American geoscientist and international radiation expert Leuren Moret says the whole country of Syria is plagued with radioactive contamination because the United States not only used depleted uranium weaponry, but provided it to terrorists fighting against the Syrian government.
Dr. Moret made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday, days after the Pentagon admitted that it used depleted uranium (DU) ammunition in Syria, the controversial weaponry that causes serious health problems among the population.
Dr. Moret said the use of depleted uranium ammunition is: “not limited just to attacking Daesh, or ISIL, positions in Syria in late 2015. Actually, the US government, the Pentagon has used depleted uranium in Syria from the very beginning, and that would be after [President Vladimir] Putin announced Russia would be assisting the Syrian government in removing the terrorists from Syria”.
“They used it all over Syria where these battles have been, but they also armed terrorists with depleted uranium weaponry. The whole country now, where the battles have been whether on battlefields or in urban regions, are all contaminated. And that has to be cleaned up before they rebuild the cities, parts of Damascus, almost all of Aleppo, and villages too,” she added……………………
Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has renewed calls to the UN Security Council for an immediate end of the violations of The Syrian sovereignty by the Turkish Armed Forces.
The Ministry also published a list of all violations that occurred since last December.
The letter, which was addressed to the UN Secretary General and the President of the UN Security Council, mentions illegal incursions into Syrian territory, building a wall within the so-called Turkish buffer zones (which exist on the sovereign Syrian territory), destruction of the property belonging to the Syrian citizens such as uprooting of hundreds of olive trees in order to build roads for the tanks of the Turkish army (as recently seen in the village of Qljabreen in the Azaz area of Aleppo province) and illegal backing of the terrorist groups which are loyal to the regime in Ankara.
The letter further states that the Turkish authorities recently established a military base inside Syrian territory, more precisely in the village of Jtrar, North of the town of Tal Rifaat, located in the province of Aleppo. The base includes the headquarters for the Turkish army personnel and their allies who are stationed on the Syrian soil and are allegedly involved in the so-called “Operation Euphrates Shield”. Ammunition depots are also being mentioned…………………
Conférence de presse du Dr Bachar al-Jaafari suite à la réunion d’Astana 2:
…”Merci à vous tous, je m’exprimerai en arabe, mais je pense que vous aurez la traduction simultanée
Notre évaluation du processus d’Astana est positive tant qu’il sert le noble but pour lequel nous sommes venus jusqu’ici. Et c’est essentiellement :
1-la consolidation effective de l’accord de cessation des hostilités,
2-suivie de la séparation des groupes armés ayant signé cet accord de ceux qui ont refusé de le signer, c’est-à-dire la séparation entre ceux qui croient en une solution politique et les terroristes,
3-pour qu’ensuite, tous les signataires, y compris les trois États garants et les groupes terroristes ayant consenti à signer cet accord, soient obligatoirement engagés à combattre le terrorisme et à soutenir les efforts de l’Armée arabe syrienne, de ses amis et de ses alliés”… … …
… … …Bachar al-Jaafari : “Évidemment que l’arrivée si tardive de la délégation turque à Astana, sa représentativité réduite et son refus d’adhérer au projet du communiqué final sont embarrassants pour les autres États garants et le pays hôte. Quant à la deuxième partie de votre question, il serait plus opportun de la poser aux trois États garants”… … … “La Jordanie a été et reste une importante source de douleur et de perturbations pour notre peuple. Peut-être que sa participation à la réunion d’Astana en tant qu’observateur, comme je l’ai compris, contribuera à ce que Amman révise sa politique erronée à l’égard de la Syrie”…………….
The leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics (DPR and LPR) held a press conference in Lugansk on Friday in a display of unity against Kiev putschists and to discuss areas of Donbass that are under the control of Kiev’s forces.
Igor Plotnitsky, Head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (Russian):“I want to say that we have never considered and will not consider temporarily occupied territories as lost for us. Those [areas] are our homeland, they are our native people, and they are temporarily under the occupation of fascist Ukraine, because today that is the regime that exists in Ukraine, as they decided, and by right, is called fascism”.
Igor Plotnitsky, Head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (Russian):“We invite all our citizens, we have not forgotten about you. You do not have the February 23 holiday; you do not have the May 9 holiday. Come to us, you will have an opportunity to celebrate those old holidays with us that were historically formed in our land, on our territory, in the Russian world”.
Alexander Zakharchenko, Head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (Russian):“Our brothers and sisters are there on that territory, and this message is to them, first of all. We have not forgotten about them, we remember our debt to Kramatorsk, Lisichansk. We remember our friends and brothers that were killed on the battlefields in those years. We remember hundreds, thousands of tortured people that were accused of separatism and terrorism”.
