Two rockets have hit the Russian
Embassy in the Syrian capital as pro-government supporters gathered
outside to thank Moscow for its intervention in Syria.
Reports said the first shell hit a building in the compound, sparking
a panic. As people began to flee, another shell hit the area.
The Russian Embassy said there were no casualties among its staff.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the attack an act of terrorism.
AFP says some 300 people were gathered outside the embassy in Damascus at the time of the attack.
Opposition fighters in the suburbs of the capital have targeted the
embassy in the past, but it was not clear if the attack on October 13
targeted the rally.
The head of Syria's Al-Nusra Front, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, urged
retaliation on October 12 for what he said was the indiscriminate
killing of Sunni Muslims by invading Russians.
Russia began launching air strikes against insurgents in Syria on September 30.
SOCHI, Russia/AMMAN
(Reuters) - Russian warplanes pounded Syrian rebels unaffiliated with
Islamic State on Sunday, insurgents said, helping Moscow's ally Bashar
al-Assad reclaim territory and dealing a fresh setback to the strategy
of Washington and its allies.
President Vladimir Putin - who has infuriated Assad's enemies
in the United States, Europe, Turkey and the Arab world by bombing the
rebels to protect him - reached out to one of the Syrian leader's
fiercest opponents by meeting the powerful defense minister of Saudi
Arabia.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors
the 4-year-old conflict, said the Syrian military and its Lebanese
Hezbollah militia allies had taken control of Tal Skik, a highland area
in Idlib province, after fierce Russian bombing.
That brings Syrian government forces closer to insurgent-held
positions along the main highway that links Syria's principal cities.
The area is held by a rebel alliance that excludes Islamic State
fighters.
"The coming battles are going to be ferocious, the Russians are
using scorched earth policy and they are hitting the targets very
accurately but this is a battle of destiny," said Abu Hamed, the head of
the military bureau of Jabhat Sham, an insurgent group that operates
mainly in Hama province.
The Syrian army made advances from the towns of Mourek and
Atshan in Hama province using tanks, heavy artillery and new
surface-to-surface missiles, he said.
Russia said its planes had flown 64 sorties, striking 63
targets and destroying 53 fortified positions in the previous 24 hours.
As in the past, it described all targets as belonging to Islamic State,
although most of the areas it said it had struck are not held by that
group.
Syrian state television also reported that the government had captured Tal Skik with the help of Russian air strikes.
However, the advance came at a cost, with the Observatory and a
Lebanese television station reporting that a senior Hezbollah commander
had been killed fighting on the Syrian government side.
In recent days, Russia has dramatically intensified its
10-day-old bombing campaign. Moscow says it is targeting the Islamic
State militant group, but most of its strikes have hit other rebel
factions fighting against Assad, some of which have the support of Gulf
Arab powers, Turkey or the United States.
The Russian bombing has been accompanied by a major advance by
Syrian government forces, backed by thousands of Lebanese Hezbollah
militiamen and hundreds of Iranian troops.
Putin's meeting with Riyadh's Defence Minister Mohammed bin
Salman, a son of the Saudi king and leading figure in its regional
security policy, was the Kremlin's boldest move to reach out to Assad's
foes since launching the strikes.
After the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of a
Formula One Grand Prix race in the Russian resort of Sochi, Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had sought to assuage Riyadh's
concerns. Both sides shared the objective of preventing a "terrorist
caliphate" from taking root in Syria, he said.
Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia, which along
with other Arab states has joined a U.S.-led coalition bombing Islamic
State in Syria and Iraq, was still demanding Assad's removal from power.
He hoped talks with Russia would continue.
Putin also met Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al
Nahyan, who holds a senior post in the armed forces of the United Arab
Emirates, another rich Gulf state hostile to Assad.
Source: World news Report
Turkey, a NATO member that has accused Russian aircraft of
violating its air space during the bombing campaign, said Syrian jets
and missile systems had harassed its fighter planes at the border on
Saturday in the latest incident.
Moscow said its officials had held a second video conference
with counterparts from the United States to ensure safety as the former
Cold War foes both fly combat missions in the same air space for the
first time since World War Two.
