Ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh

 Armenia & Azerbaijan agree to ceasefire in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh starting SATURDAY after talks in Moscow

RT,

10 October, 2020

Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to halt hostilities in contested Nagorno-Karabakh after marathon talks in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. The armistice is set to take effect at noon on October 10.

The agreement was reached at the trilateral consultations involving the foreign ministers of the two warring parties, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Lavrov, who acted as a mediator. The negotiations lasted some 10 hours and wrapped up in the early hours of Saturday local time.

Baku and Yerevan agreed to suspend all military actions, starting at noon on Saturday, for “humanitarian” reasons. The pause in fighting will allow for captured prisoners to be swapped and the bodies of soldiers fallen on the frontlines to be exchanged, Lavrov told the media.

The Red Cross will help to facilitate the exchanges.

Lavrov indicated that the deal is meant to serve as a stepping stone to a lasting peace, adding that the warring sides will embark on negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group to “reach peaceful resolution” of the conflict.

"The Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group are starting meaningful negotiations to reach peaceful resolution [of the conflict] based on the basic settlement principles as soon as possible," Russia's top diplomat said.

The exact parameters of the ceasefire are still being fleshed out, according to Lavrov.

Specific parameters of the ceasefire regime will be agreed separately

The talks were held after both sides accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to Moscow. The Russian leader called on Baku and Yerevan to cease hostilities and return to negotiations on Thursday.

The invitation came after Putin held several rounds of calls with both Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Earlier, Russia, together with France and the US – which are all co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) so-called Minsk mediation group on Nagorno-Karabakh – repeatedly called on both sides to return to the negotiating table.

The conflict between the two neighbors has been raging since September 27 when both sides engaged in heavy fighting. The breakout of violence was caused by a longstanding dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh – an Armenian-populated region recognized as part of Azerbaijan’s territory. The clashes, which have seen the use of heavy artillery and air strikes, have led to multiple military and civilian casualties.

Israel practically begged to return to a ceasefre it itself had broken

After having broken a ceasefire it was Israel that practically begged to return to the ceasefire.

 

The Short War With Gaza Exposed Israel's Weakness

- Updated below
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Moonof Alabama,

14 November, 2018

Last week a ceasefire was agreed upon between Palestinian factions in Gaza and Israel:

The aim of the change, in a plan mediated by Egypt and with money supplied by Qatar, is to provide much-needed relief for Gaza, restore calm on the Israeli side of the border and avert another war.

On Sunday night Israeli special forces broke the ceasefire by invading Gaza under disguise. Such incursions happen quite often but are usually left unreported. The invaders wore civilian clothing and some were cloaked as women. Their cars arrived at the house of a local Qassam commander but suspicious guards held them up. A firefight ensued in which 7 Palestinians and 1 Israeli officer were killed. It is not clear what the intent of the Israeli raid was. A car left behind held what appeared to be surveillance equipment. The intruders fled back to Israel.

It is likely that rivalry within the Israeli government was behind this provocation:

[T]he perception that Israel, by allowing the fuel and cash shipments into Gaza, was paying off Hamas set off acrimonious wrangling between two rival right-wing members of Israel’s security cabinet.

Earlier Sunday, Education Minister Naftali Bennett called the cash infusion “protection money.” Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused Mr. Bennett of having supported such payments and of having opposed in recent weeks the more aggressive military reprisals against Hamas that Mr. Lieberman favored.
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By night’s end Mr. Netanyahu had cut short his trip [to Paris] and was flying back to Israel in response to the Gaza hostilities.

Did Lieberman order the incursion to undercut Netanyahoo ceasefire and his rival Bennet?

Map via SouthFront.org - bigger

 

The breach of the ceasefire by Israel set off another round of tit for tat strikes. A commando unit of Hamas' Qassam brigade launched an attack against a bus that had carried Israeli soldiers to the border. To avoid further escalation the shooter waited until the soldiers were out of the way before hitting it. Only the driver was injured. Then the Israeli air force destroyed the al-Aqsa TV station in Gaza city after notifying the Palestinians of its intent. It also damaged a university building. Rocket volleys from Gaza followed and the Israeli air-force hit several buildings. After 48 hours the ceasefire was renewed.

