Rebel town iraq. Medical search. Frequent questions

The immediate aim of the Syrian forces is to close the border with Turkey and to liberate Aleppo city from the Jihadi insurgents. (moonofalabama.org)
The immediate result of the initial onslaught against ISIS was the expulsion of ISIS from most of Idlib province as well as from the city of Aleppo and its rural areas. (joshualandis.com)
With Aleppo back in hands of the government the war is going in several directions as ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and the rebels in general weaken and retreat. (strategypage.com)
One of the last rebel strongholds in Aleppo province, al Bab, was finally taken from ISIL over the weekend. (strategypage.com)
That means Aleppo, Hama, Latakia, Homs (especially the key town Palmyra) and Idlib provinces. (strategypage.com)
Idlib province, west of Aleppo and bordering Turkey, remains a primary target because it was long an area held by al Qaeda affiliated rebels. (strategypage.com)
There are still some rebels (few of them ISIL) west of Aleppo. (strategypage.com)
Last month, the al Qaeda affiliate the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) captured the city of al-Bab in the northern province of Aleppo from a rival rebel militia. (washingtoninstitute.org)
The capture of the city, one of the largest in the region, gives ISIS control over a key transit point linking Aleppo to its strongholds to the east. (washingtoninstitute.org)
In the last week this Russian support has enabled Assad forces to cut rebels in Aleppo off from Turkey (a primary source if reinforcements and supplies). (strategypage.com)
IS has been losing its grip on a number of towns across Iraq and Syria, with additional reports that Turkey-backed rebels have captured areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo. (christianpost.com)
The town of Dabiq is situated a short distance northeast of pre-war Syria's largest city, Aleppo, and an even shorter distance south of the Turkey-Syria border. (lobelog.com)

But by summer of 2012, al-Maliki had begun supporting al-Assad, since the best fighters on the side of the Syrian rebels were increasingly radical Sunni Muslim groups. (truthdig.com)
This winter, the al-Qaeda affiliates took control of the cities of Ramadi and Falluja in al-Anbar Province, a spill-over onto Iraq of the Syrian civil war, where radical Sunni fighters, some of them from Iraq, had taken territory in northern Syria. (truthdig.com)
The former rebel group, best known as the FARC, envisions the camps growing over the next five years into self-sufficient towns with populations of as many as 1,000 ex-fighters and their families and sympathizers, leaders said. (latimes.com)
The Syrian army has suffered multiple setbacks recently, but Hezbollah did help dislodge rebel fighters along the Syria-Lebanon border. (npr.org)
In a three-week offensive, Hezbollah has worked with Syrian government forces and other allies to push rebel fighters out of a chunk of territory that the rebels held along this border for two years. (npr.org)
Across Syria, rebel fighters have been taking territory recently from President Bashar Assad's forces. (npr.org)
We've seen Shiite fighters coming in from Lebanon, Iraq and Iran," he says, including the Lebanese Shiite militia, Hezbollah. (upr.org)
To get the nonlethal U.S. gear, rebel fighters have to prove they are not Islamists. (upr.org)
On the second day of a major offensive on the border city of Zabadani, the Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters managed to enter the western parts of the city on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. (aljazeera.com)
Hezbollah's television station al-Manar reported that its fighters and the Syrian army had entered Jamaiyat district in the western part of the city, located nearly 50km northwest of the capital Damascus. (aljazeera.com)
Government helicopters dropped at least 12 barrel bombs on the city, as the army used several surface-to-surface missiles to target opposition fighters in an attempt to recapture the city and push to seize the last rebel stronghold along Lebanon's border. (aljazeera.com)
Opposition fighters have been in control of the city since 2012, despite several attempts by Bashar al-Assad's troops to retake it. (aljazeera.com)
Last year the U.S. intelligence community stated that there were some 20,000 foreign fighters with ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorists groups in Syria and Iraq. (moonofalabama.org)
Turkey claims it closed its border for foreign fighters going to Syria and Iraq. (moonofalabama.org)
The Russian coalition assembled representatives from fourteen Syrian rebel groups that are just interested in overthrowing the Assad clan but this rebel group only represents about a third of the rebel fighters. (strategypage.com)
Army Artillerymen Support Marines, Others in Operation Al Fajr AFPS 16 Nov 2004 -- While the battle against terrorists and insurgents moved from house to house through the streets of Fallujah, Iraq, a group of U.S. soldiers on the outskirts of the city rained precise destruction down on the enemy in support of the coalition's front-line fighters. (globalsecurity.org)
That means it's a lot smaller than other rebel groups, such as the hard-line Salafi Syrian Islamic Front, which boasts 15,000 to 20,000 fighters. (washingtoninstitute.org)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition aircraft waged a series of deadly strikes against Islamic State around the city of Falluja on Wednesday, U.S. officials told Reuters, with one citing a preliminary estimate of at least 250 suspected fighters killed and at least 40 vehicles destroyed. (thefiscaltimes.com)
The rebel, especially ISIL, fighters tend to be inexperienced and not capable of camouflaging their positions to make them difficult to see from the air. (strategypage.com)
Moreover when rebel fighters nearby are killed by a bomb or missile those close tend to panic and flee. (strategypage.com)
The Turkish military estimates there are 1500 to 2000 PKK fighters within Turkey, so if the Turkish military intends to destroy PKK cadres or push them into Iraq or Syria, they have approximately nine to ten weeks to do it. (strategypage.com)
The attack was coordinated with Turkish ground troops who took up blocking positions to stop PKK fighters from escaping into northern Iraq. (strategypage.com)
Backed by an air cover from the coalition, rebel fighters of the Euphrates Shield expelled ISIS from the eastern suburb of Maree town," rebel spokesman Salih al-Zein said. (christianpost.com)
Osman added that IS officials have sent close to 800 additional fighters to defend the village from advancing FSA rebels, but the terror group has been unable to stop several other villages near Dabiq from being recaptured. (christianpost.com)
The Syrian army backed by Russian warplanes engaged in fierce fighting with rebels close to the border with Jordan, residents and opposition fighters said. (aljazeera.com)
IS's plans for Dabiq were dealt a serious blow over the weekend when a Syrian rebel force, with heavy support from Turkish air power and armor, drove an estimated 2,000 IS fighters out of Dabiq and seized control of the town . (lobelog.com)
But it's not clear to what extent they, or Kurdish fighters for that matter, will be allowed to participate in the final assault on the city itself. (lobelog.com)

