Russia says militants in Syria’s Idlib province need liquidating
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday described militants in Syria’s last big rebel-held enclave of Idlib as a ‘festering abscess’ that needed to be liquidated.
Russia
NATO Confirms Russian Naval Buildup Off Syria, Calls for Restraint
NATO confirmed a large-scale Russian navy buildup in the Mediterranean Sea off Syria on Tuesday. ‘The Russian Navy has dispatched substantial naval forces to the Mediterranean, including several ships equipped with modern cruise missiles,’ NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu confirmed to Haaretz in a statement.
Russia to hold biggest military drills since Cold War
Russia will flex its military muscles and hold the biggest war games since the Cold War era next month, including almost 300,000 troops and 1,000 aircraft, the Russian defense ministry said Tuesday, leading NATO to warn of a ‘more assertive Russia.’
Russia Deploys Fleet Off Syria While Claiming U.S. Preparing for Possible Strike
The Russian Ministry of Defence said on Monday it had noticed Washington was building up its military forces in the Middle East in preparation for what Moscow feared was a possible strike on Syrian government forces, Russian news agencies reported.
Russia’s Syria chemical weapons attack warning dubious, experts say
The Russian government is warning of a staged gas attack by Syrian rebels in Idlib. Experts doubt the validity of that information, however, and see the move as a telltale sign of desperation in Moscow.
Turkey’s Erdogan to visit Iran on Sept. 7
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will visit Iran on Sept 7, his office said on Monday, on a trip expected to include a three-way summit with Russian and Iranian leaders.
Michael Cohen told Senate intel committee he saw no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen emphatically stated a year ago that he saw no evidence that the president colluded with Russia during the campaign.
Robert Mueller prosecutions embolden Trump opponents, don’t prove collusion
Special counsel Robert Mueller has now won or assisted in guilty pleas or convictions against a number of figures in the president’s inner circle during the 2016 campaign — but has yet to prove a more fundamental case of Russia-Trump collusion.
Russian military braces for massive war games in the east
Russia’s military forces in the country’s east were put on high alert Monday ahead of massive war games that also involve China and Mongolia, the largest show of power in nearly 40 years, the Russian defense minister said.
Israel is under massive Chinese, Russian cyber espionage attack
A few months ago, ‘Ophir,’ a senior official with a rich intelligence background turned private cybersecurity expert, was called back to duty.
Bolton: Putin said he can’t force Iran out of Syria, but wants it gone
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the United States that his country would like Iranian forces to withdraw from Syria but cannot force them out, US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said on Wednesday, despite Israeli calls for Iran to leave immediately.
Facebook takes down 652 accounts linked to Russia, Iran
Facebook has identified and banned hundreds of accounts, groups and pages engaged in misleading political behavior, a far larger discovery than a ‘sophisticated’ effort it reported three weeks ago with great fanfare.
Manafort, Cohen developments fuel partisan furor over Mueller probe
The conviction of Paul Manafort and guilty plea by Michael Cohen on Tuesday fortified both the pro- and anti-Trump camps in the political war over special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
US security adviser: Our goal is to get Iran out of Syria
White House National Security Adviser John Bolton arrived in Israel Sunday and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks focused mainly on Iran.
Britain urges US, Europe to ‘go further’ in countering Russia
New British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Tuesday (Aug 21) will urge the United States and European countries to do more to call out Russia’s ‘malign behavior’ and keep Vladimir Putin in check, notably by implementing tough sanctions.
Russia says drone attacks on its Syria base have increased
Russian air defense assets in Syria have downed 45 drones targeting their main base in the country, its military said Thursday, after an attack by the Islamic State group on a Syrian army base a day earlier killed seven troops.
Trump and Putin see eye to eye on Iran leaving Syria
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘agreed in principle’ during their latest meeting in Helsinki last month that Iranian forces should leave Syria, according to a report in Bloomberg.
U.S. Says Small Russian Satellite A Space Weapon
Russia has deployed a suspicious satellite the United States says is part of Moscow’s plans to attack orbiting satellites in a future conflict, a State Department official revealed in Geneva on Tuesday.
Brennan first to fall as Trump kicks off review of Obama officials’ access
President Trump on Wednesday personally revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John O. Brennan, a bitter and vocal Trump critic, citing his ‘erratic conduct and behavior’ as their clashes escalated over the special counsel’s Russia investigation.
Top Trump security aide Bolton to visit Israel next week
Top White House official John Bolton will visit Israel for talks next week, the Trump administration said Tuesday.