Contents tagged with Syria

  • Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summons Israeli Ambassador after bombing in Syria

    Israeli ambassador to Moscow Gary Koren was summoned to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the incident involving Israel’s air attack on targets near the Syrian city of Palmyra.

    This was reported by Interfax in reference to the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation and Special Representative for the President to the Middle East and African Countries Mikhail Bogdanov.

    “Yes, he was asked about it,” said Bogdanov in answer to a question about whether the head of the …

  • Israeli Defense Minister: Syria’s Air Defense system will be destroyed if used against Israeli Air Force

    Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday that Syria’s air defense systems will be destroyed if they fire on Israeli planes.

    “The next time the Syrians use their air defense systems against our planes we will destroy them without the slightest hesitation,” Lieberman said while speaking to new military recruits at a military base in the central part of the country, as reported by the Israeli radio station Reshet Bet.

    According to a press release by the Israeli Defense Forces, …

  • Media: Russia tries contract soldier who served in Syria over loss of military property

    Russian contractor Artem Hilko, who served in Syria in one of the units of the Taman Motorized Rifle Division, has become a person of interest in a court case, reported Kommersant daily.

    The Private is being tried under Article 348 of the Criminal Code, which involves violation of the rules for the care of weapons, ammunition or military equipment entrusted for official use, if this led to their loss through negligence. What and under which circumstances Hilko lost such equipment is a secret …

  • The Kremlin confirms that Putin and Erdogan discussed coordinating military action in Syria

    The Presidents of The Russian Federation and Turkey - Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan - are in negotiations regarding the question of coordination of military actions in Syria, as reported by RIA Novosti citing the press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov.

    "These questions were touched upon, and there exists a common understanding of the necessity of coordinating such actions," Peskov stated, responding to the question of whether an agreement was reached in Putin and …

  • Assad: Russia is the only real force against ISIS in Syria

    In an interview with the Chinese Phoenix News television channel, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called Russia the only force that is effectively fighting against the Islamic State.

     According to Assad, while U.S. President Donald Trump has called the fight with the so-called Islamic State one of his political priorities, Damascus has not seen any concrete actions to combat jihadists from the US.

    "The only serious side in this respect is Russia, which is effectively fighting ISIS in …

  • Russia begins to upgrade its navy base in Syria

    Russia has started to upgrade the Russian naval base in Syrian Tartus, announced Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the defense committee in the Federation Council, as reported by Interfax.

    “As far as Tartus is concerned, I won’t conceal the fact that even during our visit (of Russian senators in Syria in October 2016) I was shown a development plan for the port where facilities and docks would be built. This work has already been prepared, and today it is being put into action,” he said.

    When asked …

  • Social media users report the death of another Russian soldier in Syria

    Another Russian soldier was killed in Syria, as reported by Russian blogger from St Petersburg, Anatoly Nesmiyan, also known under the alias “el murid”.The post on Nesmiyan’s LiveJournal page points to VKontakte (Russian social network ) post  with the picture of the killed soldier and the details of the incident.

    The soldier, 39-year-old Alexander Zangiev, native of the city of Krasnodar, was killed in the explosion when the armored personnel carrier, he was in, hit a road side bomb. A few …

  • The Pentagon: Russian Air Defense in Syria complicates US military operations

    New air defense systems deployed by Russia in Syria may alter the course of US military operations in the region as stated by commander of the Central Command Joseph Votel at a hearing before the US Senate.

    “Over the past few months, Russia has deployed new surface-to-air defense systems, they are ready for use, and this affects our freedom to maneuver in the area,” he noted.

    He stated that the United States needs to explore ways to decrease the possibility of an incident with the Russian …

  • Media: Israeli aircraft bombed a Syrian S-300 missile complex and a weapons warehouse

    On Tuesday, March 7, a report by journalist Georges Malbrunot was published on the French newspaper Le Figaro’s Twitter account. Malbruno stated that on the eve of January 13, Israeli F-35 planes destroyed warehouses in Damascus where Pantsir systems intended for Hezbollah, as well as a battery of the S-300 surface-to-air missile system were stored.

    The attacks were carried out near Mezzeh Military Airport and Mount Qasioun, not far from the presidential palace, the French journalist writes …

  • Media: Russian soldier killed in Syria

    It has been reported that for the second time in one week, a member of the Russian military has been killed in Syria.

    Artem Gorbunov, 24, was killed during an attack on Palmyra, according to a post by his wife Sofia on her page on the social media site Vkontakte.

    “My husband was killed on March 2nd in Syria. They were caught in an ambush…he was the first one killed,” she wrote in one of her posts, which was accompanied by a photo of her husband in military uniform.

    It is known that the young …