Section: Middle East Monitor (Kuwait)
German minister urges Russia to cooperate in solving Syria crisis
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Saturday urged Russia to help solve the Syria crisis as he set off for a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialised nations in Toronto. The Syrian conflict has badly damaged already strained relations between the West and Russia, which backs President Bashar al-Assad. The...
Air strikes send a message to the Russians not to Assad
As expected, the air strikes on Syrian regime targets were limited in magnitude and political objective. They did not go beyond targeting Syria’s chemical weapons’ infrastructure, and were not part of any strategy for the overall situation in the country. Nor did they have any direct relation to the Syrian people and their sacrifices,...
Germany says will push for new international effort to end war in Syria
Germany will join France to push for a new international effort to achieve a lasting ceasefire in Syria, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Saturday according to a Retuers report, criticising Russia for repeatedly blocking UN Security Council action on the war. Officials from Germany, France, Britain and the United States will meet in...
Other countries have pulled back from the war in Yemeni; why hasn’t Britain?
As the church bells rang in the New Year of 2018, Norway announced that it would be cutting arms sales to any country fighting in Yemen. A couple of weeks later, Germany said the same thing. The Netherlands and Sweden have also pulled out. Very early on in hostilities, Pakistan decided, based on a parliamentary vote, not to support its closest...
President, Qatar to supply Ukraine with liquified natural gas
Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko discussed with Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani bilateral cooperation between their countries, including ways to supply Ukraine with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). “We agreed that Qatar is ready to provide liquefied gas to us,” Poroshenko said on Monday during his official visit to Qatar. A...
Israel, the West and shameless hypocrisy
The current crisis between Britain and Russia offers yet another example of the shameless hypocrisy of the West when dealing with Israel and almost any other country. Why bring Israel into the attempted murder of two people on the streets of Britain in which Russia, not Israel is implicated? I do so because of the sudden regard for international...
None of the many questions about Yemen really matter; the war just needs to end
Truth is famously the first casualty of war. Misinformation aimed at discombobulating the enemy, military cover-ups of the cock-ups or cruelties by “friendly” troops and a decent dose of propaganda for the doubting public back home all have a role to play in successful warfare. Britain is not at war though, or at least not in Yemen. The conflict...
Russia mercenaries operate in Syria alongside army
Two men who appeared in a video posted by Daesh last month are believed to have been members of a shadowy mercenary force known as “Wagner” which the Russian army has been using to assist in its operations in Syria. The men named Roman Vasilievich Zabolotny and Grigory Mikhailovich Surkanov were captured near the eastern city of Deir Ez-Zor....
Syria deal may be on agenda for Putin-Trump Asia meeting
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump may discuss a Syria settlement at an Asian economic summit in Vietnam next week, the RIA news agency reported today. Relations between Moscow and Washington have soured further since Putin and Trump first met at a G20 summit in Hamburg in July when they discussed allegations of...
Relatives admit existence of Russia’s ‘Wagner mercenary army’ in Syria
As Russia counts the cost of victories in Syria two years after the start of its overt military intervention, there is apparent surprise at the news that two fighters from a Russian mercenary unit have been killed by Daesh. The Defence Ministry in Moscow immediately denied the news, stressing that there are no Russian prisoners of war in Syria....
