2015年9月30日星期三

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Yahoo! News: Iraq


Editorial Roundup: Excerpts from recent editorials

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 04:20 PM PDT

Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:

Russia Launches Airstrikes in Syria

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 03:33 PM PDT

Russia Launches Airstrikes in SyriaU.S. officials confirm that Russian military aircraft conducted airstrikes today in the vicinity of the city of Homs, Syria -- with the Russians giving the United States only an hour's advance notification that the airstrikes were about to occur through a message conveyed to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, U.S. officials said. The officials had no details on what kind of Russian aircraft conducted the airstrike in the vicinity of Homs, or what the Russians were targeting. The officials also said it appeared Russia had also conducted airstrikes north of the town of Hama, which lies to the north of Homs.


Russia begins airstrikes in Syria, but West disputes targets

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 03:05 PM PDT

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, listen to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, before a bilateral meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York, Monday, Sept. 28, 2015. (Mikhail Klimentyev, RIA-Novosti, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)MOSCOW (AP) — Russia launched airstrikes Wednesday in Syria, sharply escalating Moscow's role in the conflict but also raising questions about whether its intent is fighting Islamic State militants or protecting longtime ally, President Bashar Assad.


Suspect in Danish police stabbing was 'potential radical': spy agency

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 03:00 PM PDT

A policeman stands in a field near Birkerod, Denmark on September 29, 2015 during a search for a man who stabbed a policeman at the country's largest reception centre for asylum seekersA Palestinian man suspected of seriously wounding a Danish policeman in a stabbing attack was known to authorities as possibly mentally unstable and a potential radical Islamist, the intelligence service said Wednesday. The suspect, a stateless Palestinian 25-year-old who was about to be deported from Denmark, was arrested after a manhunt on Tuesday on suspicion of stabbing a policeman at the country's largest reception centre for asylum seekers. The officer was critically wounded after being stabbed three times in the stomach at the Center Sandholm northwest of Copenhagen, but after surgery his condition was stable.


Russia enters Syria war with air strikes

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 02:51 PM PDT

A video grab made on September 30, 2015 shows an image made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in SyriaRussia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria on Wednesday, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in several provinces along with Syrian government aircraft as President Vladimir Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat the Islamic State group in Syria. Both Moscow and Damascus presented the operation as targeting IS militants, with a Syrian security source saying "terrorist positions" were hit in Hama and Homs provinces, and that Russia aided government air strikes in Latakia province, the regime's stronghold.


Why is Finland a top destination for Iraqi asylum-seekers?

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 01:28 PM PDT

Finland is working to convince asylum-seekers that it is no more appealing than the rest of Europe after it emerged as the top destination for Iraqi refugees behind Germany. Iraqis make up a small part of Europe's refugees, but people like Firas Afandi, an electrical engineer from Iraq, made the rugged 25-day journey across Europe, confident that Finland would welcome him, reported the Associated Press. Immigration officials realized in September that although Finland had been granting automatic asylum to refugees from certain parts of Iraq, other European Unions nations were not, reported the Finnish news site Uutiset.

Iraqi Kurds drive Islamic State out of villages

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 01:17 PM PDT

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq drove the Islamic State group from more than 140 sq. kilometers (54 sq. miles) of territory near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and cleared part of a major highway Wednesday.

Russia begins Syria air strikes as war enters volatile new phase

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 01:00 PM PDT

Russian President Putin chairs meeting with members of Security Council at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside MoscowBy Andrew Osborn and Phil Stewart MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia launched air strikes in Syria on Wednesday in the Kremlin's biggest Middle East intervention in decades, but Moscow's assertion that it had hit Islamic State was immediately disputed by the United States and rebels on the ground. The air strikes plunged the four-year-old civil war in Syria into a volatile new phase as President Vladimir Putin moved forcefully to assert Russian influence in the unstable region. The attacks also raised the dangerous specter of Washington and Moscow running air strikes concurrently and in the same region, but without coordination.


Turkish workers kidnapped in Iraq return home

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 12:48 PM PDT

Faruk Kaymakci, the Turkish ambassador to Iraq, and Turkish workers stand in front of the Turkish embassy in Baghdad,ANKARA/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Sixteen Turkish workers abducted by militants in Iraq arrived back in Turkey to emotional scenes on Wednesday night after more than a month in captivity. The men were snatched on Sept. 2 from a stadium they were building on the outskirts of Baghdad, apparently by an armed group that used a familiar Shi'ite Muslim slogan and threatened to attack Turkish interests in Iraq if its demands were not met. The families of the hostages waved Turkish flags as the men, many in tears, disembarked from the plane.


