Rocket attacks on the Israel from the Gaza Strip

A tourist bus in Egypt was hit with an explosion from an improvised explosive device. 2 Vietnamese citizens, an Egyptian guide and a driver were killed as the result. Another 12 people were injured, TASS reports with a reference to the statement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Egypt. According to the ministry — “at 18:15, local time, a bus with 14 tourists from Vietnam was moving on ‘Al Maryutia’ street, not too far away from the Pyramids of Giza, in the south of the capital. An improvised explosive device exploded near the barrier of the road.»

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church responded to the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Ukraine with its own decision to form patriarchal exarchates in Western Europe and Southeast Asia, Interfax reports. «The Synod decided to form the Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe with its center in Paris, which will include the following countries in the pastoral responsibility of this Exarchate: Andorra, Belgium, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, France, Switzerland «- Priest Alexander Volkov, a spokesman of Patriarch Kirill, told to reporters on Friday in Moscow after the meeting. According to him — the Russian Orthodox Church thus responds to the actions of Constantinople in Ukraine.

Garrett Marki, the head of the press service of the National Security Council of the White House, denied the information about the reduction of the American military contingent in Afghanistan, TASS reports. According to him — the President of the United States Donald Trump didn’t make such decision, and he didn’t give such order to the Pentagon. «The president didn’t decide to reduce the US military presence in Afghanistan, and he didn’t instruct the US Department of Defense to begin the withdraw of the US personnel from Afghanistan» — he told to »Bloomberg». Last week, »The Wall Street Journal» reported that US President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to prepare a plan of withdrawal of about 7,000 US troops from Afghanistan, which is about a half of the American military contingent in the country.

A rocket was launched at Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip on Friday evening, »The Jerusalem Post» reports while citing army sources. This was the first rocket that was fired from the sector for the last 6 weeks, the report specifies. The target was a regional council in the Southern District of Israel. No one was hurt. In response, an Israeli military helicopter attacked a Hamas military post in the Gaza Strip. This was reported by the press service of the Israel Defense Forces. Earlier, the rocket attacks on Israel by the Hamas movement were stopped thanks to an agreement reached with a help of Egypt.

After the United States announced the withdrawal of their troops from Syria — the local terrorists became active in the Al-Tanf zone, currently controlled by the American military. The extremists are trying to reach the territories controlled by the Syrian government forces, and Jordan — TASS reports while citing a military-diplomatic source. According to the source — “In the Al-Tanf zone, currently illegally occupied by the Americans, and where the infamous refugee camp of Al-Rukban is located, a difficult situation took place. After the announcement of the withdrawal of the US military — the entire hive of the terrorists, fed by the Americans, was set in motion. There are almost daily recorded attempts of the terrorists that are trying to break into the territories not only controlled by Damascus in Syria, but also in Jordan» — said the source.

he Ukrainian troops violated the “New Year’s truce» and fired at the northern areas of Donetsk, RIA NEWS reports while citing the information from the Joint Center for the Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime. Another truce came into force in Saturday in Donbass. It was announced due to the New Year and Christmas holidays. This is the fifth attempt of the sides of the conflict to cease their fire in the region since the beginning of the year. On 28th of December, the contact group agreed on the “New Year’s Truce”, which comes into force at 01:00 AM, Moscow time, on 29th of December. At the same time, the Ukrainian high command declared that they keep the right to use weapons in Donbas in order to protect servicemen and civilians. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.