News Roundup and Notes: October 6, 2015 by Nadia O'Mara
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Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad. Here’s today’s news.
IRAQ and SYRIA
NATO has condemned Russia for violating Turkish airspace. Ankara has threatened to respond after it reported two incursions in two days, and has for a second time summoned Moscow’s ambassador to Turkey. [Reuters’ Ayla Jean Yackley and Humeyra Pamuk]
Russia has begun moving artillery and ground forcestoward Hama, Syria. [NBC News] Russia announced yesterday that “volunteer” ground forces would join the fight in Syria. [New York Times’ Andrew E. Kramer and Anne Bernard]
CIA-backed Syrian rebels have been the target of a string of Russian airstrikes for days, leading the US to the conclusion that it is a deliberate effort by Moscow, reports Adam Entous. [Wall Street Journal]
Syrian opposition rebel groups are pushing for a unified response to Russian airstrikes and promised to attack Russian military forces in Syria. [Al Jazeera]
Russian airstrikes keep targeting medical facilities and vehicles inside Syria, writes Michael Weiss, citing reports that a strike in Idlib province on Saturday destroyed an emergency ambulance center. [The Daily Beast]
Car bombings across Iraq killed at least 56 people yesterday. [AP]
The EU needs to take greater action in Syria in order to control the refugee crisis, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday. [New York Times’ James Kanter and Tim Arango]
Patterns of Russian and American airstrikes in Syria demonstrate the two countries’ divergent strategies. Graphics available at the New York Times.
Congress could send a “strong signal” to Moscow of the cost of its involvement in Ukraine and Syria by enacting new sanctions on Russia, argue Paula J. Dobriansky and David B. Rivkin Jr. [Wall Street Journal]
US-led airstrikes continue. The US and coalition military forces carried out eight airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria on Oct 5. Separately, military forces conducted a further 13 strikes on targets in Iraq. [UN News Centre]
“Till Martyrdom Do Us Part.” Life for women under the Islamic State, from Kevin Sullivan at theWashington Post.
AFGHANISTAN
Afghan forces called in the airstrike that targeted a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Kunduz on Saturday, commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, Army Gen John F Campbell said at the Pentagon yesterday. Campbell suggested that the Taliban was ultimately at fault for the incident by deciding to fight in a highly-urbanized area. [The Guardian’s Spencer Ackerman] The US commander also conceded that initial reports that the strike were to protect US troops under a direct threat was incorrect. [New York Times’ Matthew Rosenberg]
The airstrike against medical facilities could amount to a war crime, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said. [Reuters]
White House press secretary Josh Earnest avoided describing the attack as a “war crime,”emphasizing that the situation was still under investigation, speaking with reporters yesterday. [The Hill’s Kevin Cirilli]
The incident poses “tough legal questions;” Michael Pizzi speaks to experts about the complex situation. [Al Jazeera America]
The New York Times editorial board writes that the Pentagon assertion of “collateral damage” in Kunduz was “outrageous and dehumanizing,” calling for an independent panel to be established to collect all relevant information so as to understand “what went so horribly wrong.”
“From mistake to justification.” Glenn Greenwald considers the “radically” changing story about the airstrike, arguing that standard “obfuscation tactics” by the US are failing in this situation due to the nature of the target: western-based medical professionals. [The Intercept]
Taliban insurgents have launched hit-and-run attacks against Afghan security forces attempting to clear Kunduz city of fighters. [Reuters’ Mirwais Harooni]
ISRAEL and PALESTINE
Israel has razed the homes of the families of two Palestinians responsible for attacks on Israel last year. [The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont] And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested the establishment of a mechanism to expedite the legal process involved when dealing with the demolition of terrorist homes. [Haaretz’s Barak Ravid]
Two Palestinian teenagers were killed yesterday after Israeli security forces fired at stone-throwers in the West Bank. [AP]
Five members of Hamas have confessed to the fatal shooting of an Israeli couple last week, Israeli authorities announced yesterday. [New York Times’ Jodi Rudoren and Diaa Hadid]
Is the third Palestinian intifada about to happen, or has it already begun? Asks Peter Beaumont at the Guardian.
