2020-06-28: News Headlines

en.mehrnews (2020-06-28). Lebanon's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summons US ambs. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jun. 28 (MNA) — Lebanon's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the US ambassador to Beirut to protest against his interference in the country's internal affairs.

South Front (2020-06-28). Video: Idlib Militants Use Battle Tanks to Kill Each Other Under Turkish Nose. globalresearch.ca ISIS announced a new series of attacks against the Syrian Army in the Homs-Deir Ezzor desert. According to the terrorist group's news agency Amaq, ISIS cells ambushed an army unit near the town of al-Sukhna killing 2 soldiers, injuring a …

Tony Cartalucci (2020-06-28). US Middle East Wars Far from Over. globalresearch.ca Despite what appears to be a terminal decline of US influence over the Middle East, Washington has no intentions of gracefully abandoning its aspirations of regional hegemony. | Air strikes carried out against Syria by Washington's Israeli proxies, a mysterious explosion …

yenisafak (2020-06-28). Turkey key player in humanitarian aid to Syria: UN. yenisafak.com The humanitarian situation in Syria remains alarming as it enters the 10th year of civil war, said a UN spokesman."There has been a reduction in fighting (in Syria), but that has not solved the problem for about 2.8 million people that are there who need our support. To help them, Turkey is a key player," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview.Last month, 1,800 truckloads of aid crossed the border from Turkey to Idlib, northwestern Syria, Laerke noted.He said the country also helps the UN deliver aid in Syria.Laerk…

yenisafak (2020-06-28). US ambassador appears on Lebanese TV despite court-imposed ban. yenisafak.com Lebanese media broadcast interviews with the U.S. ambassador on Sunday, ignoring a ruling by a judge who banned the diplomat from television for a year over remarks that criticised the powerful Shi'ite movement Hezbollah.Hezbollah is the main political force behind the Lebanese government. Washington considers the heavily armed pro-Iran movement to be a terrorist group.In an interview with Saudi-owned AlHadath television on Friday, U.S. ambassador Dorothy Shea said Hezbollah's behaviour was preventing Lebanon from properly dealing with a deep economic crisis.A Shi'ite judge in the southern city of Tyre ruled on S…

yenisafak (2020-06-27). EU holds off decision on borders, Americans set to be excluded. yenisafak.com European Union countries failed to settle on Friday on a final "safe list" of countries whose residents could travel to the bloc from July, with the United States, Brazil and Russia set to be excluded.Ambassadors from the 27 EU members convened from Friday afternoon to establish criteria for granting quarantine-free access from next Wednesday.A redrawn text of 10-20 countries was put to them, but many said they needed to consult first with their governments, diplomats said. The list did not include the United States, Brazil or Russia, one diplomat said.Discussions were continuing overnight, with the EU countries…

en.mehrnews (2020-06-27). EU rejects US lawmakers' call to designate Hezbollah as terrorist org. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jun. 27 (MNA) — European Union has rejected the call by a group of US senators to designate all of Hezbollah a terrorist organization and ban its activities in the continent.

South Front (2020-06-26). Video: Clashes Rage Between Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham and Other Al-Qaeda Groups in Idlib. globalresearch.ca After two days of fighting with militants from the rival militant coalition Fa Ithbatu, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has launched a large-scale attack in order to put an end to the resistance to its dominance in Greater Idlib. | According to pro-militant …

Steven Sahiounie (2020-06-26). MSM "Fake News" Against Syria. Describe Al Qaeda as "Rebels", Elected President as "Dictator" globalresearch.ca The Editorial Board of They call the Assad government of …

news.un (2020-06-26). Syrians 'face unprecedented hunger amid impending COVID crisis'. news.un.org Syrian communities devastated by years of civil war now face an "unprecedented" hunger crisis, just as urgent action is needed to prevent COVID-19 from spreading, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

