featured

US backtracks on Syrian ‘border guard’ plan after Turkish threats to attack Efrin

The US will train forces linked to the SDF but will not create a border force, officials said as Turkey threatened to attack Efrin

Read More »

Turkey’s national security council says steps to be taken immediately to defeat threats from Syria

Turkey's national security council said steps should be taken "immediately and resolutely" to defeat threats against the country from western Syria

Read More »

Qatar signs security agreement with NATO

Qatar and NATO have signed a security agreement that will establish a framework for protection of the exchange of classified information

Read More »

UK “not involved” in Syrian Border Security Force

Updated January 16 The United Kingdom is not involved in the new Syrian Border Security Force set up by the U.S.-led Coalition against Islamic State and the Syrian Democratic Forces, a foreign ministry spokesperson said. “We are not involved in this particular line of Coalition effort. We remain clear that liberated areas must have long-term, legitimate and inclusive local governance and security structures,” a U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson told The Defense Post on Tuesday, January 16. On Saturday, CJTF-OIR Public Affairs Officer Colonel Thomas F. Veale told The Defense Post that the Coalition and SDF were working jointly to train the 30,000-strong Syrian border security force. The BSF will be partly composed of veteran fighters and operate under the leadership of the SDF, the backbone of which is made of the People’s Protection Units (YPG). Turkey’s foreign ministry on Sunday said Turkey was not consulted on the establishment of the Border Security Forcce and that Turkey does not know which Coalition members approved the decision. “To attribute such a unilateral step to the whole Coalition is an extremely wrong move that could harm the fight against Daesh,” the ministry said. A spokesperson for the Coalition told The Defense Post that “Turkey is a …

Read More »

Iran’s Kurds avoid full-blown insurgency against Tehran

Iranian Kurds aren't planning an armed uprising yet, but fear retaliation from Tehran after supporting anti-government protests in Iran

Read More »

Coalition retraining 15,000 veteran SDF fighters to serve as Syrian border force

The US-led Coalition against ISIS and Syrian Democratic Forces are training a 30,000-strong Syrian border security force made of Kurds and Arabs

Read More »

Russia destroys drone factory and kills militants its says shelled Hmeimim air base

The Russian military destroyed a drone assembly facility and killed militants it said attacked its Hmeimim air base in Syria on December 31 in separate strikes

Read More »

Japan plans ‘engage on remote’ AEGIS missile intercept system

Japan is planning a new intercept system to allow destroyers to share targets in the event of a barrage of North Korean ballistic missiles

Read More »

Turkey warns Iran and Russia over Idlib as Syria tensions mount ahead of Sochi and Geneva talks

Turkey warned Iran and Russia to hold back the Syrian regime in rebel-held Idlib province, as tensions mounted ahead of peace talks in Sochi

Read More »

Captured French militant claims ISIS fighters in Syria aim to reach Europe through Turkey

Captured French foreign fighter Thomas Barnouin told the YPG that ISIS is trying to reach Europe through Turkey to carry out attacks

Read More »