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Syria Update: Warplanes strike Syrian town Khan Sheikhoun hit by suspected chemical weapons attack

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Airstrikes have struck the rebel-held positions in Syria’s Khan Sheikhoun, where a suspected chemical weapons attack left dozens dead. Rising tensions have prompted Britain’s foreign minister to cancel a visit to Moscow.

Fresh airstrikes on Saturday hit the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, where a suspected chemical weapons attack earlier this week killed 87 civilians, including 31 children, independent monitoring groups reported.

At least one woman was killed and another person injured in Saturday’s strikes. The Local Coordination Committees, a local independent monitoring group, said the airstrikes had been conducted by Russian warplanes. However, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights did not identify the nationality of the planes in their report.

Other airstrikes reportedly launched by the US-led coalition against the “Islamic State” killed 15 civilians near Raqqa, the militant group’s de facto capital.

The airstrikes took place a day after the US launched cruise missiles against a Syrian military facility believed to be the launch pad for the chemical weapons attack.

The US missile strikes raised tensions in the Syrian conflict and effectively polarized alliances for and against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

‘Changed the situation fundamentally’

Following the strikes, the UK, along with other NATO nations, issued statements in support of Washington’s unilateral action. British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday that he had cancelled his visit to Moscow scheduled for April 10.

“Developments in Syria have changed the situation fundamentally,” Johnson said in a statement.

On the other side, Russia, a key ally for Assad’s regime, has suspended contact on airspace coordination in Syria in response to the US attack.

Vladimir Safronkov, Russia’s deputy envoy to the UN, said on Friday that the US missile strikes undermined attempts to reset US-Russia relations, an aim that US President Donald Trump has pursued since before his electoral victory.

“The United States attacked the territory of sovereign Syria,” Safronkov said during an emergency UN Security Council meeting. “We describe that attack as a flagrant violation of international law and an act of aggression.”

Washington has also launched an investigation into Moscow’s complicity in the suspected chemical weapons attack, allegations which the Kremlin and the Syrian government deny.

Source: DW.com

Mystery over who bombed Turkish convoy allegedly carrying weapons to militants in Syria

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© IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation / Facebook

© IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation / Facebook

A Turkish convoy, which according to some reports was transporting weapons to terrorist organizations, has been hit by apparent airstrikes in northwestern Syria.

Footage released online by the Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) shows plumes of smoke from the burning trucks and people running about in panic. At least 20 trucks were engulfed in flames.

The mission, however, wasn’t sponsored or organized by the IHH, the group said. No organization has as yet confirmed that the convoy belonged to them.

“Our teams helped to extinguish the fire… The trucks do not belong to us and there is no information on who bombed them,” Mustafa Özbek, an official from İHH, told Reuters.

At least seven people were killed and 10 injured in the incident, according to the Turkish Anadolu agency. The trucks were reportedly heading to the town of Azaz in northwestern Syria.

Since the news emerged, media has been furiously speculating about who was behind the attack, what the trucks were transporting, what the convoy’s humanitarian mission was, or maybe it was carrying a more sinister load.

One of the aid workers who survived the incident said the trucks had been deliberately targeted, Reuters reported.

The nature of the ‘humanitarian aid’ is also in question. Turkish media and the IHH say the trucks were transporting humanitarian aid to refugees in Azaz.
However, the Turkish Cumhuriyet newspaper cited sources close to the Syrian government saying the convoy was delivering weapons to terrorist organizations

The Hawar news agency reported that Turkey repeatedly sent convoys with arms to the Al-Nusra Front and other terrorist organizations under the guise of humanitarian aid.

Reports on Twitter went further – they identified the arms as allegedly “Docka machine guns” and “small arms with ammunitions.”

In the wake of the recent downing of a Russian Air Force bomber over Syria by Turkish fighter jets, some reports suggested the Russians were “avenging” the pilot’s death. Many media outlets thought it was the work of Vladimir Putin.

Anadolu cited ‘Syrian opposition sources,’ who claimed that Russian jets attacked the convoy.

