Pentagon Creating Yet Another Syrian Rebel Faction For Raqqa Invasion

The US strategy for the invasion of Raqqa appears to hinge on the idea that the US can manufacture a whole new pro-US force that will get to keep the city after the Kurdish YPG conquers it.

Jason Ditz
By Jason Ditz
The loosely-knit coalition of Syrian rebel groups known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), are armed, trained and backed by the U.S. The group is currently engaged in the early stages of battle in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, Syria.

Over the course of the US involvement in Syria, the relative lack of allies has repeatedly been approached the same way by the Pentagon: try to make some. The US has repeatedly bankrolled very expensive endeavors in Turkey trying to form brand new Syrian rebel factions explicitly made to fight ISIS, and those plans repeatedly collapsed in

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Report Confirms Israel Has Been Secretly Funding Syrian Rebels For Years

The revelation may also explain why ISIS has rarely if ever launched attacks against Israeli citizens or on Israel territory.

ZeroHedge.com
By ZeroHedge.com
In this Thursday, April 6, 2017 photo made in Israeli controlled Golan Heights, Israeli military medics assist wounded Syrians. Seven wounded Syrians crossed into Israeli controlled Heights Thursday night have received immediate treatment and were hospitalized later on. They are the latest group of Syrian fighters receiving free medical care through an Israeli military program operating since 2013. (AP/Dusan Vranic)

Earlier, when discussing why the Syrian "rebels" fighting Assad are in "turmoil", we said that as a result of the ongoing Qatar crisis the various Saudi and Qatari supply chains supporting the rebels, both in terms of weapons and funding, had dried up due to the diplomatic fallout involving Qatar and Saudi Arabia. "Together with Turkey and the

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Hell Cannons – The Homegrown Horror of Syria’s Terrorist Invaders

The foreign mercenaries who continue to wage war against Syria’s civilians are using a variety of devastating weaponry, including improvised mortars known colloquially as “hell cannons.” Today, MintPress News speaks with a Syrian man who lost half his family to a “hell cannon” attack.

Sarah Abed
By Sarah Abed
Member of the Free Syrian Army ready a homemade weapon known as a 'hell cannon' in the ruins of the city of Aleppo.

ALEPPO--  The U.S./NATO-imposed war and invasion of Syria has been going on for over six years now. Each day, it claims the lives of many innocent people. But until we speak to these individuals and hear their stories, they seem like little more than a statistic. It is important to keep in mind that these people deserve to be acknowledged as fellow

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Turkey Backs Russian-Iranian Plan For Syrian Safe Zones – U.S. Responds By Arming Kurds

The U.S. plans to arm a Kurdish militia in Syria with heavy weaponry, a move likely made to provoke Turkey over its planned establishment of “safe zones” in Syria. The militia has ties to a group that has been previously described by the U.S. and Turkey as a terrorist organization.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
Kurdish fighters of the(YPG guard U.S. forces in the northern village of Darbasiyah, Syria, April. 29, 2017. (AP/ APTV)

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- On Tuesday, President Donald Trump continued to mimic the Obama administration’s stance on Syria by approving a plan to arm the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG). Little is known about the details of the plan, other than that it will involve the delivery of heavy weaponry to the YPG.

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Syria Safe Zones Hold, Violence Drops Significantly

Russian officials say the specifics of how the safe zones will be enforced are still far from finalized, and that it might well be at least as long as another month before everything is sorted out. In the meantime, the main thing that’s holding it together at all is the idea that it might work, after so many years of war.

Jason Ditz
By Jason Ditz

  Last week, a series of safe zones in Syria went into effect, with an aim of separating warring factions around the country. The details of how this is all going to work isn’t clear. It is working though, and that’s a significant detail, with fighting dropping significantly nationwide. Fighting, of course, hasn’t stopped entirely, with

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Report Warns Assad’s Downfall Would Be Big Win For ISIS

42% of all ISIS’ fighting in Syria has been focused on attacking Syrian government forces and their allies.

Jason Ditz
By Jason Ditz
ISIS rebel control Syria

A new study from IHS Jane’s is cautioning that moves to undermine and ultimately oust the Assad government in Syria would greatly benefit ISIS since a large portion of ISIS’ fighting in Syria is against the Syrian government and its allies. Though Western officials have long downplayed the amount of fighting between ISIS and Assad, and

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