Turkey is reportedly shelling suspected Kurdish rebel camps across the border in northern Iraq, but the government appeared unlikely to move toward sending ground troops until next week because of a holiday. (kpbs.org)

Turkish authorities have detained 20 suspected Kurdish rebels at a border crossing with Iraq, the office for the governor of Sirnak said in a written statement. (kpbs.org)
At least one artillery unit was seen positioned on the Turkish side of the border, across from the Iraqi Kurdish town of Zakho, with guns facing toward Iraq. (kpbs.org)
Iran's intelligence ministry claimed Wednesday that agents linked to Israel's Mossad who were arrested last week were also members of an outlawed Kurdish rebel group who planned to target a "sensitive defense center. (timesofisrael.com)
In March, missiles were fired toward the US consulate in Iraq's northern city of Erbil, in the Kurdish region. (timesofisrael.com)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Four troops from Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards have been killed in clashes with Kurdish rebels in western Iran, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported Wednesday. (ktar.com)
There has been sporadic fighting in the mountainous regions on Iran's border with Iraq and Turkey between Iranian forces and Kurdish rebels. (ktar.com)
Of the approximately 3.5 to 4 million people living in Northern Iraq, 80 percent are Kurdish Muslims, 5 percent are Turkmens, and the rest are spread among various small groups. (michaelrubin.org)
The northern Iraqi "safe haven" was created in 1991, responding to the flood of Kurdish refugees leaving Saddam Husayn's Iraq out of fear of a repeat of his chemical weapons attacks on civilians. (michaelrubin.org)
While foreign investment has been growing from ethnic Kurdish individuals in Sweden, Germany, and England, serious investment cannot happen unless people have a guarantee as to the future safety of northern Iraq from Saddam Husayn. (michaelrubin.org)
He cited security concerns stemming from alleged Kurdish rebel activity targeting Turkey from the Sulaimaniyah region. (arabnews.com)
The Turkish prime minister also said that his country would press ahead with military strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq as long as threats to Turkey continue. (arabnews.com)
Earlier, Iraq's Foreign Ministry condemned Turkey's attacks on what Ankara suspected were Kurdish rebel camps in northern Iraq, along the countries' shared border. (arabnews.com)
Iraqi and Kurdish forces, supported by US air power and advisers , are attempting to encircle Mosul before directly assaulting the city. (lobelog.com)

The U.S.-led coalition launched a series of airstrikes targeting Islamic State forces fleeing the Iraqi city of Fallujah yesterday. (foreignpolicy.com)
A flurry of Israeli airstrikes Tuesday on a refugee camp near Gaza City leveled apartment buildings, leaving craters where they once stood. (ktar.com)
In Yemen, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels launch relentless airstrikes and drone attacks targeting Saudi Arabia and civilian sites in the country. (nationalinterest.org)
ARA News added that U.S.-led coalition warplanes have been aiding the Syrian rebels with airstrikes, killing and wounding over 20 of the militants. (christianpost.com)

Turkish troops targeting the guerrillas' suspected escape routes in mountainous areas in Sirnak province have "squeezed" a group of about 80 rebels on Mount Gabar in Sirnak, the Hurriyet newspaper reported. (kpbs.org)
The Trukish military also reported an attack on PKK rebels in the Mount Gabar region (Sirnak province). (strategypage.com)

However, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has also accused ISIS of using banned mustard gas in Iraq and Syria. (arabamericannews.com)
But the area where the attack on Tuesday took place, the town of Khan Sheikhoun, is not held by ISIS but by other insurgents - al-Qaeda-linked militants and a variety of other rebel groups. (arabamericannews.com)
Does the Truce Between ISIS and Suqour al-Sham Mean an End to Syria's Inter-Rebel War? (joshualandis.com)
Although the Islamic Front (IF) - the largest armed rebel coalition in Syria - had numerous grievances with ISIS, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) led the attack on ISIS. (joshualandis.com)
A local contact informed me that in Tal Abiadh (a town on the border with Turkey), soldiers of Ahrar ash-Sham, a constituent of the IF, handed their weapons over to Turkish authorities and fled into Turkey rather than fight ISIS. (joshualandis.com)
My mother was born in Kirkuk, a city whose name would become synonymous for Americans with ISIS burning churches and beheading hostages. (newrepublic.com)
And that's just the latest in a long string of ISIS's military successes: After brief clashes with outgunned rebel opponents, ISIS took the towns of Azaz and Jarablus, which straddle Syria's border with Turkey. (washingtoninstitute.org)
But ISIS has one important advantage: Many of its members have previously fought in other jihads, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Libya. (washingtoninstitute.org)
Nor has ISIS just restricted its attention to adults: It recently opened a children's school in a city where the education system ceased functioning long ago. (washingtoninstitute.org)
We've made, I think, some significant progress, along with our coalition partners, in Syria and Iraq, where most of the ISIS members are resident right now," Brennan said. (thefiscaltimes.com)
The rebels have also captured the Akhtarin village after heavy clashes with ISIS," he added. (christianpost.com)
The United Nations has declared the situation in Iraq a "Level 3 emergency," its highest for a humanitarian crisis, as deadly fights between the army and ISIS terrorists killed at least four children west of Baghdad, AP reports. (worldcrunch.com)
When the Islamic State (ISIS or IS) began publishing an online magazine in 2014, it named the new publication Dabiq , after the north Syrian town by the same name, which ISIS captured later that same year. (lobelog.com)

It also would further anger Iraq's minority Sunnis, who had dominated politics in Iraq for decades and are bristling at the attention given now to the Shiites they traditionally oppressed. (chinadaily.com.cn)
Iraq and Syria were artificial creations of British and French diplomats when the Ottoman Empire disintegrated on the eve of World War I. Each contains communities of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. (nbcnews.com)
The George W. Bush administration sought to keep Iraq unified, but Sunnis eventually became disaffected with a Shiite government in Baghdad that excluded them. (nbcnews.com)
In doing so, the group hopes to illustrate that it has learned the lessons of its failures in the last decade, when Iraqi Sunnis rebelled against al Qaeda's brutal ways. (washingtoninstitute.org)

Government troops backed by Lebanese group Hezbollah enter Zabadani in bid to recapture strategic city near Damascus. (aljazeera.com)
The Syrian army backed up by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah advanced on the rebel-held city of Zabadani in the suburbs of Damascus, a monitoring group said. (aljazeera.com)
Damascus blames rebels. (arabamericannews.com)
Residents make their way amid the debris following Syrian government forces air strikes on a popular market in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta town of Ain Tarma, east of the capital Damascus, on August 31, 2015. (nbcnews.com)
Sheikh Maskin, the main goal of the army's southern campaign, lies on one of the main supply routes from the capital Damascus to the city of Deraa, close to the border with Jordan. (aljazeera.com)
Earlier this week, a suspected Russian air strike killed Syrian rebel leader Zahran Alloush and several of his commanders in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. (aljazeera.com)

file photo) 17 October 2004 -- Reports say that U.S. ground and air forces today battled insurgents in Iraq's western city of Al-Fallujah. (rferl.org)
Iraq's U.S.-backed interim government has warned it will launch a major offensive in Al-Fallujah if the city does not hand over al-Zarqawi and his followers. (rferl.org)
City streets were deserted, with shops and even mosques closed, residents in the city of two million - and Iraq's third largest - said. (bbc.co.uk)
As the smoke clears over new rubble in Iraq's second city, at the heart of Iraq's oil region, it's apparent that the big winner of the Six-Day War in Basra are the forces of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army faced down the Iraqi armed forces not only in Basra, but in Baghdad, as well as in Kut, Amarah, Nasiriyah, and Diwaniya, capitals of four key southern provinces. (thenation.com)
Iran has strong ties to Iraq's ruling Shiite alliance, which is dominated by the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, whose militia, the Badr Corps, was armed, trained, financed and commanded by Iranians during two decades in exile in Iran. (thenation.com)
America attacked Iraq after a long ginning-up campaign that cynically used 9/11 as a starting point, and that included lies about weapons of mass destruction and Iraq's (nonexistent) involvement in the plot to attack America with hijacked planes. (newrepublic.com)
Iraq: U.S. Searching For Rebels In Al-Fallujah As Offensive Launched In Mosul RFE/RL 16 Nov 2004 -- U.S.-led troops are continuing house-to-house searches in Al-Fallujah as unrest spreads to other parts of the Sunni Muslim region, including Iraq's third-largest city, Mosul. (globalsecurity.org)
Al-Fallujah Secured, As Fighting Spreads RFE/RL 16 Nov 2004 -- The U.S. military says its troops have secured control over the restive city of Al-Fallujah as unrest spreads to other parts of Iraq's Sunni Muslim region. (globalsecurity.org)
While Turkey and its rebel proxies were taking Dabiq this weekend, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the beginning of the offensive to retake Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, which IS seized in 2014. (lobelog.com)

