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Britain
UK jails asylum seeker for random murder in ‘revenge’ for Israeli response to Oct. 7
2024-05-18
[IsraelTimes] Judge says Moroccan national killed 70-year-old man in ‘a terrorist act’ meant ‘to frighten the people of Britain and undermine the freedoms they enjoy’

A Moroccan asylum seeker on Friday was sentenced to life in prison for randomly stabbing a British man to death in revenge for Israel’s military response to the October 7 onslaught.

Ahmed Alid, 45, murdered victim Terence Carney, 70, in the streets of the northeastern English town of Hartlepool, eight days after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel last October.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told Alid he had “attacked and murdered… in a terrorist act,” and said he would spend a minimum of 44 years behind bars.

She said he had “hoped to frighten the people of Britain and undermine the freedoms they enjoy” in actions “intended as revenge” for Israel’s response to the Hamas attack, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 252 hostages into Gaza.

“You intended it as revenge for the actions of a foreign country, Israel, and to intimidate and influence the British government in its international relations.”

Minutes before killing Carney, Alid had also attempted to murder his housemate, Christian convert Javed Nouri, by breaking into his bedroom and hacking at him while he slept.

Alid shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) during the attack at the government-approved asylum seekers’ accommodation before fleeing into the street, still armed with a knife.

That attack on Nouri had been “an attempt to punish him for converting to Christianity,” the judge said, adding that he had shown “no genuine remorse or pity” for his victims.

Alid admitted to police that Carney was “innocent” but justified killing him by saying Britain had created the “Zionist entity” of Israel and should make them leave, adding: “They killed children and I killed an old man.”

He had denied murder, attempted murder and assaulting two police officers.

He was unanimously found guilty of all four charges by a jury at Teesside Crown Court in Middlesbrough last month.

In a victim impact statement, the victim’s wife Patricia Carney said she could no longer go into town because it was “too painful” to be near the spot where her husband was murdered.

Nouri said the attack had destroyed his sense of safety.

“I would expect to be arrested and killed in my home country for converting to Christianity but I did not expect to be attacked in my sleep here,” his statement said. “How is it possible for someone to destroy someone’s life because of his religion?”
The Daily Mail has the usual photos, adding:
In the days following the October 7 attack by Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
, Morocco-born Ahmed Alid, 45, became increasingly agitated, 'laughing and praising God' as the news of each atrocity was reported.

Eight days after Hamas attacked Israel, he launched a ferocious knife attack on Javed Nouri, a housemate in a four bed asylum hostel, who he hated because he had converted to Christianity.

After Mr Nouri fought off his attacker, Alid grabbed a kitchen knife with a 20 inch blade and ran into the streets in the early hours of the morning where he encountered Terrence Carney, 70, and, shouting Alluha Akbar, stabbed him six times causing fatal injuries.

Alid, from Fez, Morocco, came to the UK to seek asylum after drifting around Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
for more than a decade, finding a home in Hartlepool, Durham.

He could offer no explanation as to why he was claiming asylum, other than security services were 'harassing ' him at the shop he ran in the popular tourist city.

His housemate, Iranian asylum seeker Javed Nouri, reported Alid to police and Home Office housing managers on October 9 and 13 - revealing how he would sit in the kitchen with a knife and give him 'bad looks' following his conversion to Christianity. Mr Nouri was told no further action would be taken as Alid had not committed an offence.

Mr Nouri also described seeing Alid laughing at coverage of the October 7 attacks but was told by police there was nothing they could do unless he was carrying the knife around the house or using it to threaten people.

Two days after sharing his concerns, Nouri was woken at 5am to find Alid breaking into his bedroom brandishing two kitchen knives. The attacker stabbed him in the chest and face before he and another housemate were able to fight him off.

In a police interview following his arrest, Alid attacked two female officers, yelling 'Paleostine' and 'Allahuakbar' [god is great] as he grabbed one of them and wrestled her to the ground, causing his solicitor to dial 999.

Asked if he intended to kill more people, Alid said: 'I swear by Allah if I had a machine gun and I had more weapons that they would be in thousands.

'I was going to contact someone to get me a machine gun and I would have done more and then that person told me to carry on with the knife.'

He told the officers if it had not been for the wounds to his hands from the knife, he would have continued the killing.

The court heard Alid, a former pastry chef, had travelled from Morocco to Spain in 2007.

He spent just days or weeks in some countries, but stayed for years in Germany - where he was briefly incarcerated
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
for entering the country without a passport or visa - but never achieved his aim of opening a shop. The terrorist tried to marry a German woman but had lost his passport in Greece, he told the court, so the marriage could not go through.

He claimed asylum and spent the next three years living in a hotel in Hull and then state-funded accommodation in a terraced house in Hartlepool, waiting for his claim to be processed. While his asylum status was still being processed he was permitted to work four hours a week, but that did not lead to him getting a job and he was often seen jogging around Hartlepool to keep fit.

The devout Moslem, who prayed five times a day and attended communal prayer at a mosque, clashed with his housemates over religion.
Related:
Ahmed Alid 04/26/2024 UK convicts Moroccan of murdering retiree so ‘Palestine would be free from Zionists'
Ahmed Alid 04/12/2024 Moroccan asylum seeker in UK says he stabbed stranger to death due to Gaza war

Related:
Terence Carney 04/26/2024 UK convicts Moroccan of murdering retiree so ‘Palestine would be free from Zionists'
Terence Carney 04/12/2024 Moroccan asylum seeker in UK says he stabbed stranger to death due to Gaza war

Related:
Hartlepool: 2024-04-26 UK convicts Moroccan of murdering retiree so ‘Palestine would be free from Zionists'
Hartlepool: 2024-04-12 Moroccan asylum seeker in UK says he stabbed stranger to death due to Gaza war
Hartlepool: 2021-05-11 Three More Years: Sadiq Khan Reelected as London Mayor, but Won by Smaller Majority
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel expands military aggression in Rafah
2024-05-10
[GEO.TV] The Israeli forces have attacked middle and western parts of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
’s southern city of Rafah, expanding its military aggressing in the besieged enclave amid calls of ceasefire by the international community.

"What we have been experiencing is mass destruction, lethal force being used on the ground against not only the eastern areas but also ... in the middle and western parts [of Rafah]," Al Jazeera reported.

"Bombardment there continued without any kind of let up."
The view from Israel:
IDF: 150,000 Palestinians have left east Rafah; raid uncovers 10 tunnel shafts

[IsraelTimes] Army says troops also clearing Gaza City suburb of Hamas infrastructure; Israel says crossings open to humanitarian aid trucks, but UN claims none entered Strip in past 24 hours

Amid the Israel Defense Forces’ ongoing operation in the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip, some 50 button men have been killed by troops, while some 150,000 Paleostinians have evacuated the area so far, according to estimates by the military on Thursday.

Another 10 tunnel shafts have been found in the Rafah operation, launched late Monday, and they were being prepared for demolition.

In one incident Thursday, three soldiers were moderately maimed as a result of a blast in a booby-trapped tunnel shaft in the Rafah area, the military said. The troops were taken to a hospital for treatment.

The IDF currently does not plan to expand the evacuation order to other areas of Rafah, as the ongoing operation remains relatively limited in scope amid hostage negotiations with Hamas

The IDF also launched a new pinpoint raid in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood early Thursday. The operation was being carried out by the 99th Division and aims at "the continued dismantling of terror infrastructure and eliminating Death Eaters in the area," the military said.

Troops of the Nahal, Yiftah, and Carmeli brigades entered the suburb to clear it of Hamas infrastructure.

Prior to their entry, the Israeli Air Force struck some 25 sites in the area, including buildings used by terror groups, attack tunnels, observation posts, sniper positions and other infrastructure, the IDF said.

The military first operated in Zeitoun at the start of Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza last year, weeks after Hamas’s brutal October 7 attacks sparked the war, and launched another two-week-long raid in the neighborhood in late February.

The latest raid came after the IDF identified Hamas regrouping in the area.

Meanwhile,

the IDF and Shin Bet security agency announced on Wednesday that the commander of Hamas’s naval forces in Gaza City, Ahmed Ali, was killed in a recent Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
According to the military, Ali was involved in managing various projects for Hamas’s naval forces and advancing attacks against Israel and troops amid the ongoing war, most recently in central Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor.

In southern Gaza, the IDF said that Israel had reopened the Kerem Shalom Crossing after days of closure, with COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry body responsible for civilian affairs in the Paleostinian territories, sharing a video on social media on Thursday showing trucks filled with humanitarian aid crossing into the Strip.

However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
claimed no humanitarian aid had arrived in Gaza by Thursday and that there was no one to receive the trucks on the other side of the crossing, after workers fled on Tuesday when the IDF took over the Paleostinian side of the Rafah Crossing with Egypt.

That IDF operation early Tuesday led to the closure of the Rafah Crossing — one of the main paths for aid into Gaza. The nearby Kerem Shalom Crossing was shuttered after a Hamas rocket attack from Rafah on Sunday killed four IDF soldiers and maimed 10 others stationed nearby. Another IDF soldier was lightly maimed in a rocket barrage fired by Hamas from Rafah at Kerem Shalom on Wednesday.

With the seizure of the Rafah Crossing, Israel now controls all of Gaza’s crossings for the first time since it withdrew troops and settlers from the territory nearly two decades ago. The crossing has been a vital conduit for entry of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies for Gaza’s population of 2.3 million since the start of the war and is the only place where people can enter and exit, while Kerem Shalom is Gaza’s main cargo terminal.

"The Hamas terrorist organization continues to deliberately endanger Gazook civilians and carry out attacks from within civilian areas to attempt to attack Israeli civilians and IDF troops," the IDF said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Moreover, the terrorist organization continues to carry out launches from populated zones in the area of Rafah toward the Kerem Shalom Crossing to attack IDF troops, as well as [harm] the functioning of the crossing," the military added.

The Tuesday operation did not appear to be the start of the full-scale invasion of Rafah that Israel has repeatedly said is necessary to destroy Hamas’s military and governance capabilities and free 128 hostages kidnapped on October 7 believed to remain in Gaza.

Aid officials warn that the prolonged closure of the two crossings could cause the collapse of aid operations, worsening the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the UN says a "full-blown famine" is already underway in the north.

The UN World Food Program deputy executive director, Carl Skau, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that the agency had lost access to its Gaza food warehouse in Rafah, which he said was "communicated as a no-go zone."

The US in recent days completed construction of a new off-shore aid pier that will be used to shuttle large amounts of aid into Gaza.

A vessel carrying aid to the pier set sail from the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Thursday morning, marine tracking websites showed.

American officials have said the United States-flagged Sagamore will be used to offload supplies onto a floating pier built to expedite aid into the enclave.

On the Israeli side of the border, activists from a right-wing organization that opposes aid to Gaza while hostages are still held there said on Thursday morning that they had continued their attempts to block trucks on their way to Gaza overnight and in the early morning hours. The group, which has drawn international anger, said that some 500 people, including relatives of hostages, blocked trucks near Eilat and delayed them for a few hours overnight Wednesday. On Thursday morning, activists from the group blocked trucks near Mitzpe Ramon.

"We’re shifting gear. We want the hostages home. No aid passes until the last hostage returns," the group said in a statement.

Israeli authorities — facing intense international pressure to facilitate aid — have been dispersing the crowds and ensuring that the shipments eventually reach their destination.

The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 attacks, which saw some 3,000 Death Eaters burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

The ensuing war has killed over 34,800 Paleostinians, according to Gaza health officials, though data issued by the Hamas-run authorities cannot be independently verified, and is believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires.

The IDF says it has killed over 13,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 Death Eaters inside Israel on October 7, while 267 soldiers have been killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border.

The IDF says it has wrapped up a two-week-long raid in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, during which troops of the 401st Armored Brigade and additional forces of the 162nd Division destroyed Hamas and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
sites and killed more than 100 operatives.

Some 35 sites were located and destroyed during the operation, including weapon depots and manufacturing sites, tunnel infrastructure, rocket launching sites with hundreds of launchers, and a site belonging to the commander of the Gaza City Brigade, Izz ad-Din Haddad, according to the IDF.

Using drones, the IDF says the 401st Brigade identified and captured dozens of Hamas operatives, who, following interrogations, provided intelligence information. Some of the Hamas button men were hiding among the civilian population in Zeitoun, according to the IDF.

The brigade killed at least 113 Hamas operatives in Zeitoun over the past two weeks, the IDF says, those that troops were able to identify with the naked eye or using drones. The Hamas button men are operating in Zeitoun without a "military framework," and in relatively small cells, according to the IDF, after the military says it dismantled the terror group’s battalions in the area in the early stages of the ground offensive.

Troops came under gunfire, RPG fire and bombs amid the operations, with at least four soldiers being killed and several more maimed. According to the IDF, most of the attacks on troops in Zeitoun occurred during the day, rather than at night.

In one incident, the IDF says a Hamas cell fired anti-tank missiles from a close range at troops. An Israeli Air Force drone spotted and struck the cell, killing several of the operatives, while others were spotted fleeing in an ambulance, the IDF says.

In another incident, the brigade called in an airstrike against a building from which a Hamas sniper was shooting at troops.

