US Secretary of State John Kerry is calling for a ceasefire in Syria and more aid access to Aleppo where the rebel-held areas are being cut off. As Syrian forces and their allies complete the encirclement of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, it is becoming increasingly obvious the US and its allies are responding directly to the collapse of their proxy forces across the country.
As NATO leaders prepare to deploy thousands of troops to Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, Russia has criticized the massive buildup of Western military on its doorstep as being a deliberate provocation towards World War. Russia’s Permanent Representative to NATO, Alexander Brushko, has accused NATO of using these military drills as a pretext to justify justify its actions on the eastern flank. pravdareport.com reports: Moscow took NATO’s recent exercises as a clear signal.
A senior Syrian rebel commander has blamed a lack of support from Britain as being responsible for the impending 15 million refugees about to flee Syria and into Europe. The commander says that the lack of support shown by the West has allowed Assad’s regime to tighten its grip on Aleppo, which is going to make the refugee crisis worse. Express.co.uk reports: Major Yasser Abdulrahim told the BBC the West has “abandoned” the rebels, saying: “The West is so scared of the [Islamic State] ghost they have chosen Bashar al-Assad.
"It’s a joke. We couldn't wish [for] more than that. If they can do it, then let them do it — but talking militarily, this is not easy for a country already facing defeat in another war, in Yemen, where after almost one year they have failed in achieving any real victory.”
That’s what one source in the Iranian military had to say about reports that Saudi Arabia is preparing to send ground troops into Syria.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has issued a stark warning on Thursday saying that if Arab forces enter Syria they will spark a “new world war”, urging them to attend ceasefire talks instead. “The Americans and our Arab partners must think well: do they want a permanent war?” he told Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper.