The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is set to hold an emergency meeting of the Executive Committee on the worsening humanitarian situation in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday.
Organization of Islamic Cooperation to Hold Emergency Meeting on Aleppo Sunday
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20161009/1046147905/oic-meeting-aleppo.html
The meeting is set be held at the headquarters of the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah, according to the organization, and to be attended by the member states’ permanent representatives to the OIC.
The meeting will be held upon Kuwait's request. Kuwait is the chair of the 42nd Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM). The OIC Executive Committee is composed of the so-called Islamic Troika — Egypt, Turkey and Gambia — as well as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Uzbekistan, and OIC Secretary General Iyad bin Amin Madani. Aleppo has seen intense fighting over the past few months, with the Syrian army and local militia forces managing to encircle large groups of militants in the eastern districts of the city.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that any US-led coalition attack against Syrian army facilities will be "a flagrant violation of international law."
Any US-Led Coalition Attack Against Syrian Army to Violate International Law
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20161009/1046153043/us-lavrov-syria.html
Any US-led coalition attack against Syrian army facilities will represent a flagrant violation of international law,
this fact is understood by several senior US officials, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"I think that the 'hot heads' there will be calm downed and will treat the issue seriously. The good news is that according to the leaks, but it is a very reliable information, a number of senior figures in the US administration understand very well that any attack on ground targets, which belong to the Syrian army, is a flagrant violation of international law," Lavrov told Channel One in an interview.
"There were leaks that the cruise missiles could easily hit Syrian Air Force airfields, and the Syrian air force would no longer fly. The General Staff has already reacted on this. This is a very dangerous game, given that Russia, being in Syria at the invitation of the legitimate government of this country and having two bases there, one airbase in Hmeymim and the Russian Navy base in Tartus, has air defenses there to protect our facilities," he added.
Sergey Lavrov also added that Washington came up with a vague reason to thwart Russian-US deal on the Syrian ceasefire.
"They [Washington] invented a vague rather than a specific reason to foil the agreements, claiming that Russia did not want to stop hostilities that bring suffering to civilians," Lavrov said. The real reason for the United States to curb cooperation was that Washington failed to convince Syrian opposition militants to withdraw from Castello road in the city of Aleppo, Lavrov suggested.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov considers the Russian-US relations have changed dramatically.
Russia-US Relations Undergo Drastic Changes
https://sputniknews.com/world/20161009/1046153206/russia-us-lavrov-relations.html
Moscow used to show strategic patience regarding Washington’s actions for a long time, but the relations between the United States and Russia have dramatically changed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
“To my mind, this is a fact. Frankly, we have been showing what in the United States is called the ‘strategic patience’ for a very long time, as the unilateral deterioration of the relations on the US part started long before the Ukrainian [crisis],” Lavrov said, commenting on the drastic changes in the relations between Moscow and Washington.
On Saturday, Russia on the one hand and the US and its allies on the other exchanged diplomatic blows at the UN Security Council over the Syrian crisis. See if you can spot the difference in the approach of the two sides.
At UN, Russia Blocks Illegal Aleppo 'No-Fly Zone', West Abets Nusra Terrorists
https://sputniknews.com/politics/20161009/1046156613/russia-western-security-council-resolutions-difference.html
On October 8, as expected,
Russia vetoed a French-drafted Security Council resolution calling for an immediate halt to airstrikes over Syria's Aleppo city.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia blocked the resolution, as it promised it would, because
its text "grossly distorted the actual state of affairs" in Syria, and carried a "politicized, unbalanced and one-sided nature. The blame for the escalation of tensions in Syria was placed on the shoulders of the countries authorities."
But more importantly, the Foreign Ministry emphasized, by proposing a no-fly zone over Aleppo,
the resolution "made a blatant attempt…to provide cover for Nusra Front terrorists and the militants amalgamated with them, in spite of UN member states' obligations to combat the terrorist threats with the use of all available means."
