Armed clashes in Aleppo || Weekly News, 23rd of May, 2020

«The American servicemen, stationed at the base of ‘At-Tanf’ in Syria, are actively interacting with the ISIS terrorists and consider themselves to be the masters of the land» — said Abu Hamsey, the former commander of a group of terrorists that recently fled ‘At-Tanf’ and switched to the side of the Syrian army. «The Americans believe that this is their land. They act like kings. They collaborate with the ISIS terrorists. They worked with the ISIS members. They train them and work with them now» — the TASS news agency quoted Abu Hamzi. He added that he saw a group of 30 to 40 ISIS terrorists at the base ‘At-Tanf’ who were trained by the US troops. The former terrorist commander also stated that the refugees in the Rukban camp receive only 10% of the humanitarian aid. The rest is being sold by the ISIS terrorists.

The Syrian news agency ‘SANA’ reported that the clashes between the groups of the pro-Turkish militants have resumed in the north of Aleppo, in the city of Afrin. As a result — a civilian died, 2 children were injured. The ‘SANA’ noted that recently, due to the clashes of the militants in the provinces of Hasakah, Rakka and Aleppo, a significant number of civilians were killed and wounded.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, discussed the interaction on the Syrian issue by telephone. The parties confirmed the importance of the preparation of the summit of the »Astana Three», planned to be held in Tehran. «The intent to further enhance the cooperation for the sake of a comprehensive settlement of the Syrian crisis was confirmed. It’ll be done with the support of the international community, in line with the UN Security Council resolutions. The commitment of the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran, as the guarantor countries of the Astana format, was confirmed as well. The ministers underlined the importance of preparations for the next summit of the »Astana Three», planned to be held in Tehran» — the Russian Foreign Ministry reports.

The Libyan Government of National Accord, led by Faiz Sarraj, has announced a full control over the ‘Al Vatyya’ airbase — «Libya Alahrar» TV reports. «Libya Alahrar» quoted the commander of the military operations of the Government of National Accord in the Tripoli region, General Abdel Basyt Mervan. He stated that the troops of the Government of National Accord «had completely taken control over the military base of Al-Vatyya». Forces of ‘The Libyan National Army’, commanded of the Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, were stationed on the air base some time ago. From the beginning of May, the forces of the The Government of National Accord 3 times tried to capture the Al-Vatyya air base, located 100 km south-west of Tripoli. Their last attack was made about a week ago. Until recently the ‘Libyan National Army’ managed to defend their positions.
The Libyan National Army, led by the Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, reported two shot down Turkish drones. The first drone, owned by the forces of the Government of National Accord, was destroyed by the LNA air defense forces when it tried to attack their positions near the city of Tarhun, to the south-east of the capital. The Al-Arabiya TV reports that the second drone was also shot down in the vicinity of that city a few hours later.

The US Presidential National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien stated on-air of the Fox News that the USA will soon hold “important arms control talks” with Russia. While answering on the question «will Washington withdraw from the START treaty, as it happened with the Open Skies Treaty» — O’Brien replied that he doesn’t consider such scenario to be likely. «We have put together a very strong team for the negotiations. The President has chosen an envoy to lead this team — namely Marshall Billingsley. We have people from the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Defense, and the State Department — they are all preparing for the negotiations with Russia. We will conduct negotiations on the control over the nuclear weapons. We believe that it is important» — Robert O’Brien explained. «The meeting of the special envoy of the US president on the arms control, Marshall Billingsley, and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Ryabkov, on the START treaty, is likely to be held in Vienna» — the Wall Street Journal reports while referring to their source in the US administration. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.