THE Russian Defence Ministry have released footage showing military forces building a bridge across the Euphrates River close to Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor province.
‘A panel bridge was erected in less than two days, despite constant shelling,’ said the head of the road service of the Russian Defence Ministry, Vladimir Burovtsev, on Tuesday. Drones were deployed. During the installation work, explosives and grenades were falling on us. Nevertheless we have no losses, neither wounded nor killed. Everything was erected on time,’ he added.
He noted that the bridge is around 210 metres long and can be used for delivering humanitarian aid and evacuating the wounded. It is also capable of carrying the weight of heavy vehicles such as tanks and armoured troop carriers. Russian military personnel have built a bridge across the Euphrates River, not far from the Syrian city of Deir Ezzor, in less than 48-hours despite coming under constant shelling, a Ministry of Defence official said.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has reportedly been dropping internationally-banned white phosphorus bombs in Syria’s troubled eastern province of Deir Ezzor, leaving a number of civilians dead and injured.
Local sources told Syria’s official news agency SANA that the airstrikes targeted the outskirts of al-Suwar town on Wednesday, killing three civilians and injuring five others. The sources added that the aerial assaults also badly damaged residential buildings in the area.
The development came only a day after at least nine civilians lost their lives in US-led airstrikes against the town of Markadah, located nearly 100 kilometres south of the northeastern city of Hasakah. Informed sources said two women and a six-member Iraqi family, who had escaped fighting in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, were among the victims of the attacks.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday that more than 2,800 civilians had been killed in US-led airstrikes across Syria over the past three years. The Britain-based monitoring group reported that 427 people, including 137 minors and 113 women, were killed in the aerial attacks between May 23rd and June 23rd this year.
The US-led air raids also resulted in the injury of hundreds of civilians, some of whom suffered permanent disabilities and had to have their limbs amputated. The aerial raids caused massive destruction of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure as well. The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorisation from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.
The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of achieving its declared goal of destroying Daesh. The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in two separate letters sent to UN Secretary General António Guterres and rotating President of the UN Security Council Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta on August 24th, stated that the US-led coalition was perpetrating war crimes and crimes against humanity through aerial bombardment of residential neighbourhoods.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry also stressed that the military alliance was using internationally-banned white phosphorus munitions in flagrant violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.
• Russia, Iran and France have warned that a controversial secession referendum held in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region could lead to further instability in the entire Middle East, a region already rife with numerous conflicts and terror threats.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that Moscow respects the Kurds’ ambitions, but believes the dispute over the status of Iraqi Kurdistan could be settled through talks with Baghdad.
‘The Russian party believes it to be of utmost importance to avoid anything that causes risks to further complicate and destabilise the Middle East, which is already overloaded by conflict situations,’ the statement read.
It further noted that Moscow continues to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and other Middle Eastern states. The Kurdistan row ‘can and should be resolved with constructive and respectful dialogue aimed at finding a mutual form of coexistence in a unified Iraqi state,’ the statement added.
The Kurdish plebiscite took place on September 25th, with initial results indicating an overwhelming ‘Yes’ vote for secession from the mainland. The referendum has sparked strong objections from the central government in Baghdad, which views it as unconstitutional. Except for the regime in Israel, the entire international community, especially Iraq’s neighbours, has voiced concerns over the repercussions of the vote.
210 out of 290 lawmakers in the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) have issued a statement, condemning secessionist moves by the Iraqi Kurdistan region and supporting the Baghdad government. ‘Over the past years, Iraq has witnessed different conspiracies by the US and the Zionist regime, but the steadfastness, solidarity and resistance of the Iraqi nation, including Arabs and Kurds as well as Sunnis and Shias, foiled all the plots hatched by their arrogance,’ the statement read.
With the help of popular forces, Iraq has managed to repel Daesh terrorists, but conspiracies have not come to an end, said the statement, adding that the Kurdish referendum could damage national unity and territorial integrity and plunge Iraq into a new wave of tensions.
Iran believes any new crisis would work ‘to the detriment of the democratic path in the country’ as well as the whole region, it added. The MPs further called on the Iranian government to cooperate with Baghdad and halt the Zionists’ adventurism in Iraq.
In a relevant development on Wednesday, France warned of the destabilising effects of the independence vote and urged the Iraqi government to give the Kurds greater autonomy. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFM TV: ‘It does not seem timely today to have independence … but (if) a declaration of independence happened, it would provoke new major crises in the Middle East at a time when Daesh is being defeated in Iraq.’ It is ‘desirable’ that the Iraqi Kurds be integrated ‘in the reconstruction of Iraq, reconciliation of Iraq by having the greatest amount of autonomy possible’, he pointed out.
• The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) has voted for the full membership of Palestine in the world’s biggest police organisation, in a new diplomatic blow to Israel and the US, which were firmly opposed to the move.
Palestine’s membership bid was approved at the Interpol’s Annual General Assembly in the Chinese capital, Beijing, on Wednesday. ‘The State of Palestine and the Solomon Islands are now Interpol member countries,’ the organisation tweeted on Wednesday. The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) also said in a post on Twitter that more than 75 per cent of Interpol members had supported Palestine’s membership.
”This victory was made possible because of the principled position of the majority of Interpol members,’ Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said in a statement. He also reiterated Palestine’s ‘commitment to upholding its obligations and contributing to fighting crime and furthering the rule of law’.
Wednesday’s vote came despite efforts by Israel to thwart the move. The US administration was also against the Palestinian membership bid and helped the Israeli lobby opposed to it. A Palestinian bid to join Interpol failed last year, winning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s praise.
Interpol facilitates international police cooperation. Israel fears that Palestine’s membership would lead the organisation to issue arrest warrants against Israeli politicians and military officials. In November 2012, the United Nations General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestine’s status from ‘non-member observer entity’ to ‘non-member observer state’ despite strong opposition from Israel.
Since then, Palestine has joined dozens of international organisations and agreements, among them the International Criminal Court and UNESCO. Palestine’s flag was hoisted for the first time at the UN Headquarters in New York in September 2015.
