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Euphrates Liberation Brigade
The Euphrates Liberation Brigade (Arabic: Liwa Tahrir al-Furat) is a mostly Arab militia that operates as part of the Syrian Democratic Forces' Manbij Military Council (MMC) in the Syrian civil war. History The Euphrates Liberation Brigade was founded in Manbij as part of the MMC in October 2016. Originally 250 men strong, the militia expanded over time, mostly recruiting Arabs from Manbij city and its surroundings. Several of its fighters are former Free Syrian Army (FSA) members who abandoned the rebellion against Bashar al-Assad due to the increasing Islamist radicalism among anti-government forces. Regardless, the Begin–Sadat Center has considered the militia to be still part of the FSA. Soon after its formation, the Euphrates Liberation Brigade fought the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) west of Manbij during the Battle of al-Bab, in course of which it was allegedly bombed by the Turkish Air Force on 20 November. In April 2017, elements of the Euphrates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Firat News Agency
Firat News Agency (ANF) ( ku, Ajansa Nûçeyan a Firatê, tr, Fırat Haber Ajansı) is a Kurdish news agency that gathers and broadcasts news from the Middle East, broadly concerning Kurdish matters. The news agency has offices in Amsterdam and journalists around the world. It has been variously described as pro-Kurdish, pro-PKK, or PKK-affiliated. CBC and Reuters have described ANF as being "close" to the PKK, and Deutsche Welle states the two entities have "links". The BBC have alternately labelled ANF "pro-Kurdish" and "pro-PKK". Because of ANF's alleged links with the PKK, access to its websites from Turkey has been repeatedly blocked by Turkish courts, its social media accounts active in the country have been closed, and its journalists have been detained in Turkey. In addition, Twitter has blocked ANF at the request of the Turkish government. Arrest of Maxime Azadi On 15 December 2016, French-Turkish ANF journalist Maxime Azadi was arrested in Belgium after Turkey is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army
The Syrian National Army (SNA) ( ar, الجيش الوطني السوري, al-Jayš al-Waṭanī as-Sūrī), previously the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and also known as the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA), is a coalition of armed Syrian opposition groups in the Syrian Civil War. Comprising various rebel factions that emerged at the onset of the war in July 2011, it was officially established in 2017 under the auspices of Turkey, which provides funding, training, and military support. The SNA has its roots in the FSA, a loose collection of armed opposition groups founded on 29 July 2011 by defecting Syrian military officers. After formally condemning the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Turkey provided arms, training, and sanctuary to the organization. Initially the principal opponent of the Syrian government, the FSA was gradually weakened by infighting, lack of funding, and the emergence of rival Islamist groups. From August 2016, Turkey began assembling a new coalition of Sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raqqa
Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish languages, Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and bishopric Callinicum (formerly a Latin and now a Maronite Catholic titular see) was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 796 and 809, under the reign of Harun al-Rashid. It was also the capital of the Territory of the Islamic State, Islamic State from 2014 to 2017. With a population of 531,952 based on the 2021 official census, Raqqa is the sixth largest city in Syria. During the Syrian Civil War, the city was captured in 2013 by the Syrian opposition and then by the Islamic State. ISIS made the city its capital in 2014. As a result, the city was hit by airstrikes from the Syrian government, Russia, the United States, and Military intervention against ISIL, several other countries. Mos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawar News Agency
'' Hawar News Agency'' (sometimes abbreviated ''ANHA'') ( ar, وكالة أنباء هاوار) is an news agency. The site started as an Arabic-only news service. Hawar News is linked to the Syrian Democratic Forces. Ownership, identity and reliability The ownership of the Hawar News Agency is unpublished. The website's domain name was first registered in August 2012. The site's ''About'' page says just ''"ANHA"''. Pro-Syrian opposition source Verify-sy claims Hawar News is affiliated with the Democratic Union Party (PYD). Access blocked from Turkey The Turkish telecommunications regulator blocked access to several news agencies in July 2015. It comes following the end of the Kurdish Turkish peace process and was described as a ''counter-terrorism'' action, other Kurdish language or left-wing news sites based within and outside Turkey that were banned at the same time as Hawar News included Rudaw, Dicle News Agency, and Özgür Gündem ''Özgür Gündem'' ( Turkish for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Tabqa (2017)
The Battle of Tabqa, part of the Raqqa campaign (2016–17) of the Rojava-Islamist conflict, resulted from a Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) operation against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to recapture and secure the Tabqa Dam, al-Thawrah (al-Tabqah), Tabqa Airbase, and the surrounding countryside. The SDF was supported by the United States military. The assault on these targets by the anti-ISIL forces began on 22 March 2017, and control of Tabqa and the Tabqa Dam was achieved by these forces on 10 May 2017. Background The SDF, moving to take Raqqa, positioned themselves around the city as part of the second phase of the operation. However, as part of this, they encountered IS forces dug in around the Tabqa Dam, west of Raqqa city. Because of the dam's fragility and strategic importance, the SDF could not immediately move on the dam, and there were concerns it could break and cause flooding. ISIL had threatened to open the floodgates if the dam was attacked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Thawrah
