Ukraine in arabic News
Rebels leave Zabadani under UN-backed deal
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- Rebels leave Zabadani under UN-backed deal
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- 0:55
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
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- Dozens of injured fighters waited to board buses on Monday in the rebel-held Syrian town of Zabadani.
After months under siege from government forces, they were being evacuated from the town under a deal brokered by the UN.
At the same time, Sunni fighters in northwest Syria promised safe passage to some 300 Shi’ite civilians from the town of Fuaa, in Idlib province. After entering Turkey by land, they will fly to their final destination of Beirut.
In Zabadani, buses and ambulances will ferry the rebels across the border to Lebanon, from where they will fly to Turkey.
Both convoys are taking place under the auspices of the International Committee for the Red Cross.
Zabadani was one of the last anti-government strongholds on the Lebanese border. The rebels evacuated the Al Wair district of Homs under a similar deal earlier this month.
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- Kurdish groups in southeastern Turkey call for self-rule
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- 1:01
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
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- Kurdish groups in southeastern Turkey are calling for self-rule.
It follows a summit of the Democratic People’s Congress (DTK), a coalition of non-governmental Kurdish groups, and comes as heavy fighting continues in the region.
The army is pushing ahead with a security operation in which it says more than 200 Kurdish militants have been killed.
“To form a democratic autonomous region including one or several neighbouring provinces, one needs to take into account their cultural, economic and geographic affinities,” said Hatip Dicle, Leader of Kurdish Democratic People’s Congress.
The final resolution of the meeting called for the formation of autonomous Kurdish regions, including several neighbouring provinces.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu cancelled a planned meeting with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on Saturday, saying its politics were rooted in violence.
For three dec...
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- US-backed Arab rebel alliance captures Syrian dam from ISIL
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- 1:05
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- In Syria, the US-backed Kurdish Arab rebel alliance has captured a dam on the River Euphrates from the group calling itself Islamic State, or ISIL.
That is an important development for the alliance because it cuts off ISIL’s main supply route across the Euphrates, according to an alliance spokesman.
He said they secured land stretching at least 20 kilometers and seized scores of villages.
The spokesman said he believes the group can be defeated.
The ultimate goal of the alliance is to capture ISIL’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.
In the meantime, recapturing the Tishrin dam helps cut off ISIL territories in northern Aleppo from Raqqa east of the Euphrates.
In Iraq, there have been fresh gains to recapture the remaining areas of Ramadi held by ISIL.
AFP news agency reported Iraqi forces were making a final push in the former government complex on Sunday (December 27), according to officials.
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- Syrian rebel group names successor to slain leader
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- 1:06
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The powerful Syrian rebel group Jaysh al Islam has named the successor to its chief Zahran Alloush, killed in an air strike east of Damascus on Friday (December 25).
Abu Hammam al Buwaidani will now lead the group, which confirmed Alloush was killed during a meeting of rebel commanders east of Damascus. The Syrian government says it was responsible for the attack, but rebel sources say it was carried out by Russian warplanes.
The death of Alloush is a major blow for the powerful Saudi-backed group, whose name means “Army of Islam” but is ideologically at odds with the jihadist group calling itself Islamic State, or ISIL.
Jaysh al Islam promotes a more moderate brand of Islam and controls much of the eastern suburb of Damascus known as al Ghouta.
Defence experts say Alloush’s killing, combined with the disarray among the rebel forces, could strengthen Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s control over the rest of the area. It could also ...
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- Fatal attack in Jerusalem at the Jaffa Gate
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- 1:01
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
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- There was a fatal attack in Jerusalem when two Palestinians went on a stabbing spree outside the Jaffa gate, one of the main entrances to the Old City.
One Israeli died and another injured in the assault by the two men who were then shot dead by security forces. There are reports a second Israeli was killed, caught in police gunfire aimed at the attackers.
A video which appeared on social media appeared to show a man beating one of the shot assailants with a pole. A police spokesman told a local media outlet the video is being investigated.
An initial statement subsequently said the the stabber was still trying to attack people even after being shot and the man who was beating him was trying to get the knife out of his hand.
The stabbings are the latest in an upsurge of violence in the last three months. Twenty Israelis and one US citizen have been killed and at least 120 Palestinians in that time.
The increase in attacks...
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- Russia rejects human rights report which accuses it of possible war crimes in Syria
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- 1:21
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Defence officials in Moscow are dismissing an Amnesty International report on Russian strikes in Syria – saying it’s based on unfounded allegations.
The human rights watchdog claims cluster munitions and unguided bombs have been used on civilian areas in recent months – killing hundreds of people – in what may amount to a war crime.
