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 [...]

Recep Erdogan is an international outlaw, US author Stephen Lendman deems, referring to the Turkish president's alleged involvement in Daesh's illicit oil smuggling, refining and sales on the black market. There is no trace of doubt in Ankara's full involvement and knowledge of the ongoing illicit trade between Turkey and Daesh (IS/ISIL), US author and syndicated columnist Stephen Lendman stres [...]

Terrorism is increasing worldwide because of the US-led Western interventionism, former Republican congressman Ron Paul said, adding that US warhawks are using events such as the killings in Paris to terrify Americans into agreeing to more occupation, more bombing. The United States has dragged itself into a vicious circle of interventionism, according to former US Republican congressman Dr. Ro [...]

A Pentagon spokesman rejected Russia’s evidence of Turkey’s involvement in oil deals with Islamic State militants, calling Turkey a “great partner” just a day after his boss complained to Congress that Ankara was not fighting ISIS enough. “Let me be very clear that we flatly reject any notion that the Turks are somehow working with ISIL,” said Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for th [...]

The deputy minister pointed out that Russia had warned about “the danger of flirting with terrorists” on numerous occasions, saying Ankara’s actions were “adding fuel to the fire.” “A united team of criminals and Turkish elites, involved in stealing oil from its neighbors, is acting in the region. This oil in being supplied to Turkey on a large industrial scale via improvised pipeli [...]

Russia could freeze the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project for several years in response to Turkey shooting down a Russian jet in Syria, Reuters reported on Wednesday citing sources from Gazprom. According to the sources no decision has been taken by Gazprom about changes to the project’s schedule, but the company was awaiting instructions from President Putin. [...]

Turkey’s leadership, including President Erdogan and his family, is involved in illegal oil trade with Islamic State militants, says the Russian Defense Ministry, stressing that Turkey is the final destination for oil smuggled from Syria and Iraq. The Russian Defense Ministry held a major briefing on new findings concerning IS funding in Moscow on Wednesday. [...]

As EU leaders met with the Turkish PM to finalize a €3 billion ($3.18bn) deal on easing the Syrian refugee crisis, his Greek counterpart criticized Turkey’s “mercurial” pilots for airspace violations that cost billions but in no way help to tackle people-smuggling through borders on the ground. Alexis Tsipras took to Twitter to point out that it was ironic that while having billions of [...]

A Russian warplane recently entered Israeli-controlled airspace from Syria, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon told local media. The brief intrusion was resolved quietly, with Yaalon noting “we must not automatically react and shoot them down when an error occurs." "There was a slight intrusion a mile (1.6 kilometers) deep by a Russian plane from Syria into our airspace, but it was immedia [...]

The first time a NATO member has downed a Russian plane in a half-century. Turkey has shot down a Russia jet, and the two pilots were reportedly killed. What will be the fallout of this, coming at this sensitive time on the war on Syria? In this edition of the debate, we’ll discuss what possible motives Turkey would have by this act, and how this would impact the Vienna talks held over Syria [...]

The downing of the Russian Su-24 by Turkish fighter jets and NATO's reaction to the incident have demonstrated clearly the misuse and misquotation of international law by apologists for the US and its allies, Australian-based Barrister at Law James O'Neill stresses. [...]

Turkey is a pawn in a NATO geostrategic game against Russia; Ankara has long been supporting ISIL on behalf of Washington, profiting from Syria's stolen oil, according to independent researcher and writer Timothy Alexander Guzman. Independent researcher and writer Timothy Alexander Guzman underscores that Turkey's provocation against Russia "is not surprising at all," claiming that Washington [...]

The tragedy of Paris seems to have accelerated long-awaited political changes: "the United States can no longer play its self-declared hegemonic, or only super-power, role in the world, and Russia has returned to the center stage of world affairs", according to NYU political science professor Stephen Cohen. [...]