Finally, the Ministry pointed out that the cynicism and dishonesty of the attempt to pass the resolution off as a response to East Aleppo's humanitarian crisis was proven by the fact that over the last two months, radical militants, not the Syrian government, were the ones to deliberately stop humanitarian convoys getting through to the area, while the Western-supported opposition forces have purposely stalled efforts to resume inter-Syrian peace negotiations.
Prior to the vote, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin suggested that the French draft seemed to have been deliberately designed to provoke the Russian veto. This was the fifth time that Russia has used its veto right in connection to the conflict in Syria over the course of the brutal five-year conflict in that country.
But the drama in New York didn't end there. After blocking the French initiative, Russia introduced its own resolution, based on an idea by UN Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura to get Nusra Front terrorists withdraw from Aleppo altogether, which would then bring down the level of violence in the militant-controlled portions of the city and allow for the resumption of the Russian-US sponsored ceasefire of September 9.
Russia has repeatedly criticized Washington for failing to live up to its side of the September 9 agreement in separating so-called 'moderate opposition' forces from terrorists, including Nusra (which has rebranded themselves as the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham or 'Front for the Conquest of the Levant' group, but is comprised of the same jihadi terrorists).
Russia's resolution went to a vote, but received only four votes in favor among the Security Council's fifteen members. Of the permanent members of the Security Council, only Russia and China voted in favor of the Mistura-inspired proposal. Among rotating members, Venezuela and Egypt also supported the Russian initiative, with Angola and Uruguay abstaining. The rest of the Security Council, including the US, France, the UK, Japan, Spain, Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal, Ukraine voted against the measure.
On Friday, both the Western and Russian resolutions on Aleppo failed spectacularly. But they served to confirm Moscow's growing suspicions that Washington and its allies would rather support outright terrorists (and a 'former' affiliate of al-Qaeda, no less) than to accept the continued existence of the legitimate Syrian government.
Syrian military forces discovered a long tunnel of the terrorists in Eastern Ghouta and exploded it, leaving dozens of the terrorists stuck inside dead or wounded.
Syrian Army Destroys Terrorists' Long Tunnel in Eastern Damascus
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950718001050
A long tunnel used by the militant groups to carry arms and transfer forces between the battlefields in Jobar region was detonated by the Syrian army. Tens of the militants were killed or wounded in the attack.
In the meantime, the entire member of a group of Fatah al-Sham Front (the newly-formed al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group previously known as the al-Nusra Front) terrorists were killed in Syrian army's attack on their stronghold near electricity building in Jobar.
Media sources also said on Sunday that Syrian Army troops' fresh round of anti-terrorism attacks in Western Ghouta pushed back militants from more positions in the Northern side of Khan al-Sheih, inflicting a heavy death toll on the terrorists.
"Syrian military forces stormed terrorists' positions in the Northern side of Khan al-Sheih and took control over the neighborhood of al-A'azam mosque and several buildings in the town from the direction of Daroushe and Banayat al-Tah'touh," the sources said.
The Syrian Army shot down four bomb-laden drones of the terrorist groups and inflicted major damage on 18 more drones in the Northern territories of Dara'a, military sources announced Sunday.
Four Drones of Terrorists Shot Down by Syrian Army in Northern Dara'a
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950718000720
"The Syrian army downed four combat drones of the terrorists in Qasr al-Saudi region near the road to Tafas, while 18 more bomb-laden drones in Katibeh al-Mahjoureh region sustained serious damage in the Syrian soldiers' heavy fire in Qasr al-Saudi region near a road to Tafas," the sources said.
Last month, the Syrian army, supported by intelligence forces, managed to thwart the terrorists' attempts to send their bomb-laden drones from Da'el and Abta'a towns in Northern Dar'a towards al-Katibeh al-Mahjoureh region in the Northern side of Abta'a town, blowing up all of them in the air.