Iraqi-Turkish relations are foreign relations between Iraq and Turkey. (wikipedia.org)
The ambassador of Iraq in Ankara, Turkey, is Mr. Abdul Amir Kamil Abi Tabikh, who has been the representative of Iraq since 5 March 2009. (wikipedia.org)
The Ambassador of Turkey in Baghdad, Iraq, is Derya Kanbay, who has been in office since 20 January 2007. (wikipedia.org)
Despite the fact that Turkey-Iraq relations have different epochs in history, the two nations are interconnected by various cultural similarities, since Iraqis, along with Syrians, Lebanese, and Egyptians, have traces of Turkish ancestry owing to the chronology with the Ottoman Empire. (wikipedia.org)
In order to clarify the relations between Turkey and Iraq, these different stages should be clarified. (wikipedia.org)
Iraq became a political unity as a British mandate, and Republic of Turkey became a sovereign country apart from the Ottoman Empire. (wikipedia.org)
The borders issue and Mosul Question is the first important issue between Turkey and Iraq. (wikipedia.org)
One of Britain's major aims was keeping Mosul as a part of British-ruled Iraq instead of Turkey. (wikipedia.org)
54 The border dispute between Turkey and Iraq could not be solved in this conference, and the discussion of the dispute was postponed. (wikipedia.org)
The third article of Lausanne treaty was that the frontier between Turkey and Iraq would be laid down in friendly arrangement to be concluded within nine months. (wikipedia.org)
It could use the no-fly zone to keep open the corridor with Turkey and use its assets to resupply the city and internally displaced people in the region with humanitarian assistance. (moonofalabama.org)
It's apparent that the Assad government, backed by Iran, Russia and Turkey are concentrating on clearing remaining rebels out of the northwest. (strategypage.com)
Russia has set up another peace effort that largely involves Russia, Turkey, Iran, the Syrian government and a coalition of agreeable (to a compromise deal) rebel groups. (strategypage.com)
Last spring senior Turkish military leaders began sending the message that this year the Turkish security forces would attempt to destroy PKK rebels who remain on the Turkish side of the Turkey-Iraq border. (strategypage.com)
October 10, 2007: Turkish fighter bombers struck PKK positions near the Turkey-Iraq border. (strategypage.com)
Turkish artillery (located inside Turkey in Hakkari province) shelled alleged PKK base camps around Manimasa, Nazdur, and Sinath in northern Iraq. (strategypage.com)
The suspects were detained at a border crossing post on the Iraq-Turkey border. (strategypage.com)

In recent months, Iranian militias have escalated attacks targeting American assets and civilians in Iraq and Yemen. (nationalinterest.org)
The strikes, which the officials said took place south of the city, where civilians have also been displaced, are just the latest battlefield setback suffered by Islamic State in its self-proclaimed "caliphate" of Iraq and Syria. (thefiscaltimes.com)
Russia claims that about a third of these dead have been ISIL with the rest being other rebels and civilians. (strategypage.com)
A convoy of more than 100 trucks carrying Russian aid has resumed its journey to eastern Ukraine with its final destination believed to be the rebel-held city of Luhansk, where civilians lack water, food and electricity, the BBC reports. (worldcrunch.com)

In the southern city of Amarah, waves of protesters some armed with sticks and shovels rushed British troops guarding the city hall, a day after clashes here killed six protesters and wounded at least 11. (chinadaily.com.cn)
The clashes on Wednesday - which involved Russian air strikes on Western-backed rebel groups - came as the Syrian government attempts to capture Sheikh Maskin, an area crucial to its attempts at gaining control of southern Deraa province. (aljazeera.com)

In Yemen, the Houthi rebels have carried out dozens of aerial attacks aimed at Saudi Arabia and civilian sites. (nationalinterest.org)
There is no evidence that Iran has supplied weapons to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, despite frequent allegations to that effect by Arab and American sources. (hurriyetdailynews.com)

Mosul has experienced a wave of violence since last month's offensive on the former rebel stronghold of Falluja. (bbc.co.uk)
On Wednesday, November 16, 2005, the Pentagon "acknowledged using incendiary white-phosphorus munitions in a 2004 offensive against insurgents in the Iraqi city of Falluja and defended their use as legal, amid concerns by arms control advocates," Reuters reported November 16, 2005. (sourcewatch.org)
An alliance of militias have also launched a major offensive against the militant group in the city of Manbij in northern Syria. (thefiscaltimes.com)
The deadly attack came as U.S. and Iraqi troops launched an offensive in northern Iraq against suspected militants, killing at least two insurgents. (pravda.ru)

If parliament approves, the military could choose to immediately launch an operation or wait to see if the United States and its allies, jolted by the Turkish action, decide to crack down on the rebels. (kpbs.org)
Turkish troops were also shelling suspected PKK camps in the regions of Kanimasa, Nazdur and Sinath, in northern Iraq, from positions in Turkey's Hakkari province, just across the border, Hurriyet reported. (kpbs.org)
The Turkish military estimates another 3500 are inside Iraq. (strategypage.com)
Turkish armor was spotted in the town of Silopi (also in SIrnak province). (strategypage.com)
October 4, 2007: The Turkish government reported that several firefights erupted between Turkish security personnel and PKK rebels in Mardin province (along the Syrian border). (strategypage.com)
A suicide car bomb attack in the northern town of Kirkuk and fighting between US forces and insurgents near Mosul killed 30 people yesterday as rebels seized a Turkish truck driver and threatened to kill him unless the company he works for halted its operations in Iraq. (pravda.ru)
Al-Arabiya television aired a videotape by militants threatening to behead the Turkish truck driver if his employers and the Kuwaiti contractor they work for did not cease operations in Iraq within 48 hours, informs Arab News. (pravda.ru)
The Independent reports that at least 15 Turkish and Syrian rebels have been killed in the fighting near Dabiq, but a much fiercer battle is expected to take place for the village which is in the center of IS' propaganda operation. (christianpost.com)