“Once more, nothing concrete or new was published, only the same cliches and fakes that we have already debunked repeatedly,” said General-Major Igor Konashenkov, a Russian Defence Ministry spokesman.
“The report constantly uses expressions such as ‘supposedly Russian strikes,’ ‘possible violations of international law’ – a lot of assumptions without any evidence.”
The Amnesty report focuses on six attacks in Homs, Idlib and Aleppo provinces. It denounces what it describes as Russia’s “shameful failure” to acknowledge civilian killings.
The Kremlin launched its ...
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- Amnesty International accuses Russia of Syrian war crimes
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- 2:18
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Amnesty International is accusing Russia of war crimes for its attacks in Syria. The NGO says airstrikes have cost hundreds of civilian lives and have targeted high density residential areas, markets and medical facilities, where no military targets have been apparent.
Amnesty International based its claim on telephone conversations with survivors and other witnesses.
Between 30 September and the 29 November this year more than 25 attacks claimed only civilian lives. Six of these raids killed at least 200 civilians and around 10 fighters.
“Our report issued today demonstrates how Russia has, we believe, committed war crimes in Syria, by directly attacking civilian areas, residential areas, including medical facilities. It’s used inherently indiscriminate cluster munitions and it’s used unguided bombs in densely populated areas. So, on those counts, we believe that it has most likely committed war crimes,” says Amnesty’s Neil Sammonds.
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- Turkish pro-Kurd politician criticises Ankara during Russia visit
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- 1:21
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Russia says it is ready to work closely with ethnic Kurds to fight the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
It came as Selahattin Demirtas, leader of a pro-Kurdish opposition party in Turkey, met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
The talks are likely to unsettle Ankara – amid strained relations over the downing of a Russian warplane last month.
“We are aware that Iraqi and Syrian Kurds are withstanding, with arms in their hands, the threats from the Islamic State and other extremist groups. We will be interested in your opinions when it comes to our future work,” said Lavrov.
Demirtas criticised Ankara for the shooting down of the warplane. Russia imposed economic sanctions on Turkey after it happened.
“We have spoken openly and we have criticised the government’s actions, when the Russian warplane was downed,” said Demirtas.
On Tuesday, Turkish police fired tear gas to disperse several ...
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- Istanbul: one person dead in Sabiha Gokcen airport blast
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- 0:51
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- A blast at Sabiha Gokcen — Istanbul’s second-largest airport — has killed one person and injured another.
Both victims were female cleaners, who were inside one of the planes when the explosion occurred.
Turkish authorities are investigating the cause of the blast, which took place at 2.05 am local time on Wednesday (December 23).
Local media report three planes were damaged in the incident. No passengers were in the area.
Air traffic is continuing to operate normally, although the airport has been placed under heightened security.
Armed police could be seen guarding entrances and searching vehicles, while a helicopter circled overhead.
According to the airport’s website, over 26 million passengers have used Sabiha Gokcen so far in 2015. This is less than half the number at the city’s main hub in the west of Istanbul.
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- Saudi-led strikes in Yemen criticised by the UN for hitting civilian areas
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- 1:13
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The Saudi-led military coalition operating in Yemen has been criticised by the UN over the number of civilian casualties and the infrastructure destroyed.
The comments came from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at a session of the Security Council, which held its first public meeting on Yemen in months.
Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein said: “I have observed with extreme concern the continuation of heavy shelling from the ground and the air in areas with a high concentration of civilians as well as the perpetration of the destruction of civilian infrastructure, in particular hospitals and schools by all parties to the conflict, although a disproportionate amount appeared to be the result of air strikes carried out by coalition forces.”
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war last March, putting together an Arab coalition to try to reinstate the government ousted by Iran-allied Houthi rebels.
A UN-brokered ceasefire is suppo...
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- Alarm over Kurdish civilian casualties in operation Turkey says is targeting militants
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- 1:05
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Kurdish groups are sounding the alarm over rising civilian casualties as the Turkish army intensifies a large-scale operation it says is targeting militants in the country’s southeast.
Tanks have been filmed pounding positions in the town of Cizre, where residents have been under a curfew for weeks and where basic supplies are running low.
Tens of thousands have fled their homes in numerous locations where the operation is taking place.
The Turkish government says close to 130 PKK Kurdish militants have been killed in the operation so far, but it does not talk about civilian casualties.
Kurdish groups say many innocent residents have been killed, with at least 23 in the town of Cizre alone.
Some seven soldiers and police have also been killed.
