Archive for month: September, 2015

US Secretary of State John Kerry made the demand during a phone call to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, the US State Department said in a statement.

“Secretary Kerry made clear that Russia’s continued support for President Assad risks exacerbating and extending the conflict, and undermining our shared goal of fighting extremism,” the State Department stated.

Kerry “reaffirmed the US commitment to fight ISIL with a coalition of more than 60 countries, of which Assad could never be a credible member, and emphasized the US would welcome a constructive Russian role in counter-ISIL efforts,” it added, using an acronym by which the Daesh Takfiri group is known.

In his phone call, Kerry acknowledged that there is no military solution to the years-long Syrian crisis and called for a political solution to establish peace in the Arab country.

“The secretary stressed that there is no military solution to the overall conflict in Syria, which can only be resolved by a political transition away from Assad,” the State Department said.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. More than 230,000 people have reportedly been killed and millions displaced due to the violence mainly fueled by the foreign-sponsored militants.

The United States and its regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — have been supporting the militants operating inside Syria since the beginning of the crisis.

The Obama administration has already outlined a $500 million program to train and arm 5,000 “moderate” militants in Syria to fight against ISIL and the Assad government, but according to the Pentagon, the number would be something between 12,000 and 15,000.

According to a report published by the New York Times on Monday, Russia is using the airspace over Iran and Iraq to fly military equipment and personnel to a new air field in Syria.

At least seven giant Russian Antonov An-124 military transport aircrafts have taken off from a base in Russia during the past week to transport equipment to Syria, using Iranian and Iraqi air corridors, the Times reported, citing US officials.

American officials told the newspaper on Sunday that the destination of the Russian aircraft was an airfield in Syria’s western province of Latakia.

About 200 Russian marines and six Russian howitzers now guard the air base in Latakia, according to American intelligence.

On Saturday, Kerry called Lavrov and warned that Washington is deeply concerned of reports of “an imminent enhanced Russian military buildup.”

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The 15-member terrorist group was attempting to escape and cause confusion when Hezbollah and Syrian forces detected it.

The military units allowed the gunmen to reach an open space and dealt with them by appropriate weapons, leaving all the group killed or wounded.

New clashes with the armed groups are still ongoing on more than one axis in Zabadani city, in which the Islamic Resistance and the Syrian forces use different weapons.

Hezbollah and the Syrian national military launched a military operation in the city bordering Lebanon, to drive terrorist groups out of the area.

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“Economic and security infiltration is not as important as intellectual, cultural and political infiltration,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Of course, Ayatollah Khamenei said, different institutions, namely the IRGC, will firmly stand up to security infiltration, urging authorities to remain on the watch for economic infiltration as well.

For cultural infiltration, said the Leader, the enemy seeks to distort and undermine beliefs which underpin society.

In order to achieve political infiltration, Ayatollah Khamenei pinpointed, the enemy tries to sneak into decision-making centers.

“When a country is affected by such political infiltration, the direction in which that country moves will be according to the will of hegemonic powers,” the Leader noted.

Ayatollah Khamenei urged the nation and authorities to remain vigilant in the face of enemy schemes.

“If we are watchful, the enemy will be disappointed.”

He then called for efforts to further reinforce the foundation of the Islamic Revolution and of a revolutionary way of though, saying, “This is the fundamental responsibility of the IRGC’s elite and all revolutionary elite in the country.”

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She said limiting the trafficking of cultural goods is the agency’s top priority since Daesh is using the takings to finance its terrorist activities.

“The world expects from us to undertake decisive and uncompromising actions… to stop this source of funding for the extremists,” Bokova said.

According to estimates provided by the Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology (APSA), the Takfiri terrorists have looted, damaged, or destroyed more than 900 monuments and archeological sites over the past four years of turmoil in the Arab country.

Daesh militants took over the world heritage site of Palmyra back in May and have since blown up several of its famed tower tombs. The terrorists also killed Khaled al-Assad, the 82-year-old retired head of antiquities in Palmyra. Assad’s mutilated body was then hung in public.

UNESCO has called such acts war crimes and says Daesh wants to wipe out evidence of Syria’s diverse heritage.

Bokova said the destruction at Palmyra “is an impudent crime against civilization because it was a symbol of cultural dialogue, a material proof of the ability of cultures to interact… This is what the extremists are seeking to destroy.”

The UN official also urged the European Union to harden its current rules with regards to the import of cultural property, although she said Europe is not the single destination for Syria’s artworks and that they are being trafficked globally.

Bokova said the first important step in preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property would be for various governments around the world to ratify and implement the 1970 UNESCO Convention. Syria has already ratified the convention along with 129 other countries.

She said the world is in dire need of a campaign “to counter the propaganda for cultural cleansing” waged by Daesh.

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