Exclusive: Selective outrage over civilian suffering in Syria – hyping Syrian government abuses while downplaying the effects of U.S.-led Coalition air strikes – undermines the legitimacy of human rights advocacy, argues Jonathan Marshall. Few things threaten the legitimacy of human rights advocacy more than partisans invoking it selectively to promote one side in a violent conflict. Tha [...]

A new report by Syrian media about the evacuation of Daesh militants adds to the growing evidence that the US is using its aviation to assist terrorists. According to the Syrian state-run news agency SANA, the US has evacuated Daesh leaders from the Al-Shaddadah area in the northeastern al-Hasakah Governorate using its helicopters. [...]

President Donald Trump has accused Russia, Iran and the Syrian government of causing a "humanitarian disgrace" in Syria, and said that the US military only remains in that war-torn country "for one reason: to get ISIS and get rid of ISIS and to go home." But let’s look at the facts. [...]

Commenting on the claim made by the Iranian military that the US has provided direct assistance to Daesh in Afghanistan, political analyst Ahmad Wahid Mozhda told Sputnik that many Afghan politicians and ordinary Afghans are saying the same thing. According to the observer, the US's likely goal is to cause problems for the country's neighbors. [...]

More than half a year after being liberated, Mosul's battle wounds still fester. Entire districts lie in ruins with bodies scattered in the streets, and locals say they have yet to see the aid they were promised. [...]

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told Sputnik on Saturday, hours after a Russian Su-25 attack aircraft was downed by militants in Syria, that the United States did not equip partner forces in Syria with surface-to-air weapons. Alongside by, with, and through our partners in Syria, the United States remains focused on the fight against ISIS [Daesh]. [...]

Two Russian Syria-embedded journalists have put together a damning firsthand report on the true purpose of the secrecy-laden US military mission at At-Tanf, southern Syria. The Pentagon was forced to go into full public relations mode late last month amid fresh allegations by the Russian General Staff that US instructors were providing training assistance for some 350 ex-Daesh (ISIS) militant [...]

Moscow baffled by American and French statements over US-led coalition’s 'decisive role' in defeating Islamic State in Syria. “The defeat of IS in Syria is first of all result of actions by the Syrian leadership and governmental forces,” the ministry said. [...]

Charles Shoebridge takes a look at some of the last year’s security and foreign policy developments: on Trump, Syria, Israel, "Russia meddling", terrorist attacks. While perhaps forced to do so by the reality of the battlefield, Trump did honor his pledge to stop US funding and arming of Syria’s rebels. With it largely at an end, the massive scale of the arming program was at last publicly rev [...]

The new accusations add to the string of charges of alleged US-led coalition cooperation with Daesh (ISIS), contrary to its proclained goal of fighting terrorism in Syria. [...]

Washington has rejected Russia’s contribution in eradicating ISIS in Syria, claiming that only the US-led coalition has made meaningful progress against [Daesh/ISIS]. [...]

The ‘War on Terror’ cost US taxpayers at least $1.46 trillion since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense’s cost of war report has revealed. The 74-page DoD dossier was obtained by the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy News. It breaks down the cost of the US’s various conflicts and reveals the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq account for the greatest chunk [...]

While airstrikes by the US-led coalition in Syria have only resulted in terrorists seizing ever new chunks of Syrian territory, the Russian military operation, launched in 2016 , has led to a huge military shift turning the tables against the jihadists, an independent British journalist told Sputnik. [...]

September 30 marks the second anniversary of the Russian counterterrorism military operation in Syria. Unlike the efforts by the United States and its international coalition, the Russian campaign in Syria is fully legitimate. It was launched at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Sputnik presents a look into the results of the Russian aerial campaign in Syria after two years   [...]

The Russian Ministry of Defense has released aerial images which they say show US Army special forces equipment north of the town of Deir er-Zor, where ISIS militants are deployed. US Army special units provide free passage for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) through the battle formations of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists, the ministry said in a statement.   [...]

The perennial American lack of foresight and the chaos its Middle Eastern wars have wreaked means Osama bin Laden and forces for extremism have essentially won the war on terror, a former CIA analyst tells Radio Sputnik’s Loud and Clear program. Loud and Clear host Brian Becker was joined by John Kiriakou, a former CIA analyst who gained celebrity for confirming to the press that the Cent [...]

Russian Navy warships launched missiles from the Mediterranean Sea at Daesh targets in the eastern Syrian province of Hama, killing militants and destroying the group's command posts and large caches of weapons, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday. [...]

By carrying out extensive efforts toward eradicating terrorism and finding a solution to the Syrian conflict, Russia is providing the West with a priceless, albeit "undeserved," service, Syria’s Ambassador to China and former Ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha told Sputnik on Friday. [...]

I’m not the only person to note that if Jesus ever actually showed up in America it would be our “Christians” who would shout him down — if, that is, he talked about peace and the horror of an imperial nation addicted to war. “Blessed are the peacemakers”? No thanks! If you ever want to know what it looks like when a mob in love with far right nationalism and on fire with a lust for [...]

The Syrian chemical weapons attack last Tuesday blamed on the Assad regime was “100 percent” a “fabrication,” Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad said in an interview Wednesday with AFP. The embattled Syrian president argued he never ordered the attack on the Idlib province which left some 80 dead, and said western-backed forces were benefitting ISIS terrorists in the area. [...]

Russians responded with relative calm to the lethal terror attack on St. Petersburg’s metro but stressed that the incident underscored the need for counter-terror cooperation despite other disagreements, writes Gilbert Doctorow. Russia’s reaction to Monday’s terror attacks on St. Petersburg’s subway system stands in stark contrast to what we have seen in public behavior in Paris, Berlin [...]

Exact motivations behind the vehicle and knife attacks outside Parliament in London remain unclear, but observers have noted that the incident occurred on the anniversary of the multiple Islamist attacks on the Belgian capital on March 22, 2016. [...]