An escalation of the situation in Donbass

Ruslan Yakubov, the head of the DPR office in the Joint Center for the Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire, announced the escalation on the contact line in Donbass. «After the shelling of the residential areas of the village of Staromikhaylovka on the evening of 21st of January, the settlements at the south of the DPR were shelled as well» — Ruslan Yakubov announced and added that for 2 hours the Ukrainian troops were shelling 4 settlements at the south of the DPR. They used 82mm mortars and grenade launchers. «The situation is critical. The observed actions confirm the Ukrainian intention to start a new escalation. We demand from the official Kiev to stop the armed provocations, to conduct proper investigations, and to punish the guilty» — Ruslan Yakubov concluded.

Joe Biden took office as the 46th US president. The inauguration ceremony took place on Wednesday, on Capitol. On the first day in office, Joe Biden signed 15 decrees — the White House press-secretary, Jen Psaki, reported during the first briefing of Joe Biden’s new administration to the journalists. Joe Biden signed an order to return the USA to the World Health Organization. The USA are also returning to their commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement. The state of emergency on the US-Mexican border and the federal funding for the construction of fences on the border with Mexico were canceled. The ban on entry for the citizens of a number of Muslim countries to the USA was lifted. Joe Biden introduced a 100-day mask-wearing regime, and made it mandatory to wear masks inside government agencies. Joe Biden also signed an order that declares his inauguration day, 20th of January, as a ’national unity day’.

An Israeli missile attack on Syria killed 4 people, including 2 children. All the victims were members of the same family. 4 more people, including 2 children, were injured. The missile strike destroyed 3 residential buildings in the city of Hama — the Syrian state TV reported with a reference to a military source. The Israeli attack was aimed at the outskirts of the Syrian city of Hama, at 4 AM, from the city of Tripoli, north of Lebanon. The ’SANA’ reported that most of the missiles were intercepted by the Syrian air defenses.

The ’Al Mayadeen’ TV reported while citing their sources that an area of the city of ​​Jurf al-Nasr, located in the north of the central Iraqi province Babil, was hit with an airstrike. The striked area is under control of the Iraqi forces. The sources of the ’Al Mayadeen’ reported that the US Air Force planes were spotted overnight above the city of Al Qaim, near the border with Syria. The ’Fox News’ repoted with a reference to a senior Pentagon official that the US military did not launch air strikes in central Iraq that night. The ’Al Arabiya’ TV reported that 3 explosions took place at the positions of the pro-Iranian ’Kataib Hezbollah’ group, near Jurf al-Nasr. According to the sources from the ’Al Arabiya’ TV — the Iraqi servicemen were not harmed.

The death toll of the double terrorist attack on this Thursday, in central Baghdad, went up to 28 people. At least 73 people were injured — the ’Al Arabiya’ TV reported. 2 explosions took place on the At-Tayaran square, where the local market is located. An Iraqi army spokesman stated that «the terrorist attack was carried out by 2 suicide bombers who blew up while being pursued by the security personnel». For the security reasons, the Iraqi military blocked all the roads leading to the Baghdad’s «Green Zone».

The chief of the Russian engineering troops, Lieutenant-General Yuri Stavitsky, stated during an interview to the newspaper ’Rossiyskaya Gazeta’ that during the demining of the city of Stepanakert, the Russian sappers found ’M-85’ cluster submunitions, prohibited by the international law. It was reported that in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Russian sappers find many abandoned and unexploded shells. They also have difficulties in examining of damaged gas pipe-lines. «Along the roads, leading to the gas pipe-pipes, the sappers found booby traps with ’F-1’ fragmentation grenades. There are many unexploded shells, as well as unpacked shells» — Yuri Stavitsky reported. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.
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