On the morning of August 31, 2019, a unilateral ceasefire entered into effect in the Idlib area. The Syrian announcement of a ceasefire was preceded by the takeover of 10 communities, including the town of Al-Tamanah, east of Khan Shaykhun. In the Iraqi arena, ISIS’s intensive activity continues. ISIS’s provinces in Africa and Asia continued to carry out “routine” attacks. This week, attacks were reported in the Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Chad, the Philippines, and Yemen. Read more...
During the past week, the Syrian army took over the entire rural area north of Hama. In the meantime, the Turkish force, which arrived in the region on August 19, 2019, continues to establish its presence on Highway M-5. In the Iraqi arena, ISIS’s intensive activity continues, as does the Iraqi security operation to mop up the northern and western parts of the country. ISIS’s provinces in Africa and Asia continued their “routine” attacks. Read more...
On August 25, 2019, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah gave a belligerent speech claiming Israel was behind the two attacks in Lebanon and Syria: a quadcopter attack on the southern Shi'ite suburbs of Beirut (Israel did not claim responsibility) and the aerial attack on a base southwest of Damascus (Israel did claim responsibility). Read more...
In light on the ongoing escalation between Iran and the United States in the Persian Gulf, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Ali Shamkhani, threatened that in the event of a military confrontation between Iran and the United States, Tehran will utilize proxies against the United States and its allies in the region. The spokesman of the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs labeled the understanding reached between the United States and Turkey concerning the establishment of a joint operations room near the Turkish-Syrian border “provocative and concerning.” He reiterated that there is no need for intervention of foreign powers to maintain security in northern Syria. The Iraqi Minister of Interior, Yassin al-Yaseri, visited Tehran in mid-August to discuss the coordination between the two countries ahead of the Arabeen ceremony, the pilgrimage to the Shi’ite holy sites in Iraq. The secretary general of the Iraqi pro-Iranian militia, Kataeb Hezbollah, visited Iran and declared that the Iraqi Shi’ite militias see the leadership of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, as a continuation of the rule of the Prophet Muhammad and the first Shi’ite Imam, Ali. Read more...
This week, the Syrian army forces completed the takeover of the rural area west and northwest of the city of Khan Shaykhun. In view of these developmentsTurkey sent a military convoy that included dozens of armored vehicles and tank transporters. The convoy was attacked from the air, reportedly by Russian and Syrian aircraft. The incident created the first friction of its kind between Turkey, on the one hand, and Russia and Syria on the other. In response to the airstrike, the Turkish foreign minister warned Syria “not to play with fire” In the Iraqi arena, ISIS’s terrorist and guerrilla operations in the various provinces continued, in the form of sniper fire, IEDs, and mortar shells. This week as well, Afghanistan was the scene of many of the attacks carried out by ISIS operatives in its provinces in Africa and Asia. Read more...
During the past two weeks the Syrian army scored a series of victories southwest of the Idlib region, the first of their kind since the ground offensive at the beginning of May 2019. Syrian army forces took control of a number of villages west and northwest of the city of Khan Sheikhoun. Syrian advance forces entered the western outskirts of the city and set up a roadblock on the M5 highway (the Damascus-Hama-Aleppo road) Read more...
