Contents tagged with Syria

  • Russian soldier killed in Syria

    On 31 January, a Russian contract soldier was killed “while carrying out a combat assignment” in Syria. The 24 year-old, Maxim Pletnev, was a resident of town of Tikhoretsk in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, Radio Liberty reports.

    The fact that he died in the Near East was confirmed by Sergey Zakharov, deputy head of the Tikhoretsk region. Journalists discovered that Pletnev had also served on the Russian-Ukrainian border at the height of the conflict in the Donbas.

    Pletnev’s death was reported by …

  • Putin and Netanyahu to discuss Iranian presence in Syria

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow later this month, to discuss Iranian presence in Syria.

    Negotiations on February 21st will be devoted to Israel’s efforts to prevent Iran from creating a “new [ant-Israeli] front on the other side of Golan Heights,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

    Moscow has not yet confirmed that the meeting would take place.

    This will be the third meeting between Netanyahu and Putin since July 2018 …

  • Media: the US transferred military equipment to Syria

    On Tuesday, February 5th, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that the United States transferred about 150 trucks with armored vehicles and generators to the Kurdish-controlled territory of Syria.

    At night trucks loaded with armored personnel carriers, working equipment and generators crossed the Simelka checkpoint on the Iraqi-Syrian border, Anadolu says.

    On Tuesday, the trucks reached the US logistical centers in the Syrian districts of Harap Ishk and Sarrin, which Americans share with the …

  • Russian recruitment offices refuse to grant veteran status to soldiers fighting in Syria

    Russian soldiers who have participated in combat in Syria are fighting to obtain official recognition as combat veterans and pension supplements for their families, Kommersant reports.

    In the Russian city of Vladimir, a court has awarded a lawsuit filed by the widow of a Russian officer killed in Syria against the local recruitment office, which refused to pay her pension supplements for the loss the family breadwinner. The issue is that the recruitment offices in Russia refuse to recognize …

  • Media: Russia detained hundreds of Iranian military in Syria

    A large number of Iranian troops and representatives of the Shiite armed groups supporting Bashar Assad are detained in the Russian base in Khmeimim (Syria). The number of detained is in the hundreds, reports Saudi television channel Al-Arabia citing the Syrian center for human rights monitoring. 

    Among the detained are dozens of commanders. 

    Al-Arabia suggests that the wave of arrests may be in connection with a battle in the Syrian city Sha’ta. 

    According to German outlet Spiegel, Moscow …

  • Russian media: Aircraft belonging to ‘Putin’s chef’ flies frequently to Syria and Africa

    A private jet believed to belong to the Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as “Putin’s chef”, has been flying nearly every month to the Near East and Africa, where Russian mercenaries are known to be fighting, according to an investigation by the Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

    The aircraft, a Raytheon HAWKER 800XP with the registration number M-VITO, officially belongs to a company in the Seychelles with an …

  • Ukrainian electronic warfare systems helped Israel destroy Russian Pantsir in Syria

    The success of Israel’s attacks against Iranian infrastructure in Syria was in many ways due to the use of a Kolchuga passive sensor, Avia-pro reports, citing Chinese experts.

    The Kolchuga sensor helped the Israelis to identify the location of all Syria’s aerial defense systems, which include a Tor surface-to-air missile system, a Pantsir-S surface-to-air missile systems, an S-75 surface-to-air missile system, and a JY-28 radar.

    The Chinese experts drew attention to the startling accuracy of …

  • Turkey: Russia proposed to conduct joint operation in Syria

    The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, stated that Russia offered Turkey to conduct a joint operation in the de-escalation zone in Idlib against the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the backbone of which is made up of Nusrah militants.

    According to Çavuşoğlu, Turkey has completed preparation for the operation in Syria

    “Russians are offering a joint operation, they say that we have to get rid of them [the militants],” said Çavuşoğlu in an interview with the Hurriyet …

  • Media: Pro-Iranian troops continue to battle with pro-Russian forces in Syria

    Units of the Syrian army loyal to Iran battled with the units loyal to Russia in Hama province, reported the Turkish agency Anadolu, citing well-informed sources in Syria.

    According to Anadolu’s source, the Fourth Division of the Syrian army under the patronage of Iran retook al-Rasif village from the Qawat Al-Nimr or Tiger Forces division that is sponsored by Russia. 70 soldiers died on both sides in the battle for al-Rasif. Local residents are afraid that the conflict can spread to the …

  • Media: Israel unable to stop Iran’s arms shipments to Syria

    Despite all Israel’s attempts to shut down Iran’s supply routes for sending weapons to Syria, Tehran has still been able to arm its proxies with rockets and other weapons. 

    The Israeli news site Nziv reported with reference to sources in the Arab press that the Assad regime and Hezbollah had received another arms shipment. This time, the weapons were delivered by air, virtually out in the open. 

    The munitions were reportedly transported in an Il-76TD cargo plane belonging to the Iranian …