People have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the ongoing military operation and the crippling curfews that have been imposed.
Thousands of sol...
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- Death toll mounts as Ankara continues its PKK clampdown in Kurdish towns
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- 1:14
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The Turkish authorities claim 24 people described as “terrorists” have been killed in a big clean-up operation ongoing in a part of Diyabakir and two border towns, Cizre and Silopi, in the Kurdish south-east of the country.
A curfew has been in place since the 14th December and civilians have been ordered to leave the areas to give security forces a free hand.
“I find these policies erroneous. The pressure on Kurdish people has become unacceptable. What is it that we cannot share? Enough is enough. We want peace,” said one man who stayed behind in Cizre.
For the last two months activists have thrown up barricades to prevent security forces entering these mainly Kurdish areas, and declared them self-governing. In some cases the barricades have been booby-trapped.
The media says the government intends a total cleanup of PKK fighters in the areas, and to reassert its authority. The PKK says it is defending the Kurds and accuses A...
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- Turkey deploying 30 percent of army in Syrian border clampdown
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- 2:54
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Turkey is tightening security at its border with Syria.
A fresco on a barracks building at the Köprübatı checkpoint, which overlooks radical Islamic State movement (ISIL) territory, is emblazoned with the watchwords: “This border is our honour, protected with our hearts and strength.”
The First Border Battalion is responsible for fending off infiltrators, smugglers and ‘terrorists’ along a 6 km stretch. So far this year, they report having captured more than 900 ISIL members, carrying passports from 54 countries, although most of these are Chinese, Russian and Palestinian.
Köprübatı is one of 139 posts along the Syrian border and overall Turkey says it has 30 percent of its land forces deployed for border control.
Local commander Lieutenant Colonel Ahmet Arik told Euronews that his responsibility is to defend the border in accordance with national and international law.
As he task has become more difficult, ...
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- Tutankhamun’s mask is back on display in all its splendor
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- 1:23
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The magnificent gold mask of Tutankhamun is back on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo after a two-month-long repair job by German experts.
Last year the boy pharaoh’s beard fell off when the priceless artefact was removed from its display case. Museum employees re-attached it with glue…apparently without success.
Stephan Seidlmayer who is Director of the Cairo Department at the German Archaeological Institute explained that the restoration required painstaking research:
“It is not just to undertaking some technical restoration but first its really to understand the object in it’s original character. That means the materials it’s made from, and the technologies which were used … at the time. Only if you understand how the object in the first place was made can you choose a way of restoration and conservation in harmony with the original character of the object.”
The restoration included a 3D scan of the mask as well...
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- Syria: Human Rights Watch issues report on government held victims
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- 1:38
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- After nine months of research, Human Rights Watch (HWR) has revealed some of the human stories behind tens of thousands of photos of those believed to have died in government custody in Syria.
The images were smuggled out of the country by a military defector, codenamed Caesar, and came to public attention in 2014.
In an 86-page report entitled ““If the Dead Could Speak:Mass Deaths and Torture in Syrian Detention Facilities”“:https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/16/syria-stories-behind-photos-killed-detainees the campaign group documents interviews with witnesses and family members to build a picture of what happened to the alleged victims.
Fourteen-year-old Ahmad al-Muslamani was reportedly detained for having an anti-regime song on his mobile phone. His uncle spent years searching for him, finally identifying his nephew in the Caesar photographs.
“I kept looking into the photographs and I was surprised to find him. It was him....
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- Yemen: Both sides accuse the other as ceasefire breaks down
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- 1:01
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Up to 42 people have reportedly been killed as the recently-brokered truce in Yemen appeared to be in tatters.
Both sides had agreed to a ceasefire in support of a prisoner exchange and to bolster United Nations-sponsored peace talks which resumed for a second day in Switzerland.
But clashes have broken out in the central city of Taiz and in several of the country’s regions.
The civil war has raged for nine months between the Iran-allied Houthi movement based in Yemen’s north and Saudi-backed southern and eastern fighters loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi
Both sides have accused the other of breaching the deal.
Amin Abdulla, a Pro-Hadi fighter, said: “The Houthis are the ones that rejected the United Nations and Security Council resolutions and carried out attacks and struck residential homes and civilians and we are just defending ourselves.”
The prisoner swap would be one of the most positiv...
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- Saudi Arabia elects women councillors for the first time
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- 1:14
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- As many as 20 women have been elected in municipal polls in Saudi Arabia after a ban on women voting and running as candidates was lifted.
It’s being seen as a landmark in the conservative kingdom where women are barred from driving and are legally dependent on a male relative to approve almost all their major life decisions.
