Al-Nusra Front's Jolani speaks to media

Syria's al-Nusra Front has said it will post an interview conducted with its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani on the group's ties with al-Qaeda and the Syrian opposition conference that was held in Saudi Arabia.

The Syrian war's propaganda machine

Social media accounts tied to the group said that the press conference given by Jolani to four Arab journalists would be released at some point on Friday.

Mousa al-Omar, one of the journalists who took part, posted a tweet saying Jolani spoke about "the Riyadh conference, the possibility of al-Nusra ending its association with al-Qaeda, and the sources of their funding". 

In a previous interview with Al Jazeera in May, Jolani said al-Nusra refuses any funding from governments, organisations or intelligences services. He argued that "funding that comes from governments does not come without conditions".

"We are funding ourselves from war gains and Syria is rich and bountiful, therefore we don't need anyone to give us charity," he said.

Religious scholar Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, whose teachings have inspired al-Qaeda, told Al Jazeera that he did not think al-Nusra would disavow its links with the group.

"If there were a decision on the part of al-Nusra to sever its relations with al-Qaeda, it would have been leaked by now, but nothing has come out to indicate that at this point," Maqdisi said, speaking on the phone from Amman.

---

OPINION: The rebranding of the Nusra Front

---

He added that if al-Nusra were to renounce its relations with al-Qaeda, it would not absolve them from the "terrorism" label many in the West and the region had given them.

If they do so, Maqdisi said: "It might help them to appear flexible and as people who care about the interests of the Syrian people, whom Nusra has pledged to defend and support against the regime."

Maqdisi also said that the al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri would instruct al-Nusra to end their affiliation with al-Qaeda, if it was in al-Nusra's best interests to do so.

Sources close to al-Nusra told Al Jazeera that Jolani had indicated previously that his group affiliation with al-Qaeda was not something "holy" and that if Muslim scholars deemed it permissible to end this affiliation, he would do just that.

Jolani declared allegiance to Zawahiri in 2013 and went to war with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group after its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, attempted to reincorporate al-Nusra into his organisation.

Last November Khaled Khouja, the head of the National Coalition of the Syrian Opposition Groups, called on al-Nusra to end its association with al-Qaeda, stressing that his coalition was committed to a political solution to the Syrian war.

Follow Ali Younes on Twitter: @Ali_reports

Syria: Reports of civilian deaths in US-led strikes

At least 28 civilians have reportedly been killed and several wounded in US-led air strikes on the suburbs of the northern Syrian city of Manbij, according to a monitoring group.

The reports on Friday come a day after the US-led coalition announced it had enough evidence of civilian casualties from its attacks on the same area last week to launch a formal investigation.

Syria: Assad offers pardon to surrendering Aleppo rebels

---

---

'Death corridors'

US to investigate coalition strikes on Syrian civilians

A correspondent for the AFP news agency in east Aleppo said streets were empty with residents holed up indoors and shops shuttered.
Ahmad Ramadan, from the opposition Syrian National Coalition, accused Russia and the Syrian regime of forcing civilians to flee through continued bombing raids.
"Aleppo residents are calling the corridors that Russia is talking about 'death corridors'," he told AFP.
The SOHR also said that Syrian government air strikes killed at least eight civilians in two eastern areas of Aleppo, warning the death toll could rise as more were trapped under the rubble.
UN: Leave Aleppo corridors to us

Thursday night's air strikes targeted the town of al-Ghandour, controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) group according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which documents daily human rights abuses in Syria.

The SOHR said the civilian death toll included seven children. Thirteen more people died in the same attack, but their identity remained unclear, the group added.

Al-Ghandour lies 23km northwest of Manbij in the Aleppo governorate, a strategic waypoint between Turkey and the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital for ISIL, also known as ISIS.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said late on Thursday it had "initiated an assessment following internal operational reporting that a strike today near Manbij, Syria may have resulted in civilian casualties," confirming that there had been coalition air strikes there in the past 24 hours.

Last week, a separate coalition attack targeting the Tokhar area of Manbij killed at least 56 Syrian civilians, according to SOHR and local activists, in one of the highest death tolls from coalition air strikes yet.

READ MORE: Syria war- Dozens killed in 'US-led strikes' on Manbij

After examining "internal and external information" following the strikes, the coalition determined that there was sufficient credible evidence of civilian deaths to open a formal inquiry, spokesman Colonel Chris Garver said on Wednesday.