OBAMA POLICY UPENDED
The Russian intervention has upended the strategy of the U.S.
administration of President Barack Obama, which has led a separate
bombing campaign against Islamic State for a year but failed to
establish strong ties with fighters on the ground.
Washington and Moscow say they have the same enemy in Islamic
State, the world's most violent jihadist group, which has set up a
caliphate in much of eastern Syria and northern Iraq. But they have very
different friends.
Washington and its European and Middle Eastern allies say the
Syrian president should step down in any peace deal, while Moscow says
his government should be the centerpiece of international efforts to
fight extremism.
Washington has announced in recent days that it is abandoning a
failed effort to train "moderate" rebel groups opposed to both Assad
and Islamic State. Other rebels fighting against Assad are equipped and
trained by Washington's Arab allies and range from secular nationalists
to Islamist militants affiliated with al Qaeda.
Moscow accuses Washington of effectively siding with other
militants that are no different from Islamic State; Washington says the
Russian campaign helps Islamic State by targeting its rivals.
In recent days, Islamic State fighters have taken advantage of
the Russian attacks on rival rebel groups to advance near Aleppo in the
north of Syria, the Observatory and sources on the ground say. The
Observatory said there was fighting on Sunday between Islamic State and
other rebels in that area, although no change in positions since
Saturday.
In neighboring Iraq, the army said it had struck a convoy
carrying Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to a meeting of
Islamic State figures. Local residents in the town of Karabla near the
Syrian border said eight Islamic State leaders had been killed in an air
strike, but Baghdadi did not appear to be one of them.
The Iraqi air force claims to have successfully targeted the convoy of the Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
In a statement, the military said it had hit the convoy in an air raid, adding that his fate remains unknown.
The Iraqi military said: "Iraqi air forces have bombed the convoy of
the terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi while he was heading to Karabla to
attend a meeting with Daesh commanders."
The military said the location of the planned Isis meeting was also
bombed, and that "many of the group's leaders were killed or wounded".
It said the fate of al-Baghdadi was "unknown". "He was carried away
by a vehicle. His health condition is still unclear," the statement
said.
A Twitter site which publishes statements from Islamic State said "rumours" that an air strike had targeted Baghdadi were false.
Hospital officials and local residents later told the Reuters news
agency that at least eight senior figures from Isis were killed in the
air strikes on the meeting, which struck two houses in the Anbar
province of Iraq.
Similar claims of attacks targeting the figurehead for the military
group have been made before. It was reported that al-Baghdadi was
injured in an air strike in April this year, prompting speculation that
he would be forced to step down.
In mid-May, the leader re-emerged in a new audio recording,
apparently alive and well, calling on "every Muslim in every place" to
join Isis or take up arms. Analysts at the time said it was clear that
the release was aimed at dispelling rumours al-Baghdadi had been
incapacitated or replaced.
Born in Samarra in 1971, al-Baghdadi was radicalised after the
American invasion of Iraq and spent time in Camp Bucca, the main US-run
prison in the country after Abu Ghraib.
He rose through the ranks of al-Qaeda upon his release, until the
outbreak of the Syrian civil war presented him with new opportunities as
the leader of a revamped "Islamic State of Iraq".
Since Isis's dramatic rise, al-Baghdadi has become one of the US's
most-wanted terror targets - though the bounty on his head remains lower
than that of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader who cast him aside
when that group denounced Isis.
A yet to be identified substance exploded on Sunday afternoon at Number 88 Oworo Road, in Oworonsoki area of Lagos State.
The incident according to eyewitness, occurred at about 2 15 pm, when
Christian faithful were just returning to their different destinations
after the day’s service.
At press time, it could not be ascertained if there was any casualty,
as confusion took over the entire area following the sudden explosion.
However, many sustained different kinds of injury in an attempt to escape from the scene.
Director, Lagos Fire Service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe, who confirmed the
incident, said immediately they received the distressed call at about 2
20pm, men of the Ilupeju Fire Service were dispatched to the area to
bring the fire situation under control.