U.S., Iraqi Troops Launch Assault On Mosul RFE/RL 16 Nov 2004 -- U.S. and Iraqi forces today launched operations in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul to clear insurgents who have been active in the city during the past week. (globalsecurity.org)
IRAQ / WRAP VOA 16 Nov 2004 -- American and Iraqi forces are almost entirely in control of Fallujah, after a week of fighting in which 38 American troops, six Iraqi soldiers and an estimated 12-hundred insurgents have been killed. (globalsecurity.org)
Multinational Corps Commander Discusses Progress in Iraq AFPS 16 Nov 2004 -- Coalition troops and Iraqi military forces are destroying the last pockets of resistance by insurgents and terrorists in Fallujah, Iraq, and they are beginning to clean up the city and destroy weapons caches and booby traps in the city, Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz said Nov. 15 during an interview here. (globalsecurity.org)
Imad Salih al-Fahdawi, who has been linked to an al Qaeda in Iraq cell, was one of the insurgents detained, the Marines said in a news release. (outsidethebeltway.com)
In addition, coalition civil affairs units have had key successes restoring telephone and Internet service to the city (the insurgents had cut the lines), and re-opening a glass factory that was one of Ramadi's major employers and is now again providing 2,300 jobs. (outsidethebeltway.com)
Near Mosul, in the town of Tal Afar, doctors say at least 11 people have been killed and more than 50 injured in heavy fighting between U.S.-backed Iraqi forces and insurgents. (pravda.ru)

Iraq is run by a Shiite-dominated government with ties to Iran, while the Bashar Assad government in Syria is dominated by Alawites, a Shiite sect. (nbcnews.com)
That leaves Sadr, an anti-American rabble rouser and nationalist who demands an end to the US occupation of Iraq, and who has grown increasingly close to Iran of late, in a far stronger position that he was a week ago. (thenation.com)
For the past five years, Iran has built up enormous political, economic and military clout in Iraq, right under the noses of 170,000 surge-inflated US occupying forces. (thenation.com)
From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms and trains terrorists, militias and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
The "militias" Iran trains and supports include those in Iraq that are fighting to free the city of Mosul from the clutches of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (they also have tacit American support), and the Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon, which has been part of the Lebanese government since 2005. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
While a neighboring country like Iran, (which many people consider to be richer than Iraq), has cars consisting mostly of 1970-era Chevys, northern Iraq has high-quality used BMWs, Mercedes, and Volvos from the mid 1990s. (michaelrubin.org)

A man carries the body of a dead child, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib, Syria April 4, 2017. (arabamericannews.com)
BEIRUT, Lebanon - The deadliest chemical weapons attack in years in Syria killed dozens of people in northern Idlib province on Tuesday morning, including children, and sickened scores more, according to medics, rescuers and witnesses in the rebel-held province. (arabamericannews.com)
JFS has reportedly brokered a ceasefire between the two groups, but the cohesion of the rebel forces in Idlib certainly appears to be in a state of flux. (lobelog.com)

The Iraqi city of Ramadi has been 'liberated' from so-called Islamic State, the Iraqi military has declared. (mapreport.com)
Masked militants attacked a U.S. base and a local government building with mortars and rockets in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Thursday, before holding ground on central streets, residents said. (outsidethebeltway.com)

Rebels of the Free Syrian Army move toward the front line in Dera'a, Syria, on April 18. (upr.org)
Some rebel factions like the FSA (Free Syrian Army) and Syrian Kurds) understand that and are willing to make a deal to get what they can. (strategypage.com)

The White House minced no words on Tuesday, strongly condemning Syria's chemical weapons attack against rebel factions in the country while blaming the former administration's weak Syria policy for opening the door to such attacks. (arabamericannews.com)
September 30, 2007: PKK rebels attacks a minibus in the village of Besagac (Sirnak province). (strategypage.com)
The Islamic State terror group is defending the village of Dabiq in northern Syria as U.S.-backed Syrian rebels launch attacks, seeking to liberate the village that IS believes will be the center of an apocalyptic battle between Christians and Islamists. (christianpost.com)

However, U.S.-backed forces in the New Syrian Army coalition were forced to withdraw to Tanf airbase in Jordan after the Islamic State repelled their advance along the Iraq-Syria border. (foreignpolicy.com)