"The US coalition knows that it is very important for it to be seen as trying to respond to these allegations," Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, DC, said.

"This is the third such investigation in the past 11 days."

The reports of further civilian deaths from coalition air strikes emerged amid setbacks to attempts by the US and Russia to cooperate militarily in the fight against ISIL.

Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, supported by Russia, made a strategic advance in recent days by shutting the last remaining supply route into the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo.

Russia, an ally of the Syrian government, also announced a joint plan on Thursday to open up three passages to give rebels willing to surrender, and the more than 300,000 civilians in Aleppo, a way out.

Responding to the plan, however, the US said on Friday that Syria's peace process could be derailed if Russia's motives surrounding humanitarian corridors were not genuine. 

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the announcement "has the risk, if it is ruse, of completely breaking apart the level of cooperation", but also added it could "open up some possibilities" if an agreement on the way forward was reached in US-Russia talks about Syria in the Swiss city of Geneva on Friday.  

According to SOHR, only a dozen of Aleppo residents trickled out through one of the passages on Friday, while others wanting to flee were turned back by opposition fighters.

Also responsing to Russia's plan, UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan De Mistura urged Moscow to let the UN take charge of any humanitarian corridors created in the divided city.

"Our suggestion is to Russia to actually leave the corridors being established at their initiative to us," de Mistura told reporters, at a press conference in Geneva on Friday.

"The UN and humanitarian partners know what to do."

De Mistura also echoed calls by UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien for a 48-hour truce to allow life-saving supplies into the city's rebel-held east, which has been surrounded by pro-government forces since July 17.

"How can you expect people to want to walk through a corridor, thousands of them, while there is shelling, bombing fighting," the UN envoy said.

Reporting from Gaziantep, on the Turkish side of the Syria-Turkey border, Al Jazeera's Mohammed Jamjoom said de Mistura's comments "echoed what we've heard from opposition activists up until this point.

"There are far more concerns at this hour than there are any type of guarantees."

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Syrian opposition rejects Assad's call for unity government

New Alarab

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday reiterated his call for a national unity government, amid rejection by the opposition and the White House saying his inclusion would make any such proposal a "non-starter".

In an interview published Wednesday, Assad told Russia's RIA Novosti state news agency it would be "logical for there to be independent forces, opposition forces and forces loyal to the government represented" in the new authorities.

But he pushed back against opposition demands that it should be put in place without his participation, insisting that the transitional body they are calling for is "illogical and unconstitutional".

"Neither in the Syrian constitution nor in the constitution of any other country in the world is there anything that could be called a transitional body of power," Assad said.

"It is the national unity government that will prepare a new constitution," Assad said.

Talks led by the UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura paused last week with the warring sides deadlocked over the fate of Assad, whom the opposition insists must leave power before a transitional government is agreed.

Syria's main opposition High Negotiations Committee flatly rejected the demand from Assad for any transitional government to include his regime.

"International resolutions speak of... the formation of a transitional body with full powers, including presidential powers," HNC senior member Asaad al-Zoabi said, adding "Assad should not remain for even one hour after the formation" of this body.

The form of the executive body that would lead Syria until its elections the UN says should be held in 18 months is the main bone of contention between the two sides.

UN Security Council Resolution 2254 vaguely suggests the establishment of a body to head the political transition.

For the regime, this amounts to a government reshuffle in which the opposition is included, but for the opposition it would be a tranitional body with presidential powers in which Assad has no role.

Assad has been buoyed after his forces recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from Islamic State (IS) militants over the weekend, in an advanced backed by Russian air strikes and special forces on the ground.

A ceasefire between Damascus and non-jihadist opposition forces has broadly held since February 27, prompting a glimmer of hope that a political solution might be on the horizon in the conflict that has claimed over 270,000 lives.

Agencies contributed to this report

Sara's story: Loved and then killed in ISIL's capital

A few months before she died, Sara was courted by a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Sara, who lived with her husband and three children in ISIL's de facto capital of Raqqa, in Syria, rejected the advances of Abu al-Muthna al-Iraqi, an ISIL member from Iraq. Her decision set off a chain of events that would ultimately lead to her death.

"In the beginning, [Iraqi] wanted to marry her, thinking she was unwed," said Sara's husband, Samer, who declined to provide the family's last name fearing repercussions against relatives still in Raqqa.

