The following are the progress that in recent days has been recorded in the Syrian scenario by the international powers intervening in an anti-Isis function. Within the international coalition, in which the air forces of the United States, Canada, Australia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and recently Germany also take an active part: those of Great Britain and France are the most active. Russia, while interfacing with the NATO-led international coalition, regularly intervenes alongside the Syrian army.
France
Operation Chammal conducted by the French continues its air campaign against ISIS: between 26 November and 2 December the Armée de L'Air and the Aeronavale conducted 83 sorties, taking off from their aircraft carrier located in the Eastern Mediterranean and from Muwaffaq Salti Airbases in Jordan and from Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates. During the latest operations, 23 targets in Iraq were recorded as destroyed. Two raids aimed at infrastructures in which rudimentary explosive devices are produced identified in the regions of Al Raïm and Tal Afar (Iraq) are in preparation. The objectives of the French raids, which reached 300, were mainly command and training centers of the caliphate and oil refineries in the Deir ez-Zor area, in Syria.
President Francois Hollande aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle announced in recent days that the flagship of the French fleet will be deployed in the Persian Gulf next week. From there he will take command of the allied joint operations against Daesh, joining the American aircraft carrier USS Truman which will operate from the same carrier.
For the French side, more than 3500 men, an aircraft carrier, an anti-submarine frigate, 38 attack aircraft, including 6 Dassault, are engaged against ISIS Flurry, 6 Mirage 2000, 18 Rafale m boarded, 8 Super Étendard Modernisé and various reconnaissance and refueling vehicles.
Britain
Operation Shader, the British anti-ISIS commitment, extends its offensive to Syria. The air force of the RAF present in the Akrotiri Cypriot base has recently been strengthened by 6 Typhoon e 2 Tornado, thus allowing a significant increase in offensive capabilities in the air campaign against the Caliphate.
In the night between 2 and 3 December the Tornado GR4 hit targets in Syria for the first time and, like the rest of the coalition air forces, will now concentrate their strikes on the oil fields through which Daesh finances its operations. These fields are mainly located in eastern Syria and as soon as they are identified by intelligence they are heavily bombed. The first objective of the Paveway IV of the British "Tonkas" was an oil refinery near Omar, 35 miles from the eastern border between Syria and Iraq. The destruction of this single site should result in a loss of 10% of the caliphate's financial resources. In the days leading up to the first strike in Syria, i Tornado GR4 and Reaper RAF provided air support to Iraqi ground forces in the Ramadi and Haditha area, and to Kurdish peshmerga near Sinjar, destroying terrorist-owned heavy machine guns and road checkpoints through which caliphate militants extort money to finance the cause.
The coalition's air operations would have greatly weakened the Daesh military forces allowing the Iranian-Kurdish ground forces to liberate approximately 30% of the territory fallen into the hands of the terrorists initially since the proclamation of the self-styled Islamic State in the summer of 2014. The coalition consolidated its positions in the Baiji and Sinjar regions. By significantly reducing the axis between Raqqah and Mosul, a fundamental logistical conjunction of Daesh. To the west of Iraq, along the Euphrates, the IS-held city of Ramadi has been surrounded and strong pressure is also exerted along the Hit-Haditha line.
Russia
According to Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the Pentagon, the Russian war effort in Syria would continue to focus mainly on the territories in the hands of the anti-Assad rebels.
Raids of the VVS (Air Force of the Russian Federation) were recorded in Aleppo (video below), Idlib, Hama and the surrounding areas.
Between 30 November and 3 December the Su-24 'Fencer' and Su-25 'Frogfoot' fighter-bombers, escorted by Su-34 'Fullback' armed with air-to-air missiles, severely hit a key junction line, named con the acronym of GLOC, through which Turkey would "support" the rebels settled in Aleppo. In the meantime, ISIS militants would have captured 4 villages in the Azaz area, a few tens of kilometers from the Turkish border. Several journalists, on the other hand, deny the veracity of a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry which portrays an "oil storage facility" hit on 2 December; the operation would be aligned with the coalition's war efforts aimed at destroying IS economic resources.
During the last week of November, as a consequence of the shooting down of the Su-24, the Russian air attacks were all concentrated in areas located along the border with Turkey: on the crossings in the hands of the Bab al-Hawa rebels and Bab al-Salam, and on the Jarablus crossing controlled by the militants of the caliphate. To date, the Russian deployment, divided into more than 5 fortified bases (the main ones are Latakia and Tartus, the last established is the Shayrat air base) is to be considered the largest deployment of external forces in the field, counting more than 50 aircraft and as many attack helicopters, tanks, artillery pieces, "Specnaz" special forces and various battalions of marines.
(photo: RAF, video MoD Russian Fed.)
