On September 10, 2019, a video about a Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) recruitment event called "Wage Jihad with Your Soul" that took place at the Atmeh refugee camp near Idlib, Syria was uploaded to Facebook. A man named Abu Suleiman Al-Shukani, one of the organizers of the event, s...
In a video uploaded to the Internet on September 4, 2019, Sheikh Yahya Bin Taher Al-Farghali, an Egyptian member of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham's (HTS) shura and shari'a councils, commented on 9/11. He said that "if additional acts [like 9/11] were to keep happening against America – a...
In a video uploaded to the Internet on September 4, 2019, Sheikh Yahya Bin Taher Al-Farghali, an Egyptian member of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham's (HTS) shura and shari'a councils, commented on 9/11. He said that "if additional acts [like 9/11] were to keep happening against America – a...
Experts continue to discuss the renaming of the elite units of the Syrian intelligence of the Air Force Tiger Forces, which are considered to be the pillar of the Russian military command in the Arab Republic. The Syrian Government reorganized the unit, renaming it from Tiger For...
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On July 30, 2019, the Syrian opposition website Ein Al-Porat published a report on its Facebook page detailing the locati...
In a July 21, 2019 show on ANB TV (Iraq), Iraqi TV host Mahdi Jassem read a text from the late Syrian poet Muhammad Al-Maghut. The text was highly critical of Islam and Islamic scholars, and it questioned why Muslims are still expected to behave in the exact same way the progenit...
In a July 21, 2019 show on ANB TV (Iraq), Iraqi TV host Mahdi Jassem read a text from the late Syrian poet Muhammad Al-Maghut. The text was highly critical of Islam and Islamic scholars, and it questioned why Muslims are still expected to behave in the exact same way the progenit...
Syrian actress Deema Bayyaa said in a June 20, 2019 show on Lana TV (Lebanon) that the sexual preferences of homosexuals are not her business, whether religion approves of them or not. She argued that religion disapproves of many things that society currently approves of – such a...
Former Lebanese Minister Wiam Wahhab said in a July 16, 2019 interview on OTV (Lebanon) that Turkey is an enemy because it is occupying Arab land in Syria and Iraq. Wahhab explained that, by contrast, Iran is not an enemy because it would leave these territories if it was asked t...
From left to right: TRT World producer Hasan Arber,[1] HTS Official In Charge Of Local Management And Public Services Muayad Al-Hussain,[2] HTS administration head Fawaz Hilal,[3] TRT World reporter Obaida Hitto,[4] and TRT World cameraman Mehmet Faruk Yüce.[5]
On July 4, 2...
Recently, a Facebook campaign for Syrian Army soldiers who had been serving since the beginning of the Syria crisis, called "We Want to Be Released," has been revived. By law, Syrian compulsory military service lasts for 18 months; however, since the crisis began in 2011, al...
On July 13, 2019, Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) jurist Sheikh Abu Al-Fath Al-Farghali posted a video to his Telegram channel declaring the use of Bitcoin to be permissible according to shari'a law and permitting zakat ("almsgiving") using it. He also said that Bitcoin is safer than...
Sayyaf Sharif Daoud, a captured Israeli-Arab ISIS fighter who holds Israeli citizenship, said in a July 16, 2019 interview on BBC Arabic (U.K.) with correspondent Feras Kilani that he had joined ISIS instead of the Palestinian resistance because his experience of having lived thr...
On July 12, 2019, a group of imprisoned female relatives of Islamic State (ISIS) fighters released a video through the pro-ISIS Al-Bayan media foundation in which they threatened to carry out attacks and called on ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and his fighters to liberate them...
Introduction
In recent days, Facebook pages identified with the Syrian regime have reported on personnel changes in the upper echelons of the Syrian security and intelligence apparatuses. Among those replaced were the chiefs of the general intelligence, political security, cr...
Bilal Abdul Kareem from On The Ground News interviewed Abu Salman Al-Belarusi, the head of Malhama Tactical, a private contractor in Syria that trains the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and other groups. Al-Belarusi said that Bashar Al-Assad's forces target Malha...
Against the backdrop of the June 25-29, 2019 U.S.-backed Bahrain "Peace to Prosperity" economic workshop discussing the economic aspect of the Trump administration's "Deal of the Century," senior Syrian journalist Fuad Al-Sharabji wrote in his column for the Syrian establishment ...
