This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com Concerns grow of humanitarian disaster in Afrin, Syria, as Turkey’s forces enter Silence from North Korea puts Kim-Trump summit in doubt Concerns grow of humanitarian disaster in Afrin, Syria, as Turkey’s forces enter Syrians
U.S. Army Officer and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster had harsh words for Russia and Iran on Thursday at a discussion at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the ongoing civil war in Syria, saying it is time for “consequences” for the two supporters of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
WASHINGTON, DC — The Russian- and Iranian-assisted regime of Bashar al-Assad is winning the civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands in Syria since 2011, suggested the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, stressing that toppling the dictator is not part of the American mission in the conflict-ridden country.
Kurdish and Arab fighters have abandoned the U.S.-backed fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) to help their friends and families repel a Turkish offensive reportedly assisted by Syrian rebels seeking to take revenge on the Kurds.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has reportedly weighed additional military action in Syria in response to dictator Bashar al-Assad’s continued use of chemical weapons.
Contents: The Ghouta ‘ceasefire’ turns into a Syrian army scam to steal humanitarian aid; Syria says close to defeating Jaysh al-Islam in Eastern Ghouta
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Sunday his forces must push on with their campaign to retake the besieged enclave of Eastern Ghouta from rebels, despite mounting international calls to end the bloodshed.
TEL AVIV — The Islamic State has released propaganda photos showing the execution of a man south of Damascus named Moussa Badawi, who was accused of cooperating with a rival organization called Ahrar al-Sham.
The Syrian government has reportedly begun a land invasion of the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, following a brutally intense two-week campaign of airstrikes and artillery bombardments that killed hundreds of people.
Contents: Moving sharply left, South Africa calls for potentially disastrous land reform; Julius Malema and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) movement
Contents: Russia’s ‘humanitarian pause’ in Syria turns into farce on first day; Report: North Korea is selling chemical weapons supplies to Syria; Areas of control in Syria and Iraq
Polygraph.info, a website produced by U.S. government-funded Voice of America News and Radio Free Europe, has published leaked audio recordings it claims to be of Russian mercenaries complaining about their humiliating defeat at the hands of American forces in Syria.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted in favor of a ceasefire resolution for Syria on Saturday, but the bombing of the Eastern Ghouta suburb near Damascus continued, with at least 24 more deaths after the resolution was passed.
Fresh regime air strikes and heavy clashes shook Syria’s rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta on Sunday, despite a UN demand for a ceasefire to end one of the most ferocious assaults of Syria’s civil war.
MOSCOW — Russia has tested over 200 new types of arms in Syria during its campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad, a senior lawmaker said Thursday, as Moscow was accused of taking part in airstrikes against rebel-held Eastern Ghouta.
Contents: Syria, Russia, Iran conduct full-on mass extermination of civilians in Eastern Ghouta; Russia rejects 30-day ceasefire in United Nations Security Council; North Korea insults South Korea with selection of Kim Yong-chol head of Olympics closing ceremony
The Syrian government’s SANA news outlet reports that unspecified “popular forces” supporting dictator Bashar al-Assad have arrived in the northern province of Afrin, currently under invasion by the Turkish military.
Not only is the Trump administration tough on Russia, but its toughness is also a function of a hard-headed strategy to diminish Russian power in Syria and throughout the Middle East.
TEL AVIV – The nuclear deal gives Iran “a highway to a nuclear arsenal” and has only served to bolster the Islamic Republic’s aggression across the region, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday to U.S. Jewish leaders in Israel.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is reportedly acting more visibly upon what it refers to as “the axis of resistance” by mobilizing its growing network of terrorist proxies throughout multiple Middle Eastern countries, particularly in Syria, in light of a recent incident between Iran and Israel.
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s bloody efforts to stamp out the remaining rebel enclaves near Damascus resulted in what observers are describing as the wholesale massacre of civilians on Monday and Tuesday, with a bombing campaign that deliberately targeted seven hospitals and killed over a hundred people, including at least 20 children.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Tuesday that the Turkish military would invade and “besiege” the heart of Afrin city Syria “in the coming days,” threatening to turn “Operation Olive Branch” into a devastating urban conflict.
TEL AVIV – There are 10 Iranian military bases in Syria, two of which are close to the border with Israel, that are training militias from the Assad regime for a future war with Israel, an analyst for an American think tank said in an article published Monday.
HAMOURIA, Syria — A heavy bombardment killed at least 100 civilians, 20 of them children, in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta on Monday, as regime forces appeared to be preparing for an imminent ground assault.
The government of dictator Bashar al-Assad confirmed on Monday that it would send Syrian military troops into Afrin to fight against the Turkish military, which invaded the northern province last month.
Contents: Special prosecutor Robert Mueller issues farcical indictment of Russian trolls; How the Russian trolls do their jobs; Russian trolls are Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons; Comparing Russian trolls to Chinese hackers
TEL AVIV – Wielding a fragment of an Iranian drone downed in Israel last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned Tehran not to “test Israel’s resolve.”
Tehran has reportedly promised to grant permanent residency to Iran-recruited Afghan Shiite militiamen coerced into combating armed groups in Syria seeking to remove dictator Bashar al-Assad, including the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
TEL AVIV – Israel fears there may be a chemical spillover into its territory from neighboring Syria, a classified cable from the Foreign Ministry says, adding that there would be a harsh response if such a scenario were to occur.
BEIRUT — Hezbollah’s actions pose a threat to the security of Lebanon and have a destabilising influence in the Middle East, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday.
Syria’s ruling Assad dictatorship has announced it is developing closer ties with North Korea based on based on “solid and deep-rooted foundations of friendship and cooperation.”
An official within the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) this week that the militia would welcome the presence of Syrian government soldiers in Afrin if they fought against the ongoing Turkish invasion of that region.
“France will strike” if chemical weapons are found to have been used against civilians in the Syrian conflict in violation of international treaties, French President Emmanuel Macron has warned.
Israel views Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime as the weak link in the Iranian-Shi’a axis, and Assad should keep that in mind when weighing whether or not to let Iran set up military bases in his country or transfer precision missiles to Hezbollah, National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Monday.
The Russian and Iranian-allied regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is reportedly assisting the U.S.-backed Kurds in their efforts to repel Turkey’s offensive in northern Syria’s Afrin region.
TEL AVIV – Syrians who are being persecuted by the Assad regime have expressed support for Saturday’s airstrikes by Israel in the embattled country, social media posts in the days since have shown.
Saturday morning’s violent clashes along the Israeli-Syria border between Israel on the one hand and Iran and Syrian regime forces on the other occurred against the backdrop of multiplying acts of war and violence between a seemingly endless roster of combatants.
Contents: US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) clash with Syrian regime forces; International Crisis Groups asks Russia to prevent Israel-Iran war in Syria
The State Department and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley condemned the Russian government this week following reports of a new Syrian government attack on civilians using chemical weapons. Russia guaranteed that Damascus has destroyed its entire chemical weapons arsenal in 2014.
Turkey’s “Operation Olive Branch” military incursion into Syria has been conducted in concert with the Free Syrian Army, which has helped Turkish forces take control of several villages in the Afrin region.
