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Turkish, U.S. and Russian chiefs of military staff meet in southern Turkey to discuss developments in Syria and Iraq. The meeting comes amid renewed Turkish threats to hit U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish targets in the northern Syrian city of Manbij, March 7, 2017. (Turkish Military via AP)
After capturing the Syrian city of al-Bab from ISIS, Turkish officials made it clear that the next military target was the city of Manbij, along the Euphrates River. Manbij was captured last year from ISIS by the Kurdish YPG, with considerable US military support.

(ANTIWAR) After capturing the Syrian city of al-Bab from ISIS, Turkish officials made it clear that the next military target was the city of Manbij, along the Euphrates River. Manbij was captured last year from ISIS by the Kurdish YPG, with considerable US military support.

Just three weeks after the top soldiers of the US and Russian militaries – General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff – met in Azerbaijan, they have followed up with a second meeting in Antalya Turkey, for a summit hosted by Turkey’s top soldier, General Hulusi Akar, who is the Chief of the Turkish General Staff.

Book review: Shadow Wars. The Secret Struggle for the Middle East by Christopher Davidson
by Ian Sinclair
Red Pepper
February-March 2017

In an extraordinary twist illustrating the fantastic complexity of the Syria conflict, news agency reports confirm the presence of both US and Russian troops in the Kurdish controlled Syrian town of Manbij.

Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis invited me on to discuss the real flub of the Oscars – awarding Al Qaeda an Oscar. I also do my Bill Paxton and John McCain impersonations.
Stream or download audio here. 
Purchase my book here.

“He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he’s our son-of-a-bitch” – this is what U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt is rumoured to have once said about Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. We examine how the western media, always so full of editorials and columns praising western values (whatever those may be), have covered the Syrian opposition during the Syrian war, focusing on three groups in particular.

Armed men in uniform identified by Syrian Democratic forces as US special operations forces ride in the back of a pickup truck in the village of Fatisah in the northern Syrian province of Raqa, May 25, 2016.

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Paul Antonopoulos
Al Masdar News
Video by Ruptly shows the insides of Palmyra airbase shortly after its liberation from ISIS by the Syrian Army.
The video shows destroyed tanks used by ISIS inside hangars used for jets.
Much of the destruction came from Russian airstrikes.

Drone footage has confirmed that ISIS has destroyed much of the Hellenic amphitheatre of Palmyra, the location where maestro Valery Gergiev led a concert of Russian musicians for the troops of the Syrian Arab Army, Russian military and civilians who liberated Palmyra from the last ISIS occupation in May of 2016.
Now much of this site has been destroyed by ISIS in the wake of their second occupation of the ancient city.