Θερμό επεισόδιο Ισραήλ-Συρίας: Ισραηλινό τανκ εκτόξευσε προειδοποιητική βολή

Ένα ακόμη θερμό επεισόδιο μεταξύ των ισραηλινών στρατευμάτων και συριακών δυνάμεων καταγράφηκε το Σάββατο, ανεβάζοντας το θερμόμετρο της έντασης στην περιοχή, ενόψει και των εξελίξεων για την επόμενη μέρα του εμφυλίου πολέμου.

Ερντογάν: Δεν δέχομαι την απολογία του ΝΑΤΟ

Ο Πρόεδρος της Τουρκίας Ταγίπ Ερντογαν δεν δέχθηκε την απολογία της ηγεσίας του ΝΑΤΟ για την ανάρτηση, σε νορβηγικό πίνακα με εχθρικούς στόχους, στο πλαίσιο άσκησης της συμμαχίας, του ονόματός του και φωτογραφίας του Αττατούρκ.

Battle to break siege on Syria's Deir al-Zour imminent as ISIS loses Al-Sukhnah city

The black flag of the Islamic State (IS) group is all that is left in the strategic city of Al-Sukhnah in central Syria, after the Syrian army and allied fighters recently took hold of the city, deemed as the gate to Deir al-Zour province in the east.

Trucks With US Supplies Cross Into Kurdish-Controlled Syrian Territory : Reports

The United States delivered 112 trucks with supplies, including military equipment, to the Kurdish-controlled areas of northeastern Syria, Turkish media reported Tuesday.

Iraqi Popular Forces Vow to Respond to Deadly US Attack

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, also known as Hashd al-Shaabi, deplored a fresh deadly attack on their positions by the US military, saying the volunteer forces will make a crushing response to the move.

Syria War Crimes/ill-conceived airstrikes: US-led coalition kills 43 civilians, injures others in Raqqa

Warplanes of the US-led coalition committed a new massacre in Raqqa, leaving 43 civilians dead and others injured.

“International coalition” shells Raqqa National Hospital with phosphorus bombs

Deputy Director of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent “SARC” Branch in Raqqa Dina al-Asa’ad stressed that the warplanes of the so-called “international coalition” shelled on Thursday night the building of the National Hospital in Raqqa City with phosphorus bombs.

Fierce clashes ongoing around Palmyra, several ISIS attacks repelled

Units of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces clashed with ISIS terrorist groups that attacked military posts in the surroundings of Tadmur (Palmyra) city in the eastern countryside of Homs province.

Terror/Rebels call for five-day Aleppo ceasefire re-organizing them

Syrian terror/rebels in Aleppo city have called for an immediate five-day truce and the evacuation of civilians to other opposition-held territory in the northern province, according to a statement....EL Ethos UT: Terror/Rebels call for five-day Aleppo ceasefire

Abe: Japan in 'Race Against Time' to Free Hostages Held by IS

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country is in a "race against time" to free two hostages being held by the Islamic State group for a $200 million ransom.
Abe told reporters Wednesday in Tokyo that he has instructed officials to use every possible diplomatic channel to secure the release of Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa. 

Islamic State militants released a video Tuesday saying they would kill the men unless Japan paid the money within 72 hours, linking the threat to what they said was Japan's support for efforts to fight the group.

The prime minister said Wednesday that Japan "will never give in to terrorism." He has pledged $200 million in non-military aid to those countries affected by the Sunni extremists.

Japan is not among the countries directly participating in the coalition battling insurgents in Syria and Iraq.

However, Japanese citizens have previously been killed by Islamic militants - the most notable attack was at an Algerian gas plant in 2013 where ten Japanese died. 

   [VOA News]

   21/1/15

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• Japan PM says will do utmost to free captives 

Japan will do its utmost to free two of its countrymen believed to be held captive by the Islamic State militant group, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters on Wednesday, adding that Tokyo would never give in to terrorism.

"I have instructed (the government) that we will exhaust all possible measures to have the two freed, using all diplomatic channels, all diplomatic routes we have built so far," Abe said.

"Our country will never give in to terrorism."

Islamic State released an online video on Tuesday purporting to show two Japanese captives and threatening to kill them unless it received $200 million in ransom.
   [jpost.com by Reuters]
  21/1/15

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• Islamic State likely gave hostage ultimatum knowing difficulty of meeting it...

By giving Tokyo just 72 hours to come up with an eye-popping $200 million ransom for a pair of Japanese hostages it is threatening to kill, the Islamic State group has likely made its demand with the implicit knowledge that it won’t be met.

Instead, the group, which has seized large swaths of Syria and Iraq in its quest to create an Islamic caliphate, is likely using the situation to generate controversy and keep its name in the news, according to leading analysts.
“The Islamic State has specialized in manufacturing attention-grabbing international crises,” Joshua M. Landis, a prominent Syria analyst and the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told The Japan Times............http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/01/21/national/politics-diplomacy/islamic-state-likely-gave-hostage-ultimatum-knowing-difficulty-of-meeting-it/#.VL_LTiwYE9Q
 21/1/15

Syria: Israeli jets bomb army facilities near Damascus airport. (no reports of casualties)

Syrian media reported on Sunday evening that Israeli jets had bombed targets near Damascus international airport and in the town of Dimas, north of Damascus and near the border with Lebanon.
There were no reports of casualties in the reports, but the general command of the Syrian army said in a statement that several facilities had been hit, both at the Damascus International Airport and in the area of Dimas.

According to the reports, the Israeli air force flew at least 10 sorties over the Dimas area and attacked several military targets. Residents of Damascus reported hearing loud explosions on the outskirts of the city

• Israeli officials have neither confirmed nor denied the reports and it is unclear how reliable they are.

• "This aggression proves Israel's direct involvement in supporting terror in Syria, along with other Arab and regional countries," the Syrian military command said..

"The Israeli attack was designed to lift the morale of the terror groups, primarily Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State, after the blows they have received from the Syrian army."

• Lebanese sources that the Israeli air force had been flying over southern Lebanon since Sunday morning. It was not specified whether the planes entered Syrian air space or fired from within Lebanese air space."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned live video broadcast on Sunday evening due to "events in Jerusalem." The premier made do with a short, pre-recorded speech to the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum, being held in Washington.

Earlier, during the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that Israel "is following the Middle East and what is happening very closely, with wide open eyes and ears – and a lot is happening.

"We will continue to keep our fingers on the pulse and we will deal with these threats and these challenges, which never take time off. We will deal with them with the same responsibility that we have demonstrated until now." 
 [haaretz.com]
7/12/14 
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Related:

• Israel has been accused of carrying out two air strikes on Syria near the capital Damascus, according to Syrian and Lebanese television reports...

• Syrien: Israelische Luftwaffe soll Waffenlager bei Damaskus attackiert haben...

• Israel lanza ataques aéreos contra un depósito de municiones en Damasco ...

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife met Sunday with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, during the last day of his visit to Turkey.

The Bidens visited the Church of St. George, a Greek-Orthodox cathedral in Istanbul, before heading to the historic Suleymaniye Mosque, the largest in the city.

Biden arrived in Istanbul on Friday for talks with Turkish leaders on the crisis in Syria.

Biden said Saturday that he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed a Syrian transition of power away from the Bashar al-Assad regime during a four-hour meeting earlier in the day.

He said they also talked about denying Islamic State militants a safe haven in Iraq and Syria.

In the past, Erdogan has insisted if the U.S. wants Turkish help, it must focus less on fighting IS extremists and more on toppling the Assad regime. On Saturday, he said Turkey will continue working closely with the United States, and he called Biden's visit "very meaningful."

Biden said the United States will continue to help Turkey cope with the humanitarian crisis created by 1.6 million Syrian refugees flooding into Turkish refugee camps.

Meanwhile the White House announced the U.S. will give $135 million in additional humanitarian assistance to help Turkey and other nations care for refugees fleeing violence in Syria.

Most of that funding is slated for the World Food Program, to be used for household food rations and food vouchers for refugees. Nearly $11 million of the funds will go to support the World Food Program in Turkey.
 http://www.voanews.com/content/biden-wraps-up-visit-to-turkey/2531409.html
23/11/14

Peshmerga fighters to deploy to Kobane with heavy weapons: Kurdish officials

An agreement regarding the route for the deployment of Peshmerga fighters to the besieged Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane has been reached and troops are on the verge of departing, officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) told Anadolu Agency on Oct. 28.

The spokesman of the KRG’s Peshmerga Ministry said discussions had dragged on because of negotiations regarding the heavy weaponry that the troops from Arbil will bring to assist Kurdish fighters in Kobane in their struggle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“All the preparations for our Peshmerga troops have ended. There were some technical issues for their departure. Now, all the planning and programming for their departure has concluded. They will depart as soon as possible,” KRG spokesman Halgort Hekmat said.

According to Kurdish security sources, the heavy weaponry will be conveyed by land while a group of fighters will fly to the southeastern Turkish province of Şanlıurfa before passing through a border corridor into Kobane. 

Hekmat said the heavy weaponry sent to Kobane does not include any weaponry given by coalition forces. He also rejected claims that the Peshmerga would only be training and providing logistical assistance to Kurdish fighters.

“The Peshmerga will fight in Kobane against ISIL,” he said, also thanking Ankara for its efforts for facilitating the deployment of the Peshmerga troops.

Meanwhile, Kurdish online newspaper Rudaw claimed that a group of Peshmerga forces will leave Arbil for Şanlıurfa in the early hours of Oct. 29. 
 [ hurriyetdailynews.com]
28/10/14

Kerry Says US Concerned About Reports on IS Chlorine Usage in Iraq

WASHINGTON, October 24 – The United States takes the reports about chlorine attacks against Iraqi police officers by the Islamic State (IS) extremists very seriously, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday.

"I'm not in a position to confirm it, but we take these allegations very, very seriously. In particularly, the most recent allegations about the use of chlorine as a chemical weapon," Kerry said at a joint press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.

Kerry explained that chlorine by itself is not on a chemical weapons list and therefore has not been removed from Syria by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) mission.

"When mixed in certain ways and used in certain ways it [chlorine] can become a chemical weapon that is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Agreement. We are seeking additional information in order to be able to determine whether or not we can confirm it," said Kerry.

On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that the September 15 chlorine attack against 11 Iraqi police officers appears to be the first confirmed use of chemical weapons by the IS.

In September, Iraqi media said that the IS militants fired the city of Dulu’iyya with shells that contained toxic substances, presumably chlorine.

The Islamic State is a Sunni jihadist group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it launched an offensive in Iraq, seizing vast areas in both countries and announcing the establishment of an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control.
(RIA Novosti)
24/10/14

Syrian rebels overrun intelligence base on Golan Heights used to spy on Israel

Syrian rebel forces fighting the government of President Bashar Assad overran a military intelligence base on the Golan Heights that served as a joint Russian-Syrian forward post for information-gathering on Israel.

In a four-minute video clip which was posted on the Internet by the rebels, Free Syrian Army fighters are seen in a building in Quneitra, just near the boundary between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

The footage shows pictures of Russian officers visiting the base as well as Russian-language maps of Israel. There are also photographs of the Russian defense minister’s top intelligence advisor as well as various other senior Russian defense and military officials having once visited the base. 
[jpost.com]
11/10/14

Turkey to support training, equipping Syrian opposition, US says

WASHINGTON - Turkey has agreed to support the training and equipping of the moderate opposition in Syria, the US State Department said on Friday, saying a US military team would visit Ankara next week to discuss the matter.

"Turkey has agreed to support train-and-equip efforts for the moderate Syrian opposition," spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters in describing a visit to Turkey by the two senior US officials responsible for building a coalition to fight the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq.


"There will be a (US Defense Department) planning team traveling to Ankara next week to continue planning that through military channels," she added.
[ jpost.com]
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Turkey: 18 killed in Kurdish protests

At least 18 people have been killed in pro-Kurdish protests in southeast Turkey, the Anadulo news agency reported on Wednesday.
The protesters were angry at Ankara’s lack of action to protect Kurdish population of the Syrian border town of Kobane from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Eight of the deaths came in Turkey’s main Kurdish city of Diyarbakir where the most intense rioting took place overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, a local security official told AFP.

The clashes with police caused extensive damage in the city with shop fronts burned-out and buses set on fire.
The other deaths were reported in violent protests in Mardin, Siirt, Batman and Mus, all cities in the southeast of Turkey.
In a measure unprecedented in the last years, the Turkish army has deployed in the streets of the cities of Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van to impose a curfew.
Schools were closed in Diyarbakir and fights were cancelled, reports said. The protests had first broken out on Monday night but Tuesday’s clashes were more severe.
Police also used tear gas and water cannon to disperse angry pro-Kurdish protests in Istanbul and Ankara.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has so far not intervened militarily against ISIS militants fighting to seize majority-Kurdish border town of Kobane, to the fury of Turkey’s Kurds.
More than 160,000 have fled Kobane since the Islamist militants began their assault on the city three weeks ago.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the Kurdish protests supporting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) “invite terror and chaos to Turkey,” the Anadulo news agency reported.
“Nobody has the right to disturb the peace and stability in Turkey using developments in a foreign territory as a pretext,” Kurtulmus added.
Turkey considers the PKK as a terrorist organization and refuses to support the PKK-offshoot fighting ISIS in the town of Kobane.
(With AFP)
alarabiya.net
8/10/14
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Related:

• Turkey asks US to ramp up air strikes against Islamic State

Turkey asks US to ramp up air strikes against Islamic State

Turkey has asked the United States to step up air strikes to keep Islamic State militants (ISIS/ISIL) from seizing a key Syrian Kurdish border town, a senior Turkish official was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

"Our government and our related institutions have emphasized to US officials the necessity of immediately ramping up air bombardment in a more active and efficient way," Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said, according to comments published on the website of the television channel AHaber.

Islamic State fighters advancing into the southwest of Kobani has increased pressure on Ankara to intervene in the conflict. Criticism is moutning from Turkey's own Kurdish community, who accuse it of inaction.

NATO member Turkey has so far taken in more than 180,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees fleeing Kobani. But it has not joined a US-led coalition against Sunni insurgents, saying the campaign should aim to remove Syrian President Bashar Assad.
[jpost.com]
7/10/14

Turkish government gets OK for military operations in Syria, Iraq. The mandate to begin tomorrow will last for one year.

A comprehensive motion authorizing the government to deploy the Turkish army into Iraq and Syria and to allow the deployment of foreign troops on Turkish soil was approved Oct. 2 in Parliament, providing the necessary legality for Turkey’s potential contribution to the international coalition’s efforts to destroy jihadists.

The motion, based on Article 92 of the Turkish Constitution, received 298 votes in favor and 98 against.

Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) lawmakers voted in favor of the motion while the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the People’s Democracy Party (HDP) voted against the mandate.

• The Iraq-Syria motion gives a green light for the use of Turkish troops in Iraq and Syria, as well as for foreign forces to be deployed on Turkish military bases and to transit through Turkish territory in operations against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants. The mandate to begin tomorrow will last for one year. The government merged two existing motions on Syria and Iraq into one, arguing that the threats and risks posed by terrorist organizations are using both countries’ territories. 

“The threat against Turkey has gained a new dimension. It’s our obligation to take measures against this threat and to protect our citizens in the frame of international law,” Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz told Parliament. Yılmaz cited the efforts of the international coalition to battle against extremist jihadists in Syria and underlined that Turkey was also part of these efforts.

