London's air operation against Islamic State in Syria is illegal and therefore will not be successful, like the bombing of the US-led coalition in the country over the last year, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview with The Sunday Times newspaper. The support of the British parliament for the air operation in Syria advocated by Prime Minister David Cameron cannot change the fact [...]

"According to information we've received, the senior political leadership of the country—President Erdoğan and his family—are involved in this criminal business." Upping the tensions between Ankara and Moscow following the downing of a Russian military jet by Turkey last week that left two Russian pilots dead, the Kremlin on Wednesday claimed it has "proof" that the president of Turkey and [...]

Major defense contractors Raytheon, Oshkosh, and Lockheed Martin assured investors at a Credit Suisse conference in West Palm Beach this week that they stand to gain from the escalating conflicts in the Middle East. Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President Bruce Tanner told the conference his company will see “indirect benefits” from the war in Syria, citing the Turkish military’s rece [...]

Russia’s Defense Ministry has slammed Washington’s reaction to the outing of the secret oil trade between Turkey and Islamic State terrorists, calling it a “theatre of the absurd” and saying it looks rather like “direct patronage.” “Finally, our colleagues from the State Department and the Pentagon have confirmed that the photo-proof, which we presented at a briefing [on December [...]

Since Russia stepped up to the plate, suddenly western countries can’t wait to bomb ISIS. Are they now there to get the job done? Or are they there to stop Russia increasing its influence, and to make sure it doesn’t succeed where they failed? The world is falling over itself to bomb Syria. [...]

Obama’s promise not to send any boots on the ground goes against the actions that the US government wants to take. Scott Bennett - former US Army officer and counterterrorism analyst spoke in an exclusive interview with Sputnik regarding this manifestation. “If the US sends its troops on the ground then that is a declaration of war, bypassing around the US Congress which means it’s uncons [...]

Prime minister David Cameron’s argument in the Commons for permission to bomb Syria was not based on any new or coherent strategy. As he himself pointed out, it merely follows the logic of a previous vote to bomb Iraq. Even so, like Tony Blair before the Iraq invasion of 2003, he had to rely on abusing his opponents, scaring the public and disseminating dubious intelligence. [...]

In a special report, RT America examines the origins, power and expansion of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS). RT’s Ben Swann delves into the roots of the organization while Ameera David explains how the group amasses the millions of dollars it requires to operate. Finally, Manuel Rapalo explores how the Iraqi army fell apart despite benefiting [...]

Iran has evidence of illegal oil trade between Turkey and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) – and is ready to deliver the information to Ankara and the public, a state official said. Tehran has gathered photos and video footage of oil trucks entering Turkey. “If the government of Turkey is not informed of Daesh [derogatory term for IS] oil trade in the country, we are ready to put the [...]

The Iraqi government has demanded that Ankara withdraw the more than 100 Turkish forces that entered Iraq with tanks and artillery for alleged “training” of troops near Islamic State-occupied Mosul. Baghdad stressed the unsanctioned move was a breach of its sovereignty. The Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement early on Saturday that the Turkish troops were acting in violation of the c [...]

Iraq has not requested that any country send ground troops into its territory and will regard any such move as a “hostile act,” the country’s prime minister, Haider Al-Abadi, said in view of a US decision to deploy special forces in the country. Iraq “will consider any country sending ground combat forces a hostile act and will deal with it on this basis,” Al-Abadi said in a stateme [...]

Russian aviation has conducted 431 sorties and hit 1,458 terrorist targets in seven Syrian provinces over the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday. "Over the past week (from November 26 to December 4), Russian aviation has carried out 431 sorties from the Hmeymim airbase and conducted pinpoint strikes on 1,458 terrorist targets in the provinces of Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Ho [...]

The Syrian army liberated a number of key areas in the coastal northwestern Syrian province of Latakia, with Russia's aerial assistance, military sources told Iranian media on Friday. The Russian Aerospace Forces have been carrying out airstrikes against terrorist targets across eight Syrian provinces, including Latakia, at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad, since September 30. [...]

A new war will not increase the prospects of peace in Syria, nor will the British people be safer from terrorism.' Amid warnings that "new war will not increase the prospects of peace," the UK carried out its first airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, just hours after members of Parliament voted to expand the use of military force in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS). [...]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been shooting from the lip over the past week since the fatal shooting down of a Russian fighter jet. He truculently denied accusations of supporting terrorism, challenging Russia to prove it. Well, holy smoke Batman! Yes, Batman. Not the caped screen hero. [...]

We, the West, overthrew Saddam by violence. We overthrew Gaddafi by violence. We are trying to overthrow Assad by violence. Harsh regimes all — but far less draconian than our Saudi allies, and other tyrannies around the world. What has been the result of these interventions? A hell on earth, one that grows wider and more virulent year after year. [...]

You know the country has really gone to the dogs when Washington’s main allies in its war on Syria are the two biggest terrorist incubators on the planet. I’m talking about Saudi Arabia and Turkey, both of which are run by fanatical Islamic zealots devoted to spreading violent jihad to the four corners of the earth. Not that the US doesn’t have blood on its hands too. It does, but that’s b [...]

So why did Washington take virtually forever to not really acknowledge ISIS/ISIL/Daesh is selling stolen Syrian oil that will eventually find is way to Turkey? Because the priority all along was to allow the CIA – in the shadows – to run a “rat line” weaponizing a gaggle of invisible “moderate rebels”. [...]

In the wake of Turkey’s shoot down of the Russian Su-24, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the attack a planned provocation. He went further on to suggest the US had given Turkey permission to shoot down the Jet. He explained that countries using US manufactured weapons must ask the US for permission before using them in operations. [...]

In considering the terrifying but also sadly predictable news of a Russian fighter jet being downed by two Turkish fighters, let’s start with one almost certain assumption — an assumption that no doubt is also being made by the Russian government: Turkey’s action, using US-supplied F-16 planes, was taken with the full knowledge and advance support of the US. [...]

President Erdogan's mistake in shooting down the Russian Su-24 bomber 'has waived the green light' for Russia to initiate a 'no-fly zone' by deploying additional fighter power and air defense systems in Syria, US columnist Jim W. Dean notes. The US-led coalition's recent provocation against the Russo-Syrian counter terrorism campaign has "put nothing but torpedoes into its own sinking internati [...]

The deployment of Russia's most advanced S-400 Triumf air defense system in Syria is "a message," Zero Hedge anonymous analyst Tyler Durden stresses, posing the question, to whom exactly is this message addressed? In the aftermath of the downing of the Russian Su-24 bomber by the Turkish F-16 fighter, Moscow has deployed Russia's most advanced S-400 Triumf air defense system in Syria and sent t [...]