Two notorious commanders of Ahrar al-Sham were killed in heavy fighting with Jund al-Aqsa terrorists in Northeastern Hama.
Ahrar Al-Sham's Senior Commanders Killed in Clashes with Rival Terrorists in Hama
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950718000537
Abu Hassan nom de guerre Abu Hassan Dababat and Abu Nazir Tabiyeh were killed in tough battle with Jund al-Aqsa rivals near the small town of al-Talisiyeh.
Elsewhere, Syrian fighter jets bombed positions of Fatah al-Sham Front (the newly-formed al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group previously known as the al-Nusra Front) along a road to al-Jamaleh in Southern Hama, killing at least seven terrorists.
Reports said on Saturday that Syrian army soldiers and popular forces' major advances in Northern Hama and the death of a large number of terrorists in battles with government forces demoralized the militants, adding that militants were withdrawing from vast lands in the province.
"Simultaneous with fresh advances of the Syrian army soldiers and National Defense Forces in Northern Hama,
Jund al-Aqsa leadership has decided to remove a notorious commander of Idlib Free Army, Mohammad Jafrouni, due to his numerous defeats in the battles in Northern Hama," the sources said.
"Defense lines of the terrorist groups in Northern Hama are being captured one after another in the government forces' incessant attacks," they added.
"Terrorist groups, who have been defeated by the Syrian soldiers, are using blind heavy missile and artillery shelling of residential areas in the town of Mahroudeh in Northwestern Hama, inflicting several casualties on civilians," the sources went on to say.
The United States, its so-called coalition allies, and their terrorists supported by them are committing war crimes in Syria, not Russia and the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Stephen Lendman, an American writer, journalist and political analyst.
America, not Russia, committing war crimes in Syria: Analyst
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/10/08/488226/US-committing-war-crimes-Syria
Speaking at the State Department on Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry accused Moscow and the Assad government of “terrorizing civilians," saying they must be investigated for “war crimes”.
He said Moscow and Damascus are “hitting hospitals, and medical facilities, and children and women,” in the northwestern city of Aleppo, adding they “owe the world more than an explanation.”
Commenting on this, Lendman said,
“Kerry, like he always does, has made a baseless and inflammatory accusation against Russia and the Syrian government, basically accusing them of the crimes America commits in Syria, along with ISIS [Daesh], al-Nusra and other terrorists America and its rogue allies support,” adding America’s rogue allies are “other NATO countries, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, you know the usual suspects, as they say.”
The al-Nusra Front terrorist group recently changed its name to the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
The analyst said, “Syria and Russia have nothing to do with killing civilians, or bombing hospitals, or bombing schools, or bombing other civilian targets, this is what the US-supported terrorists to do in their shelling from the ground, and what Pentagon warplanes do with other so-called coalition partners like France, and Britain Australia, and Israel.”
“They do it all the time, massacring civilians, American warplanes killing 82 – maybe even more than that – Syrian soldiers last month. The terrorist America attacked the UN humanitarian convoy, setting about 18 trucks ablaze, destroying them, and then claims were made that it came from Syrian or Russian bombing, which is absolutely fraudulent,” he stated.
“Had they been bombing, there would have craters on the ground. There were no craters on the ground, showing that the attack came from the ground forces, and only ones in the area were al-Nusra fighters, that America supports,” Lendman said.
On September, a US-led airstrike killed dozens of Syrian soldiers, and more than 100 others were injured in the Syrian city of Dayr al-Zawr. The Pentagon acknowledged the deadly strike, saying it was “halted immediately” when US forces were informed by Russia “that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military.”
Lendman said, “Everything John Kerry accused Russia and Syria of are high crimes committed by America and its allies and the terrorists they created and support, and unfortunately the big lie keeps getting repeating and the truth which is so important gets buried, and most Americans especially know nothing about it.”
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, more than 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Syria. The UN has stopped its official casualty count in Syria, citing its inability to verify the figures it receives from various sources.
