Global Conflict Reporting

Category: Middle East

  • Violence erupts in Aleppo.

    By. Scott Jackson

    12.24.2025

    On Monday, The SDF (Majority Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces) and Syrian army trade blame for an outbreak in fighting that led to several civilian casualties. Several isolated battles have erupted throughout the city after an altercation at a joint security checkpoint between the two groups led to renewed fighting and a possible end to their turbulent peace. 

    The sounds of sporadic fighting echo through the streets of Aleppo.

    According to the SDF, who deny what Damascus forces are claiming, said that the attack started when factions affiliated with the Ministry of Defense of the Damascus Government opened fire on the joint security checkpoint at the Sheihan Roundabout in Aleppo. The Syrian Army started shelling Kurdish neighborhoods using tanks and MLRS artillery which is shown in the video below. 

    Since the fighting started the Syrian Government has claimed that the SDF had targeted the Al-Razi hospital however nothing has proven that claim. The SDF put out this statement regarding that matter.  

    The Damascus government, through what it calls the Aleppo Council and its official media outlets, deliberately fabricates and promotes a false and fabricated report about an alleged attack on Al-Razi Hospital in the city of Aleppo, in a transparent attempt to mislead and distort the facts.

    We categorically affirm that Al-Razi Hospital was not targeted by any strike, and what has occurred is blatant and systematic incitement aimed at covering up the real crimes, while dozens of documented videos show artillery and tank shelling carried out by Damascus government factions on the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Al-Ashrafiyah, and other areas.

    This behavior reveals the authorities’ disregard for the truth and their use of lies as a political tool to justify their assaults.

    Field evidence confirms the falsehood of the regime’s media narrative”

    Statement from the SDF

    The SDF responded to the shelling with fire of its own. Allegedly killing one civilian in the return fire.

    For now a ceasefire has been agreed upon but at least two have been confirmed killed, possibly more.The fighting didn’t last long but it’s possible this is just the prelude for more violence to come.

    Context

    All of this comes as high level talks are being conducted over the integration of the SDF into the Syrian army. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, met with Syrian government officials in Damascus earlier today before fighting broke out. A deal was signed between the SDF and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) back in March for the integration, however the deal was vague and those talks have stalled somewhat before today and likely even more now. 

    The problem here is mostly Turkey as Syria originally wanted to merge  the SDF’s 50,000 fighters into three divisions under partial Syrian control however Turkey wanted to completely dismantle the existing SDF command structure. Turkey believes that the SDF in Syria is just an offshoot of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers party), a Kurdish terror/resistance group working against the Turkish state. While not fully true, there is a lot of crossover in the two groups.

    The flag of the PKK.

    Most have seen this integration and today’s talks as a catalyst for Monday’s fighting. It’s likely large scale fighting will resume. The SDF currently controls a large portion of northern Syria and if a deal isn’t reached they might consider going back to attempting to create a breakaway state, which is what Turkey is hoping to avoid at all cost. 

    According to the FDD, a report out of Turkey claimed that if the SDF failed to integrate into Syria, Damascus would launch an operation with heavy support from Turkey. This would possibly see Syria forced into a downward spiral of violence, the same type which spawned ISIS growth. 

  • U.S. strikes over 70 targets linked to ISIS in Syria.

    By. Scott Jackson

    12/20/2025

    Late yesterday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) at around 4:00 ET launched “Operation Hawkeye” against ISIS forces across Syria. This operation is a response to last Saturday’s attack in the city of Palmyra on US partner forces that led to the death of two U.S. Iowa National Guard soldiers- Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29.

    CENTCOM claims to have launched strikes using artillery, attack helicopter and fighter jets, and along with fighter jets from the Royal Jordanian Air Force struck over 70 targets across Syria.

    F-15E “Strike Eagle” Multirole Strike Fighters and A-10C Thunderbolt II “Warthog” Close-Air Support Attack Aircraft, and AH-64E “Apache” Attack Helicopters launching for strikes in Syria.

    “This operation is critical to preventing ISIS from inspiring terrorist plots and attacks against the U.S. homeland.” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. “We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our partners across the region.”

    U.S. soldier writes the names of the two Iowa national Guard who were killed in last week’s ISIS affiliated attack on Saturday.

    CENTCOM says the operation utilized over 100 precision munitions to target know ISIS infrastructure and weapons sites.