On July 2, 2019, a Syrian opposition website published a report detailing the locations of the Iran-backed Iraqi and Lebanese Shi'ite militias in the Syrian city of Al-Bukamal and nearby rural areas, near the Syria-Iraq border.
The report provided the locations of these mi...
Captured Turkish Islamic State (ISIS) operative Elias Ahmed Aiden aka Abu Obaida Al-Turki said in an interview that "there is no such thing as an 'opposition'" in ISIS. Regarding ISIS's beheading of its prisoners, he said that "we just implemented what is mentioned in the Islamic...
Gebran Bassil, Lebanon's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, said in a June 15, 2019 speech that aired on OTV (Lebanon) that the 600,000 displaced Syrians in Lebanon, some of whom are illegally employed and who do not pay taxes, are costing the Lebanese people work opportu...
Naji Hayek, a member of Lebanon's Free Patriotic Movement, said in a June 10, 2019 interview on Al-Jadeed/New TV (Lebanon) that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, which he described as a "gun for hire" that has destroyed Lebanon and its people, had started off just like today's...
Syrian intellectual Hashem Saleh said in an April 19, 2019 interview on Sky News Arabia TV (Abu Dhabi) that the Enlightenment was a reaction to the evil of sectarian wars – without which he said people would not have dared to question religion – and that he hopes ISIS, Al-Qaeda, ...
On April 13, 2019, Syria's official news agency reported that Israeli planes had targeted a "military outpost" in the city of Masyaf in the Hama Governorate.[1] Syrian opposition websites reported that the targets were a site for developing Iranian medium-range missiles and headq...
Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani: The Hmeimim base is not a peace base. It is used to kill people. So if there is a retaliation against it… The rebels have the right to shell this base, which is used to kill the Syrian people, and to perpetrate massacres against women and children. So [at...
Al-Furqan Media, an ISIS media arm, posted a video of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi on April 29, 2019. This is the first video of Al-Baghdadi since July 2014, see MEMRITV #4335. Al-Baghdadi referred to the ISIS loss in the battle of Al-Baghuz, saying “the nation of the Cross” ...
In a scathing column published April 22, 2019 in the Syrian daily Al-Watan, which is affiliated with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Rif'at Ibrahim Al-Badawi accused Syria allies Russia and Iran of individually pressuring Syria politically and economically to acce...
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Al-Arabiya Network interviewed Mustafa, a 15-year-old former ISIS child fighter who is currently at a rehabilitation cent...
On April 18, 2019, Al-Arabiya TV (Dubai/Saudi Arabia) published an interview with a former ISIS fighter from Holland, Abu Saraya Al-Holandi, who is the husband of Shamima Begum. Al-Holandi said that he had held several positions in ISIS, including having been a medic, a welder, a...
On April 17, 2019, Al-Arabiya Network aired an English-language interview with Abu Trab Al-Canadi, a former ISIS fighter from Canada, who is currently in a Syrian Defense Force prison. Abu Trab said he came to Turkey seeking to enter Syria in order to help the Syrian people by&nb...
Al-Arabiya Network senior reporter Rola Al-Khatib interviewed ISIS female members and their children at Al-Hol camp for foreign women who were members of ISIS. The camp is one of three camps run by the Civilian Administration of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The w...
Al-Arabiya Network interviewed Mustafa, a 15-year-old former ISIS child fighter who is currently at a rehabilitation center. Mustafa tells the interviewer that he is the son of an ISIS emir, his father took him to several ISIS training camps, where he trained with weapons and att...
Sheikh Sadek Al-Nabousli, a Lebanese political science lecturer, said in a March 28, 2019 interview on Al-Jadeed/New TV (Lebanon) that the Syrian regime is in favor of and has an opportunity to establish a resistance force in order to "liberate" the Golan Heights from Israel. Al-...
Bin Laden Al-Italy, a former ISIS fighter from Italy, was interviewed by Al-Arabia Network about his experience with ISIS. Al-Italy told Al-Arabiya that ISIS operatives connected with him on Facebook providing him with instructions for entering Syria via Turkey. According to Al-I...
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said in a March 22, 2019 interview on Mayadeen TV (Lebanon) that the Trump administration is acting against the basic interests of the American people and imposing coercive measures throughout the world. He also said that Syria and the...