YEMEN
A missile attack targeted a hotel in the port city of Aden housing Yemeni officials including the country’s prime minister and vice president, Khaled Bahah. As yet it is unclear who was responsible for the attack. [Al Jazeera; Reuters]
The prime minister escaped unharmed from the attack which left an unknown number of people killed or injured. [AFP; The Guardian]
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
A data-transfer pact between the US and the EU has been held as invalid by the European Court of Justice; the decision raises questions of how global tech giants can continue to collect, manage and analyze the data of their users in the EU. [New York Times‘ Mark Scott] Danny O’Brien provides further details at EFF.
“Edward Snowden: Spies and the Law.” NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden gave an interview on the BBC’s “Panorama,” broadcast last night. In the interview, Snowden said that the US justice department has made no effort to discuss a plea deal with him that could see his return from Russia. [The Guardian’s Ewen MacAskill] He also commented on GCHQ’s ability to take over people’s smartphones, saying that there is “very little” that can be done to stop them. [BBC]
Despite the conclusion of the nuclear accord, “battle lines have deepened” in the Middle East, writes Laurence Norman, citing Russia’s move to harness closer ties with Iran on Syria during last week’s UN General Assembly. [Wall Street Journal]
Hillary Clinton has released a new campaign advert which accuses the GOP of using the House committee on Benghazi as a political tool; the television ad is an attempt to turn the tables ahead of her testimony before the committee. [Washington Post’s Anne Gearan] And the Democratic minority on the committee plan to release a transcript of a closed-door interview with an ex-senior Clinton aide, in defiance of the committee’s Republican leaders. [Reuters’ Susan Cornwell and Jonathan Allen]
UN negotiations on the future of lethal autonomous weapons are facing delays which may undermine efforts for a pre-emptive ban, preventing the “killer robots” from becoming reality, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has said. [The Guardian’s Harriet Grant]
Al-Qaeda has announced the death of Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of North Africa’s most wanted extremists, an Algerian news channel has reported. [New York Times’ Carlotta Gall]
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO on Tuesday rejected Moscow's explanation that its warplanes violated the air space of alliance member Turkey at the weekend by mistake and said Russia was sending more ground troops to Syria.
Most propaganda produced by the self-styled Islamic State now aims to prove it is a genuine nation, rather than glorify acts of violence, according to new analysis.
Nato says Russia's violation of Turkish airspace over the weekend "does not look like an accident"
NATO’s secretary-general has rejected Moscow’s claim that its military incursion into alliance airspace over Turkey wasn’t intentional or important, saying there were two separate incidents and “the violation lasted for a long time.”
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Russia hits back, saying NATO trying to distort Russian aims in Syrian air campaign.
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Fighting erupted anew in the embattled northern Afghan city of Kunduz on Tuesday after the Taliban attacked a police headquarters overnight and officials warned that food and other emergency aid cannot get through to the city.
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Afghanistan’s president palace says skulls and bones belonging to two bodies have been uncovered beneath a kitchen during renovation work on the palace grounds.
Russia-NATO tension on Turkey-Syria border
Hurriyet Daily News Russia is Turkey's northern neighbor and a serious military confrontation between the two has recently broken out on Turkey's southern border with Syria. The confrontation was confirmed by a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement on the morning of Oct. 5. and more » |
U.S. Defense Secretary Carter and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov commented on the recent Russian airstrikes in Syria.
Russia's intervention in Syria is partly strategic, but President Vladimir V. Putin has another reason, a long-held belief, for supporting President Assad's government.
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Doctors Without Borders says the U.S. strike on a hospital in Kunduz that was meant to hit Taliban targets was “a war crime.” The top U.S. general in Afghanistan, John Campbell, has ordered an investigation into the incident and says preliminary results should be available in the next couple of days. Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the latest.
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Some of the most compelling photographs from RFE/RL's broadcast region and beyond. For more photo galleries, see our "Picture This" archive by clicking on the banner above.
As Afghan forces reported progress in retaking Kunduz from the Taliban, the top American general in Afghanistan admitted that the initial military report on the strike was wrong.
Russian Soldiers Join Syria Fightby ANDREW E. KRAMER and ANNE BARNARD
Russian technicians attached a bomb to a plane at a base in Syria on Saturday. Russian officials say their airstrikes are targeting the Islamic State, but they have mainly hit other insurgents.
