Explosion in Syrian Al-Buseir

The ‘SANA’ news agency reported that the ISIS terrorists made another raid near the city of Deir ez-Zor, in north-east of Syria. Several civilians were killed and injured as a result of a bomb explosion on a market square in the city of Al-Buseir. The police reported that the explosives were placed on a motorcycle. The newspaper ‘Al Watan’ reported that the ISIS terrorists intensified their infiltration in the Syrian provinces from the Syrian desert. They also made ambushes on the highway between Palmyra and Deir ez-Zor, used by the military transport convoys. The government troops are preparing for an operation to clean the area around Deir ez-Zor from the terrorists. Army reinforcements are being deployed to the north-east of Syria for this task.

»The ISIS took advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to step up their own operations in north-east of Syria» — said the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova. «We noticed that the situation is getting worse in the areas not controlled by the government forces, in the north-east Syria. The ISIS decided to take advantage of the coronavirus epidemic — they intensified their attacks» — she explained and added that from 10th to 15th of May the terrorists launched more than 20 attacks against the Kurdish forces. As a result — over 20 people were killed and about 40 were injured. 7 ISIS terrorists escaped from the prison at the ‘Al-Khol’ camp for the internally displaced persons. «All these facts once again confirm that the USA and their allies, which occupied the territories beyond the Euphrates River, do not care about the civilian population, about their security, and about other important issues» — Maria Zakharova concluded.

Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty. He explained that the withdrawal is planned due to the non-compliance with the treaty by Russia. The US President noted that this is a good chance to make a new agreement. Washington will file an official notice of withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty on 22nd of May — the US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, announced. The decision will enter into force in six months. The USA may reconsider their actions «if Russia returns to the full compliance with the treaty» — Michael Pompeo explained. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that “Russia has very clear and long-formulated claims” against the USA regarding the implementation of the Open Skies Treaty. The UN Secretary General’s spokesman, Stefan Duzharrik, announced that the termination of the existing agreements between Russia and the USA to control their weapons can lead to dangerous consequences, including an arms race. The NATO HQ announced a plan to hold a NATO meeting on 22nd of May.

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 l

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.

The Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono announced that the Japanese Navy intends to take part in the military exercises »Pacific Ring» together with the USA. The exercises will take place in August, near the coast of Hawaii. «In order to prevent the new coronavirus infections it’d be better to not create conditions for the contacts between people. But I don’t think that military exercises of warships are associated with such risks» — the minister explained. The US Navy Pacific Fleet reported that the exercises will be held from 17th to 31st of August. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.