DefenceTalkIraqi forces on Tuesday recaptured from the Islamic State group the first three districts of militant bastion Tal Afar as the Pentagon chief visited Baghdad in a show of support. The United Nations said thousands of civilians had fled Tal Afar in the two days since the start of the broad offensive backed by the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iraqi-forces-retake-three-districts-of-is-bastion-70343/

DefenceTalkUS-led coalition air strikes aimed at dislodging Islamic State group militants from the Syrian city of Raqa have cost the lives of 59 civilians in three days, a monitoring group said Thursday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 21 children were among at least 59 civilians killed in the air strikes since Monday, after […]https://www.defencetalk.com/dozens-of-civilians-killed-in-us-led-raids-on-syrias-raqa-70289/

DefenceTalkA Syrian rebel group said it shot down a government warplane on Tuesday and captured its pilot alive near a ceasefire zone in the war-ravaged country’s south. The Ahmad al-Abdo Forces shot down the Syrian government MiG-21 near Wadi Mahmud in the southern province of Sweida, the group’s communications head Fares al-Munjed told AFP. “The […]https://www.defencetalk.com/syrian-rebels-say-they-downed-regime-plane-captured-pilot-70271/

DefenceTalkTurkey sent artillery units to the border with Syria Saturday, where its army regularly clashes with Kurdish militia, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. A military convoy with at least five howitzers arrived overnight at the southern city of Kilis the scene of recent cross-border fire between the Turkish army and the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection […]https://www.defencetalk.com/turkey-sends-more-artillery-to-syrian-border-70253/

DefenceTalkThe unprecedented US downing of a Syrian regime warplane highlights the rapidly shifting dynamic in the six-year conflict where President Donald Trump has given American commanders a freer rein in the battlefield. The United States insisted Monday it wants no broader role in Syria’s civil war, and seeks only to destroy the Islamic State group, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/americas-widening-role-in-syrian-war-70173/

DefenceTalkA Russian warship and submarine have fired cruise missiles at Islamic State group targets around Palmyra in Syria from the Mediterranean, Moscow said on Wednesday (May 31), the first such strikes announced in months. The frigate Admiral Essen and submarine Krasnodar carried out four strikes against military hardware and fighters from the militnat group who […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russian-warship-sub-fire-cruise-missiles-at-is-in-syria-70109/

DefenceTalkThe United States on Tuesday began providing small arms to Kurdish fighters battling the Islamic State group in northern Syria, the Pentagon said, fulfilling a pledge that has infuriated Turkey. The weapons transfers have begun ahead of an upcoming offensive to recapture Raqa, the last major bastion for IS in Syria. “We have begun to […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-begins-sending-arms-to-kurdish-fighters-in-syria-70103/

DefenceTalkUS-led warplanes hit a pro-regime convoy in Syria that ignored warning shots, weeks after President Donald Trump’s administration launched America’s first strikes against Damascus forces in the war-torn country. The strike by the coalition fighting the Islamic State group happened on the same day IS jihadists killed more than 50 people in attacks on two […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-led-warplanes-hit-syrian-forces-69987/

DefenceTalkThe US military on Thursday dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed in combat, targeting an Islamic State complex in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said. The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb — better known by its nickname, the “Mother Of All Bombs” — hit a tunnel complex at 7:32 pm (1502 GMT) in Achin district […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-drops-mother-of-all-bombs-in-afghanistan-69728/

DefenceTalkAny new US action in Syria “will not go unanswered”, Iran’s Defence Minister Hossein Dehgan warned Tuesday after America threatened to follow up a strike last week with more attacks. The United States last week fired a volley of cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack that killed […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iran-warns-us-action-in-syria-wont-go-unanswered-69713/