The raid in Zeitoun was the 401st Brigade’s fourth operation in Gaza, previously battling Hamas in Beit Lahiya, then in the Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods of Gaza City, before a raid in the Rimal and Shati neighborhoods. The IDF will soon decide where to send the brigade for its next mission.
Related:
Rafah: 2024-05-09 Good Morning
Rafah: 2024-05-09 Cops clear anti-Israel encampment, arrest 33 at DC campus as mayor's hearing canceled; 2600 arrested on 50 campuses thus far
Rafah: 2024-05-09 UAE strongly condemns Israel's takeover of Rafah border crossing
Related:
Gaza City: 2024-05-06 Hamas says latest cease-fire talks have ended. Israel vows military operation in 'very near future'
Gaza City: 2024-05-03 PIJ says worked with DFLP to shell Israeli forces in Gaza
Gaza City: 2024-05-01 Two reservists killed in central Gaza were mistakenly hit by IDF fire ‐ probe
Related:
Zeitoun: 2024-04-24 Israel military strikes northern Gaza in heaviest shelling in weeks, central Gaza ditto
Zeitoun: 2024-03-04 Gaza airstrike takes out senior Hamas recruiter as IDF raises troop death toll to 246
Zeitoun: 2024-03-01 Hamas leader Sinwar said to believe his forces are on road to victory against IDF
Related:
Netzarim Corridor: 2024-05-01 Two reservists killed in central Gaza were mistakenly hit by IDF fire ‐ probe
Netzarim Corridor: 2024-04-08 6 months on: IDF withdraws ground troops from south Gaza, leaving just one brigade in whole enclave
Netzarim Corridor: 2024-03-17 IDF says Nahal Brigade killed over 250 Hamas operatives in Gaza over past two weeks
Related:
Kerem Shalom Crossing: 2024-05-03 Gaza doctor dies in Israeli jail; prison says he was detained for national security reasons
Kerem Shalom Crossing: 2024-04-13 IDF announces first aid convoy entered northern Gaza through new land crossing
Kerem Shalom Crossing: 2024-02-29 Two IDF soldiers killed in Gaza; foreign nations airdrop civilian aid into enclave
Related:
Rafah Crossing: 2024-04-13 IDF announces first aid convoy entered northern Gaza through new land crossing
Rafah Crossing: 2024-02-28 Wife and children of senior Hamas official left Gaza for Egypt without Israel’s knowledge – report
Rafah Crossing: 2024-02-17 US envoy: IDF killed Palestinian cops escorting Gaza aid convoy, leading them to refuse missions
Related:
Larnaca: 2024-04-28 Ship with Gaza aid departs Cyprus for first time since killing of WCK aid workers
Larnaca: 2024-03-31 Second aid shipment for Gaza leaves Cyprus port with 400 tons of food
Larnaca: 2024-03-15 Aid from Cyprus to enter Gaza via IDF-built pier; elsewhere the IDF continues clearing Hamasniks from the landscape along with their works and supplies
Related:
Sagamore 05/08/2024 Temporary floating pier for Gaza aid completed, will move into position once weather lets up: Pentagon
Sagamore 08/16/2010 4 ships robbed off Iraqi coast
Sagamore 02/06/2010 For moonbats, the end of an era

Link


Britain
UK convicts Moroccan of murdering retiree so ‘Palestine would be free from Zionists'
2024-04-26
[IsraelTimes] Ahmed Alid, 45, stabbed elderly man to death in the week after Oct. 7 massacre, also wounded housemate in chest while screaming ’Allahu Akbar’ and assaulted two police officers

A Moroccan asylum seeker who stabbed a random pensioner to death, telling British police he carried out the attack because Israel had "killed children" in Gaza
Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, was convicted of murder on Thursday.

Ahmed Alid, 45, stabbed 70-year-old Terence Carney six times after a chance meeting in the street in Hartlepool, northeast England, on October 15, 2023 — eight days after Hamas
Hamas
...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
snuffies launched their devastating onslaught on Israel.

Alid also attacked his housemate Javed Nouri, a Christian convert, and assaulted two police officers.

He shouted "Allahu Akbar," or "God is greatest," as he repeatedly wounded the sleeping Nouri in the chest, Teesside Crown Court heard at the start of his trial.

The 31-year-old survived the assault but Carney died after being stabbed six times in the chest, abdomen, and back.

The jury at Teesside Crown Court unanimously found Alid guilty of murdering Carney, attempting to murder Nouri, and assaulting the two police officers.

Police arrested Alid close to the murder scene with a bloody knife in his waistband, and he later told officers that he had acted because of the Israel-Hamas war, the court heard.

"He said he had wanted to kill them because of the conflict in Gaza and to further his desire that Paleostine would be free from the Zionists, by which he meant Israel," prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford said.

"The defendant said he would have killed more people if he had been able to do so."

Sandiford added Alid had described Carney as an "innocent victim" during his interrogation, but that he had been killed "because Britain had created the Zionist entity — Israel — and should make it leave."

"They killed children and I killed an old man," he told officers, the prosecutor said.

Yorkshire’s Cleveland Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Victoria Fuller said the killing "shook the local community to its core."

"Alid’s actions not only left a family devastated but also caused significant fear and distress amongst residents in Hartlepool and beyond," she said.

Alid will be sentenced on May 17.

Courtesy of Grom the Reflective, Ynet has more here.
Related:
Ahmed Alid 04/12/2024 Moroccan asylum seeker in UK says he stabbed stranger to death due to Gaza war

Link


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Analysts in Moscow and Baku assess the consequences of the withdrawal of peacekeepers from Karabakh
2024-04-19
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The withdrawal of peacekeepers from Karabakh makes it impossible for the Armenian population to return to the region and will negatively affect the prospects for a peace treaty, Russian political scientists emphasized. For Azerbaijan, the withdrawal of peacekeepers means the complete restoration of sovereignty and the absence of foreign military bases on the country’s territory, while an agreement between Moscow and Baku could be reached through a political compromise, Baku analysts believe.

As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, Russia has begun the withdrawal of peacekeepers from the zone of the former Karabakh conflict, Putin's press secretary said on April 17. On October 9, 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that against the backdrop of the closure of peacekeeper observation posts, 25 guard posts were set up to guard weapons seized in Karabakh, including 14 posts jointly with the Azerbaijani military. On the same day, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the activities of the peacekeepers would be adapted against the backdrop of the mass exodus of Karabakh residents from the region. The continued presence of peacekeepers in the region is contrary to the interests of Baku, Azerbaijani analysts pointed out.

The presence of peacekeepers in the region until 2025 is provided for by the 2020 trilateral agreement, although their functions may be  adjusted, Russian analysts interviewed by the Caucasian Knot indicated in September.

The withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers was a failure of the settlement, believes Stanislav Pritchin, a senior researcher at the Center for Post-Soviet Studies at IMEMO RAS. “The withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers is a failure of attempts to normalize relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Because without Russian peacekeepers, the Armenian population of Karabakh will never return. Theoretically, it was still possible to imagine that these people would return to Karabakh under the guarantees of Russian peacekeepers. Now the withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping contingent would mean “, that Karabakh is closed to Armenians. And this means that Azerbaijan, no matter how much it wants it, is assigned the status of a country that, if it did not expel itself, then did not do what was necessary to preserve the autochthonous population of Karabakh,” he told a Kavkazsky correspondent. node".

“Nothing good will happen for Armenia,” Pritchin suggested, expressing the opinion that the country is doing a poor job of solving the problems of Karabakh refugees.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic ceased to existon January 1. By October 7, 2023, 100,632 internally displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh arrived in Armenia. The Armenian government is involved in the social issues of refugees.

For Russia, in his opinion, this is also not the best scenario. “Because the Russian settlement plan has not been implemented. It is unlikely that it will be implemented without Russia’s participation. With the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers, the possibility of normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia will close,” Pritchin concluded.

Alexander Karavaev, a researcher at the Caspian Institute for Strategic Studies (KISS), said that the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers came as a surprise. “Back at the beginning of April, there were no signals about the winding down of the mission. Although the peacekeeping mission ceased to be relevant since October 2023. Since then, Russia has been winding down the posts. But I know for sure that there were no hints from Azerbaijan that the mission should be completed And indeed, the extension could only be refused from May 2025. There were no complaints against the RMC after the migration of the Armenians. That is, the peacekeepers did not interfere with the Azerbaijanis in any way.

The withdrawal of the peacekeepers is unclear. The number of peacekeepers was already greatly reduced. There were no more than 1,500 people left, 50-60 armored personnel carriers. This will take some time. And during the withdrawal, a version of the reasons for the withdrawal of the peacekeepers will probably be heard. other objects from the peacekeepers to the Azerbaijani side,” he told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

Previously, RMK had several tasks, the interlocutor indicated. "Surveillance, movement on roads, staff work on recording incidents and negotiations. All these tasks are irrelevant after the Armenian residents of Karabakh migrated to Armenia. By the beginning of the year, practically only one task remained - demining the territories. It was necessary to remove two layers of mining in almost 30 years of confrontation. Dense minefields on the former demarcation line.