Igor Plotnitsky, Head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (Russian):“There are no contradictions between the LPR and DPR. We do not have any of the problems they put on us. And actually, you should trust official sources, not gossip that goes around”.
Alexander Zakharchenko, Head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (Russian):“I think that world leaders, and especially in Europe, will start thinking about this, and I think that in the next few hours a big brain-storming session is going to start there, that will allow us to decide on something in four days”.
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President Bashar al-Assad affirmed that victory in Aleppo is an important step in the way to defeat and to eliminate the terrorism from our country, adding “we don’t think that we can talk about winning the war unless we defeat the terrorists everywhere in Syria”.
The president added in an interview given to French TF1 TV and EUROPE 1 Radio that the west supported terrorists in Syria under the name of “moderate”, but it was supporting the same basis of al-Qaeda and ISIS.
Following is the Full Video of the Interview in English…………………..
Following is the Full Text Transcript of the Interview……………………..
(Por el Maestro Viejo) ~ Fue un día, solo un día donde las grandes cadenas de desinformación masiva encabezaron sus noticias con un informe de Amnistía Internacional (AI) que desvelaba 13.000 ejecuciones en las cárceles de Siria. Ojo, no 12.967 ni 13.046, sino 13.000.
Se ve que al llegar a ese número Al Assad mandó detener la operación para que fuera un número redondo.
Han pasado unos cuantos días y nada más se supo, el gobierno sirio desmintió las informaciones y recordó la campaña mediática que los medios capitalistas tienen contra el gobierno y no se habló más.
“La historia no será benévola con aquellos que han propagado la mentira de sostener que en Siria se puso en marcha algo parecido a una revolución democrática” (John Wight, “Siria y el guardaespaldas de mentiras”)
… … …
Sobre todo desde el famoso escándalo de las falsas incubadoras de Kuwait en 1990 (una mentira en cuya difusión tuvo un papel estelar Amnistía Internacional: véase “Haciendo memoria. De incubadoras y bebés para hacer la guerra contra Irak”), a dicha organización se le ha ido cayendo poco a poco la máscara, mostrándonos su verdadero rostro: el de servir de herramienta ideológica a los intereses de las élites de Occidente………………….
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned NATO’s attempt to “constantly provoke” Russia, through expansion and the placing of weapons “across national borders,” during an address to the Federal Security Service, in Moscow on Thursday.
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (Russian):“Good afternoon, dear comrades. Our meetings in the framework of the annual board of the Federal Security Service allow us to analyse deeply and summarise the work of the department over the last year, it is also a good opportunity to comprehensively discuss the most important questions of national security generally.”
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (Russian):“Over the past year the situation in the world has not become more stable, has not improved. It is the opposite, many of the existing challenges and threats only worsened. There has been intensified military-political and economic competition between global and regional centres of influence and individual countries. If you look bloody conflicts are continuing in several are continuing bloody conflicts Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries. International terrorist groups are actively involved in them and in fact a terrorist army is receiving hidden and even explicit support from some states. At the NATO summit last July in Warsaw for the first time since 1989, Russia was named the main security threat to the Alliance, and dealing with it [Russia] was officially proclaimed as the new NATO mission, and the further expansion of the block is being undertaken with this particular aim. In fact, it was carried out before, but now they have found another argument, that seems more serious to them. The have sped up the process of the placement of strategic and conventional weapons across national borders. We are being provoked all the time. In plain words, they constantly provoke and tend to try to draw us into a confrontation. And attempts to interfere in our internal affairs, aimed to destabilise the social and political situation in Russia, do not stop. We also saw a serious escalation of the situation in the south-east of Ukraine recently. The aim of this escalation is clear: to abort the Minsk agreements. The current government in Ukraine is definitely not ready for a peaceful solution to this complex problem and rely on a military solution. Moreover, they are speaking in public about terrorist organisations, subversive activities, including in Russia. It could not, not disturb us. The events and circumstances mentioned, require particular attention and concentration of force from special and targeted structures in Russia, above all the Federal Security Service, primarily in the fight against terrorism.”
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (Russian):“The activity of terrorist groups should be identified and blocked, their financial base should be liquidated, as well as the activities of emissaries from abroad, their subversive activities on the internet should be suppressed, at the same time consider, of course, the Russian and international experience in this field.”
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (Russian):“We should take our anti-terror cooperation with foreign partners to the next level, in spite of all the difficulties, which are being formed in various areas of international life. First and foremost, of course, we have to strengthen our work with our partners in such organisations as the UN, the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organisation] and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Our common interest is the restoration of a dialogue with the intelligence services in the United States, of other countries and members of NATO. It is not our fault that it was broken and does not develop. It is obvious that in the counterterrorism area all the responsible states and international associations should cooperate, because even a simple information exchange on the sources and channels of terrorists funding, on the people involved or suspected of involvement in terrorism, seriously increases the effectiveness of our joint efforts.”