    Video showing what is believed to be the launch of US ATACMS
    (Army Tactical Missile System) ballistic missiles.

    Video of some of the strikes was posted by CENTCOM several hours after the strike.

    Locals in a central Syrian town caught a glimpse of an A-10 roaring overhead.

  • Iran suspected of hijacking crude oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz.

    M/V Talara

    By.Scott Jackson

    11.14.2025

    This morning(11.14.2025), the Greek owned, Marshall Islands flagged crude oil tanker M/V Talara was ambushed and seized by forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp(IRGC) while transiting the Gulf of Oman. 

    The M/V Talara departed from the port of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates(UAE), for a short trip to Singapore according to the ships AIS data which can be viewed publicly on maritime tracking services. The British maritime risk assessment group Vanguard reported that the ship was surrounded by Three Iranian IRGC fast attack craft while near the strait of Hormuz. Contact with the ship was lost at this time and at 8:22am local time the ship reportedly turned towards the direction of Iran. It’s last signal was around 12:06PM still on a course towards Iran. 

    Iranian fast attack patrol boats.

    At the time of the incident a Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton with the U.S. Navy was present in the strait and was seen circling the area where the incident took place. According to media reports no damage or casualties are reported at this time. 

    Flight tracking data showing the MQ-4C Triton during the incident. This shows us where the ship was seized and turned towards Iran. The drone never went into Iran, interference can sometimes distort a flight path.

    In a statement Columbia shipmanagement, the company who manages the ship said “The vessel, carrying a cargo of high-sulphur gasoil, was transiting the Indian Ocean during its passage from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates to Singapore when contact was lost at around 0822 local time on Friday, 14 November, 2025 approximately 20 nautical miles off the coast of Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates.”

    The company said they are working closely with the relevant authorities. They added “The safety of the crew remains our foremost priority,”

    The ship is owned by the Greek Coronis Family Group of Companies. They have yet to release a statement of any kind. 

    Merchant vessels have been advised of the incident and warned to practice caution while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. 

    The ship is believed to be sitting in port somewhere in the Khuran (or Clarence) Strait, a smaller strait inside of the strait of Hormuz. Tomorrow’s satellite imagery should tell us more.

    Khuran (or Clarence) Strait, where the ship is believed to be held.

  • Images show the before and after of the Israeli attack on Hamas in Qatar.

    By.Scott Jackson

    09/11/2025

    Images sent to me from planet labs show the before and after shot of the bombing of the Hamas negotiation team that took place in Doha, Qatar on September 9th, 2025.

    Before
    After.

    Yesterday, as the Hamas negotiations team was debating a recent proposal from the U.S. delegation when an explosion ripped through the building killing several members of the Hamas negotiations team, made up of senior members of the Palestinian extremist group and a Qatari Security official. Qatari leadership condemned the attack, which took place on their soil. Qatar has long been a financial supporter of Hamas transferring billions of dollars to the group since 2018 with Hamas saying the payments were expressly used for employee payroll and medical care for Palestinians.Those payments are a form of some contention in Israel as Benjamin Netanyahu approved the payments back when he was the primer of the Israeli security cabinet and some in Israel disagreed with the decision. He defended his actions to detractors saying “in coordination with security experts to return calm to (Israeli) villages of the south, but also to prevent a humanitarian disaster (in Gaza). 

    Video shows the airstrike which targeted the Hamas leadership.

    It’s now been over 48 hours since the attack and Qatar has threatened to hold Benjamin Netanyau responsible for the attack. The UN Security Council had postponed a meeting about Israel’s strike on Qatar until tomorrow “at Qatar’s request”, the council’s current president says. UNSC South Korea, the current UN Security Council president added,  “so that the Prime Minister of Qatar can take part in the meeting”.

    At the U.N. many stood with Qatar, however some questions were raised as to why Qatar has Hamas in their cities in the first place.

    The US seemed sidelined by the attack, an attack carried out on the soil of a US allied partner in the region. Just days ago US President Donald Trump said that they were close to reaching an agreement in negotiations with Hamas. It seems like the US was only made aware of the planned attack when Israel’s forces were already on route to attack.

    “I immediately directed Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to inform the Qataris of the impending attack, which he did, however, unfortunately, too late to stop the attack,” Trump said in a statement.