In addition, mine scatterings that appeared during the 44-day war of 2020. And there was a humanitarian demining center under the peacekeepers. It will probably continue to work. they were accredited by the Azerbaijani demining agency," Karavaev explained.

How the positions of peacekeepers were located in the region after the Karabakh war in 2020 can be seen on the “ Map of the deployment of Russian peacekeepers ” prepared by the “Caucasian Knot ”.

The winding down of the Russian peacekeepers' mission will be gradual, he is sure. “The main question is about the demining center - will it remain,” Karavaev emphasized.

In his opinion, Azerbaijan will receive more benefits from the withdrawal of peacekeepers than other parties.

“In general, this will have neutral consequences for him. And even positive aspects. For example, the final transfer of control over 100 percent of the territory of Karabakh. There are no such advantages for Armenia. There are even risks for the security of Armenia in the sense that Russia is washing its hands of "The departure of the peacekeepers allows Azerbaijan to deploy in full force if the need arises for military pressure on Armenia. Armenia will have to follow the “road map” from Baku. But it is not interested in this. Perhaps Armenia will want to change its position. Externals can play on this actors. Armenia is now looking for new sponsors of its security in the person of the United States and France,” Karavaev explained.

In November 2023, France supplied Armenia with more than 20 Bastion armored vehicles as part of an agreement concluded in Paris in October of the same year. Components for these armored cars were also sent. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated that this delivery strengthened Armenia's military potential, which could hinder the establishment of peace in the region. Baku analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" indicated that weapons from France do not change the balance of power in the region and do not create real military threats to Azerbaijan.

At the beginning of December 2023, the French Senate announced that in 2024   a batch of 26 Bastion armored vehicles would be transferred to Armenia.

The head of the PolitRUS expert and analytical network, Vitaly Arkov, emphasized that the mandate of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh is actually valid until the end of 2025.

“However, the situation in the region has undergone changes after the well-known events of September 2023. Immediately after the Azerbaijani authorities restored full control over the Karabakh economic region, the issue of the continued presence of Russian peacekeepers in the region was also raised, but Moscow agreed with Baku’s request to extend their stay, since the issue was urgent the issue of peaceful coexistence between the residents of Armenian nationality remaining in Karabakh and the Azerbaijani administration of the region. Also, sapper specialists of the Russian peacekeeping contingent assisted their Azerbaijani colleagues in demining the territory, in particular, the Khojaly region,” he said.

According to Arkov, joint work on mine clearance can be continued. “The Russian side has all the necessary equipment and competencies, which makes it possible to detect and neutralize Soviet-made mines, which were massively used by the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, faster than with Western equipment.”

The misunderstandings and fears that initially existed between residents of Armenian nationality and the Azerbaijani administration of Karabakh are thanks to professionalism Russian peacekeepers were removed, and life in the region began to proceed in a peaceful direction. Moscow considered the mission of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in this part of the documents concluded in November 2020 to be successfully completed and proposed that Baku begin a phased withdrawal of the group,” he said.

He does not rule out the possibility of the transfer of Russian peacekeepers from the territory of Azerbaijan to territories that have come under Russian control during a special military operation in Ukraine or their participation in localizing the conflict between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip.

Azerbaijani analysts pointed out the benefits for Baku from the withdrawal of peacekeepers

The withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from the territory of Azerbaijan is due to a mutual decision of the top leadership of both countries, said Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev on April 17.

“The process has already begun, the ministries of defense of Azerbaijan and Russia are taking appropriate measures to implement this decision,” the Oxu.Az agency quoted him as saying.

The process of withdrawing Russian peacekeepers will stretch out and will be completely completed at the end of September this year, suggested military expert, reserve officer Adalat Verdiev.

“All equipment and manpower will be withdrawn. Russia will allow Azerbaijan to use the territory of the Khojaly airport, where the peacekeepers’ base was located in Karabakh,” he told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

The withdrawal will be gradual and will last until September because during the three years of its stay in Karabakh, the Russian peacekeeping contingent brought and built a mobile town there, which has barracks, a hospital, a canteen, a kitchen, a bathhouse, sports facilities, construction equipment, even a church. It takes time to dismantle and load this equipment,” Verdiev explained.

The withdrawal of the peacekeepers was the result of a huge amount of work by Azerbaijani diplomacy and the right timing, said Ahmed Alili, director of the Caucasus Center for Political Analysis. “As a result, Azerbaijan has become the only country participating in the EU Eastern Partnership program that does not have a foreign military base on its soil. We will learn full information about this work after a long time,” Alili told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

The head of the Center for the Study of the South Caucasus, Farhad Mamedov, agreed with him. “The leadership of Azerbaijan patiently and steadily implemented the line for the complete restoration of sovereignty throughout the territory of Azerbaijan,” he told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

Director of the Atlas Analytical Center Elkhan Shainoglu considers it possible to reach an oral agreement between Russia and Azerbaijan that in exchange for the premature withdrawal of peacekeepers, Baku should agree to become a member of the Eurasian Economic Union. “But official Baku has a well-known condition: Armenia must sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. Because Azerbaijan has close economic relations with other members of the Eurasian Economic Community. There are no such relations with Armenia. And Azerbaijan’s membership in the CSTO is impossible, since the country does not participate in military blocs, having become a member of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. The Kremlin accepts this logic,” he told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

Since the beginning of the withdrawal of the peacekeepers, there has been no clear explanation from Azerbaijani officials, noted political analyst, head of the East-West Research Center Arastun Orujlu. In his opinion, if the withdrawal of the peacekeepers was the merit of the Azerbaijani leadership, official Baku would not have missed the opportunity for its PR.

“It’s as if Baku doesn’t understand what’s going on. Moreover, a week ago, the Azerbaijani mine clearance agency made a statement that the Russian peacekeeping contingent will help clear the territory of mines, although mine specialists are needed for this work. One gets the impression that Baku did not expect such a quick withdrawal of Russian troops. But in any case, on the eve of the event, the Azerbaijani authorities were aware, since the column was moving through Azerbaijani territory, and Baku must have consent to this,” Orujlu said.

He believes that the presence of the military in the region was a negative factor in the forceful presence of one state in another. “I think Moscow used this factor to influence Azerbaijan and Armenia, preventing Baku from conducting peace negotiations. This was evident from the fact that Baku refused Western mediation and negotiations without intermediaries. I have no doubt about the negative impact of the presence of peacekeepers on the peace process “I don’t think that the withdrawal of the RMK will facilitate negotiations with Yerevan, since the presence of the Russian Federation in the region has never been limited to military force. Russia’s political influence and military threat remain,” he noted.

In his opinion, the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains under the control of Russia. “A peace treaty can be concluded on Russia’s terms. Russian influence on Baku and Yerevan is much broader than we think. Therefore, at least this year, I do not expect progress in the peace process and any signing,” the expert added.
Related:
Karabakh: 2024-04-18 Good Morning
Karabakh: 2024-04-18 Withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers and their equipment from Azerbaijan's Karabakh
Karabakh: 2024-04-03 Current information on the situation on the front line: April 2 (updated)
Link


Britain
Moroccan asylum seeker in UK says he stabbed stranger to death due to Gaza war
2024-04-12
[IsraelTimes] A Moroccan asylum seeker accused of stabbing a stranger to death told British police he carried out the attack because Israel had "killed children" in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, prosecutors say during his trial today.

Ahmed Alid, 45, also allegedly attacked his housemate, a Christian convert, and assaulted two coppers, during the incidents in Hartlepool, northeast England, last October.

Prosecutors said he murdered 70-year-old Terence Carney after a chance meeting in the street when he was carrying two knives. He stabbed housemate, Javed Nouri, as he slept in bed. Alid shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he repeatedly maimed the sleeping Nouri in the chest, Teesside Crown Court hears at the start of the trial.

The 31-year-old survived the assault, but Carney died after being stabbed six times in the chest, abdomen and back. Police arrested Alid nearby with a bloody knife in his waistband, and he later told officers that he had acted because of the Gaza war, the court hears.

"He said he had wanted to kill them because of the conflict in Gaza and to further his desire that Paleostine would be free from the Zionists, by which he meant Israel," prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford says. "The defendant said he would have killed more people if he had been able to do so."
Link


Africa Horn
Somalia Court hands down jail sentences against ISIS militants
2023-12-17
[ShabelleMedia] A top military court in Somalia on Saturday announced prison sentences against convicted ISIS operatives held for terrorism charges.

Abdikani Aden Ali (Elmi) and Ahmed Ali Dirie (Moallim Ahmed), each received 8 years of imprisonment for playing role in Mogadishu attacks, according to court verdict.

The defendants were detained by security forces in October this year during an operation in Dharkenley District and held in police custody for questioning.

They fell to police hands while plotting kabooms in the capital. The capture of one carrying hand grenades in a plastic bag led to the arrest of the second who was in a Mosque waiting to take over the bombs.

The military court said the two have one month to appeal against the ruling, if failed they will serve the prison terms.

The ISIS branch in Somalia was established by a former al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
preacher Sheikh Abdulkadir Mumin in October 2015. The group is based in Bari region’s hills under Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
Related:
Dharkenley District: 2023-08-21 Protests erupt in Mogadishu over detained army general, 3 dead
Dharkenley District: 2022-11-10 Gunmen kill the brother of 2nd deputy speaker of parliament
Related:
Sheikh Abdulkadir Mumin: 2023-03-16 Do not underrate Al-Shabaab and ISIS threat in Somalia, experts tell leaders
Sheikh Abdulkadir Mumin: 2023-01-31 The wife of ISIS leader in Somalia sentenced to military prison
Sheikh Abdulkadir Mumin: 2019-04-15 Airstrike Kills Deputy Leader of IS in Somalia
Link


India-Pakistan
Soldier martyred in S Wazoo gun battle with terrorists
2023-12-06
[GEO.TV] A soldier lost his life in a shootout with hard boyz on Tuesday in South Wazoo district’s Sararogha area, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

In a statement, the military’s media wing said when the exchange of fire between the soldiers and hard boyz took place, the troops "effectively engaged the terrorists' location".

As a result of the firing, the soldier who was martyred was identified as sepoy Ahmed Ali, 26, a resident of the Charsadda district. The military’s media wing mentioned that the soldier fought "gallantly".

In response, the military has launched a sanitisation operation "to eliminate any hard boyz found in the area".

"Security forces of Pakistain are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve," the statement added.

Terror activities are on the rise in the country, with the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
Pakistain (TTP) and other banned outfits attempting to rage war against security forces and civilians as well as challenging the writ of the state.
Related:
Wazoo: 2023-11-29 Two terrorists killed in Kalat IBO
Wazoo: 2023-11-28 Pakistan blames Afghan national for suicide bombing that killed two civilians
Wazoo: 2023-11-26 Nawaz Sharif fires fresh salvo at 'conspirators'
Link


Africa Horn
Police officer arrested following suicide bomb attack at Beledweyne
2023-09-28
[GoobjoogNews] A police officer has been arrested following a suicide truck bombing that targeted a security checkpoint in Beledweyne, killing at least 36 people and wounding 40 others.

According to Beledweyne police commander Ahmed Ali Adan, the arrested officer was responsible for the security checkpoint where the boom-mobile managed to pass through.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) condemned the al-Shabaab
...... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
suicide kaboom.
Link


Africa Horn
Somalia: NISA publishes names of senior Al-Shabaab leaders killed in operations
2023-09-14
[Garowe] The National Intelligence Security Agency [NISA] has published the names of seven al-Shabaab
...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
Death Eaters who were killed in recent operations, just as the national army prepares for the second phase of operations against the Death Eaters in southern parts.

For the last week, the Somali National Army has been strategizing a comeback after defeats in Cawsweyne which almost paralyzed operations across Somalia. A number of soldiers had downed their tools following the attack at Cawsweyne which left several soldiers dead.

In a lengthy statement on Tuesday, the intelligence team said seven Death Eaters were killed in recent operations at Awadheegle military base on September 10th while the seventh one was killed on September 11th during an operation at Bulacle just near Dhusamareb.

Those killed include Sheikh Abdulahi who used to operate in K50 and Buufow areas, Ali Timo Jilic, aka Jeylani, Bashir Dhere, Abdiqafaar aka Moallim Nadaara, Shaciye Mohammed Ali aka Kufridid, Sakariye Mohammed Bashir aka Adnan or Sandhere and Ahmed Ali Dahir Shuuke, the agency stated.

The Death Eaters are said to be holding senior ranks within al-Shabaab Death Eaters are were among those targeted by security officers conducting raids against the group in the country. Their death has been termed the "greatest success" in recent times according to military sources.

According to officials, the success further neutralizes al-Shabaab Death Eaters in Somalia, with the possibility of the Death Eaters facing immense defeats in the coming weeks also pronounced. The military is carrying out operations in central areas where the first phase left over 3,000 Death Eaters dead.
Link


Africa Horn
Protests erupt in Mogadishu over detained army general, 3 dead
2023-08-21
[Garowe] Hundreds of people associated with estranged former military General Sheegow Ahmed Ali have thronged into the streets of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, demanding his immediate release from detention, hours after he was arrested by the police.

Sheegow was arrested on Saturday following festivities between rebels allied to him who engaged police in running battles for the better part of Friday night and Saturday morning, authorities confirmed. He is still in police custody pending investigations.

Chanting "liberation" songs, protestors started marching from Dharkenley District and headed to the famous Sayid Junction which leads to the Presidential Palace, the official residence of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the current leader of the federal government of Somalia.

Security officers stationed near the palace used live ammunition to disperse protesters who were calling for Sheegow's release from prison, eyewitnesses said. However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
no casualties were reported during the violent mostly peaceful demonstrations, authorities added.

For long periods, traffic jam built along the busy Maka al-Mukarama, eye witnesses added. Participants accused police of using excessive force to quell demonstrations, adding that the government is losing confidence from among the people.

Besides Sheegow, at least 24 armed militia were arrested by the police and are currently waiting to be charged for violent mostly peaceful protests in the capital, Mogadishu. According to the report by the police, Sheegow, and his team are accused of violent mostly peaceful conduct besides destabilization of security in Mogadishu.

Cases of mutiny and dissent in the military are common in Somalia, a country that has struggled with instability for the last three decades. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has diverted his attention to the fight against al-Shabaab
...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
turbans, who are trying to topple the government.



