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Breaking: Rebels strike western Syria’s primary power grid to leave millions without electricity

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BEIRUT, LEBANON (2:05 A.M.) – The rebel force in northern Hama fired several missiles at one of Syria’s most important power plants tonight, resulting in a number of powerful explosions that could be heard throughout the government and rebel held towns in the area.

According to a local NDF source, the Islamist rebels scored several direct hits on the Mhardeh Power Plant from their positions in Al-Lataminah and Kafr Zita.

As a result of this attack, the Mhardeh Power Plant was badly damaged, leaving millions of Syrians without power along the coast.

In particular, the Mhardeh Power Plant feeds electricity to millions of Syrians living in the densely populated provinces of Hama, Tartous and Latakia.

Repair units have been unable to reach the Mhardeh Power Plant because of the ongoing missile strikes around the predominately Christian town of Mhardeh

Artsakh Defense Ministry publishes footage of Azerbaijani rocket strike

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Nagorno-Karabakh’s (Artsakh) Ministry of Defense has published a footage featuring the Sunday ceasefire violations provoked by the Azerbaijani armed forces on the Line of Contact.

The adversary shot five mines, and a rocket from the anti-tank guided missile Spike to strike Armenian defense positions in the north-east of the frontline.

In an official statement released Monday morning, the country’s Ministry of Defense condemned the incident, promising a “painful and non-proportionate retaliation”.

Davit Babayan, the spokesperson of the Nagorno-Karabakh president, also voiced their criticism against the “Azerbaijani regime’s blatant anti-Armenian policy of hatred.”

Syrian warplanes strike IS on Iraqi border following joint intelligence sharing

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Syrian jet fighter. Photo: Syrian government/gov.syrian,jet,Syrian warplanes strike IS

BAGHDAD,— The Syrian air force conducted a number of airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) Daesh positions in Raqqa and along the Syrian-Iraqi border based on intelligence gathered by the four countries of Russia, Syria, Iran, and Iraq.

Iraq’s Joint Command released a statement Saturday afternoon claiming that the airstrikes targeted areas where “prominent terrorists” in IS-held Raqqa, Abu Kamal in Deir ez Zor, and al-Dashisha village close to the Iraqi border, were present.

The Iraqi air force carried out airstrikes inside the Syrian border in late February for the first time since the emergence of IS in Iraq in 2014.

The Joint Command listed five targets for Saturday’s Syrian airstrikes, destroying what it said were command and control centers of the extremist group where IS suicide bombers and hit-and-run operatives were based.

“Based on the intelligence from the [Iraqi] intelligence agency and the federal investigation, and through the four-membered committee for intelligence sharing, the Syrian air force carried out a series of airstrikes that targeted IS positions in Raqqa, Abu Kamal, and Dashisha village close to the Iraqi border,” the Iraqi statement said, making reference to the Baghdad operation room were the four countries share intelligence.

It also said that a French IS operative of Algerian origin was killed. He was named as Abu Bakir bin al-Habib al-Hakim, military commander for the extremist group in Raqqa.

Hakim was formerly among the ranks of al-Qaeda and its Syrian branch Nusra Front, the statement detailed.

In al-Dashisha village close to the Iraqi border, the airstrikes targeted a gathering of IS suicide bombers of different nationalities.

The suicide bombers were trying to enter Iraq from the Syrian side but “the airstrike killed many of them,” the statement added.

raqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered airstrikes against IS positions in February inside Syria for the first time since the country started to fight against the extremist group in 2014.

Abadi said that the February attack was against those who “were responsible for the recent terrorist attacks in Baghdad.”

Abu Kamal is located on the border in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor governorate on the Euphrates River.

Iraqi forces deployed about 3,000 troops to fight IS in the western province of Anbar near the Syrian border in October last year.

The deployment was in the far west of the province, the largest by area. The Iraqi army, supported by Shiite and pro-government Sunni fighters, regained control of Anbar’s capital city Ramadi in late 2015.

On July 3, 2016, IS carried out its deadliest attack ever in coordinated bombings that killed more than 300 people, culminating in a suicide truck bomb targeting Baghdad’s district of Karrada.

 

Turkey’s jailed Kurdish HDP party leader Demirtas to start hunger strike

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DIYARBAKIR-AMED, Turkey’s Kurdish region,— A jailed co-leader of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party plans to begin a hunger strike Friday to protest “inhumane” conditions at the prison where he is being held, the party said Thursday.

Selahattin Demirtas’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the second-largest opposition party in Turkey, is campaigning against the government’s plan for constitutional changes that would bolster President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.

Demirtas and the party’s other leader, Figen Yuksekdag, have been imprisoned along with 11 other HDP lawmakers on accusations of links to Kurdish separatists of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK who have waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

The government accuses the HDP of having links to the PKK, a charge that the HDP denies. Thousands of officials from the HDP have been detained since 2015.

In a message relayed by his party, Demirtas said he was striking because officials at the prison, in the northwestern province of Edirne, had refused to discuss what he termed “unlawful practices”.

Several Kurdish convicts jailed in Edirne, as well as in Izmir, Ankara and Van, have already started hunger strike to protest prison conditions.

The HDP is calling for a “no” vote in the April 16 referendum on approving constitutional changes that would create an executive presidency and abolish the post of prime minister.

The government says the changes would provide political stability by avoiding fragile coalition governments, but critics fear it will lead to one-man rule.

The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population.

A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974, and has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.

Source: http://ekurd.net/turkey-demirtas-hunger-strike-2017-03-30

Turkey: pro-Kurdish activists began a hunger strike

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hunger strickFifty pro-Kurdish activists, including MPs, Monday began a hunger strike in Diyarbakir, in southeastern Turkey, to protest against the lack of information about the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Activists complain of not having heard from the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for several months. “We have not received any objective information on the health and safety of Ocalan,” said Sabahat Tuncel, spokesman for the group.

Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned since 1999, is being held in the prison island of Imrali near Istanbul but was not allowed to receive visits nor his lawyers nor his family since the cease-fire between the PKK and Turkish security forces ended a year ago.

Dressed in T-shirts bearing the image of Öcalan, some activists shouted slogans in praise of their leader during the rally. “The strike will continue indefinitely,” he told AFP Ferhat ENCU, deputy of the pro-Kurdish party HDP, which is involved in the movement.

Sunday, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has denied any problem regarding the health and safety of Öcalan. “The subject is constantly operated by the separatist terrorist organization (PKK) and the public receives false information,” he said in a statement released by the pro-government agency Anadolu.

The strike comes as Ankara has intensified its fight against the PKK rebels in the southeast of the country. The last weekend, Turkish warplanes bombed positions of the separatist movement after the death of twenty soldiers in clashes with the PKK.

Sasna Tsrer member Ashot Petrosyan goes on hunger strike

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Ashot petrosyanYEREVAN. – Sasna Tsrer armed group member Ashot Petrosyan, who is in the hospital for inmates, went on hunger strike and refused medical assistance on Thursday, his attorney Arayik Papikyan told Armenian News – NEWS.am.

“I urged him not to take that measure, considering the condition of his health, but he thanked for the care, noting that he has already taken a decision,” the attorney said.

To note, Ashot Petrosyan faces charges under Article 219 and 235.3 of the Armenian Criminal Code. He is under arrest.

Russian Warplanes Strike Almost 200 Terrorist Targets in Syria in Two Days

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Sukhoi_Su_34_Fullback_SyriaRussian jets carried out 187 airstrikes on terrorist targets in Syria in the course of 62 sorties during the past two days, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Wednesday. Areas where warring sides agreed to cease hostilities and start negotiations were not targeted, he emphasized.

The Russian Aerospace Forces continue to attack militant groups in Syria which are not included in the cessation of hostilities agreement and are designated as terrorist organizations by the UN, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

“During the past two days, 187 targets in the provinces of Hama, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Aleppo and Homs were struck in the course of 62 sorties.”

A Su-34 bomber destroyed over 10 strongholds and neutralized more than 50 militants in the Hama province, he elaborated.

“The intensity of Russian airstrikes in Syria fell significantly in the past two days, especially in areas where local authorities and armed groups have agreed to cease hostilities and start negotiations. We are not targeting those areas at all,” Konashenkov said.

The spokesman emphasized that airstrikes are conducted only against militant groups designated as terrorist organization by the United Nations.

“The agreement between Russia and the US [on cessation of hostilities in Syria] does not apply to Daesh, al-Nusra Front and other militants, designated as terrorist organizations by the UN Security Council.” 

On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that an agreement on cessation of hostilities between the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad and the armed opposition factions had been reached. The agreement will come into force on February 27.

Russia has been fighting terrorists in Syria since September 30 at President Assad’s request.

Syria: Combat report: Russian jets strike 27 terrorists’ facilities in Syria overnight

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5616834ac4618898278b4586Russian warplanes hit 27 terrorist targets in the course of 22 sorties carried out in Syria overnight, the Defense Ministry said Thursday, adding that terrorist strongpoints and training camps were destroyed.

The [Russian] bombers… targeted eight militant strongholds in the province of Homs. The militant fortifications were completely destroyed by the strikes,” said Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry.

The Russian planes hit 11 Islamic State training camps in the Syrian provinces of Raqqa and Hama, he added.

“The infrastructure used by terrorists for training has been eradicated.”

The Russian air support allowed the Syrian government forces launch a massive offensive against the terrorists early Thursday.

On September 30, Russia launched its Air Force anti-terror operation in Syria at the request of Assad’s government.

Since the start of the operation, the Russian military have destroyed over a hundred terrorist targets, including command posts, ammunition depots, training camps and armored vehicles belonging to jihadists.

On Wednesday, Russia first employed its Navy in the operation with four warships firing a total of 26 missiles at ISIS positions in Syria from the Caspian Sea

Death toll rises to 16 at Afghan hospital as U.S. confirms strike and cites possible ‘collateral damage’

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Saturday, October 3, 2015 11:17 AM EDT
A United States airstrike appeared to have badly damaged a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in the Afghan city of Kunduz early Saturday, killing at least 16 people, including patients and staff, and wounding dozens.
The United States military, in a statement, confirmed the 2:15 a.m. airstrike, saying that it had been targeting individuals “who were threatening the force” and that “there may have been collateral damage to a nearby medical facility.”

Source: nytime

U.S Armenian goes on hunger strike in front of White House “OBAMA KEEP YOUR PROMISE”

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11051804_1575485306067793_2763362924663493145_nUS Armenian Davit Mnatsakanyan, founder and director of the United Armenia and the Global Education and Research Alliance (GERA) companies has gone on hunger strike in front of the President’s official residence since Friday. Davit Manatsakanyan told Armenian News – NEWS.am that he is on hunger strike over the 100the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

“Before his election President Barack Obama stated he would acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, but he hasn’t done this so far. That’s why I decided to go on hunger strike in front of the White House, bringing the public attention to that question,” Mnatsakanyan said.

His hunger strike will last till May 1-2. During these days Mnatsakanyan has been approached and supported by many Armenians and Iranians. “There were also five Turks who came up to me; one of them tried to use violence, but nothing will stop me. I’m continuing the hunger strike,” Mnatsakanyan said.

In his hand Mnatsakanyan holds a banner with an Armenian flag and the inscription ‘Obama keep your promise and recognize Armenian Genocide.’