Syria conflict: US-Russia brokered truce to start at weekend
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35634695
The US and Russia have announced that a planned ceasefire in Syria will come into effect at midnight on 27 February.
Their statement said the truce did not include so-called Islamic State (IS) and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
World powers had on 12 February agreed a truce to come into effect within a week, but that deadline passed and scepticism remains over the new plan.
Violence has continued unabated in Syria, with 140 killed in bombings in Homs and Damascus on Sunday.
More than 250,000 Syrians have died in the conflict which began in March 2011.
Some 11 million others have been forced from their homes, of whom four million have fled abroad - including growing numbers who are making the dangerous journey to Europe.
The joint Russian-US statement said the truce applied to "those parties to the Syrian conflict that have indicated their commitment to and acceptance of its terms".
This excluded IS, Nusra and "other terrorist organisations designated by the UN".
Air strikes by Syria, Russia and the US-led coalition against these groups would continue, the statement read.
It said that armed opposition groups taking part would have to confirm their participation by midday on 26 February.
Russian and Syrian planes would halt any attacks on the armed opposition groups.
Russia and the US will work together to "delineate territory where groups that have indicated their commitment to and acceptance of the cessation of hostilities are active".
The deal also sets up a communications hotline and calls for a working group to monitor ceasefire violations.
US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the deal, saying: "If implemented and adhered to, this cessation will not only lead to a decline in violence, but also continue to expand the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian supplies to besieged areas."
Russia and the US back opposing sides in the war; Moscow is President Bashar al-Assad's strongest ally.
On Saturday, President Assad had said he would be ready for a ceasefire, if what he termed "terrorists" did not take advantage of the lull in the fighting. But he had previously cast doubt on the success of a truce.
Air strikes will continue and it is unclear whether Kurdish forces, which have been making ground in the north, sparking artillery fire from Turkey, will abide by any truce.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said fighting and air strikes continued unabated on Monday, with IS fighters attacking the army's main supply route between Damascus and Aleppo.
Islamic State militants said they carried out the attacks in Homs and Damascus on Sunday.
Russia said the attacks were aimed at "subverting attempts" to reach a political settlement.
'Fractured state'
Meanwhile, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria reported its findings on Monday. They include:
Syria is a "fractured state on the brink of collapse"
War crimes by the government and IS are widespread and rampant
The conflict should be referred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague
The international community must "curb the proliferation and supply of weapons to warring parties"
"Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on the civilian population must end"
Saudi Arabia recommends giving surface-to-air missiles to Syrian rebels to 'change balance of power'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-recommends-giving-surface-to-air-missiles-to-syrian-rebels-to-change-balance-of-power-a6886206.html
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has said Syrian rebels should be armed with surface-to-air missiles to “change the balance of power” against Bashar al-Assad.
Adel al-Jubeir repeated his country’s offer to send ground troops to fight Isis in an interview with Der Spiegel, but did not specify whether they would directly battle the regime.
He claimed that Assad will not feature in Syria’s future, whether the conflict is resolved through peace talks or battle.
“In the long term, it will be a Syria without Bashar Assad,” Mr al-Jubeir added. “The longer it takes, the worse it will get.”
But the Syrian President has gained the upper hand in the conflict in recent months, with regime troops gaining swathes of territory from rebels in Aleppo province backed controversial Russian air strikes.
As well as alleged civilian deaths, the advance has raised fears that diminishing the ranks of anti-government rebels who have been fighting could help the terror group hold territory in its so-called Islamic State.
Mr al-Jubeir told Der Spiegel that giving “moderate” fighters surface-to-air missiles would “change the balance of power on the ground”.
“It will allow the moderate opposition to be able to neutralise the helicopters and aircraft that are dropping chemicals and have been carpet-bombing them,” he added.
“This has to be studied very carefully, however, because you don't want such weapons to fall into the wrong hands.”
But the minister did not specify how that possibility would be prevented as Isis continues to battle for more territory and other Islamist groups, including those affiliated with al-Qaeda, mingle with the Free Syrian Army in an ever-shifting network of alliances.
Saudi Arabia is still ready to support the US-led coalition against Isis with special forces on the ground, he said before angrily rejecting similarities between the terrorist group and his country’s own Wahhabist ideology.
Like Isis, Saudi Arabia bases its legal system on an interpretation of Sharia law that punishes blasphemy, apostasy, homosexuality and adultery with death, beheadings and stonings.
Dismissing comparisons as an “oversimplification”, Mr al-Jubeir said the group’s “psychopaths” were trying to destroy his country.
Largest ever US-South Korea military drill planned as a 'warning to Pyongyang' (Photos)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/12168110/Largest-ever-US-South-Korea-military-drill-planned-as-a-warning-to-Pyongyang.html
The US will deploy a combat aviation brigade to South Korea for the duration of the manoeuvres, as well as a mobile US Marine brigade.
The joint US-South Korean exercises scheduled for March will be largest military drills ever staged on the Korean Peninsula and are both a warning to Pyongyang and an effort to reassure the jittery public in the South.
The parallel Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises are scheduled to commence on March 7, with the field-training exercises that make up Foal Eagle lasting until April 30. The drills will involve 15,000 US troops, twice the number of previous years, and will serve to demonstrate Washington's firepower.
The US will deploy a combat aviation brigade to South Korea for the duration of the manoeuvres, as well as a mobile US Marine brigade, an aircraft carrier and its attendant fleet, a nuclear-powered submarine and aeriel tankers to refuel fighter aircraft.
South Korea will commit some 290,000 personnel, including special forces, more than double its usual deployment for the annual drills.
The joint exercises will commence just weeks after North Korea carried out its fifth underground nuclear test and launched a rocket in what analysts claim was a disguised test of long-range ballistic missile technology.
In an additional shot across Pyongyang's bows, the drills will for the first time simulate scenarios in which the regime of Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, has collapsed.
The multiple-stage exercises will require the US and South Korean forces to react to war breaking out, operations in and around Pyongyang and the recovery of "key facilities that are located deep within North Korea", a Defence Ministry official told The Korea Herald.
North Korea's two rocket facilities are in the far north of the country, while analysts believe that many of its military assets are also concealed in networks of tunnels and bunkers close to the Chinese border.
This year's amphibious manoeuvres - known as the Ssangyong exercises - will be larger and more elaborate than ever before, with 7,000 US troops practicing coming ashore aboard Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and from landing craft from the USS New Orleans.
As well as sending a message to Pyongyang, the exercises are designed to reassure the South Korean public of their security, said Rah Jong-yil, a former head of South Korean intelligence and an expert on the regime in Pyongyang.
"Recent events here have made South Korean people feel a little insecure, especially the rapid development of the North's nuclear and missile programmes, so the exercises are a welcome sign of Washington's guarantee of the alliance", he told The Telegraph.
North Korea is expected to express its displeasure at the drills through its state media. In previous years, Pyongyang has described the exercises as the prelude to a pre-emptive nuclear strike "to infringe on the sovereignty and dignity of the DPRK".
