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2/3 of those getting asylum in Montreal from Syria are Armenians

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armenian refugeesThousands of refugees from Syria being welcomed to Canada under the federal expedited plan will land in Montreal or Toronto.

The  Globe and Mail daily of the country informed that about two thirds of those arriving in Montreal are Syrian Armenians, and the local Armenian community has assumed their sponsorship.

“We don’t see much of them,” said Stephan Reichhold, the director of an umbrella group of 100 agencies serving newcomers to Quebec. “They arrive, they’re picked up by their sponsor group from the airport and then they disappear from our radar.”

According to the document obtained by the daily, only 311 of the people slated to arrive in Canada by the end of this year are sponsored solely by the Canadian government.

Turkey is Playing the Worst Part of Syrian Crisis – Assad

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1028927975Syrian President Bashar Assad believes that by being passively supporting the al-Nusra Front and Islamic State terrorist groups, Turkey is playing a most destructive role in the Syrian crisis.

“Turkey is playing a most negative role in our crisis. That’s related directly to [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan himself and [Prime Minister Ahmet] Davutoglu, because they both reflect the real ideology that they carry in their hearts, which is the Muslim Brotherhood ideology,” Assad said in an interview with the French newsmagazine Valeurs Actuelles on Thursday.

The Syrian leader emphasized that, compared to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Ankara was playing the most dangerous role in general, by giving all possible assistance to the terrorists.

“Some countries support the Nusra Front, which is al-Qaeda, some other countries support ISIL, while Turkey supports both and other groups at the same time. They support them with, human resources. They support them with money, logistics, armaments, surveillance, information, and even the maneuvers of their military through their borders during the fights in Syria.”

“Even the money that’s being collected from the rest of the world passes through Turkey, and the oil that ISIL sells is through Turkey, so Turkey is playing the worst part of our crisis,” Assad was quoted as saying by the Syrian news agency SANA.

Source: sputniknews

Egyptian, Syrian Passport Found Near Body of One of #Paris Suicide Bombers

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1030089948A Syrian and an Egyptian passports have been found at the site of the suicide bombing at the Stade de France stadium in Paris.

The documents are currently being checked by the authorities. It has also been reported that a set of fingerprints belonging to a French citizen, linked to militant Islamists, who had allegedly taken part in the terrorist attack were found at the scene. 

Two of seven terrorists responsible for Friday’s deadly attacks in Paris have been identified, police said. One of them was found to be a Syrian, another one a French national.

Earlier, a Syrian passport was found on the body of one of the Paris suicide bombers, police said Saturday.

The series of attacks which claimed the lives of at least 127 on Friday became the worst terrorist incident in French history. Following the attacks, 300 people were hospitalized, 80 of which are in a critical condition.

On Saturday, French President Francois Hollande declared a three-day mourning

The woman was reportedly among those who attacked the Bataclan theatre.

The terrorists who attacked the Bataclan theater in Paris on Friday included a woman, Radio Europe 1 reports citing an eyewitness.

Two Syrian journalists murdered in Turkey’s southeast

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n_90534_1ŞANLIURFA – Doğan News Agency

Two Syrian journalists have been murdered in Turkey’s southeastern province of Şanlıurfa in what is presumed to be an attack by militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

İbrahim Abdulkadir, managing editor at Syrian Ayn Vatan newspaper and Firaz Hamadi, a reporter for the same newspaper, had fled the conflict in Syria for Şanlıurfa, where they shared a flat.

Their dead bodies were found by seven of their Syrian friends, who called the police and made an emergency appeal.

Reports indicate that one or more assailants, who remain unidentified, slit the throats of the reporters using a hunting knife.

It is claimed that both journalists were members of the Free Syrian Army and had been receiving death threats from ISIL for publishing reports against the jihadist organization.

The journalists’ bodies were transferred to the Forensic Medicine Institute for an autopsy.

Meanwhile, police detained the seven Syrians who found the murdered journalists’ bodies and called for help, in order to take their testimonies.

The investigation into the double homicides continues.

International negotiations on Syrian crisis open in Austrian capital

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5e5e53ea-f77f-42f0-8fed-868c533cb020A fresh round of international talks aimed at resolving the ongoing crisis in Syria has started in the Austrian capital city of Vienna, with representatives from the Islamic Republic of Iran attending the conference.

Apart from the Islamic Republic, the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, representatives from at least 12 other countries are also attending the talks. Those states are France, Germany, Egypt, Russia, Jordan, the UK, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iraq, Lebanon, China and Oman.

