DefenceTalkSyria’s ceasefire was hanging by a thread on Sunday, after tensions escalated between Moscow and Washington over a US-led coalition air strike that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers battling jihadists. The truce saw violence drop across Syria for several days after it came into force Monday, but fighting has since erupted on several fronts and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/syria-truce-teeters-on-brink-after-us-led-raid-kills-troops-68187/

DefenceTalkDonald Trump pledged to massively increase US military spending and swiftly demand a defeat plan of the Islamic State (IS) group if he becomes president, burnishing his defense bona fides Wednesday ahead of a forum with Hillary Clinton. Speaking in Philadelphia, the Republican presidential candidate told supporters that he would ask his generals within the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/trump-seeks-massive-us-military-buildup-is-defeat-plan-68125/

DefenceTalkTurkish warplanes have destroyed 10 Kurdish rebel positions in the restive southeast as Ankara steps up its fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), state media reported on Sunday. Jets bombed four PKK targets in the Cukurca district of the southeastern province of Hakkari close to northern Iraq on Saturday evening, security sources told […]https://www.defencetalk.com/turkish-jets-destroy-kurdish-rebel-targets-68090/

DefenceTalkGermany’s military is preparing to pull out from a Turkish airbase as a row between the two NATO partners escalates, Der Spiegel magazine reported Thursday. Germany in December agreed to send Tornado surveillance jets and tanker aircraft to the Incirlik base in southern Turkey to aid the multinational coalition fighting the jihadist Islamic State group […]https://www.defencetalk.com/germany-mulling-pullout-from-turkish-airbase-report-68060/

DefenceTalkUS Army Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commanding general of XVIII Airborne Corps based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, assumed command of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve during a transfer of authority ceremony on Monday August 21. Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel, U.S. Central Command’s commanding general, presided over the ceremony in which command […]https://www.defencetalk.com/new-operation-inherent-resolve-commander-continues-fight-against-isil-68041/

DefenceTalkSyrian government warplanes took to the skies again Saturday over the flashpoint northeastern city of Hasakeh, despite a US warning against new strikes that might endanger its military advisers. In another escalation of the five-year war, regime planes this week bombarded positions held by US-backed Kurdish forces in the city fighting the Islamic State (IS) […]https://www.defencetalk.com/syrian-warplanes-fly-over-flashpoint-city-despite-us-warning-68039/

DefenceTalkTurkish armed forces on Monday launched artillery strikes on separate targets of Islamic State (IS) jihadists and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) Kurdish militia in northern Syria, television reports said. Turkish army howitzers stationed inside Turkey fired on IS targets in the town of Jarablus and PYD targets around the area of Manbij, the CNN-Turk […]https://www.defencetalk.com/turkey-launches-artillery-strikes-on-is-kurdish-pyd-in-north-syria-tv-68032/

DefenceTalkThe continued presence of dozens of U.S. nuclear weapons at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey raises serious risks of their seizure by terrorists and other hostile forces, a new report by the nonpartisan Stimson Center finds. The report, titled “B61 Life Extension Program: Costs and Policy Considerations,” found that it was an “unanswerable question,” whether […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-nuclear-weapons-in-turkey-at-risk-of-seizure-by-terrorists-hostile-forces-68011/

DefenceTalkRussia’s long-range Tu-22M3 bombers delivered their first airstrikes on terrorist targets in Syria operating from an Iranian airbase. Moscow and Tehran cooperation in Syria is “strategic,” confirmed the head of Iran’s National Security Council. The long range bombers with full bomb payload took off from Hamadan Airfield to attack Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russian-tu_22m3-bombers-strike-isis-operate-from-iran-base-68005/

DefenceTalkUS military leaders painted an overly optimistic picture of American efforts to fight the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, a damning government report released Thursday found. The interim report stems from a congressional task force investigating whistleblower allegations that intel bosses cherry-picked information that soft-pedaled the risk of IS while overstating US efforts […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-military-manipulated-intel-in-is-fight-68001/