Raqqa

The latest but not the last martyr among the honest brave voices that reveal the truth and expose the suppression of information on war criminality, is the young and awesome Syrian journalist Khaled Al-Khateb, who was killed today when he came under fire from the so-called ‘ISIS’.  These blind rockets ended the life of the 25 years old Syrian reporter Khaled who recently joined the ranks of RT Arabic.
ISIS, barbaric as they did not care that the word ‘PRESS’ was clearly written on his field uniform.

It was midday on Sunday, May 7th, when the U.S.-led coalition warplanes again began bombing the neighborhood of Wassim Abdo’s family. They lived in Tabqa, a small city on the banks of the Euphrates River in northern Syria. Then occupied by the Islamic State (ISIS, also known as Daesh), Tabqa was also under siege by U.S.-backed troops and being hit[Read More...]

(ANTIWAR.COM) — The US-led coalition in Syria believes they have a “lot more” to do in their war against ISIS in the country, even if they manage to expel ISIS from their capital city of Raqqa, with the deputy commander saying they’ll go after the rest of ISIS territory, backing the Kurds.

Today, two reports emerged within minutes of each other which indicate that under Donald Trump, the United States has fully shifted its policies in Syria away from arming and aiding Salafist/jihadist terrorist fighters and is now allying exclusively with Kurdish.
To a less extent, America is also politically allied with Russia in a limited capacity in south western Syria, something which is more significant due to the shift it represents rather than in terms of size or scope.
Here are the key events:

Residents carry the body of several civilians killed in a US air strike in Mosul, Iraq on March 24, 2017. (AP/Felipe Dana)
The US-led coalition attacking the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria killed as many as 744 civilians in June, an independent monitor said Wednesday.
Airwars – a London-based collective of journalists and researchers that uses social media, eyewitness reports and other sources to compile its data – said the concurrent assaults on Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq were often “devastating.”

In Raqqa, the American led coalition is a self-described anti-ISIS force but in reality hundreds of civilians have been the victims of what can only be called genocide. Areas like Al-Mansora,  Al-Jomailieh and many others in the countryside of Raqqa Governorate are filled the bodies of the murdered, including entire families. Many others still have been left displaced with no safe places to seek or obtain shelter.
 

(ANTIWAR.COM) — While it wasn’t exactly a secret that US ground troops are embedded with the Kurdish YPG forces involved in the invasion of the ISIS capital of Raqqa, today was the first time a Pentagon spokesman, Col. Ryan Dillon, confirmed that US ground troops are active inside Raqqa.

Despite recent reports out of the G20 that the US and Russia have agreed to a provisional ceasefire agreement in southern Syria, evidence on the ground, along with noises coming out of Washington and the OPCW on supposed ‘chem

(ANTIMEDIA Op-Ed) — America’s campaign to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria is drawing closer to an end. ISIS has been driven out of its main Iraqi strongholds, with some estimates suggesting the city of Mosul has 300 fighters remaining. They are reportedly holed up inside a 500-square-meter (600-square-yard) piece of territory.

Ignoring Western bombing in the Middle East endangers us all
by Ian Sinclair
Morning Star
29 June 2017