The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday beefed up defenses on the country’s northern border with Lebanon in anticipation of a potential attack after Hezbollah accused Israel of killing one of its fighters during an alleged air raid in Syria on Monday.
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkish forces, which have carried out several incursions into northern Syria since 2016, would remain in the country until Syrians can live in freedom and safety.
Airstrikes that killed at least five Iranian-backed militiamen in Syria on Monday have been attributed to Israel, Ynet News reports. Israel has not confirmed it was behind the strikes, which reportedly hit targets near Damascus airport and the southern city of Daraa.
Military sites linked to Syrian regime forces and Iranian militias were targeted Monday in Israeli strikes near Damascus, according to a monitoring group.
When President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reopens Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia for prayers next week, it will be the crowning symbol of his mission to reassert Turkey’s role as a Muslim power on the global stage. Yet Turkey’s rarely seemed more alone.
The United States and six Gulf countries on Wednesday imposed sanctions on six targets Washington has accused of supporting Islamic State operations, including by funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to leaders of the group in Iraq and Syria.
Turkey’s top administrative court decided Friday that the Byzantine Empire’s main cathedral, which eventually became a museum, can be converted back into a mosque. Christian leaders condemned Friday’s ruling.
Syria’s dictator Bashar Assad has signed a military cooperation agreement with Iran’s Islamic extremist regime, Algemeiner reports. The deal was concluded Wednesday, reportedly as part of an effort to increase Syria’s air defenses against “pressures by America.”
Turkey, a member of NATO, tested the Russian-made S-400 air defense system on US-made F-16 jets during a drill in November 2019, Russia’s state media TASS has reported. The use of the S-400 against the F-16s was already reported last year, but the new details from Russian media appear to cement the claim and infer that something more was going on in those tests.
Hungary’s right-wing government has come under pressure amid reports that it spends more on anti-migration propaganda than on support for persecuted Christians.
Airstrikes targeting positions of Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria killed nine fighters on Sunday in the second such raid in 24 hours, a war monitor said.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) heard last week that President Donald Trump’s partial withdrawal of American troops from northeast Syria in 2019 created a vacuum in which Turkey and Turkish-backed militia have been able to threaten local vulnerable civilian populations including Christians and Yazidis. Condemning Turkey’s latest airstrikes and ground operations in the region, the USCIRF called for the US government to “utilize all diplomatic and economic leverage to protect vulnerable religious minorities in northern Iraq — as well as neighboring northeastern Syria — from Turkey’s indiscriminate military operations,” the Christian Post reported.
The former head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin warned on Wednesday that Iran could respond to overnight airstrikes in Syria that the Syrian regime has attributed to Israel.
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi on Sunday said Iran is now the most dangerous country in the Middle East, not just because of its nuclear program, but also through its conventional weapons and support for terror activities against Israel.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Syria, tightening pressure on President Bashar al-Assad and his government, amid concerns the war-torn country’s population will suffer.
Turkey and Libya’s internationally recognized government are discussing possible Turkish use of two military bases in the North African country, a Turkish source said on June 15, with a view to a lasting Turkish presence in the south Mediterranean.
The leader of Lebanese terror group Hezbollah said Tuesday that new US sanctions are intended to “starve” both Syria and Lebanon, the Times of Israel (ToI) reports.
Russia and Turkey have postponed scheduled talks about their respective and opposing roles in conflicts in Libya and Syria, the Washington Times reported.
Russia is reportedly stepping up its involvement in the Libyan civil war, which has in recent years has become a heated proxy conflict drawing in numerous foreign players, driven by a range of motives.
British and French officials say migrants fleeing war, persecution, and poverty are using increasingly desperate measures to reach Britain. In the latest case, four migrants tried to cross the English Channel on a makeshift raft made from two windsurfing boards tied together. They were reportedly using shovels as paddles.