Zamili, a leading Shi’ite politician, said each of the four member countries has six members in the intelligence sharing and security cooperation cell, which holds meetings in Baghdad’s fortified “Green Zone”, which once housed the headquarters of the US occupation.
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Syria’s regime has managed to advance in the strategic Sahl al-Ghab region that is a gateway to Assad’s coastal heartland of Latakia thanks to Russian air support.
Nor could they say when the move on the city could begin, but as a defense official noted: “There is no advantage to sitting around”.
Since Moscow began carrying out air strikes in Syria, there has been mounting evidence that the target is not exclusively Islamic State militants.
Gains by ISIL north of Aleppo will threaten the supply lines of rival rebels inside the city, which is divided between insurgents and government forces.
“This leak at this time is deliberate and part of managing the battle in which the Russian Sukhois [warplanes] are taking part”, said Salem Zahran, a Lebanese media pundit with close ties to Hezbollah and the Syrian government.
The speech at a U.S. army convention on Wednesday included a few of the strongest language yet by the Obama administration, which came into office determined to “reset” relations with Russian Federation and move them in a more cooperative direction.
The Army of Conquest, which captured most of the neighbouring Idlib province in May, includes al Qaeda’s Syria wing, Nusra Front, the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham faction and groups including Chechen and central Asian fighters.
Those actions are of “great concern” to the United States, and are a main reason why the current military discussions with Russian Federation are narrowly focused on aerial operations as opposed to broader military discussions, one of the officials said.
The United States and Russian Federation were to hold new talks yesterday on avoiding incidents in the skies of Syria, as regime forces launched heavy attacks against rebels near Damascus. On October 7, humanitarian nonprofit group Physicians for Human Rights said Russian airstrikes had hit three medical facilities in two days, which the group said constituted a war crime.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that the objective of the Russian operation was to “stabilize the legitimate authorities and create conditions for finding a political compromise”.
USA military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told reporters that two US and two Russian planes “entered the same battle space” and were in visual contact with each other.
At the same time, a second set of Russian strikes have targeted Aleppo, giving Assad’s forces their first chance in a long time to take back a major city. The Pentagon admitted on September 25 that the US-trained Syrian rebels gave about a quarter of United States weapons to an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. The former commercial hub now is home to the toughest opposition forces in Syria.
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The Syrian army has attempted on several occasions to retake Jobar.