Amid Taliban gains, US military favors longer presence

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 12:38 PM PDT

General John F. Campbell, commander of international forces in Afghanistan, speaks during a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, May 23, 2015. Campbell said the Islamic State group is actively recruiting in Afghanistan but is not yet operational there. Campbell added that the group's sophisticated social media campaign is attracting Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan who are disgruntled with the lack of progress in more than 10 years of fighting to overthrow the Kabul government. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)WASHINGTON (AP) — With the Taliban gaining new ground, U.S. military commanders are arguing for keeping at least a few thousand American troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016, a move that would mark a departure from President Barack Obama's current policy.


First wave of cold weather hits migrants hard in Balkans

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 12:25 PM PDT

A migrant child stands on a muddy road near the border line between Serbia and Croatia, near the village of Berkasovo, about 100 km west from Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015. Refugees from countries such as Syria, Iraq and Eritrea are used to warm climate without sudden weather changes. The majority now passing through the Balkans started their months-long journeys in the summer, unaware it would take so long to reach Western Europe. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)BERKASOVO, Serbia (AP) — Afghan asylum-seeker Asina Ansari stood ankle-deep in mud on the border between Serbia and Croatia, clutching her feverish and shivering 2-year-old son Mohtar in a blanket.


Russia, U.S. face off at U.N. over parallel Syria air campaigns

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 12:13 PM PDT

By Denis Dyomkin and Arshad Mohammed UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia and the United States faced off at the United Nations on Wednesday over parallel air campaigns against Islamic State in Syria, with both sides claiming legitimacy for their actions but differing over the role of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Hours after Russian launched its first air strikes, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Security Council meeting that Moscow would liaise with the U.S.-led coalition of Western allies and regional states that has been flying missions for a year.

Europe's migrant crisis in the UN spotlight

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 12:03 PM PDT

A man kisses his child as refugees and migrants arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey on September 30, 2015Europe's migrant crisis took center stage at the United Nations on Wednesday with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon seeking to muster a global response to the worst refugee crisis since World War II. The UN chief opened the UN General Assembly in New York this week with a call to Europe "to do more" amid sharp divisions between the continent's leaders on how to respond to the migrant flow. Europe's handling of the crisis has come into focus amid an intense diplomatic debate over the way forward to end the four-year war in Syria, which has driven four million people from their homes.


The Latest: Syria opposition says Russia targets civilians

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 11:49 AM PDT

In this image made from video provided by Homs Media Centre, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, smoke rises after airstrikes by military jets in Talbiseh of the Homs province, western Syria, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015. Russian military jets carried out airstrikes in Syria for the first time on Wednesday, targeting what Moscow said were Islamic State positions. U.S. officials and others cast doubt on that claim, saying the Russians appeared to be attacking opposition groups fighting Syrian government forces. (Homs Media Centre via AP)MOSCOW (AP) — The latest developments as Russia and other nations counter Islamic State militants in Syria. All times local:


16 Turkish hostages freed in Iraq arrive back home

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 11:37 AM PDT

Ankara's ambassador in Baghdad, Faruk Kaymakci (L), stands next to Turkish workers who were kidnapped in Iraq nearly a month ago, in front of Turkey's embassy in the Iraqi capital on September 30, 2015Sixteen Turkish workers who had been kidnapped in Iraq nearly a month ago were freed on Wednesday and flew back home where they were welcomed by their tearful families. A Turkish plane carrying the workers from the Iraqi capital Baghdad landed at an Ankara airport, where they were embraced by their relatives. The men were among 18 employees of major Turkish construction firm Nurol Insaat abducted on September 2 in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad, where they were working on a football stadium project.


Iraq Kurds take back land from IS jihadists

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 11:33 AM PDT

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters clear the road after they reportedly captured several villages from Islamic State group jihadists on the outskirts of Kirkuk on September 30, 2015A ground offensive led by 3,500 Iraqi Kurdish forces Wednesday recaptured several villages west of the city of Kirkuk from the Islamic State group, officials said. Backed by warplanes from the US-led coalition, the fourth operation of its kind in the Kirkuk area left at least 16 Kurdish peshmerga forces and dozens of IS fighters dead. "The offensive, launched from three fronts west of Kirkuk, included approximately 3,500 peshmerga," the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) said in a statement.


