Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry reiterated, during a briefing on circumstance of the Il-20 incident, that blame for the Russian aircraft's crash fully rested with Israel, which put the Il-20 under fire of the Syrian air defense. The Russian Defense Ministry has additional compelling evidence in support of the materials presented earlier on Sunday at the briefing devoted to the dow [...]

Russia’s military presence in Syria has effectively turned the tide of war back in 2015, the year Islamic State was about to “roll over Damascus,” the head of Israeli Air Force intelligence said in an interview. The Aerial campaign Russia started against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in 2015 had “categorically” decided the fate of war in President Bashar Assad’s favor, Brig. Gen. U [...]

WASHINGTON - The US Navy 6th Fleet is informed about the deadly crash of the Russian Il-20 in the Mediterranean near Syria and is ready to provide assistance at sea to any country if needed, the 6th Fleet's public affairs officer, Cmdr. Kyle Raines, told Sputnik. [...]

WASHINGTON - Daesh used rudimentary chemical weapons and encouraged sympathizers to use whatever other weapon at their disposal to carry out terrorist attacks, the US Department of State said in a report on Wednesday. [...]

The tragic loss of a Russian military aircraft with 15 personnel onboard, off the Syrian coast, has to be seen in the context of the Arab country being attacked. Attacked by the Israeli air force and facing an unprecedented buildup of NATO warships. Yet, Syria – the victim of aggression – is the one being blamed. [...]

Russian military police have been deployed to de-escalation zones across Syria since late 2016 to help maintain security in the war-torn country amid the ongoing operations by the Syrian military and its allies to clear Syria of a collection of mostly jihadist militants. [...]

ST.PETERSBURG Israel is unlikely to freely use Syrian airspace in the wake of the crash of a Russian Il-20 military aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea, Yakov Kedmi, a former high-ranking Israeli intelligence official, told Sputnik. "There was an agreement between Israel and Russia that the actions of Israel in Syria's airspace would not endanger lives of Russian troops. [...]

The Russian military says an Israeli raid on Syria triggered a chain of events that led to its Il-20 plane being shot down by a Syrian S-200 surface-to-air missile. Moscow reserves the right to respond accordingly. On Monday evening, four Israeli F-16 fighter jets attacked targets in Syria’s Latakia after approaching from the Mediterranean, a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tue [...]

A Russian military Il-20 aircraft with 14 service members on board went off the radars during an attack by four Israeli jets on Syria’s Latakia province, the Russian Defense Ministry said. [...]

With Al-Qaeda’s last major foothold in Syria now under threat, the US has suddenly become deeply concerned about civilians that could be caught in the crossfire – even as the US military loosens its own rules of engagement. [...]

The Netherlands will end its support for Syrian militants, since the program did not yield the “expected” results. Earlier, journalists found one of the groups had been labeled ‘terrorist’ by the Dutch justice department. “The opportunity to quickly change the situation [in Syria] is extremely small,” reads the letter the lower house of the parliament by Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blo [...]

Footage, meant to serve as proof that the Syrian government has conducted a chemical weapons attack in Idlib, Syria, is to be handed to global news outlets by the end of Tuesday, the Russian military claims. Several Middle East TV channels and a US news channel have been sent to Jisr al-Shughur in Syria’s Idlib Governorate to produce the footage needed for the provocation, a statement by the Rus [...]

Last week the US warned of military strikes on Syria "if" government forces use chemical weapons (CW). This week, Trump comes clean by dropping any mention of a CW pretext – simply warning Syria not to attack terrorists. Trump tweeted his warning to Syria, as well as its allied Russian and Iranian forces, to not launch a military offensive to retake control of the northwest province of Idlib. [...]

The US may have plans to use a fake chemical attack in Syria to hit government forces with airstrikes, the Russian Defense Ministry has said. Washington is already building up strike capability in the Middle East, it said. The warning comes a day after the Russian military said it had information about a looming provocation in Syria’s Idlib governorate, which would involve a staged chemical weap [...]

US President Donald Trump has praised Washington's cancellation of $230mn in funding for stabilization in war-torn Syria. Let "other rich countries" pay it, Trump says, while the US spends its money on its military and allies. The US officially ended support for stabilization projects in Syria on Friday. The $230mn worth of funding had been frozen for months before that however, after House forbid [...]

The White Helmets, officially known as Syrian Civil Defense is a non-governmental organization, formed in 2014. Both Moscow and Damascus have accused the group of helping to stage a chemical attack in the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma on April 7. According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, participation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the evacu [...]

A volunteer with the Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, was caught on video dumping the mutilated bodies of Syrian Army troops. The volunteer was summarily fired by the group after he was filmed participating in the dumping of dead pro-Syrian government fighters. [...]

The US has only one possibility to stay in Syria, to start interacting with Moscow and Damascus on the return of refugees, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. The only opportunity for the US to retain its presence in Syria is to start cooperating with Moscow and Damascus in their efforts to assist the return of refugees and temporarily displaced people to their homes, the R [...]

The pullout of the White Helmets from Syria, carried out by Israel on the US' and Canada’s request, reveals “true colors and hypocrisy” of the controversial group, showing who actually controls it, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said. The rescue operation, which emerged Sunday, “speaks for itself” and clearly shows who exactly the group serves, the ministry said in a statement on Monday, ca [...]