Moscow Speeds up Training of Syrian Regime Forces

A picture taken during a guided tour with the Russian army shows Syrian elite soldiers taking part in an instruction session with Russian military trainers, on September 24, 2019, at an army base in Yafour, some 30 kilometers west of Damascus. (Maxime POPOV / AFP)
A picture taken during a guided tour with the Russian army shows Syrian elite soldiers taking part in an instruction session with Russian military trainers, on September 24, 2019, at an army base in Yafour, some 30 kilometers west of Damascus. (Maxime POPOV / AFP)
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Moscow Speeds up Training of Syrian Regime Forces

A picture taken during a guided tour with the Russian army shows Syrian elite soldiers taking part in an instruction session with Russian military trainers, on September 24, 2019, at an army base in Yafour, some 30 kilometers west of Damascus. (Maxime POPOV / AFP)
A picture taken during a guided tour with the Russian army shows Syrian elite soldiers taking part in an instruction session with Russian military trainers, on September 24, 2019, at an army base in Yafour, some 30 kilometers west of Damascus. (Maxime POPOV / AFP)

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Samsar discussed Friday the situation in Syria and Libya, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Bogdanov and Samsar met in Moscow at the ambassador’s initiative and tackled the need to work out mutually acceptable solutions to the crises in both Damascus and Tripoli.

"They reaffirmed the need to find mutually acceptable solutions to speed up the peace process in Syria and Libya, based on the existing international laws and UN Security Council resolutions," the ministry’s statement read.

The meeting coincided with reports published by TV channel Zvezda, which is controlled by Russia's defense ministry, saying that Russian military officials are speeding up the training of Syrian regime forces on the use of artillery techniques.

The station said that in the past few days, the Russians carried out the fourth training of regime forces this month.

The channel noted that Russian military experts trained the Syrian Army’s artillery battalion in the ranks of the Fifth Brigade, on the use of radars and artillery detectors.

Other Russian media outlets said that Moscow benefited from the calm that prevailed in the past weeks on the Syrian fronts to train the regime troops.

Last Thursday, the Russian experts conducted trainings on victim rescue exercises, including the evacuation of injured people from a remote mountain site.

During the past two weeks, Russia also trained regime forces on the use of shoulder-mounted missiles and camouflage using smoke bombs.

The situation in Syria was mainly discussed during talks held Thursday between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

Following the meeting, Lavrov said, “Concerning Syria, we and Saudi Arabia have much in common in our approaches to the key problems of settlement. Like our Saudi friends, we want the Syrians to determine their own approaches to national development and decide their destiny without outside interference. This also applies to the assessment of the presence of foreign troops on Syrian territory.”

For his part, the Saudi Minister said Tehran’s proxy militias were obstructing a solution for the war in Syria.



US Aid Cut Threatens Thousands of Sudanese with Starvation and Death

Sudanese women from community kitchens, run by local volunteers, prepare meals for people who are affected by conflict and extreme hunger and are out of reach of international aid efforts. (Reuters)
Sudanese women from community kitchens, run by local volunteers, prepare meals for people who are affected by conflict and extreme hunger and are out of reach of international aid efforts. (Reuters)
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US Aid Cut Threatens Thousands of Sudanese with Starvation and Death

Sudanese women from community kitchens, run by local volunteers, prepare meals for people who are affected by conflict and extreme hunger and are out of reach of international aid efforts. (Reuters)
Sudanese women from community kitchens, run by local volunteers, prepare meals for people who are affected by conflict and extreme hunger and are out of reach of international aid efforts. (Reuters)

The freezing of US humanitarian assistance has forced the closure of almost 80% of the emergency food kitchens set up to help people left destitute by Sudan's civil war, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

Last month, the administration of US President Donald Trump administration abruptly suspended all US aid to determine whether it was “serving US interests,” and moved to begin dismantling the US government's development organization (USAID).

Aid volunteers said the impact of Trump's executive order halting contributions from USAID for 90 days meant more than 1,100 communal kitchens had shut.

The kitchens are run by groups known as emergency response rooms, a grassroots network of activists who stayed on the frontlines to respond to the crises in their neighborhoods.

“People are knocking on the volunteers' doors,” says Duaa Tariq, one of the emergency room organizers. “People are screaming from hunger in the streets.”

Most of the kitchens had closed, she said. Some are trying to get food on credit from local fishermen and farmers, but very soon “we expect to see a lot of people starving.”

It is estimated that nearly two million people struggling to survive have been affected by the US decision.

It is a “huge setback” says Andrea Tracy, a former USAID official who has set up a fund, the Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition, for private donations to the emergency rooms.

The Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition fund will do what it can to plug the gap left by USAID, Tracy said.

The conflict between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people, forced millions from their homes and left many facing famine since it erupted in April 2023.

More than 25 million Sudanese are facing high levels of acute food insecurity across the country, according to UN estimates.