IMEMC Staff (2020-06-26). Israeli Settlers Assault Palestinian Man, Place Caravans near Nablus. imemc.org Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian resident, on Friday morning, beating him severely in the Douma village, south of the West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinian chief of the file on illegal Israeli settlement activities in the northern West Bank, Ghassan Daghlas, told media outlets that Israeli colonists assaulted Palestinian civilian, …

yenisafak (2020-06-26). Syria's hunger crisis worsens, COVID outbreak could intensify. yenisafak.com Syria faces an unprecedented hunger crisis with over 9.3 million people lacking adequate food while the country's coronavirus outbreak, though apparently controlled for now, could still accelerate, U.N. aid agencies said on Friday.The World Food Programme (WFP) told a briefing in Geneva that the number of people short of essential foodstuffs had risen by 1.4 million in the past six months.Food prices had also soared by more than 200% in less than a year due to the freefall in neighbouring Lebanon's economy and COVID-19 lockdown measures in Syria, WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said.After nine years of armed confl…

Max Blumenthal (2020-06-25). How a US & Qatari regime change deception produced the 'Caesar' sanctions driving Syria towards famine. thegrayzone.com Like the mysterious figure it is named for, the Caesar sanctions bill is the product of an elaborate deception by…

Max Blumenthal (2020-06-25). How a US and Qatari regime change deception produced 'Caesar' sanctions driving Syria towards famine. thegrayzone.com Like the mysterious figure it is named for, the Caesar sanctions bill is the product of an elaborate deception by…

South Front (2020-06-25). Video: Infighting Among Idlib Al Qaeda Radicals Resumes with Renewed Energy. globalresearch.ca Late on June 23, the Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes on alleged Iranian-linked targets near al-Sukhna and Kabajab in central Syria and near Tel Al-Sahn in the countryside of as-Suwayda in southern Syria. A second wave of Israeli strikes early …

RT (2020-06-25). Iraqi forces raid HQ of Iran-backed militia as US coalition denies any involvement. rt.com Iraqi security forces have raided the headquarters of Kataib Hezbollah, capturing several leaders of the militia at the heart of US-Iranian conflict early this year. The US coalition rushed to distance itself from the operation. | Special forces from the Counter Terrorism Service carried out the raid in the early hours of Friday local time, at a base south of Baghdad, reportedly arresting nearly two dozen militiamen and several commanders. | Their fate remains unclear, however, as government officials insist they are in the custody of security services, while paramilitary sources claim all those detained have…

Elijah J. Magnier (2020-06-25). The US "Soft War" on Iran and Its Allies Turns Against Washington. globalresearch.ca The US administration under Barack Obama drafted "Caesar's Law" in 2016 to subdue Syria but kept it in the drawer. President Donald Trump and his administration dusted it off and are now implementing "Caesar's Law". In fact, Trump's policy is …

yenisafak (2020-06-25). Daesh/ISIS suspect going on trial in Paris. yenisafak.com A man accused of being a so-called "emir" of the terror group Daesh/ISIS is due for his day in court in Paris on Thursday, facing trial for his alleged offenses in Syria.Tyler Vilus, a.k.a., Abou Hafs, is accused of leading a terrorist group and committing murders in an organized gang in Syria in 2013-2015, among other offenses.Vilus was arrested on July 2, 2015, nearly five years ago to the day, while boarding a plane to Prague at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, and was later extradited to face trial.Turkey has long championed the repatriation of European nationals found to belong to terrorist groups.Vilus' phone,…

en.mehrnews (2020-06-25). UNSC calls for implementation of JCPOA: Iran's amb. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jun. 26 (MNA) —Iran's ambassador to the UN said that the UNSC members states unanimously called for full implementation of the JCPOA.

RT (2020-06-24). Kosovo 'president' cancels US trip after war crimes indictment but Trump-sponsored talks still on. rt.com Talks sponsored by US President Donald Trump between Serbia and its breakaway province of Kosovo will still take place but without Kosovo leader Hashim Thaci, who was indicted for war crimes by an international court in The Hague. | Thaci has notified the White House that he was not coming, Ambassador Richard Grenell, Trump's special envoy for Kosovo-Serbia talks, confirmed on Wednesday. | "I respect his decision not to attend the discussions until the legal issues of those allegations are settled," Grenell added. | The President of Kosovo has just informed us that he has canceled his trip to Washington, D.C.