    Steve Cook, a senior fellow at the council for foreign relations wrote in his article ‘ It is unclear how many of Hamas’s leaders were killed in the operation. Hamas maintains that while five of its people plus a Qatari police officer were killed, its senior leadership survived. Those claims have yet to be verified. At the very least, the Israelis have demonstrated a willingness to go anywhere to eliminate Hamas. It is likely that the organization’s surviving leaders will be targeted again in time.’

    The attack against Hamas has spread outrage among the Qatari leadership who see themselves as mediators in this conflict and as such it’s highly likely they will cease any of their part in future negotiation. Qatar sees this as a slap on the face after they worked to get a good number of the Israeli hostages that were taken on October 7th 2023, freed.  

    Cook,in his article put forward Egypt as a possible candidate for future negotiations but called the negotiations a “thankless task ” when “neither the Israeli government nor the Hamas leadership seem interested in a deal”

  • Israel launches strike on Syrian Ministry of Defense HQ in Demarcus as atrocities occur in the south.

    By. Scott Jackson

    07/19/2025

    Three days ago the capital of Syria, Damascus, was rocked as Israeli fighter-bombers conducted strikes against the Syrian Ministry of Defense. Israel says these strikes were in defense of the Druze people, a religious minority who reside in areas of Syria like Sweida as well as in parts of Israel. The Druze have been fighting with the Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes and militias connected to them. There are also rumors of government is backing those with involvement in the fighting against the Druze.

    Last Friday, renewed clashes ignited between the Druze and the Bedouins. Kidnappings and gun battles occurred throughout areas around the Sweida region in southern Syria. 
    Over the weekend Syrian government forces were dispatched to the area in response to the clashes but however, the Druze pushed back against the military forces and attempted to block them acess from the area. Israel carried out strikes on Syrian military targets on Tuesday. There are local reports of a Syrian military convoy being bombed by Israeli warplanes but so far they remain unconfirmed.

    “Israel is committed to preventing harm being inflicted on the Druze in Syria, owing to the deep covenant of blood with our Druze citizens in Israel and their historical and familial link to the Druze in Syria,”
    Statement from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    “We are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them, and to ensure the demilitarization of the region adjacent to our border with Syria.”

    Israel Katz, Israeli Minister of Defense.

    The Syrian government feels differently about the situation and claimed that Israel was purposely acting to destabilize the situation and the region further. President Ahmed al-Sharaa claimed that Israel had a “deliberate policy” to “Inflame tensions” and “spread chaos”.

    While Israel purposely destabilizing the region is up for debate one thing they have said publicly is that they would not allow a large Syrian military force to occupy territory in southern Syria for fears of them being used to push into the occupied Golan Heights.

    The main area of focus is the green territory in the south. Israel currently occupies most of the Quneitra region.

    On Wednesday July 16, the IDF carried out a strike on the Syrian Ministry of Defense building in Damascus. Multiple angles of footage are available of the strike.

    Since then several ceasefires have been agreed upon by the Druze and the Bedouin, two of which were almost immediately broken. Right now there is an anxious pause in the fighting and a ceasefire sponsored by the U.S. in place. Israel agreed to allow Syrian troops into the south and the fighting has started to die down.

    The President of Syria made this statement about the fighting and the ceasefire.

    “We have received international invitations to intervene in what is happening in Sweida and restore security to the country. “

    He continues,

    “The Syrian state alone is capable of preserving its prestige and sovereignty across all Syrian territories.”

    “We appreciate the role of the United States of America in reaffirming its stand with Syria and its unity,”

    “We thank the tribes for their heroic stances and call on them for a complete ceasefire.”

    And speaking on some

    “The honorable Druze community as a whole should not be judged for the actions of a very small minority.”

    He also added that,

    “Events have proven that the people of Sweida stand with the state, with the exception of a small segment.”

     “We disown all massacres and transgressions that occurred in Sweida province.”

    He finished strong with this statement

    “This sensitive circumstance requires the tribes and the Druze people to stand united.” Reaffirming Syria’s territorial integrity, he declared, “Syria is not a battlefield for secessionist projects.”

    Author’s note. 

