Russia Launches 560 Strikes Against ISIS Positions in Central Syria during November

 A displaced girl in the countryside of Idlib, northwest Syria, on Saturday, November 27, 2021. (AFP)
A displaced girl in the countryside of Idlib, northwest Syria, on Saturday, November 27, 2021. (AFP)
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Russia Launches 560 Strikes Against ISIS Positions in Central Syria during November

 A displaced girl in the countryside of Idlib, northwest Syria, on Saturday, November 27, 2021. (AFP)
A displaced girl in the countryside of Idlib, northwest Syria, on Saturday, November 27, 2021. (AFP)

Russian fighter jets conducted more than 560 strikes on different ISIS positions in Central Syria during November, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

Since March 24, 2019, SOHR documented the killing of at least 1,597 regime soldiers and pro-regime forces, including at least three Russians, and 153 Iranian-backed militiamen.

All were killed in ISIS attacks, bombings and ambushes west of the Euphrates in the deserts of Deir Ezzor, al-Raqqah, Homs, al-Suwaidaa, Hama and Aleppo.

Also, Syria regime forces carried out 490 violations in the de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria during November, said Ahmed al-Omar, the official in charge of documenting the violations in Idlib.

The violations included bombardments (artillery and missile) and airstrikes by Russian fighter jets, which killed 16 civilians, including five children, and injured more than 40 others.

According to opposition-led monitor group and a follow-up unit, the regime forces launched intense artillery and missile shelling targeting several areas in the southern countryside of Idlib.

Three civilians who were seriously injured in the attacks were transferred to hospitals in northern Idlib.

Meanwhile, ISIS carried out an unexpected attack on three Syrian regime and Iranian military sites in the vicinity of Khanasir area, south of Aleppo, activists reported.

The terrorist group used machine guns and mortars, killing six soldiers and wounding several others.

The attack was followed by intense airstrikes carried out by Russian fighter jets, which extended from the Hama desert to the Al-Raqqa and Deir Ezzor deserts in eastern Syria, targeting ISIS-affiliated sites. At least 20 militants were killed and injured during the attacks, according to activists.



Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”