[Cheri] Berens is an American who has lived in Cairo for years working as a researcher for the Egyptian Ministry of Culture. She witnessed the violence that preceded the takeover of the country by the radical Muslim Brotherhood and the counter-revolution that removed it from power.
Berens is author of “Cheri’s Memoir: An American Woman Living in Egypt” and is working on her next book, “The Cultural History of Egypt.”
And, in an essay on her blog titled “Women’s March to Islam?” she chronicled how for everyday Egyptians watching on television, packed into “every coffee shop in Cairo that had a satellite dish,” the scenes in the streets of Washington, D.C., were disturbingly familiar.
They recognized the same methods the Muslim Brotherhood used for decades to finally seize control in Egypt playing out in the American capital.
… … …
Last week we told you about a Muslim mayor in New Jersey who declared his town a sanctuary for illegal aliens. The media was quick to highlight the mayor’s decision not to abide by federal laws but has been silent on his numerous trips to Syria (taxpayer funded?) and apparent personal links to jihad fighters in Syria. The Syrian Free Press has the details…………….
More than 5,000 rounds of depleted uranium (DU) ammunition were used in two attacks on Islamic State oil tankers in eastern Syria, the US military has confirmed. ~/~ More specifically, A-10 ground attack aircraft used armor-piercing DU rounds for their 30mm rotating cannons. ~/~ The US-led coalition previously pledged it would not use the controversial ordnance. ~/~ RT’s Gayane Chichakyan talks on the issue.
Civilians in the town of Kafr Naboudeh in Northern Hama engaged in heavy fighting with Ahrar al-Sham and Jeish al-Nasr, killing several terrorists including a field commander, news websites affiliated to terrorist groups disclosed.
The websites said that residents of Kafr Nabouden started clashing with the terrorists of Ahrar al-Sham and Jeish al-Nasr that had attacked Kafr Naboudeh and tried to enter the town.
The media outlets added that the civilians blocked terrorists’ path into the town, defending Syrian army soldiers deployed in Kafr Naboudeh.
Fierce clashes broke out between the pro-government civilians and terrorists at Kafr Naboudeh entrace gate, leaving several militants dead including commander of Jund al-Sonah Brigade known as Abu Hazen, said the websites………………..
(RT Documentary) ~ In almost six years of war in Syria, millions of civilians have been killed or wounded. Many have lost their homes and loved ones but the children are the most vulnerable victims of all, it’s estimated that over 8 million have been affected. ~/~ RT Doc’s Maria Finoshina has reported on the developing conflict in Syria since it began. Now she returns to the devastated cities of Aleppo and Homs to meet just a few of the kids who’ve grown up with the horror of war. ~/~Many of the children have never known a time of peace. Most are deprived of education and even a place of safety. Traumatized by what they’ve lived through, they receive no counselling and spend their childhoods simply trying to survive: dodging bombs and snipers’ bullets, constantly on the move to escape hostilities, while earning to support their families. ~/~The harrowing stories include Ahmad, who survived being shot in the head by a sniper but was left partially paralyzed. For him, the simplest of routine tasks are now a struggle but he still goes to school every day. Leith watched as five of his family members, including his parents, were killed. Moayed’s house was razed to the ground and now, every member of his big family has become a refugee in their own country. They squat in a partially destroyed building, with no water or electricity. ~/~Millions more of Syria’s children have similar stories to tell: a whole generation is growing up with war and as the bloodshed continues, their futures remain precarious and uncertain. Related:“They slaughtered my brothers and sisters”: stories of Aleppo’s orphans
Footage emerged on Tuesday of two Russian airplanes being loaded with humanitarian aid that will be delivered from Yerevan to Syria. ~ On the instructions of Armenian President Serj Sargsyan, approximately 40 tonnes of food, clothing and other essentials are to be transported to those affected by the conflict in Syria. ~ Russian transport was used as they have the necessary infrastructure to both deliver and issue humanitarian assistance. ~ It is the second time that Armenia has sent aid to Syria following a delivery in autumn 2016.
Syrian Army units operating in the eastern countryside of Homs established control over a number of hills in Jahar area after eliminating the remaining Daesh (ISIS, ISIL apes & rats) gatherings there.
Syrian Army units, in cooperation with the allied and supporting forces, carried out during the past few hours a swift military operation in which they established control over a number of strategic hills surrounding Jahar gas station to the northwest of Tadmur (Palmyra) city.