A total of 978 women registered as candidates, alongside nearly 6,000 men, while Officials said about 130,000 women had registered to vote in Saturday’s poll, compared with 1.35 million men.
Businesswoman Rasha Hefzi who won a seat in the city of Jeddah believes the election will bring forth change:
“Dealing first hand with the council’s files, the needs of the citizen, the files that – like we said – were previously out of reach of women, will enable her to become more qualified to deal with other subjects in the future,” said Rasha Hefzi.
“I see a better future for Saudi women in the comin...
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- Saudi Arabian vote in first female councillors in landmark election
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- 0:59
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Saudi Arabian women have taken another large leap forward in their path to greater equality with at least eight female candidates winning seats in Saturday’s local council elections, according to regional media.
The vote marks the first time both men and women could cast their ballot in Saudi Arabia.
Counting is still taking place so the number of female representatives may increase.
Participation among women was exceptionally high.
The president of the Saudi Arabian Municipal Election Committee, Gadiia al-Kahtani, said, “there were a lot of voters overall, about 600,000. Around 130,000 were female, which was around 24% of the total.”
More than 900 women ran for seats compared to almost 6,000 men.
Despite the landmark election, Saudi Arabian society remains strictly segregated with women facing many restrictions including a ban on driving.
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- Syria: explosions in Homs leave at least 16 dead
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- 1:05
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Syria has suffered another day of death and destruction. This time in the central city of Homs.
At least 16 people were killed and scores more injured, according to a group monitoring the war, when two explosions rocked a government-controlled neighbourhood.
The first bomb detonated in a vehicle. The second blast wounded people who had come to tend to victims of the first explosion.
Syrian state news agency SANA said the vehicle had been packed with 150 kilograms of explosives.
The attack come just days after the government of President Bashar al-Assad extended its control of Homs following a truce deal.
Under the terms of the agreement overseen by the United Nations, hundreds of rebel fighters and civilians were evacuated from Homs.
Syria’s civil war has left more than 250,000 people dead and wounded a million.
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- Saudi Arabian women vote and stand as candidates in historic day for Islamic kingdom
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- 1:21
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Saudi Arabian women have made history on Saturday in their country by voting for the first time in local council elections. They have also been allowed to stand as candidates in a massive leap forward in the deeply conservative Islamic kingdom.
As in other aspects of Saudi society, voting has been segregated. Despite the milestone, the 130,000 women registered to cast their ballot falls far short of the 1.3 million men able to vote.
At polling stations in the capital, Riyadh there was a buzz in the air.
“My feelings?, asked young female voter, Najd Mohamad. I am so proud of this improvement in Saudi and I really hope that any female gets elected today, because this is a really big opportunity for females, and I think that they could really make a difference in Saudi.”
For one middle-aged voter, Thuraya al-Ghamdi, the occasion was the perfect opportunity to choose a representative that would give her and other women a voice:
...
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- Son of former Libyan leader Gadhafi freed after being kidnapped
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- 0:21
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Hannibal Gadhafi, a son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, has reportedly been freed after being kidnapped by an unknown Lebanese group.
He purportedly appeared in a video appealing for information about the fate of a Shiite cleric who went missing in Libya decades ago.
Moussa al-Sadr, one of Lebanon’s most prominent clerics in the 20th century, vanished, along with two other people, during a day trip to Tripoli in 1978.
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- Syria’s Assad says he won’t negotiate with armed groups
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- 1:33
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he will not negotiate with armed groups.
A decision that seems to scupper peace talks that Russia and the US are hoping to bring about next month.
More than 100 members of Syria’s opposition parties and more than a dozen rebel fighting groups agreed on Thursday to send a joint team to meet the government.
Washington admits that issues remain, but is remaining optimistic.
“There are some questions and obviously a couple of, in our judgement, kinks to be worked out and I’m confident they’re going to be worked out,” said John Kerry, US Secretary of State.
Meanwhile, Moscow says the West’s insistence that Assad must step aside before it works more closely with Russia to fight ISIL is a “huge mistake.”
“I believe it was a kind of progress when we agreed to move in practical terms to identify terrorist groups and to help the United Nations assemble an oppositi...
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- More deadly clashes in West Bank as Israel battles to quell unrest
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- 1:01
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The West Bank has suffered another day of violence with at least three Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces.
In Hebron a 22-year-old man was shot dead. His sister had been killed the previous month after pulling knife on an Israeli soldier.
Dozens of people were injured in the clashes according to medical sources.
