Hundreds of Syrian Christians flee Islamic State

To make the operations effective, deployment of ground troops is a prerequisite, and the United States has been exerting efforts toward this end by training local forces. Other estimates have put ISIS numbers even higher.

When asked if Syrians now going through the U.S. train-and-equip program were dropping out because of the incident, Davis said the number of trainees changes daily, but declined to give any specific figures. We can only hope that if John McCain visits Syria again, he chooses to tag along with some of the rebel fighters and joins them in the trenches fighting against not Assad or ISIL, but the other Syrian rebels.

Kino said he spoke with two refugees who have family members missing and they were screaming “When will these atrocities against us stop?”.

Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants have abducted hundreds of civilians, including dozens of Christians, from a central Syrian town it captured earlier this week, activists say, a development that has prompted hundreds of Christian families to flee to areas outside the control of the ultra-radical group. “The Islamic State has said that they have “arrested” more than 100 Assyrian/Syriacs from the town of Qaryatain in Homs, Syria“. Only about 60 have been trained to date, and of the 6,000 Syrians who the Pentagon says have volunteered for training, many were rejected by background checks intended to uncover unacceptable political sympathies or criminal histories.

These are the first air strikes carried out by the Turkey.

Military drones have been flying for over 20 years. Since then, U.S.-Kurdish cooperation has expanded. The group has more than enough to meet a payroll of about $360 million a year.

Canada has no drones operating in Iraq or Syria, as far as anyone knows.

That followed an attack by Nusra Front on Friday believed to have killed one of the so-called “New Syrian Forces”, in what would be their first battlefield casualty.

In reality the latest pretext, ISIS, was created and to this day perpetuated by US, Saudi, Israeli, Jordanian, and Turkish support.

Arkin writes that 88 other nations have drones — European countries have over 3,500 — with 54 nations manufacturing their own. It lies only 25 miles from the global Highway, a road that connects Syria’s capital Damascus with regime-controlled areas in Homs and the western coast.

“The administration’s incomplete strategy places U.S. commanders in an untenable situation”, he says.

That air campaign has grown much wider over the past year. “This has now proved its value in the war”. “That’s why they’re losing”.

She does point to one problem for the U.S. military: the burnout of drone operators.

One rebel was killed and five captured, according to defense officials.

Private contractors also provide equipment for drone operations that’s worth billions of dollars.

Their presence over a war zone both enhances situational awareness, and “allows more targets to be identified, and thus to expand the conflict”.

“People have tried to reach their relatives on their mobile phones with no luck”, said a statement from the advocacy group.

Most of Turkey’s strikes in a broad “war on terror” until now have hit the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency in southeastern Turkey and has rear bases in northern Iraq. A sixth recruit has reportedly been killed.

To stem the inflow of fighters and weapons for the ISIL across the Turkish border, bolstering surveillance at the border, which stretches more than 900 kilometers, is important.