    I usually prefer to have more visual information with my reports however the violence being carried out between the Druze and the Bedouins is some of the most horrific stuff I’ve ever gone through. People being stabbed to death and shot are the tame videos I’ve seen a videos of a Bedouin militia forcing Druze people to jump off a rooftop. As they prepare for what they are about to do ao and start climbing the railing they are shot anyway with rifles. 
    The Druze as well have been forcing Arabs out of the area and killing those who don’t comply. In the whole affair around 350 people have been killed. In the grand scheme of things that seems low but it could have been much worse and still has the potential to reignite.

    Sorry for the delay in writing this, I’ve been following the fighting but it took me a while to re-familiarize myself with some of the players here. 

    Thank you for the support. Without you, GCR does not exist. 

    -Scott

  • Images show the aftermath of the Iranian retaliation strike on U.S. Al Udeid airbase.

    By. Scott Jackson

    07/15/2025

    Recently released images show the damage after an Iranian attack on the U.S. Al Udeid airbase. The June 23rd ballistic missile attack was mostly intercepted, video of which can be seen here.

    Qatari residents watch as US air defenses take out incoming Iranian ballistic missiles.

    Al Udeid is a large military complex and is currently the forward operating base for US Central Command and the USAF Central Command and several air squadrons as well as one from the Royal Air Force. Al Udeid has been an important US instillations since after Desert Storm when a Defense Cooperation Agreement was signed and the base was built in 1996. The U.S. kept the base somewhat secret until the early 2000’s when it was used to launch missions into Afghanistan. Since then the base has remained an important strategical command post for US forces in the Middle East.

    The Iranian attack on June 22nd was being carried out for several reasons but mainly as retaliation for the U.S.’s strike on Iran’s nuclear sites several days earlier. On a deeper level the retaliation was planned because Iran needed to appear to remain strong in front of their allies and the rest of the world. Not striking back, for them, was not an option.

    Hours before the attack the US was made aware of the planned attack by the Qatari government who were told by Iranian officials. This gave the US enough warning that no lives were lost.

    Above shows a before image of the exact area that received damage. What you’re looking at is a satellite antenna for the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) network. It is not a radar as some have reported.

    Here is what it looks like on the inside.

    Inside the radar dome at Al-Udeid.

    Several days after the attacks this is what the same spot looked like.

    The back circle is the remains of the radar dome and dish.

    Looking closer with photos from the ground …

    We knew several days ago that the site had received damage but having pictures from the ground is always a bonus.

    Fixing the damage will be a high priority for the forces at the base. It’s a fairly new system made by L3Harris so it’s likely expensive. I’m the interim it’s possible a smaller version of the same model can be brought in to take care of their immediate communication needs.

  • Houthis back to business, sinking two cargo ships in two days. (Video included)

    By.Scott Jackson

    07/10/2025

    Right now 15 sailers are missing and presumed dead after Houthi forces carried out their second attack and subsequent sinking of a cargo ship in the Red Sea this week.

    Image taken of the Eternity C frim 2019.

    The Eternity C, a Greek-owned cargo vessel was attacked on Monday, one day after the attack on the ‘Magic Seas’, showing an increase in the Houthis willingness to attack shipping since the ceasefire with the U.S.

    The attacks main thrust , according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operation, started around 1703 (5:03PM) on Monday. At that time the company security officer reported that the ship had been hit with multiple Rocket propelled grenade rounds and was being approached by multiple small craft. They had been in and out of fights with this group of boats for the past day as they attempted to get through the Red Sea.

    10 minutes after the first UKMTO report Eternity C, reported that the vessel has sustained significant damage and has lost all propulsion. At this point the ship was surrounded and taking continuous fire from the small boats. The boat was completely overrun after that.

    The Europeans unions defensive operation in the region- Operation Aspides, rescued several of the crew of the Eternity C floated in the water for 24 hours before a rescue could be made. The Yemeni Navy also responded to rescue survivors.

    The Houthis claimed responsibility for the assault, releasing several videos. One I’ve included as they are both very similar The ship is filmed as it slowly sinks after being struck with a missile which caused damage to the deck but did not cause the sinking. Holes caused by off screen damage can be seen at the ships water line.

    The U.S. mission in government controlled parts of the Yemen, accused the Houthis of kidnapping many of the survivors of the ship who have yet to be found.

    Update-

    Of the crew, 10 were rescued, 3 were killed and 12 are suspected to have been kidnapped.