(…)

An entire Syrian Arab Army unit from the Republican Guard’s 800th Regiment arrived in Aleppo City on Thursday morning to help their comrades retake the ground they lost in the south.

According to an Al-Masdar correspondent in Aleppo City, the 800th Regiment was redeployed to Aleppo City from the Qalamoun Mountains in western Damascus.

The surrender of Daraya, which became an early symbol of the nascent uprising against President Bashar Assad, marks a success for his government, removing a persistent threat only a few miles from his seat of power. It provides a further boost for the Syrian army as it fights opposition forces for control over Aleppo, Syria‘s largest city.

(…)

(…)

(…)

Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan exchanged opinions on developments in Syria and pointed out the importance of joint efforts in fighting terrorism.

They agreed to continue their dialogue on the issues of the bilateral and international agenda.

The central government in Baghdad has been locked in a dispute with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in the north of Iraq since 2014, when the Kurds began selling their oil independently. In March, Iraq’s state-run North Oil Co. stopped using its only export route, the KRG’s pipeline to Turkey, for crude it pumped in Kirkuk province. The Oil Ministry ordered a restoration of these exports last week.

(23.8.2016) The Kurdistan Region’s President Masoud Barzani arrived in Turkey Tuesday afternoon, where he will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. US Vice President Joe Biden will also cross paths with Barzani in Turkey on Wednesday.

He added that the country would “bear its pain and continue to fight against terror.”

“Like the Veteran [founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk] said during the War of Independence: ‘Either independence or death,’” Yıldırım said, vowing that the deserved response would be given to “these vile people.”

Als Grund gab die PKK in ihrer am Freitag im Internet veröffentlichten Erklärung die „anhaltende Isolation“ des inhaftierten PKK-Chefs Abdullah Öcalan an.

The final chapter of this battle came when the Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Division effectively cutoff the road linking Darayya with the nearby town of Mo’adhimiyah.

The Mo’adhimiyah rebels reconciled with the government shortly after this event, leaving the militants inside of Darayya completely isolated.

(…)

Residents of the long-besieged Damascus suburb of Daraya began evacuating on Friday under a deal seen as a major symbolic victory for the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Ein Rebellenvertreter sagte: „Die Zivilisten werden in Gegenden unter Regimekontrolle nahe Damaskus ausreisen.“ Die Rebellen würden „nach Idlib gehen oder ihre Situation mit dem Regime aushandeln“.

A company called Persistent Surveillance Systems, based in Dayton, Ohio, provided the service to the police, and the funding came from a private donor. No public disclosure of the program had ever been made.

Die Polizeibehörde der US-Stadt Baltimore überwacht Bürger bis zu zehn Stunden täglich aus der Luft. Ein Cessna-Flugzeug mit Weitwinkel-Kameras nimmt eine Fläche von rund 77 Quadratkilometern auf, diese Daten werden in Echtzeit analysiert und gespeichert. Dafür verantwortlich ist ein Privatunternehmen namens „Persistent Surveillance Systems“, dessen Gründer die zugrunde liegende Technologie für den letzten Irak-Krieg entwickelt hatte.

Last week senior Chinese military official Guan Youfei met with Syria’s defense minister in Damascus and said he wanted closer military ties with the Syrian government, state media reported.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The West should seek the further weakening of Islamic State, but not its destruction. A weak but functioning IS can undermine the appeal of the caliphate among radical Muslims; keep bad actors focused on one another rather than on Western targets; and hamper Iran’s quest for regional hegemony.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently gathered defense ministers from allied nations to plan what officials hope will be the decisive stage in the campaign to eradicate the Islamic State (IS) organization. This is a strategic mistake.

According to a think tank that does contract work for NATO and the Israeli government, the West should not destroy ISIS, the fascist Islamist extremist group that is committing genocide and ethnically cleansing minority groups in Syria and Iraq.

Why? The so-called Islamic State “can be a useful tool in undermining” Iran, Hezbollah, Syria and Russia, argues the think tank’s director.

(8.6.2016) Beginning in 1996 all federal agencies were mandated by law to conduct regular financial audits. However, the Pentagon has NEVER complied with that federal law. In 20 years, it has never accounted for the trillions of dollars in taxpayer funds it has spent…

In den vergangenen Monaten zeigte ein Journalistennetzwerk, wie Saudi-Arabien und die USA über Jahre in Osteuropa alle Arten von Waffen einkauften und an Söldner in Syrien schickten. Heute veröffentlichte eine britische NGO eine Untersuchung zu den Exporten von Kleinwaffen im Rahmen des „Krieges gegen den Terror“.

Die NGO mit dem Titel ‚Action on Armed Violence‘ (AOAV) wollte wissen, wie viele Gewehre und Pistolen seit dem Jahr 2001 nach Afghanistan und in den Irak geschickt wurden. Das Ergebnis ist schockierend: Die USA fluteten diese Länder mit etwa 1,4 Millionen Kleinwaffen und der dazu gehörigen Munition. Von den entsprechenden Lieferverträgen mit dem Pentagon profitierten demnach zehn amerikanische Firmen.

French President Francois Hollande has said he “understands” Turkey’s motive behind the Euphrates Shield Operation in northwestern Syria, the Pentagon also dubbed it an “important milestone” in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS).

“Turkey itself wanted to enter Syrian territory to fight Daesh [ISIS] and we can understand this attitude concerning the terrorist crimes committed by Daesh in Turkey,” Hollande told reporters near Paris on Thursday.

(…)

(…)

(22.8.2016)