Upset by Iraqi's advances, Samer complained to the local authorities, who issued a warning against Iraqi. But from there, things only got worse for the family.

---

HAIDAR'S STORY: Orphaned by an ISIL bomb in Beirut

---

"The offences increased ... [Iraqi] whipped my son for smoking and cursed at him repeatedly," Samer said. Throughout the territory the group has seized, ISIL has harshly punished smokers and others deemed to be in contravention of the group's many edicts.

"He [Iraqi] also tried to break into our home several times under the pretext that there was contraband inside, despite the neighbours' refutation of this," Samer recalled.

Sara, who was 28 when she died, demanded that Samer request a meeting with a top official in Raqqa. He was eventually granted a meeting with a local judge, who fined Iraqi for his indiscretions.

But the harassment continued, Samer said. This, combined with heavy bombing in Raqqa during the summer of 2014, prompted the family to decide to leave the city.

But on September 14, 2014, Samer came home from the grocery store to find his wife gone. She had been arrested on charges of obscenity while cleaning their home, neighbours and his crying children told Samer, who maintains the charges were false.

"After this event, I sent the children to Aleppo ... [while] I stayed in Raqqa to follow her case," Samer said.

He would later learn, from another ISIL fighter, that his wife died in prison on November 4, 2014.

"[She] was severely tortured by ISIL members in prison, who undressed and whipped her," Samer said. "After several days, she died of a heart attack, as was told to me by an ISIL member."

---

SIRIN'S STORY: A voice raised and silenced

---

After Sara's death, ISIL turned her body over to her family, and she was buried in Raqqa.

Samer misses his wife each day. He remembers her as a brave and hard-working woman who was patient with him even in his moments of anger.

"She was the dearest person I ever knew," he said. "I didn't experience a single bad thing from her over the course of our marriage." 

Samer, who now lives with their children in Aleppo, says she was as good a mother as she was wife: "She gave them the best upbringing." 

Neighbours also had a good relationship with Sara, often remarking "on the simplicity and strong, moral fibre she bestowed," Samer added.

Now working at a meat market in Aleppo, Samer plans to take his three children to Turkey as the family tries to rebuild their shattered lives. 

"[Sara] was the most cherished thing in my life," Samer said, as he sat in a darkened room with his hands folded in prayer. "I ask God to have mercy on her and to accept her as one his martyrs."

Source: Al Jazeera

Germany sends first troops, Tornados to back anti-ISIS battle

Berlin, AFPThursday, 10 December 2015

The first batch of German troops and aircraft took off Thursday for Turkey as part of a deployment in the battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group in Syria.

Forty soldiers and two Tornado reconnaissance jets left from the Jagel military airbase in northern Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein state.

An A310 MRT aerial refueling jet left separately from Cologne-Wahn base for the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey.

German lawmakers last Friday authorized the deployment of up to 1,200 personnel and the aircraft to join international military operations against the ISIS, in support of France after the Nov. 13 Paris attacks.

Underlining the significance of the deployment, Schleswig-Holstein's state premier Torsten Albig said at the send-off ceremony that “the future of Europe depends on this friendship” between France and Germany.

Berlin had swiftly answered France’s call for help in the fight against militants, even though post-war Germany has been traditionally reluctant to send troops into military missions abroad.

The six Tornados are fitted with surveillance technology that can take photos and infrared images, even at night and in bad weather, and transmit them in real time to ground stations.

Berlin also said it would send a frigate to help guard the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the eastern Mediterranean.

Germany does not plan bombing runs, unlike France, the United States and Britain.

Saudi Arabia: Assad must resign or be forced from power

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Abdel Al-Jubeir has issued a fresh call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down through negotiations or else be forcibly removed from power, as Syrian opposition groups held talks in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Jubeir made the statement on Thursday, while Syrian opposition leaders discussed forming a unified front before proposed peace talks with Assad's government in Vienna. 

The Saudi foreign minister said that he hoped the Syrian opposition could come up with a common vision for Syria during the meeting. He urged delegates to prove wrong those who argue that the Syrian opposition is too fragmented to present a unified front at future peace talks.

His comments were echoed by Gulf leaders meeting for the annual Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in the Saudi capital.

The leaders of the GCC - comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - said that they "support a political settlement ... that guarantees the territorial integrity and independence of Syria" as their two-day meeting came to an end on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Syrian opposition figures in Riyadh agreed to set up a body including political and armed factions to lead preparations for the talks with the Syrian government.