A number of vehicles and various kinds of ammunition were destroyed as a result of the operation. A number of Daesh mercenary-terrorists were killed and others were injured, while the rest of them fled towards the wells area leaving behind their arms.
Meanwhile, this Monday the Syrian Army eliminated all members of a Daesh mercenary-terrorist gangs and destroyed their weapons’ depot and a car equipped with heavy cannon near Ghassan Abboud roundabout in the city…………….
A video, released on Monday [13, February 2017] shows the destroyed facade of the Roman theater and a tetrapylon which dates back to 270 AD. ~ The video compares the state of the architectural landmark from June 6, 2016, when all four columns and the facade of the theater were intact, to their present state from February 5. ~ The terrorists blew up the proscenium, the central part of the ancient theater.
According to the Russian Defense ministry, Syrian troops backed by Russian jets are currently continuing their advance, with less than 20km left to Palmyra. It also stated that over the past week Russian jets made more than 90 assault sorties: “The Syrian government forces destroyed more than 180 objects of militant infrastructure, including more than 60 checkpoint, 15 warehouses storing weapons, ammunition and military vehicles, 43 armored cars and jeeps, equipped with heavy machine guns. Casualties among terrorists amounted to more than 200 people”, the ministry stated on Monday, adding that since February 7 the Syrian army established control over a territory of 22sq km, liberating the settlements of El Kuleybe and Kirkuk. In total, since the government forces launched the operation to free Homs province from jihadists, they liberated some 805sq km of land…(…read more…)…
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, received a medal from the CIA for his distinct intelligence-related counter-terrorism work and his contributions to ensure international peace and security.
The medal, named after George Tenet, was handed to him by CIA Director Micheal Pompeo.
Crown Prince Abdulaziz al-Saud received CIA Director Micheal Pompeo in Riyadh on Friday (10, 2017) in the presence of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense……………….
Heavy fighting continued between the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and jihadist-mercenaries in Harasta, Eastern Ghouta Region outside Damascus. After repelling an offensive launched by terrorist gangs last week, the SAA took measures to carry out several attacks to expand its control over the region.
A Syrian Arab Army unit carried out a military operation targeting an Daesh (ISIS, ISIL, IS…) gathering to the west of Deir Ezzor Airport. Syrian Agency reporters in the province said Sunday that the army destroyed a machinegun and eliminated most of the ISIS group’s members in the surrounding of Liwa al-Taamin, to the west of Deir Ezzor Airport.
In Daraa, Syrian Army units clashed with Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists who launched attacks against the locals’ houses and military points in al-Manshiyeh neighborhood in Daraa al-Balad area in the southern province of Daraa.
The army units confronted the assault that was launched from various directions towards the southeastern part of al-Manshiyeh neighborhood. Local reporters pointed out that the terrorist organizations targeted in parallel with their assault with artillery, mortar shells, home-made Jahannam (hell) cannons and heavy machineguns the residential buildings in al-Manshiyeh neighborhood, claiming two lives and injuring several people, in addition to causing huge material damage to houses and infrastructure. Heavy losses were inflicted upon the terrorist organizations in weaponry and personnel. Later, an army unit destroyed two booby-trapped vehicles for terrorist organizations to the southeast of al-Manshia neighborhood.
In Sweida, members of the Popular Defense groups thwarted two machine gun fire attacks launched by ISIS terrorists on civilians in the surroundings of Barek village in the northeastern countryside of Sweida. The terrorists, driving a vehicle equipped with a 23 mm machine gun to the west of Tal Saad, opened fire on a number of shepherds to the north of Barek village on Sunday morning with the aim to kill them and steal their cattle. Members of a popular defense group positioned in the area responded to the fire source, hitting the target directly.
Syrian Arab Army units repel terrorist attack on military posts in northeastern countryside of Lattakia: Syrian Army units in cooperation with the supporting forces repelled an attack by terrorist groups on a number of military posts in the northeastern countryside of Lattakia. A military source said the attack was launched by the terrorist groups from various directions targeting military posts in Kinsabba town and the mountains of Hassan al-Raei and al-Qalaa.
The attack was repelled and a number of terrorists were killed and others were injured, according to the source.
Turkey has claimed that there will be no commission on investigation of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ unintended strike against the Turkish military in Syria. According to a military source in Ankara, there’s no need, as the ‘situation is clear’. ‘In the early morning just after the incident, corresponding talks were carried out with Russia. The case is about reinforcement of coordination we have and making it more effective. Negotiations are taking place now,’ he claimed. ~ Russian Aerospace Forces carried out an unintended strike against the Turkish positions near the Syrian town of al-Bab on 9 February. The Turks were attacking the Daesh terrorists then. As a result, three Turkish military men died, 11 people were injured. ~ The Russian leader Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the President of Turkey Recep Erdogan. ~ The incident could have happened because of a fault of the Turkish Command. Uncoordinated deployment of the Turkish troops in a grid which had been meant for an airstrike could have been one of the reasons.
