American Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters Friday that President Donald Trump “pressed” President Vladimir Putin several times about Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election cycle during their first face-to-face meeting.
Contents: Russia, Iran, Turkey sign farcical Syria peace agreement; Syria peace conference sees a return to ‘proximity talks’; The aftermath of the destruction of Aleppo
President Bashar al-Assad said victory in Aleppo would be a “huge step” towards ending Syria’s five-year civil war, ignoring pleas for a truce as rebels in the city lose more ground.
Contents: United States ends diplomatic talks with Russia over Syria; Russia accuses US of sabotaging ceasefire and ‘allying with terror’
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte says Russian and Chinese diplomats have been very receptive of his many complaints about the United States, and he will continue to develop relations with the two rogue leftist states so long as they approve of his “bloody” war on drugs.
Contents: Russian warplanes drop phosphorus bombs and bunker buster bombs on Aleppo; Comparisons of Syria civil war to Sri Lanka civil war; US, UK, UN officials accuse Syria and Russia of barbarism and war crimes
Contents: Syria’s al-Assad goes for the kill, turning Aleppo and civilians to bloody rubble; Responses to reader comments
Contents: Kyrgyzstan’s World Nomad Games commemorate lifestyle of Genghis Khan; Syria’s civilians fear worse violence from US-Russia ‘ceasefire’ agreement; Generational theory: Bashar al-Assad’s miscalculation
Contents: Turkey presses to establish a ‘no-fly zone’ in northern Syria; Turkey’s forces and Kurdish forces set to clash in Manbij; US and Russia once again announced a peace deal in Syria
The outcome of Secretary of State John Kerry’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was a renewed push for a “political solution” in Syria, with a call to draft a new Syrian Constitution by August.
The State Department has denied reports that discussions are ongoing with Russia on a mission to liberate Raqqa, Syria, the self-declared capital of the Islamic State’s Caliphate.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that his government will withdraw some its military from Syria six months after the Kremlin began airstrikes in the region.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition have accused each other of breaking a three-day ceasefire imposed to help end the five-year civil war.
Contents: Delhi in crisis as India sends thousands of troops to quash Jat riots; Jats demand entry into the ‘reservation system’ for jobs and education; Bomb explosions strike Assad strongholds in Syria as Kerry speaks of ‘provisional’ peace
The Jerusalem Post reports: Amid concerns the raging war in Syria may widen, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (pictured) told Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold on Thursday that Russia is keen on seeing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process resume. Gold, heading a
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has released a report concluding that Russian airstrikes have killed more Syrian civilians than the Syrian forces or the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in January.
On Friday, the United States, Russia, and other world powers announced a “cessation of hostilities” to begin next week in Syria, even as Syrian dictator Bashar Assad vowed to continue “fighting terrorism” and “retake” the entire country.
Contents: US and Russia agree to a farcical ‘cessation of hostilities’ in Syria; Russia launches massive military exercises, apparently targeting Turkey and Syria; The vitriolic hatred of Bashar al-Assad
Contents: Syria peace talks collapse as Russia carpet bombs opposition in Aleppo; John Kerry warns of ISIS expansion in Syria
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed Russia sent weapons to the Iraqi Kurds to fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saluted Kurdish efforts against the Islamic State, and offered Moscow’s support, by way of Damascus.
Selahattin Demirtaş, the head of the pro-Kurdish opposition party in Turkey, will visit Moscow this week to speak to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and open a satellite office for his party. The meeting follows a tense several weeks in which Turkey and Russia have all but severed their diplomatic ties.
After 20 months of fierce denials, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that Russian troops have been deployed to eastern Ukraine.
Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) should not participate in any Syrian peace talks.
Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Moscow to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin. He placed the Syrian civil war and Ukraine crisis at the top of his list of topics to discuss.
During a meeting with his defense minister, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he “hoped” Russia does not need to use nuclear warheads against terrorists.
Another sign of growing tensions between Russia and Turkey was Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s announcement on Friday that visa-free travel between the two countries would end on January 1.
Tuesday was filled with conflicting news about the fate of the Russian pilots shot down by Turkish forces over Syria. At various points during the day, it was said that both had been killed – possibly riddled with bullets by Syrian rebels as they came down in their parachutes – and that both were alive, and in enemy hands.
Contents: Putin calls Turkey’s downing of Russian plane a ‘stab in the back’; Turkmen in Syria versus Russians in occupied Crimea; Russia – Turkey crisis evokes memories of centuries of Crimean wars
On Tuesday morning, two Turkish F-16 fighters engaged a Russian Sukhoi-24 warplane and shot it down with an air-to-air missile, somewhere north of the Syrian port city of Latakia.
The government of Iran has strongly rejected a round of news stories claiming it was ready to compromise its support for the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria.
Contents: Russia warns that Syria war could become a ‘proxy war’; Syria’s civil war and Generational Dynamics; Generational Dynamics and crisis civil wars; Generational Dynamics and war between Palestinians and Israelis
The Russian government wants Syria to hold presidential and parliamentary elections. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has allegedly stated he would rather wait until “terrorism” is eradicated from the country to hold elections again.
Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet in Vienna Friday to discuss Syria before they both meet with Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Rockets flying out of an Islamist neighborhood hit Russia’s embassy in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Russia has declared the attack “obvious terrorism.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman have agreed to military cooperation in Syria.
Russian television station Rossiya 24 tailored their weather report to support Russia’s bombing of Syria, reporting that the weather was ideal for an airstrike campaign in the Mideast nation.
Yesterday, Secretary of State John Kerry described Russian action in Syria as a potential “opportunity” for the United States, suggesting the Russians ought to follow President Obama’s agenda in Syria.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the third time in the past ten days to discuss the situation in Syria. He warned Lavrov that Russia’s support of beleaguered President Bashar al-Assad “will only prolong the Syrian conflict.”
The Russian government sent humanitarian aid to Syria over the weekend, only a few days after officials demanded U.S. cooperation to avoid “unintended consequences.”
