Russia controls US military base near Raqqa; France providing arms to Arab coalition
PANAGYURISHTE, (BM) – Your briefly report on December 26 in last six hours from BulgarianMilitary.com:
Russia takes over base left by U.S. forces near Syria’s Raqqa – TASS
Russian military police have taken control of a base near the Syrian city of Raqqa that was controlled by U.S. forces until a few days ago, the TASS news agency reported on Thursday.
Russian forces entered the nearby city of Raqqa, the former de facto capital of the Islamic State caliphate, earlier this month as Moscow rushed to fill a vacuum created by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull troops from northern Syria.
The base, a former school in the village of Tal Samin, is in a strategic area at a crossroads that links the city of Raqqa with central Syria and its northern regions, the state news agency said.
It cited Arman Mambetov, a Russian military policeman, as saying that he and colleagues would begin patrolling the surrounding area from Thursday.
The Russian Defence Ministry’s Zvezda TV channel showed two Russian military policemen running up the Russian flag at the base and a column of Russian military police vehicles entering.
French arms killed dozens of Yemenis, say Houthi rebels
Yemen’s Houthis accused France on Wednesday of providing arms and logistics to the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia fighting the rebel group in the war-ravaged country, Anadolu reports.
“France has killed and injured more than 38 Yemenis by artillery shelling in Al-Raqou market in Manbeh border district in Saada governorate,” Mohamed Al-Houthi, a top Houthi rebel tweeted.
He added that the the French legal system was turning a blind eye to these attacks.
No comments have been made by the Arab Coalition or the French government on these accusations, so far.
On Monday, the group accused the Saudi army of bombing Al-Raqou market which left dozens dead and wounded.
Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014 when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.
The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.
Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse the Houthis of being a proxy to Iran.
Since then, tens of thousands of Yemenis, including numerous civilians, are believed to have been killed and injured in the conflict, while another 14 million are at risk of starvation, according to the UN.
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BulgarianMilitary.com
Editorial team
Source: Reuters, MEMO