Meanwhile everyone wants to eliminate the ISIL presence in Iraq and eastern Syria (namely Raqqa). (strategypage.com)
Since ISIL represented more than half the "combat power" of the rebels and the pro-Assad coalition (Iranian mercenaries and weapons, Russian air support and tech assistance) is now strong enough to defeat the rebellion. (strategypage.com)
The official obstacle is ISIL and most of the other Islamic terrorist rebel groups (mainly the ones associated with al Qaeda). (strategypage.com)
The majority of the rebels are Islamic radicals (like ISIL) and that has been the problem in Syria from the beginning. (strategypage.com)
By American count only about ten percent of Russian air strikes have been against ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and those targets were usually hit to protect Assad forces. (strategypage.com)
Yet thousands of Russian troops are working with the Assad forces, the Russian troops are all based in Assad controlled territory and the majority of rebels, who are not ISIL or the local al Qaeda franchise al Nusra, are the main targets of Russian firepower, Not surprisingly these rebels refuse to participate in peace talks as long as the UN allows Russia to get away with their lies. (strategypage.com)
Moscow claims that it mainly targets the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, but the US and other Western powers have accused it of a broader campaign aimed at rebels fighting government forces. (aljazeera.com)

They destroyed 8 fuel tankers transporting gasoline to forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, an al-Qaeda affiliate that has begun holding territory both in northern Syria and in al-Anbar Province in Iraq. (truthdig.com)
Since the al-Qaeda affiliates in Iraq are trying to benefit from their control of oil fields and other resources in Syria for their struggle against al-Maliki, it is natural that the latter would eventually hit them in Syria itself. (truthdig.com)
Leaflets were distributed and posted on walls, saying al Qaeda in Iraq, the group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was taking over the city. (outsidethebeltway.com)
As a result, no FSA unit is strong enough to challenge the group in Raqqa, making it the largest city al Qaeda has ever controlled in the Islamic world. (washingtoninstitute.org)
Syria's army said that it had made advances overnight against the rebels whom it said were mainly al-Qaeda-inspired groups. (aljazeera.com)

Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had been hostile to the Baathist regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, blaming the latter for bombings in Baghdad in the second half of the last decade. (truthdig.com)
The battle for the city of Dera'a in southern Syria has become a test of an American pledge to give military support to rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad. (upr.org)
The government of Bashar al-Assad bears primary responsibility for a suspected chemical attack that killed at least 58 people in a rebel-held town in Syria," Mogherini said on Tuesday, immediately after the attack has been reported. (arabamericannews.com)
In Syria, the Assad government is hanging on with increasing support from Russia, leaving the country divided among government, rebel-held, and Islamic State territory. (nbcnews.com)
The problem is that Russia is concentrating most of its considerable firepower on rebel groups that are hurting the Syrian Assad government forces the most. (strategypage.com)
At the very least the rebels wanted the Russians to halt their Assad support while peace talks go on. (strategypage.com)

It also delivers the majority of the city's oil needs, drawing on rebel-controlled wells in eastern Syria. (washingtoninstitute.org)

The 16th article of the armistice says that Ottoman armies in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Hejaz should immediately surrender to Allies. (wikipedia.org)

Al-Bu Kamal is controlled by rebel forces in Syria. (truthdig.com)
It was hastily erected by the government as part of the November 2016 accord that ended a five-decade conflict - one of 28 "training and normalization camps" across the country where rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia would disarm, receive identity cards, sign up for job training and other benefits, and live with their families for no longer than six months. (latimes.com)
In the past week, Syrian regime forces lost the city of Palmyra and a border crossing with Iraq. (npr.org)
He was ambushed and captured by regime forces in the city and says he somehow survived a point-blank attempt to execute him. (upr.org)
Prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Saddam's security forces were the biggest employer in this city of 400,000. (chinadaily.com.cn)
It's also clear from military statements that coalition forces have accelerated the "ops-tempo" around Ramadi in the last couple of months, mounting a series of local operations to destroy the insurgent network and clean out the toughest sections of the city. (outsidethebeltway.com)
Any effort to counter the jihadists' growing hearts-and-minds campaign in Syria will require significant U.S. support for mainstream rebel forces. (washingtoninstitute.org)
Rebel and U.S.-backed forces are also preparing to attack and recapture two other IS strongholds, namely Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, which would also be a massive blow to the terror group's ambitions. (christianpost.com)
This comes as separatists in Donetsk said neighborhoods around the city are under heavy shelling from Ukraine government forces. (worldcrunch.com)
On Thursday, French forces had arranged a 48-hour cease-fire with rebels to clear the way for a rapid withdrawal of their citizens and others from the city, which normally has a population of half a million. (sott.net)

Russia, which is an ally of the Syrian government, denied conducting any strikes close to the affected town. (arabamericannews.com)
The U.S. military said in a statement that air strikes were called in amid heavy fighting and a bomb was dropped near Tall Afar, some 50 kilometers west of the northern city of Mosul. (pravda.ru)

Reuters cited witnesses in the city as saying U.S. tanks fired on insurgent positions on the eastern edge of the city, where explosions could be heard. (rferl.org)
We have had over 40 raids in the last 24 hours alone," rebel commander Abu Alaa al-Haurani told the Reuters news agency. (aljazeera.com)

Zabadani was one of the first cities to fall under rebel control and the opposition's last stronghold in the Qalamoun region. (aljazeera.com)

But there's no denying that, on an ideological level, losing the site of its planned victory over "Roman" invaders is a loss almost as significant as the material loss of one of its major cities-Raqqa in Syria or Mosul in Iraq. (lobelog.com)

