France to deploy 10,000 troops to boost security

January 12, 2015 By administrator

France will have more than 10,000 soldiers mobilized on home soil by Tuesday after 17 were killed in attacks carried out by Islamist militants in Paris last week, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Monday, Jan 12, according to Reuters.

Speaking a day after the biggest French public demonstration ever registered, held to remember the victims, he said France was still at risk of further attacks.

“The threats remain and we have to protect ourselves from them. It is an internal operation that will mobilize almost as many men as we have in our overseas operations,” Le Drian told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

The victims, including journalists and police, lost their lives in three days of violence that began on Wednesday with a shooting attack on the political weekly Charlie Hebdo, known for its satirical attacks on Islam and other religions.

The Charlie Hebdo attackers, two French-born brothers of Algerian origin, singled out the weekly for its publication of cartoons depicting and ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad.

The bloodshed ended on Friday with a hostage-taking at a Jewish deli in which four hostages and another gunman were killed.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that 4,700 police officers would be deployed at all 717 Jewish schools across the country.

The first two attackers were also killed on Friday after a siege north of the capital. Police said all three men were part of the same Paris-based militant Islamist cell.

Over 1.2 million people marched in Paris on Sunday and 2.5 million more in the provinces. The Paris march was led by dozens of heads of state. Some commentators said the last time crowds of this size were seen in the capital was at the Liberation of Paris from Nazi Germany in 1944.

The co-ordinated assaults amounted to the deadliest attack by militant Islamists on a European city since 57 people were killed in an attack on London’s transport system in 2005.

A suspected female accomplice of the gunmen crossed into Syria on Jan. 8 from Turkey, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in comments posted on state-run news agency Anatolian’s website on Monday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was holding an emergency security meeting of his cabinet on Monday in light of the French attacks, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi were among 44 foreign leaders marching with French President Francois Hollande on Sunday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he would travel to Paris this week to express solidarity with the victims of the Islamic militant attack on a satirical weekly newspaper.

In another security initiative, Cazeneuve said on Sunday European interior ministers had agreed to boost cooperation to thwart further militant attacks.

He called for the creation of a European database of airplane passenger names and said Europe should fight against abusive use of the Internet to spread hate speech.

Syrian troops thwart al-Qaida attack on Idlib city

October 27, 2014 By administrator

Syrian government forces on Monday thwarted an infiltration attempt by radical rebels into the northwestern city of Idlib and wrested back control over a town in the central province of Hama, the state news agency SANA reported, according to Xinhua.

A group of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front attempted to infiltrate Idlib earlier on Monday, but the attempt was repelled by Syrian troops and pro-government fighters, SANA said, denying media reports that the Nusra Front seized control of the city.

Government forces killed dozens of rebels in the countryside of Idlib after destroying their positions, SANA said.

The Nusra Front’s assault on Idlib was an apparent attempt to ease the pressure on rebel positions in the northern countryside of Hama, where government forces made major advances recently, according to military experts.

On Monday, the Syrian army continued its progress in Hama, capturing the town of Buwaida, SANA said.

In addition, dozens of “terrorists” were killed on Monday in the towns of Kafr Zaita, Sayyad, Mork and Latamneh in Hama countryside, SANA said, citing a military source.

An undisclosed number of rebels were also killed in the countryside of the central province of Homs, the news agency said.

More than three years’ conflict in Syria has killed over 190, 000 people and displaced millions of others.

Over 400 Ukrainian troops cross into Russia for refuge (Video)

August 4, 2014 By administrator

RIA Novosti/Yulia Nasulina

More than 400 Ukrainian troops have been allowed to cross into Russia after requesting sanctuary. It’s the largest, but not the first, case of desertion into Russia by Ukrainian soldiers involved in Kiev’s military crackdown in the east of the country.

According to the Rostov Region’s border guard spokesman Vasily Malaev, a total of 438 soldiers, including 164 Ukrainian border guards, have been allowed into Russia on Sunday night.

One of the Ukrainians was seriously injured on his arrival in Russia. He was taken to the hospital for surgery, the officials added.

The other Ukrainian soldiers have been housed in a tent camp deployed near the checkpoint via which they entered Russian territory. The Russian border guards are providing them with food and bedding.

Footage taken by the Russian media at the scene showed the Ukrainian soldiers being handed ration packs and resting in their temporary shelter. Those who agreed to speak on camera said they were relieved to be in safety for the first time in weeks.