Light at the End of the Tunnel: Putin 'Puts Things in Order' in Syria

 Russian President Vladimir Putin has been on fire lately – he not only managed to push through a Russian strategy in the Middle East, but also made both the United States and Saudi Arabia finally accept his point of view on finding a peaceful solution in Syria, French journalist Eric Verhaeghe wrote for Atlantico.

ATP  -  Recent events regarding peace negotiations in Syria speak for themselves: Moscow significantly decreased the military might of Daesh (Islamic State) with its airstrikes and has also played a leading role in finding a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis with the successful passing of a UN resolution on Syria, the author said.

The fact that US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Russia and Washington's agreement to talk about the Syrian issue with Moscow show the decline of Western influence in the Middle East.

U.S. Imposes New Sanctions on Putin Allies

ATP - WASHINGTON—The Obama administration slapped fresh sanctions on Ukrainian and Russian businessmen and politicians close to President Vladimir Putin, a move that was designed to show support for Kiev but could undercut U.S. efforts to cooperate with Moscow on ending the Syrian war.

The Treasury Department on Tuesday said the penalties were aimed at forcing Russia to comply with diplomatic agreements designed to stabilize Ukraine and force Russian troops out of Crimea, which the Kremlin formally annexed last year.

The timing of the sanctions highlights the complicated ties between the two powers. While opposing Russia's aggression in Ukraine, the administration has worked to secure Moscow's cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State extremist group and in efforts to end the Syrian conflict.

Amnesty: Russian bombing of Syria may be a war crime

ATP - MOSCOW, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Russia's bombing of Syria may amount to a war crime because of the number of civilians its strikes have killed, Amnesty International said on Wednesday, presenting what it said was evidence that the air raids had violated humanitarian law.

"Russian air strikes in Syria have killed hundreds of civilians and caused massive destruction in residential areas, striking homes, a mosque and a busy market, as well as medical facilities, in...attacks that show evidence of violations of international humanitarian law," Amnesty said in a new report.

The U.S. would be burned by playing with Putin

ATP - Secretary of State John Kerry met Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week and announced that he will accept Putin's demand that President Bashar Assad stay in power in Syria. This is the latest in a long list of Kremlin victories in undercutting President Barack Obama's global leadership and undermining the likelihood that we'll see peace and stability in Syria.

The Obama administration hopes that Putin will be a constructive partner in our war against the Islamic State. But the latest gesture will lead to the same disappointment that we've had every other time we've tried to work with Putin.

Ukraine Refuses to Repay All Debt to Russia

Ukraine's government said that it will not repay any debt owed to Russia, which could trigger an international court case and jeopardize its IMF "lifeline."

ATP - Ukraine has officially declined to repay Russia its $3 billion loan, due on December 20, effectively defaulting on its foreign debt.

Although the Ukrainian Finance Ministry announced that it would not repay the debt on Thursday, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk reiterated the announcement on Friday, calling the inability to pay a "moratorium."

Other than the eventual court case against Ukraine, the deal may jeopardize the International Monetary Fund's bailout program for Ukraine, which requires the borrower country to reach a deal "in good faith."

PUTIN’S WAR IN UKRAINE SLOWLY RUMBLES ON

ATP - The warning is consistent with previous ones concerning the Ukraine conflict, reflecting continued uncertainty about the fate of the fragile cease-fire, which, despite a marked reduction of fighting since September, hasn’t taken hold fully.

“There have been multiple casualties due to land mines in areas previously controlled by separatists, and separatist leaders have made statements indicating their desire to push the front line to the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts,” the State Department warned, referring to the two separatist-controlled territories.

The statement continued: “Individuals, including U.S. citizens, have been threatened, detained, or kidnapped for hours or days after being stopped at separatist checkpoints.”

Packed within the warning, however, is a piece of good news: The cities of Kharkiv and Odessa (Ukraine’s second and fourth largest cities, respectively) were taken off the State Department’s latest advisory. A July travel warning included the two cities.

In an emailed statement to the Daily Signal, the State Department said it had “eliminated language urging citizens to exercise extreme vigilance in Odessa and Kharkiv” after “ongoing assessments of the security situation in those areas.”

Syria Crisis Could Be over Soon If Foreign Extremism Support Ends: Assad

ATP - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says the conflict in Syria could be finished in “less than a year” if foreign support for terrorism ends.

“If the responsible countries take actions against the flood and the flowing of terrorists (into Syria) and the logistic support, I can guarantee that it will take less than one year,” he said.

The Syrian president made the comments in an interview with Dutch television station NPO2 on Thursday, Syria’s official SANA news agency reported.