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said in a March 22, 2019 interview on Mayadeen TV (Lebanon) that the Trump administration is acting against the basic interests of the American people and imposing coercive measures throughout the world. He also said that Syria and the...
Syrian political analyst Taleb Ibrahim said, in a recent Al-Manar TV program, that now that the defeat of the militants in Syria and Iraq was a "done deal," it was the right moment for a war against the Israeli enemy, which, he said, managed ISIS, the Al-Nusra Front, and the Free...
In a video uploaded to the Internet on September 4, 2019, Sheikh Yahya Bin Taher Al-Farghali, an Egyptian member of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham's (HTS) shura and shari'a councils, commented on 9/11. He said that "if additional acts [like 9/11] were to keep happening against America – a...
Experts continue to discuss the renaming of the elite units of the Syrian intelligence of the Air Force Tiger Forces, which are considered to be the pillar of the Russian military command in the Arab Republic. The Syrian Government reorganized the unit, renaming it from Tiger For...
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On July 30, 2019, the Syrian opposition website Ein Al-Porat published a report on its Facebook page detailing the locati...
In a July 21, 2019 show on ANB TV (Iraq), Iraqi TV host Mahdi Jassem read a text from the late Syrian poet Muhammad Al-Maghut. The text was highly critical of Islam and Islamic scholars, and it questioned why Muslims are still expected to behave in the exact same way the progenit...
From left to right: TRT World producer Hasan Arber,[1] HTS Official In Charge Of Local Management And Public Services Muayad Al-Hussain,[2] HTS administration head Fawaz Hilal,[3] TRT World reporter Obaida Hitto,[4] and TRT World cameraman Mehmet Faruk Yüce.[5]
On July 4, 2...
Against the backdrop of the June 25-29, 2019 U.S.-backed Bahrain "Peace to Prosperity" economic workshop discussing the economic aspect of the Trump administration's "Deal of the Century," senior Syrian journalist Fuad Al-Sharabji wrote in his column for the Syrian establishment ...
On July 2, 2019, a Syrian opposition website published a report detailing the locations of the Iran-backed Iraqi and Lebanese Shi'ite militias in the Syrian city of Al-Bukamal and nearby rural areas, near the Syria-Iraq border.
The report provided the locations of these mi...
On April 13, 2019, Syria's official news agency reported that Israeli planes had targeted a "military outpost" in the city of Masyaf in the Hama Governorate.[1] Syrian opposition websites reported that the targets were a site for developing Iranian medium-range missiles and headq...
In a scathing column published April 22, 2019 in the Syrian daily Al-Watan, which is affiliated with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Rif'at Ibrahim Al-Badawi accused Syria allies Russia and Iran of individually pressuring Syria politically and economically to acce...
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Al-Arabiya Network interviewed Mustafa, a 15-year-old former ISIS child fighter who is currently at a rehabilitation cent...
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said in a March 22, 2019 interview on Mayadeen TV (Lebanon) that the Trump administration is acting against the basic interests of the American people and imposing coercive measures throughout the world. He also said that Syria and the...
Syrian political analyst Taleb Ibrahim said, in a recent Al-Manar TV program, that now that the defeat of the militants in Syria and Iraq was a "done deal," it was the right moment for a war against the Israeli enemy, which, he said, managed ISIS, the Al-Nusra Front, and the Free...
Syrian scholar Firas Al-Sawwah said in a March 3, 2019 interview on Al-Hurra TV (U.S.) that the Al-Aqsa Mosque that was mentioned in the Quran was not in Jerusalem, and that Caliph Abd Al-Malik Ibn Marwan had decided to build a holy place in Jerusalem and call it Al-Aqsa. He said...
Brigadier-General Lu'ayy Shehadeh of the Syrian Army's engineering directorate said in a March 12, 2019 interview on Al-Manar TV in which he showed the interviewer one of the Syrian military's tunnels, that the Syrian Civil War gave the Arab Syrian Army valuable experience for a ...
On January 30, 2019 Bahia Mardini, a Syrian Kurdish journalist, author and human rights activist and a former media consultant to the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, published an letter to Asma Al-Assad, the wife of Syrian President Bashar Al-As...
