Syrian Air Force in the context of "Hafez al-Assad"

Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the United States military's operational name for the international war against the Islamic State (IS)—a group also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or its Arab acronym "Daesh"—including both a campaign in Iraq and a campaign in Syria, with a closely related campaign in Libya. Through 18 September 2018, the U.S. Army's III Armored Corps was responsible for Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF—OIR) and were replaced by the XVIII Airborne Corps. The campaign is primarily waged by American and British forces in support of local allies, most prominently the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Combat ground troops, mostly special forces, infantry, and artillery have also been deployed, especially in Iraq. Of the airstrikes, 70% have been conducted by the military of the United States, 20% by the United Kingdom, and the remaining 10% being carried out by Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

According to the Pentagon, by March 2019, the day of IS's territorial defeat in Syria, CJTF—OIR and its partner forces had liberated nearly 110,000 square kilometers (42,471 square miles) of land and 7.7 million people from IS, the vast majority of the self-proclaimed caliphate's territory and subjects. By October 2017, around the time of IS's territorial defeat in Iraq, CJTF—OIR claimed that around 80,000 IS militants had been killed by it and its allies (excluding those targeted by Russian and Syrian air strikes). By the end of August 2019, it had conducted 34,573 strikes. Tens of thousands more were killed by partner forces on the ground (the SDF alone claimed to have killed 25,336 IS fighters by the end of 2017).

The Syrian Arab Armed Forces (SAAF; Arabic: القوات المسلحة العربية السورية, romanized: al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥah al-ʿArabīyah as-Sūrīyah) were the combined armed forces of Ba'athist Syria from 1963 to 2024. They served during the rule of the Ba'ath Party in Syria.

The SAAF consisted of the Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Air Force, Syrian Arab Air Defense Force, Syrian Arab Navy. According to the 2012 Constitution of Syria, the President of Syria was the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Minister of Defence held the position of Deputy Commander-in-chief of the Army and Armed Forces.

Riad Mousa al-As'aad (Arabic: رياض موسى الأسعد, pronounced [riˈjɑːdˤ ˈmuːsa lˈʔæsʕæd]; born 2 February 1961) is a Syrian military officer and politician who is the founding leader of the Free Syrian Army. One of the prominent faces of the Syrian civil war, he led the armed resistance to the Assad regime as commander-in-chief of FSA, during the early phase of the Syrian Civil War. Under Riad al-Asaad's command, FSA expanded into a paramilitary force of 75,000 guerilla fighters and insurgents in March 2012; capable of ousting regime forces from Damascus. He currently serves as the deputy prime minister for Military Affairs of the Syrian Salvation Government, a position he has held since 2 November 2017. He was a former colonel in the Syrian Air Force who defected to the opposition in July 2011 and became the first Acting Commander-in-chief of the Free Syrian Army.

Some of his family members were executed by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

A barrel bomb is an improvised unguided bomb, sometimes described as a flying IED (improvised explosive device). They are typically made from a large barrel-shaped metal container that has been filled with explosives, possibly shrapnel, oil or chemicals as well, and then dropped from a helicopter or aeroplane. Due to the large amount of explosives (up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb)), their poor accuracy, and indiscriminate use in populated civilian areas (including refugee camps), the resulting impacts have been devastating. Critics have characterised them as weapons of terror and illegal under international conventions.

Barrel bombs were used in different conflict zones including in 1948 and by the US military in Vietnam in the late 1960s. Starting in the 1990s, they were also used in Sri Lanka, Croatia and Sudan. Barrel bombs were used extensively by the Syrian Air Force during the Syrian civil war—bringing the weapon to widespread global attention—and later by the Iraqi forces during the Anbar campaign. Experts believe they will continue to be embraced by unstable nations fighting insurgencies since they are cheap to make and utilise the advantages of a government's airpower.