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WW3 Middle East Update: Syria, Iraq, Yemen.
Tajik commander joins ISIL after being trained in US
A few days ago, Tajikistan’s special forces chief appeared in a video claiming to have joined the ISIL terrorist group in Syria. It has now been revealed that Gulmurod Khalimov had been trained in counter-terrorism tactics on American soil. Khalimov, who went missing in early May, is seen in the footage dressed in black and holding a gun. He says he participated in the US programs three times. The State Department has confirmed this claim. The program was intended to train candidates from participating countries in latest counter-terrorism tactics, so they can fight the very kind of terrorists Khalimov has now joined. A State Department official says Khalimov was trained in crisis response and tactical management of special events.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc9ZY9KoimU
Takfiri’s rocket attacks kill over 15 people in Syrian city of Aleppo
Syrian troops have engaged in fighting with foreign-backed militants. multiple rocket attacks by militants kill over 15 people in the northern city of Aleppo. Syrian state news agency SANA says at least eight people were killed and fifteen others injured in the deadliest attack in Aleppo’s al-Aazamiya residential neighborhood. Four people were also killed and a number of others injured when a barrage of rockets hit al-Jamiliyeh neighborhood. Earlier, Syrian media reported that four civilians died in a rocket attack at al-Baladi palace in Aleppo. Most of the victims of the rocket attacks are said to be women and children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGWPyhdJGMQ
Erdogan vows to punish journalist behind Syria trucks video
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a “heavy price” is looming for the newspaper which published video footage purportedly showing the country’s state intelligence agency helping send weapons to militants in neighboring Syria.
“The slander against the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the illegitimate operation (against its trucks) is an espionage activity at one point,” Erdogan told state-run TRT television network late on Sunday.
“This newspaper was also involved in this espionage activity. The person who made the story will pay a heavy price. I will not let him get away with it,” the Turkish president said.
On May 29, center-left Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet posted on its website a video, allegedly showing trucks belonging to MIT being inspected by security officers.
The inspectors then spot cardboard boxes inside the metallic container with the “fragile” marking on them. They open the boxes, but find a considerable amount of munitions hidden in crates below boxes of medicine.
Cumhuriyet said the trucks were carrying around 1,000 mortar shells, hundreds of grenade launchers and more than 80,000 rounds of ammunition for light and heavy weapons.
Meanwhile, Cumhuriyet’s editor-in-chief Can Dundar has responded to Erodgan’s rhetoric, tweeting, “We are not civil servants but journalists. Our duty is not to hide the state’s dirty secrets but to call it to account in the name of people.”
“The person who committed this crime will pay a heavy price,” he said in reference to Erdogan. “We will not let him get away with it.”
Earlier this month, Ankara arrested four prosecutors, who had ordered the search of a Syrian-bound convoy of MIT trucks loaded with arms and ammunition back in January 2014. The trucks were stopped and searched near the Syrian border in the southern Turkish provinces of Hatay and Adana at the time.
Erdogan has denounced the interception as well as a string of leaks in the media, saying they were engineered by supporters of his rival, Fethullah Gulen, to undermine his government.
Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied any involvement.
The Turkish government has on numerous occasions denied support for terrorist groups operating inside Syria. However, the claims have been refuted by a host of reports.
On May 25, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said militants are currently being trained and equipped in Turkey’s central city of Kirsehir under a joint Ankara-Washington program.
The mission officially started last week, and is aimed at training more than 15,000 foreign-backed militants in a three-year time period. There are reportedly over 120 US soldiers in Turkey for the purpose.
Iraqi forces liberated 8 areas near Samara
More military gains for Iraqi forces fighting against ISIL Takfiri militants. At least eight areas have been liberated in an operation southwest of Samarra District in Salahuddin province. The Iraqi defense ministry has issued a statement saying the army backed by volunteer fighters has now reached north of al-Nabai and al-Lain regions. It added that the terrorists suffered heavy losses during the joint operation which was also backed by the Iraqi air force. Meanwhile, Iraqi forces have been closing in on the city of Ramadi in their bid to liberate it form the ISIL Takfiri terrorists. Latest reports from Ramadi indicate the Iraqi forces have managed to regain control of a 5-kilometer area west of the city following fierce clashes with the militants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViYf91DYxmE
Iraqi forces recapture 9 regions from ISIL near Samarra
More military gains for Iraqi forces fighting against ISIL Takfiri militants. At least eight areas have been liberated in an operation southwest of Samarra District in Salahuddin province.The Iraqi defense ministry has issued a statement saying the army backed by volunteer fighters has now reached north of al-Nabai and al-Lain regions. It added that the terrorists suffered heavy losses during the joint operation which was also backed by the Iraqi air force. Meanwhile, Iraqi forces have been closing in on the city of Ramadi in their bid to liberate it form the ISIL Takfiri terrorists. Latest reports from Ramadi indicate the Iraqi forces have managed to regain control of a 5-kilometer area west of the city following fierce clashes with the militants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8eIkGgUxdg
HRW releases new evidence of Saudi use of cluster bombs in Yemen
Human Rights Watch releases new evidence of the use of internationally banned cluster bombs in Saudi Arabia’s bombardment of Yemen. The rights group has urged the aggressors to halt the use of the bombs which it says harm civilians. The HRW has posted online photos, showing remnants of cluster munitions and unexploded sub-munitions found in several areas, including Nushoor and Maqash in the northern Sa’ada province. The HRW says it has identified the use of three types of cluster munitions in Yemen. Earlier in May, the group published evidence showing that Saudi Arabia and its allies used US-supplied cluster bombs against Yemen. The munitions spread bomblets over a vast area. The weapons have been banned under a treaty signed by 116 countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Aw1VgqSOo
Shamkhani: Saudi bombardment of Yemen meant to support al-Qaeda militants
The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council says Saudi Arabia’s ongoing bombardment of Yemen is meant to provide support to al-Qaeda militants.Ali Shamkhani says Yemen’s Ansarullah fighters and allied army troops are the only forces that can defeat terrorism in the country. He noted that the Saudi war has spread hatred towards the Kingdom among the Yemeni people. The Iranian official also said that Takfiri terrorists in the region have repeatedly tried to take the fight to Iran’s borders but have failed. Shamkhani added that the spread of Takfiri terrorism in Syria, Iraq and Yemen is meant to weaken regional resistance against Israel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc3w37vZPiM
5 Yemenis including 2 women killed in latest Saudi attacks
Saudi warplanes have launched fresh attacks in different parts of Yemen as the civilian death toll keeps rising. The latest airstrikes targeted Mazraq refugee camp in Hajjah province. At least five people including two women were killed in another attack in Sa’ada province. Nearly a dozen people have also been injured. Saudi warplanes also bombed a building, belonging to Yemen’s Football Association which is used as a makeshift relief center. The building was heavily damaged in the attack. More than four thousand Yemenis have been killed since the beginning of the onslaught on March 26.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiaRgr4XoOE
