An airstrike on the tent camp in Syria || Weekly News, 16th of March, 2019

More than 50 civilians died as a result of an airstrike of the international coalition, led by the United States, on the village of Baguz in south-eastern Syria. The village is being besieged by the Arab-Kurdish troops of the «Syrian Democratic Forces» — RIA NEWS reports while citing the Syrian state television. «The Coalition Aviation committed a new crime by performing an airstrike on the tent camp in Baguz, in the east of the Deir-ez-Zor province. More than 50 people died. Most of them were women and children” — Ikhbariya TV channel reports while referring to the local sources.

China introduced a temporary ban on the use of ‘Boeing 737 MAX 8’ airplanes on all Chinese domestic airlines due to the crash in Ethiopia — the Chinese Civil Aviation Service reported. They added that, since October of 2018, when a Boeing 737-8 of the Lion Air Airlines crashed, this is the second disaster with an aircraft of the series. On 10th of March, a Boeing 737 MAX of the Ethiopian Airlines crashed a few minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa Airport. 149 passengers and 8 crew members were on board. None survived.

China introduced a temporary ban on the use of ‘Boeing 737 MAX 8’ airplanes on all Chinese domestic airlines due to the crash in Ethiopia — the Chinese Civil Aviation Service reported. They added that, since October of 2018, when a Boeing 737-8 of the Lion Air Airlines crashed, this is the second disaster with an aircraft of the series. On 10th of March, a Boeing 737 MAX of the Ethiopian Airlines crashed a few minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa Airport. 149 passengers and 8 crew members were on board. None survived.

On the night from Thursday to Friday, the Israeli army attacked about a 100 of targets in the Gaza Strip in response to the rocket attack on Tel Aviv, launched from Palestine — a spokesman for the Israeli army, Avihi Edri announced. “In response to the rocket attack on Israel — about 100 terrorist targets all over the Gaza Strip were destroyed” — RIA NEWS quotes his words. Israel blamed the attack on the Hamas movement that rules the enclave. On Thursday evening, 2 rockets from the Gaza Strip were launched at the city of Tel Aviv. The air-raid sirens sounded in the city as a result. Five more rockets were launched by the Palestinians at the southern Israel.

After the massive power outages — the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, ordered to conduct military exercises, aimed to protect the strategic facilities of Venezuela, said the Venezuelan defense minister, Vladimir Padrino Lopez. According to him — the exercises are necessary “to protect the people and the state strategic facilities, and to consolidate the victory in the face of aggression” — TASS reports. Vladimir Padrino Lopez specified that the exercises «Ana Carina Rote» will take place during this Saturday and Sunday. Earlier, the Venezuelan Minister of the Communications and Information, Jorge Rodriguez, announced that the power supply was restored in Venezuela.

Amir Khatami, the Iranian Defense Minister, promised a harsh response to Israel if their naval forces try to block Iranian oil trade on the sea routes — RIA NEWS reports while referring to the IRNA Agency. Amir Khatami pointed out that such actions of Israel would be «regarded as a robbery» and «a threat to the international security». “If this happens, Iran will respond harshly. Our country has enough strength to resist» — the minister announced. He added that «the Iranian Armed Forces will ensure the safety of the international sea routes for Iranian ships, and all others whose safety is in the Iranian area of responsibility». On 6th of March, the Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced a possible blockade of the Iranian tankers by the Israeli Navy. The tankers are trying to circumvent the oil sanctions against Iran by smuggling the oil by sea.

Moscow isn’t ready to extend the START-3 without a prior dialogue with the US — said the Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov, TASS reports. He reminded that Russia has “anxious questions regarding the implementation of certain points of the treaty by the United States. We need to find a solution before we put our signatures on any documents” — Anatoly Antonov explained. He also pointed out the need to resolve all the questions, regarding the INF treaty, with the United States.

Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.