President Assad: “… John Kerry, a few months ago, said and by his voice that “we were watching ISIS advancing, and we expected the Syrian president to make concessions.” What does it mean? Obama said it in one of his speeches, that the war on Iraq created ISIS. So, who supported ISIS? We didn’t create it, you created it, the United States created all this mess. Who supported the rebels and called them “moderate rebels” while they became ISIS and al-Nusra in Syria? We didn’t. So, it’s not a conspiracy, these are facts, this is reality. We didn’t give money, we didn’t support these terrorists. Your country supported them, UK, France, publicly, and they said they sent armaments, we didn’t. So, it’s not my allegation, it’s your official allegation, including Joe Biden, the Vice President of Obama. He said, about Saudi Arabia and other countries supporting the extremists…”……………
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko is playing a desperate poker game in which he is gambling his political future with an all-out war in Europe. In a scene reminiscent of an old Hollywood B-movie Western, Poroshenko appears like a washed-up gunslinger with a lousy hand of cards who is bluffing with empty bravado.
However, the difference is Poroshenko is no gunslinger. And this is not fiction. It is grim reality where lives are suffering from his poker games.
He is a billionaire chocolate oligarch who along with his cronies in Kiev have driven their country into ruins. If a war breaks out, these effete, self-dealing elites will not be doing the fighting. They will find some luxury exile from where to spend their embezzled loot.
… … …
According to Eduard Basurin, the vice commander of the DPR, as quoted in Fort Russ: “Following the talk between Poroshenko and Trump, Ukraine will in the near future cease to receive financial and military support for its terrorist operation in the land of Donbass. In connection with this, the Ukrainian president has fallen into complete despair and is ready to desperately commit to the most reckless action of unleashing a full-scale and bloody war in Eastern Europe.”……………………..
In an interview with Sputnik Arabic, field commander of the Syrian Arab Army in Deir ez-Zor Brigade General Issam Zaheralden confirmed that two senior Daesh commanders, including Abu Muhammed al-Adnani who was in charge of the group’s drone attacks, were killed in an airstrike near the city of Deir ez-Zor.
Brigade General Issam Zaheralden said that civilians lost access to the airport, their only source of food, medicine and fuel, due to the latest terrorist attack on the city, prompting the Syrian Arab Army to launch an offensive along the 3-kilometer-long (1.8-mile-long) frontline.
As part of this campaign, the Syrian Arab Air Force conducted airstrikes near an area known as hill 14, killing 15 terrorists, Brigade General Issam Zaheralden detailed, adding that Abu Muhammed al-Adnani and Abu Walid al-Tarablusi were among them………………
The advance of the Syrian army on Daesh positions in the east of Aleppo province caught the terrorists by surprise. Sputnik Arabic reports that the Syrian infantry successfully overcame three barrier boundaries which were put up by Daesh on the outskirts of al-Bab. ~Read more
President Bashar al-Assad stressed that Syria is owned by the Syrians and that the peace is two things: fighting terrorists and terrorism, stopping the flowing of terrorism, every kind of logistical support. Second, dialogue between the Syrians to decide the future of their country and the whole political system.
On his expectations from the new administration in Washington, President Assad said, in a statement to Belgian media:
“What we heard as statements by Trump during the campaign and after the campaign is promising regarding the priority of fighting terrorists, and mainly ISIS, that’s what we’ve been asking for during the last six years. So, I think this is promising, we have to wait, it’s still early to expect anything practical. It could be about the cooperation between the US and Russia, that we think is going to be positive for the rest of the world, including Syria. So, as I said, it’s still early to judge it”.
President Bashar al-Assad said Europe has isolated itself and undermined every possible role it could play in this regard and has also harmed the interests of its people through it having supported organizations that have practiced all forms of terror against the Syrian people.
The President said there are Western politicians who work only with the aim of winning the elections and not for serving the interests of their countries and people, which has lead to the emergence of European policies that are dissociated from reality regarding some issues, which in turn has cast a shadow over the position and role of the European Union in the world………………….
“A sustainable decline in the number of violations of the ceasefire” in Syria, said Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi of Russia’s General Staff, who was speaking in Moscow on Tuesday. He was reporting on the outcome of the first joint operational group meeting in Astana that was held on Monday.
