Assad says Erdogan’s army fighting in Syria

March 31, 2016 By administrator

The army of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently fighting in Syria, but the country is ready to respond to the aggression, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an exclusive interview with Sputnik.

Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia, have “crossed all possible red lines, possibly from the first weeks of the Syrian war,” Assad said.

“Today, the war against Erdogan and against Saudi Arabia is a war against terrorists. The Turkish army, which is not even Turkish, is Erdogan’s army that is fighting today in Syria,” he added.

Everything that Ankara and Riyadh “have done from the very beginning can be considered aggression. Aggression in a political sense or in a military sense – providing terrorists with arms – or direct aggression with the use of artillery, and other military violations,” he stressed

Erdogan is directly supporting the terrorists as “he allows them to move into Turkish territory, to carry out maneuvers with tanks,” the Syrian president said.

“This concerns not only individuals, he finances them [terrorists] through Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and through Turkey itself, of course,” he said.

According to Assad, his Turkish counterpart “trades oil that has been stolen by IS (Islamic State, Daesh), at the same time carrying out artillery attacks against the Syrian army – when it moves close – in order to help the terrorists.”

According to the President, countermeasures to Turkey’s aggressive actions must first of all take place within Syrian territory.

Successful strikes against terrorists in the country will lead to the failure of policies pursued by Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he added.

“They are terrorists and when we attack these terrorists in Syria, this leads to Erdogan’s direct defeat,” Assad said.

However, Assad stressed that there was no dispute between the peoples of Syria and Turkey.

The relations between the two countries will be “good” if Erdogan stops interfering in Syrian affairs, he explained.

During the interview, Assad also expressed readiness to call an early presidential election in Syria if the people desire one.

“This depends on the Syrian people’s stance, on whether there is a popular will to hold early presidential elections. If there is such a will, this is not a problem for me. It is natural to respond to the will of the people and not to that of certain opposition forces,” he said.

“The president cannot work without the people’s support,” the Syrian leader added.

If the election takes place, every Syrian citizen, including those who left because of war, should be able to take part in the voting, he said.

“This issue concerns every Syrian citizen because every citizen votes for the president,” Assad stressed.

Assad also recalled his surprise visit to Moscow last autumn, which came less than two weeks after Russia began its bombing campaign against the terrorists in Syria on September 30, 2015.

“That visit was made under special circumstances,” he said, adding that no documents were signed during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The talks in the Russian capital mainly revolved around two issues: “Firstly, the military operation, which had begun at the time, and as a consequence, the need to strike a blow at terrorism. Secondly, we focused on how we could use the military operation to support the political process,” the Syrian president told Sputnik.

Syrian Army hunting terrorists in Hama Province

February 27, 2016 By administrator

The Syrian Army announced on Saturday that its troops’ anti terrorism offensives in the Northern parts of Hama province have inflicted large casualties on the militants.
“The Syrian army soldiers stormed the militant groups’ defense lines and strongholds on the axis of Tal Hawir, Dhahrat Aliyeh, Tal al- Bazaq, Morek, Souran, Jeleen and Lataminah, which claimed the lives of many terrorists,” the army said, according to the Fars News Agency .

“The militant groups’ military hardware also sustained major damage in the attacks,” the army added.

Battlefield sources said on Friday that the Syrian Air Force bombed the gathering centers of the ISIL terrorists in a desert-like region at the border of Hama and Homs provinces.

“The ISIL concentration centers in Wadi al-Azib region in the Southeastern part of Hama province and near the Northern part of Homs province came under the heavy bombardments of the Syrian army’s aircraft, which claimed the lives of dozens of the terrorists,” the sources said.

Gazeta.ru: the Armenian army is the most combative of the region

February 21, 2016 By administrator

arton122395-480x271 In an article about the delivery by Russia for 200 million dollars of sophisticated weapons to Armenia, Russian website Gazeta.ru gives broad folder Armenian army and does not hesitate to write that this army Armenian is “the most combative of the region.” Gaezta.ru says that since the Russian-Armenian military agreements of 2003 and 2013, Armenia receives support from Russia for armaments as a strategic partner.