Assad said the problem is that the backing for terrorists operating in Syria continues on a daily basis in a bid to make the situation more chaotic and to put obstacles in way of any solution to the crisis.

UN Security Council to meet Today on Turkish troops in Iraq

ATP - The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet on Dec. 18 to discuss a complaint by Iraq over Turkish troops deployed to a camp near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. 

Turkey deployed around 150 troops in the Bashiqa area this month with the stated aim of training an Iraqi militia to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The Iraqi government says they are not welcome and must withdraw.

Turkey withdrew some troops this week, moving them to another base inside Iraq's Kurdistan region, but Baghdad said they should pull out completely.

In a Dec. 11 letter to the 15-member Security Council, Iraq's Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari complained that Turkey had violated his country's sovereignty and territorial unity and integrity. 

Kerry says Assad can stay in power

US Secretary of State, John Kerry, told journalists that “the United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change” in Syria

John Kerry and Sergey Lavrov in moscow

ATP - The US changed her mind regarding the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the Secretary of State, John Kerry, told reporters in Moscow, Russia that the US and her partners “are not seeking so-called regime change” in Syria.

After meeting with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, Kerry told reporters that the focus for the two rival countries, is “not on our differences about what can or cannot be done immediately about Assad.” Rather, it is on facilitating a peace process in which “Syrians will be making decisions for the future of Syria,” the US official said.

Russian support for Syrian government and Ukrainian separatists top agenda

ATP - Russian support for the government in Syria and separatist rebels in Ukraine topped the agenda Tuesday as Secretary of State John F. Kerry sat down with Russia’s foreign minister in advance of talks with President Vladimir Putin.

As Kerry and Sergei Lavrov settled on opposite sides of a table in an opulent conference room in Russia’s foreign ministry, Kerry reiterated the U.S. position that the primary threat comes from the Islamic State fighters both Washington and Moscow consider terrorists, not the anti-government fighters Russia has been bombing heavily.

“These are the worst of terrorists,” Kerry said. “They attack culture, history, and all decency. And they leave no choice but for civilized nations to stand together, and to fight and push back, and destroy them.”

KERRY IN MOSCOW FOR TALKS ON SYRIA, UKRAINE

ATP - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Russia to try and narrow gaps with Russian leaders over a political transition to end Syria's civil war and restore stability in eastern Ukraine.

After spending last week at climate talks outside the French capital, Kerry arrived early Tuesday in Moscow, where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Before departing Paris, Kerry attended a French-hosted foreign ministers meeting to compare notes on the results of a conference of Syrian opposition figures held last week in Saudi Arabia that are key to the peace effort. He also met separately with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar.

The trip is Kerry's second to Russia this year - he met with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in May - but his first since frosty relations over Ukraine were exacerbated by Moscow's intervention in Syria in late September. President Barack Obama has seen Putin briefly twice since then at international summits in Turkey and France.

A U.S. diplomat in Paris, who demanded anonymity to discuss the talks, said a meeting in Geneva on Friday between Russian and American diplomats on Syria was aimed mainly at clearing up Russian "grievances" ahead of Tuesday's Moscow meeting.

ISIS Leader Al-Baghdadi Escaped to Sirte in Libya, Home of Gaddafi

ATP - The leader of the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL_ISIS ) Takfiri terrorist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has moved from aTurkey to Libya to escape the hunt operation of the Baghdad Intelligence Sharing Center after he was traced down and allegedly targeted a number of times in Iraq and the Syria, sources said on Tuesday.

Sources in Libya said al-Baghdadi has arrived in Sirte, the hometown of the slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, which is under the control of the ISIS Takfiri group.

The ISIL Leader is running a secret life as his life is at stake more than anyone in the world now. Al-Baghdad's terrorist group is under massive airstrike by the Syrian, Russian and Iraqi Air Forces all throughout the Western Iraq and Eastern Syria.

Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons against Isis but hopes they ‘will never be needed’

Vladimir Putin has said he hopes nuclear warheads will not be needed after Russia launched cruise missiles from its submarine at Isis targets in Syria.

During a meeting in the Kremlin, Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told the President that Kalibr cruise missiles had been fired by the Rostov-on-Don submarine from the Mediterranean Sea for the first time.

In addition to conventional warheads, President Putin said the new cruise missiles could also be equipped with nuclear warheads, before adding he hoped they would “never be needed”.

Russia goes ballistic in Syria; Turkey issues a warning

Russia does not appear to be forgiving of the downing of its plane after Turkey cited airspace. The country has been aiming at Turkey at its economic and military ends drawing warning from the country to avoid further conflicts. 