Since the beginning of winter, there have been increasing reports of the dire humanitarian conditions in the displaced persons camps in Syria and in the Syrian refugee camps in the neighboring countries. On January 15, 2019, it was reported that 15 displaced Syrian children, 13 o...
Recently, several Arab states have shown an inclination to renew their recognition of Bashar Al-Assad's regime as the legitimate ruler of Syria and to normalize their relations with it. For example, on December 16, 2018, Sudanese President 'Omar Al-Bashir became the first Arab he...
In the course of January 2019, the Syrian regime and its affiliated media escalated their statements against Israel. The statements came in response to Israel's continued attacks against the Iranian presence in Syria: On January 11, a Syrian military source reported that Is...
U.S. President Trump's December 19, 2018 announcement that the U.S. would withdraw its forces from Syria came as a surprise to many, and prompted a range of reactions in Syria, Arab countries, and worldwide.[1] Most reactions from the Syrian opposition reflected disappointment al...
A January 25, 2019 article in the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is close to Hizbullah, protested against what it described as emerging security cooperation between France and Israel in Syria. The article claimed, citing "knowledgeable" French sources, that during the recent vis...
On January 23, 2019, the Kuwaiti daily Al-Jarida reported that Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Qods Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), had, on January 18, visited a city in southern Syria near the Syria-Israel border. By doing so, he violated the Israel...
Syrian opposition activist and writer Issam Zeitoun appeared on a debate about Israel on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) on January 16, 2019. Zeitoun said that Israel is an existing country to which some Arabs turn a blind eye. Ra'ed Al-Masri, a Lebanese professor of political science...
The Bashar Al-Assad regime responded to U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of the U.S. pullout from Syria with satisfaction over the "American defeat," but also with skepticism regarding the sincerity of the announcement and apprehension that it is merely a ruse. The Syri...
President Donald Trump's December 19, 2018 announcement of the imminent withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Syria sparked many reactions in the Saudi press, the vast majority of them expressing disappointment at the decision and apprehension that it would strengthen Iran in Syria ...
On December 19, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Syria, tweeting that "after historic victories against ISIS, it’s time to bring our great young people home!"[1] Whitehouse spokesperson Sarah Sanders confirmed that the U.S. had be...
Throughout the seven-year crisis in Syria, Iran has exploited the instability in the country to consolidate its presence there. On the military level, it dispatched Shi'ite militias to Syria[1] ADD and established military bases.[2] On other levels, it collaborated with the Syria...
In the past two weeks, the Syrian regime has renewed its calls for a military operation in Idlib, the rebels' last stronghold in the country. The regime's previous attempt to retake the city by force, two months ago, was halted when Russia and Turkey signed a memorandum of unders...
Layla, a nurse who had worked for ISIS in Syria, said that she had been forced to perform abortions on ISIS slave girls when they became pregnant. She described how she had sedated her children so that she could safely escape with them to Lebanon under garbage bags in the back of...
Throughout the Syria war, websites opposed to the Assad regime have repeatedly claimed that this regime and its ally Iran were using the war to change Syria's demographics by expelling Sunni populations, deemed a potential threat to the regime, and bringing in Shi'ites, who ...
On October 17, 2018, UN Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura announced that he will step down at the end of November "for personal reasons," after serving in the post for over four years.[1] The announcement was welcomed by the Syrian regime, which over these years has frequently ex...
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On September 13, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media group called Al-Abd Al-Faqir Media released an animated video on their ...
In recent years, the Syrian regime and its allies have subdued opposition strongholds across the country with national or local "reconciliation agreements," under which opposition fighters, as groups or as individuals, have faced a choice of either handing their weapons over to t...
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who is the special assistant to the speaker of the Iranian parliament and a former Iranian deputy foreign minister, was interviewed on Iraq's Al-Nujaba TV network. Abdollahian said that Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen is a Zionist plot to weaken Saudi Arabia...
On September 26, 2018, the Saudi London-based daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published an exclusive interview with James Jeffrey, the new U.S. Special Representative for Syria Engagement, in which he addressed the situation in Syria, the Iranian forces' presence in Syria, the objective ...
On August 5, 2018, China's Ambassador in Syria, Qi Qianjin, published an article in the pro-regime Syrian daily Al-Watan focusing on relations between China and the Arab world. He wrote that these relations have entered a new era of enhanced strategic cooperation and that China i...
