DefenceTalkUS Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Sunday that operations to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group were key to defeating the jihadist group. “This is a decisive moment in the campaign to deliver ISIL a lasting defeat,” Carter said in a statement. “We are confident our Iraqi partners will […]https://www.defencetalk.com/mosul-offensive-a-decisive-moment-in-anti-is-campaign-us-defense-secretary-68392/

DefenceTalkSyrian Air Force Mikoyan MiG-29 (NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) fighter jets are performing sorties with medium-range air-to-air missiles of the R-77 (AA-12 Adder) family. Syrian Radio & TV Agency has broadcasted a video showing the attaching of an air-launched weapon of this type to a MiG-29 plane. The video shows a R-77-family missile (most probably, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/syrian-mig-29-fighter-jets-performing-sorties-with-r-77-missiles-68382/

DefenceTalkA remote-controlled ISIS hobby plane rigged with hidden explosives killed two Kurdish fighters and injured two French special operations troops near Mosul, French and US sources confirmed Wednesday. While the Pentagon has previously said the Islamic State group uses simple, commercially available drones to conduct surveillance and carry small explosives, this was the first known […]https://www.defencetalk.com/isis-drone-kills-kurdish-fighters-hurts-french-troops-68379/

DefenceTalkRussia said it has sent an advanced missile system to the Syrian port of Tartus, as tensions escalate between Moscow and Washington over the five-year conflict. The announcement came after Washington said it was suspending talks with Moscow aimed at reviving a ceasefire deal over Russia’s support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-sends-missile-system-to-syria-port-68276/

DefenceTalkTurkey is in the final stages of a developing a new missile defense system to prevent rocket attacks on its cities by the Islamic State, Turkey’s defense minister says. The system has been in the development process for the last 18 months and will be in the test phase this week before being deployed to […]https://www.defencetalk.com/turkey-tests-missile-defense-system-to-blunt-is-attacks-68278/

DefenceTalkSyrian regime forces advanced Sunday in Aleppo after Russia unleashed dozens of air strikes, as the UN’s top aid official decried the “living hell” suffered by residents in the city’s rebel-held east. The devastating five-year war in Syria has ravaged second city Aleppo, once the country’s economic hub but now torn apart by fighting between […]https://www.defencetalk.com/syria-army-advances-as-un-decries-aleppos-living-hell-68269/

DefenceTalkFrench fighter jets took off from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle on Friday for an operation against the Islamic State group in its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, an officer said. Eight jets took off from the carrier in the eastern Mediterranean, an AFP photographer on the flight deck reported. The Charles de Gaulle is […]https://www.defencetalk.com/french-fighter-jets-on-mission-against-isis-in-mosul-68263/

DefenceTalkThe United States will send about 600 extra troops to Iraq to train local forces for an offensive on the Islamic State group stronghold of Mosul, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Wednesday. IS seized Mosul along with other areas in June 2014, but the country’s forces have since regained significant ground from the jihadists and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-to-send-600-more-troops-to-iraq-for-mosul-offensive-68245/

DefenceTalkSyria’s Aleppo faced worsening food and medical shortages and warplanes again pounded the city as Russia condemned what it called “unacceptable” Western rhetoric after allegations of war crimes. A fresh wave of intense air strikes battered Aleppo’s opposition-controlled east, said an AFP correspondent in the city facing its worst violence in years. During an emergency […]https://www.defencetalk.com/aleppo-battered-as-russia-slams-unacceptable-rhetoric-68222/

DefenceTalkWashington is considering arming Syrian Kurdish forces who will join the offensive to retake the Islamic State group’s stronghold of Raqa, the US military’s top officer said Thursday. Though the United States has already helped arm Kurdish fighters in Iraq, a similar move in Syria is more contentious as key ally Turkey regards the group […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pentagon-weighs-arming-syrian-kurds-ahead-of-raqa-fight-68207/