Envoys from the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) are also present at the talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif heads Iran’s delegation during the one-day talks.

Past failure without Iran

Previous talks on Syria, mediated by the UN and dubbed Geneva I and II, failed to find a solution to end the conflict in the Arab country. Iran had not been invited to any of the talks.

The two conferences ended in failure after the foreign-sponsored opposition figures in the talks refused to discuss widespread terrorism in the country and persisted in demanding the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a precondition.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to UN.

The world body says 12.2 million people, including more than 5.6 million children, remain in need of humanitarian assistance.

The foreign-sponsored militancy has displaced 7.6 million people.

Not too hopeful about the Syria talks

In an exclusive interview with Press TV’s Website on Friday, journalist and blogger Richard Silverstein described the Vienna talks on the Syrian crisis a “hopeful sign,” especially in the wake of the ongoing foreign-sponsored militancy in Syria and the influx of Syrian refugees into Europe.

He, however, cast doubt on the possible outcome of the negotiations due to the miscellany of the interests of the parties involved, and their conflicting nature in some cases.

Silverstein pointed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program as well as regional issues, noting that the agreement has paved the way for possible cooperation between Tehran and Washington on a number of issues to do with Middle East, and Iran’s stronger role as a regional player.

US shifting stance on Assad?

Separately, Kentucky-based political commentator John Miranda told Press TV’s Website that he expects that, at the end of the Vienna talks, US officials would drop their demand that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave power.

He also said that the Damascus government would seek broader assistance from Iran in the fight against militant groups wreaking havoc on Syrian soil.

Zarif and his US and Russian counterparts, John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov, met in Vienna on Thursday evening ahead of the negotiations.

The Iranian foreign minister also met EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Their talks focused both on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program as well as regional issues.

Political analyst: Armenia doesn’t get millions and billions for hosting Syrian refugees

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Refugees no millionsRussia interfered with the Syrian conflict when the situation reached the breaking point: there was an actual possibility for the genocide horrors to recur, Andrey Areshev, officer at the Institute of Political and Social Research of the Black Sea and Caspian region, expert at the Research Center of Central Asia-Caucasus Institute said during the space bridge on international terrorism and ISIS threat in the region.

According to him, significant part of the population of the Syrian state are refugees. “By virtue of the historic ties with Syria, Armenia also hosted many refugees – over 16,000 of them. But the country isn’t receiving any millions or billions from the European institutions,” Areshev said.

Austrian Journalist 800,000 Refugees Returning to Syria Thanks to Russia

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1028627987Journalist Christan Saarländer from the Austrian Contra Magazin called Russia’s military operation in Syria a “blessing” and blamed German media for its propaganda war against Russia.
German media publishes one-sided reports about Russia, spreading propaganda lies about the country and its activities in Syria, the journalist wrote.

Recently, some media sources accused Russia of bombing a hospital in Syria without any proof, the author wrote, adding that Western journalists actually rarely make live reports from the spot and come to conclusions sitting in the office.
At the same time, Saarländer argued, more and more videos are being uploaded, documenting successful Russian airstrikes in Syria. Even US generals are praising Russia’s armed forces, as the news agency PressTV reported from neighboring Iran.
The US portal “Veterans Today” wrote, citing the Iranian Fars News Agency (FNA), that more than 800,000 refugees from Syria are expected to return to their homeland thanks to the Russian military operation.
According to the latest data, Russian fighter jets have destroyed 285 ISIL and al-Nusra Front targets in Syria over the past three days. The military operation itself started on September 30 after the Syrian president Bashar Assad had sent Russian authorities an official request.

Source: sputniknews.com

Syrian, Russian Forces Use ‘New Strategy to Battle ISIL’

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1028743961The actions of the Russian Air Force in Syria are very effective, making it possible that soon ISIL will be capitulated and the Syrian refugees will be able to return home, according to a political analyst at George Washington University.

Russia and Syria’s armed forces are utilizing new methods of conducting warfare against ISIL militants, political analyst Nabil Michael told Press TV in an interview.
“In the two [Persian] Gulf wars, the technique was one of a heavy bombardment campaign that would last for a month or six weeks and then ground troops would move in.”

“What we are seeing is a coincidence or a parallel effort between the air force and the ground campaign,” Michael told Press TV.
But in this case the “Syrian armed forces and the Russian advisors did not wait for five, six weeks to start a ground assault; quite the opposite. It took them a few days to follow up on what the air force has achieved in terms of cleaning up the landscape,” said Michael.
He further said that Russia has positioned its strategy and power structure in a way that it has made itself a magnet for other forces’ effort.

