BREAKING NEWS, December 16, 2017

Donald Trump’s administration announced the intention to prohibit Boeing and Airbus from selling their aircraft to Iran, because, according to the administration, Iran can use them to transfer weapons and military personnel to Syria. As a result, about 300 transactions concluded by these companies with the Iranian airlines Iran Air after the signing of the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program in 2015 will be halted.

---

The Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria reported that the international coalition led by the United States continues to interact with the terrorists remained in Syria. In particular, it is reported that armed groups of the «New Syrian Army» are being set up under the guidance of American instructors near the refugee camp in the province of El Khaseka, which are planned to be transferred to the south of Syria to fight Syrian government troops. Eyewitnesses said that the international coalition has been using such a «springboard» for these purposes for more than six months. Right now there are about 750 rebels. Their backbone is more than 400 ISIS, who left Raqqa in October with the support of the United States.

---

The Syrian government forces succeeded in clearing about 50 square kilometers of desert area in the south-west of the province of Deir ez Zor from the ISIS forces. According to the army sources, the 5th Corps of the SAA, together with the detachments of Hezbollah and the IRGC, expanded the control zone around the T-2 strategic military base near the border with Iraq. In these desert areas, the jihadist forces are still present.

---

Russia and Egypt signed an agreement on the resumption of flights between countries from February 1, 2018. This was stated by the Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation Sheriff Fathi. It is noted that the adopted protocol mentions only regular flights. The issue of opening charter flights will be discussed in April.

---

The National Intelligence Agency of South Korea announced that it has evidence of the involvement of DPRK hackers to cyberattack on the Bithumb crypto currency exchange. The ministry said that North Korean hackers are involved in the theft of personal data of 30,000 Bithumb users in June, and they are also suspected of stealing virtual currency from the Coinis platform. The intelligence also found that during the attacks the same malicious code was used, which was used by the hacker group Lazarus Group, presumably managed from the DPRK.

---

During the past day the AFU shelled the positions of the People’s Militia of the LPR seven times, using large-caliber artillery guns. The areas of settlement of Kalinovo, Krasny Yar, Zheltoe and Golubovskoye settlements were under enemy fire. In the DPR, the AFU violated the ceasefire 24 times, firing almost 500 ammunition in the front-line territories of the Republic. The areas of 11 settlements were shelled, Donetsk direction still being a hot spot. During the shelling, artillery, tanks, mortars of various caliber, grenade launchers and small arms were used.