Sergei Rudskoi, Lieutenant-General, Chief of the Main Operational Directorate, General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (Russian):“The Russian Federation is fulfilling its obligations and is continuing to work to maintain the ceasefire and spread [it] through the whole of the Syrian territory. Military experts from Russia, Turkey and Iran held a constructive meeting in Astana on February 6 this year in order to improve the arrangements for the ceasefire. Representatives of the UN also participated in the meeting. All participants mentioned a sustainable decline in the number of ceasefire violations. The Russian project regulations concerning a joint operational group for the consolidation of the ceasefire regime have almost been agreed upon. It is supposed to be signed during the next meeting in Astana”.
Sergei Rudskoi, Lieutenant-General, Chief of the Main Operational Directorate, General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (Russian): “All participants of the meeting supported an additional protocol for the agreement that was signed earlier. It was worked out by Russian and Turkish experts and contained certain measures focused on improving the truce. A regulation concerning a district joined to the peace process was also approved and presented by the Russian side, which determines the relations between Syrian officials; and the areas that are under the control of armed groups during the transition period was also approved. These documents were sent to the opposition and Syrian government for approval”.
Sergei Rudskoi, Lieutenant-General, Chief of the Main Operational Directorate, General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (Russian): “During this meeting the determination of which districts are controlled by ISIS and al-Nusra Front was almost finished. There are certain irrelevant disagreements that will be agreed upon soon. It really helps to separate the opposition from the terrorist groups. Besides, the representatives of Jordan who spoke about the situation in the south of Syria in detail, were also present at [this] meeting for the first time. They emphasised that the majority of armed groups support the ceasefire, and those who didn’t join the [ceasefire] regime, are ready to do so in the nearest future. We suggested creating Syrian government and opposition working groups to discuss the preparation of the Syrian constitution in Astana. Later, on this basis it will be possible to form a constitutional commission that will complete the main Syrian law [statutes] and determine the mechanism of its adoption. In general the participants of the meeting supported our initiative”.
Residents of al-Ziabiyeh area in Damascus Countryside have started to return to their homes, which they were forced to leave due to terrorism, after the completion of infrastructure restoration and the repairing of what been destroyed by the Takfiri terrorist organizations.
In a press statement, State Minister for National Reconciliation Affairs Ali Haidar said the families’ return to al-Ziabiyeh is a message to all citizens that the state is serious about the issue of ensuring the return of all citizens to their home areas.
He added that it is also a message to the external sides belying their claims that the Syrian government is seeking a demographic change and also to confirm that the reconciliation project runs in parallel with the achievements of the Syrian Arab Army who cleansed the area of al-Ziabiyeh from terrorism and made the families’ return possible……………………..
Syrian troops continue to fight al-Nusra Front terrorists in the country’s seaside province of Latakia and have thwarted desperate jihadist efforts to launch a counteroffensive.
President Bashar al-Assad released an interview (on 19 January 2017) to the Japanese TBS TV channel, in which he explained the reasons of the Astana talks. Here is the Full Video, in English, of the interview ~ [Full Transcript here].
Près de deux ans après avoir déclenché une agression militaire d’envergure et parfaitement stérile contre le Yémen, Riyad en est désormais à revoir ses plans.
L’Arabie saoudite veut, en profitant de l’appui américain, séparer le Sud du Nord, non pas seulement pour le simple plaisir de démembrer un pays au sous-sol extrêmement riche et d’en piller les richesses, mais surtout pour écraser les régions du Nord.
La sanglante et malheureuse aventure saoudienne au Yémen avait en 2015 un seul et unique objectif: s’emparer de Sanaa. Aucun plan alternatif n’avait été préparé.
Les revers militaires successifs obligeant, vint ensuite le temps des «plans B», qui consistaient tous à scinder le pays en deux: le Sud et le Nord.
Mais la résistance des forces yéménites, pro-Saleh et Houthis ensemble, a porté ses fruits et fait échec à ce scénario. Que faire désormais? Ce que Riyad s’efforce de mettre en place c’est d’«embraser le Sud» de façon à ce que «les flammes consument le Nord»……………………………..
The US is not as innocent as it may seem, according to President Donald Trump. When Fox News host Bill O’Reilly called Vladimir Putin “a killer”, Trump responded: “We’ve got a lot of killers”…(…READ MORE…).
The head of the Belgian delegation currently visiting Syria, member of Belgium’s Federal Parliament Filip Dewinter, said that the delegation’s members will pressure the Belgian Parliament and the international organizations in which they work to lift the economic embargo imposed on Syria, noting that they witnessed during their visits to hospitals and housing centers that the embargo is affecting the Syrian people directly.
In a press conference held on Sunday evening at the new press office at the People’s Assembly, Dewinter stressed the need to unite efforts to fight terrorism in Syria, adding that the Wahabi terrorists who are backed by Arab Gulf states and Turkey want to destroy Syria and its secular values.
