Section: War in Syria

      Commission in Russia names cause of Tu-154 crash: equipment failure
      Dec29

      Commission in Russia names cause of Tu-154 crash: equipment failure

      A government commission investigating the reason the Russian DoD`s Tu-154 passenger plane crashed into the Black Sea off the Sochi coast has named equipment failure the cause of the tragedy, that`s according to Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov, RIA Novosti reports. ”It is obvious that the equipment did not work as intended. WThe experts...

      Russia`s embassy in Damascus comes under shelling twice today
      Dec29

      Russia`s embassy in Damascus comes under shelling twice today

      The Russian embassy in Damascus has been shelled twice over the day, Russia`s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, according to Russian news agency TASS. ”At 13:00 and 13:19 [Moscow time] on December 28, the Russian embassy in Syria was shelled by terrorists. One mine, which, fortunately, did not explode, fell in the courtyard of the compound of...

      Russia, Turkey, Iran eye dicing Syria into zones of influence
      Dec28

      Russia, Turkey, Iran eye dicing Syria into zones of influence

      Syria would be divided into informal zones of regional power influence and Bashar al-Assad would remain president for at least a few years under an outline deal between Russia, Turkey and Iran, sources say, according to Reuters. Such a deal, which would allow regional autonomy within a federal structure controlled by Assad`s Alawite sect, is in...

      Wing flap fault main theory behind Black Sea Russian jet crash
      Dec28

      Wing flap fault main theory behind Black Sea Russian jet crash

      Russian investigators looking into the crash of a military plane that crashed, killing all 92 on board, believe a fault with its wing flaps was the reason it plunged into the Black Sea, an investigative source told the Interfax news agency on Tuesday, Reuters reports. The Life.ru news portal, which has close contacts to law enforcement agencies,...

      Erdogan says U.S.-led coalition supports terrorists in Syria, Washington refutes accusations
      Dec28

      Erdogan says U.S.-led coalition supports terrorists in Syria, Washington refutes accusations

      Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday he had evidence that the U.S.-led coalition gave support to terrorist groups in Syria, according to Reuters. ”They were accusing us of supporting Daesh,” he told a press conference in Ankara, Reuters reports. ”Now they give support to terrorist groups including Daesh [the Islamic State], YPG,...

      Fragments of Russian Tu-154 found mile off coast
      Dec26

      Fragments of Russian Tu-154 found mile off coast

      Search team finds fragments of presumably Tu-154 plane wreckage a mile from a sea coast, according to a source, Russian news agency TASS has reported. The Russian Defense Ministry has increased the group of unmanned aerial vehicles in the Tu-154 search area, the ministry`s press service said on Monday, TASS wrote. ”The group of the Defense...

      Russian transport ministry names versions of Tu-154 crash
      Dec26

      Russian transport ministry names versions of Tu-154 crash

      A terrorist attack is not among the major versions of the Tu-154 crash over the Black Sea. The tragedy may have been caused by a technical condition of the aircraft or a piloting error, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said, according to RIA Novosti. ”The objective of the government commission`s work is not to establish the causes that...

      Air strikes resume around Aleppo Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
      Dec24

      Air strikes resume around Aleppo Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

      The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said air strikes resumed in rebel-held areas of the countryside near Aleppo on Friday for the first time since the end of an operation this week to evacuate rebels and civilians from the city, according to Reuters. Strikes hit to the west, south-west and south of the city, which the Syrian government...

      After assassination of the Russian ambassador, Turkey and Russia are only getting closer
      Dec22

      After assassination of the Russian ambassador, Turkey and Russia are only getting closer

      The assassination of Russia`s ambassador to Turkey on Monday might have been expected to derail a fragile detente between the regimes of Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Instead, it has served to underline a budding alliance that could have the effect of excluding the United States from the endgame of Syria`s civil war and critically...

      Two Chechen battalions to be deployed in Syria
      Dec21

      Two Chechen battalions to be deployed in Syria

      Russian authorities have ordered the Chechen leaders to form two new combat battalions to be deployed in Syria for Russia`s boots-on-the-ground operation, the Novaya Gazeta outlet has learned, according to Ukraine Today. The authorities of the Russia`s autonomous republic of Chechnya will form two battalions of 600 persons, the newspaper says,...