Why Russia condemns U.S. missile strike on Syria, suspends key air agreement

Putin’s spokesman said the Russian president considered the attack an attempt to distract attention from the heavy civilian casualties caused by a U.S.-backed offensive to capture the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group.

Russian president Putin

MOSCOW — Russia on Friday condemned a U.S. missile strike against Syrian government forces as an attack on its ally and said it was suspending an agreement to minimize the risk of in-flight incidents between U.S. and Russian aircraft operating over Syria.
Even as Russian officials expressed hope that the strike against Syrian President Bashad al-Assad’s forces would not lead to an irreversible breakdown in U.S. relations with Moscow, the Kremlin’s decision to suspend the 2015 memorandum of understanding on the air operations immediately raised tensions in the skies over Syria.

BREAKING: Putin, Trump want "real coordination" against Islamic State in Syria: Kremlin on Putin-Trump phone talks

Russian Presiden Putin and American Trump want "real coordination" against Islamic State in Syria as both discussed through phone talks.

President Trump chatted with Vladimir Putin Saturday, his first known conversation since taking office with the Russian leader he frequently complimented on the campaign trail.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer tweeted a photo of Trump on the phone in the Oval Office just after noon Saturday.

“@POTUS is now onto his 3rd of 5 head of government calls, speaking w Russian Pres Putin,” he tweeted.

Russian President Putin announces ceasefire in Syria from midnight

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a ceasefire between Syrian opposition groups and the Syrian government starting at midnight on Thursday.

The parties were also prepared to start peace talks, Putin said, after Moscow, Iran and Turkey expressed readiness to broker a deal to settle the nearly six-year-old Syrian war.

The Syrian army announced a nationwide halt to fighting but said Islamic State and ex-Nusra Front militants and all groups linked to them would be excluded from the deal. It did not say which unnamed groups would be excluded.

Army Chief Brutai Says Boko Haram Militants Picked Wrong Fight With Wrong Enemy

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, on Saturday reassured Nigerians that the army will take every necessary step to restore normalcy across the northeast.

He says the Boko Haram militants that have in the last seven years pushed for the establishment of an Islamic State and an end to Western education in the region ‘picked the wrong fight against the wrong enemy’.

The COAS gave the assurance in Goneri and Buniyadi, two prominent frontline locations the Nigerian Army is currently prosecuting the Boko Haram war in Yobe State.

How Suspected Islamic State suicide bombers kill 41 at Istanbul airport, One terminal at New York’s JFK airport evacuated

Turkish investigators pored over video footage and witness statements on Wednesday after three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbul's main airport, killing 41 people and wounding 239.

One terminal at New York’s JFK airport evacuated as precaution over report of suspicious package.

The attack on Europe's third-busiest airport was the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings this year in Turkey, part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State and struggling to contain spillover from neighboring Syria's war.

President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against terrorism, which he said had "no regard for faith or values".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says U.S. responsible for delay in Syrian settlement

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that it is the United States and its allies, not Russia, that are responsible for the delay in seeking a peaceful settlement of the Syria crisis.

The top Russian diplomat, who while attending the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, made the remarks to refute a recent statement of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who said that Washington was losing patience with Russia and Syria's Bashar al-Assad, who are "creating obstacles" to a solution in the war-torn country.

"It is not correct to demonstrate impatience referring to us," said Lavrov.

Breaking: NATO looking to enter ISIS fight, steps up support for Ukraine

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is looking to train Iraqi officers and provide other direct support to the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, to alleviate the burden on U.S. and other coalition members' resources.

"We will discuss how we can extend our training for Iraqi officers as they continue to fight ISIL," said the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday, using another acronym for ISIS.

"We will consider how we can provide direct support to the coalition against ISIL with AWACS surveillance aircraft," he added. AWACS stands for Airborne Warning and Control System, and is essentially a flying air traffic control tower.

Fears of imminent attack: ISIS declares state of emergency - US military official claims

ISLAMIC State (ISIS) has declared a state of emergency in its terror heartland over fears of an imminent attack, a US military official has claimed.

The jihadi group feels threatened in its self-declared capital of Raqqa in Syria and is moving troops to prepare for a possible invasion, according to Colonel Steven Warren.

The US military official said it was monitoring the terror group’s declaration to attempt to better understand what it meant.

Speaking in a Pentagon briefing over the phone from Baghdad, Iraq, Col Warren said: “We have seen this declaration of emergency in Raqqa, whatever that means.

Russia's 7 months airstrikes in Syria have killed at least 5,799 people - NGO

Russian airstrikes have killed at least 5,799 people in Syria since Moscow's aerial campaign started in late September, the opposition-aligned Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday.

According to the British-based NGO, at least 2,005 civilians were among those killed, including 481 minors and 305 women.

The Russian airstrikes, which began on Sept. 30, have also claimed the lives of 2,035 Islamic State fighters, as well as 1,759 members of Syrian rebel factions and the Al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.

President Obama announces additional 250 special ops forces to Syria

US President Barack Obama announced on Monday that an additional 250 special operations forces will be sent to Syria in the coming weeks in a speech in Hannover, Germany, in an effort to stem the influence and spread of so called Islamic State.

"Just as I approved additional support for Iraqi forces against ISIL [another acronym for IS], I've decided to increase US support for local forces fighting ISIL in Syria,” remarked Obama.

Breaking: Turkey's military destroys Islamic State missile launcher in Syria near border, 8 Militants Killed - TVs

Turkey's military said it destroyed Islamic State's missile launcher in Syria some 20 kms from the border town of Kilis which has been repeatedly his by rockets from the border, Turkish television stations reported.

They said eight militants were killed in the attack. The missile launcher was placed 6 kilometres from the border, the military reportedly said.

Source

Boko Haram, Islamic State collaborating, military leaders say

U.S. and Nigerian military officials said an increase in collaboration between the Islamic State and the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram is "cause for alarm" for a wide swath of north and central Africa.

Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, commander of the United States military's Special Operations Command in Africa, said an IS weapons convoy from Libya, intercepted while traveling to the Lake Chad region, suggests a growing link between the two groups. Nigerian Gen. Lamidi Oyebayo Adeosun, commander of a joint African force battling Boko Haram in the Lake Chad area, echoed Bolduc's concerns, saying officials are attempting to learn more about the relationship. Last year, the Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS, also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh.

"The Lake Chad basin is ground zero" in the fight against Islamic extremists in Africa, Bolduc said. He said IS and Boko Haram are sharing "tactics, techniques and procedures" in the Lake Chad region, which includes northeast Nigeria, and parts of Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

War Against IS: Russian warplanes delivered to Iraq — ministry

The new Sukhoi Su-25 warplanes will give additional advantage to the Iraqi army in the fight against terrorist groups

A new batch of Russia’s Sukhoi Su-25 strike fighters has been delivered to Iraq, spokesman for the Iraqi Defense Ministry Nasir Nouri Mohammed al-Tamimi said on Monday.


According to him, "a batch of Su-25 (three aircraft) has arrived in Iraq in accordance with the contract signed with the Russian side." 

The Iraqi defense spokesman also said that the attack aircraft would enter service in the near future. 

According to him, this will give additional advantage to the Iraqi army in the fight against terrorist groups, including the Islamic State (terrorist group banned in Russia).

Russian is ready to coordinate with the West over strikes on Syria, Putin says

President Vladimir Putin of  Russia late Thursday said he was ready to coordinate strikes against the Islamic State with the United States and its allies but warned that acts like the Turkish downing of a Russian jet could destroy any chance of collaboration.

After talks with French President François Hollande at the Kremlin, Putin said, "We are ready to cooperate with the coalition which is led by the United States."

It was the most forthright commitment to a joint effort between Russia and the West since Moscow's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Snapshot: Three days of Russian air strikes on Syria And Criticisms, Paris States 3 Conditions to Cooperate with Russia in Syria

Sukhoi warplanes used by Russia in Syria anti-terror

A snapshot of developments since Russia's first air strikes on Syria, an intervention the West says is directed more at regime opponents than Islamic State group jihadists.

On Friday, French President Francois Hollande and Russia's Vladimir Putin had an in-depth discussion on Syria on Friday in which they "tried to narrow down differences on political transition," an aide to Hollande said after the two met in Paris.

The aide did not say if they had succeeded in any way in the 1h15-minute conversation, which took place ahead of a meeting the two men had with the leaders of Germany and Ukraine aimed at resolving the Ukraine crisis.

BREAKING: THE ISLAMIC STATE ISSUES A STATEMENT: CALLS OBAMA A "ROMAN DOG"

BREAKING: THE ISLAMIC STATE ISSUES A STATEMENT: CALLS OBAMA A "ROMAN DOG"


Also,  Kurdish, Iraqi forces retake Mosul Dam from Islamic State, state TV reports - Reuters. Iraq state TV says Kurdish, Iraqi forces and air support push out Islamic State from Mosul Dam. ISIS Loses Control of Mosul Dam in Key Victory for Iraqi Forces BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces and Kurdish fighters have taken back the strategic Mosul Dam from Islamist militants who captured it less than two weeks ago.

Kurds will take part in talks on new Iraq government

UPDATES: Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki urges troops to fight back Islamist militants as 500,000 people fled Mosul

Islamist insurgents Attack Iraq's Tikrit after 500,000 are forced to flee Mosul

Islamist insurgents have overrun parts of the Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, after taking control of Iraq's biggest city Mosul.

The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has urged troops to fight back against the militants as up to 500,000 people fled Mosul after the al-Qa'ida splinter group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) overran the city.

Security sources said some parts of Tikrit, which is located 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, is now under the control of militants and dozens of the insurgents have reportedly been clashing with security forces near the headquarters of the government in the city centre.

Chibok Schoolgirls: Israel experts in Nigeria to hunt for abducted girls

Israel has sent intelligence experts to Nigeria to help search for more than 200 schoolgirls abducted last month by the Boko Haram sect, an Israeli official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The team included people with experience in dealing with hostage situations, will join a growing international effort to track down the children.

“These are not operational troops, they’re there to advise,” the Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

UPDATES: Boko Haram Gunmen Attack Mosque in Yobe, Kill 20

Islamist Gunmen, suspected to be Boko Haram militants have attacked a mosque in northeastern Nigeria state of Yobe and not less than 20 Muslim worshipers have been confirmed dead.

The Boko Haram Jihadists  who had earlier threaten Muslim clerics who preach against their Islamic extremist doctrine, attacked village in Yobe state just before dawn Saturday and killed 20 worshipers who went for the first prayer of the day.

AP reports that the survivors of the attacked confirmed that the Islamist Militias opened fire in a mosque in northeastern Nigeria and gunned down at least 20 worshippers.

A civil servant Musa Ibrahim said the gunmen struck before dawn Saturday as residents of Buni Gari village were gathering for the first prayer of the day. The village is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the Yobe state capital, Damaturu in an area that has been attacked on numerous times.