Dewinter said the Western economic sanctions on Syria are an act of “dictatorship” and harsh violence against the Syrian people because they have affected the humanitarian and livelihood aspects of their lives denying them access to medicines and food, describing these sanctions by “stupid”……………………
Hungary has had enough. The nation’s government has declared a battle against organizations funded by George Soros, calling for transparency within foreign-backed NGOs operating in the country. The move has already been condemned by Brussels, but Budapest has long refused to tow the EU line – on refugees, ties with Russia, and other issues. Can Hungary continue to put its own interests above those proclaimed to be common European interests? We ask Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó. (A RussiaToday interview by Sophie Shevardnadze).
The army units expanded their control along the axis of al-Baiarat area in the framework of the continued military operations against ISIS terrorist organization in the eastern countryside of Homs.
Syrian Army units, in cooperation with the supporting forces, carried out a swift operation in which they assumed control of the villages of al-Beida al-Sharqiyeh and al-Beida al-Gharbiyeh to the east of the 4th Station in the direction of al-Baiarat.
The operation resulted in eliminating the last gathering of ISIS remaining the area and destroying a number of vehicles, while tens of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL, IS) terrorists fled away towards al-Badia (desert).
Army units also killed a number of ISIS terrorists and destroyed their vehicles in the direction of al-Mahr oil field in the northwestern countryside of Tadmur (Palmyra).
At the same time, a unit of the Syrian army targeted ISIS terrorists in al-Makabbat area, south of Deir Ezzor city, with a rocket fire, killing many of them and destroying a vehicle equipped with a heavy gun machine.
Army units established also control over the Third Battalion and al-Kassarart al-Sharqiyeh and al-Kassarat al-Gharbiyeh to the south and east of al-Seen airport in Damascus Countryside, according to a military source.
Earlier on the day, the source said a Syrian army unit, in cooperation with the suporting forces, established full control over a number of positions, among them Mansour 1 and 2, and inflicted heavy losses upon ISIS terrorists, destroying 6 of their vehicles, some equipped with heavy machineguns, in al-Emarati Farm, east of al-Seen Airport.
The source added that the army operations in those areas ended up with the killing of a number of ISIS terrorists and destroying a tank, an armored vehicle and 4 vehicles equipped with heavy machineguns.
Close to two months have now passed since the eastern part of Syria’s largest pre-war city was retaken by the government.
Peace has returned to the ancient city, the jihadis and their sympathisers have been evacuated to ‘rebel’-held parts of the country, and negotiations between the government and the armed opposition under the auspices of Russia, Iran and Turkey are ongoing.
The mainstream media, however, is suddenly relatively silent.
Perhaps they don’t want you to know what life under rebel occupation must have been like.
In this article, I offer a comprehensive analysis of the mass media’s war-time coverage of Aleppo, with emphasis on what they described as its “fall” in December 2016……..(By Bas Spliet, Scrutinised Minds)………….
A Vanessa Beeley Report Expose West’s Shadow State Project.
In 2013, the British government launched the pseudo first response unit, the White Helmets, in Turkey.
The White Helmets is a multi-million-dollar-funded so called NGO, paid, equipped and supported by the NATO and Gulf states focused on regime change in Syria.
One year later in 2014, Phillip Hammond, UK Foreign Secretary, was collaborating with the Syrian National Coalition, a Syrian opposition party, heavily populated by the Muslim Brotherhood, on another shadow state project………………….
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters that following the Astana talks that a major split occured between the Syrian ‘opposition’, during a press conference in Moscow, Friday.
Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson (Russian):“After the meeting in Astana, a split occurred in the ranks of anti-government armed formations, as Jabhat-al-Nusra terrorists attempted massive attacks on the groups of armed opposition that sent their representatives to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. In this situation, a part of the moderate opposition requested Ahrar al-Sham to protect them, as they are a more powerful group which is seeking neutrality in the conflict of Jabhat-al Nusra, with supporters present at the Astana meeting. Meanwhile, the gangs whose chieftains are set on continuing the armed struggle with the government have started to actively pledge allegiance to Jabhat al-Nusra. In order to unite its supporters, al-Nusra has created a new structure – the United Liberation of the Levant – whose militants have engaged in fighting against Ahrar al-Sham.”
Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson (Russian):“We also noticed in statements from the political and armed opposition, that they are trying to prejudge the results of the UN Geneva negotiations; which are scheduled to take place on February 20. Once again the opposition representatives set ultimatum-like preconditions with which they stipulate their participation in the peace talks in Geneva. Separately, I would like to mention the demand for an apology from the United Nations and the Arab League Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura for his statement, where he proposed to form an opposition delegation himself, if the oppositionists would not do that by themselves. From our side, we fully support De Mistura’s determination for a quick continuation of the intra-Syrian contacts in Geneva. We think that the attempts to delay or to postpone the peace talks are unacceptable.”