In a series of articles, the pro-Hizbullah Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar discussed recent contacts between the Assad regime and Arab and Western states, including Saudi Arabia and the U.S., in anticipation of the end of the Syria war and the commencement of Syria's reconstruction. Acc...
Recently, a Facebook campaign for Syrian Army soldiers who had been serving since the beginning of the Syria crisis, called "We Want to Be Released," has been revived. By law, Syrian compulsory military service lasts for 18 months; however, since the crisis began in 2011, al...
Introduction
In recent days, Facebook pages identified with the Syrian regime have reported on personnel changes in the upper echelons of the Syrian security and intelligence apparatuses. Among those replaced were the chiefs of the general intelligence, political security, cr...
In the recent weeks, as the eighth year of the Syrian war drew to a close and with the Assad regime in control of most of Syria's territory, media associated with the Syrian opposition has been reporting that popular and armed opposition against the regime and its allies has resu...
The Arab League Economic Summit, due to take place in Beirut on January 20, 2019, is to deal with the economic crisis in Lebanon and the reconstruction of Syria, among other issues. On January 16, the Arab Private Sector Forum convened in Beirut, with the participation of Lebanes...
Introduction
Since the Syrian regime and its allies, Iran and Russia, regained control of southern Syria in July 2018, there have been increasing reports on websites opposed to the regime of a growing presence of pro-Iranian forces in this region and close to Syria's borders w...
By: MEMRI JTTM Staff
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Introduction
On November 26, 2018, four-year-old Yasmine Atid and her mothe...
The following is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Introduction
Some seven and a half years after the start of the uprising against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Ass...
Recently, the Syrian army and the forces that back it, with the support of the Russians, managed to take control of a large part of the Dar'a governorate in southern Syria. This occurred following a military campaign against Syrian opposition factions that began on June 19, 2018....
In light of Israel's recent military operations against Iran's military expansion in Syria, comprising strikes against strategic Iranian and Syrian targets such as Iran-controlled airfields, missile bases, and drone bases, Iran now faces a strategic question: whether to respond t...
In recent weeks, there have been indications of a possible shift in Saudi Arabia's policy vis-à-vis Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and recognition of his regime. These indications have prompted various predictions regarding the possibility of normalization of Saudi-Syrian relat...
On January 30, 2018, the Syrian Congress of National Dialogue was held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia. The conference, led by Russia, was part of that country's efforts to advance a political solution for the Syria crisis.
The week before the conference, on January 2...
Faced with enormous pressure from the global coalition, and following its defeats on the battlefield, recently numerous Islamic State (ISIS) fighters who operated in Syria and Iraq have deserted. Some have returned to their families in Syria and Iraq. Others, from countries outsi...
Introduction
On January 11, 2018, the Telegram channel of the jihadi organization in Syria Jaysh Al-Badiya ("The Desert Army") published a photo of some of its fighters and fighters from another jihadi organization in Syria, Jaysh Al-Malahem, en route to a battlefront in the s...
Introduction
On December 22, 2017, at the end of the eighth round of intra-Syrian talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, which focused on the topic of the ceasefire, the three countries sponsoring the talks – Iran, Russia and Turkey – announced that a national dialogue conference would ...
Recently, and especially since the announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, elements in the resistance axis, including Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Iran and Hizb...
The achievements of the Syrian regime and its allies in southern Syria in recent months have sparked growing concern in Jordan about the increasing presence of pro-Iranian forces on the Syria-Jordan border. Jordan's King 'Abdallah II expressed this concern in September this year:...
Following the November 12, 2017 meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam, President Trump agreed to, and legitimized Iran's expansion in Syria, including the deployment of Iranian a...
In recent months, three large international fairs were held in Damascus, by means of which the Syrian regime sought to demonstrate its victory over its enemies and stress that the rebuilding of Syria has begun. The first and largest of the two was the 59th Damascus International ...
In the recent weeks, there have been clear signs of further rapprochement between Egypt and the Syrian regime, headed by Bashar Al-Assad, although Egyptian officials repeatedly stress that Egypt is not taking sides in the Syrian crisis. Since Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-...
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Introduction
Even as the Islamic State (ISIS) is involved in fierce battles in Iraq and Syria, its official ...