Clashes also erupted near Ramallah in Silwad, and in Bethlehem, where police were bombarded with stones.
Clashes also erupted on the Gaza border, where one man was killed and at least five injured after stoning police.
One of the worst attacks followed the unrest in Hebron, when a man was shot dead after he tried to ram into an Israeli checkpoint in his car. The surrounding area has become a focal point for protests in this latest outbreak of unrest which has now lasted more than two months, costing 20 Jewish, and more than 110 Palestinian lives.
By Robert Hackwill
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- A fight in Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine after presenting a bouquet of flowers to the Prime Minister
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- 0:16
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
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- Syrian opposition to meet government for peace talks in January
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- 1:22
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Peace talks will be held next month between the Syrian government and a joint team of political and armed rebel groups.
The move was decided after two days of talks at a Saudi hosted opposition conference.
The final hours of the meeting, which excluded Islamic State and Nusra Front fighters, were overshadowed by a protest by another powerful insurgent group, Ahrar al-Sham.
But the talks chairman played down their demonstration and stressed the importance of the first such meeting in two years aimed at ending the bloody civil war. The gathering will discuss moving into a transitional period.
A statement released at the end of the conference also emphasised that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave power.
The Riyadh meeting called on the United Nations to pressure the Syrian government to make a series of confidence-building moves before peace talks start, including suspending death sentences against opponents, relea...
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- Syria: opposition ‘milestone’ agreement paves way for government talks
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- 1:10
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Powerful rebel group Ahrar al-Sham has reportedly signed up to a Syrian opposition statement after two days of negotiations in Riyadh.
Political activists and rebels have agreed to set up a joint body to prepare for proposed peace talks with the Syrian government.
It came as rebel fighters and their families pulled out of Homs under a local ceasefire agreement.
American says the Riyadh statement is significant.
“This was an important milestone in getting to a place where, in early January, they can actually begin to have political negotiations with the regime,” said John Kirby, US State Department spokesman.
“This was a critical first step of getting there.”
The statement says President Bashar al-Assad should leave power at the start of a transitional period. It also calls for an all-inclusive, democratic civic state.
Earlier, Ahrar al-Sham said that it had pulled out of the Riyadh talks ...
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- OPEC crude oil output rises to three-year high
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- 0:46
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Unfazed by tumbling prices, undeterred by low demand, OPEC raised its production of crude oil to a three-year high in November.
Failure to agree a ceiling on output at last week’s summit means members can ignore the global surplus and pump as much as they please.
As a steady rise in production continued, output rose by over 230,000 barrels a day in November to 31.7 million – the highest since April 2012.
By its own admission OPEC is producing 900,000 barrels a day more than it expects will be needed next year.
A slight fall in Saudi output is said to have been more than offset by a surge in Iraqi production.
Although several members are thought to have been opposed, OPEC’s decision to maintain output seems to be aimed at squeezing rivals out of business.
This week has seen Brent crude prices drop to a six-year low.
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- What the ceasefire means for Homs
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- 1:01
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Eyewitnesses have counted 15 buses full of people leaving Waer, the last rebel-held area of the city.
It is part of the terms of a rare local truce agreement that has been signed in an attempt to shore up government control over the city.
Priority is being given to women, children, the elderly and the seriously wounded.
Homs governor Talal al-Barazi told reporters 300 rebel fighters have also left, along with 400 members of their families.
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- ‘Possible security threat’ closes US consulate in Istanbul, Turkey
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- 0:42
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The US Consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul has cancelled consular services for Wednesday (December 9) because of “information about a possible security threat” against the mission.
A US state department spokesman told reporters that limited, urgent services would be provided.
Other diplomatic missions in the cities of Ankara, Izmir and Adana were operating normally.
No specific details were revealed about the possible threat.
The cancellation of services comes four months after the same consulate came under attack by the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C) a Marxist organisation listed as a terrorist organisation by the US and Turkey.
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- Rebels leave Homs as ceasefire deal begins
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- 1:11
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The implementation of a ceasefire in the Syrian city of Homs has reportedly begun, with bus loads of people leaving the last rebel-held area.
Overseen by the UN, the halt in fighting was agreed some 10 days ago between the government and local insurgents.
Residents are hoping to soon return to their homes.
One man from the old city of Homs told reporters: “Everything is good. I’m a resident here and I’m thinking of opening my own shop here. I’m butcher, and as you can see, there’s a grocery shop and other shops. Everything is good and we hope it will stay like this.”
The evacuation deal is expected to see thousands of opposition fighters and civilians leave the last district of Homs still under rebel control.
On Monday authorities also released more than 30 opposition prisoners.
A woman who lives in the Waer district where the ceasefire was struck said: “We hope things get back to the way they u...
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- Yemen hopes Geneva peace talks will end months of violence
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- 0:54
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The people of Yemen are pinning their hopes for an end to months of civil war on forth coming peace talks to be held in Geneva next week.
The Yemeni government, Houthi rebels and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh will attend and there’s to be a week-long truce to coincide with the UN-backed negotiations.
One resident of Sanna said he hoped the ceasefire would be a permanent one: “ We are fed up of the killing and the destruction. We want permanent peace in Yemen.”
On Monday the funeral took place of the governor of Aden who became the latest high profile victim when he and six of his staff were killed in a car bombing claimed by ISIL militants.
Some analysts have suggested the talks are timely as there appears to be a growing push to defeat ISIL which can better be achieved if all factions unite.
Since March when the conflict between government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and the rebels escalated, the ...
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- Israeli troops accused of shooting dead Palestinian protester in Bethlehem
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- 0:21
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Israeli troops have shot dead a Palestinian protester in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, according to Palestinian medical sources.
The 19-year-old is said to have been among a group of people demonstrating against the soldiers, who had arrived to arrest two men – both of whom were reportedly apprehended.
The Israeli military said violence erupted during “routine activity” when its troops encountered a barrage of “pipe bombs, molotov cocktails and rolling burning tyres and fired warning shots in the air to disperse the mob and prevent an escalation.”
In a second arrest raid on Tuesday, Israeli troops detained a Palestinian in the West Bank town of Ramallah in connection with a stabbing incident in October, the military said.
Violent incidents have become a daily occurrence in the West Bank, Israel and Jerusalem in the past two months, as an increasing number of Jews visit East Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound – Islam...
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- Israel names new head of Mossad intelligence agency
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- 0:21
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Yossi Cohen will be the next head of Israel’s secretive Mossad intelligence agency.
Fifty-four-year-old Cohen, a former Mossad operative, has been Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top security adviser for the past two years. He will replace Tamir Pardo, a Mossad veteran whose five-year term expires soon.
“Yossi has headed the National Security Council in the past years. He has great experience and achievements and has proven abilities in various aspects in the workings of the Mossad,” Netanyahu said in a live television announcement.
Mossad means institute in Hebrew and its full name is The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations.
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- FAI World Air Games
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- 1:03
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The world’s top Air Sport athletes gathered in Dubai for the spectacular FAI World Air Games.
The adrenaline was pumping as 854 competitors took part in wide-ranging disciplines including powered and glider aerobatics, skydiving, parachuting and ballooning, among others.
The Dubai skyline provided an impressive backdrop to the fourth edition of the Olympics of Air Sports, which ends on December 12.
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- Turkish troops still in Iraq despite ultimatum from Baghdad to withdraw
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- 1:05
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- A deadline for Turkey to withdraw its troops from the north of Iraq expires today.
But despite Baghdad’s ultimatum to pull out within 48 hours, there are no signs that hundreds of Turkish troops will retreat.
Ankara says it is confident Iraq will come to accept the deployment, as part of efforts to fight ISIL militants.
Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told a media conference in Ankara: “Turkey is there to train soldiers against terrorism. But the Iraqi government has become highly sensitive.
“I reckon the Iraqi government will change its stance after receiving a letter from our Prime Minister and after ministers from the two countries hold meetings on this matter.”
ISIL took over the northern city of Mosul in June last year.
The Iraqi government maintains it never invited the Turkish force, but Ankara says they were welcomed to a military camp by local Kurdish authorities.
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- Syria: Assad’s enemies attempt a united front ahead of peace talks
- Runtime
- 1:09
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- As a first attempt to bring together fractured Syrian opposition parties is being made at a special meeting in Riyadh, on the battle front , around 2,000 rebels have agreed to withdraw from the war torn city of Homs.
The pullout is part of a deal agreed 10 days ago between the Syrian government and those fighting the Assad regime.
Although not everyone is cooperating Homs Governor Talal al-Barazi is optimistic:
“I say that the current international atmosphere has contributed to the creation of these conditions that led to reconciliation, and helped accelerate the implementation of the deal.”.
On the diplomatic front, Tuesday’s meeting in Riyadh comes ahead of the next round of Syrian peace talks known as the Vienna process .
Delegates from Assad’s fragmented enemies will be asked to come to the negotiation table when those talks resume.
Meanwhile unverified video has been released after Russian airstrikes on...
- Title
- Mara Navarria overcomes grief to win fencing Grand Prix in Doha
- Runtime
- 0:51
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Italy’s Mara Navarria overcame her grief at the death of her fencing master Oleg Pouzanov, after he died last Thursday to win her first Grand Prix in three years.
Navarria beat the former world and Olympic champion Germany’s Britta Heidemann in Doha Qatar.
Navarria dedicated her victory to master Oleg and shed tears once her work was done.
- Title
- Yemen: ISIL claims car bomb killing of Aden governor
- Runtime
- 0:53
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The governor of Yemen’s southern port city of Aden was killed in a car bomb attack on Sunday.
ISIL says it was responsible.
Targeted as he headed to work, General Jaafar Mohammed Saad died with at least six members of his entourage.
After early reports that the blast was caused by a rocket propelled grenade, ISIL announced in a statement posted on a messaging service it uses that it had detonated a vehicle laden with explosives aimed at Saad’s convoy.
It promised more operations against “the heads of apostasy in Yemen”.
The group’s local branch has stepped up operations since civil war broke out in Yemen, emerging as a rival to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the main militant group in the country in recent years.
Sunday’s attack came one day after assailants killed a senior army officer and a judge who had presided over the trial of militants suspected in the bombing of the US warship USS Cole in Ade...
- Title
- Syria: ISIL oil fields pounded by British bombers
- Runtime
- 0:51
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Britain’s Typhoon warplanes and Tornado jets – taking off from a base in Cyprus – have now conducted two rounds of air strikes in Syria against ISIL and its lucrative oil installations.
Visiting the fighter pilots conducting the raids, the UK defence minister said on Saturday that the aim was to hit the Islamist militant group’s command and control, to smash its supply lines and cut off sources of its revenue.
“It is oil that underpins the terrorism that we have seen and helps ISIL-Daesh finance their terrorist operations,” Michael Fallon told air crews at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
The UK knows it could be next on ISIL’s terror hit-list after last month’s attacks on close neighbour France.
Already bombing the militants in Iraq, Britain joined the US-led mission in Syria after a vote in parliament on Wednesday.
The UK’s air strikes are unlikely to change the military balance but the vote handed Prime Minister Davi...
- Title
- Iraq calls Turkish troop presence in the north a ‘hostile act’ and calls on the soldiers to withdraw
- Runtime
- 1:32
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Iraq has summoned Turkey’s ambassador to demand that Turkish troops immediately withdraw from the north of the country.
Baghdad described their presence as a hostile act, saying Turkey had entered without the knowledge of the Iraqi government.
Ankara has acknowledged that it has sent 150 troops to the Mosul region on Friday to replace soldiers already helping in the conflict with ISIL.
“If we let Turkish forces get away with this and don’t do something then other forces will feel they can do the same – America, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Islamic countries,” said Hakim al-Zamili, the Head of Parliament’s Security and Defence Committee.
“Therefore this is an initial test and that’s why parliament has to do something.”
Turkey says it is training Iraqi Kurd forces who are confronting ISIL in the region, and released a number of photos showing the Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, with Peshmerga sol...
- Title
- Islamist militant kills his mother and wife in Lebanon blast
- Runtime
- 0:21
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- A suspected Islamist militant killed died along with two members of his family when he blew himself up as the army raided his home in northern Lebanon.
The explosion killed his wife and his mother.
At least another ten people were wounded in the blast including four security personnel.
The security raid was the latest in a series since two ISIL suicide bomb blasts claimed the lives of 44 people in Beirut last month.
- Title
- Russian tourism hit by ban on Turkey holidays
- Runtime
- 1:22
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The tourism industry in Russia say losses from the ban on holidays to Turkey could be worse than those suffered as a result of losing Egpyt as a destination.
The travel restriction was imposed a week ago after a Russian plane was shot down on the Syrian-Turkish border.
Travel agents in Russia say they’re finding it difficult to find affordable alternative destinations for their customers.
“No other destination can compare with Turkey pricewise. Greece is the cheapest destination in Europe”, said Larissa Akhanova, Director of Public Relations for Tez Tours. “But it still can’t compare with Turkey. It’s a big problem for tour operators since it’s extremely difficult to find a place like Turkey at a similar price.”
Nearly four million Russians visited Turkey last year, with all-inclusive packages costing as little as 460 euros.
“It’s really sad because we like the people and the country itself,” said Al...
- Title
- Syria: Air strikes ‘kill dozens of civilians’ in Damascus rebel stronghold
- Runtime
- 1:04
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- In a rebel-held district of Damascus, rebels are not the only ones being killed by air strikes.
