Breaking news, November 14th, 2017

Fighting continues in Abu Kamal – ISIS militants for the first time admitted that the city is surrounded. According to the control maps, the Syrian Arab army and its allies managed to pull up enough forces from the east to fully «squeeze» the ISIS to the Euphrates. The Special Forces «Tiger Force», which is moving from al-Mayadin, has not yet approached the city. ISIS press release claims that the snipers of the militants managed to inflict some damage on the units of the Syrian Arab Army.

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For the first time in the last 5 years, Syria has re-opened the most important highway of Syria — M5, linking Damascus and Aleppo, which also passes through the cities of Homs, Hama and Idlib. Today, the first trucks with humanitarian aid passed through it. This became possible after the government and opposition forces allowed the free movement of humanitarian goods through the controlled sections of the route. This is happening within the framework of agreements on de-escalation zones.

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The Kurdish sources report to have captured one of the most important oil fields in Syria — Tanak, located in the east of the province of Deir ez-Zor. According to some reports, during the period when the field was under control of the ISIS, the group was producing at least 20,000 barrels of oil daily.

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According to Afghan media reports, 22 servicemen were killed in Kandahar province as a result of yesterday’s attack by the Taliban suicide bomber. Another 15 were injured, and there are 4 American soldiers among the wounded. The Afghan police called it one of the biggest attacks of the Taliban in recent years. The clashes that began after the explosion of a car bomb on the way to the military column lasted about an hour. 40 Taliban fighters were killed and another 35 wounded.

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During a special operation the police and the FSB of Russia detained 69 participants of the extremist organization Tablighi Jamaat in the Moscow region. This deeply conspiratorial cell was ruled by immigrants from Central Asia. There Russian citizens among the detainees. Means of communication, extremist literature, and electronic data with reports on illegal activities were seized during the searches. A criminal case was opened.

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The toll of the earthquake in Iran went up to 530 people with 7,817 more people injured. November 14 was declared the day of mourning in Iran for those killed in the earthquake.