Russia has begun its military intervention in Syria, deploying an aerial contingent to a permanent Syrian base, in order to launch attacks against ISIS and Islamist rebels; US stays silent.
Russian fighter pilots are expected to begin arriving in Syria in the coming days, and will fly their Russian air force fighter jets and attack helicopters against ISIS and rebel-aligned targets within the failing state.
According to Western diplomats, a Russian expeditionary force has already arrived in Syria and set up camp in an Assad-controlled airbase. The base is said to be in area surrounding Damascus, and will serve, for all intents and purposes, as a Russian forward operating base.
In the coming weeks thousands of Russian military personnel are set to touch down in Syria, including advisors, instructors, logistics personnel, technical personnel, members of the aerial protection division, and the pilots who will operate the aircraft.
In the coming weeks thousands of Russian military personnel are set to touch down in Syria, including advisors, instructors, logistics personnel, technical personnel, members of the aerial protection division, and the pilots who will operate the aircraft.
Past reports have stated that the Russians were in talks to sell the Syrians a package of MiG-29 fighter jets, and Yak-130 trainer jets (which can also serve as attack aircraft.) The current makeup of the expeditionary force is still unknown, but there is no doubt that Russian pilots flying combat missions in Syrian skies will definitely change the existing dynamics in the Middle East.
Western diplomatic sources recently reported that a series of negotiations had been held between the Russians and the Iranians, mainly focusing on ISIS and the threat it poses to the Assad regime. The infamous Iranian Quds Force commander Major General Qasem Soleimani recently visited Moscow in the framework of these talks. As a result the Russians and the Iranians reached a strategic decision: Make any effort necessary to preserve Assad's seat of power, so that Syria may act as a barrier, and prevent the spread of ISIS and Islamist backed militias into the former Soviet Islamic republics.
Arab media outlets have recently published reports that Syria and Russia were looking for an additional port on the Syrian coast, which will serve the Russians in their mission to hasten the pace of the Syrian rearmament.
Even Turkey, which has so far avoided any action which would strengthen Assad, has had to come to terms with the Russian-Iranian move and the resulting American silence, leading it to launch its own bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria.
A massive explosion has ripped through a region in China.
Bright flames and black smoke were seen from what is thought to be a chemical factory this evening.
The explosion was seen and heard in the industrial zone of Lijin, Dongying City, in Shandong, just before 11.30pm local time.
It is not yet known if there are any injuries or fatalities.
The explosion was reported by the People's Daily newspaper - the Communist Party-owned publication.
State radio also revealed that a single blast occurred at a chemical plant in the city shortly before midnight.
No further details have yet been released.
The blast comes just a fortnight after another huge explosion in the country killed dozens and injured hundreds.
The explosion a fortnight ago was so large that they were seen by satellites in space, sent shockwaves through apartment blocks kilometres away in the port city of 15 million people.
Today's explosion is also the SECOND blast to occur in Shandong, after a previous one injured eight people just over a week ago.
For those just joining us this evening as we wind down our live coverage, here is a summary of today's key events:
More pictures are emerging of those astonishing scenes in Munich where Germans have welcomed migrants with food, water, teddy bears and nappies.
Crowds of people gathered to hand out food, water and other essentials to the arriving asylum-seekers, according to local reports. Many were giving away clothes, inlcuding traditional Bavarian lederhosen and German national team football shirts.
Greece moves 4,000 migrants from "overwhelmed" Aegean islands to the mainland
The Greek government has chartered two ferries which are transporting 4,000 migrants from its overwhelmed eastern Aegean islands to the Greek mainland, David Hodari writes.
After picking up migrants from islands like Lesbos and Kos, the ferries will arrive in Piraeus, the main port near Athens.
The commandeering of the ferries comes during Greece’s peak tourism season, in which few spaces on regular ships are unavailable.
The Greek coast guard says it has rescued nearly 1,200 migrants from the Mediterranean Sea in the last 24 hours.
The Telegraph has set up a live feed of migrants moving across Greece, Macedonia and Hungary. You can watch it here.
If you're just joining us this afternoon, you may find this 90-second clip useful from our video team which the migrant crisis.
Bulgarian authorities near the Gyueshevo border checkpoint detained the five men, aged between 20 and 24, late on Wednesday, Bulgarian broadcaster NOVA TV reported.
The men were stopped by a border guard, who they attempted to bribe with a “wad of dollars.” However, they were searched and Islamic State propaganda, specific Jihadists prayers and decapitation videos were found on their phones.
In a move that suggests how seriously authorities are taking the case, the Bulgarian State Agency for National Security (DANS) has now taken control of the investigation under the supervision of the regional prosecutor’s office in Kyustendil.
The men chose to cross in a wooded area, local media have reported, and took a car from an accomplice who had crossed legally from Macedonia with the vehicle.
Bulgaria has recently completed a 15-foot high razor wire clad fence along 50 miles of its south-eastern border with Turkey to control the mass movement of migrants from the Middle East and Asia into Europe via the so-called Balkans route.
However, the Gyueshevo border checkpoint where the men crossed sits on Bulgaria’s western border with Macedonia. It is likely the men chose to enter there to avoid the new strict border controls on the other side of the country.
In February, the Turkish intelligence service warned police in an internal memo that up to 3,000 trained jihadists are seeking to cross into Turkey from Syria and Iraq, who could then travel through Bulgaria and Hungry into western Europe. And in May, a Libyan government adviser warned Islamic State operatives were being “smuggled to Europe in migrant boats.”
At the time of the comments, UKIP leader Nigel Farage warned: “When ISIS say they want to flood our continent with half a million Islamic extremists they mean it, and there is nothing in this document [Common European Asylum Policy] that will stop them.
The European Union has finally come around to the idea of working together with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Russia’s envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said Monday.
The Russia-led EEU, comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, is an international organization which aims at streamlining free flow of goods and services between its member countries.
The Russian envoy to the 28-nation bloc warned of numerous security challenges faced by both EU countries and Russia that ignored borders. He urged to restore cooperation on combating these threats to the level achieved before the breakout of the Ukrainian crisis.
1 comment:
Just watched a must watch u tube video , it's called " September 23 2015 what will happen " ! There are a few , but this specific one is 43 minutes long and 34 seconds
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