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Introduction
The Salafi-jihadi group Jaish Khalid bin Al-Walid,[1] which was founded in May 2016 basin in sou...
Introduction
In January 2015, MEMRI researched and flagged YouTube videos of support for jihadi fighters and "martyrs" and "martyrdom," to test the platform's "Promotes Terrorism" flagging feature. The test was a follow-up to MEMRI research and testing of jihad and terrorism o...
On March 7, 2017, the chiefs of staff of the U.S., Russian, and Turkish militaries met in Antalya, Turkey to discuss security problems in Syria and Iraq. Conspicuous in its absence at the meeting was any Iranian representation whatsoever. According to a Russian Defense Ministry r...
Introduction
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, which are members of the anti-terror coalition headed by the U.S., are targets for the Islamic State (ISIS), which has carried out large-scale terror attacks on their soil. Accordingly, they are waging a war on the organization wi...
Introduction
On December 20, 2016, the Russian, Iranian, and Turkish defense and foreign ministers met in Moscow to discuss potential solutions to the Syria crisis. Following the meeting, the ministers announced that they had approved the Moscow Declaration, which Russian Defe...
Introduction
After six years of war in Syria, the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad seems to have the upper hand over the rebel forces. Massive assistance from allies Iran, Russia, and Hizbullah has enabled it to almost completely crush its opponents and push them out...
Introduction
This past week, Egypt-Syria relations warmed further, as evidenced by Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi's public statements in support of the Syrian army's war against the "terrorists," and by several articles in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram expr...
Introduction
Throughout the five and a half years of the war in Syria, and along with military action against the rebels, the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, together with Iran, Hizbullah, and the pro-Assad militias, have implemented various measures to change the ...
Introduction
On May 24, 2016, Elie Hanna, a
journalist for the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is close to the
Syrian regime, published excerpts of the draft of a "Russian constitution
for Syria," which included what he called "substantial changes to the
current constitution." T...
Introduction
Since the onset of the war in Syria, refugees have flocked to Jordan.
Some have been housed in refugee camps, but the vast majority settled
throughout the country, burdening its society and economy - the latter of which
is based primarily on foreign aid. Jordan
has ...
After
nearly six years of intense fighting in Syria, the regime army forces are
severely depleted, due to the heavy losses they have suffered and also due to
increasing draft dodging.[1]
The regime has taken several measures to address this problem. In addition to
bringing in fo...
Introduction
In recent months there have been
increasing reports, particularly on Syrian oppositionist websites and also
anti-Syrian regime Qatari and Saudi websites, on draft dodging in Syria. According to Syria's 2007 Service of the Flag law,
anyone over the age of 18 but unde...
On March 14, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin
announced that the following day Russia would begin withdrawing most its forces
from Syria, stating that they had accomplished most of their objectives there.
He added that some Russian forces would remain at the Hmeymim airbase...
IntroductionFor the past seven months, the
Syrian town of Madaya, northwest of Damascus, has been besieged by Hizbullah
and forces of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The town's
plight has made headlines lately because of numerous media reports that its
residents a...
Introduction
In late November 2015, the
"Upcoming Syria" movement was established in Istanbul. This is the
first 'Alawi movement that opposes the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria. The
movement's founders claim that for years, Assad tied the fate of the 'Alawi
sect with his own in...
Introduction
On January 29, 2016, some two
years after the failure of the Geneva II conference, another round of indirect talks
will take place in Geneva between the Assad regime and the Syrian opposition,
in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which outlined a
...
On September 10, 2019, a video about a Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) recruitment event called "Wage Jihad with Your Soul" that took place at the Atmeh refugee camp near Idlib, Syria was uploaded to Facebook. A man named Abu Suleiman Al-Shukani, one of the organizers of the event, s...
In a video uploaded to the Internet on September 4, 2019, Sheikh Yahya Bin Taher Al-Farghali, an Egyptian member of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham's (HTS) shura and shari'a councils, commented on 9/11. He said that "if additional acts [like 9/11] were to keep happening against America – a...
In a July 21, 2019 show on ANB TV (Iraq), Iraqi TV host Mahdi Jassem read a text from the late Syrian poet Muhammad Al-Maghut. The text was highly critical of Islam and Islamic scholars, and it questioned why Muslims are still expected to behave in the exact same way the progenit...
Syrian actress Deema Bayyaa said in a June 20, 2019 show on Lana TV (Lebanon) that the sexual preferences of homosexuals are not her business, whether religion approves of them or not. She argued that religion disapproves of many things that society currently approves of – such a...
Former Lebanese Minister Wiam Wahhab said in a July 16, 2019 interview on OTV (Lebanon) that Turkey is an enemy because it is occupying Arab land in Syria and Iraq. Wahhab explained that, by contrast, Iran is not an enemy because it would leave these territories if it was asked t...
On July 13, 2019, Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) jurist Sheikh Abu Al-Fath Al-Farghali posted a video to his Telegram channel declaring the use of Bitcoin to be permissible according to shari'a law and permitting zakat ("almsgiving") using it. He also said that Bitcoin is safer than...
Sayyaf Sharif Daoud, a captured Israeli-Arab ISIS fighter who holds Israeli citizenship, said in a July 16, 2019 interview on BBC Arabic (U.K.) with correspondent Feras Kilani that he had joined ISIS instead of the Palestinian resistance because his experience of having lived thr...
On July 12, 2019, a group of imprisoned female relatives of Islamic State (ISIS) fighters released a video through the pro-ISIS Al-Bayan media foundation in which they threatened to carry out attacks and called on ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and his fighters to liberate them...
Bilal Abdul Kareem from On The Ground News interviewed Abu Salman Al-Belarusi, the head of Malhama Tactical, a private contractor in Syria that trains the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and other groups. Al-Belarusi said that Bashar Al-Assad's forces target Malha...
Captured Turkish Islamic State (ISIS) operative Elias Ahmed Aiden aka Abu Obaida Al-Turki said in an interview that "there is no such thing as an 'opposition'" in ISIS. Regarding ISIS's beheading of its prisoners, he said that "we just implemented what is mentioned in the Islamic...
Gebran Bassil, Lebanon's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, said in a June 15, 2019 speech that aired on OTV (Lebanon) that the 600,000 displaced Syrians in Lebanon, some of whom are illegally employed and who do not pay taxes, are costing the Lebanese people work opportu...
Naji Hayek, a member of Lebanon's Free Patriotic Movement, said in a June 10, 2019 interview on Al-Jadeed/New TV (Lebanon) that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, which he described as a "gun for hire" that has destroyed Lebanon and its people, had started off just like today's...
Syrian intellectual Hashem Saleh said in an April 19, 2019 interview on Sky News Arabia TV (Abu Dhabi) that the Enlightenment was a reaction to the evil of sectarian wars – without which he said people would not have dared to question religion – and that he hopes ISIS, Al-Qaeda, ...
Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani: The Hmeimim base is not a peace base. It is used to kill people. So if there is a retaliation against it… The rebels have the right to shell this base, which is used to kill the Syrian people, and to perpetrate massacres against women and children. So [at...
Al-Furqan Media, an ISIS media arm, posted a video of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi on April 29, 2019. This is the first video of Al-Baghdadi since July 2014, see MEMRITV #4335. Al-Baghdadi referred to the ISIS loss in the battle of Al-Baghuz, saying “the nation of the Cross” ...
On April 18, 2019, Al-Arabiya TV (Dubai/Saudi Arabia) published an interview with a former ISIS fighter from Holland, Abu Saraya Al-Holandi, who is the husband of Shamima Begum. Al-Holandi said that he had held several positions in ISIS, including having been a medic, a welder, a...
On April 17, 2019, Al-Arabiya Network aired an English-language interview with Abu Trab Al-Canadi, a former ISIS fighter from Canada, who is currently in a Syrian Defense Force prison. Abu Trab said he came to Turkey seeking to enter Syria in order to help the Syrian people by&nb...
Al-Arabiya Network senior reporter Rola Al-Khatib interviewed ISIS female members and their children at Al-Hol camp for foreign women who were members of ISIS. The camp is one of three camps run by the Civilian Administration of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The w...
Al-Arabiya Network interviewed Mustafa, a 15-year-old former ISIS child fighter who is currently at a rehabilitation center. Mustafa tells the interviewer that he is the son of an ISIS emir, his father took him to several ISIS training camps, where he trained with weapons and att...
