Wednesday, November 11, 2015 11:55 PM EST
Backed by American air power, Kurdish officials early Thursday morning announced the start of a ground offensive to retake the western Iraqi town of Sinjar from Islamic State fighters and cut a major jihadist supply line between Syria and the Iraqi city of Mosul, The Associated Press reported.
The plan called for American airstrikes to open the campaign. Meanwhile, thousands of Kurdish pesh merga fighters, joined by Yazidi forces, prepared to sweep down from Mount Sinjar and attack fighters for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, on multiple fronts.
Syria launches large-scale ground offensive in Hama
Syria’s army and allied forces, backed up by the Russian Air Force, have launched a major ground operation in the western parts of the country.
“The Syrian army and allied forces began a ground operation in the northern parts of Hama Province … with fire cover from the Russian air force,” a Syrian military source said on Wednesday.
The Syrian military source went on to say that the operation in Hama would target “the edges of the villages of Latmeen, west of Morek, in preparation for heading towards Kafr Zeita.”
It is said that a range of militants, including terrorists from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, are active in the area.
“The Syrian army in its latest operations is working on cut off the southern parts of Idlib Province from the northern parts of Hama Province,” another military source in Hama, which borders Idlib, added.
Meanwhile, Syrian official news agency, SANA, quoted a military source as saying that the Russian Air Force, in cooperation with the Syrian Air Force, conducted strikes against Daesh targets in Deir Hafer and al-Bab in the countryside of the northern province of Aleppo.
The military source added that many terrorists were killed in the joint operation.
Earlier in the day, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said the country’s Air Force, which has been bombing the positions of the militants in Syria, would support Syrian government forces fighting on the ground.
Russian efforts “will be synchronized with the actions of the Syrian army on the ground and the actions of our air force will effectively support the offensive operation of the Syrian army,” Putin said.
Moscow began its military campaign against terrorists in Syria on September 30 upon a request from the Damascus government, shortly after the upper house of the Russian parliament gave Putin the mandate to use military force in Syria.
Syrian military source alleges Turkish role in Idlib offensive
BEIRUT/AMMAN
(Reuters) – A Syrian military source accused Turkey on Monday of helping Islamist rebels to stage an assault on Idlib, a provincial capital which fighters seized at the weekend.
The source declined to comment on the situation in Idlib, citing security considerations, but a monitoring group has confirmed the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and allies now control Idlib and said the Syrian air force bombed the city on Monday.
The fall of Idlib, 30 km (20 miles) from the Turkish border, marks only the second time in the Syrian civil war that Damascus has lost control of a provincial capital. The first was Raqqa, which the ultra-radical Islamic State group has turned into the de facto capital of its self-declared caliphate.
Echoing more general comments by President Bashar al-Assad, the military source accused both Turkey and Jordan of supporting the insurgents in their Idlib offensive, saying they were “leading operations and planning them”. The insurgents were using advanced communication apparatus that had been supplied to them via Turkey, the source added.
The Turkish foreign ministry declined to comment.
Turkey is one of the regional states most hostile to Assad, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. In an interview with the U.S. network CBS, Assad described Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan as a “Muslim Brotherhood fanatic” who was directly supporting insurgents “logistically and militarily” daily.
Syria’s government has not commented on the fall of Idlib, though the pro-government Watan newspaper published in Damascus reported on Monday that the Nusra Front and its allies had raised the al Qaeda flag over government buildings in the city.
Nusra Front was joined by groups including the hardline Ahrar al-Sham in seizing Idlib on Saturday, a reminder of the pressures facing Damascus after more than four years of crisis.
The Islamist alliance rejected a call by the Turkish-based mainstream political opposition to let an interim government set up its headquarters in Idlib, saying it would ruled by those “in the trenches and not in hotels”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the monitoring group, said warplanes staged a number of raids on Idlib. More than 170 people on both sides were killed in the fighting, including at least 126 Syrian insurgents, the Observatory said.
GOVERNANCE QUESTION
The setback for Assad in Idlib coincides with growing tension over Yemen between Saudi Arabia and Iran, one of Assad’s firmest backers. Turkey has come out in support of a Saudi-led military intervention against Iranian-allied Houthis in Yemen.
