News Reviews and Opinions - Blog by Michael Novakhov

The complex battlefield in Syria is getting even more complicated.

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France: Syria and Islamic State blamed for chemical attacksby Associated Press
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:20 AM

France’s deputy U.N. ambassador says an international team is blaming the Syrian government and Islamic State militants for chemical weapons attacks in the conflict-wracked nation during 2014 and 2015.

U.S.-backed Kurdish forces answer Turkish demand to pullback from Euphrates by Erin Cunningham
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:18 AM

Turkey sends more tanks into Syria after taking Islamic State-controlled border town

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The Latest: Turkey secures area around captured Syrian townby Associated Press
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:17 AM

The Latest developments in the Syrian civil war, following Turkish ground forces’ incursion (all times local):

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Iran: Forces will warn any vessel after US warship incidentby Associated Press
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:17 AM

Iran’s defense minister says his country’s naval forces will warn or confront any foreign ship entering its territorial waters after an incident this week involving a U.S. warship.

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Philippine leader orders extremists crushed after beheadingby Associated Press
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:16 AM

Abu Sayyaf extremists have beheaded a kidnapped Filipino villager after a ransom deadline lapsed in their first such brutal act under President Rodrigo Duterte, who pressed an order for troops to crush the militants.

Egypt to free lawyer after 3 months in solitary confinementby Associated Press
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:16 AM

An Egyptian court has ordered the release of a prominent rights lawyer held in solitary confinement for the past three months after he challenged in court a decision by the country’s president to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

Russia calls snap military drills by Associated Press
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:15 AM

Russia’s defense ministry says President Vladimir Putin has announced snap military drills on land and in the Black and Caspian Seas.

Aerial Footage Captures Devastation From Central Italy Earthquake by Mahita Gajanan
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:15 AM

Aerial footage of central Italy reveals the destruction that Wednesday’s 6.2 magnitude earthquakehas wreaked.

The earthquake, which affected small towns such as Amatrice, Accumoli, Posta and Arquata del Tronto, killed at least 120 people, according to the Associated Press. About 150 people are feared missing.

The footage taken in the wake of the earthquake shows roofs caved in, building rubble in the streets and collapsed homes through Amatrice and Castelluccio Di Norcia.

Buildings affected by the earthquake have not held up well. A significant part of Amartice, located near the quake’e epicenter, has been reduced to rubble.

“Half the town is gone,” Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi said on Wednesday.

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Turkey Says Syrian Rebels Have Taken Back Border Town From ISIS by Associated Press
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:15 AM

(ANKARA, Turkey) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Syrian opposition forces aided by Ankara have taken back the border town of Jarablus from ISIS.

During a press statement with visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday, Erdogan also reiterated his opposition to a future role for Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying the country could never “reach democracy” under his leadership.

Erdogan said the Syrian rebels, “together with those who are from Jarablus, have now taken it back.” He says the rebels have taken over “government and official residences,” and ISIS “has been forced to leave Jarablus.”

Biden meanwhile said Washington supported the Turkish-led operation in Jarablus and that the United States provided air cover.

Biden said: “We strongly support what the Turkish military has done, we have been flying air cover for them,” adding that “we believe very strongly that the Turkish border should be controlled by Turkey.”

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Syrian Government and ISIS Are Both Responsible for Chemical Attacks, U.N. Says by Edith M. Lederer / AP
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:14 AM

(UNITED NATIONS) — An international team has concluded that the Syrian government and Islamic State militants carried out chemical attacks in the conflict-wracked nation during 2014 and 2015, according to its report circulated on Wednesday.

The team, which was mandated by the U.N. Security Council a year ago to identify those responsible for chemical attacks in Syria, blamed the government for using chlorine gas in two attacks and Islamic State fighters for using mustard gas in one attack.

The report to the council by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, known as the JIM, said three other cases pointed toward government responsibility but weren’t conclusive. The three other cases it investigated were inconclusive.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power called the use of chemical weapons “a barbaric tool, repugnant to the conscience of mankind,” and urged the Security Council to take “strong and swift action” against the perpetrators.

She accused the Syrian government of violating a council resolution banning the use of chemical weapons and its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which the OPCW monitors.

The experts’ findings mirror “numerous other confirmed cases of chemical weapons use across Syria, and countless other allegations of such use, including as recently as several weeks ago,” Power said.

France’s U.N. Ambassador Alexis Lamek also called for council action saying: “When it comes to proliferation, use of chemical weapons, such weapons of mass destruction, we cannot afford being weak and the council will have to act.”

