An explosion in the Syrian city of Afrin

1 Syria

The ‘SANA’ news agency reported that a bomb in a fuel truck exploded in the central market of the city of Afrin. There are dead and wounded locals, as well as some militants from the pro-Turkish groups. The explosion caused significant material damage. The Turkish military transported their dead and wounded back to Turkish territory — the SANA specified. The Turkish Ministry of National Defense reported that as a result of the explosion in the Syrian city of Afrin, 35 civilians were killed and more than 30 were injured. The source of the explosion was reported to be a fuel truck filled with explosives. The Turkish Ministry of Defense blamed the “Kurdistan Workers Party” and the Kurdish fighters from the »People’s Self-Defense Forces». The USA blamed no-one for the explosion. The US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, twitted that the US are calling for a ceasefire in Syria. «Such atrocities are unacceptable, no matter which side of the conflict did them» — the report stated. Morgan Ortegus, the spokeswoman for the US Foreign Office, also condemned the explosion. Morgan Ortegus refrained from any conclusions, and she called everyone to follow the call from the UN Secretary General’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, to carry out the ceasefire.

2 Afghanistan.

The ‘TOLOnews’ TV reported, with a reference to the command of the special operations, that 3 people died as a result of an explosion on Wednesday morning near the special forces unit in Kabul. All the victims were civilians. Another 8 people were injured. The command blamed the ‘Taliban’ for the incident. The 1TV Channel reported, with a reference to the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Afghanistan, about 3 dead, and 15 injured.

3 the USA

‘Bloomberg’ reports, while quoting a Pentagon’s memo, that the head of the Pentagon, Mark Esper, relocated some funds, intended to counter the «Russian aggression» in Europe, to the building of the wall on the US-Mexico border. According to the ‘Bloomberg’ — the relocation applies to the projects aimed to create and expand the military infrastructure in Norway, Germany and Spain. The total cost of those projects is 545 millions of dollars. More than 200 of those millions of dollars will be relocated for the construction of the wall on the US-Mexico border. The memo underlined that the work on the foreign projects wasn’t canceled, but it will be postponed due to the difficulties caused by the coronavirus — the ‘Bloomberg’ reports. The funding of building of some military facilities in the US will be cut in order to fund the wall — ‘Bloomberg’ concluded.

4 the USA

The Democrats introduced a bill to the US Congress that restricts the right of the US President Donald Trump to deliver a preventive strike against the DPRK. The bill proposes to «prohibit the use of funds from the Department of Defense, or any other federal agency, for a military clash with the DPRK without a prior approval from the Congress, unless the DPRK attacked the US first». The initiative was submitted to the Congress due to the unconfirmed reports of a possible illness of the chairman of the DPRK State Council, Kim Jong-un. «The bill is designed to demonstrate that it does not matter who exactly is in the power in the DPRK — the President Trump should not return to the threats. A war with the DPRK would be a disaster» — said one of the authors of the bill, a senator from Massachusetts Edward Marky.