They have chosen a new secretary general and a new spokesman, as well as the formation of a supreme commission for negotiation that comprised 23 members.

Monzer Akbik of the Syrian National Coalition, speaking from Dubai where he was in contact with delegates in Saudi Arabia, said the group would include six from the coalition in exile, six from rebel factions, five from a Damascus-based opposition group and eight independent figures.

"They are going to be the decision-makers in terms of the political settlement," Akbik told Reuters news agency, adding that a separate negotiating team of 15 members would also be appointed.

Marwan Kabalan, a Syrian political analyst, told Al Jazeera that the two-day summit in Riyadh was very significant because most of the GCC states were either directly or indirectly involved in the Syrian conflict.

He said that the Syrian opposition "are closer to a united political vision for road map to peace in Syria".

The GCC has endorsed a political solution for the Syria conflict, under an international framework agreed to last month.

The Gulf states said that they back the Vienna agreement, which was made last month and set a January 1 target for peace talks and would see a transitional government set up in six months and elections in 18 months.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Syria rebels agree to regime talks but without Assad

Syrian opposition groups say they are ready for UN-sponsored negotiations with representatives from the government, but insist that President Bashar al-Assad has to step down.

"The aim of the political settlement is to create a state based on the principle of citizenship without Bashar al-Assad or figures of his regime having a place in it or any future political arrangements," the group of rebel factions said in a statement issued at the end of two-day talks held in Saudi Arabia's capital city, Riyadh.

 "Participants have insisted that Bashar al-Assad and his aides quit power with the start of the transition period," the statement added.

Hosted by the kingdom, the unprecedented talks between more than 100 representatives from armed and political opposition groups tried to unite the factions fighting against the Syrian government in the bloody conflict which has seen more than 250,000 people killed.

---

OPINION: Who represents the Syrian people?

---

Monzer Akbik, a member of the National Coalition opposition group, said the meeting agreed to set up a 25-strong leadership group, including six coalition members, six from rebel factions, five from the NCB and eight independent figures.

"These are representatives of all the opposition factions, political and military, and they are going to be the decision makers in terms of the political settlement," said Akbik.

He was speaking from the United Arab Emirates after being briefed on Thursday morning's talks. A separate negotiating team of 15 members would also be appointed, he told Reuters.

'Progress'

US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking in Paris, said the Riyadh talks had made progress "but we have some tough issues to get over."

A possible December 18 meeting to advance the Syrian peace talks in New York is "not locked in yet", Kerry added.

Major powers agreed in Vienna last month to revive diplomatic efforts to end the war, calling for peace talks to start by January and elections within two years.

Saudi Arabia is a main backer of the rebels along with Turkey and Western countries. Iran and Russia support Assad, and say it is up to the Syrian people to decide when the leader should leave.

Moscow launched air strikes in Syria 10 weeks ago, helping the Syrian army - backed by Iranian troops, Hezbollah fighters and allied militia - to contain rebel advances.

---

READ MORE: Key Syrian opposition group pulls out of Riyadh talks

---

The Riyadh meeting was meant to bring as " broad a cross-section of Syrian opposition groups as possible" to the table, according to Adel Al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister.

Ahrar al-Sham quits

However, one key Syrian opposition group, Ahrar al-Sham, quit the meeting on Thursday moments before it concluded.

The armed rebel group said it withdrew because the meeting "had given top key roles to the National Coordination Committee and other figures who are considered supporters of the regime."

Ahrar al-Sham, a faction which Russia does not want to negotiate with, said in a statement that the conference "did not consider some of the key issues they, and other groups, wished to include in the discussions and that [the organisers] refused to emphasise the Muslim identity of our Muslim [Syrian] people."

Its statement added: "As we withdraw from the conference, we are calling on other Mujahedeen and revolutionary groups to make a historic stance on the side of their religion, nation and people.

"[Other groups] must take into consideration the sacrifices that were made to achieve their goals."

---

READ MORE: Saudi Arabia says Assad must resign or be forced from power

---

Al Jazeera correspondent Omar al-Saleh said that Ahrar al-Sham, which has acontroversial record in terms of alleged human rights abuses and links to al-Qaeda, has been described as a "radical" and "sometimes even a terrorism" group by Russian and Iranian officials.

