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Armenia Says Turkey Sent 4,000 Syrian Fighters to Azerbaijan amid Fighting

Footage released by Armenian Defense Ministry on Sunday, shows its army destroying Azerbaijani tanks. (AP)
Footage released by Armenian Defense Ministry on Sunday, shows its army destroying Azerbaijani tanks. (AP)
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Armenia Says Turkey Sent 4,000 Syrian Fighters to Azerbaijan amid Fighting

Footage released by Armenian Defense Ministry on Sunday, shows its army destroying Azerbaijani tanks. (AP)
Footage released by Armenian Defense Ministry on Sunday, shows its army destroying Azerbaijani tanks. (AP)

Armenia’s ambassador to Russia said on Monday that Turkey had sent around 4,000 fighters from northern Syria to Azerbaijan amid fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Interfax news agency reported.

The ambassador said the fighters were taking part in fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region inside Azerbaijan that is run by ethnic Armenians, the RIA news agency reported.

Turkey is a close ally of Azerbaijan.

The Armenian foreign ministry also accused Turkey on Monday of providing direct military support for Azerbaijan.

In a statement, it said Turkey had a “direct presence on the ground”. It said Turkish military experts “are fighting side by side” with Azerbaijan, which it said was also using Turkish weapons including drones and warplanes.

Azerbaijan denied the allegations. There was no immediate reaction from Turkey.

Armenian and Azeri forces exchanged fierce fire for a second day on Monday, with the sides accusing each other of using heavy artillery amid reports of at least 21 deaths and hundreds of people being wounded.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday Armenia must immediately withdraw from territory he said it was occupying in Azerbaijan, and it was time to end a crisis over the breakaway region.

“It is time to end the crisis in the region, which started with the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh. The region will once again see peace after Armenia immediately withdraws from the Azeri lands it is occupying,” Erdogan told an event in Istanbul.

He said the Minsk group - which is led by Russia, France and the United States and mediates between Armenia and Azerbaijan - had failed to solve the issue for almost 30 years.

Azerbaijan “had to take matters into its own hands whether it likes it or not,” Erdogan said. “Turkey will continue to stand with...Azerbaijan with all its resources and heart.”

He did not directly address whether Turkey was currently playing an active role in the conflict.

Earlier, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Armenia must send back foreign “mercenaries and terrorists” to achieve stability in region.

The clashes, the heaviest since 2016, have rekindled concern over stability in the South Caucasus region, a corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas to world markets.

The two former Soviet republics have clashed periodically in a decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan’s president declared a partial military mobilization, and his foreign minister said six Azeri civilians had been killed and 19 injured since the fighting began. Interfax news agency quoted an Armenian defense ministry representative as saying 200 Armenians had been wounded.

Nagorno-Karabakh reported that 15 more of its soldiers had been killed. It had said on Sunday 16 of its servicemen had been killed and more than 100 wounded after Azerbaijan launched an air and artillery attack.

Nagorno-Karabakh also said it had recovered some territory that it had lost control of on Sunday, and said Azerbaijan had been using heavy artillery to shell areas.

Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said Armenian forces were shelling the town of Terter.

China and Russia urged both sides to show restraint.

Under international law, Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized as part of Azerbaijan. But the ethnic Armenians who make up the vast majority of the population reject Azeri rule.

They have run their own affairs, with support from Armenia, since Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan in a conflict that erupted as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Although a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, after thousands of people were killed and many more displaced, Azerbaijan and Armenia frequently accuse each other of attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the separate Azeri-Armenian frontier.

Pipelines shipping Caspian oil and natural gas from Azerbaijan to the world pass close to Nagorno-Karabakh.

At least 200 people were killed in a flare-up of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in April 2016. At least 16 people were killed in clashes in July.

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World

China Reportedly Hacked Email Systems of US Congressional Committee Staffers

FILED - 04 March 2017, United Kingdom, London: A woman's hand presses a key of a laptop keyboard. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/dpa
FILED - 04 March 2017, United Kingdom, London: A woman's hand presses a key of a laptop keyboard. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/dpa
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China Reportedly Hacked Email Systems of US Congressional Committee Staffers

FILED - 04 March 2017, United Kingdom, London: A woman's hand presses a key of a laptop keyboard. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/dpa
FILED - 04 March 2017, United Kingdom, London: A woman's hand presses a key of a laptop keyboard. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/dpa

A Chinese hacking group has compromised emails used by staff members of powerful committees in the US House of Representatives, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The group, nicknamed Salt Typhoon, accessed email systems used by some staffers on the House China committee as well as aides on panels covering foreign affairs, intelligence and the armed services, the report said. It did not identify which specific staffers were targeted.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Chinese Embassy spokesman ⁠Liu Pengyu condemned what he called "unfounded speculation and accusations," while the Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment.

The White House and the offices of the four committees reportedly targeted in the surveillance sweep did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The FT cited a person familiar with the campaign as saying it was unclear whether the attackers ⁠had accessed lawmakers' emails in the intrusions, which were detected in December.

US lawmakers and their aides, especially those that oversee America's sprawling military and intelligence agencies, have long been top targets for cyberespionage and reports of hacks or attempted hacks have surfaced periodically.

In November, the Senate Sergeant at Arms notified multiple congressional offices of a "cyber incident," where hackers may have accessed communications between the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which provides key financial research data to lawmakers, and some Senate offices.

In 2023, the Washington Post reported that two senior ⁠US lawmakers were among the targets of a Vietnam-linked hacking operation.

The Salt Typhoon hackers, in particular, have long rattled the US intelligence community. The spies - alleged to be working for Chinese intelligence - stand accused of gathering data on wide swathes of Americans' telephone communications and intercepted conversations, including those between prominent US politicians and government officials.

Beijing has repeatedly denied being behind the spying.

Early last year, the US imposed sanctions on alleged hacker Yin Kecheng and cybersecurity company Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology, accusing both of being involved in Salt Typhoon.

World

US Will Exit Dozens of International Organizations as it Further Retreats from Global Cooperation

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump gestures as he addresses House Republicans at their annual issues conference retreat, at the Kennedy Center, renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center by the Trump-appointed board of directors, in Washington, D.C., US, January 6, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photofu.
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump gestures as he addresses House Republicans at their annual issues conference retreat, at the Kennedy Center, renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center by the Trump-appointed board of directors, in Washington, D.C., US, January 6, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photofu.
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US Will Exit Dozens of International Organizations as it Further Retreats from Global Cooperation

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump gestures as he addresses House Republicans at their annual issues conference retreat, at the Kennedy Center, renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center by the Trump-appointed board of directors, in Washington, D.C., US, January 6, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photofu.
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump gestures as he addresses House Republicans at their annual issues conference retreat, at the Kennedy Center, renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center by the Trump-appointed board of directors, in Washington, D.C., US, January 6, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photofu.

The Trump administration will withdraw from dozens of international organizations, including the UN's population agency and the UN treaty that establishes international climate negotiations, as the US further retreats from global cooperation.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order suspending US support for 66 organizations, agencies and commissions following his instructions for his administration to review participation in and funding for all international organizations, including those affiliated with the United Nations, according to a White House statement on social media.

Most of the targets are UN-related agencies, commissions and advisory panels that focus on climate, labor and other issues that the Trump administration has categorized as catering to diversity and “woke” initiatives, according to a partial list obtained by The Associated Press.

“The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms, and general prosperity,” the State Department said in a statement.

Trump's decision to withdraw from organizations that foster cooperation among nations to address global challenges comes as his administration has launched military efforts or issued threats that have rattled allies and adversaries alike, including capturing autocratic Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and indicating an intention to take over Greenland.

This is the latest US withdrawal from global agencies The administration previously suspended support from agencies like the World Health Organization, the UN for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, the UN Human Rights Council and the UN cultural agency UNESCO as it has taken a larger, a-la-carte approach to paying its dues to the world body, picking which operations and agencies they believe align with Trump’s agenda and those which no longer serve US interests.

“I think what we’re seeing is the crystallization of the US approach to multilateralism, which is ‘my way or the highway,’” said Daniel Forti, head of UN affairs at the International Crisis Group. “It's a very clear vision of wanting international cooperation on Washington’s own terms.”

It has marked a major shift from how previous administrations — both Republican and Democratic — have dealt with the UN, and it has forced the world body, already undergoing its own internal reckoning, to respond with a series of staffing and program cuts.

Many independent nongovernmental agencies — some that work with the United Nations — have cited many project closures because of the US administration’s decision last year to slash foreign assistance through the US Agency for International Development, or USAID.

Despite the massive shift, the US officials, including Trump himself, say they have seen the potential of the UN and want to instead focus taxpayer money on expanding American influence in many of the standard-setting UN initiatives where there is competition with China, like the International Telecommunications Union, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization.

The global organizations from which the US is departing The withdrawal from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, is the latest effort by Trump and his allies to distance the US from international organizations focused on climate and addressing climate change.

