Armenia is ready to welcome more Syrian refugees

April 1, 2016 By administrator

arton123973-480x270 Armenia is ready to welcome even more of Armenian refugees in Syria and hopes that the Armenian Diaspora in western countries contribute to their integration, said Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan during a visit to the United States in the evening of Wednesday 30 March. Speaking to the representatives of the Armenian community of Boston, he recalled that the Armenian community of Syria was threatened with extinction, and its rich heritage there was partly destroyed. Having called for help of Armenia’s partners, he appealed to the Diaspora to assist Armenia in its efforts to host other Armenian refugees from Syria. “It is painful for us to see the destruction of the Armenian community in the Middle East.

But perhaps is it a lesser evil if the overwhelming majority of its members stood in his homeland [ancestral]. It would be a sort of consolation for us, “said Sargsyan, adding,” the loss of this once thriving community is really painful, but we must do everything in our power to at least help those who have left [Syria ] has joined Armenia “.He recalled that it already had 20 000, which made Armenia the third host country for Syrian refugees in proportion to the Armenian population.

Syria hosted an estimated 80,000 Armenians, who are almost all of them descendants of survivors of the Armenian genocide of 1915. Only 10,000 of them are still in this country ravaged by war .

While rapidly granting them residence permits and even citizenship, Yerevan authorities her so far refrained from openly encourage the Syrian Armenians to take refuge in their ancestral homeland. They had also resisted local calls for the evacuation of the remaining Armenians in Syria. Sargsyan seems to mark out a change in this policy.

Armenian President insisted that his administration to do more to ensure that these refugees a “dignified life”. “We quickly grant them citizenship, free education and grants for medical services, business creation and rebuilding their lives in Armenia,” he has said. Many complain, however, their difficulty in finding decent jobs and pay their accommodation.

Sarkisian also praised the Armenian-American charities that have provided emergency aid to Syrian Armenians. But he made it clear that they should do more.

Yerevan also hopes to get financial assistance from foreign governments and international donor agencies. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian appealed to the international community of donors Wednesday at a United Nations conference in Geneva on the crisis of Syrian refugees.

Friday, April 1 2016
Gari © armenews.com

Turkish, Saudi invasion and annexation part of Syria not if but when

February 16, 2016 By administrator

Turkey and Saudi invadors

Rumors have long circulated that Turkey is planning to send ground troops to Syria. Although Ankara has repeatedly denied these claims, the ruling AKP party in fact wants to annex northern part of the war-torn Arab country, Professor Michel Chossudovsky told Radio Sputnik.

“Forthcoming planned invasion of Syria” by Turkish and Saudi ground forces, according to the geopolitical analyst, was discussed at the NATO headquarters on the same day a ceasefire agreement was reached at the Munich security conference. Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization added that Turkish and Saudi representatives were present at Friday’s meeting, which was chaired by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.

“Turkish forces are already [in Syria],” Chossudovsky noted, referring to the unconfirmed reports that Ankara allowed approximately 100 “Turkish soldiers or mercenaries” to cross into Syria in order to support rebels fighting against President Bashar al-Assad.

The new development in this context, according to the analyst, is “the fact that Saudi Arabia at the request of the United States would be involved in ground operations under the pretext of going after [Daesh] fighters, which happen to be supported, recruited and funded by Saudi Arabia.”

Saudi officials made headlines earlier this month by confirming that Riyadh was ready to send conventional ground forces or special operations troops to Syria should the US-led coalition opt for this scenario. The operation, if launched, will ostensibly be aimed against Daesh, but many say that the oil kingdom in fact wants to prop Islamic radicals up.

Riyadh “is acting on the behalf of the United States. In effect, this means that US-supported forces would be inside Syria if this process goes ahead,” Chossudovsky observed. For its part, Turkey “is not a 100-percent proxy of the United States. It has its own agenda. … It wants to annex part of Syrian territory.”

The geopolitical analyst also mentioned that the operation is coordinated “at the level of NATO and the Pentagon.” If so, then “what we are dealing with is not an invasion by Turkey and Saudi Arabia; it is an invasion which is sponsored by the United States,” Chossudovsky asserted.

Armenian village in Syria is liberated from Turkish terrorists

January 22, 2016 By administrator

Armenian Village The Syrian army liberated several villages—including primarily Armenian-populated Ghnemiyeh village—in the Latakia Governorate from terrorists.

As a result of terrorist attacks, the residents of this village were forced to leave their homes four years ago, according to Kantsasar Armenian newspaper of Syria.

Around 60 to 70 thousand Armenians lived in Syria before the start of the civil war in the country. More than half of these Armenians resided in Aleppo, the largest city in Syria, and the rest lived in capital city Damascus and several other towns.

Russian Air Force decimating terrorist command centers, bunkers, camps, workshops – Defense Ministry

October 3, 2015 By administrator

SU-34 © Maxim Blinov / RIA Novosti

RT Surgical airstrikes by Russian fighter jets have knocked out a number of Islamic State installations in Syria, including the battle headquarters of a jihadist group near Raqqa, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

“Over the past 24 hours, Sukhoi Su-34 and Su-24M fighter jets have performed 20 sorties and hit nine Islamic State installations,” Igor Konashenkov, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, reported.