Russia warned previously it will retailiate against Turkey following the downing of its warplane. Consequently, it has been doing so for the past days that it has prompted concerns across the globe including possibly risking NATO's military intervention. According to McClatchy, a United Nations official said that the Russian seemingly have "gone ballistic" in their efforts to end Turkey's influence across Northern Syria.

Air strikes on Raqqa 'kill 32 Islamic State fighters'

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 15 blasts shook the northern and eastern outskirts of Raqqa on Sunday, killing 32 IS fighters and wounding more than 40.

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A Raqqa-based activist group that reports on IS, known as Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), said warplanes struck IS positions on the edge of the city.

RBSS did not say which country carried out the air strikes while the Observatory said they are believed to be from the US-led coalition that began targeting IS in Syria in September 2014.

Russia and a US-led coalition that includes France have been pounding Raqqa.

US-led raids kill at least 32 ISIS fighters in northern Syria

BEIRUT - At least 32 Islamic State group fighters were killed on Sunday in apparent US-led coalition raids on Syria as President Bashar al-Assad slammed Britain's decision to participate in air strikes.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said at least 32 fighters had been killed in some 15 strikes on the group's stronghold of Raqa province in northern Syria.

The monitor's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said at least 40 jihadists were also wounded in the strikes, which hit ISIS headquarters and bases to the north, east and southeast of provincial capital Raqa city.

Russia Presents Evidence Of Turkey-ISIS Oil Trade

ATP - The charges and counter-charges have been fast and furious since last week, when the Turkish air force shot down a Russian fighter jet near Turkey’s border with Syria. But now it’s getting personal.

The Russian Defense Ministry is accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his family and his country’s leadership of being tied up in illegal trade in oil with the so-called Islamic State (IS), and that Turkey is the group’s chief customer.

“Today, we are presenting only some of the facts that confirm that a whole team of bandits and Turkish elites stealing oil from their neighbors is operating in the region,” Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told a Moscow news conference Wednesday. He said thousands of trucks ship “large quantities” of the oil into Turkey.

Erdogan Blackmails NATO Allies

ATP - You know the country has really gone to the dogs when Washington’s main allies in its war on Syria are the two biggest terrorist incubators on the planet. I’m talking about Saudi Arabia and Turkey, both of which are run by fanatical Islamic zealots devoted to spreading violent jihad to the four corners of the earth. Not that the US doesn’t have blood on its hands too. It does, but that’s beside the point.

The point is that if you’re trying to sell your fake war on terror to the public, then you might want to think twice about lining up with Grand Sultan Erdogan and King Chop-Chop of Riyadh. The optics alone should have sent the White House PR team running for cover. I mean, couldn’t they have hired squeaky-clean Iceland to join the fray just to persuade the public that the ongoing proxy war wasn’t a complete sham. Which it is.

Russia’s actions against Syrian Turkmens unacceptable, says Erdogan

Russia’s actions against Syrian Turkmens are unacceptable, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during the meeting with his US counterpart Barack Obama, TRT Haber TV channel reported Dec.1.

The presidents met during the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris Dec.1.

Erdogan said that there are no militants of the IS terrorist group (ISIL or ISIS) on the Syrian territories bombed by Russian air forces.

Turkish Air Force jets shot down the Russian SU-24 bomber after it entered Turkish airspace Nov. 24. Both pilots managed to eject and the plane crashed on Syrian territory.

Relations between Russia and Turkey have deteriorated after the incident.

Earlier, spokesperson for Russian president Dmitry Peskov told Turkish media that the restoration of the relations between the two countries is out of the question.

Russia plans new Syria airbase: report

ATP  - Russia plans to expand its military force in Syria and deploy jets to a second airbase near Homs, according to a Kuwaiti daily with close access to Moscow’s military intervention in Syria.

Al-Rai reported Monday morning that a Russian intelligence brigade would deploy near the Al-Shayrat Airbase located approximately 35 kilometers southeast of Homs.

“The Al-Shayrat airbase houses around 45 airplane hangars, each of which is fortified in a way that prevents any damage if it is shelled or targeted,” sources in the Damascus joint operations room of the “4+1” military coalition of Russia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Hezbollah told the newspaper’s chief international correspondent, Elijah J. Magnier.

 “It also has a main runway and a 3 kilometer backup runway that engineering teams are working to prepare,” the sources added.

 Russia currently conducts its air sorties from the Hmeimim airbase adjacent to Latakia’s International Airport, where it has deployed a force of approximately 50 aircraft since the late summer.