Fadipe also could not confirm immediately if the explosion was a bomb or otherwise.
“We are still investigating the incidence to determine the immediate or remotes cause of the explosion, ” he said.
An attempt by a passenger to smuggle 23 wraps containing
$US34,000 has been foiled by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
(NDLEA), the agency’s Head of Public Affairs, Ofoyeju Mitchell, said in a
press statement. The suspect, Ozoh Ikenna, was arrested at the
Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos, on his way to
Brazil. The money was detected during the screening of passengers for an
Etihad Airways flight to Abu Dhabi packed in wraps and concealed in his
boxer shorts.
NDLEA airport commander, Ahmadu Garba said that
the arrest was facilitated by a scanning machine. “We also conducted a
follow-up operation where one Ogbo Emmanuel who gave Ozoh the $34,000
dollars was arrested,” he stated.
Investigation by the Assets and
Financial Investigation Directorate headed by Mrs Victoria Egbase
revealed that the suspects were involved in the laundering of
substantial amounts of illicit drug proceeds.
“We were able to
trace over two hundred and twenty-six million Naira (N226,000,000) to
one bank account belonging to the second suspect, Ogbo Emmanuel,” she
said. “The account name is Eternal God International Limited”. Ogbo
Emmanuel hails from Umunya in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra
State. After his primary and secondary education, he travelled to
Onitsha to learn the automobile parts business. In 1996, he relocated to
Lagos. In 2005, he left Nigeria for Gambia in search of greener
pastures. While in Gambia, he travelled to Germany twice to purchase
fairly used electronics. He returned to Lagos in 2008 and has been
dealing in cosmetic business at the Trade Fair Complex.
In his
statement, Ozoh said that he was only a courier. “I [have lived] in
Brazil since 2008,” he stated. “I was paid to smuggle the $34,000 to
Brazil. They promised to pay me five per cent. I agreed to smuggle the
money to alleviate my financial hardship. I could not swallow the wraps
so I decided to hide it in my underpants.” It was also discovered
that suspected drug proceeds were regularly deposited in the said bank
account by members of an international drug cell that smuggles cocaine
from South America to West Africa. Investigations also revealed that the
cosmetic business of Ogbo Emmanuel at the Trade Fair Complex Lagos was a
mere hoax, as his sales records did not justify the large inflow of
money into his bank account. A Hyundai Tucson Jeep was seized as an
exhibit during the raid operation.
The Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, said that the agency was strategically targeting criminal wealth.
“Asset
forfeiture is one of the effective ways of responding to organised
crime threats,” he stated. “We are working assiduously to trace and
confiscate criminal wealth of drug syndicates. Strategic efforts are
on-going to prevent the entry of drug proceeds into legitimate economy
and criminal financing.”
The NDLEA boss assured members of the
public that in view of the overwhelming evidence linking the money to
narcotics, the agency will diligently prosecute the suspects. Effort is
also being made to apprehend other members of the drug cell.
While Russian cruise missiles were
flying over Iran towards targets in Syria on Wednesday, Iran's Supreme
Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was delivering a strongly worded speech
ruling out the need for further political dialogue with the US.
"Talking to the US will not hold any benefits for us," he told an audience of Revolutionary Guards. "On the contrary, it will be extremely detrimental."
It
may not be a complete coincidence that the Ayatollah was addressing
members of the Guards, the very same organisation now believed to be
playing a key role in planning and supporting Russia's Syrian
intervention.
To young Iranians buoyed up by the nuclear deal and already looking forward to the prospect of their country opening up to the West, the Ayatollah's remarks came as a blow.
But in the context of President Putin's latest moves, they seem less surprising.
Russia joining the war in Syria is a major boost to Iran's involvement in Syria.
It also adds weight to Iran's position as a key power in the Middle East.
For
much of the past 15 months, there have been repeated sightings of the
powerful Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani apparently
shuttling between Damascus, Baghdad and Tehran.
It
is now established that he has been playing a key role in setting up
and supporting the Shia militia groups battling so-called Islamic State
(IS) fighters in Iraq.
