Syria
Wednesday 30 September 2020
-
![Turkish Foreign Ministry]()
Turkish Foreign Ministry
"We categorically reject both the baseless allegations of human rights violations claimed against the Syrian opposition … as well as the groundless criticisms by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights leveled against Turkey …”
Read more...The U.N.’s detailed report identifies specific Turkish-backed units for alleged atrocities. Contradicting Turkey, it also faults Kurdish forces. -
![Mikhail Aleksandrov]()
Mikhail Aleksandrov
Center for Military Policy Studies, Moscow State Institute of International Relations
“[B]ut the Americans themselves are to blame, as they are bullying Russia and spoiling for a fight.”
Read more...Russia’s recent harassment of U.S. fishing boats in the Bering Sea is only the latest example of an uptick in military confrontations between the superpowers. -
![Veteran's Today]()
Veteran's Today
Conspiracy theory site
“Breaking: Israel Nukes Beirut – Two explosions in Beirut, one a conventional guided bomb followed by a small nuclear weapon. The target seems to be an Iranian/Hezbollah missile storage facility. Our evaluation is guesswork and we are waiting for word from our nuclear exper ...”
Read more...Cause of the Beirut blast is under investigation but is believed to be 2,750 metric tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate fertilizer. There is no evidence of a nuclear detonation. -
![Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs]()
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Foreign Ministry
“We would like to point out that Russia has always advocated the delivery of humanitarian aid to all those in need throughout Syria in strict compliance with the norms of international humanitarian law.”
Read more...Russia and the Assad regime have tried to block humanitarian aid from reaching territory not under government control. -
![Maria Zakharova]()
Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman
“For centuries, Syria has been a country where various ethnic and religious groups peacefully coexisted and safely coexisted ... This cannot but cause respect. We are convinced that such historical traditions should be fully preserved and continued.”
Read more...The Assad regime in Syria has relied heavily on religious sectarianism since seizing power in a 1970 coup d’etat. Ethnic minorities also have been systematically disenfranchised. -
![Press TV]()
Press TV
Iranian state TV channel
“A senior Iranian judge says INTERPOL Red Notices have been issued for the prosecution of dozens of military and political officials of the United States, including President Donald Trump, on charges of planning and implementing a terrorist attack in the Iraqi capital that assassinated Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani and his companions.”
Read more...INTERPOL has denied receiving the request and stated that it does not consider requests for red notices that it believes are “political.” -
![Dmitry Peskov]()
Dmitry Peskov
Russian presidential spokesman
"We do not know about any oligarchs, or about their existence."
Read more...The names may have changed since Russian tycoons rallied around Boris Yeltsin in the early post-Soviet era, but there are still Russian oligarchs aplenty, and they have clout. -
![Hassan Nasrallah]()
Hassan Nasrallah
Secretary General of Hezbollah
“This is part of the US-Israeli war on resistance movements in the region ... When we say we are not active in Germany, we are being 100% honest.”
Read more...For years, Germany classified only the military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist group. Thus the group’s political wing was able to maintain a presence in Germany, and European authorities have found evidence that it engages in fundraising and money laundering operations there. -
![Maria Zakharova]()
Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman
“However, we have long had questions regarding what the United States is guided by in including or not including certain organizations on its ‘blacklists’ [of terrorist organizations]. As you know, Washington has long refused to add the ISIS group to them.”
Read more...After the U.S. State Department named a Russia-based white-supremacist group to its terrorist list, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman falsely said the U.S. had refused to treat Islamic State terrorists the same way. -
![Recep Tayyip Erdogan]()
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
President, Turkey
"The promised 6 billion euros -- they [Brussels] did not release. Now they say they will allocate 1 billion euros. Who are you lying to?”
Read more...The EU agreed to provide 6 billion euros of financial support for Syrian refugees in Turkey, not to the Turkish government. Out of two 3 billion euro tranches, one was allocated and the second is behind. -
![Bashar al-Assad]()
Bashar al-Assad
President of Syria
"Obviously, Erdogan threw all his forces [at Idlib], of course on the orders of the Americans. There is no doubt about that."
Read more...Turkey’s latest military attacks around Idlib came after Assad regime troops killed Turkish soldiers who had been deployed in Syria under a deal with Russia and Iran. -
![Vladimir Putin]()
Vladimir Putin
President of Russia
“We are not going to fight against anyone. We are going to create conditions so that nobody wants to fight against us.”
Read more...In 2014, Putin initiated a military takeover of Crimea, Ukraine, and gave military support to a separatist insurgency in Donbas, where fighting continues. In 2015, he inserted Russia into the Syrian civil war.