 Irish Examiner |
NATO warns Russia over airspace violations as Syria airstrikes widen
Washington Post BEIRUT — NATO warned Russia to stay away from Turkey on Monday after the Turkish air force intercepted Russian warplanes that strayed into its airspace from Syria, underscoring the heightened risk of a wider conflagration as Russia escalates its ... Russian Soldiers Join Syria FightNew York Times Turkey vows to protect borders after Russian warplanes may have violated its ...Fox News US Sees Russian Drive Against CIA-backed RebelsWall Street Journal Reuters -CNN -Voice of America all 3,857 news articles » |
 New York Times |
Russian Soldiers to Join Fight in Syria
New York Times MOSCOW — Ratcheting up the confrontation over the Syria war, Russia said Monday that its “volunteer” ground forces would join the fight, and NATO warned the Kremlin after at least one Russian warplane trespassed Turkey's airspace. The saber-rattling ... NATO denounces Russian incursion into Turkish airspaceReuters NATO warns Russia over airspace violations as Syria airstrikes widenWashington Post Turkey vows to protect borders after Russian warplanes may have violated its ...Fox News Los Angeles Times -Christian Science Monitor -The Boston Globe all 1,640 news articles » |
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The United States and NATO denounced Russia on Monday for violating Turkish airspace and Ankara threatened to respond, reporting two incursions in two days and raising the prospect of direct confrontation between the former Cold War adversaries.
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MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Mass immigration is damaging British society, interior minister Theresa May will say on Tuesday in a speech designed to ease some voters' concerns that the government is failing to control the country's borders.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian government is looking into an allegation that one of its jets operating in Syria violated Turkish airspace for a second time, the Russian embassy in Ankara said, according to the TASS news agency.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will consider extending its air strikes against militants in Syria to Iraq if it receives such a request from Baghdad, the RIA news agency quoted the head of the country's upper chamber of parliament as saying on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies carried out 24 air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq on Monday, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement on Tuesday.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russian jets hit Islamic State targets in the Syrian city of Palmyra and the northern province of Aleppo, Syrian state television and a monitoring group said on Tuesday, in some of the heaviest Russian attacks on the hardline Islamist group.
NATO denounces Russia for violating Turkish airspaceby SUZAN FRASERVLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- In a signal of new tensions raised by Moscow's airstrikes in Syria, NATO denounced Russia on Monday for "irresponsible behavior" after its warplanes violated Turkish airspace, and Turkey warned that any future aerial intruder would be treated like an enemy....
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Eurweb.com |
FBI Director Plans To Disclose Information Regarding Fatal Police Shootings
Eurweb.com *Federal authorities plan to gather additional information about shootings involving law enforcement and will be disclosed in a detailed report on how police use deadly force, FBI Director James B. Comey said Monday. Comey expresses that this ... and more » |
Politico |
Brzezinski: Obama should retaliate if Russia doesn't stop attacking US assets
Politico The United States should threaten to retaliate if Russia does not stop attacking U.S. assets in Syria, former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote in a Financial Times op-ed published Sunday, urging "strategic boldness," with American ... and more » |
 CNN |
Russian insider: Have a better plan for Syria? 'Give us some names'
CNN Russia has carried out intensifying airstrikes in Syria since last week to bolster al-Assad's regime. Rather than go after ISIS, the U.S. and NATO have said that Russia has almost exclusively attacked other rebels opposed to al-Assad, including the ... Russia's airstrikes in Syria are playing well at homeCBS News Russia's Air Campaign No Different From Assad'sVoice of America Assad: Military Campaign By Russia, Allies Vital To Save Middle EastRadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty The Guardian -Daily Beast all 2,373 news articles » |
 Military Times |
U.S. vs. Russia: What a war would look like between the world's most fearsome ...
Military Times Early on the morning of Sept. 30, a Russian three-star general approached the American embassy in Baghdad, walked past a wall of well-armed Marines, to deliver face-to-face a diplomatic demarche to the United States. His statement was blunt: The Russia ... Syria conflict: Turkey summons Russian ambassador a second timeBBC News Nato condemns Russia after fighter jet violates Turkey's airspaceThe Guardian Russian Propaganda Struggles To Find Good Reasons For Bombing SyriaTIME CNN -Washington Post all 3,956 news articles » |
VICE News |
Saudi Clerics Call for Jihad Against Iran and Russia in Syria
VICE News Dozens of conservative Saudi Arabian clerics have called for Arab and Muslim countries to "give all moral, material, political and military" support to what they term a jihad, or holy war, against Syria's government and its Iranian and Russian backers ... and more » |
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Turkey’s prime minister ordered the investigation after images appearing to show the man’s body being dragged through the streets were widely shared on social networks.
