Syria

We’ve just returned from Syria, where we’ve been spending time with an elite unit of the Syrian army called the Tiger Forces.

If Mosul and the battle for Raqqa are dominating the headlines, the Syrian army has its eye on another battlefield. The key to that is the desert east of Homs that stretches all the way to the Iraqi border. The Syrian army has been focusing its efforts with tank units who are making some astonishing…

Defeated in Mosul, driven back in Syria, the last few days have brought fresh hope that the Islamic State forces are now finally on the back foot.

The US and Russia have reached a ceasefire deal in south-west Syria, one they say could be replicated elsewhere in the country. But that won’t include Raqqa, where militants from the Islamic State group have been fighting back against advancing US-backed Kurdish and Arab forces, as they move closer to the centre. Tens of thousands…

Fighting is intensifying around the city of Raqqa as government forces attempt to retake it from the so-called Islamic State.  It’s the group’s last stronghold in Syria and the city it proclaimed the capital of its caliphate three years ago.

The Syrian war has taken a dramatic new turn, and it could signal the end of the Islamic State’s grip on much of the country. Their capital of Raqqa has been under attack from both pro-democracy rebels, backed by America, and the Syrian Government, backed mainly by Russia and Iran. But if there was a…

The Iraqi army says the battle to liberate Mosul from Islamic State militants will be over in just a “few days”. Despite a desperate counter-attack of suicide bombings, IS fighters are now thought to number just a few hundred and are holed up in a small area of the old city. Over the border in…

In Syria, tensions have once again escalated after American forces brought down a Syrian government jet near the contested city of Raqqa. Moscow, which backs the Assad regime, has retaliated by suspending an agreement with Washington, aimed at avoiding clashes and says it will in future regard US planes as potential targets.

President Macron may be fresh to the job but he has wasted no time in availing himself of all the grand stage craft of the French Presidency to impress his guests. Today he hosted Vladimir Putin in Versaille. With deep disagreements over the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine – as well as allegations of Russian…

The US military has revealed that it killed three senior Islamic State officials in attacks this month. Contrary to what Jeremy Corbyn has said, a senior US Colonel has told Channel 4 News that in Iraq and Syria the war on terror is working. But as the noose tightens around IS strongholds, the number of…

Air Force One is about to take off tonight, carrying Donald Trump to Saudi Arabia on his first trip overseas since he became President – for a summit in Saudi Arabia with Arab and Muslim leaders. Iran won’t be there, though, nor its close ally Syria. Today relations were complicated still further, as the Syrians…

Another attempt to broker peace in Syria began in Geneva this week. The Syrian regime and opposition forces agreed four main de-escalation zones in the north. Despite this ‘”truce”, though, there hasn’t been an end to the fighting and killing. There were reportedly more than 200 civilian casualties during last week’s ceasefire alone – half…

President Trump heads to Saudi Arabia tomorrow for a weekend summit with more than fifty Arab and Muslim leaders.

It was an attack that was shocking in both its scale and ruthless targeting.

Syrian State TV says at least 39 people have been killed in what it claims was a suicide car bomb attack on buses evacuating families from towns and villages under rebel siege.