Latest news with #jihadists
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
US airstrikes surge in Somalia, surpassing 2024 numbers
The U.S. military has carried out more than two dozen airstrikes on targets in Somalia in the first five months of this year, double the total number of strikes in 2024. The escalation of the air war comes as the United States is 'actively pursuing and eliminating jihadists' in the country, at the request of Somalia's government, Gen. Michael Langley, head of U.S. Africa Command, said in a May 30 briefing. The air campaign has targeted ISIS militants and fighters with the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group, which continues to fight for territory against the federal Somali government. While Langley claimed 25 separate strikes, American forces carried out 33 airstrikes on Somalia this year, Kelly Cahalan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Africa Command, told Task & Purpose this week. New America, which tracks airstrikes in Somalia and other countries the United States is militarily engaged in, reports 34 total airstrikes in 2025. Between 109-174 people have been killed so far, per New America. Langley noted that the purpose of the air campaign is to back Somali military operations on the ground against ISIS members and al-Shabab fighters. He said that the rising number of strikes 'have achieved tactical gains against both groups.' Langley emphasized a 'moral imperative' in protecting civilians in strikes. It's unclear how many civilians have been killed by American airstrikes this year. Over the last two decades, at least 33 civilians died as a result of those bombings. In February, the USS Harry S. Truman — operating in the waters around Yemen and the Horn of Africa to fight Houthis in Yemen — carried out a major airstrike on Somalia. More than a dozen aircraft from the Truman Carrier Strike Group dropped 124,000 pounds of munitions on ISIS fighters on Feb. 1, killing 14. The acting chief of naval operations initially called it the 'largest air strike in the history of the world' earlier this month, although the Navy walked that back, qualifying it in terms of the amount of firepower sent by a single aircraft carrier. Since the start of the Global War on Terror, the United States has regularly bombed Somalia. The first post-9/11 strike occurred in 2007 under the George W. Bush administration, which carried out a dozen total. Barack Obama's presidency saw that quadruple. But the largest expansion happened during Donald Trump's first term, with 219 airstrikes reported, per Airwars. The Biden administration drastically scaled back its air campaign in the country, carrying out 51 over four years, even as the U.S. redeployed several hundred troops to the country. In the first four months of the second Trump administration the U.S. has already carried out approximately half as many strikes. 18 Army Rangers suspended for allegedly firing blanks at Florida beach Hegseth announces accountability review of Afghanistan withdrawal Coast Guard rescue swimmers saved a worker stuck in hardening concrete after roof collapse This National Guard unit went completely analog to simulate a cyber attack Fewer reenlistment options for soldiers amid high Army retention
Forbes
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Russia's Hmeimim Airbase In Syria Is Extremely Vulnerable
A portrait of Russia's President Vladimir Putin hangs above as Russian military trucks enter the ... More Russian-leased Syrian military base of Hmeimim in Latakia province in western Syria on December 29, 2024. (Photo by AAREF WATAD/AFP via Getty Images) The Russian military leased Hmeimim airbase in western Syria's coastal Latakia province faced its deadliest attack since the December 2024 fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on May 20. While much remains unclear about this particular attack, it has aptly demonstrated the increasingly vulnerable position of Russia's sole airbase in the Middle East. On Tuesday, May 20, militants of unknown affiliation attacked Hmeimim, leaving at least two soldiers and two of the attacking militants dead. It's unclear if the soldiers were Russian personnel or security forces of the incumbent Syrian Transitional Government in Damascus. Kyle Orton, an independent Middle East analyst, said the details of the attack remain 'very murky,' although there are some possible clues as to what exactly happened. 'Russian military bloggers on Telegram admit that the Russians suffered casualties but did not say how many,' Orton told me. 'Some social media reports from Syria suggest as many as five Russian soldiers were killed; it is impossible to say,' he said. 'Likewise, we do not really know how many attackers were killed; one claim that has spread around is that it was four.' 'What is clear is that the attackers were jihadists, and at least some of them were foreign.' Orton noted that the alleged kunya, a title given to an adult derived from the name of their eldest first-born child, of one of the Syrians killed was Abu Bakr al-Safarani. Abu Jihad al-Masri was allegedly the name of another attacker reportedly killed and was believed to have been an Egyptian. 'As to what actually happened, we are again rather in the dark,' Orton said. 'I have seen estimates of the size of the attack team that range from eight to 20; both could be (probably are) wrong, but it does seem it was a small team.' 'The martyrdom notices for the jihadists claim they were inghimasi, that is, shock troops who break through enemy lines and kill as many people as they can until they are killed,' he added. 'While this seems to be true, there are conflicting reports about whether the attackers actually got into the base.' Russia first deployed military personnel, fighter-bomber jets, and air defenses at Hmeimim in 2015 during the Syrian civil war on the side of the Assad regime. Its warplanes relentlessly bombed Syrian cities and opposition-held urban areas in support of Assad, including Aleppo and Idlib. However, at the end of last year, the Islamist opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham burst out of its Idlib stronghold and, in coordination with other groups, swiftly advanced on the capital Damascus. Assad promptly fled to his new life in exile in Moscow. HTS dissolved itself into the new Syrian Transitional Government headed by its former leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Julani during his militia leader years. Moscow scrambled to forge new relations with the leader whose forces it had bombed for almost a decade in hopes of retaining at least some access to Hmeimim and the Tartus naval base. Shortly after Assad's fall, Russia withdrew its strategic S-400 air defense missile systems and other heavy equipment from its Syria airbase. Today, its presence in western Syria is a mere shadow of its former self and a standing symbol of how Russia's days as a kingmaker in the country have come and gone. In March, Islamist groups descended on Latakia near Hmeimim. They massacred hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians from the province's Alawite minority, from which the Assad family and members of the former regime originated. While several civilians sought refuge in Hmeimim, there was nothing Russian forces could do to influence or shape events outside the base's perimeter, which STG forces have guarded since December. That incident demonstrated how Russia's continued presence remains at the whim of the new powers in Damascus. Orton noted that some posts celebrating the attack on Hmeimim dubbed the attackers 'Red Bands,' a name previously used by HTS special forces. Whether that name is in reference to those officially disbanded forces or borrowed by an entirely different group also remains unclear. 