PrairiePundit

 Yahoo: Mouldy half-finished food on bunk beds, discarded military uniforms and abandoned weapons - these are the remnants of an abrupt retreat from this base that once belonged to Iran and its affiliated groups in Syria. The scene tells a story of panic. The forces stationed here fled with little warning, leaving behind a decade-long presence that unravelled in mere weeks. Iran was Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most critical ally for more than 10 years. It deployed military advisers, mobilised foreign militias, and invested heavily in Syria's war. Its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) built deep networks of underground bases, supplying arms and training to thousands of fighters. For Iran, this was also part of its "security belt" against Israel. We are near Khan Shaykhun town in Idlib province. Before Assad's regime fell on 8 December, it was one of the key strategic locations for the IRGC and its allied groups. From the main road, the entrance ...

 American Action News: Neither the White House nor the Pentagon seem to know how the official count for the number of U.S. troops in Syria has more than doubled. White House Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to explain Friday how there could be an 1,100 troop discrepancy in reported U.S. forces in Syria, instead pointing to the Pentagon. Similarly, Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder said Thursday at a press conference he couldn’t speak for the Oval Office on whether or not they were aware of the true number of troops in the nation. “That is their purview,” Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday. “That is something that we have always been pretty consistent on.” Ryder said he had “recently learned” that the number had been 2,000 since “before the fall of Assad regime.” The original 900 figure counts the long-term personnel stationed in the country, while the additional 1,100 were described as “temporary rotational forces,” Ryder told the press Thursday. It remains unclear whet...

 Streif: In the two days since Bashar al-Assad fled in panic from his Damascus palace to an unknown locale in Moscow ( BREAKING: Assad Missing As His Airplane Disappears From Radar While Fleeing Damascus ), Israel has intensified its military operations in Syria, launching numerous airstrikes targeting weapons and military infrastructure. In a highly coordinated series of over 300 air and naval strikes, Israel has eliminated Syria's air force and navy. Its air defense network has ceased to exist. Ammunition dumps, communications, intelligence and logistics nodes, and defense-related factories have been destroyed. ... Syria no longer has a military or a government.  Iran is also too weak to do anything about its losses in Syria.  It is looking impotent at this point.  Russia is not looking much better.  Tiny Israel looks like the real power in the Middle East.  The US also took out ISIS targets in the area. See also: Putin’s collapsing Middle Eastern house o...

  Vivid. @VividProwess Subscribe The Iran Axis of Evil has officially collapsed.  Hamas is obliterated.  Hezbollah has been sent back to the Stone Age.  Assad's Syria is gone.  The Islamic Regime of Iran is at its weakest. Israel just changed the entire Middle East.

 Time: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian armed forces, launched ballistic missiles at what it described as the “headquarters of spies” in Erbil, northern Iraq on Monday night. Ten missiles fell near the U.S. Consulate, Iraqi sources said . “In response to the recent evil acts of the Zionist regime in martyring IRGC and resistance commanders, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, with its nobility and intelligence, targeted and destroyed one of the main headquarters of Israel’s spying agency Mossad in Iraq’s Kurdistan region by firing ballistic missiles,” the group said in a statement reported by Iran’s state news agency. “This Mossad headquarters,” the statement continued, referencing Israel’s intelligence agency, “has been working for espionage operations and a center for terror attacks planning in the region, especially against our beloved country.” Iraqi officials denied the building was related to Mossad. No U.S. facilities were impacted, U.S. offic...

 Jerusalem Post: 11 leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in an airstrike targeting Damascus International Airport on Thursday evening, Saudi media reported the following morning. The commander of the Revolutionary Guards in eastern Syria, Nur Rashid, was injured in the airstrike, Saudi media channel Al-Hadath reported. IRGC commanders were reportedly at the airport to meet with high-ranking delegates. IRGC spokesman Sardar Ramzan Sharif denied on Friday reports that 11 of its leaders were killed in an airstrike in Damascus International Airport the night before, Iranian media quoted them as saying, as he said that such claims are "baseless." Syrian media also claimed on Thursday evening that Israel had targeted sites in southern Syria and near Damascus with airstrikes in two separate waves. Syrian air defenses were activated in the Damascus area during the strikes. The country's media quoted one Syrian military source as saying that the all...

 ISW: ... Former 58th Combined Arms Army Commander Major General Ivan Popov’s dismissal continues to generate pronounced ire against the Russian military command and the Russian civilian leadership. Russian milbloggers argued that Popov’s dismissal shows that the Russian military command is detrimentally suppressing the opinions of commanders about the situation at the front and that Russian command has forgotten that their main priority is preserving their personnel.[12] A Russian military correspondent argued that Popov’s dismissal illustrates a dire issue with both the Russian military leadership as well as Russia’s civilian leadership.[13] The military correspondent accused the civilian leadership of routinely suppressing and ignoring reports from the frontline and of failing to properly mobilize Russia’s defense industrial base (DIB) for the war effort.[14] The military correspondent claimed that Russian elites and businessmen have agreements with the Russian military command ...

