall Street Journal: Russian aircraft bombed US outpost in Syria

    Russian aircraft bombed a garrison used by US and British troops in Syria last week, the Wall Street Journal reported.

    According to the newspaper, US and British special forces use the garrison in southern Syria near the Iraqi and Jordanian borders for a base of operations. A contingent of 20 British commandos had reportedly pulled out of the area less than 24 hours before Russian aircraft dropped cluster bombs on the outpost.

    After the strike, officers with the US military’s Central Command …

  • American officials criticize Kerry’s plan for coordination with Russia

    American officials from the intelligence and defense sectors criticized US Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposal for coordination between the US and Russia in Syria, The New York Times reports.

    Even though Kerry believes in possible cooperation with Moscow, many representatives from American intelligence agencies and the Pentagon are suspicious of this plan.

    According to one of the officials, it remains unclear why Kerry is confident that Russia will support the White House’s goals in …

  • Moscow denies reports that the Russian military attacked opposition forces in southern Syria

    Russian military officials rejected the Pentagon’s accusations that Russia had bombed U.S.-backed opposition forces in the south of Syria.

    During a video conference with Russian military officials on June 18th, the Pentagon expressed "grave concern with the attacks on the Al-Tanf garrison that was supported by the international coalition forces."

    The representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, refuted the accusations. In his statement on June 19th, Konashenkov said …

  • Russian soldier killed in Syria

    A Russian Marine from the Kaliningrad region, Andrey Timoshenkov, has been killed in action in Syria, bringing the official number of Russian soldiers killed in Syria to eleven, Korrespondent.net reported.

    The Russian Defense Ministry made the announcement on Sunday, though the soldier was killed on Thursday.

    According to authorities, the sergeant was killed by a suicide car bomb. Timoshenkov reportedly opened fire on the car as it tried to reach a humanitarian aid distribution point. The …