Contents tagged with Syrian Conflict

  • Russia appoints new commander of its forces in Syria

    Lieutenant General Alexander Zhuravlev has been appointed as the new commander of the Russian military group in Syria, and has also became the first deputy commander of the Southern Military District. This was reported by Kommersant, citing a source in the General Staff.

    The source said that the candidacy of Zhuravlev, who has been in charge of the headquarters of the military forces in Syria since last September, was approved by the military leadership.

    According to military sources, …

  • 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 …

  • The Pentagon: Russia has established a military base near Palmyra, Syria

    The Pentagon stated that Russia has established a military base in the vicinity of Palmyra, Syria, despite Vladimir Putin’s announcement in March that the majority of Russian troops would be withdrawn from the war-torn country, Rosbalt reported.

     "It seems that they [Russia] created a kind of forward operating base, which gives them a base for a longer presence,” US Colonel Steve Warren stated during a videoconference from Baghdad.

    According to him, Russia has not, in fact, reduced its troop …

  • Turkish media: Russian aircraft bombed hospital in Aleppo

    At least 30 people were killed and 62 wounded on April 27th after a Russian military plane fired at a field hospital in the Syrian province of Aleppo. Anadolu reported that the incident was announced by Ibrahim Hadzh Ibrahim, the city’s civil defense representative.

    "Dozens were killed and wounded as a result of the attack on the hospital, including medical personnel, women and children,” Ibrahim said. He voiced his fears that the death toll would increase.

    According to the Syrian official, …

  • Putin: Western media wants to 'belittle and suppress' Russia's operation in Syria

    “The western mass media reported almost nothing about the progress of the Russian army in the fight against international terrorism as they are interested in 'belittling' our success in Syria,” Russian President Vladimir Putin declared at a meeting with journalists within a media forum of regional mass media in St. Petersburg, as reported by a Rosbalt correspondent.

    "It is clear why it is so. At first they spoke about the need to isolate Russia then realized that it is impossible as the …

  • Media: Russian losses in Syria may number in the dozens

    Russian fighters of the non-existent de jure private military company (PMC) are dying in Ukraine and Syria, but are not spoiling the statistics, as the internet newspaper Fontanka.ru reported in its new investigation. According to the online resource, an accuratel list of Russian losses can be seen only in the decrees of Russian President Vladimir Putin which have not been published before.Fontanka explains that the list refers to individuals belonging to a heavy armament infantry battalion …

  • Russian Defense Ministry to award medals to those who participated in the Syrian operation

    The Ministry of Defense of Russia plans to give medals to the participants of the military operation in Syria. To this end, the Defense Ministry has announced its plan to purchase more than 10,000 medals according to the procurement website of the Russian Federation. It is noted that the Ministry of Defense is willing to pay more than 2 million rubles ($29,000) for this order.

    Russia has conducted airstrikes in Syria since the 30th of September, 2015.

    As previously reported, Russian bombers …

  • Kerry: Russia is not an ally of the US in Syria, though it helps Washington in other areas

    Russia has not strengthened its position in the Middle East after the intervention in Syria, as stated by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, in an interview with CBS that was conducted on Sunday, March 27, 2016. In his opinion, this idea is "ludicrous."

    Kerry stressed that Russia is not a US ally in Syria, although it helps Washington with other aspects that are in the "strategic interests" of the United States. In particular, according to him, Russia helped with Iran's nuclear agreement …

  • US Embassy in Moscow discloses information about the CIA Director's visit to Russia earlier this month

    A spokesman for the US Embassy in Russia, William Stevens, discussed CIA Director John Brennan’s visit to Moscow, on Monday, March 28th, RIA Novosti reported.

    According to the embassy spokesman, Brennan discussed the observance of the truce in Syria with Russian authorities and stressed the necessity of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad leaving his post.

    "Director Brennan visited Moscow in early March to communicate to Russian officials the importance for Russia and the Assad regime to adhere …

  • Russian special forces officer killed in Syria

    A Russian special forces officer was killed in Syria on Thursday near the city of Palmyra, RIA Novosti reported.

    "Near the village of Tadmor, in the performance of a specific task to provide targets for Russian airstrikes against IS [the so-called Islamic State] an officer of the Russian special forces was killed," a representative of the Russian military stated.

    The special forces officer was tasked with carrying out a reconnaissance mission to provide coordinates of positions of the so- …