During the conflict the Palestinian side demonstrated a series of new capabilities:

• The Palestinian command published a video of the strike against the bus by a Kornet anti-tank guided missile (ATGM). Since it lost dozens of tanks to ATGM attacks in the 2006 war against Hezbullah in Lebanon, the Israeli army is extremely afraid of such missiles. The arrival of these weapons in the besieged Gaza will be a serious concern.
• The Palestinians also launched over 460 artillery missiles and mortars within 25 hours. This by far exceeds the firing rate during Israel's 2014 war on the Gaza strip. Some of these missiles had a larger range then previous models. Israel's Iron Dome missile defense systems fired some 100 missiles but their accuracy is questionable and teh price high. Each Iron Dome missile costs some $65,000 while a mortar round or rocket costs a few hundred dollar. Many of the Palestinian rockets reached their targets in the Zionist settlements Ashkelon, Netivot, and Sderot.
• Israel announced only two hits on missile launching cells. It seems that the Palestinians have perfected their camouflage and remote firing capabilities.
• The rival Palestinian groups in Gaza -Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others- operated under a central command. No group claimed missile strikes for itself. In the past each volley of missiles was followed by a news statement in which this or that group claimed responsibility. This time all groups worked from a common operations room. None released responsibility claims or other information that would help Israel's intelligence.

It was Israel that practically begged to return to the ceasefire. Egypt led the negotiations:

Earlier Tuesday, the Political-Security Cabinet meeting that convened following the escalation in the south came to a halt after seven hours. After hearing the army's and the security establishment's assessments, the cabinet instructed the IDF to continue to operate in Gaza as necessary.

All the officials from the defense establishment who participated in the cabinet meeting — IDF chief of staff, the head of Military Intelligence, the head of the Shin Bet, the head of the Mossad, and the head of the NSC— supported the Egyptian request for a cease-fire.
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"If we had intensified the attacks, rockets would have been fired at Tel Aviv," senior cabinet officials said.

Since 15:30 local time today the situation is again quiet and calm. But the squabbling within the Israeli cabinet immediately resumed:

All the ministers— including Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Minister Naftali Bennett—did not object to a cease fire.

Following this report, the Defense Ministry said that Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman's support of a cease-fire deal were "fake news." The statement said that the Defense Minister's position was consistent and had not changed. Ministers Naftali Bennett, Ayelet Shaked and Ze'ev Elkin also said they did not support a cease-fire deal with Hamas.

In total 13 people were killed in Gaza and at least 2 on the Israeli side. A Hamas spokesperson accused Lieberman of being responsible for the breach of the ceasefire and demanded that Netanyahoo fires him.

The short conflict demonstrated that:

• Israel is deterred. It does not want to launch another war on Gaza.
• The siege of Gaza, by Israel, Egypt and by the Palestinian authority under Mahmoud Abbas, failed. The reputational cost of the siege became too high after Israel killed some 160 Palestinians during weekly protests along the demarcation fence. It had to allow diesel fuel and money from Qatar to reach Gaza.
• The siege failed to prevent that Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other groups acquired a larger number of missiles and other new capabilities.
• The Palestinians in Gaza are united. The resistance against the occupation is alive and well.

 

For decades the Zionist entity was able to attack its neighbors as it pleased. That changed. It no longer dares to step into Lebanon for fear of Hezbullah's reprisal. Syria's western airspace is closed for Israel thanks to the new S-300PMU2 air defense Russia delivered to the Syrian army. Israeli special forces botched their incursion into Gaza and the Iron Dome missile defense proved to be to faulty to protect Zionist settlements. The resistance in Gaza has new capabilities and surprises for Israel should it again attack. 

Israel's newly won "friends" in the leadership of Saudi Arabia and the UAE proved to be unstable and of little value. The Boycott, divest and sanctions movement against the self declared apartheid state has undermined its image. Its lobby has been exposed. Its budget deficit is too high.

The short conflict in Gaza only demonstrated that Israel is weak and that its downward trend continues.

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Update Nov 14, 10:00 UTC

Israel's Defense Minister Avigor Lieberman just resigned and called for new elections. He gives the Qatari money which Netanyahoo allowed to go to Gaza and yesterday's ceasefire as reason for his disagreement with Netanyahoo.

Netanyahoo had planned the earlier ceasefire with Gaza to split Gaza under Hamas from the Palestinian Authority under Abbas in the West Bank. Yesterday the Saudis handed another chunk of money to Abbas to counter the money Qatar gave to Hamas in Gaza.

This splitting of the Palestinians is an intended part of the Kushner plan.

Lieberman disagrees with it. He is the super hawkish John Bolton in this game, overtaking Netanyahoo on the far far right.

Netanyahoo wants to avoid an early election. His Likud party just lost seats in local elections and he is afraid of a campaign that would play out over Gaza and his newly dovish stand over the latest conflict.

But with only a two seat majority in an unstable coalition Netanyahoo will have trouble to hold on.