The recapture of the city of Tikrit from
IS after a year of occupation marked a successful example of joint
military action involving the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the mainly
Shia militias and the Iraqi army.
In Syria too, Iranian support for the army and militia groups, including Tehran's ally Hezbollah, seems to be an open secret.
The Iranian media regularly report funerals of Revolutionary Guards commanders killed in Syria as well as Iraq.
And
this summer's flood of refugees and migrants into Europe has included
many young Afghan Hazaras, who have described to BBC Persian how they
were recruited by Iran into special Shia militia brigades and sent to
the front line in Syria.
Their stories back up claims widely reported and pictured on social media this year.
In July, Gen Soleimani apparently resurfaced in Russia where reports
- neither confirmed nor denied by Tehran and Moscow - said he was
beginning to put in place the plans that led to this week's Russian
offensive. Image caption
Maj Gen Qasem Soleimani is thought to have held talks with the Russians
Qasem Soleimani:
Born: 11 March 1957
Since
1998 he has been commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite
Quds Force, reporting directly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei.
Has emerged from a lifetime in the shadows directing covert operations abroad to achieve almost celebrity status in Iran.
Since 2012 he has helped bolster the Syrian government, a key Iranian ally, during the Syrian civil war.
Also
assisted in the command of combined Iraqi government and Shia militia
forces that advanced against so-called Islamic State.
Visited Moscow in July to discuss possible Russian military intervention in Syria. Gen Qasem Soleimani: Iran’s rising star
There has been no official comment from Tehran so far on the Russian operation.
But
the tone of Iranian media reporting about it has been overwhelmingly
positive, with much stress on the fact that it is happening as part of a
joint coalition against IS, along with Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Russia's intervention means Iran is no longer the only foreign state to have militarily intervened in support of Bashar Assad. Image caption
President Rouhani is said to want a closer relationship with the US
It can now claim to be part of a major new military alliance with a former world superpower as an ally.
From
the Iranian perspective, Russian intervention opens up a new
possibility to challenge the US-dominated world order - something Iran's
hardliners have dreamed of for decades.
But they are not the only ones celebrating Russia's intervention.
According
to Ahmad Naqibzadeh, a professor of international relations at Tehran
University, it's a development that also suits moderate politicians.
For
them, he explains, Russia's decision to back Bashar Assad and attack
all the groups opposing him means it's more likely all sides in the
Syrian conflict will eventually have to come to the table - without
pre-conditions - to find a political solution to the conflict.
"Convincing
the West to stop insisting on the removal of Bashar Assad from power
would be a victory for Iranian foreign policy and would then facilitate
the normalisation of ties between Iran and the West," he told the BBC.
'Eternal enemy'
According
to Mr Naqibzadeh, key policymakers around Iran's President Rouhani are
also hoping the Russian campaign might actually bring the US and Iran
closer together.
In a bid to persuade Iran not to throw
everything behind Russia, they think the US could adopt a more
conciliatory policy, he explains, and this would give Iran the
opportunity the moderates are looking for to break out of the current
isolation.
Judging by Ayatollah Khamenei's latest remarks, rapprochement with the US is the last thing on his mind.
An
Iranian academic close to President Rouhani, and speaking to the BBC on
condition of anonymity, says the idea of normalising ties between Iran
and the US is something that deeply worries the Ayatollah. Image caption
Iran's Supreme Leader is thought to be less sure about normalising ties with the US
"He believes the Americans are waiting for an 'Iran
without Khamenei' in order to take Iran completely into their camp," the
academic said.
The Ayatollah is the ultimate decision-maker in
Iran's foreign policy, and he has made clear that he sees the US as an
eternal enemy.
But the irony is not lost on many observers both
inside and outside the country, that in order to combat one old enemy,
the US, and to rescue his Syrian ally, Mr Khamenei is now turning to
Russia, a country with which Iran shares a much longer history of
adversity.
In the coming months, Iranians will be watching to see
if the Ayatollah's gamble pays off, or whether Mr Putin's entry into the
fray will draw Iran and its allies even deeper into the Syrian
quagmire.