Gazeta.ru stock of the new acquisitions of Armenia, particularly batteries missiles “Smerch” that will balance 12 similar batteries purchased by Azerbaijan to Ukraine. It also emphasizes the possession by Aria missile batteries of Armenia purchased from China. An Armenia that would have a 50,000 strong army “than Russia, South Korea and the former Soviet republics in terms of militarization.” And to write that “Armenia, surrounded by three Muslim states recalls the situation in Israel (…) and the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in equal significance for Armenians than the Holocaust to Israel. “

Gazeta.ru recalls the relationship “strained” of Armenia with Turkey and “more tense” with Azerbaijan because of Nagorno Karabakh. Gazeta.ru writes “according to many specialists, the Armenian armed forces are considered the most effective and combative South Caucasus.” Ruslan Pakhov, director of the Centre for Studies and military strategic analysis says “Azerbaijan can Russia buy large quantities of weapons. But these purchases could unbalance the forces and warm this frozen conflict. The decision of Russia to supply arms to Armenia is a correct decision that will balance the forces. “Gazeta.ru adds to the balance of forces in place, the 5000 Russian soldiers of the 102nd division stationed in Gyumri and the basis Russian military air “Erebuni” in Yerevan. “in connection with the Armenian-Russian military agreements, Russia can supply weapons, even graciously, Armenia. In addition to the crisis between Russia and Turkey, Russia is interested more than ever in the supply of arms to the Armenian forces “wrote Gazeta.ru.

Krikor Amirzayan (Գրիգոր Ամիրզայեան)

Armenia With Our Army and Our Soldiers

January 29, 2016 By administrator

Armenian Armed Forces parade

BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

When the formation of the Armenian Armed Forces was announced on January 28, 1992 it truly reinforced the establishment of an independent Armenia, as the Armed Forces of any county represents that nation’s sovereignty and the guarantor of it security.

Yet the Armenian Armed Forces were not formed under the peaceful conditions. Armenia and the Armenian Nation was embroiled in a war—a liberation struggle—that required unequivocal and absolute victory. That was achieved when Armenian soldiers overcame Azerbaijan and established the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

This is not an oversimplification of the mammoth challenges overcome by the Armed Forces of a nascent Armenian Republic. The sacrifice, dedication and persistence of the Armed Forces changed the course of history for our entire nation, setting itself apart from other post-Soviet countries far larger than Armenia.

It is with this precise understanding that celebrating Armenia’s Armed Forces Day—January 28—must not only evoke a sense of proud but must serve as a National Day of Re-dedication to the principles of statehood, to our resolve to protect our nation at any cost and to our determination to fight for the Armenian Cause.

Today, the soldiers protecting our borders, both in Armenia and Artsakh, are faced with equally perilous conditions. With their steadfast commitment to their mission they ensure that no entity can penetrate the sacred border of our country. We lament that fact that 57 soldiers lost their lives on the frontlines in 2015 in the service of their nation and we, as individuals and collectively as a nation, must work hard to ensure that they and those who came before them did not a sacrifice their lives in vain.

Our soldiers who singlehandedly charted the course for our nations continue to serve as an inspiration and example to our new generation of soldiers—men and women who are heroically, and shoulder-to-shoulder protecting our nation from harm.

Let us celebrate Armenia’s Armed Forces Day by honoring our soldiers and our heroes and by individually taking the soldier’s pledge to protect and serve our nation.

LONG LIVE THE ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES.

Syria Full Throttle: From Aleppo to Daraa, Syrian Army Advances on Militants

January 28, 2016 By administrator

1029116210 Scores of Daesh and al-Nusra Front terrorists have reportedly been killed after the Syrian Army launched major offensives in the key provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Daraa, Deir ez-Zor, Hama, Homs and Idlib.

The Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces (NDF) have staged a spate of major military operations all across Syria over the past twenty-four hours, in which dozens of Daesh and Al-Nusra Front militants were killed and many more wounded, according to media reports.

In particular, militants’ strongholds were destroyed in the key provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Daraa, Deir ez-Zor, Hama, Homs and Idlib.

In the city of Daraa, the Syrian troops obliterated the militants’ fortifications, hideouts and vehicles in the neighborhoods of al-Mahatta and al-Balad, also striking the towns of Rakham and al-Karak in Daraa Province’s northeast.

“The Syrian Army and the NDF continued to advance against the militants in Sheikh Meskeen and took full control over the strategic city after killing and wounding scores of terrorists,” an army source said.

In the city of Aleppo, Syrian Air Force fighter jets destroyed positions held by Daesh militants in the neighborhoods of al-Rashedin, al-Lairamoun, Bustan al-Bacha, Bani Zaid, Karem al-Maysar and al-Sheikh Said, as well as a number of strategic areas in the eastern part of the province.

Dozens of Daesh terrorists were also killed in Deir ez-Ezor, where the Syrian forces clashed with militants in the village of Baqaliyeh and the al-Rushdiye neighborhood in the city of Deir ez-Zor.

In Damascus, the Syrian Army and the NDF launched an attack on the checkpoints of Al-Nusra Front militants, seizing back one of their main supply lines in Western Ghouta. Additionally, the army cracked down on al-Nusra Front terrorists along a road linking the two strategic cities of al-Moadhamiyah and Darayya.

In a separate development earlier this week, the militants’ strongholds based near the town of Tamanna in the south of Idlib Province and in Kafr Zita in the northern part of Hama Province were reportedly massively bombed by Syrian warplanes.

As for Russia’s ongoing air campaign in Syria, it was launched on September 30, when more than fifty Russian warplanes, including Su-24M, Su-25 and Su-34 jets, commenced precision airstrikes on Daesh targets in the country at the behest of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Russian General Staff said on Monday that combat aircraft from the Russian air group in Syria had carried out 169 sorties in the previous three days, hitting more than 480 terrorist targets.

source: sputniknews.com

Putin ordered the 58th Russian Army Military District of the North Caucasus to be deployed in Armenia

December 2, 2015 By administrator

According to information circulating in the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) President Putin signed yesterday morning an order asking the 58th Army Military District of the North Caucasus to deploy immediately regiments “selected” and specialized brigades in military electronic warfare, air defense systems, multiple rocket launchers, anti-tank equipment and artillery forces at the Turkish-Armenian border, a total of nearly 7,000 Russian soldiers currently being state of complete fight.

According to this information, the legal authority for this massive combat deployment is due to the Russian-Armenian agreement on common air defense system signed by President Putin on November 11 and will be finalized this week by Prime Minister Medvedev.

With Armenia becoming an essential part of the Common Strategy of the Russian air defense, military forces of the Russian Federation will now be able to counter threats from Turkey says several anonymous sources.

It is important to note that during this military deployment of the Russian Federation in Armenia, these forces will be protected, like their counterparts operating in Syria, with S-400 (NATO designation SA-21 Growler) mobile systems missiles medium and long term Sol-Air and jamming platforms Krasukha-4 giving them total superiority of air defense on more than 85 per cent of Turkish territory.

Krasukha-4 is a mobile broadband equipment, mounted on the chassis 8 X 8 type BAZ-6910-022, which scrambles the surveillance radars military satellites, ground-based radars and airborne AWACS and those mounted on unmanned aircraft (drone).

The Krasukha-4 is the only system capable of blurring the American spy satellites family Lacrosse / Onyx. These satellites fly in low orbit and equipped with SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) that allows them to penetrate the layer of clouds and the ground or walls of buildings, with a resolution of 20 cm.

