War

The suffering of Syrian civilians has worsened since the United Nations called for a ceasefire a week ago amid “some of the worst fighting of the entire conflict”, the United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator said on Feb. 12.

Syrian state news agency SANA said on Saturday that Syrian air defences were responding to a "new Israeli aggression" and a military source said the defences had thwarted attacks on military positions in the south of the country, Reuters reported.

 France wants air strikes in Syria to end and calls for the opening of humanitarian corridors as soon as possible, the French defense minister said on Friday.

"We are very preoccupied and are monitoring the situation on the ground very carefully. The air strikes need to end," Florence Parly said on France Inter radio, giving no further details.

The Syrian army has deployed new air defenses and anti-aircraft missiles to frontlines in the Aleppo and Idlib areas, a commander in the military alliance fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad said on Feb. 5.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday that Russia was responsible for recent chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian province of East Gutha, AFP reports.

13 people died during the double terrorist act in the Libyan city of Benghazi. 33 were injured, the Libyan internet portal "Libya ahbar" reported, quoted by TASS. A bomb filled car was lifted up in the air in eastern neighborhood of Es Salmani near one of the largest mosques in the city, from which local residents then came out of prayer.

Turkey has legitimate security concerns over insurgency inside its borders, United States Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said on Jan. 21, according to U.S. media reports.

The government is incapable of developing a clear and consistent policy line when it comes to the name talks with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

It would make sense if it were being quiet ahead of the final stretch of negotiations, at the level of prime ministers, but it simply looks like it doesn't know what it wants.

Turkey summoned on Jan. 9 Russian and Iranian ambassadors to express its disturbance over ongoing military operations of the Syrian army in Idlib.

Syrian army forces backed by Iranian-backed militias pushed deeper into the last rebel-held enclave near a strategic border area with Israel and Lebanon in a new expansion of Tehran’s influence in the war-torn country.