Just as I wrote the above update, Naftali Bennett, the leader of the rightwing religious Jewish Home party, demanded to be made Defense Minister. Netanyahoo will dislike this. He does not want to give Bennet such a high profile job. But Bennett will resign and bring the coalition down if he does not get his will.

A ceasefire agreement for Syria reached

Agreement reached on ceasefire in Syria & readiness to start peace talks - Putin

RT,

28 December, 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed agreement has been reached on a ceasefire in Syria and the start of peace talks.

“This agreement we’ve reached is very fragile, as we all understand. They require special attention and patience, professional attitude, and constant contact with our partners,” Putin said at a meeting with Russian foreign and defense ministers.

The agreement, which was previously announced by Turkey, is detailed in three documents, Putin said.

 

Mevlüt ÇavuşoğluVerified account‏@MevlutCavusoglu

We welcome the understanding reached between the conflicting/warring parties in Syria on a country-wide ceasefire. http://www.mfa.gov.tr/no_-333_-29-december-2016_-press-release-regarding-the-announcement-of-country_wide-ceasefire-between-the-conflicting_warring-parties-in-syria.en.mfa …

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1:32 AM - 30 Dec 2016

9 replies151 retweets213 likes

“The first was signed by the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition to stop hostilities in the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. The second one is a set of measures to control the ceasefire. The third document is a declaration of intention for Syrian settlement,” the Russian president said.

Russia & Turkey agree on nationwide Syrian ceasefire plan – Ankara

The agreement is the result of joint efforts by Russia, Turkey, and Iran, the president said.

“Great work has been done in cooperation with our partners from Turkey. We know that only recently there was a trilateral meeting in Moscow of the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, and Iran, where all of the nations made obligations not only to control, but also to act as guarantors of the peace process in Syria.”

The truce is supported by seven major armed opposition groups that have over 60,000 fighters in their ranks, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released a list of the groups that have pledged to stop fighting, which includes Faylaq Al-Sham, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, Thuwar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Muwahhideen, Jaysh Idlib and Jabhat al-Shamiyah.

The minister said under the deal any armed group that refuses to cease hostilities would be considered a legitimate target for the use of force, as is the case with terrorist groups Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Nusra Front, which are not included in the truce.

Shoigu added that if the agreement holds, it would allow Russia to scale down its military presence in Syria.

Putin said that such a pull-out would not mean a stop to Russia’s international anti-terrorist effort.

Russia, Turkey & Iran ready to be guarantors in resolving Syrian crisis – Russian defense minister

He added that he will contact his Iranian and Turkish counterparts to discuss further steps in the Syrian peace process.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the three nations are preparing a meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, to pave the way for peace talks on Syria.

Lavrov said that the ceasefire agreement would be submitted to the UN Security Council later on Thursday for potential endorsement.

“We will inform UNSC members of the work we have done and answer their questions,” the Russian foreign minister said.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Turkey and Russia will act as guarantors of the truce, which does not include groups designated as terrorists by the United Nations.

Ankara has called on all parties that can exert influence on armed groups to support the ceasefire deal.

Damascus has confirmed that it will observe the truce starting at midnight local time on December 30 (22:00 GMT December 29).

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said the truce gave a "real chance" to reach a political settlement to the Syrian conflict.

 

Javad ZarifVerified account‏@JZarif

Ceasefire in Syria is a major achievement. Let's build on it by tackling the roots of extremist terror. My thoughts: https://goo.gl/UXJGs9 

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8:38 AM - 30 Dec 2016

The rebel National Coalition announced its support for the ceasefire deal, AFP reported. Zakaria Malahifji, who represents the Free Syrian Army-affiliated rebel group Fastaqim, has confirmed supporting the truce to Reuters.

Osama Abu Zaid, spokesman for the Free Syrian Army rebel alliance, said at a news conference in Turkey that his group will also abide by the terms.

Commenting on the development, the US State Department described it as a “positive development” and expressed hopes that the truce would hold.

 

Steve HermanVerified account‏@W7VOA

News of #SyriaCeasefire "a positive development," says statement from @toner_mark @StateDept.

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6:24 AM - 30 Dec 2016

"Any effort that stops the violence, saves lives, and creates the conditions for renewed and productive political negotiations would be welcome," spokesman Mark Toner said, as cited by Reuters. "We hope it will be implemented fully and respected by all parties."

READ MORE: ‘Syria ceasefire: New realities on ground before Trump takes office’

The US was not part of the trilateral talks between Russia, Turkey and Iran that resulted in the peace deal. Toner was previously grilled by journalists, who asked him whether the US’s absence signified dwindling influence of Washington over the situation in the Middle East.

From the BBC