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.

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.

International coalition urge Russia to stop bombing Syria over fears of civilian deaths; Putin, Hollande had 1h15-minute conversation over Syria

The US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS) urges Vladimir Putin's forces to 'immediately cease attacks on opposition and civilians' in Syria.

Russian officials dismissed reports of civilian casualties as 'information warfare' and insisted strikes are targeting extremists.

 Iraq said Russian intervention is a welcome development.

The US and members of the international coalition bombing Isis have urged Russia to stop attacking the Syrian opposition and expressed “deep concern” over its intervention.

This is contained in a joint statement issued by the Turkish Foreign Ministry with the U.S., Germany, Britain, France, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, on Friday.

Sallah Youth Encounter: Only God Protects Leaders - PMB

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday spoke of how he was besieged by youths who almost overwhelmed the security immediately after the Eid-el-Fitri prayers in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

“I had to hold tight to my gown to get to my car; I was advised to enter the car from the ADC’s side and I refused; I went across trying to hold my hand to the wild youth who wanted to see me,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes him as telling the Muslim faithful who paid him a homage at the State House, Abuja, after the Eid El-Fitri prayers.

Buhari then remarked that on an occasion like this, “it shows that after what happened to President Ronald Reagan of the U.S., it is only God Almighty that protects leaders, because in a mob like this, anybody with a sharp knife can get access and do a lot of damage.