War

Russia have deployed a new cruise missile warship towards Syria on Saturday armed with Kalibr anti-ship missiles.  The Russian Defense Ministry’s head of Black Sea Fleet’s information department confirmed that the Zeleny Dol Buyan-M class corvette departed Russia’s permanent naval task force. “Today, the Zeleny Dol missile corvette and the Kovrovets minesweeper of the Black Sea Fleet left [the Crimean port of] Sevastopol to begin carrying out tasks as part of Russia’s permanent naval task force in the Mediterranean,” Vyacheslav Trukhachev said.

As Turkey continues to build up its military presence on the Syrian border, Saudi Arabia have announced their plans to launch a ground operation in Syria alongside the the United States. Russia have accused both countries of using Syria as an excuse to wage a coordinated attack against Russia.  The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that the possibility of a large-scale war in the Middle East is almost inevitable now that Turkey and Saudi Arabia have entered the picture.

The United States has deployed additional Patriot missile systems in South Korea in response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. The military buildup comes after North Korea launched a space satellite last week, insisting that the launch was part of peaceful exploration of space and is a sovereign right of the country. RT reports: The Seoul HQ of the US Forces Korea (USFK) said Saturday that the deployment of additional assets is part of an emergency readiness exercise being carried out in cooperation with the South Korean military.

The Turkish army has shelled Kurdish militia targets near the city of Azaz in northwest Syria, according to reports. The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) said that the Menagh military air base located south of Azaz in Syria’s north-western province of Aleppo, had been targeted by Turkish artillery forces on Saturday. Kurdish fighters had seized the airbase from Nusra Front earlier this week Yahoo news reports: Turkish artillery on Saturday bombarded areas of Aleppo province in northern Syria controlled by Kurdish forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Even as all sides - including the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and select rebel groups - pretend to be working towards a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution to the five year conflict in Syria, actions speak louder than words, and to put it as succinctly as possible, everyone is still fighting.