UNFCC, the 1992 agreement between 198 countries to financially support climate change activities in developing countries, is the underlying treaty for the landmark Paris climate agreement. Trump — who calls climate change a hoax — withdrew from that agreement soon after reclaiming the White House.

Mainstream scientists say climate change is behind increasing instances of deadly and costly extreme weather, including flooding, droughts, wildfires, intense rainfall events and dangerous heat.

The US withdrawal could hinder global efforts to curb greenhouse gases because it “gives other nations the excuse to delay their own actions and commitments,” said Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that tracks countries’ carbon dioxide emissions.

It also will be difficult to achieve meaningful progress on climate change without cooperation from the US, one of the world’s largest emitters and economies, experts said.

The UN's population agency, which provides sexual and reproductive health across the world, has long been a lightning rod for Republican opposition and Trump himself cut funding for the agency during his first term in office. He and other GOP officials have accused the agency of participating in “coercive abortion practices” in countries like China.

When President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, he restored funding for the agency. A State Department review conducted the following year found no evidence to support these claims.

Other organizations and agencies that the US will quit include the Carbon Free Energy Compact, the United Nations University, the International Cotton Advisory Committee, the International Tropical Timber Organization, the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, the Pan-American Institute for Geography and History, the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies and the International Lead and Zinc Study Group.

The State Department said additional reviews are ongoing.

World

Zelenskiy Seeks New Trump Meeting as Peace Negotiators Tackle Land Issue

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives for a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides at the presidential palace in Nicosia, , Cyprus, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (Petros Karadjias/Pool via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives for a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides at the presidential palace in Nicosia, , Cyprus, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (Petros Karadjias/Pool via Reuters)
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Zelenskiy Seeks New Trump Meeting as Peace Negotiators Tackle Land Issue

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives for a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides at the presidential palace in Nicosia, , Cyprus, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (Petros Karadjias/Pool via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives for a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides at the presidential palace in Nicosia, , Cyprus, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (Petros Karadjias/Pool via Reuters)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is seeking a new meeting with US President Donald Trump as their officials revisited the two most problematic issues in peace talks aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine.

Kyiv is under US pressure to secure peace quickly but wants security guarantees from allies and is pushing back on Russian demands to cede its eastern Donetsk region and give up control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Speaking to reporters over WhatsApp on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said he wanted to meet Trump again soon to gauge his openness to a Ukrainian proposal that Washington provide security guarantees for more than 15 years in the event of ‌a ceasefire.

He ‌also urged Trump to step up pressure on Russia, which ‌has been ⁠cool on ‌the US-backed peace push and is continuing its massive air attacks on Ukrainian cities and the country's energy grid.

"The Americans, in my view, are being productive right now; we have good results... They need to put pressure on Russia. They have the tools, and they know how to use them," Zelenskiy said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suggestion of a new meeting between Zelenskiy and Trump.

Citing the US operation to seize Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Zelenskiy suggested ⁠Washington could similarly move against Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a Vladimir Putin ally whose troops became known for their brutality in ‌Ukraine.

"Maybe then Putin would see it and think twice," he ‍said.

Talks in Paris this week produced ‍commitments from Kyiv's allies to back up a ceasefire with guarantees such as a multinational troop ‍presence.

But Zelenskiy said the expression of "political will" had yet to be translated into legally binding pledges backed by national parliaments.

MAJOR STUMBLING BLOCKS

Zelenskiy spoke as US and Ukrainian officials in Paris discussed the matter of territory and the fate of the Zaporizhzhia plant , Europe's largest nuclear facility, which he described as the two thorniest issues in the talks.

Kyiv has refused to pull out of the industrialized Donetsk region, which Russia has failed to seize entirely despite occupying wide swathes of it.

⁠Zelenskiy has said the US has floated the idea of a free economic zone there if Ukraine withdraws from the parts of the region that it still controls.

On Tuesday, US and Ukrainian officials had already talked through "some ideas" to address the issue of territory. White House special envoy Steve Witkoff said "land options" had been discussed and that he hoped for compromise to be reached.

Any compromises on land should be put to a referendum for Ukrainians, Zelenskiy has previously said. According to an opinion poll last month, around three-quarters of Ukrainians are prepared for a deal that would freeze the current front line, but oppose ceding territory.

The US has also proposed trilateral operation of the Zaporizhzhia plant, which Moscow captured in 2022 and connected to its own power grid, with an American chief manager, ‌Zelenskiy said last month.

Kyiv has instead proposed joint Ukrainian-American use of the plant, according to Zelenskiy, with the US itself determining how to use 50% of the energy produced.