Other sources suggested the airstrikes were carried out by Syrians, without specifying whether it was members of the Syrian Army loyal to President Bashar Assad, or one of the various Syrian rebel groups.

Neither Turkish, nor Russian authorities have yet commented on the incident. However, before the Azaz incident Tayyip Erdogan commented on an event that took place in 2013, when a Turkish security service convoy was stopped on the way to the Bayırbucak region in northwestern Syria. The Turkish president said: “If there were any weapons, then what? And if there weren’t, what would change?”

BBC: Libya conflict: Turkish ship ‘bombed near Tobruk’

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A Turkish freighter has been attacked near the coast of Libya, leaving one crew member dead, Turkey’s foreign ministry has said.

The ship came under artillery and aerial fire near the eastern port of Tobruk late on Sunday, the ministry said. Several crew members were hurt.

Turkey criticised what it called an “atrocious” act.

But Libya said it had issued warnings about not approaching parts of the coastline.

Libya has been in chaos since its long-time leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, was overthrown with Western military help in 2011.

The internationally-recognised government is based in the port city of Tobruk and in al-Bayda, having been expelled from the capital, Tripoli, by militias in 2014.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said the ship, which was carrying gypsum from Spain to Libya, came under attack 13 nautical miles (24km) from Tobruk, its destination.

The Turkish third captain was killed.

But a spokesman for forces belonging to the Tobruk government said it was destined for Derna, a port city 106 miles (171km) further west.

“A ship was shelled about 10 miles from Derna coast. We have warned before about approaching Derna port,” Mohamed Hejazi told Reuters news agency.

Turkey said the Cook Islands-registered ship was in international waters when it was attacked, something Libya denies.

In January, Libyan air force jets bombed a Greek oil tanker, killing two crew members, after saying its movements in Derna had raised suspicions.

Reports say no tankers unloaded in Derna between the bombing and two weeks ago, when a Maltese-flagged ship docked there.

Islamist militias have established a strong presence over the last two years, and some militants have pledged of allegiance to the Islamic State militant group.

Pro-ISIS magazine in Istanbul bombed

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By Zeynep Bilginsoy and Ivan Watson, CNN

Turkey-ISISIstanbul (CNN)A bomb blast ripped through the Istanbul offices of a radical, pro-ISIS magazine killing a writer and wounding its editor-in-chief as well as two other people on Wednesday night.

According to a Turkish police statement, “a bomb left at the magazine’s entrance door exploded when the door opened.”

The magazine “Adimlar” regularly publishes angry anti-American content, including articles that celebrate convicted Venezuelan terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as “Carlos the Jackal.”

In an interview with CNN in October, the magazine’s chief editor, Ali Osman Zor, mounted a spirited defense of the ultra-violent jihadi group ISIS.

Zor is a self-described “Islamic revolutionary” and member of a group called the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders’ Front who has served prison time in Turkey for terrorism convictions.

READ: ISIS-Turkish fight stirs trouble in Turkey

Zor said he supported ISIS’ violent methods, arguing they were a natural response to what he claimed were decades of Western imperialism in the Middle East, as well as Kurdish and Shi’ite Muslim persecution of Sunni Muslims in Iraq.

“We saw one man killed,” Zor said, referring to the multiple beheadings and executions ISIS militants filmed on camera and distributed over social media.

“What about all the people killed by U.S. airstrikes? We haven’t forgotten about Abu Ghraib,” he added, referring to the notorious prison where U.S. soldiers were photographed abusing Iraqi prisoners during the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

No suspects yet

Zor was wounded in the blast. Turkish journalists photographed him sitting singed and bruised, smoking a cigarette. His brother, Unsal Zor, was killed in the blast.

Police so far have not announced possible suspects in the bombing.

A member of the magazine’s staff, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity for fear of his own safety, was swift to blame foreign intelligence agencies for the blast.

“We know this to be the work of CIA and Mossad. We know this is an intelligence operation,” the magazine staffer told CNN.