At risk, the United States has search and rescue personnel in Turkey that is deployed to locations in Syria and near regions in the case of pilot failure by coalition countries.
Vladimir Putin says Russia is the only legitimate military force in Syria due to a formal request by Bashir al Assad.
After Russia and Iran established intelligence cells in Iraq three weeks ago, coordination between Iraq and Russia is underway. The result is a new military relationship between Iraq and Russia. This has James Clapper, Director of the ODNI quite concerned over what intelligence and methods of the United States with Iraq has been compromised and shared with Russia.
Pentagon officials do not know what secrets the Iraqi government may be telling Moscow, after Iraqi leaders unexpectedly entered into an intelligence-sharing agreement with Russia this weekend.
Worse: Russia will consider Iraq air strikes if Baghdad asks
Russia will consider launching air strikes in Iraq if the government asks, a senior foreign ministry official has said, AFP reports.
“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, Ilya Rogachev, told the RIA Novosti state news agency.
Assad allies, including Iranians, prepare ground attack in Syria: sources
Reuters: Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria in the last 10 days and will soon join government forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies in a major ground offensive backed by Russian air strikes, two Lebanese sources told Reuters.
“The (Russian) air strikes will in the near future be accompanied by ground advances by the Syrian army and its allies,” said one of the sources familiar with political and military developments in the conflict.
“It is possible that the coming land operations will be focused in the Idlib and Hama countryside,” the source added.
The two sources said the operation would be aimed at recapturing territory lost by President Bashar al-Assad’s government to rebels.
It points to an emerging military alliance between Russia and Assad’s other main allies – Iran and Hezbollah – focused on recapturing areas of northwestern Syria that were seized by insurgents in rapid advances earlier this year.
“The vanguard of Iranian ground forces began arriving in Syria: soldiers and officers specifically to participate in this battle. They are not advisors … we mean hundreds with equipment and weapons. They will be followed by more,” the second source said. Iraqis would also take part in the operation, the source said.
Thus far, direct Iranian military support for Assad has come mostly in the form of military advisors. Iran has also mobilized Shi’ite militia fighters, including Iraqis and some Afghans, to fight alongside Syrian government forces.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has been fighting alongside the Syrian army since early in the conflict.
The Russian air force began air strikes in Syria on Wednesday, targeting areas near the cities of Homs and Hama in the west of the country, where Assad’s forces are fighting an array of insurgent groups, though not Islamic State, which is based mostly in the north and east.
An alliance of insurgent groups including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and powerful Ahrar al-Sham made rapid gains in Idlib province earlier this year, completely expelling the government from the area bordering Turkey.
One more item:
7 Israeli Arabs in ‘ISIS cell’ planned attacks on IDF, police
The Islamic State may have finally crossed Israel’s borders, according to an indictment presented to Nazareth’s District Court Thursday morning accusing seven Israeli Arabs of planning attacks in Israel on behalf of the organization, which is also known as ISIS. According to the Shin Bet, the accused “created an Islamic State cell with the intention of carrying out terror attacks.”
Some of the suspects were said to have been in contact with several Israelis who joined ISIS in Syria. The former residents of Yafa an-Naseriyye in the Lower Galilee region apparently recruited the seven into ISIS and helped them plot their attacks. A portion of the defendants allegedly trained in the woods near Yafa an-Naseriyye in preparation for the planned attacks.
Three of the accused, Ahmed Mahagna (20) from Yafa an-Naseriyye, Mohammad Sharif (22) from Nazereth and Mohammad Ghazali (23), were charged with contacting a foreign agent and an illegal organization while planning to attack Israeli military targets – specifically, to open fire at a police vehicle and an IDF base.
An illegal weapon found in their possession was bought in Fureidis, a town just south of Haifa.
Ibrahim Aljawabra (35) and his brother Ali (32) from Fureidis, were accused of selling weapons and committing additional criminal offenses. Baha Naaran (22) from Yafa an-Naseriyye was charged with possession of a weapon and involvement in criminal activity.
The seventh suspect, Ahmed Ahmed, who is already in jail for his involvement in the murder of taxi driver Yifim Weinstein in 2009, was accused by prosecutors of planning the attacks with the seven by telephone.
The Shin Bet claimed that the accused confessed during interrogation to trying to acquire weapons and training to use them, as well as collecting intelligence on an IDF base and police forces in order to carry out attacks in the name of the Islamic State.
Investigations revealed many files and photos on Sharif’s phone connected to the Islamic State. A video also surfaced in which Sharif explained how to deal with those who oppose the Islamic faith by cutting their throats.
Ghazali’s father also attended the indictment hearing Thursday and vehemently denied his son’s involvement with or connection to ISIS.
“It’s all lies,” he said. “We live here in this country and respect all its people – Jews and Arabs. No one in my family has ever harmed anyone else or the security of the state.”