Link


Africa Horn
Renegade military officer arrested in Somalia over chaos in Mogadishu
2023-08-20
It’s not clear to me whether this is properly categorized as War on Terror or just Page 2: WoT Background, because the miscreant is one of Somalia’s generals, so for now it’s on Page 2, awaiting further information or Reader advice.
[Garowe] A military renegade officer has been arrested by police in Somalia, police said on Saturday, following a night of chaos in the capital Mogadishu, which left at least three people dead and several injured, potentially compromising the fight against al-Shabaab
...... the personification of Somali state failure...
bad boys.

General Sheegow Ahmed Ali and his team engaged coppers in a shootout from Friday evening until Saturday afternoon, police confirmed, noting that he has since been arrested ahead of trial, where he will be formally charged in the court of law for his actions.

Also arrested were 25 soldiers loyal to him, with the state now keen to charge him with displacement of people, who bravely ran away from their homes following the heavy shootout within the rather stable Mogadishu. The Somali capital has been enjoying relative peace lately, police said.

According to reports, fighting broke out on Friday at 9 pm local time as police arrived at Kaawo Godey within Mogadishu after residents tipped security officers over a breach of security within the area. Other sources said the fighting broke out after police arrested two soldiers allied with General Sheegow sparking the fighting.

Among those killed, police said, were a security personnel and two militias with nine others injured. Those injured have been rushed to various hospitals within Mogadishu for advanced treatment, police spokesperson Sadik Ali said in a statement.

Police accused Sheegow Ahmed Ali, of destabilising the security of the capital and fighting against the security forces. According to Police Spokesperson Sadik Ali, alleged stolen mobile phones and fake bank notes were found in his home during a coordinated raid.

Relative peace has been restored in Somalia's capital, with police also taking caution of possible attacks. The incident comes as the country prepares for the second and perhaps final assault against al-Shabaab bad boys, who usually take advantage of such security lapses to attack innocent civilians and security officers.



Link


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: July 20th, 2023
2023-07-21
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] 22:57 Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the Rheinmetall plant, which is planned to be built in Ukraine, will become a "legitimate target" for Russia. The general director of the German arms concern Armin Papperger replied that he would not give up his plans, and plans to protect the future enterprise in Ukraine from attacks using air defense systems of its own production. "For us at Rheinmetall, the key task is to support our Ukrainian partners in the fight for freedom and democracy and to meet their urgent needs as soon as possible," Papperger said.

22:51 White House National Security Council coordinator John Kirby confirmed the use of American cluster munitions by Ukrainian troops: "We received some initial feedback from the Ukrainians, and they are using them quite effectively."

22:48 According to updated data, 31 people died as a result of the explosion of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station by the Russians in the territory controlled by Ukraine, Interior Minister Igor Klimenko said. In particular, today there are data on 29 dead in the Kherson region and two in the Nikolaev region.

22:42 Zelensky, in an evening video message, called on all representatives of local authorities to spend budget resources "fairly and correctly": "Everyone understands what is at stake. Cobblestones, decoration of cities, fountains will wait - first, victory."

The President also said that he had spoken today with Prime Minister Shmyhal about budget expenditures: "I proposed two steps to the head of government. First: to find extra-budgetary funds for projects that are really needed now. There are people in the world who can help. Second: I asked the Prime Minister to consider replacing the Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine."

22:35 Chechen volunteers are now fighting for Ukraine and are actively conducting raids on the territory of the Russian Federation. Of their latest operations - the liquidation of the Russian military in the Belgorod region. For more details, see How Chechens Fight in Russia .

21:31 For the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the number one goal now is the destruction of Russian electronic warfare stations, spokesman for the Eastern Group of Forces Sergei Cherevaty said: "The enemy has a fairly powerful electronic warfare. We need to improve and strengthen it, this war teaches us all. Ukraine has a powerful school of electronic warfare, so we will build up capacities. Russian electronic warfare stations are the number one goal. The day before yesterday another such station was destroyed."

20:48 Zaluzhny said that he had a telephone conversation with the head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, and spoke in detail about the operational situation along the entire front line: "The armed forces of Ukraine, despite the enemy's super-complex minefields, anti-tank barriers and the fire destruction system, methodically destroy enemy forces and continue to conduct offensive operations to de-occupy our territory. There are successes in several directions."

20:19 Great Britain has provided Ukraine with 15 times more artillery shells than planned, Defense Minister Ben Wallace said.

19:54 Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said that the Russian Federation is not preparing provocations against civilian ships in the Black Sea.

19:51 The Western press is finding more and more signs of a delay in the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine. According to Politico, one of these signs is the transition of the allies from the supply of new weapons to the repair of those already sent. More details - in the material the West is changing its approach .

19:40 Borrell said that the EU will create a special section in the European Peace Fund and provide through it 20 billion euros for the defense needs of Ukraine. It is planned to allocate 5 billion euros annually over the next four years.

19:22 Zelensky said that he had the first telephone conversation in the history of bilateral relations with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali: "He spoke about Russia's unilateral withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, illegal blocking of shipping, shelling of Ukraine's port and energy infrastructure. We discussed preparations for the Global Peace Summit and invited the Prime Minister to visit Ukraine." The President also stressed the need to create a platform for dialogue with African countries.

19:18 The United States announced new sanctions against Russia - banks, individuals and industrial enterprises fell under the restrictions. In particular, sanctions have been imposed against a number of officials, Tinkoff Bank, Solidarity and Unistream banks, defense industry enterprises, as well as against 14 courts and private companies. In addition, a company from Kyrgyzstan fell under the restrictions.

19:01 The Russians fired artillery at the village of Petrovka, Bogodukhovsky district, Kharkiv region: two people were injured, a two-story apartment building and an office building were damaged. As of now, there is no power supply in the settlement due to the shelling, the IVA said.

18:55 Irish airline Ryanair has announced a commitment to resume flights to and from Ukraine at low fares within eight weeks of the opening of airspace, as well as intentions to deploy up to 30 new Boeing 737 MAX in Kiev, Lvov and Odessa worth more than $ 3 billion.

18:48 The UN Security Council will meet on July 21 to discuss the humanitarian consequences of Russia's withdrawal from the grain agreement, the British mission to the organization said.

18:44 Canada has imposed sanctions against 20 legal entities from Russia, including Tinkoff Bank, Yandex Pay, the Mir card, the big four telecom operators and Readovka. Also on the sanctions list were Joseph Prigozhin, Nikita Mikhalkov, Ivan Okhlobystin, Yulia Chicherina, Philip Kirkorov, Dmitry Kharatyan, Timati, singer Valeria and musician Alexander Sklyar.

18:35 The Foreign Ministry appeals to partners to fully support Ukraine's initiative to create a humanitarian maritime corridor in the Black Sea. The humanitarian corridor will allow the resumption of vital food supply routes to regions that need it most, the ministry said.

The statement also says that Russia's intention to treat foreign vessels as military targets is a flagrant violation of its obligations under international law to all states engaged in peaceful navigation in the Black Sea. "The Russian statement has no legitimate military purpose, but it is aimed at intimidating neutral states. The Russian statement covers the entire Black Sea, and not just the area immediately around Ukrainian ports, and, moreover, does not make exceptions for medical and other humanitarian reasons, as required by the laws of warfare at sea," the Foreign Ministry notes.

17:53 The number of those killed as a result of a nighttime missile attack on Nikolaev has increased to two - the body of another person was removed from under the rubble of the house. Search work continues, said the head of the regional police Sergei Shaikhet.

