|
Raqqa Hawks Brigade
The Raqqa Hawks Brigade ( ar-at, لواء صقور الرقة, Liwa Suqur al Raqqa), also known as Raqqa Falcons Brigade, is a primarily Arab militia, composed mostly of Raqqa natives, that is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and fights against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The unit's stated goal was to recapture its home city from ISIL, which it achieved by taking part in the Battle of Raqqa (2017). The Raqqa Hawks are considered to have sympathies for and connections with Bashar al-Assad's government. History Origins The Raqqa Hawks Brigade was originally formed as battalion of the Front of Raqqa Revolutionaries in early 2015, but left the group sometime during 2016. The Russian Armed Forces and the Israeli Begin–Sadat Center have described the Raqqa Hawks Brigade as Free Syrian Army-affiliated faction, but there have also been allegations that the militia is actually loyal to the Syrian government. For example, a representative of the Raqqa ... [...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 attac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Staff Of The Armed Forces Of The Russian Federation
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (russian: Генеральный штаб Вооружённых сил Российской Федерации, General'nyy shtab Vooruzhonnykh sil Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the military staff of the Russian Armed Forces. It is the central organ of the military command of the Armed Forces Administration and oversees operational command of the armed forces under the Russian Ministry of Defence. As of 2012, the Chief of the General Staff is Army General Valery Gerasimov and since 2014, the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff is Colonel General Nikolai Bogdanovsky. The General Staff Building is located in Moscow on Znamenka Street in the Arbat District. Together with the Main Building of the Ministry of Defense and several Staff directorate office buildings nearby, it forms the so-called "Arbat military district" as it is often referred to among the military personnel to outline the highest supreme command of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qamishli
Qamishli ( ar, ٱلْقَامِشْلِي, Al-Qāmišlī, ku, قامشلۆ, Qamişlo, syc, ܒܝܬ ܙܠܝ̈ܢ, Bēṯ Zālīn, lit=House of Reeds or syr, ܩܡܫܠܐ, translit=Qamishlo) is a city in northeastern Syria on the Syria–Turkey border, adjoining the city of in . The Jaghjagh River flows through the city. With a 2004 census population of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي – قطر سوريا ''Ḥizb al-Ba'th al-'Arabī al-Ishtirākī – Quṭr Sūriyā''), officially the Syrian Regional Branch ( Syria being a "region" of the Arab nation in Ba'ath ideology), is a neo-Ba'athist organisation founded on 7 April 1947 by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar and followers of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party has ruled Syria continuously since the 1963 Syrian coup d'état which brought the Ba'athists to power. It was first the regional branch of the original Ba'ath Party (1947–1966) before it changed its allegiance to the Syrian-dominated Ba'ath movement (1966–present) following the 1966 split within the original Ba'ath Party. Since their ascent to power in 1963, neo-Ba'athist officers proceeded by stamping out the traditional civilian elites to construct a military dictatorship operating in totalitarian lines; wherein all state agencies, party ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Syrian Army
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) ( ar, الجيش السوري الحر, al-jaysh as-Sūrī al-ḥur) is a loose faction in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by officers of the Syrian Armed Forces with the goal of bringing down the government of Bashar al-Assad. (Pages 6, 14–17.) Initially a formal organization at its founding, its structure gradually dissipated by late 2012, and the FSA identity has since been used by various opposition groups. In late 2011, the FSA was considered the main Syrian military defectors group. It had success against far better equipped government forces. From July 2012 onward, the group was weakened by decreasing discipline, growing Inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War, infighting, and a lack of funding, while Syrian opposition#Other groups affiliated with Syrian opposition, Islamist groups became dominant within the armed opposition. The Free Syrian Army aims to be "the military wing of the Syrian people's opposition to the regi ... [...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] |
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Eastern Mediterranean, southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea, and Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the southwest. Israel also is bordered by the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively. Tel Aviv is the Economy of Israel, economic and Science and technology in Israel, technological center of the country, while its seat of government is in its proclaimed capital of Jerusalem, although Status of Jerusalem, Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem is unrecognized internationally. The land held by present-day Israel witnessed some of the earliest human occup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Armed Forces
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two million reserve personnel. Their branches consist of the Ground Forces, the Navy, and the Aerospace Forces, as well as three independent arms of service: the Strategic Rocket Forces, the Airborne Forces, and the Special Operations Forces. In 2021, Russia had the world's fifth-highest military expenditure at . The Russian Armed Forces possess the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. They operate the second-largest fleet of ballistic missile submarines, and are one of only three national militaries (alongside those of the United States and China) that operate strategic bombers. With certain exceptions, Russian law mandates one year of military service for all male citizens aged 18–27, though conscripts are generally no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jabhat Thuwar Al-Raqqa
Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa ( ar, لواء ثوار الرقة, Liwā' Thūwwār ar-Raqqah, lit=Raqqa Revolutionaries' Brigade, links=no) was a rebel group in the Syrian Civil War. It was formed in September 2012 in the Raqqa Governorate. Aligned with jihadist factions for its first years, at the end of 2015, it joined the Syrian Democratic Forces. During an interview by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi in 2015, Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa's media director stated that the group wants a "civil democratic state". He also claimed that the group had no relations with the Syrian National Coalition based in Turkey. Between the end of 2015 and mid-2017, the group was known as Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa ( ar, جبهة ثوار الرقة, Jabhat Thūwwār ar-Raqqah), or the Front of Raqqa Revolutionaries. History Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa's founder and commander is Ahmad al-Othman bin Alloush, a member of an Arab tribe in the Raqqa region, commonly known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Issa al-Raqqaw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bashar Al-Assad
Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the Secretary-General of the Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, which espouses the ideologies of neo-Ba'athism and Assadism. His father and predecessor was General Hafez al-Assad, whose presidency between 1971 to 2000 marked the transfiguration of Syria from a republican state into a dynastic military dictatorship tightly controlled by Alawite-dominated armed forces and '' Mukhabarat'' (secret services) loyal to the Assad family. Born and raised in Damascus, Bashar al-Assad graduated from the medical school of Damascus University in 1988 and began to work as a doctor in the Syrian Army. Four years later, he attended postgraduate studies at the Western Eye Hospital in London, specialising in ophthalmology. In 1994, afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islamic State Of Iraq And The Levant
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical 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 Umayyads. The concept of the modern Islamic state has been articulated and promoted by ideologues such as Sayyid Rashid Rida, 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 Islamic political theories. However, most of the modern theories also m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
