KURDISH guerillas said today that Turkey was “playing its last card” in its invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan as its forces face fierce resistance.
“The enemy cannot move freely in the areas he occupies,” guerilla Aliser said of the Turkish troops, thousands of whom are engaged in a military offensive in the mountainous border region of Duhok.
Kurdish resistance fighters are carrying out frequent attacks to prevent the soldiers from advancing.
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KURDS and their supporters celebrated World Kobane Day today, marking the sixth anniversary of the resistance that led to the defeat of Isis in the northern Syrian city, turning the tide against the jihadists.
Demonstrations were held in major towns and cities across Europe to protest against Turkey’s continued occupation of parts of the north Syrian enclave known as Rojava, which it has flooded with jihadists, committing war crimes and other atrocities.Read More »
Lebanon has a new prime minister in Mustapha Adib but to many, he is part of the same corrupt and inefficient old leadership that created the crisis in the country.
Saudi Arabia announced a slew of austerity measures to cope with the fiscal impact of the coronavirus pandemic and oil price rout, tripling its value-added tax (VAT) and cutting allowances for government workers.
The steps taken to shore up revenue and rationalize spending are valued at about 100 billion riyals ($26.6 billion) in total, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
“While the measures that were taken today may be painful, they are necessary and beneficial to protect fiscal and economic stability in the short and long term,” Finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said in a statement on Saudi Press Agency.Read More »
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s latest gamble in Syria’s civil war appears to have come up snake eyes. Instead of halting the Damascus government’s siege of the last rebel held province, Idlib, Turkey has backed off, and Ankara’s Syrian adventure is fueling growing domestic resistance to the powerful autocrat.
The crisis began Feb. 25, when anti-government rebels, openly backed by Turkish troops, artillery, and armor, attacked the Syrian Army at the strategic town of Saraqeb, the junction of Highways 4 and 5 linking Aleppo to Damascus and the Mediterranean. The same day, Russian warplanes in Southern Idlib were fired upon by MANPADS (man portable air-defense systems), anti-aircraft weapons from Turkish military outposts. The Russian air base at Khmeimim was also attacked by MANPADS and armed Turkish drones.
ACTIVISTS and human-rights lawyers in Istanbul today demanded that a ban on the slogan “no to war” and demonstrations against military operations in Syria be overturned.
The city governor’s office came under fire after it issued a decree against all actions and activities criticising Turkey’s offensive in Idlib province, where it is holed up with its jihadist allies.
At least 33 Turkish soldiers have been killed and an unspecified number of soldiers were injured in an airstrike in Syria’s Idlib province. Turkish officials blamed the strike to the Syrian military. Casualties from the strike were being treated at hospitals in the border town of Reyhanli.
Turkish officials have called the NATO secretary-general and the U.S. national security adviser in relation to the events in Idlib, Turkish Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
Citing Hatay province Governor Rahmi Dogan the AA said: “In Idlib, Turkey’s armed forces were targeted by the regime elements in an airstrike.” The governor was talking to media on Thursday.
Hatay is the Turkish province bordering Idlib.Read More »
IRAN’S communists joined a mass boycott of today’s “sham” parliamentary elections, calling for all democratic forces to unite in struggle against tyranny, oppression and corruption.
The Tudeh Party insisted that the poll was in reality “a failed attempt to prove the legitimacy of the regime” to the international community.
PALESTINIAN leaders accused Israel of rushing to implement US President Donald Trump’s so-called “deal of the century” today and condemned an “economic war” against Gaza and the West Bank.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was intent on moving ahead with the details contained in Mr Trump’s “peace plan,” which it blasted as an “act of hostility” against the Palestinian people.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has slammed U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East “peace” plan, declaring “Jerusalem is not for sale”. Abbas warned that the “conspiracy deal will not pass.”
“Your conspiracy deal will not pass and the Palestinian people will reject it,” Abbas warned on Tuesday after Trump unveiled his long-awaited plan for peace between Israel and Palestine.
Calling it “impossible” for Palestinians to “accept a state without Jerusalem,” which would remain the U.S.-recognized capital of Israel under Trump’s plan, Abbas made his feelings absolutely clear on the matter.Read More »
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