"They could be included again later if negotiations with the Assad regime are seen as serious; their regional backers would force Ahrar al-Sham back to the table," our correspondent said.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Germany approves anti-ISIS military action in Syria

Reuters, Berlin Friday, 4 December 2015
Germany's lower house of parliament on Friday approved government plans to join the military campaign against Islamic State in Syria.

Of the 598 lawmakers who took part in the vote, 445 voted for, 146 against and seven abstained.

The mission will include sending six Tornado reconnaissance jets, a frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, refueling aircraft and up to 1,200 military personnel.

Germany will not join countries like Britain, France, the United States and Russia in conducting airstrikes.

France’s Hollande to visit aircraft carrier off Syrian coast

Reuters, Paris Friday, 4 December 2015
French President Francois Hollande will visit on Friday military personnel on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier off the Syrian coast, his office said in a statement.

"He will meet the military involved in intensifying the battle against Daesh (Islamic State) in Syria and Iraq," the statement said.

The carrier, which has 38 warplanes on board, was deployed to the east Mediterranean just days after Islamic State claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris that killed 130 people on Nov. 13.

The two-hour visit, scheduled to start at 1400 GMT, comes just two days before the first round of regional elections in which Hollande's ruling Socialist party is expected to be defeated by the conservatives and far-right parties.

Hollande's popularity rose to its highest level in three years a poll showed on Tuesday, with voters backing his robust handling of the post-attack period.

France was the first country to join US-led air strikes in Iraq and since the Paris attacks it has stepped up its aerial bombing campaign of Islamic State in Syria, focusing especially on its stronghold in Raqqa and oil-related targets.

Over the last week, fighter jets have struck more than 20 times in Iraq supporting local troop advancements in areas near Baiji, Sinjar and around the city of Ramadi, the French army said on Wednesday.

The carrier holds some 1,900 personnel and is accompanied by an attack submarine, several frigates, refueling ships, as well as fighter jets and surveillance aircraft.

Putin declares checkmate on Syria

About the Author

Ibrahim Al-Marashi

Ibrahim al-Marashi is an assistant professor at the Department of History, California State University, San Marcos. He is the co-author of "Iraq’s Armed Forces: An Analytical History."

@ialmarashi

Policymakers and media analysts alike often invoke the term of the Cold War, declaring a Cold War II or Cold War Redux, when discussing the re-emergence of tensions between Moscow and the US-NATO alliance. It has been employed during the Russia-Georgia war of 2008, and during the recent conflict in Ukraine. This metaphor has been used for describing conflicts raging in the independent states of the former USSR, but recent events in the Middle East are beginning to resonate with the Cold War, as well.
While history does not repeat itself and does not determine the future, it does provide clarity for current events and helps to situate them within a greater historical context.
In the 1950s, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt forged an alliance with Nikita Khrushchev of the USSR, allowing the Soviet Union to project its power into the heart of the Arab Middle East. The agreement between Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin to deploy Russian forces to Syria essentially serves as a replay from the Cold War game book.

Syria war dominates UN summit

The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), the"Baghdad Pact" was formed in 1955, modelled after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The alliance included Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan, which served as a northern tier of states to contain Soviet influence in the Middle East.
The Soviet invitation
The USSR perceived this alliance as a threat, and in a statement on April 16, 1955, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared:
"Striving for the development of peaceful cooperation among all countries, the Soviet government is prepared to support and develop cooperation with the countries of the Near and Middle East, in the interests of strengthening peace in this area."

---

Also read: State of the world: In search of leadership

---

In 1955, Nasser would accept the Soviets' invitation.
Nasser, the leader of Egypt after a military coup in 1952, had adopted a policy of "positive neutralism", seeking to maximise Egypt's position by playing off both the US and USSR to finance the Aswan High Dam, for example. Egypt was also an active player in the Non-Aligned Movement, consisting of states such as Indonesia, India, and Yugoslavia, which sought to avoid aligning with either superpower during the Cold War.

Today, the Russian arms shipments to Syria, along with the Russian advisers and military forces to accompany them, has similarly allowed Putin to leapfrog onto the Mediterranean.