As Colombia lurches into peace, the continued existence of the camps reflects the difficulties faced by former rebels as they join society and suggests that the country's wounds will take a long time to heal. (latimes.com)
Carlos Cordoba, a senior official in the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace, the government entity that oversees the camps, said the shift in thinking is a recognition that many former rebels aren't prepared for modern life and need more time to assimilate. (latimes.com)
Having spent most of their lives in rebel camps in the jungle, many had never handled money or used an ATM before they began receiving monthly stipends of $230. (latimes.com)
Survivors of those years of terror and forced migration found safe harbor in camps run by British missionaries in Iraq. (newrepublic.com)

Government officials and ex-rebel leaders say the camp and others like it will probably become permanent. (latimes.com)
Administration officials, for example, have resisted calls to send arms directly to the Kurds, who have carved out a measure of autonomy in northern Iraq and have been America's most loyal ally in the region. (nbcnews.com)
Even though Maupin's Army Reserve unit has returned to its home station of Bartonville, Ill., Army officials said other soldiers in Iraq will never stop the search for Maupin. (warchronicle.com)
Presumably, this is an attempt to reclaim the mantle of rebels fighting against an occupying force vice their recent role of killing innocents and officials of a democratically elected indigenous government. (outsidethebeltway.com)
UN officials believe they can work out the disputes between the rebels and the Russians in time to get the peace talks going by the end of the month but that remains to be seen because the Syrian rebels blame Russia for most of the current government success. (strategypage.com)
Senior officials from the two countries are in Moscow after visiting Paris, looking for approval for a resolution that would set a timetable for the return of weapons inspectors and make clear that military force would be used if Iraq did not fully comply with the inspectors' demands. (sott.net)

There were three administrative provinces (vilayet) in current Iraq, organised by Land Law of 1858 and Vilayet Law of 1864 of Ottoman Empire: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul provinces. (wikipedia.org)
This will, in turn, give rise to new problems and the political and security situation will deteriorate," al-Sistani said in a statement released by his office in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, south of Baghdad. (chinadaily.com.cn)
IRAQ: Baghdad curfew makes life harder for ordinary Iraqis as violence continues IRIN 16 Nov 2004 -- An indefinite night-time curfew imposed on Baghdad in an attempt to increase security in the city has failed to make daily life any better, residents say. (globalsecurity.org)

Also Sunday, authorities said the body of an Iraqi working with the U.S.-led coalition was found in the southern city of Basra, along with the corpse of another man not associated with the coalition. (chinadaily.com.cn)

Al-Maliki also has a feud with Saudi Arabia and its hard line anti-Shiite Wahhabi branch of Islam, which supports the Syrian rebels. (truthdig.com)
He says Saudi Arabia has been covertly arming rebels for months. (upr.org)

Analysis: Iraqi Police Aiding Militants In Mosul Insurgency RFE/RL 16 Nov 2004 -- The growing insurgency in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul took a turn in recent days as many police in the city reportedly deserted their positions and took up arms alongside militants. (globalsecurity.org)

The massive bombardment of Homs, still under the charge of quelling armed terrorists, surged with daily reports from local and international media highlighting high casualties and heavy destruction of the city and its surrounding neighborhoods. (syria-report.com)
A close associate of 'Abd al-Basit Sarut, the militant Badawi al-Mugharbil, more famously known as Abu Ja'far, is also one of the key figures in the revolution in the city of Homs. (warincontext.org)

Kurds have been in continual disputes over budgets and oil with Bagdad, and they have seized control of the strategic northern city of Kirkuk. (nbcnews.com)
At least 17 people were killed and more than 20 injured today in a suicide car-bomb attack in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, authorities said. (pravda.ru)

An Iraqi reporter for the New York Times , who managed to get into Basra during the fighting, concluded that the thousands of Mahdi Army militiamen that control most of the city remained in charge. (thenation.com)

Newspapers can be obtained from all parties and factions from the entirety of Iraq. (michaelrubin.org)
The Libyan government is carrying out its mediation efforts from the city of Bayda, where Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni is currently attempting to direct negotiations between the warring factions in Benghazi. (atlanticcouncil.org)

He added that "eight persons were killed in this operation, i.e. the persons who were trying to transport the fuel" to the organization "the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" in al-Anbar Province. (truthdig.com)
The reasons that Syria's militias attacked the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria were many. (joshualandis.com)
Gorka said at the first annual The Bridge conference for the persecuted church hosted by International Christian Concern in July that an English-language translation of IS' former name was the 'Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham,' with the latter part of the name bearing the most significance. (christianpost.com)

Hezbollah says it's still firing at rebels who are less than a mile away. (npr.org)

But these days, he says, Americans have the final say on who gets the weapons, insisting they go only to moderate rebel groups - and not Islamist brigades. (upr.org)
While one should not over-interpret this incident, nevertheless it shows a radicalisation of a part of the Syrian revolutionaries, who were feeling abandoned by western democracies, the Gulf monarchies and moderate rebel groups. (warincontext.org)

It controls the governorate's capital, Raqqa city, whose prewar population of approximately 277,300 residents has mushroomed due to an influx of displaced persons from other regions. (washingtoninstitute.org)