 NBCNews.com |
Russians Moving Artillery, Ground Forces to Hama, Syria
NBCNews.com A senior defense official has told NBC News that the Russian military has been moving artillery and ground forces towards Hama — one of the locations that the Russians targeted in the first 24 hours of their airstrikes. "So much for fighting ISIS ... Russia bombs Syrian targets for 4th day as international concerns growCNN Russias Propaganda BlitzkriegDaily Beast Cameron Adds to Criticism of Russian Airstrikes in SyriaWall Street Journal Washington Post -BBC News -New York Times all 19,633 news articles » |
 Wall Street Journal |
Russia's Snarling Stuntman
Wall Street Journal Russia's decline continues. Beneath the bluster, elites are jittery. The populace is prideful but miserable. Talent—not just capital—is in full flight. The regime has no strategy beyond its own survival, and Vladimir Putin has become a snarling ... and more » |
 Voice of America |
Russian Admiral: 'Volunteers' to Join Syrian Forces
Voice of America Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, in comments to Russia's Interfax-AVN news agency Monday, saidRussian involvement on the ground in Syria is "likely." Komoyedov, the head of the Russianparliament's defense committee, did not suggest a timetable for any ... Turkey Rebukes Russia Over Warplane IncursionSky News all 2,337 news articles » |
Middle East Tensions Rise as Russian Warplanes Violate Turkish Airspace by webdesk@voanews.com (Sharon Behn)
NATO member Turkey said Monday that Russian jets have violated its airspace near the border with Syria multiple times over the past two days. Analysts tell VOA that Russian airstrikes in Syria and its incursion into Turkey have changed the dynamics of the Syrian conflict. VOA's Sharon Behn reports.
 Wall Street Journal |
US Sees Russian Drive Against CIA-backed Rebels
Wall Street Journal Russia has targeted Syrian rebel groups backed by the Central Intelligence Agency in a string of airstrikes running for days, leading the U.S. to conclude that it is an intentional effort by Moscow, American officials said. The assessment, which is ... and more » |
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New York Times |
Russian Soldiers to Join Fight in Syria
New York Times MOSCOW — Ratcheting up the confrontation over the Syria war, Russia said Monday that its “volunteer” ground forces would join the fight, and NATO warned the Kremlin after at least oneRussian warplane trespassed into Turkey's airspace. Russia says Turkish airspace violation 'a mistake,' Turkish media reportCNN Syria conflict: Turkey summons Russian ambassador a second timeBBC News U.S. vs. Russia: What a war would look like between the world's most fearsome ...Military Times Washington Post-The Guardian all 4,090 news articles » |
The U.S. Army’s desertion case against Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl progressed a step, with an investigating officer who oversaw a hearing last month sending recommendations on whether he should be court-martialed.
Nato warning comes as Turkey summons Russia's ambassador for second time over Sundays' incursion into its airspace near Syria
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Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said two separate incidents over the weekend 'lasted a long time'
The Russian government is looking into an allegation that one of its jets operating in Syria violated Turkish airspace for a second time, the Russian embassy in Ankara said on Tuesday.
Russia has built up a “substantial” military presence including ground troops in Syria, according to the Nato secretary-general.