Al-Thawrah ( ar, ٱلثَّوْرَة, aṯ-Ṯawrah), also known as Al-Tabqah ( ar, ٱلطَّبْقَة, aṭ-Ṭabqah, also ), is a city in Raqqa Governorate, Syria, approximately west of Raqqa. The name "al-Thawrah" literally means "The Revolution", in reference to the Baathist March 8th revolution in 1963. The Tabqa Dam and Lake Assad on the Euphrates, an important energy source for Syria, are near al-Thawrah. The city had a population of 69,425 as of the 2004 census. It is part of the Tabqa Region of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Syrian Civil War On 26 November 2012, during the Syrian Civil War, a main route from Raqqa to Aleppo passing through al-Thawrah along the Euphrates was dotted with both government and Syrian rebel checkpoints. On 11 February 2013, rebel groups including the al-Nusra Front and Liwa Owais al-Qorani took over the city. On 21 November, there was fierce fighting between government troops and rebels in the town, but by 25 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Institute For The Study Of War
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is a United States–based think tank founded in 2007 by Kimberly Kagan, providing research and analysis regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs. It has produced reports on the Syrian War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War, "focusing on military operations, enemy threats, and political trends in diverse conflict zones". It currently publishes daily reports on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. ISW was founded in response to the stagnation of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, with core funding provided by a group of defense contractors. According to a mission statement on its website, ISW aims to provide "real-time, government-independent, and open-source analysis of ongoing military operations and insurgent attacks". ISW currently operates as a nonprofit organization, supported in part by contributions from defense contractors [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turkish Air Force
The Turkish Air Force ( tr, ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known today did not come into existence until 1923 with the creation of the Republic of Turkey. It is considered to be the third largest airforce in NATO. In 1998, the Turkish Armed Forces announced a program of modernization worth US$160 billion over a twenty-year period in various projects. $45 billion was earmarked to go to the overhaul of the Turkish Air Force, and includes commissioning new combat aircraft (consisting of multi-role and fifth generation stealth fighters) and helicopters (consisting of heavy lift, attack, medium lift and light general purpose helicopters). According to Flight International ( Flightglobal.com) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Turkish Air Force has an active strength of 50,000 mil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islamic State Of Iraq And The Levant
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ''dawlah islāmiyyah'' ( ar, دولة إسلامية) it refers to a modern notion associated with political Islam (Islamism). Notable examples of historical Islamic states include the State of Medina, established by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the Arab Caliphate which continued under his successors and the Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyads. The concept of the modern Islamic state has been articulated and promoted by ideologues such as Rashid Rida, Sayyid Rashid Rida, Mullah Omar, Mohammed Omar, Abul A'la Maududi, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Israr Ahmed, Sayyid Qutb and Hassan al-Banna. Implementation of Islamic law plays an important role in modern theories of the Islamic state, as it did in classical Islami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Begin–Sadat Center For Strategic Studies
The Begin–Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA Center) is an Israeli think tank affiliated with Bar-Ilan University and supported by the NATO ''Mediterranean Initiative'', conducting policy-relevant research on Middle Eastern and global strategic affairs, particularly as they relate to the national security and foreign policy of Israel and regional peace and stability. The center's mission is to contribute to promoting peace and security in the Middle East, through policy-oriented researches on national security in the Middle East. It is located at the Social Sciences Faculty of Bar-Ilan University. The center was founded by Thomas Hecht, a Canadian-Jewish leader, and was dedicated to Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, who signed the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, the first peace agreement ever signed between Israel and an Arab country. About the BESA Center BESA according to BESA Professor Efraim Inbar describes the center's mission as follows: "Over the years, we have been th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aris Roussinos
Aristeides John Roussinos is a British journalist and author. He was formerly a war reporter working for Vice News. Early life and education Roussinos was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Durham University (BA Anthropology, 2004) and the University of Oxford (MSc Social and Cultural Anthropology, 2005). Career Roussinos was awarded the 2013 Rory Peck Award for News, for his report ''Ground Zero Mali: The Battle of Gao''. During the Arab Spring Roussinos travelled extensively with Islamic Front in Syria, anti-government fighters in Libya, as well as travelling to Mali, Sudan, South Sudan and Lebanon. Roussinos is currently a contributing editor at UnHerd. Publications * ''The Ghosts of Aleppo'', Vice News, video series * ''Rebels: My Life Behind Enemy Lines with Warlords, Fanatics and Not-so-Friendly Fire'' (2014), Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