Sheikh Sadek Al-Nabousli, a Lebanese political science lecturer, said in a March 28, 2019 interview on Al-Jadeed/New TV (Lebanon) that the Syrian regime is in favor of and has an opportunity to establish a resistance force in order to "liberate" the Golan Heights from Israel. Al-...
Bin Laden Al-Italy, a former ISIS fighter from Italy, was interviewed by Al-Arabia Network about his experience with ISIS. Al-Italy told Al-Arabiya that ISIS operatives connected with him on Facebook providing him with instructions for entering Syria via Turkey. According to Al-I...
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said in a March 22, 2019 interview on Mayadeen TV (Lebanon) that the Trump administration is acting against the basic interests of the American people and imposing coercive measures throughout the world. He also said that Syria and the...
Syrian political analyst Taleb Ibrahim said, in a recent Al-Manar TV program, that now that the defeat of the militants in Syria and Iraq was a "done deal," it was the right moment for a war against the Israeli enemy, which, he said, managed ISIS, the Al-Nusra Front, and the Free...
Syrian scholar Firas Al-Sawwah said in a March 3, 2019 interview on Al-Hurra TV (U.S.) that the Al-Aqsa Mosque that was mentioned in the Quran was not in Jerusalem, and that the caliph Abd Al-Malik Ibn Marwan had decided to build a holy place in Jerusalem and call it Al-Aqsa. He ...
Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, the president of Al-Mustafa International University, said in a Friday sermon he delivered at Qom and that aired on March 9, 2019 on Channel 2 (Iran) that the whole world came to break the back of the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic resistance in Syria...
General Rostam Ghasemi, former Iranian oil minister who serves as Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani’s Advisor for Syria’s Reconstruction, was interviewed on March 5 on Ofogh TV (Iran). General Ghasemi said that the Syrian and Iranian governments signed an agreement that was ap...
Brigadier-General Lu’ayy Shehadeh of the Syrian Army’s engineering directorate said in a March 12, 2019 interview on Al-Manar TV in which he showed the interviewer one of the Syrian military’s tunnels, that the Syrian Civil War gave the Arab Syrian Army valuable experience for a ...
On February 24, 2019, Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) aired a report about a Russian train that will be traveling to 61 Russian cities in 45 days and displaying spoils from the war in Syria. The train will reportedly carry about 500 pieces of military equipment, including vehic...
A reporter from Alan TV (UAE) interviewed a woman leaving Islamic State (ISIS)-controlled Al-Baghuz, Syria. The woman, who was wearing a full veil, said that she is the wife of an ISIS fighter who is sometimes an "infiltrating commando" and sometimes a "regular fighter," and who ...
Sheikh Muhammad Ma'moun Rahma delivered a Friday sermon at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria on February 8, 2019. He claimed that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion says that the Zionist Jews wanted to cause the collapse of the moral values of the Muslim nation in order to h...
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said in a February 17, 2019 speech that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a "small-time employee of the Americans." He added that every inch of Syria will be liberated and that whoever tries to interfere will be treated as an enemy. In add...
On February 15, 2019, the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) uploaded to its Telegram channel a music video calling Muslims to Jihad. The video portrays the activities of TIP and Uyghur Muslims in Syria. Sung and Turkmen with Arabic and English subtitles, the song says: "The disbeliev...
A video showcasing Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham's special forces training camp was uploaded to the Internet on January 30, 2019. The narrator explained that the special forces training stands out for its focus on concentration, instinctive shooting, weapons proficiency, and day and night...
On January 16, 2019, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) released a video showing Muhammad Abdullah Muhammad, also known as Abu Ridwan Al-Canadi, a Canadian ISIS media operative that they arrested in the Deir Al-Zour region of eastern Syria. In the video, an injured Ab...
Syrian opposition activist and writer Issam Zeitoun appeared on a debate about Israel on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) on January 16, 2019. Zeitoun said that Israel is an existing country to which some Arabs turn a blind eye. Ra’ed Al-Masri, a Lebanese professor of political science...
SadaqaCoins, a cryptocurrency crowdfunding platform active on the dark web and Telegram which was allegedly created to raise funds to support the Jihad in Syria, uploaded a video to its Telegram channel on January 3, 2019, that shows Amir Muslim, the commander of the Junud Ash-Sh...
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