The Security Council is scheduled to discuss the JIM report on Aug. 30, but whether it will take any action remains to be seen. Russia, a close ally of Syria, has blocked sanctions and other council action against President Bashar Assad’s government — but Moscow did support the establishment of the JIM to assess accountability.

Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director at Human Rights Watch, said the council must ensure that those responsible for “the sickening, illegal use of chemical weapons in Syria … are brought to justice in a court of law.”

“Without accountability, the cycle of abuses in Syria by all parties to the conflict — whether by chemical or conventional weapons — will continue unabated,” he said.

According to the report, obtained by The Associated Press, the JIM found the Syrian government responsible for two chlorine attacks in Idlib governorate, one in Talmenes on April 21, 2014 and one in Sarmin on March 16, 2015.

It also said the Islamic State group was “the only entity with the ability, capability, motive and the means to use sulfur mustard” gas in Marea in Aleppo governorate near the Turkish border on Aug. 21, 2015. At the time, Islamic State fighters were attacking rebels.

The JIM called for further investigation of several other cases it examined, and Power said the United States expects the international experts to continue trying to assess responsibility.

In the report, the JIM said that between December 2015 and August 2016 it received more than 130 new allegations from U.N. member states of the use of chemical weapons or toxic chemicals as weapons in Syria.

It said 13 alleged the use of sarin, 12 mustard gas, 4 VX nerve gas, 41 chlorine, and 61 other toxic chemicals.

“The information suggests the involvement of both the government of the Syrian Arab Republic and other actions in these alleged incidents,” the report said.

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Iranian Vessels Intercept U.S. Warship, Official Saysby Nash Jenkins
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:14 AM

World News + Video | The Guardian

Four Iranian vessels “harassed” a U.S. warship by coming within 300
yd. of it on Tuesday, according to a U.S. defense official who told Reuters that the maneuver was “unsafe and unprofessional.”

The American destroyer, the U.S.S.
Nitze, was near the Strait of Hormuz, which separates Iran from the Arabian Peninsula. It unsuccessfully attempted to communicate with the Iranian vessels on several occasions. But two Iranian ships proceeded to conduct a
“high-speed intercept” within close range of the
Nitze.

“The Iranian high rate of closure … created a dangerous, harassing situation that could have led to further escalation, including additional defensive measures by
Nitze,” the defense official, who spoke anonymously, told Reuters.

Officials are unsure if the interception was ordered by Tehran. Iran’s military has long been suspicious of U.S. activity in the region, and in January detained 10 U.S. sailors who had accidentally veered into Iranian waters.

[Reuters]

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Drone footage shows extent of earthquake damage to Amatrice – aerial video by Guardian Staff
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:12 AM

Aerial footage filmed with a drone shows the level of damage caused by an earthquake in the Italian town of Amatrice. Rescue workers can be seen standing among the rubble and debris. At least 120 people have died and dozens more are injured after a powerful 6.2-magnitude earthquake devastated a string of remote hilltop towns and villages across a swath of central Italy on Wednesday

Leader of Sunni militant organization in Iran killed: Intelligence Minister
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:11 AM

Reuters: World News

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The leader of a Sunni militant group in southeast Iran responsible for attacks against security forces and civilian targets has been killed, Iran's intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi was quoted as saying on Thursday by state media.

Kyrgyzstan Seeks Release Of Detained Citizens As Border Tensions Rise With Uzbekistan
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:07 AM

Kyrgyz authorities say negotiations are under way with officials in neighboring Uzbekistan to secure the release of four Kyrgyz nationals detained by Uzbek police in a disputed border area abutting the two Central Asian states.

Dueling Indictments As Russia, Ukraine Target Each Other's Military Leaders
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:06 AM

Russia and Ukraine traded salvos this week with dueling criminal investigations against each other's top military brass, a new front in the ongoing conflict between the two countries.

U.S. Says Iranian Boats Harrassed U.S. Warship Near Strait Of Hormuz
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:05 AM

Four Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps vessels "harassed" a U.S. warship near the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. defense officials said on August 24.

UN/OPCW Inquiry Blames Syria Government, Islamic State For Chemical Attacks
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:04 AM

A joint investigation by the United Nations and the global chemical weapons watchdog has established that President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the Islamic State (IS) group have carried out three chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

U.S., Allies Vow To Hold Syria Accountable For Chemical Attacks
Thursday August 25th, 2016 at 9:04 AM