'What seems consistent in the reporting is that the attackers were part of a group whose leadership is nominally under the control of al-Sharaa's Ministry of Defense,' Orton said. 'There is an obvious political interest for Al-Sharaa and his supporters to stick to the narrative that this was a group of radicals who defied their MoD-loyal leaders to avoid there being any official link between this attack and the current Syrian government.' However, even if that proved accurate, he pointed out that would underline how 'distinctly incomplete' Sharaa's integration of former Islamist groups has been and the 'dismal resulting security situation' in the country where 'free-wheeling Islamist militias roam the land.' There is likely no shortage of factions or wannabe militias in Syria who want revenge on Russia for its post-2015 actions in Syria. 'There is an enormous amount of anger against the Russians in Syria—obviously among the (mostly Sunni) pro-revolution sections of the population because of the Kremlin's role in supporting Assad's atrocities against them,' Orton said. 'But even the (mostly Alawite) pro-Assad sections of the population have grievances due to the perception Moscow did not do enough at the end and let Assad fall.' 'In some ways, the question is why Russian facilities have not been attacked before now,' he added. 'One answer is that Al-Sharaa decided against such things—indeed, decided to enter negotiations that might allow Russia to keep Tartus and Hmeimim.' Undoubtedly aware of the newfound vulnerability of Hmeimim and Tartus after Assad's sudden fall, Moscow knew it needed to buy time to at least draw down forces and equipment from these bases now that they had become vulnerable to any potential attacks authorized by Sharaa. If ordered to do so eventually, Russia would likely want to withdraw from these two strategic bases orderly. Moscow undoubtedly would welcome a coordinated and orderly and somewhat dignified withdrawal over a chaotic and dangerous one like the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan in August 2021. Orton personally observed Hmeimim on a trip across Syria this March, mere days before the massacres in Latakia in the Russian base's vicinity. 'My impression in visiting Hmeimim was that it is basically defenseless,' Orton said. 'This was certainly the view of the HTS militiamen on the gates at Hmeimim, who said the Russians were in a 'prison'—albeit quite an open one, where HTS escorts them to Tartus three to five times a week to get supplies—and felt sure that if an order came through from Damascus to take over the base, that could be accomplished in short order.' 'One of the outstanding questions about the May 20 attack—which will solve a lot of the mysteries around it, including whether the attackers managed to infiltrate the base—is whether the HTS guards stood firm or stood aside.'
Russia Today
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Syria facing collapse
Syria could face a surge of violence and total collapse within weeks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told lawmakers in Washington. The top US diplomat has defended President Donald Trump's approach to Syria, including the decision to lift unilateral sanctions and meet in person with the new Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, despite his jihadist background. 'The transitional authority, given the challenges they're facing, are maybe weeks – not many months – away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions,' Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. 'Basically, the country is splitting up.' The secretary blamed former President Bashar Assad for the continued violence since 2011, when a US-backed effort to remove him from power led to a prolonged and bloody conflict. Rubio said Syria had become 'a playground for jihadist groups, including ISIS and others.' Al-Sharaa, who once led the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) under the name Abu Mohammad al-Julani, rose to power after deposing Assad last year. Although the new Syrian leadership 'didn't pass their background check with the FBI,' Rubio said the US must support them to prevent wider regional instability. He argued that pragmatic foreign policy means that the US human rights agenda is 'different in certain parts of the world' than in others. Lifting sanctions would allow foreign aid into Syria, potentially stabilizing the economy and encouraging millions of displaced Syrians to return, Rubio said. The White House, however, remains uncertain whether its approach will succeed. 'If we engage [the al-Sharaa government], it may work out, it may not work out,' Rubio stated. 'If we did not engage them, it was guaranteed to not work out.' US sanctions had aimed to stymie Assad's efforts to rebuild the country after he regained control of most of Syria by 2015. Persistent issues had eroded the morale of the Syrian military, which largely refused to defend Damascus when HTS launched its offensive last November. Al-Sharaa has pledged to uphold Syria's ethnic and religious diversity as he courts Western backing. However, his rule has been marked by reported massacres of Alawites, Christians, and Assad supporters. Israel has carried out multiple airstrikes in Syria in recent months, claiming the attacks were intended to defend Druze militias from fighters aligned with the new government.
Wall Street Journal
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Three Paths for the U.S. in Syria
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Syrian ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa to Paris Wednesday and called for the end of sanctions on Damascus. Mr. Sharaa, the victorious rebel leader, U.S.-designated terrorist and former al Qaeda commander, wore suit and tie, visited the Eiffel Tower and spoke constructively. But when asked about the foreign jihadists who had flocked to his banner, Mr. Sharaa offered no plan to expel them. 'Those who stayed with us,' he said, 'would be committed to Syrian law and would not pose any threat.' He added that 'many have married Syrian women' and could become citizens once naturalization laws are in place. Some have been made commanders in the new Syrian army. You can see why sanctions relief isn't straightforward.