The 4-Krasukha equipment is being set up in Syria on the Russian air base Hmeymim (Governorate of Latakia) and creates an invisibility shield to the objects in the air and on the ground with a radius of 300 km. The Krasukha-4 is able to “blind” radars for detecting and guiding anti-aircraft missiles MIM-104 Patriot located on the Turkish border, and also radars Turkish fighter aircraft F-16C off from the Incirlik base and helping to establish a “no fly zone” over Syria.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Report: Major Rift Starts between Erdogan, Army after Downing of Russian Warplane over Syria

November 29, 2015 By administrator

TEHRAN (FNA)- The crisis that started by Turkey’s shooting down of the Russian Su-24 bomber in the Syrian airspace is leading to a standoff between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the country’s army, Turkish media reports said.

Arab media outlets quoted the Turkish-language daily, Sözcü, as reporting that Erdogan and the Turkish army’s joint chief of staff are now at odds after the Turkish president in controversial remarks – that was contradicted later – claimed that Ankara did not know the warplane was Russian when targeting it.

“We would have acted differently if we had known that the fighter jet was Russian,” Erdogan said.

The Turkish paper quoted an informed military source as saying that Erdogan had taken a “hasty” position and declared that the army had been unable to identify the nationality of the plane in official remarks, “and this complicated the problem”.

“Had the politicians kept quiet, we could have resolved the problem very fast,” the unnamed source told the Turkish daily, according to the Arab media.

After Turkey shot down Russia’s Su-24 bomber as it was conducting an anti-terrorism operation against terrorists in Syria, the relations between the two countries strained.

Only a few days into the incident, Russia deployed S-400 air defense system to take harsh measures against any possible threats in Syria by tracing 300 targets at ranges up to 400 kilometers.

Military explanations show that the sophisticated air defense shield can cover the entire Syrian airspace.

Informed sources said earlier today that the Turkish Air Force has warned its pilots to avoid any further violation of the Syrian airspace after Russia deployed its sophisticated S-400 anti-aircraft missile system in Lattakia.

The arrival of S-400 system coupled with the Russian fighter jets’ maneuvers along the Turkish border, has forced Ankara to take prudent measures to ease tensions with the Russian Federation after they downed the latter’s SU-24 bomber in Syia’s Lattakia province on Tuesday, the sources said.

The Russian Air Force amplified the number of airstrikes along the Turkish border on Saturday, striking the Turkish backed ISIL militants at the Aleppo border-city of A’zaz and inside the Turkmen Mountains of Northern Lattakia.

Now no Turkish plane can violate the Syrian airspace even in the mountainous areas due to the capabilities of S-400 air defense systems.

On Tuesday, a Turkish F-16 shot down the Su-24, claiming that the aircraft violated its airspace. Russian officials and the Su-24 pilot, who survived the crash, insist that the plane did not cross into Turkey. The crew, according to the pilot, did not receive any warning prior to the attack.

The Russian media reported on Thursday that the country has already deployed S-400 missile defense systems in Syria, a move many political and military analysts see as the start of Moscow’s response to NATO following the downing of its bomber by Turkey over Syria.

The S-400, an upgrade of the S-300 Growler family, is a new-generation anti-aircraft defense system operated solely by the Russian military. The S-400 ensures air defense using long- and medium-range missiles that can hit aerial targets at ranges of up to 400 kilometers (almost 250 miles).

In what is a prime example of twisted logic, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Russia against using its ultra-modern S-400 air defense system to shoot down Turkish fighter jets if they violate Syrian airspace just days after Ankara brought down a Russian Su-24 bomber.

With Russian Support, Syrian Army Advancing Toward Turkish Border

November 22, 2015 By administrator

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian army and popular forces purged the terrorists and advanced to areas near the Turkish borders.

The Syrian sources in the battlefield said that the Syrian army took control of Zahia heights in the Northern countryside of Lattakia, 2km from the joint borders with Turkey.

