A missile attack on a military base in Iraq

The Iraqi air force base ’Ain al-Assad’ was hit by a missile attack. The air base, located 110 kilometers west of Baghdad, is one of the largest military bases that hosts the US troops in Iraq. The ’Al-Hadath’ TV reported that at least 1 missile hit the base. 2 missed couldn’t reach the target, and exploded outside. There is no information about the destruction and casualties yet.

The chairman of the Syrian People’s Council, Hammud Sabag, announced at a press conference in Damascus, which was broadcast by the ’Al Ekhbariya’ TV, that the current Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, won with 95.1% of votes in the presidential elections, which took place on 26th of May. It was noted that the voter turnout was 78%. Over 14 million citizens took part in the elections. The citizens of Syria celebrated the results of the presidential elections with large-scale festivities.

The Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stated that the deadline of the pulling of the US military from Afghanistan hasn’t changed. He noted that the US military personnel should be completely pulled from Afghanistan in early September. Thus, John Kirby commented on the information that appeared in the mass media that the USA could complete the pulling of troops in mid-July. Earlier it was reported that the USA had pulled up to 25% of their troops by now.

The ’France-Presse’ reported that the interim president of Mali, Ba Ndao, and the prime minister, Moktar Uan, have been released from the custody. This was reportedly the result of an agreement with a Mali-based delegation of mediators from the Economic Community of the West African States. Official Mali announced on Wednesday that Ba Ndao and Moktar Uan had resigned.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the Tu-22M3 long-range bombers that have arrived the day before at the Russian ’Khmeimim’ airbase in Syria began to perform their tasks in the airspace above the Mediterranean Sea. «The long-range bombers Tu-22M3 carried out some training flights over the Mediterranean Sea» — the ministry reported and added that the pilots got new practical skills during the training missions in a new geographic area. The ministry specified that it is the first deployment of such aircraft at the ’Khmeimim’ airbase.

The USA notified Russia about the decision to not return to the ’Open Skies Treaty’. At the same time, Washington once again accused Moscow of violating the treaty. The US State Department stated that “the USA regret that the ’Open Skies Treaty’ has been undermined by the Russian violations. After completing the review of the treaty, the USA don’t intend to return to the treaty, given that Russia hasn’t taken any actions to return to its compliance». The press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, stated that Moscow regrets the decision of the USA to not return to the ’Open Skies Treaty’. Dmitry Peskov noted that the ’Open Skies Treaty’ will lose its meaning after the USA and Russia leave the agreement. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS