The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) opened fire Sunday at positions of the Syrian artillery in the Golan Heights, the IDF spokesperson said.TEL AVIV (Sputnik) — The spokesperson cited initial reports that said mortar fire from the Syrian artillery had hit an open area within the territory administered by the Israeli military. No one was reportedly injured.
In response to mortar fire earlier today, IDF targeted Syrian regime artillery positions in the Syrian Golan Heights," the message read.
The Golan Heights is a disputed territory on the Israeli-Syrian border. Israel occupied part of the land during the 1967 war and has been managing it alongside other areas in the West Bank for almost half a century. Read more: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160904/1044962052/israel-golan-heights-fire.html
"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
The deal would call for full-coordination between US and Russian military and intelligence forces in Syria in exchange for Moscow forcing Assad to ground the Syrian Air Force. The United States and Russia inch closer to completing a major agreement calling for military and intelligence cooperation in Syria in exchange for Russia agreeing to pressure President Bashar al-Assad to refrain from targeting civilian dense areas and allowing for both food and medical aid to flow into impacted areas according to reports from CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan.
Pursuant to the proposed arrangement, the US and Russia would coordinate airstrikes against Daesh (ISIS) as well as al Qaeda-linked terrorists including the former al-Nusra Front. While the United States and Russia would jointly takeover the aerial campaign against jihadists in Syria, Assad’s Syrian Arab Army Air Force would be grounded in a bid to prevent unnecessary collateral damage against civilians and US-backed rebels.
The measure looks to rectify a major point of contention between the United States and Russia with many of the so-called 'moderate' rebels now finding themselves embedded with the freshly rebranded al-Qaeda affiliate formerly known as al-Nusra Front under the umbrella group known as The Army of Conquest. Russian airstrikes against al-Nusra targets have often come under scrutiny due to the interwoven nature of the anti-Assad alliance.
Washington appears to have a desire to prevent the conflict in Syria from taking on any additional fronts after Turkey entered into the Syrian conflict with a full-throttled air and ground campaign against US-backed YPG Kurdish rebels – a group with which US Special Forces are embedded with creating a severe danger of unintentional friendly fire between the allied countries.
The Obama administration has also found itself facing split allegiances in its bid to prop up anti-Assad rebels while fighting against Daesh (ISIS) militants with al-Nusra occupying a space within the coalition against the Syrian President that awkwardly bridges these forces with Daesh. While the United States considers al-Nusra to be a terrorist organization and does not provide weapons to the former al-Qaeda affiliate, the jihadists are often times derivative beneficiaries of US aid to the rebels.
While aligning with the anti-Assad rebels, the United States has also engaged in fierce bombing campaigns against al-Nusra objectives despite the group serving as the vanguard in the rebel effort to break the siege of Aleppo.
The complex war zone environment in Syria has left many sides wondering who they are fighting and with somewhat unimaginable alliances of opportunity forming between different parties in the struggle.
The negotiations are a final salvo by the Obama administration to prevent the surge in deaths in Syria and to stem the flow of refugees into Europe at a time when the conflict nears a breaking point. Efforts at diplomacy appear to be led by a move dovish wing in the State Department including Secretary John Kerry who garnered a greater appreciation for Russia’s role in Syria after Putin helped Obama walk back from the "red-line" while leaders in the Pentagon are reportedly calling for the US to "walk out."
The deal, if completed "would also put Russian President Vladimir Putin back at global player status" according to CBS News analysis of the pending deal which they described as "groundbreaking."
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160904/1044941016/russia-military-intelligence-coordination-syria.html
Several Yemeni civilians, including a child, have been killed as Saudi warplanes carried out more than 80 airstrikes on different areas across its southern neighbor.
According to Yemen’s al-Masirah television, Saudi military aircraft targeted residential areas in the Yemeni provinces of Sana’a, Ta’izz, Hajjah, Mahwit, Omran and Hudaydah around 50 times in the early hours of Sunday.
Riyadh’s air raids on the al-Sabain district of Sana’a Province killed one child and wounded over 20 others.
An unspecified number of civilians also lost their lives when Saudi fighter jets attacked residential areas north of the Ta’izz airport.
The Saudi air force also bombed the districts of Midi and Haraz in Hajjah Province some 30 times, with no immediate reports of casualties.
Meanwhile, the death toll from a Saturday airstrikes on residential neighborhoods in Baqim district, south of Sana’a, reached nine.
In response, Yemeni forces also fired missiles on Saudi military vehicles in the kingdom’s border region of Jizan.
The Tawal-Harad border crossing was also hit by Yemeni mortar shells. Reports say a Saudi soldier was killed in the retaliatory attack.
Several Saudi forces also sustained in similar Yemeni raids on Saudi Arabia’s Najran Province.
Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015, with the UN putting the death toll from the military aggression at about 10,000.
The offensive was launched in an attempt to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a Saudi ally who has resigned as president in 2014 and fled to Riyadh.
IF LOOKS COULD KILL Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin in tense G20 standoff as the famously hostile pair fail to reach a breakthrough on Syria
Grinning Putin shakes hands with stony-faced Obama after US President was snubbed by Chinese hosts
PRESIDENT Obama shared a tense exchange with Russian premier Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in China this morning as the two failed to agree over a ceasefire in Syria.
They were pictured shaking hands in an icy encounter at the gathering of leaders from the world’s twenty biggest economies in Hangzou.
It comes after weeks of talks between US and Russian diplomats have failed to turn up an agreement on bringing peace to the war-torn country.
Russia is firmly backing barrel-bombing dictator Bashar Al-Assad, providing military assistance and war planes.
America is on the side of what it calls “moderate” anti-Assad rebels and Kurdish forces leading the ground fight against ISIS.
Sly Putin could be seen grinning as he clasped hands with stony-faced Obama, who is serving the final months of his Presidency before November’s election.
Relations with Russia have become central to the campaigns of Hilary Clinton andDonald Trump after the alleged hack by Moscow spooks of Democratic Party emails.(The Sun)