 ISW: Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations on at least three sectors of the front on July 9. Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi stated that Ukrainian forces successfully continue to advance in the Bakhmut direction.[1] Ukrainian officials reported that Ukrainian forces continued to conduct counteroffensive operations in the Berdyansk and Melitopol directions.[2] The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Kremlin-affiliated milbloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces conducted attacks in western Zaporizhia Oblast.[3] A Russian milblogger claimed that Ukrainian forces are attacking Russian positions in small groups and are targeting Russian rear positions, warehouses, and infrastructure.[4] Ukrainian military officials also reiterated that Ukrainian forces are continuing their interdiction campaigns in southern and eastern Ukraine.[5] The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Ukrainian forces are attempting to soften Russian defenses...

 The Hill: Newly revealed leaked documents reveal Iran could be readying for new attacks against U.S. troops in Syria, according to a new Washington Post report. The Post reports Iran is arming militants in Syria and building and training forces to use bombs specifically intended to target U.S. military vehicles — and to kill U.S. personnel. The escalatory move could risk U.S. lives in the region and prompt a more direct military confrontation with Tehran, according to the report. Another leaked document reportedly shows Russia, Syria and Iran are working on a broader effort to push the U.S. out of Syria. The U.S. has maintained a military presence in the country to guard against a resurgence of Islamic State militants. The Post reports the documents show Russian, Iranian and Syrian officials met last year to agree on a “coordination center” — though the Post notes the documents don’t indicate Russia is directly involved in planning the purported bombing campaign. A Department of...

 Army Times: Explosions flashed in the fog hanging over the Euphrates River like a coming summer storm. The continuous thunder of Russian guns pounded the American positions in a burned-out natural gas refinery in eastern Syria. Tracers crisscrossed the Syrian sky. The Special Forces soldiers felt the rumble of the explosions through the armored cabins of their trucks. Overhead, America’s most lethal aircraft — F-15E strike fighters, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, and MQ-9 Reapers—pounded the Russian guns and enemy formations below. The Special Forces team had been in combat against ISIS fighters for months, but this was different. ISIS, for the most part, was a few mortar rounds or spray-and-pray potshots from an AK-47. This was a trained Russian force with artillery and armored vehicles. This was a fair fight, and the U.S. troops were driving into it. “It looked like New York City on New Year’s Eve,” Chauncey, a former Special Forces team sergeant who helped lead a quick react...

 Times of Israel: In a show of force to Iran, the United States military has equipped aircraft sent to the Middle East with advanced bunker-busting bombs, American officials told The Wall Street Journal on Friday. According to the report, around a dozen A-10 Warthogs were refitted to allow the attack aircraft to carry up to 16 of the precision-guided GBU-39/B bombs. The paper said it was the first time the aging A-10 planes were equipped with the 113-kilogram (250-pound) bunker-busting munitions. ... Iran is said to have been attacking US forces in Syria and this move is in response to those attacks. 

 ISW: ... Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin is likely attempting to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to go over to the defensive ahead of a potential Ukrainian counteroffensive. Prigozhin argued on April 21 that Russia needs to “anchor itself in such a way that it is only possible to tear out [Russian forces from their positions] with the claws of the opponent.”[5] Prigozhin’s comment followed a discussion of the Ramstein meeting results, Western commitments to train more Ukrainian personnel and continuous military support for Ukraine. Prigozhin also noted that Ukraine will try to “tear” Russian forces apart and that Russia needs to resist such attacks. Prigozhin has been increasingly alarmist in his recent rhetoric and has made similar statements about the uncertain future of Russian offensive operations in Donbas.[6] Prigozhin’s calls for strengthening Russian defenses in occupied territories and frequent discussions of the prospects of Ukrainian counteroffensives...

 Washington Examiner: An Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) senior leader was likely killed in a helicopter raid in northern Syria early Monday morning, according to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). The ISIS leader and operational planner, who was not named, was responsible for planning terror attacks in the Middle East and Europe. "The raid resulted in the probable death of the targeted individual," the Department of Defense's command said, adding that two other armed individuals were also killed in the raid. ... Earlier this month, the U.S. military killed another senior Islamic State leader in Syria who was responsible for planning the terror group’s attacks in Europe, according to CENTCOM. Khalid ‘Aydd Ahmad al Jabouri was known for planning ISIS attacks into Europe and developing the leadership structure for ISIS. ... ISIS is an on going threat and more raids against it should be expected. 

 Fox News: US military shoots down Iranian-made drone over oil site in Syria U.S. Central Command said the military shot down the drone Tuesday afternoon local time ... The U.S. and Iran both carry out counterterrorism missions in Syria , although the two countries support different groups. The U.S. backs a Kurdish-led group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, which leads an autonomous government in northeastern Syria, and Iran supports the central government in Damascus. Iran, the Syrian government and Russia have accused the U.S. of exploiting Syria's natural resources through a military presence the three countries say is illegitimate. And the U.S. says Iran has sought to expand its influence in Syria through support for militias that have targeted U.S. forces in the past. The U.S. has also criticized Iran's drone program over the appearance of Iranian-produced loitering munitions, also called "kamikaze" or "suicide" drones, in Russia's war ongoi...