Russia says its air strikes against Islamic State will not be extended to Iraq

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 11:14 AM PDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's fledgling air campaign against Islamic State in Syria will not be extended to Iraq and Russian jets are not using Iraq's airspace to carry out strikes inside Syria, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. Peskov also said Iraq had not asked Moscow to conduct air strikes against Islamist militants on Iraqi territory. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, Lidia Kelly and Andrew Osborn; Writing by Lidia Kelly and Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

What are countries outside the EU doing to help Syrian refugees?

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 10:57 AM PDT

According to the latest count from the United Nations, 4.1 million Syrians are registered as refugees. While countries in the European Union have strained to accommodate the refugees, countries outside of Europe have stepped up to offer help. Labor law loopholes and expired hajj visas make counting refugees in the Gulf states difficult, but "Saudi Arabia says it has taken in more than 2.5 million Syrians since the outbreak of the conflict, while the United Arab Emirates says it has granted residency permits to 100,000 Syrians," The Christian Science Monitor reported earlier this month.

Russia says ready to liaise with U.S. coalition on Syria strikes

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 10:05 AM PDT

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia is ready to open "standing channels of communication" with the U.S.-led coalition bombing Islamic State militants in Syria in a bid to boost the fight against "terrorist groups," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday. Russia said it had launched air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria on Wednesday, an assertion that was disputed by the United States and France, which suspect Moscow of shoring up support for President Bashar al-Assad against other opposition groups in the civil war.

Republican-led Senate panel opens review of Syria intelligence

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 10:00 AM PDT

U.S. Senator Johnson speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in WashingtonA U.S. Senate committee said on Wednesday it has begun a review of Obama administration intelligence assessments related to the fight against Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria, citing news reports that those assessments were skewed to be too optimistic. Republican Senators Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Joni Ernst, a committee member, sent letters to James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, and Jon Rymer, the Department of Defense Inspector General, expressing concerns about the assessments.


Fleeing Iraqi Christians find new life in Lourdes

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 09:38 AM PDT

By Matthias Blamont LOURDES, France (Reuters) - For Iraqi Christians fleeing Islamic State militants in their native land reaching Lourdes, the French town long synonymous with miraculous religious visions, feels little short of a modern-day miracle. Arriving in the town where peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous is said to have had visions of the Virgin Mary in 1858, the refugees have also experienced real Christian charity through the efforts of some dedicated, Lourdes-based compatriots, an ex-soldier and the local parish priest. It is the town of the Virgin Mary, giving us our faith," said one of the refugees, Youssif, 48, a former teacher of the Aramaic and Syriac languages.

Russia kicks off airstrike campaign in Syria

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 09:27 AM PDT

Russia has carried out its first airstrikes in Syria, US officials confirm. According to Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, Sergei B. Ivanov, the attack was a response to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad's request for military assistance. Analysts say Russia's move could be more than just an intervention against IS, as Homs isn't currently under the terrorist group's control.

Kurds take ground from Islamic State in north Iraq

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 09:22 AM PDT

By Isabel Coles ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish forces said they drove Islamic State militants out of villages near the oil city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Wednesday, in an offensive backed by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition. The assault consolidated their control over Kirkuk and brought the peshmerga, the military forces of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, closer to the insurgents' bastion of Hawijah, around 55 km (34 miles) west of Kirkuk. Around 3,500 peshmerga took part in the operation beginning early on Wednesday southwest of Kirkuk, the Kurdistan region's security council said in a statement.

Former Secretaries of Defense to Keynote TMA Chicago/Midwest's Premier Event

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 09:21 AM PDT

Robert Gates served as the 22nd Secretary of Defense (2006 - 2011) and is the only secretary of defense in U.S. history to be asked to remain in that office by a newly elected president. Secretary Gates has been awarded the National Security Medal, the Presidential Citizens Medal, has twice received the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, and has three times received the CIA's highest award, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.

Labour grassroots members demand U.N. backing for Syria air strikes

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 09:15 AM PDT

Britain's shadow Chancellor of the exchequer John McDonnell speaks on stage at the annual Labour Party Conference in Brighton, southern BritainBritain's Labour lawmakers should not support air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria without United Nations authorisation, party members voted on Wednesday. Labour's grassroots members voted at the party's annual conference in favour of making any support for the government's push to extend the air strikes conditional on several points, including "clear and unambiguous authorisation". The vote is not binding on lawmakers, many of whom favour extending air strikes.


Sinclair stations begin show with Attkisson

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 09:14 AM PDT

FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2015 file photo, reporter Sharyl Attkisson testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the confirmation of President Barack Obama's nomination of Loretta Lynch to be attorney general, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Attkisson, a former CBS News reporter, will host a new Sunday morning show, "Full Measure" produced by the Sinclair Television Group. She wrote a book, "Stonewalled," about the Obama administration obstructing her work, and a general decline in investigative reporting. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)NEW YORK (AP) — Former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson promises her new Sinclair Television show will be different than typical Sunday morning public affairs programs, but she couldn't resist having Donald Trump as her first guest.


Finland shelves decisions on Iraqi and Somali asylum claims

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 09:07 AM PDT

Iraqi asylum seekers walk in a refugee center in LahtiFinland said on Wednesday it has suspended decision-making on asylum claims by Iraqis and Somalis while it continues to assess the security situation in the two countries. The Finnish Immigration Service said it might tighten guidelines for granting people asylum after the assessment is completed within a couple of weeks, indicating that some claims may not be based on genuine fear of war or persecution. The suspension concerns only some tens of asylum seekers whose claim would have been decided now, said Jaana Vuorio, the head of the Nordic country's immigration service.


Kremlin launches airstrikes in Syria, despite Russian public's reluctance

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 08:37 AM PDT

Russia's parliament unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the use of force in Syria Wednesday morning, even as the first Russian-piloted warplanes were reportedly already going into action near the Syrian city of Homs. The scene in Russia's parliament – which gave legal cover to an action the Kremlin had already decided on – was strongly reminiscent of the use-of-force resolution granted Mr. Putin in early March of last year to send Russian forces into Ukraine – several days after the operation had actually begun. In that case official Moscow fibbed volubly about the role of Russian special forces in taking over Crimea until Putin admitted it about a month later.

Western-backed Syrian rebel group says hit by Russian air strikes

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 08:26 AM PDT

By Dasha Afanasieva ANKARA (Reuters) - Russian air strikes in northwest Syria which Moscow said targeted Islamic State fighters hit a rebel group supported by Western opponents of President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday, wounding eight, the group's commander said. "The northern countryside of Hama has no presence of ISIS at all and is under the control of the Free Syrian Army," Major Jamil al-Saleh, who defected from the Syrian army in 2012, told Reuters via Skype. Russia's defense ministry said it launched air strikes against Islamic State in Syria after President Vladimir Putin secured his parliament's unanimous backing to intervene to prop up Kremlin's closest Middle East ally.

The forces fighting Syria's war

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 07:40 AM PDT

An image grab taken from a video released on March 17, 2014 by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's al-Furqan Media allegedly shows ISIL fighters raising their weapons with the Jihadist flag at an undisclosed locationThe Russian air strikes in Syria add yet another element to a bloody and complex war sparked by anti-government protests that erupted in March 2011. It now controls about a third of Syrian territory, with the rest divided among Islamic State jihadists, Al-Qaeda-linked groups, mainstream rebels and Kurdish forces. The most powerful of these is Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah, which experts say has sent between 5,000 and 8,000 fighters to Syria.


Labour ready to support Syria air strikes, with conditions

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 07:21 AM PDT

Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado GR4 fighter jets prepare to take off at the Akrotiri British RAF airbase near the Cypriot port city of Limassol on September 27, 2014The Labour Party on Wednesday said it was open to the possibility of Britain joining air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria on condition of clear approval by the United Nations. The party's annual conference approved, by a near unanimous show of hands, a motion on British participation in the air campaign. The move threatens embarrassment for Labour's new radical leftist leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is a co-founder of the Stop the War coalition, which campaigned against the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and has opposed any British participation in Syria.


16 Turkish workers kidnapped in Iraq are released

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 07:02 AM PDT

Released Turkish workers attend a press conference held by Turkish Ambassador to Iraq, Faruk Kaymakci, left, at Turkish embassy, Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015. Sixteen Turkish workers kidnapped from a construction site in Baghdad and held for nearly a month were released on Wednesday, Turkey's prime minister and Iraqi officials said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)BAGHDAD (AP) — Sixteen Turkish workers kidnapped from a construction site in Baghdad and held for nearly a month were released on Wednesday, Turkey's prime minister and Iraqi officials said.


