Russia Raids Camps on Syrian-Turkish Border

Displaced citizens during the Russian raids north of Syria, near the Turkish border (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Displaced citizens during the Russian raids north of Syria, near the Turkish border (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Russia Raids Camps on Syrian-Turkish Border

Displaced citizens during the Russian raids north of Syria, near the Turkish border (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Displaced citizens during the Russian raids north of Syria, near the Turkish border (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Russian jets raided areas in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, including Syrian displacements camps and former military headquarters of the armed Syrian opposition.

Anas Kaddour, an official at the Idlib News Center, reported that the Russian warplanes carried out on Saturday eight airstrikes, with high-explosive missiles on Salwa and Qah, north of Idlib, which are about six kilometers from the Turkish border.

He indicated that the area contains more than 14 camps for displaced persons, noting that shrapnel from one of the missiles fell on a tent, injuring a child.

Kaddour also announced that the Russian fighters raided a mountain hill near the Salwa area, hosting the former headquarters of the Turkish-backed Syrian armed opposition factions without causing any casualties.

Russia has expanded its bombing targets to include camp areas, housing thousands of displaced people from different regions of Syria who left their homes due to military operations by Russia and the regime.

Opposition activist Samer al-Amin said that the Russian airstrikes over areas in northern Syria near the Turkish border aim to provoke Ankara, forcing it to make concessions.

He also noted that these attacks against the military headquarters of Turkey-backed factions, vital centers in cities within the de-escalation zone, and refugee camps on the border show that Ankara is incapable of preventing attacks against civilians within its areas of influence.

He pointed out that 45 air raids were executed over the de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria during October.

Amin also reported that the regime forces and Iranian-backed militias carried out over 190 ground attacks in various areas of the Idlib governorate, killing 21 civilians, including seven children, six during the Jericho massacre, and a child in the attack over the “widows’ camp,” north of Idlib.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that the regime forces and Iranian militias exchanged shelling with the opposition factions at the axes of the al-Ruwaiha area, south of Idlib, accompanied by Russian reconnaissance.

SOHR reported an exchange of shelling in the Idlib countryside with heavy weaponry, where Turkish artillery units stationed in the east of Sermin city shot regime positions in Saraqib.

Regime forces responded by shelling the perimeter of a Turkish post in Saan village in western Saraqib city.

Furthermore, ISIS carried out three sudden attacks targeting members of the Iraqi Hezbollah, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and groups affiliated with the regime forces in the eastern countryside of Hama. The attack resulted in the death of nine members and the injury of several others.

A source told Asharq Al-Awsat that a sudden attack by groups affiliated with ISIS on Friday evening targeted a military site of the Iraqi Hezbollah militia near the Uqayribat and Hammadi el-Omr area, killing four of its members and wounding others.

He also indicated that two other separate ISIS attacks targeted military vehicles belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah and other vehicles belonging to the regime forces near Palmyra, east of Homs.

Violent clashes erupted between the two, during which five were killed, and two cars were destroyed.

He pointed out that Lebanese Hezbollah's military vehicles were targeted while transporting a number of its members, vehicles, and ammunition from the Sukhna area, east of Palmyra, towards Jabal al-Qalamoun on the Syrian-Lebanese border.



FM: Iraq Wants Iran-backed Factions to Lay Down Weapons

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein speaks during an interview in London, Britain, January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Marissa Davison
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein speaks during an interview in London, Britain, January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Marissa Davison
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FM: Iraq Wants Iran-backed Factions to Lay Down Weapons

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein speaks during an interview in London, Britain, January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Marissa Davison
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein speaks during an interview in London, Britain, January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Marissa Davison

Iraq is trying to convince powerful armed factions in the country that have fought US forces and fired rockets and drones at Israel to lay down their weapons or join official security forces, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said.

The push comes with a backdrop of seismic shifts in the Middle East that have seen Iran's armed allies in Gaza and Lebanon heavily degraded and Syria's government overthrown.

The incoming US Trump administration promises to pile more pressure on Tehran, which has long backed a number of political parties and an array of armed factions in Iraq.

Some Baghdad officials are concerned the status quo there may be upended next, but Hussein played this down in an interview with Reuters during an official visit to London.

"We don't think that Iraq is the next," Hussein said.

The government was in talks to rein in the groups while continuing to walk the tightrope between its ties to both Washington and Tehran, he said.
"Two or three years ago it was impossible to discuss this topic in our society," he said.

But now, having armed groups functioning outside the state was not acceptable.

"Many political leaders, many political parties started to raise a discussion, and I hope that we can convince the leaders of these groups to lay down their arms, and then to be part of the armed forces under the responsibility of the government," Hussein said.

Iraq's balancing act has been tested by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups' attacks on Israel and on US troops in the country they say are in solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war.

A promised Gaza ceasefire has the government breathing a sigh of relief, though uncertainty prevails over how the country may fare after Donald Trump becomes US president.

During the last Trump presidency, relations grew tense as he ordered the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020, leading to an Iranian ballistic missile attack on an Iraqi base housing US forces.

"We hope that we can continue this good relationship with Washington," Hussein said. "It is too early now to talk about which policy President Trump is going to follow for Iraq or Iran."

Iraq will only be reassured about Syria when it sees an inclusive political process, Hussein said, adding Baghdad would supply the country with grain and oil once it could be assured it would go to all Syrians.
Baghdad was in talks with Syria's foreign minister over a visit to Iraq, he said.

"We are worried about the ISIS, so we are in contact with the Syrian side to talk about these things, but at the end to have a stable Syria means to have the representative of all components in the political process."

Baghdad and Washington last year agreed to end the US-led coalition's work by September 2026 and transition to bilateral military ties, but Hussein said that the developments in Syria would have to be watched.

"In the first place, we are thinking about security of Iraq and stability in Iraq. If there will be a threat to our country, of course it will be a different story," he said.