But in interviews,rebel commanders passing through neighboring Jordan say those gains could be lost without a dependable arms pipeline and promised U.S. support. (upr.org)
Rebel commander Mohammed al-Dehni agrees to meet at a rehab hospital in Jordan. (upr.org)

This is a major defeat for the rebels. (strategypage.com)

the latter shares a border checkpoint with the Iraqi city of al-Qa'im. (truthdig.com)
The fighting erupted outside Paveh, a town near the Iraqi border. (ktar.com)
Aboud explains that the rebels now control a significant area just north of the Jordanian border all the way to Al-Balad, a neighborhood in the historic district of Dera'a. (upr.org)
Still, in a reminder of the back-and-forth nature of the war, U.S.-backed Syrian rebels were pushed back from the outskirts of an Islamic State-held town on the border with Iraq and a nearby air base on Wednesday after the jihadists mounted a counter- attack, two rebel sources said. (thefiscaltimes.com)
The army would move across the border if the decision is made to attack PKK bases in northern Iraq. (strategypage.com)
The returnees, who crossed through Egypt's western frontier with Libya into the border city of Salloum, did not possess the required documents or passports. (atlanticcouncil.org)

Gen. Saad Maan, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said, "Army helicopters yesterday morning struck eight fuel trucks in Wadi al-Sawab at Al-Bu Kamal inside Syria, which were attempting to enter into Iraq. (truthdig.com)

Muslim organizations formed early relief efforts, and eventually Church World Service and even Iraq War veterans groups coalesced to collect and distribute aid. (newrepublic.com)

Has the newly brokered truce between rebel militias in Syria ended the fighting that began in earnest on 3 January 2014? (joshualandis.com)

As a result the rebels contribute to the failure of the UN peace talks by demanding a lot of pre-conditions aimed at the Russians. (strategypage.com)
Another issue the rebels are angry about was the UN agreeing to keep the Syrian Kurds out of the peace talks. (strategypage.com)

After a string of defeats, the rebels have scored rare victories around Dera'a. (upr.org)
The rebels have scored rare victories around Dera'a. (upr.org)

Further, an opposition nationalist party that has long been advocating an incursion into Iraq called on the government to swiftly take the motion to parliament and said it would back it. (kpbs.org)
197 However, Syrian and Iraqi borders were not clarified in this armistice and the Istanbul government did not accept Mosul as a part of Iraq. (wikipedia.org)
But the Saudis, Qataris, Turks and Israelis want to fight the Syrian government down to the last Syrian rebel and foreign mercenary. (moonofalabama.org)
On Iraq, Stewart said he is "wrestling with the idea that the Kurds will come back to a central government of Iraq," suggesting he believed it was unlikely. (nbcnews.com)
In 2006, then Sen. Joe Biden argued for splitting Iraq into three autonomous ethnic zones with a limited role for a central government. (nbcnews.com)

See Digital Globe Maps of Al Fallujah September 15, 2002, and November 5, 2004 for views of the city before the November 2004 assault. (sourcewatch.org)
IRAQI ARMY CONTINUES OPERATIONS IN FALLUJAH CENTCOM 16 Nov 2004 -- The Iraqi army's 6th Battalion, 3rd Brigade conducted a cordon-and-search mission north of the city, Nov. 15, with elements from the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division resulting in the detention of 17 individuals. (globalsecurity.org)

In the northern city of Mosul on Sunday, U.S. soldiers arrested four men accused of working for the top fugitive in Iraq as rebel paymasters. (chinadaily.com.cn)

Tanks were positioned near the town of Silopi, in Sirnak province, the paper said. (kpbs.org)

An estimated 500 have joined another rebel group called the National Liberation Army or drug trafficking gangs. (latimes.com)

They said rebels fired back with mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades. (rferl.org)

While the large portion of Iraq under Saddam Husayn's control closely monitors foreigners, the North is fairly open. (michaelrubin.org)
As a result, northern Iraq has been completely independent of Saddam Husayn's control since 1991. (michaelrubin.org)
President Obama told The New Yorker magazine that the Islamic State had taken control of parts of western and northern Iraq, was like a junior varsity basketball team. (theblaze.com)

Diseases1

Psychiatry and Psychology2

Disciplines and Occupations1

Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena1

Technology, Industry, Agriculture1

Named Groups2

Health Care1

Geographicals3

Aleppo12

Fighters27

Suspected Kurdish rebel1

Kurdish13

Airstrikes4

Mount Gabar2

ISIS13

Sunnis4

Damascus6

Iraq's9

Turkey17

Civilians4

Clashes2

Houthi2

Offensive4

Turkish8

Insurgents6

Iran6

Idlib3

Iraqi city of Ramadi2

Free Syrian Army2

Attacks3

Withdraw1

ISIL7

Qaeda5

Assad6

City's1

Yemen1

Forces10

Strikes2

Reuters2

Zabadani1

Mosul in Iraq1

Camps4

Officials6

Baghdad3

Coalition1

Saudi Arabia2

Militants1

Homs2

Kirkuk2

Basra1

Factions2

Islamic Stat3

Hezbollah1

Moderate rebel groups2

Raqqa1

Jordan2

Defeat1

Border6

Spokesman1

Groups1

Militias1

Peace talks2

Victories2

Government5

Fallujah2

Soldiers1

Sirnak1

Group1

Mortar1

Control3