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Renewed Fighting Reported in Afghanistan’s Kunduzby webdesk@voanews.com (Ayaz Gul)
Fresh fighting broke out Tuesday in Kunduz, Afghanistan, belying days of government claims its forces have evicted and recaptured the beleaguered city from the Taliban. Local media quoting residents reported clashes between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents in the provincial capital’s central square. A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the group’s fighters staged an assault on Afghan forces in the early morning and fighting was continuing in several key parts of Kunduz. Insurgents had briefly overrun the city a week ago in a surprise offensive, but Afghan forces wrested back control in a counteroffensive three days later and have since claimed to have flushed out Taliban militants. Taliban advances However, hostilities have since continued in parts of Kunduz while Taliban insurgents have also captured several districts in two nearby northern provinces and Afghan forces are battling to regain control of the lost territory. Commander of the NATO-led military coalition in Afghanistan General John Campbell on Monday acknowledged that Afghan security forces are still fighting to remove the insurgents from Kunduz. “Unfortunately, the Taliban have decided to remain in the city and fight from within, knowingly putting civilians at significant risk of harm,” Campbell told reporters in Washington. He said coalition forces are in the area to provide training, advice and assistance to the Afghan forces. “While our personnel are not directly engaged in the fighting, they’re providing valuable support to the Afghans,” said Campbelll. Investigation into airstrike Campbell also explained circumstances that led to a U.S. airstrike on a hospital in Kunduz run by the international charity, Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF. “We have now learned that on October 3rd, Afghan forces advised that they were taking fire from enemy positions and asked for air support from U.S forces. An airstrike was then called to eliminate the Taliban threat and several casualties were accidently struck,” he said.Campbell said that a previous statement claiming that the airstrike was conducted on behalf of American forces because they were receiving direct fire from enemy fighters was incorrect. TwelveMSF staff and 10 patients, including three children, were among at least 22 people killed in the attack. Campbell would not discuss further details about the incident until separate ongoing probes into the incident by NATO, Afghanistan and the U.S. are concluded. The charity group has condemned the airstrike as a “grave” violation of International Humanitarian Law. MSF GeneralDirector Christopher Stokes, while responding to Campbell’s remarks, noted that the U.S. description of the attack keeps changing. Stokes said the discrepancies in the U.S. and Afghan accounts of whathappened point to the critical need for a full transparent independent investigation. “The U.S. military remains responsible for the targets it hits, even though it is part of a coalition. There can be no justification for this horrible attack,” he said. MSF and the United Nations human rights chief have said the incident could be a war crime. However, the U.N. said Monday it would wait for the outcomes of ongoing investigations before deciding whether to support an independent probe. MSF has also rejected Afghan claims Taliban insurgents had setup a base in the hospital, prompting them to ask for the airstrike. Massive destruction Residents and aid workers said that recent heavy fighting in Kunduz, which has a population of about 300,000, has caused massive destruction to the infrastructure and conditions in the city are not fit for living. Afghan officials said the hostilities have prompted thousands of families to flee for safer cities. Meanwhile, the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the overnight attack in Kabul on a building it claimed belonged to the Afghan intelligence agency. Authorities in the capital city announced Tuesday morning that security forces killed all three suicide bombers to end the 10-hour-long siege. Seven police officers were also injured during the operation, they confirmed, without giving more details.
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Jens Stoltenberg says US-led Nato alliance, of which Turkey is a member, has not received ‘any real explanation’ from Moscow about incursions
Russian incursions into Turkish airspace over the weekend “don’t look like an accident”, the Nato secretary general has said.
Jens Stoltenberg said he doubted Russia’s explanation that its airspace violations were a mistake because they happened twice and both lasted longer than just a few seconds.
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The fall of a provincial capital in northern Afghanistan brings home the threats posed by the rapid rise of the Taliban and its international militant allies to Central Asian nations.
Syria: a geopolitical earthquake by Richard Norton-Taylor
Amid the fight against Isis, the nature of conflicts is becoming more unpredictable and a turning point in global affairs is on the horizon
We are facing a huge, potentially decisive, turning point, the most significant moment in global affairs since the end of the cold war.
The causes have been well rehearsed. Western powers, led by the US, weary of intervening after their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan – and Libya – are reluctant to commit themselves, even though their very interventions in the past provoked the crisis in the first place.
