2019 October

Putin is on a victory lap of the Middle East

On Tuesday, Kremlin-backed forces further stepped up to fill the vacuum left in northern Syria by the US. Russian military police units patrolled the contact line between Syrian and Turkish forces, while Putin-backed Bashar al-Assad troops gained full control of the town of Manbij and surrounding areas, according to a Russian defense ministry statement published […]

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Russian military police are now patrolling the line between Syrian and Turkish forces

The Russian units are patrolling a contact line between Syrian and Turkish forces, according to a statement Tuesday by Russia’s Defense Ministry. The line runs along the northwestern borders of the Manbij district. ### After Turkey launched a long-threatened offensive across the border into Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria last week, local Syrian Kurdish leaders struck a […]

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Erdogan says Turkey will ‘never declare a ceasefire’

Speaking to journalists traveling on his presidential plane following a visit to Azerbaijan Tuesday, Erdogan said a ceasefire was off the table. “Declare a ceasefire, they say. We will never declare a ceasefire,” Erdogan said. “We do not sit at the table with terrorist organizations.” ### Erdogan’s comments come as Russian-backed Syrian regime troops on […]

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Woman busted for marijuana at Moscow airport is at the center of a three-way diplomatic wrangle

Israeli officials have pleaded for the release of Naama Issachar, but the 26-year-old, who was stopped in April while transiting through Moscow on her way from India to Israel, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on drug smuggling charges. ### “The punishment being demanded by the Russian prosecutor is disproportionate and […]

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The situation in Syria is rapidly deteriorating. Four things you need to know

Last week, the Trump administration ordered US troops to step aside from the border in northern Syria, effectively paving the way for Turkey to launch an offensive against US-backed Kurdish forces who they regard as enemies. ### In the days since then, the world has watched major changes unfold in northern Syria, including shuffling allegiances […]

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Kurdish politician and 10 others killed by ‘Turkish-backed militia’ in Syria, SDF claims

The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army or FSA (also called the Syrian National Army), have denied those claims. CNN cannot independently verify the videos. ### A video circulating on social media purports to show the bullet-riddled SUV of Secretary-General of the pro-Kurdish Future Syria Party, Hevrin Khalaf, surrounded by several men wearing what appears to be […]

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Iran says it discovered a natural gas reserve that could create $40 billion in revenue

Click:全国楼凤论坛 The natural gas field, named Eram, is located near the Persian Gulf in the southwestern province of Fars and holds about 19 trillion cubic feet of gas, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Deputy Managing Director Reza Dehghan said at a press conference. ### “We have the potential to identify more undiscovered oil and gas […]

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The war against ISIS was all a waste

Click:best air fryers In the end the “caliphate” was little more than a sprawling expanse of rubble and mangled cars, strewn with the corpses of ISIS fighters. ### But it wasn’t the final battle. We were wrong. ### Thousands of ISIS fighters surrendered, and many thousands more — their widows and orphans, their wives and […]

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Kurdish forces backed by US strike deal with Syria’s Assad, in major shift in 8-year war

On Monday, Syrian troops were reportedly advancing north towards the border to confront Turkish forces, returning for the first time in years to a region where the Kurds had established relative autonomy, and further solidifying Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s grip on the country. ### The agreement between Damascus and the Kurds comes as US President […]

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Exclusive: Pro-Turkish forces cut off main road to Kurdish city of Kobani

The move cuts off the main highway — and perhaps only route — to Kobani, where US troops are based. ### CNN witnessed Turkish military armored personnel carriers on the M4 highway between Tal Tamr and Ain Issa, parked by the side of the road. Further reinforcements made their way through the dust towards the […]

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