But just hours before the parliamentary session, Yılmaz stressed that the adoption of the motion did not mean that Turkey would take immediate steps in line with the scope of the motion. The three priorities Turkey has already outlined are to establish safe havens inside Syria to provide humanitarian assistance to Syrians in their own country, establish no-fly zones for the protection of these zones and train and provide logistics to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Turkey. Turkey is yet to decide what measures it will take in this framework but it has made it clear that all such potential measures to be carried out with the participation of coalition forces should also target the Syrian government. 

‘Assad is the main source of unrest’

“The main source of ISIL is the Syrian regime,” Yılmaz said, adding that Damascus had increased its oppression against dissidents in the country, committing massacres against its own citizens in various ways. “The developments in Iraq have proven that there is a need of a holistic and comprehensive strategy to respond to the regional clashes and humanitarian tragedy. The region will be dragged into further conflict in the event the international community does not take a decisive step,” he added.

Mehmet Şandır, a deputy parliamentary group leader of the MHP, stressed that they were voting in favor of the motion because of their sensitivity to national causes and security while adding that that did not mean that it approved the ruling party’s foreign policy line. “If there is a possibility of an attack against our country, we should take measures to defend our country,” Şandır said.

CHP: Motion is a battle cry

Akif Hamzaçebi, deputy parliamentary group leader of the CHP, described the motion as a “battle cry” and stressed that it was not aimed at fighting against ISIL but the Bashar al-Assad regime, which could drag Turkey into war with Syria. “Where is ISIL in this motion? Mr. President was caught red-handed yesterday with his address to Parliament as he outlined that their main objective was to topple the regime,” Hamzaçebi said. “We simply do not want to draw Turkey into this fire.”

Faruk Loğoğlu, speaking on behalf of the CHP, termed the point Turkey arrived at a crossroads that would negatively affect the future of Turkey and the region. “This motion is the result of an adventurous foreign policy. And we should all vote against it,” Loğoğlu said.

HDP: Gov’t still supporting ISIL

Ertuğrul Kürkçü, a lawmaker from the HDP, argued that the Turkish government did have any concerns over ISIL’s existence in Iraq and Syria and that the motion was just an attempt to show off on behalf of Turkey for its regional ambitions. “You were bystanders to the ISIL massacres. You had no such issue until Barack Obama targeted ISIL,” Kürkçü said. “You were the ones who supported ISIL, and you are still supporting it.”

Linking the ongoing Kurdish resolution process to the clashes between ISIL and the Syrian Kurds’ Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the Kobane region of northern Syria, Kürkçü said, “If Kobane fails, the resolution process will also fail.” 
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-government-gets-ok-for-military-operations-in-syria-iraq.aspx?pageID=238&nID=72482&NewsCatID=338
2/10/14
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• Turkey’s ISIL mandate includes 'military action abroad, opening bases to foreign troops'

 

With its mandate completed, OPCW-UN mission draws down in Syria

UN, 1 October 2014 – The joint United Nations mission to oversee the destruction of Syria’s stockpiles and production facilities has completed its mission and been shut down.
The Joint Mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the UN (OPCW-UN) drew to a close yesterday.
“The work of the Joint Mission has been vital to the success of international efforts to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons programme,” said OPCW Director-General, Ahmet Üzümcü.

He called the Joint Mission “an excellent example of how practical cooperation between international organizations can achieve tangible results in disarmament.”

The UN Security Council formally approved the mission in October 2013. The removal of the most critical material for destruction began in early January, in line with an agreement brokered by Russia and the United States, by which Syria renounced its chemical weapons material and joined 1992 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons.

The removal of the chemical agents out of the country involved transporting them to the port of Latakia, where they were shipped on commercial vessels provided by some Member States. They were then loaded onto a United States ship and destroyed at sea using hydrolysis.

The Joint Mission was headed by Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag, whose “extraordinary efforts and leadership” were praised by Mr. Üzümcü. 

The OPCW mission in Syria will continue to deal with the destruction of chemical weapon production facilities and clarification of certain aspects of the Syrian initial declaration.
The provision of safety, security and logistical support for the OPCW has transitioned to the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which has signed an agreement with the organization. 
un.org
1/10/14