Russian strikes do not alter coalition anti-IS mission: US

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 07:02 AM PDT

Russia launched its first air strikes in Syria on Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin won parliamentary permission to use force abroad, the United States said. A US official said the strike was near the city of Homs in what is Moscow's first engagement in a distant theatre of war since the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Russia's deepening engagement in Syria comes as Putin and US President Barack Obama push rival plans on ways to defeat the Islamic State group in Syria and on the future role of the country's embattled leader Bashar al-Assad.

Russian official told U.S. embassy in Baghdad about Syria strikes: State Department

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 06:34 AM PDT

A Russian official in Baghdad told U.S. Embassy personnel that Russian military aircraft would begin flying missions on Wednesday over Syria against Islamic State forces, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said. In a statement, Kirby added that the Russian official, who he did not name, requested that U.S. aircraft avoid Syrian air space during the Russian air missions. "The U.S.-led coalition will continue to fly missions over Iraq and Syria as planned and in support of our international mission to degrade and destroy ISIL," Kirby added, using an acronym for Islamic State.

Syria's Assad welcomes Russian decision on sending troops

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 06:31 AM PDT

FILE - In this Thursday Dec. 9, 2010 file photo, Syria President Bashar al-Assad addresses reporters following his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France. Paris prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into French government accusations that Syrian President Bashar Assad's government has committed crimes against humanity. The prosecutor's office said Wednesday the investigation is based on photos taken by a former Syrian officer who fled in 2013 and focuses on atrocities allegedly committed between 2011 and 2013. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere, File)DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad welcomed Wednesday's decision by Russia to send troops to his war-torn country, saying the military support from Moscow is the result of a Damascus request.


Singapore holds 2 for allegedly trying to join Islamic State

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 06:15 AM PDT

SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore's government said Wednesday that it has been holding two of its citizens since August for attempting to make their way to Syria to join the Islamic State group.

Ready Pac Foods To Provide Job Opportunities For Refugees

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 05:35 AM PDT

IRWINDALE, Calif., Sept. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ready Pac Foods, Inc. opens its employment doors for refugees relocating to the United States from the current crisis in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The fresh foods company has committed to train and hire refugees from among the 10,000 Syrian refugees expected from the recent White House announcement.As part of the training, Ready Pac Foods will provide practical resources and expertise to a number of positions within its manufacturing business. Additionally, Ready Pac Foods will work to create long-term jobs for those in need. ...

Finland suddenly a top choice for Iraqi asylum-seekers

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 05:07 AM PDT

In this photo taken Thursday, Sept. 18, 2015, refugees arrive in Tornio, northwestern Finland. Finland, on the northeastern frontier of the EU with vast expanses of forests and reindeer roaming the wilds of Lapland, with long, dark, cold winters, has not been a prime destination for population flows in Europe, but now hundreds of people are crossing daily from neighboring Sweden after traveling through that country by train or bus. (Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva via AP) FINLAND OUT, NO SALESHELSINKI (AP) — After 25 days of winding through Europe on buses, trains, cars, a motorcycle and even a horse cart, Firas Afandi reached the end of the line: Finland.


France opens probe into Assad regime for crimes against humanity

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 04:45 AM PDT

A woman reacts as she looks at a gruesome collection of images of dead bodies taken by a photographer, who has been identified by the code name "Caesar," at the United Nations Headquarters in New YorkFrance has launched an inquiry into Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime for alleged crimes against humanity, saying it was forced to act in the face of "systematic cruelty". The announcement Wednesday came after world powers sparred at the United Nations over the embattled Syrian leader's fate. A judicial source told AFP that prosecutors in Paris, with the backing of the foreign ministry, had opened a preliminary inquiry on September 15 into alleged crimes committed by the Syrian government between 2011 and 2013.


Syria confirms Assad asked Putin for military aid

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 04:42 AM PDT

The US and its allies blame embattled leader Bashar al-Assad Assad for the mayhem in Syria but have refused to put boots on the ground, despite the chaos after four years of intense bloodshedSyrian President Bashar al-Assad has requested military assistance from Russia in a letter to President Vladimir Putin, Damascus confirmed on Wednesday. "The Russian air force was dispatched to Syria after a request from the Syrian state via a letter by President Assad to President Putin that includes an invitation to send the Russian air force as part of President Putin's initiative to fight terrorism," the Syrian leader's office said in a statement.


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