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Iraq forces gain more ground in eastern Mosul

January 4, 2017 by administrator

Iraqi rapid response forces gather during the battle with Daesh in the Mithaq district of eastern Mosul, Iraq, on January 3, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

Iraqi forces have managed to liberate another neighborhood from the grip of Takfiri Daesh terrorists in the eastern part of Mosul, as they continue mop-up operations in the already recaptured areas of the strategic city.

The Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen TV reported the recapture of Wahdah district, located on the left bank of the Tigris River, on Wednesday.

The report further said that the Iraqi forces had wrested control over the road linking Mosul to the city of Kirkuk.

Separately, unidentified security sources said an elite Iraqi Interior Ministry unit had entered the recently liberated Mithaq district and was clearing the area.

This is while clashes continued between the Iraqi forces and Daesh militants in and around Mosul with plumes of smoke and shelling visible in the distance from Mithaq.

The Takfiri elements were said to have concealed car bombs in the area and made underground tunnels and surface-level passageways.

An unnamed Mithaq resident said he was “very afraid,” adding, “A Daesh anti-aircraft weapon was positioned close to our house…. We could see a small number of Daesh fighters in the street carrying light and medium weapons. They were hit by planes.”

Most of those fleeing Mosul were reported to be from the city’s eastern neighborhoods while residents of the militant-held west were increasingly attempting to escape.

“Finally we have been freed,” another Mithaq resident said.

Meanwhile the Daesh-affiliated Amaq news agency released footage showing clashes in the Intisar district of eastern Mosul.

UN: Over 125,000 Iraqis displaced

In another development on Wednesday, the United Nations said that 125,568 Iraqis had been displaced since the start of the Mosul liberation operation.

“Following the intensification of military operations in Mosul city on 29 December, the rate of displacement… has increased markedly, with over 9,000 people having fled the city in the space of four days,” said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Iraqi army troops and allied fighters have been conducting a major offensive since last October to liberate Mosul that fell to Daesh in 2014. They launched the second phase of the operation on December 29, 2016.

OCHA further noted that about 14,000 of the displaced Iraqis had already returned to their homes in the recaptured areas.

Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, a top commander in Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), announced last week that over 60 percent of eastern Mosul had been recaptured from terrorists.

Iraqi police down 3 Daesh drones

Armenia first country in Eastern Europe accredited to Climate Adaptation Fund

November 15, 2016 by administrator

The Climate Adaptation Fund is paving new ways towards expanding vulnerable communities’ access to financial resources across Armenia, the first country in Eastern Europe allowed to benefit from its Direct Access program.
According to a press release by the Ministry of Nature Projection, the Environmental Project Implementation Unit was accredited as the fund’s 25th body responsible for a national program.

The Climate Adaptation Fund is a pioneering initiative providing developing countries’ access to climate resources, and enabling them to elaborate and implement directly accredited projects through national offices to ensure a sustainable adaptation to the changing climate.

“We are really enthusiastic about being the first country in Eastern Europe and South Caucasus to receive the fund’s accreditation. It is a very important achievement that will allow us to implement landscape adaptation projects,” said Gevorg Nersisyan, the director of the Project Implementation Unit.

Since Armenia is a mountainous country, it is more vulnerable to climatic changes which cause such phenomena as landslides, which, in turn, destroy the habitat of biodiversity.

“All this affects the country’s economic and social progress, particularly agriculture. As a mountainous country, Armenia lacks cultivable lands,” Mr Nersisyan said.

Improvement of land management will be of essential importance to both the areas in question and the neighboring territories, thus ensuring stability of biodiversity. It will help development of tourism and recreation areas, which, in turn, facilitate Armenia’s economic and social progress.

Eastern Europe and the lucrative Middle East arms trade

August 9, 2016 by administrator

Robert Stephen Ford, the US ambassador to Syria from 2011 to 2014, told BIRN and the OCCRP that the trade is coordinated by the American secret service, the CIA, and expedited via Turkey and the Gulf States. By shipping to destinations that initially appear unsuspicious, he said, suppliers can circumvent all mandatory approval procedures. Furthermore, many of the flight documents investigated by BIRN contained no information whatsoever on cargo that weighed thousands of tons. Arms shipments from Bulgaria and Slovakia were flown out as “unidentified cargo.”

Weapons like these from eastern Europe are in use in Syria, not only by the rebels of the Free Syrian Army, but also by the Islamist fighters of Ansar al-Sham and the al-Nusra Front (now Fatah al-Sham), which until recently was allied with al-Qaida, as well as the group calling itself “Islamic State.” The two organizations BIRN and OCCRP have provided evidence of this, primarily photos and videos and images from social media.

Many eastern European countries supply arms to the Middle East. The trade is said to be worth more than a billion euros, with the majority of goods going to Saudi Arabia. But the weapons don’t stay there. Their ultimate destination is the war in Syria.

War-torn Syria is full of arms: thousands of AK47 assault rifles, machine guns, mortar shells, rocket launchers and anti-tank weapons, aging T-55 and T-72 tanks. Most are believed to come from the following countries: Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Montenegro, Serbia and Romania. They reach Syria via a circuitous route. First, they are sent by air or sea to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates or Turkey – then on from there to the war zone. The trade is worth 1.2 billion euros.

Years gathering proof

Journalists from the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) researched for years to expose these arms transport routes. They analyzed export data and United Nations reports. They watched hundreds of videos and looked at hundreds of photos; they traced the movements of ships and planes, read arms contracts, and followed up on numerous tips from the arms dealers’ milieu.

A couple of examples: In a confidential document from 2013 obtained by BIRN and OCCRP, a high-ranking official in the Serbian defense ministry describes how arms shipments to Saudi Arabia were rerouted from there to Syria. And a detailed analysis of cargo planes provided evidence of more than 70 plane movements that were related to the indirect delivery of weapons to the conflict zone.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/eastern-europe-and-the-lucrative-middle-east-arms-trade/a-19459840

Breaking news: Scandal at Eastern Partnership summit

May 22, 2015 by administrator

The EU Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga was interrupted all of a sudden after Azerbaijan refused to sign the agreement, disagreeing with provisions regarding Nagorno-Karabakh.
Italian President Sergio Matarella, who chaired the meeting, declared a break, Tert.am’s source reports.
Azerbaijan move has spurred disappointment among the EU countries attending the summit.

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Turkey: ONE HUNDRED YEARS Commemoration of Armenian slaughterhouses sites in eastern Anatolia

May 16, 2015 by administrator

Armenian slaughterhouses sites in eastern Anatolia

A group of about sixty people, from all backgrounds, commemorated the centenary of the genocide on two major slaughterhouses Armenian sites, one 50 km from Harput, near a village called Tchunguch, and the other near Batman (Sasun region), in south-eastern Anatolia. These celebrations were sponsored by the municipality of Diyarbakir and local branches of the Organization for Human Rights in Turkey (IHD), and organized by the Gomidas Institute of London

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