Continue reading...Turkey Summons Russian Ambassador Over 2nd Airspace Breach by webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Turkey summoned Russia's ambassador for a second time after what the foreign ministry said was a second instance of a Russian plane violating Turkish airspace near the Syrian border. Turkey first lodged its protest with the Russian ambassador and warned of consequences of any future incursions after a Russian jet crossed into Turkish territory on Saturday. The foreign ministry said the second airspace violation took place on Sunday. Russia's defense ministry said Monday that incident was the result of bad weather conditions in the area, and that there was no reason to look for conspiracy theories. 'Solidarity with Turkey' NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Tuesday that the violations do not look like an accident. "I will not speculate on the motives, I would just reiterate or restate that this is a serious violation of Turkish airspace, it should not happen again, and NATO has expressed strong solidarity with Turkey," Stoltenberg said. He added that Russia's increased military presence in Syria raises also raises concerns because it has attacked not only Islamic State fighters, but also other opposition groups and "many civilians have lost their lives." Russian planes have been conducting airstrikes in Syria since last week targeting both Islamic State fighters and what it called "terrorist" groups. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Russia, has frequently used the term "terrorist" to describe the rebels who have fought against his government for more than four years. On Monday, a top Russian lawmaker said "a unit of Russian volunteers," including battle hardened veterans who fought in eastern Ukraine, may join Syrian government troops fighting Islamic State extremists on the ground. Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, in comments to Russia's Interfax-AVN news agency, said Russian involvement on the ground in Syria is "likely." Komoyedov, the head of the Russian parliament's defense committee, did not suggest a timetable for any Russian involvement, and there was no immediate comment from the government. The lawmaker's remarks came in response to unconfirmed media reports that Russian volunteers already have been spotted fighting alongside the Syrian army. 'Reckless' and provocative The U.S. State Department on Monday called the intrusions by Russian jets "reckless" and provocative, and Russian military involvement in Syria "a strategic mistake, in general." The White House also voiced concern, while an unnamed senior U.S. defense official said the intrusions were not accidental. "This was the kind of unprofessional conduct we were hoping to avoid," the official said. Michael O'Hanlon, a senior analyst at the Brookings Institution, told VOA that, for the moment, he would offer Russia "the benefit of the doubt and assume [the overflights] were a mistake. I don't know that Russia was trying to provoke anybody. I could be wrong," he said. "We'll see if it happens again." Syria Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Russian airstrikes in Syria followed months of preparations, according to the official Syrian news agency SANA on Monday. Syrian rebels Dozens of Syrian insurgent groups on Monday, however, vowed to attack Russian forces in the wake of Moscow's air campaign in the country. "This new reality requires the region's countries and the allies in specific to hasten in forming a regional alliance to face the Russian-Iranian alliance that occupies Syria," 41 factions said in a statement released by the Ahrar al-Sham group. Assad said Sunday the entire Middle East would be destroyed if Russia's aerial bombardment of militants opposed to his government does not succeed.
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Unsatisfied by the Obama administration’s campaign against the Islamic State in the region, the Iraqi government welcomes Russian airstrikes against the terrorist group inside Iraq, according to a top diplomat.
The Air Force Times reported:
The Iraqis feel that the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State has become too focused on Syria and has not made enough progress on the ground in Iraq, a senior Iraqi diplomat, who asked to speak on condition of anonymity, told Air Force Times on Monday. The official accused the coalition fores of moving too slowly, thereby missing opportunities to roll back the Islamic State in Iraqi cities. Since more than 2,000 Russians are among the Islamic State’s ranks and Russia has experience fighting Islamic militants in Chechnya, it makes sense to include Russia in anti-Islamic State efforts, he said.
While Iraq is open to the possibility of Russian airstrikes, the diplomat said that the Iraqi government would not welcome Russian troops on the ground fighting the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL or ISIS). Iraq has not formally asked Russia to conduct airstrikes in the country.
Ignoring warnings from the Obama administration, Russia has been increasing its military activity in Syria in recent weeks in order to allegedly combat IS and bolster the Bashar al-Assad regime. Moscow has sent troops and military aid to Syria and last week conducted its first airstrikes there.
Russian warplanes dropped bombs near the city of Homs in western Syria Wednesday, an area that is not controlled by Islamic State militants. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has expressedskepticism that the Russian strikes were targeting IS.
Iraq agreed last month to share intelligence with Russia and Syria in the effort against IS, but the top diplomat insisted Monday that the agreement will not put U.S. or other coalition forces at risk. He also called on the U.S. to provide Iraq with more M1A1 Abrams tanks so that Iraqi forces can reclaim the Anbar province from IS.
U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in July that the Obama administration bomb campaign against IS in the Middle East has yielded no perceivable degradation in the terrorist group’s forces.
The post Top Diplomat: Iraq Welcomes Russian Airstrikes Against Islamic State appeared first onWashington Free Beacon.
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HOUSTON (AP) - An Army officer's recommendation on whether Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl should face a court-martial for leaving his post in Afghanistan six years ago will remain secret for now.
Lt. Col. Mark Visger presided over last month's Article 32 hearing in Texas that reviewed evidence against Bergdahl. Visger submitted ...
As Afghan forces reported progress in retaking Kunduz from the Taliban, the top American general in Afghanistan admitted that the initial military report on the strike was wrong.
Nato warns that Russian intervention has reached a "more dangerous level" with two separate violations of Turkish airspace reported
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U.S. Sanctions North Caucasus Militants For IS Recruiting Effortsby support@pangea-cms.com (Mike Eckel, Joanna Paraszczuk)
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