17:44 In the Ukrainian ports attacked by Russia, there are about a million tons of food, said the permanent representative of Ukraine to international organizations in Vienna Yevhen Tsymbalyuk during a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council. "We call on the international community to join Ukraine's efforts to save grain exports for the world. Together we must protect the most vulnerable segments of the population around the world," Tsymbalyuk stressed.

17:25 The amount of damage caused to the environment of Ukraine due to Russian strikes on military facilities exceeds 305 billion hryvnia, said Ruslan Beregulya, head of the Main Directorate of Mine Action, Civil Protection and Environmental Safety.

16:58 Great Britain imposed sanctions against PMC Wagner for crimes in Africa. In particular, restrictions were imposed against 13 people and companies associated with the activities of the group in Mali, the Central African Republic and Sudan.

16:36 Ukraine will receive a $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank guaranteed by the Japanese government. The corresponding agreement has just been signed by the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance, Shmyhal said. The funds are intended to strengthen social protection and provide assistance to people during the war and economic recovery.

15:53 ​​The United States has allocated 190 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, of which more than half have already been delivered to operational units, and about ten infantry fighting vehicles have been destroyed, writes The Washington Post, citing sources. According to the publication, the Ukrainian military feel a shortage of spare parts for their repair.

15:27 The "head" of the occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said that a Ukrainian drone was allegedly shot down by air defense forces in the central part of the peninsula, there were no casualties or damage. Ukrainian military telegram channels write about a detonating ammo depot in the Stary Krym region. And local publics write that explosions are heard in the area of ​​​​the military airfield in Novofedorovka. The 43rd Separate Marine Assault Aviation Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet is based there. Planes from this airfield were used, in particular, to attack the southern regions of Ukraine.

15:24 The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine stated that from 00:00 on July 21, all ships sailing in the Black Sea in the direction of the seaports of the Russian Federation and Ukrainian seaports on the territory temporarily occupied by Russia can be considered by Ukraine as carrying military cargo "with all the corresponding risks."

In addition, navigation in the areas of the North-Eastern part of the Black Sea and the Kerch-Yenikal Strait of Ukraine is prohibited as dangerous from 05:00 on July 20, 2023. Relevant navigational information for mariners has already been made public.

The Ministry of Defense recalls that the Russian Federation has once again grossly violated the universal right for the whole world to free navigation and deliberately undermines food security, dooming millions of people to starvation. "The fate of the cruiser Moskva proves that the Ukrainian Defense Forces have the necessary means to repel Russian aggression at sea," the agency said.

15:16 The SBU detained a propagandist blogger in Odessa, who was the right hand of the collaborator Stremousov. Before the full-scale invasion, they together organized paid mass actions in favor of the Russian Federation. During the period of the capture of part of the Nikolaev region and Kherson, Stremousov became part of the local occupation administration of the Russian Federation, and his henchman remained in the territory controlled by Ukraine. He ran pages and channels on social networks, justified Russian aggression, discredited Ukrainian defenders and called for evading draft into the Defense Forces. His stories and publications were picked up by the central mouthpieces of the Kremlin and distributed under the guise of the position of "ordinary citizens of Ukraine." The perpetrator faces up to ten years in prison.

15:13 Russian publics write about the liquidation in Ukraine of the famous Moscow volunteer Mikhail Luchin, who ran the telegram channel Misha in Donbass .

15:10 The Washington Post writes, citing sources, that Ukraine has begun using American cluster munitions. According to the publication, they were used against Russian forces in the south-east of Ukraine, trying to break the well-fortified positions of the Russian Federation. In addition, there are plans to use them under Bakhmut.

15:07 The European Union has extended sanctions against the Russian Federation until January 31, 2024. They were first introduced in 2014.

15:02 The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that tonight the RF Armed Forces continued inflicting "retaliatory strikes" with high-precision weapons allegedly on "production workshops and places of storage of unmanned boats" in the regions of Odessa and Ilyichevsk. And in the region of Nikolaev, according to Moscow, "fuel infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine" were allegedly destroyed. The goal, as usual, "is achieved, all assigned objects are hit."

14:46 Since the beginning of the summer, many volunteers have begun to declare that Ukrainian defenders have a shortage of drones, and the Ministry of Defense does not buy them at all. The military themselves also state that the situation with UAVs at the front for Ukraine is developing badly. Today it became known that the state, represented by the Ministry of Defense, has not ordered a single kamikaze drone from Ukroboronprom since the beginning of a full-scale war. Read more in the material Scandal with drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine .

14:29 Poland is preparing for possible provocations from the Russian Federation and has transferred the military to the eastern part of the country, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said. "We must be aware that, for example, the transfer of several thousand Wagner soldiers to Belarus also poses a threat to our country," he explained.

Peskov, in turn, said that the Kremlin considers the transfer of military personnel by Poland to the border with Belarus to be the reason for "increased attention" and "notice the aggressiveness of Warsaw."

14:03 The focus of Western partners has shifted significantly to the repair and support of weapons transferred to Ukraine, since the war can last for months and years, Pentagon spokesman William LaPlante told Politico. Keeping the military equipment handed over to the Ukrainians in working order is one of the main functions of a working group of 22 countries led by Laplante.

13:59 More than 10 thousand civilians of Mariupol were arrested by the occupiers, their places of detention or their further fate are unknown, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol Petr Andryushchenko said. According to him, every week dozens of people are detained in Mariupol as part of checks and searches for saboteurs. "Just ordinary people - for correspondence with residents of Mariupol in the evacuation, for reading Ukrainian news publications, simply on suspicion and denunciations," he specified.

The vast majority of detainees end up in the main torture chamber of Mariupol - the former central police department. Here people "confess", sign some papers, then at best - under surveillance, at worst - disappear forever, said Andryushchenko.

13:34 32 million tons of grain got stuck in Ukraine after Russia withdrew from the grain deal, said German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock. According to her, the same amount of grain was exported by sea during the entire period of the grain corridor. The minister noted that alternative options for the export of grain are now being considered, in particular, an increase in deliveries by rail.

13:05 As a result of the night Russian attack on Odessa, the building of the Consulate General of China was damaged, Oleg Kiper, head of the Odessa OVA, said.

12:38 The Russian army has been massively shelling the territory of Ukraine for the third day. At the same time, the Odessa region holds the main blow of the occupiers. For their attacks, the enemy, among other things, began to use Onyx anti-ship missiles. About what is known about them and whether the Ukrainian air defense forces can fight them - in the material, the Russian Federation is attacking Odessa .

12:14 According to the international human rights organization Amnesty International, in 2022 alone, more than 21,000 people were punished in Russia for their anti-war position. Most of them received fines, and 2,307 people were arrested. More than 150 people were involved under articles on "fake news about the army" and "repeated discrediting" of the RF Armed Forces. The repressive laws adopted in Russia are called "absurd" by the authors of the report.

In addition, Amnesty has documented cases where Russian citizens were sentenced to camps, and now the organization considers them political prisoners. Human rights activists called on the Russian authorities to release all those detained for their anti-war stance and to repeal repressive laws.

11:55 The head of the Odesa OVA, Oleg Kiper, specified that as a result of a night attack in Odessa, eight people were injured, including three employees of the State Emergency Service. There were no casualties in the area, according to updated data. Three victims were hospitalized in city hospitals, they are in a state of moderate severity, among them one employee of the State Emergency Service.

11:37 Detonation continues for the second day at a military training ground in the Kirovsky district of Crimea. The Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation stated that "the situation is stabilizing, detonation occurs much less frequently."