The Kiev government provoked the latest escalation of violence in east Ukraine as it needs money from its Western partners, which is easier to achieve when a nation pretends to be a victim and facing aggression, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
“The Ukrainian leadership today needs money, and the best way to extort money is [to do that] from the European Union, from certain countries in Europe, from the United States and international institutions, presenting itself as a victim of aggression,”Putin said.
“As we know, the current Ukrainian government took a one-sided position to support one of the candidates during the election campaign in the US,”he said.
“What’s more, some [Ukrainian] oligarchs were even financing this candidate – or female candidate to be more precise – likely with approval from the government.
“Now they want to improve relations with the current administration and also using a conflict – it is always better, always more convenient, easier to draw in the new administration in solving the Ukrainian problems and thus establish some kind of dialogue.” “The Ukrainian opposition has been more active amid clear [government] failures in the economic area and social policy,”Putin said.
“I think that the current Ukrainian leadership is not ready at all to apply the Minsk agreements and is looking for a reason to refuse their implementation.”
The Russian leader made the comments during a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest. (…read more…)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban are holding a joint news conference following their talks in Budapest, Hungary. According to Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, talks are to focus on “developing economic ties” between the two countries.
[by Paul Craig Roberts] ~ Unable to prevent Russia and Syria from winning the war against ISIS, the Pentagon is busy at work derailing the peace negotiations.
President Trump says he wants the U.S. to have better relations with Russia and to halt military operations against Muslim countries. But he is being undermined by the Pentagon.
The commander of US forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, has lined up tanks on Poland’s border with Russia and fired salvos that the general says are a message to Russia, not a training exercise.
How is Trump going to normalize relations with Russia when the commander of US forces in Europe is threatening Russia with words and deeds?
The Pentagon has also sent armored vehicles to “moderate rebels” in Syria, according to Penagon spokesman Col. John Dorrian………………………..
The Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Igor Pavlovsky, admitted during a press briefing today that the Ukrainian armed forces are carrying out offensive operations in Donbass.
“Today, no matter what, meter by meter, step by step and seizing the opportunity, our boys are heroically moving forward,” Pavlovsky stated while commenting on the situation in Avdeevka.
However, the minister did not comment on questions concerning Ukraine’s observance of the Minsk Agreements, in particular the agreement on withdrawing heavy weapons from the contact line.
The Donbass militia and Ukrainian security forces have both declared that the situation in Donbass has deteriorated.
In the city of Avdeevka under Ukrainian control, where more than 30,000 people reside, a state of emergency has been declared due to shelling.
A “difficult situation” also prevails in militia-controlled Yasinovataya and Donetsk. The Ministry of Defense of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has stated that the UAF has launched six offensive attempts over the last 24 hours, losing more than 90 men in the process.
The Kremlin believes that it is the Ukrainian side that has opted for active combat operations in the Avdeevka area.
Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists today: “We are dealing with provocative actions by the armed forces of Ukraine and individual groups.” Peskov drew attention to the Ukrainian army’s words “advancing meter by meter.”
“This de facto confirms that these are offensive operations,” Peskov emphasized. According to him, Kiev’s policy is thus undermining the Minsk Agreements…………….
On Thursday, the Syrian Arab Army advanced in the area of western Deir ez-Zor, aiming to knock out mercenary-terrorists of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). Syrian troops succeeded to capture a factory and were able to liberate the local airport from the militants. However, some of the roads are still infested by armed criminals, whose hours are counted.
The Yemeni army and People’s Committees Navy attacked and seriously damaged, off the coast of Hodeidah, a warship belonging to the forces of the Saudi aggressor while it was targeting civilians and civilian facilities, violating the sovereignty of Yemen.
A Yemeni Army source stated that the military target has been achieved by a guided missile, explaining that the bombing of the Saudi warship is part of the battle waged by the Yemeni army and people’s committees in the western coasts of the country.
The Yemeni source said that Saudi warship was carrying 176 soldiers, officers, weaponry and helicopters, stressing that they were participating in the aggression against the western coasts, destroying villages of fishermen.
The navy and coastal defense of the Yemeni Coast Guard, had warned and denounced in January 21th, about the use of the international corridor by the Saudi battleships to assault and bomb civilian targets. They said in a statement that “The Saudi warships, which are using the international corridor to assault and bomb Yemeni civilian targets, are also posing a major threat to the international navigation in the Red Sea”. ~ (translation by SyrianPatriots)
