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Developing:
Syrian Army begins massive attack on Daraa city
25
June, 2018
BEIRUT,
LEBANON (4:30 A.M.) – At approximately 2:00 A.M. (local time), the
Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Mechanized Division began a massive attack
on the provincial capital of Daraa.
Using
their newly manufactured Golan-1000 MRLS launchers, the Syrian Arab
Army’s 4th Division fired a large number of missiles into the Daraa
Al-Balad District of the provincial capital.
According
to a military source from the 4th Division, the Syrian Army fired
more than 40 missiles into southern Daraa city from their Golan-1000
launchers.
Furthermore,
the source told Al-Masdar News this morning that the Syrian Army is
preparing to launch their long-awaited offensive to retake the entire
southern half of the provincial capital.
With
the Tiger Forces being redirected to the northeastern countryside of
Daraa, the 4th Division and their allies from the Republican Guard
have been tasked with expelling the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Hay’at
Tahrir Al-Sham from the provincial capital.
Airstrikes
target areas near Daraa as regime looks to retake strategic region
bordering Israel and Jordan, ending ceasefire brokered between
Moscow, Washington and Amman
BEIRUT,
Lebanon — Russia bombed rebel-held parts of southern Syria late
Saturday for the first time since brokering a ceasefire there
nearly a year ago, a monitor group said, as allied regime troops
prepare a ground assault.
Southern
Syria is a strategic prize for local and global players involved in
the country’s convoluted seven-year war.
After
securing the capital Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad
appears keen to recapture the southern provinces of Daraa and
Sweida, still mostly held by rebels.
There's
been a significant and unexpected development in southern Syria,
where the Syrian Army and allied forces are engaged in a major
offensive to take back Daraa and Al-Quneitra provinces from long
entrenched FSA, al-Qaeda, and ISIS groups (the ISIS branch is known
as Jaish Khaled Bin al-Waleed).
Though
we and others have noted that this massive final battle to solidify
Assad's hold over key areas bordering Jordan and the Israeli occupied
Golan Heights could trigger US-Israeli intervention, consistent with
recent threats from the US State Department, it now appears
Washington has changed its tune.
Incumbent
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won the majority of votes,
the head of the electoral board said. This would mark the second
consecutive term for Erdogan, but the first one under “a new
system.”
With
over 97.2 percent of votes counted, the head of Turkey's High
Electoral Board (YSK) says Erdogan has secured more than 50 percent
of the votes needed for the victory.
In
the parliamentary election, his AK Party is also in first place with
over 45 percent. The pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) will
also enter the parliament after passing the 10 percent threshold,
according the board's head, Sadi Guven. Turnout was at 87 percent for
both polls, preliminary data shows.
Erdogan’s
closest competitor, Muharrem Ince, has secured over 29 percent of the
vote. His Republican People’s Party (CHP) placed second with nearly
21 percent.
It
almost sounds too insane to be believed, but Saudi Arabia’s move
to further isolate neighboring Arab rival Qatar by
literally turning it into an island is
but the latest in an intense year long feud between the two
countries that has already produced its fair share of bizarre
headlines.
Tiny
but ultra-wealthy Qatar is a peninsula which shares a 37.5 mile
border (60km) with Saudi Arabia on the kingdom’s northeast side
and juts out from the Arabian peninsula about 100 miles into the
Persian Gulf.
Saudi
media revealed this week the kingdom is quickly moving forward with
ambitious plans to dig a 200 meter wide and 15-10 meter deep canal
the entire length of the land border, effectively creating ‘Qatar
island’ — as some
Mideast news sources are already calling it.
Of
course, the Qataris don’t appear to have a say in their own
country’s geographic fate, and the
Saudis and Emirates further plan to locate nuclear waste sites and
a military base along the proposed canal to boot.
The aerial photos of ISIS' territory north of #Deir_ez_Zor where #USA special operation troops are seen s.mil.ru/2jUyo2p
The
Russian Defense Ministry has released aerial images allegedly showing
ISIS, the SDF, and US special forces working side-by-side on the
battlefield against Syrian and Russian forces in Deir el-Zour, Syria.
The
Russian Defense Ministry has released aerial images allegedly showing
ISIS, the SDF, and US special forces working side-by-side on the
battlefield against Syrian and Russian forces in Deir el-Zour, Syria.
As
Adam Garrie reports, via The Duran, it has long been thought that the
US proxy militia SDF is operating in collusion with ISIS in various
parts of Syria. This has especially been the case in respect of Deir
el-Zour. In Deir el-Zour, the Russian Defense Ministry has previously
stated that the Syrian Arab Army and their allies are fired on most
intensely from positions known to be held by the SDF.
Furthermore,
Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov
recently stated,
SDF
militants work to the same objectives as Daesh terrorists. Russian
drones and intelligence have not recorded any confrontations between
Daesh and the ‘third force’, SDF”.
Loud Explosions Reported in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Indian
refineries bought a record 27.2 million tons of Iranian crude oil in
the past financial year, which wrapped up in March 2018.
India
plans to make some oil payments to Iran in rupees in a bid to avoid
US economic pressure on Tehran, according to several Indian
government sources quoted by Reuters.
“We
are looking at reviving a rupee mechanism… we have to prepare
ourselves,” one of the sources told Reuters.
Senator
Rob Portman (R-OH) and Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) have penned a letter to
Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin urging him to pressure world
leaders to ban Iran from accessing international financial systems,
after it was revealed that the Obama administration covertly helped
Tehran sidestep international sanctions and potentially tap into
billions in hard currency
Another
source said that India’s Central Bank is yet to make a final
decision on returning to the rupee payments for Iranian oiдю
Italian
officials are digging their heels in over EU migration after League
leader and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini branded French President
Emmanuel Macron "arrogant" for trying to downplay Europe's
migration crisis, while Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio
said that Macron risks making France Italy's "number one enemy
on this emergency" in a Saturday Facebook post.
In
our preview of Sunday's now-concluded emergency EU meeting on refugee
policy which the FT dubbed "The summit to save Merkel", we
said that the German chancellor fate could be decided as soon as
today should a newly populist Italy present a set of insurmountable
demands on how to deal with Europe's migrant problem. And judging by
the opening salvo, the odds of Merkel's political career just slumped
after Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conti demanded the EU rip up
its system for dealing with migrants, laying bare seemingly
insurmountable divisions in the bloc over migration policy.
The
hastily-gathered meeting, a segue to the formal EU summit scheduled
for June 28 in which migration will be the key topic, was requested
by Berlin as a chance for Ms Merkel to press for stronger powers for
countries to send back asylum seekers already registered in another
EU country: a key condition in an ultimatum that was handed to Merkel
last week and which threatens her tenure as chancellor.
In
other words, Merkel was testing the water to see how much of a
political case she can formally make at the international level on
Thursday, one that supposedly saves her career domestically.
She
was, however, stunned after the Italian prime instead called for
"radical change" in the EU’s so-called Dublin principle
that makes frontline countries such as Italy responsible for dealing
with asylum claims and allows for registered asylum seekers that move
on to another country to be sent back to the state they landed in.
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