The Syrian army, supported by Russia, has launched massive airstrikes against the terrorists’ hideouts in the countryside of Lattakia.

The Syrian troops made major advances in different parts of Lattakia in the past few days after pushing back terrorists from their positions across the coastal province and killed several groups of militants, including their senior commanders.

The Syrian Army and National Defense Forces (NDF) pushed back the terrorist groups form more lands in the Northern territories of Lattakia after fierce clashes with the terrorists on Saturday.

The Takfiri terrorists withdrew from al-Zahi mountains and Burj al-Zahi after their positions came under massive attack of the pro-government forces.

Meantime, nearly 25 militants of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) and al-Nusra Front were killed in a joint operation carried out by the Syrian Army troops and the Russian air force in Lattakia province.

Command and control centers of the above-mentioned militant groups in Lattakia province sustained heavy damage in the pro-government forces’ (Syrian army, Russian fighter jets and choppers) operation.

The militant groups’ military hardware also was destroyed in the joint operation.

Also, the Syrian fighter jets intensified airstrikes on the Takfiri terrorists’ strongholds in the Lattakia, leaving a large group of the militants dead.

The Syrian air raids hit the Takfiris’ concentration centers in Dweir al-Akrad, al-Sheikh Yousef, Jabal al-Katf and Jabal Abu Hiddo in Lattakia.

Tens of militants were killed in the air attacks.

In the meantime, the Syrian army killed a senior commander of al-Nusra Front in Lattakia province.

The sources said the Syrian troops have killed Zakaria Abdullah, a prominent leader of al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, in Lattakia province.

The terrorist groups admitted that some 11 terrorists, including their senior commander, have been killed in the Northern countryside of Lattakia.

The Terrorist groups said on their social media pages that 11 of their members were killed in the Northern countryside of Lattakia.

The Takfiri militant groups also published the names and photos of a number of their casualties, including Zakria Abdullah, the so-called leader of the Osman Ghazi Battalion which is affiliated to “Liwa al-Sultan Abdul Hamid” or “Al-Sultan Abdul Hamid Brigade”.

Buildings for officers of the Army of Nagorno Karabakh under construction in Stepanakert

November 7, 2015 By administrator

The President of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh Bako Sahakyan visited on November 4 new buildings under construction in the Tumanyan street in Stepanakert (capital of Nagorno Karabakh) for the Army officers of the Republic of Nagorno Karabagh. Bako Sahakyan who was accompanied by a government delegation wanted to know the progress of these buildings that will significantly improve the social lives of officers. The President once again stressed the quality of the buildings to house the officers and their families who meet modern building standards in.

Krikor Amirzayan

Syria army recapture Aleppo supply route

November 4, 2015 By administrator

The Syrian army regained control of a road southeast of Aleppo on Wednesday, state television said, taking back the government’s only supply route into the city from ISIS fighters who had seized it last month.
Army forces took full control of the road which runs from Aleppo through the towns of Khanaser and Ithriya and links up with the cities of Hama and Homs further south, the channel flashed in a news bulletin. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group confirmed the report, according to Al Arabiya.
The road is the army’s supply route to government-held western parts of Aleppo, home to around 2 million people.
Rebels are mainly in the eastern sector of the city, which was Syria’s most populous before the conflict broke out in 2011.
ISIS said late last month it had taken control of most of the Syrian army checkpoints on the road and seized large caches of ammunition from army outposts in the area.
Areas around Aleppo have seen weeks of heavy fighting after Syrian troops backed by Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian fighters launched an offensive to retake territory around Aleppo from rebels and jihadist fighters.
The offensive has concentrated so far on clearing insurgent-held areas south of Aleppo rather than the city itself.
It is one of several assaults carried out by pro-government ground forces since Russian jets began carrying out air strikes on Sept. 30 in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian troops are also trying to advance to the east of Aleppo towards Kweires military airport, aiming to break a siege of the base by ISIS and other insurgents.