More than 40 civilians in Eastern Ghouta – including six children – died on Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
It blames the Assad regime. But the opposition National Coalition puts the blame, at least partly, on
Russian warplanes.
On the ground, the civil war continues to rage.
Images uploaded to social media – said to be from Aleppo – showed fierce exchanges of fire, purportedly between Free Syrian Army fighters and ISIL militants.
Back in the capital, the formerly vibrant suburb of Jobar now lies in ruins and abandoned by all but
soldiers loyal to President Assad, whose job is to guard the gateway to his regime.
In some places, the battle has gone underground, with fighters on both sides digging tunnels to get behind enemy lines.
Syri...
- Title
- Syria: going underground
- Runtime
- 1:06
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Explosions and gunfire continue to echo around Kufra in Syria.
Videos, posted on social media, claim to show members of the Free Syrian Army clashing with fighters from ISIL in the town near Aleppo.
Three years ago, Jobar was a vibrant suburb of Damascus.
Today, abandoned and derelict, it resembles a ghost town.
Elite soldiers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are guarding the gateway to the Syrian regime.
They shelter in the shell of a former sports hall where basketball and handball were once played.
Now missiles are the only things that are thrown.
n some places, the battle has also gone underground.
Fighters on both sides have begun to dig tunnels to get behind enemy lines.
This one is 800 metres long and 15 metres deep.
- Title
- Cairo Restaurant Attack: Petrol Bomb kills 18 in Egypt nightclub
- Runtime
- 0:49
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- A Molotov cocktail hurled at a Cairo nightclub killed 18 people and wounded six . One of the officials said the attacker was an employee who had been fired from the restaurant in the Agouza area in the centre of the Egyptian capital. But MENA, Security official as saying three men on a motorcycle threw Molotov cocktails into the club in the Agouza district early Friday and then fled. It said the fire was quickly extinguished and security authorities are investigating the attack. Security officials said 18 people died.
- Title
- Iran marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities 1
- Runtime
- 2:36
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- A ceremony has been held in the Iranian capital Tehran to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The occasion is aimed at raising public awareness about the need of the disabled people.
- Title
- Syrian opposition source Russia expanding military base in Syria
- Runtime
- 0:48
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Syrian opposition source has reported that Russian troops are expanding a military base in central Syria to use it as their second airbase in the country.
Syrian observatory for Human Rights reported major activities by Russian forces in the base. It said that adding fortifications and developing runways to Shaayrat base can be indications that it would be used as an airbase to intensify airstrikes against ISIL. The base is located 40 kilometers from the city of Homs. Russia has been using the Syrian government’s airbase for its airstrikes which started more than two months ago. The strikes have mainly focused on northern areas of the country. A new base in Homs province could facilitate Russian airstrikes in central Syria.
- Title
- U K Launches Airstrikes Against Islamic State in Syria
- Runtime
- 1:44
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The U.K. has begun airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, just hours after lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of expanding Britain’s bombing campaign.
- Title
- Turkey says ISIL oil trade accusations are old-style Soviet propaganda
- Runtime
- 1:06
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- Turkey has again denied that it is profiting from the oil trade with ISIL, claiming that the Russian accusations are reminiscent of old-style Soviet propaganda.
In the Turkish capital Ankara President Erdogan repeated his call for Vladimir Putin to resign should the accusations prove to be lies.
And before setting of on a trip to Azerbaijan the the Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said Russia is employing old Iron Curtain tactics.
“During the Cold War there was a Soviet propaganda machine. It would generate a new lie every day that they believed themselves and then would expect the world to believe. They were referred to as Pravda lies. One-by-one the Soviet characteristics we thought the Russians had forgotten over the past 20, 25 years since the Cold War, are re-emerging.”
Meanwhile on the sidelines of a European security conference in the Serbian capital Belgrade, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavasoglu held a mee...
- Title
- UK government says first airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria were successful
- Runtime
- 0:51
- Date posted
- 11 years ago
- Description
- The British government has described the UK’s first airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria as ‘successful’.
The bombing came just hours after the parliament approved the strikes on Wednesday night after a long and sometimes heated argument in the House of Commons.
Four Royal Air Force Tornados took off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus to take part in the operation. The Ministry of Defence said the jets were carrying high precision bombs.
The British Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, had already pre-approved the targets, which were the Omar oil fields in the Dar-e-Zor region of eastern Syria that are under ISIL control.
During the debate MP’s heard impassioned speeches both for and against the airstrikes, but British Prime Minister David Cameron eventually won a comfortable majority after a number of opposition MP’s voted with the government.
