A US military base in Syria was attacked

1 Syria

The ’Al-Hadath’ TV reported that a US military base at the north of the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor came under rocket fire. It was noted that on Thursday, several rockets hit the territory of the US military base. It was specified that it was an attack on a US military camp located in the area of the Al-Omar oil field. The ’Al-Hadath’ TV added that the US troops, together with the Kurdish fighters from the ’Syrian Democratic Forces, are currently sweeping the area around the oil facility.

2 Turkey-Syria

The news website ’El Nashra’ reported that a convoy of Turkish troops crossed the Syrian border, and headed to the south of the Idlib province. The convoy consisted of 30 armored vehicles and military trucks. The Turkish servicemen are reported to have taken up positions around the observation posts in the mountainous area Jebel ez-Zawiya, which is controlled by the Syrian armed opposition. Earlier, the Turkish troops, previously stationed in the neighboring provinces of Aleppo and Hama, were sent to that area. Their posts were blocked on all sides by the Syrian army after several settlements in the north-west of the DMZ were freed from the terrorists back in January.

3 Nagorno-Karabakh

The press service of the Russian Emergency Ministry reported that a new batch of humanitarian aid was delivered to the settlements of Nagorno-Karabakh. «15 trucks delivered humanitarian cargo that arrived yesterday, by railway. The aid was sent to the distribution points in the cities of Stepanakert, Martuni, Mardakert and Askeran. The aid consisted of 80 tons of supplies for the affected population» — the TASS news agency quoted the ministry. The shipment included mobile power plants, building materials, fire tankers, and household items. The cargo will be distributed among the affected settlements. Earlier 1,200 tons of humanitarian aid was delivered to Armenia by railway, which will be later sent to Nagorno-Karabakh.

4 Sudan-Ethiopia

The ’Al Arabiya’ TV reported while citing their sources that some Sudanese troops, stationed on the Sudanese side near the border with Ethiopia, came under artillery fire from Ethiopia. It was noted that the attack was carried out by organized forces, not militants. The ’Anadolu’ news agency reported that on 16th of December the Ethiopian forces and militias from Amhara state ambushed an army patrol in Sudan, in the Um-Altyur region. The ’Somali Guardian’ news website reported that 4 Sudanese servicemen were killed and 12 were injured. The ’Somali Guardian’ noted that the actions were carried out by militias from Amhara. It was noted that Sudan sent reinforced army units to the area of ​​the incident. A contact was made with the Ethiopian federal government to seek the clarification, and to prevent the clashes. The final demarcation of the border has not yet been completed between the two countries.

5 Nagorno-Karabakh

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that over the past day, the Russian military engineers found and destroyed 1,334 explosive items, and cleared about 22 km of roads in Nagorno-Karabakh. Since 23rd of November, 2020, about 195 hectares of territory, about 87 km of roads, and 423 housing buildings were cleared of unexploded ordnance in Nagorno-Karabakh. More than 73,500 explosive items were found and destroyed.

6 The CIS countries

During a speech at a meeting of the Council of CIS leaders, the Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict increased the risk of the spread of terrorism. «The clashes led to numerous human casualties. They made the difficult situation in the Transcaucasia even worse. They also increased the risk of the spread of the terrorists» — Putin explained. He underlined that Russia «followed the key agreements, reached in the OSCE Minsk Group’’ by undertaking the «mediating efforts, aimed to stop the war in the Nagorno-Karabakh region». Vladimir Putin added that the agreement between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, reached on 9th of November, «is being consistently implemented. The Russian peacekeepers, deployed at the contact line, are doing their best to prevent a new escalation of the situation». Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NE