Three children among five civilians killed in rocket attack
outside Baghdad airport
28 Sep 2020
Baghdad International Airport. © Reuters / Thaier al-Sudani
Two women and three children were killed when two Katyusha rockets struck a residential area near Baghdad airport on Monday, Iraq’s military has said, in what were the first civilian casualties in months from attacks in the city.
The rockets apparently targeted the airport but ended up hitting a nearby home, which was completely destroyed. Besides the five fatalities, two children were also severely wounded in the attack.
The strike came from the Iraqi capital's al-Jihad neighborhood, the military said in a statement. It described the incident as a “cowardly crime” by “gangs” looking to sow chaos and to terrorize the population.
Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi has ordered that those who fired the rockets be brought to justice, the statement read.
Rocket attacks have intensified in Iraq in recent weeks, targeting the US embassy in Baghdad, American troops and the airport.
Washington has blamed Shia militias with links to Iran, who have intensified their activities after Tehran’s top military commander, Qassem Soleimani, was assassinated in a US drone strike outside Baghdad airport in January.
The deteriorating security situation has prompted the US to threaten to shut down its Baghdad embassy altogether if Iraqi authorities won’t deal with the militias.
Preparations for the withdrawal of diplomatic staff were being made at the US mission in Baghdad over the weekend, American and Iraqi sources told Reuters.
Armenia braced for LONG WAR in Nagorno-Karabakh, PM Pashinyan's adviser warns saying Turkey behaves like ‘regional terminator’
28 Sep 2020
FILE PHOTO © RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev
The ongoing fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region is unlikely to end quickly, a top Armenian official has warned. He said Yerevan is preparing for a protracted conflict, not least because of Turkey’s role in events.
“We are preparing for a long-term war. Why? Because, I say it again, the main player here is not Azerbaijan but Turkey,” Vagarshak Harutyunyan, a senior adviser to Armenia’s Prime minister Nikol Pashinyan told a Latvian YouTube channel on Monday.
Turkey, a close partner for Baku but a historical foe for Yerevan, is “directly involved” in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian-populated landlocked enclave within Azerbaijan. Fierce fighting erupted on the disputed region’s borders on Sunday, with both Armenian and Azeri troops using heavy weaponry, large-caliber artillery, and combat aircraft in the clashes.
Harutyunyan, formerly Armenia’s Defense Minister, spoke of the universal conscription call-up recently issued in his own country as well as Nagorno-Karabakh, indicating that he wasn’t convinced the conflict will end any time soon.
The duration of the war will depend on many factors: on how the hostilities will proceed, [and] on the reactions of the international community.
The PM’s aide has further criticized Turkey, suggesting it is using Azerbaijan and “push[ing] it towards war in order to achieve its geopolitical goals in this region.” Ankara “behaves like a regional terminator, and is practically at war with all of its neighbors,” Harutyunyan opined.
Earlier, Baku denounced allegations of Turkish involvement in the crisis. “There is no foreign interference,” Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.
Turkey has vocally supported Baku since the border fighting started, with top officials pulling no punches when it came to blaming Armenia for escalating the conflict. Earlier on Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Armenian “occupation” of Nagorno-Karabakh – which he described as “Azerbaijani land” – must end to secure peace in the region.
So far, there has been no proof presented of any material support provided by Turkey. However, Yerevan claims Turkey had transported some 4,000 Syrian militants to Azerbaijan to help it gain the upper hand in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku brushed aside these allegations, accusing its arch-enemy of funneling Syria-based “ethnic Armenian militants” into the region.
It's been a century since the Turkish Ottomans murdered, or drove 1.5 million Armenians from their homeland. It seems Erdogan thinks that is long enough - time to resume. He probably hates that there are Christians living in the midst of what was once the Ottoman Empire. I believe he has ideas on restoring that Islamic empire with himself as Caliph. However, he is not getting any younger and may be in a mood to rush things.
Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion, an event traditionally dated to AD 301.
The predominant religion in Armenia is Christianity. Its roots go back to the 1st century AD, when it was founded by two of Jesus' twelve apostles – Thaddaeus and Bartholomew – who preached Christianity in Armenia between AD 40–60. Wikipedia
I don't suppose they could just trade Nagorno-Karabakh for the Nakhchivan Region?
Also see 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th and 8th posts on Today's Global Pervs and Paedos List for more stories of Islamic Insanity.
No comments:
Post a Comment