War

Yesterday, militants stationed in Hama, a governate in northern Syria, shot down a L-39 Albatros fighter belonging to the Syrian army, killing its pilot.

Though details about which militant group carried out the attack and the fate of the pilot remain sketchy, a video has surfaced on social media showing a militant firing what appears to be a shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft gun into the sky.

The projectile appears to strike an object, then, moments later, a plume of smoke rises from the ground in the distance. All the while, machine guns can be heard in the background.

As we’ve reported here and here, there have been several high-profile defections this year involving Korean soldiers sprinting across the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas – a feat that had not been previously accomplished since 2007. In the first incident, the soldier was shot seven times as he staged a daring escape that ended with him being dragged to safety by American and South Korean forces. That incident was caught on video, which can be viewed below.

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The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party Republican People’s Party (CHP),  Kemal Kilicdaroglu, threatened to come and take back a total of 18 islands occupied by Greece.

No worries. The leader of Kemalist CHP will not come in the next days, weeks or months. He will come in 2019, after his party will win the general elections of Turkey scheduled to take place in the same year.

Authored by Douglas Murray via The Gatestone Institute,

As North Korea vociferously condemns the US and the United Nations after the Security Council passed yet another round of sanctions against the restive regime, Russia is continuing to test ICBMs in preparation for a violent conflict on the neighboring Korean Peninsula while simultaneous calling for both sides to seek mediation.

Last night, Russia’s Strategic Missile Force tested the RS-12M Topol intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the Kapustin Yar practice range in the southern Astrakhan Region, the TASS News Agency reported Tuesday.