“Shia militias, the Kurdish militias, many Sunnis, Christians will all find the presence of the Russian military appealing. This is why I expect the surrender of ISIL troops, and forces soon will find many surrendering scenes on TV screens, and we will [hear] about this [on] the radio,” the analyst said, Press TV reported.
Michael further noted that there are coordinated efforts between different militias — Kurdish, Shias, Sunnis, Christians, with the Russian-Syrian/Iraqi troops, and that will help the campaign become more widespread.

Syrian civilians helping Russian airstrikes target ISIS – Defense Ministry

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Russian military aviation at Khmeimim airbase in SyriaRT Report Russian warplanes have bombed a training camp in Syria where foreign instructors trained potential suicide bombers, the Russian defense ministry said. It was one of 49 terrorist targets hit by the Russian Air Forces over the day.

“Not far from Salma in Latakia province, a Su-24M bomber delivered a strike at a building, which was used as a terrorist training ground. According to intelligence, there were ISIL foreign instructors, who were training people, including suicide bombers, for guerrilla warfare in areas liberated by the Syrian army,” ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

He added that the facility had its own explosives workshop, which was also destroyed by an airstrike

Russian warplanes conducted 36 combat sorties on Saturday and attacked 49 militant targets in Syria, including command points, weapons workshops, firing positions, depots and fortified bunkers, Konashenkov added.

The general said that the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL), which suffered serious damage from Russian bombings, is working to rebuild its infrastructure.

“The militants’ new tactics is to spread their supply and command facilities, but it does not work. All their new infrastructure objects are being identified and destroyed,” he said.

Konashenkov said the civilian population in the areas under terrorist group’s control are aiding the Russian airstrikes by providing intelligence about IS to the Syrian government.

“This information is double-checked by our aviation group with various technical means of reconnaissance. Following this, a decision is made on which objects we should target,” he said

Interview: Who Is This ‘Moderate Opposition’ The US Is Arming in Syria?

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1025335687Various Islamist militant groups are hiding behind different names, but they are all fulfilling the same functions as ISIL, and Washington is set to arm the ‘Syrian opposition’ without being able to tell one group from another, the founder and editor of International NSNBC news portal Dr. Christof Lehmann told Radio Sputnik.

Lehman does not believe that giving arms to the Syrian opposition, a policy of the US government, can possibly help stabilize the situation in the region, he said in an interview on Tuesday.
“I think, the US should answer [a] series of questions. Number one: who exactly is this opposition? Are they wearing military uniforms, insignia, who is commanding them, what exactly is the command structure, are they adherent to the rules of warfare, etc? All that we don’t have any answers [to],” the expert revealed.
By refusing to provide the Russian military with ISIL’s coordinates in Syria, the US-led coalition is conducting its own strategy, Lehman explains.
“It’s an attempt to spread the belt of low-intensity conflicts from the Mediterranean to Baluchistan along the soft and resource-rich underbelly of Russia and former Soviet republics … to China, Lehmann describes. “That’s an attempt to destabilize that region and to weaken the Russian Federation and other Central-Asian countries,” he points out.
“[The] Russian government’s assessment … that airstrikes in Syria would be necessary also to maintain Russian national security interests is a correct one,” Lehman stated.
Commenting on a recent announcement by a spokesman of al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda branch in Syria, calling for a crusade against Russia to avenge their airstrikes, Lehman shed light on the affiliations and purpose of this organization.
“Al-Nusra [Front] is … Saudi, in part Qatar, in part pro-Israeli proxy… These statements are basically a proxy’s statements towards Russia within the context of creating the belt of low-intensity conflicts [across the region],” Lehman described.
There little difference between the various Islamist militant groups, currently waging war in Syria, the expert points out.
“These organizations, al-Nusra [Front], ISIL, Liwa al-Islam, Southern Shield, and others – all can easily swap names, be exchanged, have a slight change in command structure, but the function remains the same,” Lehman revealed.
Defeating ISIL won’t be enough, he believes.
“It doesn’t really matter, whether one would defeat ISIL, or whether ISIL disintegrates… There will be others who have exactly the same function,” Lehman added.
The expert sees a reconfiguration of the Middle East unavoidable.
“There are issues like the drawing of borders by former colonial powers, there is a Kurdish question, the latest national group that doesn’t have a state,” Lehmann explained, and concluded “There are a lot of issues there.”

Source: sputniknews.com