11:26 As a result of a night attack in Odessa, one person died - his body was found under the rubble, the head of the OVA Oleg Kiper said. Four people were injured, including one child. The Russians attacked the ports of the grain agreement, as a result of which the port infrastructure was damaged. In addition, there were hits on civilian infrastructure facilities, including the destruction of an administrative building in the center of Odessa, several more houses, including residential ones, were damaged by the blast wave. There was also a hit on one of the enterprises in the region, a fire broke out in the warehouse, one person was injured.

11:13 Borrell called the targeted attacks by Russia on the port infrastructure in Odessa barbaric, which have been going on for the third night in a row. According to the European diplomat, Russia's deliberate destruction of grain reserves intended for export will lead to a large-scale food crisis in the world.

10:52 The United States plans to announce another package of military assistance to Ukraine worth about $400 million, CNN reports, citing two US officials. The package will include additional rockets for NASAMS and Patriot air defense systems, HIMARS ammunition, artillery shells, Javelin anti-tank missile systems and TOW anti-tank guided missiles. Officials warned that the package has not yet been finalized and may be subject to change.

10:28 Australia has imposed sanctions against 35 organizations from the Russian Federation, the country's Foreign Ministry said. In particular, these are organizations from the defense, technology and energy sectors. Also, ten individuals fell under the sanctions, including Russian ministers and officials, as well as the military from Belarus.

09:47 Ukraine does not yet have the ability to shoot down Onyx ground-based missiles, with which Russia is attacking the South, Air Force speaker Yuri Ignat said. He explained that these anti-ship missiles fly at speeds of more than 3,000 km per hour and, when approaching a target, can fly at a height of 10-15 meters above the water, which makes them difficult to detect and destroy.

“It is difficult to fight such missiles, so this complicates the work of air defense. But their work can be influenced by the same means of electronic warfare. Not all of these missiles reach the target, but some do,” Ignat added. As for the X-22 missiles, their speed is even higher - over 4000 km per hour, and they enter the target along a ballistic trajectory. Therefore, to defeat them, appropriate means are needed, such as Patriot, Ignat noted.

09:29 The Ministry of Defense of Belarus reported that the Belarusian military, together with the mercenaries of PMC Wagner, will "work out combat training tasks" at a training ground in the south-west of the country within a week.

09:26 In the Donetsk region over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, one person was killed (in Konstantinovka), two more were injured. In the Zaporozhye region, as a result of a guided bomb strike on Orekhovo, one person was killed, three were injured. There are three wounded in the Kherson region, according to the IVA.

09:15 Ukrainian troops continue their offensive north and south of the city of Bakhmut, they are fighting near Kurdyumovka, spokesman of the General Staff Andrei Kovalev said. On the southern front, the Russians tried to regain their lost position near Priyutnoye, without success. On the directions of Malaya Tokmachka - Verbovoye, Novodanilovka - Robotino, the Defense Forces were successful, and are gaining a foothold on the achieved lines.

09:12 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of July 20:

  • personnel - about 240,010 (+530) people liquidated,

  • tanks - 4129 (+6),

  • armored combat vehicles - 8065 (+6),

  • artillery systems - 4592 (+19),

  • MLRS - 692 (+3),

  • air defense systems - 433 (+3),

  • aircraft - 315 (+0),

  • helicopters - 310 (+0),

  • UAV operational-tactical level - 3918 (+33),

  • cruise missiles - 1293 (+14),

  • ships/boats - 18 (+0),

  • automotive equipment and tankers - 7134 (+29),

  • special equipment - 685 (+2).

09:04 At night, the enemy launched a missile attack on Nikolaev: 19 people were injured , two were hospitalized, among them a child. As a result of the hit, several floors of a three-story building were destroyed and a fire broke out with an area of ​​450 square meters. m, which has already been liquidated. Debris clearing continues. Damaged neighboring multi-storey buildings, said the head of the OVA Vitaly Kim.

08:59 In the morning, the Russians fired on the city of Volchansk, Chuguevsky district, Kharkiv region, one person died, Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA, said. In addition, over the past day, the enemy fired at the settlements of the Bogodukhovsky, Kharkov, Kupyansky and Chuguevsky districts from mortars, cannon and rocket artillery and other weapons. Residential buildings were damaged, people were not injured.

08:45 At night, the Russians attacked Semyonovka, Chernihiv region, with kamikaze drones, there are hits in residential buildings, the number of victims is being specified, the head of the OVA Vyacheslav Chaus said. The enemy also fired artillery, mortars and helicopters at the Novgorod-Seversk community.

08:41 The Russian army is concentrating its main efforts on the Kupyansky, Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions - over the past day there have been about 30 clashes, the General Staff said in the morning summary . At the same time, the Defense Forces continue the offensive operation in the Melitopol and Berdyansk directions, and consolidate on the achieved lines.

08:37 At night, Russia again attacked Odessa and Nikolaev, under attack - ports, berths, residential buildings and retail chains, the command of the Air Force reported. In total, the enemy fired 19 missiles and 19 attack drones at Ukraine, five missiles and 13 drones were destroyed. The Russian army used:

  • seven Onyx cruise missiles from the Bastion coastal missile system (Crimea);

  • four Kh-22 air-launched cruise missiles from eight Tu-22MZ aircraft (Black Sea area);

  • three Caliber sea-launched cruise missiles, probably from a submarine from the Black Sea, two of which were destroyed by air defense forces;

  • five ground-based cruise missiles Iskander-K (Crimea), of which three were destroyed;

  • 19 attack UAVs of the Shahed-136/131 type from two directions - southern (Chauda, ​​Crimea) and northeastern (Kursk), 13 of them were destroyed by air defense forces.

08:04 At night, Sumy was attacked by three enemy Shahed 136 UAVs, the IVA reported. One of them was shot down, the second was shot down by air defense forces, and the third hit the building of an out-of-school health institution. As a result of the hit, the premises of the institution were damaged, a fire broke out. One person was hurt.

07:28 Explosions were heard in the north-west of Crimea at night. The occupying "authorities" said that as a result of the drone attack, four administrative buildings were damaged, and a teenager died. The name of the settlement and the district itself are not named by the "authorities", but telegram channels write that it is about the village of Razdolnoye. Also in social networks they doubt that there was only one drone, as Gauleiter Sergei Aksenov said.

05:35 Russia can strike at civilian ships in the Black Sea and blame Ukraine for this, said Adam Hodge, spokesman for the US National Security Council. According to him, the Russians began to install additional naval mines in the Black Sea, mainly on the approaches to Ukrainian ports.

Hodge recalled Moscow's statement that "any vessel heading for a Ukrainian port will be considered as potentially carrying military cargo." "We believe that this is a coordinated attempt to justify any attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea and put the blame for these attacks on Ukraine," Hodge said.

04:29 The Russians are attacking the Odessa region: as a result of attacks on the center of Odessa, there is destruction, a fire started on an area of ​​300 square meters. m, it is known about two victims. There is also an “arrival” in the region, Oleg Kiper, head of the OVA, said.

03:47 Putin's refusal to participate in the BRICS summit in South Africa indicates the final loss of his authority, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said: "This indicates the global weakness of the Russian Federation. There is no better example, better illustration of the significant deterioration of Russia's authority in the world than the fact that President Putin is now unlikely to be able to go abroad ... Russia's war has become a strategic defeat for Putin himself."

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