Breaking News, February 19th, 2018

The terrorist group ISIS claimed responsibility for the shooting in the city of Kizlyar. So far ISIS did not provide any evidence of its involvement in the shooting. Yesterday, 22-year-old Khalil Khalilov opened fire with his hunting rifle on the parishioners of the local church. 5 elderly women died, 4 more people were hospitalized. The attacker was killed on the spot by the National Guard. The nature of the shooting is unclear. It could be a bloody blackmail of local corrupt elites, or pre-election order from abroad to destabilize the situation, or even the network activity of Islamic Trotskyism in the Northern Caucasus.

Ukrainian forces fired at the positions of the LPR’s militia four times during the past day. This was reported by the defense department of the Republic. The areas of settlements of Lozovoe, Veselogorovka, Sokolniki and Kalinovo were under fire. Mortars and automatic grenade launchers were used during the attacks.

During the past day, Ukrainian troops violated the ceasefire agreements five times, firing 43 shells at the front-line settlements of the DRP. During the shelling, mortars, various types of grenade launchers and small arms were used. Villages of Staromikhailovka, in the west of Donetsk, Dolomitnoe and Zaitsevo in the north of Gorlovka, the village of Sakhanka of Novoazovsky district in the south of the DPR, and a town of Spartak ,north of the capital, were under attack. Information about the victims and the destruction is being specified.

Negotiations between the Kurdish formations of the «People’s Self-Defense Forces» and the government army of Syria were completed in Aleppo, the Firat agency reports. According to the agreement between the parties, the Kurds will give the Syrian army several positions in the city of Afrin and the border areas with Turkey. Government troops can be brought into Afrin in the next 48 hours.

In Yemen, during the air strike performed by Coalition forces, led by Saudi Arabia, two civilians were killed. In the province of Hodeida, 11 Husit rebels were killed by air strikes. In the province of Taiz, during the clashes, the rebels killed 12 people from UAE’s military (including officers) and, destroyed 4 armored vehicles and 4 vehicles belonging to ex-president Hadi.

According to the official mass-media of Syria, the government forces of this country should enter the territory of the Kurdish region of Afrin, in the north-west of the province of Aleppo, in the next few hours to »Support the resistance of the residents in resisting the Turkish aggression that has been going on since last month» — end of quote.