However, the formation of the CENTO, in Nasser's view, was an attempt to undermine the Egyptian leader's pan-Arabist project, which sought to unify the Arabs against the ambitions of the UK and US in the region. Combined with the US' refusal to finance the Aswan Dam, Nasser lurched towards the Soviet Union. In 1955, the same year as the formation of CENTO, the Soviets authorised a shipment of arms to Egypt.
Soviet arms would require its advisers to come to Egypt to train them on how to use and maintain the weapons, giving the USSR a foothold in the region. Nasser had allowed Khrushchev and the USSR to leapfrog over the northern tier states of CENTO, giving it a presence in the Mediterranean.
A win-win deal
It was a win-win deal for Egypt and the USSR. Today, the Russian arms shipments to Syria, along with the Russian advisers and military forces to accompany them, has similarly allowed Putin to leapfrog onto the Mediterranean.
In a statement to the Egyptian National Assembly in May 1967, Nasser declared: "I wish to tell you today that the Soviet Union is a friendly power and stands by us as a friend. In all our dealings with the Soviet Union … it has not made a single request of us. The USSR has never interfered with our policy or internal affairs ... When I also asked for all kinds of arms, they gave them to us."

---

Also read: Could Syria be Putin's Afghanistan?

---

Assad most likely thinks the same of the USSR's successor, Russia. It does not interfere in its internal affairs and provides them with arms. Russia is, by his calculations, the "friend" that saved him in his moment of crisis.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and Gamal Abdul Nasser attending Bolshoi Ballet performance [Getty]

Recent analyses of a move into Syria has generated debates about whether the aircraft and forces provided to Assad will have an impact on the military dynamics of the Syrian civil war, or how this deployment is a Russian way of influencing the transition of the civil war to a negotiated process in Syria.
Regardless of whether Russian military forces will turn the tide in the civil war or have an impact on the political negotiations ending the Syrian civil war, comparing the present with the historical precedent of Egypt in 1955, demonstrates that Russia has already won a tactical victory the same way the USSR won a tactical victory in establishing a foothold in Egypt.
A foothold in the region
By declaring solidarity with Egypt and providing it with weapons in an arms race against Israel, the Soviets had postured themselves as an ally of the Arabs, leading to arms agreements later with Syria, and Iraq, after officers there overthrew the monarchy in 1958 and withdrew from CENTO. The weapons the Soviets provided and the training of Egyptian, Syria, and even Iraqi militaries proved insufficient when countering Israel on the battlefield in 1967 and 1973, but regardless of the effectiveness of their military supplies, the Soviets could communicate to the US that they had gained a foothold in the region to counter America's Middle East ambitions. 
Eventually, Soviet influence began to wane in the Middle East, with Egypt expelling Soviet military advisers prior to the 1973 war and losing relevance once the USSR had collapsed. Russia, however, maintained arms sales to Middle Eastern states because its arms industry needed revenues, and it was Soviet-cum-Russian weapons that most Arab armies knew how to use. It even developed a robust arms trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran.  
Post-Cold War Russia had maintained a naval refuelling base in Tartous, Syria, even before the civil war erupted there. However, Putin's recent moves have generated a lot more publicity and fears and consternation among policy elites in NATO. It has symbolically leapfrogged once again into the region. Russia has essentially jumped over NATO-member Turkey (which was also part of CENTO before it disbanded in 1979).
By positioning forces in Syria, Russia has demonstrated that it could project its power and presence to NATO and the US in a new arena beyond Ukraine. Moscow's recent move is reminiscent of geopolitical posturing of the 1950s in the Middle East, bringing up the cliched image of various regional countries serving as a chessboard between the US and Russia, with Putin having declared "checkmate".
Ibrahim al-Marashi is an assistant professor at the Department of History, California State University, San Marcos. He is the co-author of "Iraq's Armed Forces: An Analytical History".
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy. 

Source: Al Jazeera

ISIL kills top Iranian commander in Syria

 

Iranian military commander Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani [File: AFP/Getty]

An Iranian Revolutionary Guards general has been killed near Aleppo, where he was advising the Syrian army on their battle against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters, the guards said in a statement.
The Guards on Friday said General Hossein Hamadani was killed on Thursday night and that he had "played an important role ... reinforcing the front of Islamic resistance against the terrorists".
Iran is the main regional ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and has provided military and economic support during Syria's four-year-old civil war.
Iran denies having any military forces in Syria, but says it has offered "military advice" to Assad's forces in their fight against "terrorist groups".
Hamadani was a veteran of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and was made deputy chief commander of the elite forces in 2005.
'Iranian troops in Syria'
In the biggest deployment of Iranian forces yet, Reuters news agency reported last week that hundreds of troops had arrived since late September to take part in a major ground offensive planned in west and northwest Syria.
Iranian politician Esmail Kosari said Hamadani helped coordination between Syrian armed forces and the voluntary forces in their fight against ISIL.

"For years, Hamadani played a very important role in Syria as an adviser ... he played an important role in preventing the fall of Damascus. Then he returned home at the end of his assignment," Kosari told the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
"He returned to Syria for a few days because of his deep knowledge about the area ... and he was martyred in Syria."
Assad's longtime ally, Russia launched its air campaign in September, saying it would also target ISIL. But its planes have also hit other rebel groups opposed to Assad, including groups backed by Washington.
The United States and its allies have been waging a year-long air campaign against ISIL in Syria, while pushing to diplomatically edge Assad from power.
Washington has ruled out military cooperation with Russia in Syria, accusing Moscow of pursuing a "tragically flawed" strategy that would force it to limit military talks to basic pilot safety.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Kremlin: Syria air strikes target 'a list' of groups

The Kremlin has said that Russian air strikes in Syria were targeting a list of "terrorist organisations" and that it was too early to say whether President Vladimir Putin was satisfied with the campaign so far.

Speaking a day after Moscow launched a series of strikes against what it said were "Islamist extremist targets" inside Syria, Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, said: "These organisations [on the target list] are well-known, and the targets are chosen in coordination with the armed forces of Syria."

---

RELATED: Analysis: How to solve a problem like Syria

---

Two Russian air strikes on Thursday hit a training camp operated by a rebel group that received military training organised by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Hassan Haj Ali, head of the Liwa Suqour al-Jabal rebel group, told Reuters news agency.

Ali said the camp in Idlib province was struck by around 20 missiles in two separate sorties.

Putin: Overthrowing Assad will lead to failed state

US Senator John McCain said he can confirm Russian air strikes were against the Free Syrian Army recruits who were trained by the CIA, CNN reported on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected accusations that Moscow's air strikes in Syria were aimed at targets other than ISIL.

"The rumours that the target of these air strikes are not ISIL positions are unfounded," he told journalists after meeting US counterpart John Kerry in New York on Thursday, adding that he has "no data" on civilian casualties.

When asked whether Putin was satisfied with the way the Russian air campaign was shaping up, Peskov said: "It is too early to talk about that."

The defence ministry said that in the past 24 hours, it has hit 12 ISIL targets and destroyed its command centre and weapons depots.

---

Lavrov: Russian strikes in Syria only targeting ISIL

---

More than 50 Russian warplanes and helicopters were deployed for the offensive against the groups, Russia's defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

"The air group was deployed on very short notice. We managed to do that as the main material supplies and ammunition were at our facility in Tartous. We only had to relocate the planes and bring some equipment," Konashenkov said.

Russia's strikes on Wednesday represented its biggest Middle East intervention in decades and plunged the four-year-old civil war into a volatile new phase.

Saudi Arabia demanded that Russia end its military operations against targets in Syria, a Saudi diplomat said in remarks broadcast by Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television.

Speaking at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi said that the ISIL group was not present in the areas that were attacked by Russian jets.

"The delegation of my country expresses its profound concern regarding the military operations which Russian forces have carried out in Homs and Hama today, places where ISIS [ISIL] forces are not present. These attacks led to a number of innocent victims. We demand it stop immediately and not recur," Mouallimi said.

"As for those countries that have claimed recently to join in the fight against ISIS [ISIL] terrorism, they can't do that at the same time as they support the terrorism of the Syrian regime ... "

US, NATO and the Syrian opposition on Wednesday expressed concern that the Russian bombardments also targeted Western-backed rebels.

Putin called Wednesday's operation a pre-emptive strike against ISIL, and the Russian defence ministry said its warplanes targeted and destroyed eight positions belonging to the group.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia and the US will begin military talks "as soon as possible, perhaps even as soon as tomorrow" to de-escalate the situation, after a meeting with Lavrov late on Wednesday in New York.

Moscow also said it is ready to consider expanding its new military campaign beyond Syria to launch air strikes in Iraq if Baghdad asks it to do so.

"If we get such a request from the Iraqi government or a Security Council resolution that depends decisively on the will of the Iraq government," Moscow would consider launching the strikes, senior foreign ministry official Ilya Rogachev, told the RIA Novosti state news agency.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies