Erbil airport was attacked

The ’Reuters’ reported that the Erbil airport in the Iraqi Kurdistan, in which a US military base is located, was attacked. It was reported that a UAV dropped the explosive near the airport. Presumably the target of the attack could be the US servicemen. According to the Reuters — no-one was hurt. The ’Sky News Arabia’ reported that the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mustafa al-Kazimi, has ordered an investigation of the attack. He stated that «maintaining the security in Iraq is the responsibility of the Iraqi government and the security forces.»

Joe Biden signed a decree imposing sanctions against Russia. The US Treasury has imposed sanctions against 16 organizations and 16 individuals, which, according to Washington, are associated with the Russian interference in the US elections. The USA expels 10 employees of the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington. The USA prohibit the US companies from directly purchasing the Russian debt securities issued by the Russian Central Bank and the Russian Ministry of Finances. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that the USA will face counter-actions by Russia.

The CNN reported that Joe Biden made the decision to pull the US troops from Afghanistan by 11th of September. It was noted that this decision was made despite the fact that a number of the administration officials expressed their concerns about how the complete withdrawal of the US troops would affect the US counter-terrorism mission. They also expressed a concern for the security of the US diplomats in the country. The ’TOLO News’ TV reported that the Taliban viewed the Washington’s decision to pull the troops from Afghanistan by 11th of September, rather than 1st of May, as a violation of an agreement, reached with the USA. The Taliban officials stated that the violation «paves the way for all necessary counter-measures, and the USA will be held accountable for all the future consequences».

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated during a press conference after the talks with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, that the parties discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh while taking into account the Russian mediation efforts aimed to maintain a sustainable ceasefire. «We agreed on the importance of overcoming the consequences of the conflict, and, in general, achieving a long-term political and diplomatic settlement on a fair basis, in the interests of Armenia and Azerbaijan. We considered the role that the countries of the region could play in this process» — Sergey Lavrov explained. He added that the parties agreed to continue the active interaction within the Astana format to resolve the conflict in Syria.

The NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, stated at a joint press conference with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytrii Kuleba, that the NATO considers unreasonable and unexplainable the movement of the Russian troops to the border with Ukraine. According to him, «Russia must stop building up forces on the territory of Ukraine, and nearby». Stoltenberg added that «the support of NATO for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine is unshakable». The press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, stated that the movement of the Russian troops inside Russia doesn’t threaten other countries in any way. He added that the situation in Donbass is an internal Ukrainian conflict in which the Russian troops have never participated.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry announced that the USA and their allies are guilty of supporting a terrorist war against Syria — the ’SANA’ news agency quoted the statement. The document noted that the purpose of the terrorist war, as well as the economic terror against Syria, is to try to consolidate the American occupation of the region. It was underlined that the actions of the USA in Syria go beyond the international law, and they deserve condemnation from the international community. The Syrian Foreign Ministry demanded the USA to stop interfering in the situation in the north-east of the country by supporting the terrorist and separatist groups, operating in that area. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS.