Kuwait backs international efforts against hardline Islamist groups in Syria, Iraq -- but no troops
Kuwait backs international efforts against hardline Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq but its constitution prevents it from sending troops, a senior Kuwaiti government official has told Reuters.
"Kuwait stands shoulder-to-shoulder with our brothers in Saudi on all fronts. We are always ready and able to provide what is needed to our Gulf partners within the confines of our constitution," said Sheikh Mohammad al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Kuwait's minister for cabinet affairs, in an interview in Dubai.
Syrian government forces 25 km from Turkey border
Syrian government forces are 25 kilometers from the border with Turkey, VoA reports.
Iraqi forces recapture territory from IS east of Ramadi
Iraqi forces have recaptured territory from the IS group east of the city of Ramadi in Anbar province, Reuters reports.
A military statement broadcast on state television said the army, police and counter-terrorism forces had retaken several areas including the town of Husaiba al-Sharqiya, about 10 km (6 miles) east of Ramadi.
"(Our forces) also managed to open the road from Ramadi to Baghdad that passes through al-Khaldiya," the statement added, referring to a highway that links the city to the Habbaniya army base where U.S.-led coalition forces are located.
"All of Ramadi has now been liberated," Anbar Governor Sohaib al-Rawi said, adding that the handover of authority to local police from the military was going smoothly.
UN agency providing food to Syrians fleeing Aleppo fighting
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has said that it has started to provide urgently needed food to Syrians displaced by the fierce fighting in northern Aleppo province.
The food was transported from Turkey across the border into the town of Azaz, 30 kilometers northwest of Aleppo city, where thousands of people have gathered near the Bab al-Salaam border crossing.
“The situation is quite volatile and fluid in northern Aleppo with families on the move seeking safety,” said Jakob Kern, WFP’s Country Director in Syria, said in a press release.
“We are extremely concerned as access and supply routes from the north to eastern Aleppo city and surrounding areas are now cut off but we are making every effort to get enough food in place for all those in need, bringing it in through the remaining open border crossing point from Turkey.”
Russian Deputy FM meets Syrian Kurds: RIA
RIA Novosti is reporting that Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has met with the leader of the "Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party" to discuss the situation in Syria and the Genevan talks.
It is not clear precisely which organization Bogdanov has met, but presumably the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) whose military wing the YPG is fighting in northern Syria.
No Chechen forces in Syria, just some people acting under their own initiative: Kadyrov's spokesman
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov never spoke of any military operation in Syria in which "Chechen special forces" are taking part, Kadyrov's spokesman Alvi Karimov has said, Interfax is reporting.
But Karimov admitted that there were "some people" who were acting under their own initiative who had infiltrated "anti-government forces" and who were informing the Russian military about the locations of militant groups and their logistics.
"Ramzan Kadyrov never said that members of any sort of Chechen special forces are fighting in Syria," Karimov said.
"I think that I don't have to explain to anyone the threat of terrorism, not least when we are talking about direct threats to Russia. We have to counter this from all directions. Ramzan Kadyrov did not talk about any "Chechen special forces." There are only divisions in the Russian military forces. And he did not say anything about any sort of ground operation, in which "Chechen special forces" are allegedly taking part."
Karimov added that in Syria there were "only some young people who are there entirely on their own initiative" but did not say how many of these people were in Syria.
"And no one sent them. They report somewhere information that they know, which is of operational interest. And this turns out to be useful. Thanks to these people the locations where terrorists were being trained was established, their recruitment channels and routes through which new recruits are being sent from several countries to the conflict zone," Karimov added.
"We should not be surprised that some people entirely by their own initiative, for idealogical and religious reasons are opposed to terrorism, and are at every moment at risk of being identified and so need to act as supporters of the anti-government forces, which are the IS group, and so on."