Konashenkov added that yesterday evening Russian aircraft went on six sorties, inflicting strikes on three terrorist installations.

“A bunker-busting BETAB-500 air bomb dropped from a Sukhoi Su-34 bomber near Raqqa has eliminated the command post of one of the terror groups, together with an underground storage facility for explosives and munitions,” the spokesman said.

Commenting on the video filmed by a Russian UAV monitoring the assault near Raqqa, Konashenkov noted, “a powerful explosion inside the bunker indicates it was also used for storing a large quantity of munitions.

Syria Kurds liberate 14 Assyrian Christian villages

May 27, 2015 By administrator

Assyrian Christians, who had fled the unrest in Syria, attend a mass at the Saint Georges Assyrian Church in Jdeideh

Kurdish forces in Syria have managed to take control of 14 Assyrian Christian villages that had been held by the Takfiri ISIL terrorists since February.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that the Kurdish fighters engaged the terrorists in a ten-day operation to liberate the villages.

The terrorists in February attacked a number of Assyrian Christian villages along the Khabur River in the northeastern province of Hasakah. They also kidnapped hundreds of Assyrians. Reports say 210 hostages are still held by the terror group.

The ISIL raid forced thousands of Christians from their homes.

ISIL, abductions and ransom

Meanwhile, Osama Edward, the head of the Sweden-based Assyrian Network for Human Rights, said photos from the region showed a massive destruction of houses and churches in the liberated villages.

“Most people are afraid to return because they fear that ISIL booby-trapped their houses before fleeing,” he said.

In May, the Assyrian network said ISIL had demanded USD 22 million in ransom for the release of over 200 Assyrians abducted in Hasakah.

Assyrians account for about 2.5 percent of Syria’s 1.2 million Christians. They come from one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. Assyrians inhabit 35 villages in Hasakah, all of which are now under the control of the Kurdish fighters or Syria’s government forces.

No boundaries to ISIL atrocities

The Takfiri ISIL terrorists, with recruits from several Western countries, control parts of Syria and Iraq.

They have been engaged in horrific acts of violence against all ethnic and religious communities, ranging from public decapitations to crucifixions.

Turkey Davutoğlu outlines locations for potential (annexation) of Syria

October 16, 2014 By administrator

Turkish Prime Minister Davutoğlu has told Al-Jazeera Arabic that ‘safe zones’ against ISIL on Syria’s border with Turkey should protect ‘areas with populations over a certain density,’ marking a large region from the Mediterranean to Iraq’s border, (neo-ottoman border)

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has clarified the locations of possible internationally sanctioned safe zones near Syria’s border with Turkey, outlining a line stretching from the Mediterranean to Iraq.

“The buffer zone we mean here is not a military definition, but a humanitarian safe zone under military protection,” Davutoğlu said in an interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic on Oct. 15.

After noting that safe zones should protect “areas with populations over a certain density,” the Turkish PM mentioned the need to connect the Turkish border with northern Latakia, “certain areas in al-Hasakah,” as well as Jarabulus, Ayn-al Arab (Kobane), Tel Abyad, Idlib and Afrin to protect Syria’s Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens.

Davutoğlu stressed that the depth of the safe zone could change according to varying humanitarian situations in these areas, but he reiterated that Turkey would not take the risk of intervention alone.

“United Nations Security Council can’t take any decisions due to certain vetoes. Then, the international coalition that was created for an intervention in Syria and the coalition of the willing can take certain decisions and provide air protection [for the safe zone],” he said, recalling the internationally sanctioned no-fly zone in Saddam Hussein-era Iraq.

The Turkish government has faced international and domestic pressure as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants have advanced toward Kobane, but Davutoğlu countered the criticism by slamming his critics.

“The fall of Ayn-al Arab could really sadden us, and we will do everything to stop it, but where were they when Raqqa [the stronghold of ISIL] fell? Where where they when Jarabulus, Mosul fell?” he said.

1,400 Saudi militants fight in Syria: Report

February 9, 2014 By administrator

Some 1,400 Saudi Arabian citizens have joined foreign-backed militant groups which are fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a report says.

Saudi Arabia’s newspaper Al Watan said in a recent report that most Saudi militants, who have poured into Syria after the outbreak of the crisis in 2011, are teenagers.

The report added that around 20 percent of the Saudi militants who have returned home say they had been deceived into fighting with the Syrian government.

In December 2013, the International Center for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR) released a report which indicated that between 3,300 and 11,000 militants from over 70 countries have been fighting against the Syrian government from late 2011 to December 10, 2013.

“These figures include those who are currently present (in Syria) as well as those who have since returned home, been arrested or killed,” said ICSR, which is a partnership of five universities based at King’s College London.

Eighty percent of the foreign militants are Arabs and Europeans, mostly from France and Britain, ICSR added.

According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies — Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — are supporting the militants fighting in Syria since the deadly violence erupted in March 2011.

Source: PressTV