The Syrian conflict, in which an estimated 220,000 people have been killed, has been a major arena for Iranian-Saudi rivalry.
The Nusra Front’s influence in northwestern Syria has been expanding at the expense of mainstream rebel groups, some of which received U.S. military support. It is a rival of Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has seized territory in both Syria and Iraq.
Ahrar al-Sham issued a statement urging the people of Idlib to help fighters run the city and saying they were not seeking to set up an Islamic emirate.
“There was an agreement by all factions to protect and ensure that essential services are continued,” said an Ahrar al-Sham fighter who said he was speaking from Idlib during an interview conducted via the internet. He did not give his name.
But there are many questions over how groups that won Idlib in a joint operation will run the city.
“The rebels have certainly shown they can cooperate on the battlefield – that is not new – but the governance question has been much more difficult for them, particularly in the north, and particularly in Idlib province where Nusra has been asserting unilateral dominance,” said Noah Bonsey, a senior analyst with International Crisis Group.
Mainstream rebel groups fighting Assad in southern Syria say they recently received increased support from his foreign enemies in response to a government offensive there.
Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory, said the death toll among Syrian government forces and personnel was much lower than among insurgents. An opposition activist in the area said the government had withdrawn personnel and anything sensitive to the state in apparent anticipation of losing the city.
(Reporting by Tom Perry and Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Omar Fahmy in Cairo, and Humeyra Pamuk and Jonny Hogg in Turkey; Writing by Tom Perry; editing by David Stamp)
Sarkisian “it would be offensive to the Armenians to learn that Erdogan is Armenian”
“Turkey is the country that continually supports Azerbaijan” Sarkisian said in an interview with “Armnews.” Observing very close ties and very high between Ankara and Baku 
with press condolences of Turkey to Azerbaijan after the loss of the soldiers in the Armenian-Azerbaijani Azeri front, as well as anti-Armenian recent statements and hurtful to ‘Erdogan after a question from a journalist questioning the Armenian origins of the Turkish leader, Armenian President said “Why be surprised at the attitude of Turkey? Y-Has there been a fact of non-hostile Armenians Turkey? Turkey is the country that openly supports Azerbaijan. And it all matters. And it is true that I would have been surprised Erdogan also offers its condolences to the Armenians. “President Sargsyan also said” there is nothing surprising. And it would be offensive to the Armenians to learn that Erdogan is Armenian (…) persons occupying such positions must have restraint. And Erdogan did not. “
Krikor Amirzayan
Azeris Launch Large-Scale Offensive; 2 Karabakh Soldiers Killed
Karabakh Army Seizes Large Azerbaijani Arsenal
STEPANAKERT—The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Ministry reported a large-scale offensive by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on the northern Karabakh-Azerbaijan border on Thursday night, which resulted in the death of two Karabakh soldiers. Azerbaijan is reporting that eight soldiers were killed during the assault, which was repelled by the Artsakh armed forces.
Ararat Khanoyan and Azat Asoyan, both 20, were killed during the attack, while Noryar Kamalyan was injured sustaining injuries to his after he was stabbed numerous times by an Azerbaijani soldier.
recalled the battle, saying that as the Azerbaijani soldiers advanced past the line of contact, he retaliated and found himself in a one-on-one physical altercation with one of the soldiers, who took out a knife and began stabbing Kamalyan’s face and pounded his jaw. Despite having sustained injuries, including a gunshot wound, Kamalyan fought back and was able to force the Azerbaijani soldiers to retreat.
The Artsakh Armed Forces also seized a large cache of weapons, ammunition and other military hardware in what is being called a large-scale commando operation launched by the Azerbaijani forces.
On Friday, the Armenian Defense Ministry claimed that the casualties on the Azerbaijani side wer greater than the eight being announced by Baku. Armenian Defense Ministry spokesperson Artsturn Hovannisian, said the Baku underreported losses.
The Karabakh Army also reported that its forces responded to the attacks by advancing toward Azerbaijani positions to repel further attacks in the border region.