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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin says he “informed” the leaders of France and Germany of the “real situation” in Ukraine in a three-way telephone call on Saturday, alleging various “gross violations of the international humanitarian law” by Ukraine. President Putin, according to the Kremlin’s official readout of the conversation, accused “the Ukrainian army and police [of] extrajudicial killings of dissenters, hostage taking and the use of civilians as human shields, deployment of heavy weaponry in residential areas, in proximity to hospitals, schools, kindergartens, and so on” as the three leader discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which the Kremlin described more prosaically...

In fresh Sunday statements, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will not stop military operations in Ukraine until Kiev government forces stop fighting, at a moment evacuation efforts in Mariupol where there are reports that some 200,000 civilians remain have been stalled due to reported Russian shelling. The statements were issued through the Russian presidency’s press office, which reaffirmed “the Russian side’s readiness for dialogue with Ukraine’s authorities and foreign partners in order to settle the conflict.” Putin also stated of the past more than half-decade of fighting in Donbass that “13,000-14,000 of them [people in pro-Russian Donetsk and...

On Tuesday China has again addressed the war in Ukraine, coming as Russia’s invasion has completed its first week. While prior official comments out of Beijing appeared to focus on condemning NATO expansionism while urging the West to take seriously Moscow’s ‘legitimate security concerns’ – this newest statement has sounded alarm over rising civilian casualties. The foreign ministry statement said China “deplores” the outbreak of the conflict, saying it’s “extremely concerned” about civilians being harmed. The statement didn’t single out Russia, but still appears directed at Moscow given the words were conveyed in a phone call between Foreign Minister Wang...

Suspected cluster munitions have struck several buildings in Kharkiv after a series of explosions were captured on camera in Ukraine's second-largest city. Sky News has pinpointed the videos to northeastern Kharkiv and a military expert said the shelling appears to be the classic pattern for a cluster munition. Cluster munitions are a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions - with the explosive bomblets designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicles. snip "Kharkiv has just been massively fired upon by grads (rockets). Dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded," Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Anton...

Newly declassified surveillance footage provides additional insights about the final minutes and aftermath of a botched U.S. drone strike last year in Kabul, Afghanistan, showing how the military made a life-or-death decision based on imagery that was fuzzy, hard to interpret in real time and prone to confirmation bias. The strike on Aug. 29 killed 10 innocent people — including seven children — in a tragic blunder that punctuated the end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan. The disclosure of the videos was a rare step by the U.S. military in any case of an airstrike that caused civilian casualties,...

Head of the United States Central Command Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. announced Friday that it is unlikely any ISIS-K members were killed in a Kabul drone strike on August 29, which led to multiple civilian casualties. "We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or a direct threat to US forces," McKenzie said of the airstrike at a briefing, following an investigation by the Military. "This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport,...

Analysis has revealed that Joe Biden’s last minute effort to salvage credibility during the Afghanistan withdrawal included a heinous war crime which murdered aid worker civilians, not the ISIS-K terrorists the Biden regime claimed

A leaked document from a district-level Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) office obtained by The Epoch Times outlines specific local developments integrating military capabilities and civilian infrastructure.The document, titled “2020 MCF Work Summary and 2021 MCF Work Planning,” came from the Jiedong district of Jiayang, Guangdong province. It details how the MCF blurs boundaries between military, civil, and commercial entities.According to the U.S. State Department, “MCF is the strategy to develop the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into a ‘world class military’ by 2049.” The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “is systematically reorganizing the Chinese science and technology enterprises to ensure that new innovations...

Heavily armed civilians have been filmed protecting businesses in Kenosha after arsonists set buildings alight, torching much of the black business district Monday. In footage taken by a local reporter, a small group of men can be seen carrying rifles and wearing combat gear as they protect local shops. They deny they are part of a militia.

Turkey claims it is striking “terrorists,” but locals are concerned airstrikes come amid increased instability, ISIS resurgence and target vulnerably minorities Turkish drones and warplanes flew into Iraq airspace and bombed near a refugee camp near Makhmour on Wednesday, killing and wounding several people. Iraq’s top security cell for media reporting that its air defense monitored a Turkish violation of Iraqi airspace and that at least two women “residents of the camp were victims of the bombardment.” Iraqi media reported in the evening of April 15 that the death toll at the refugee camp had risen to three. It is...

BAGHUZ, SYRIA/WASHINGTON — In eastern Syria, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) say Islamic State is trying to slow the attack on the terror group's last scrap of territory in the town of Baghuz by using snipers, suicide bombers and civilians as human shields.A VOA cameraman traveling with Kurdish fighters spoke to several about what appears to be the final days of the battle. SDF officials said Monday the vast majority of civilians have already left Baghuz, but a small number are still trapped in the town by IS. "We don't have an estimate of how many civilians are still inside Baghuz,"...

A rebel attack on Aleppo has left dozens suffering of breathing problems and blurred vision, with a smell of gas reported over the city, according to Syrian media. Officials said all of the victims were civilians. At least 50 people have been treated for symptoms including breathing difficulties and blurred vision in Aleppo, after rebels fired shells into two regions of the city. Syrian officials and residents suspect the shells contained poisonous gas, with symptoms suggesting chlorine, according to medical official Haj Taha. A doctor told Syrian state TV on Saturday that at least two people, including one child, were in critical...

Following the explosions on June 27 in Afrin that resulted in the death of dozens of gang members, over 100 civilians have been abducted by Turkish forces. The invading Turkish soldiers abducted 18 young Kurdish people today in Afrin. The invading Turkish forces raided homes that belong to Kurds in two neighborhoods of Afrin today. 18 young people have been abducted in the house raids. Reports say at 08.00 in the morning, invading forces raided homes that belong to Kurds in the Ashrafiyah and Mahmudiyah neighborhoods in Afrin and took 18 young people away to an unknown location. Local sources say...

Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights obtained information from several reliable sources that Rahman Corps fighters have arrived with their families to Afrin area, and in the details monitored by the Syrian Observatory: members of Rahman Corps after their arrival to Idlib province –during the past few days on board the convoys of displacement; that have been consecutively coming over the past days, and have transported tens of thousands of fighters, their families and civilians refusing Rahman Corps’ agreement with the Russians regarding their departure from Jobar, Zamalka and Arbin– they went...

ROZANA DADOAFRIN – For more than a week, Afrin region witnessed a military escalation by Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries by air and ground attack, which resulted in the death and injury of more than 141 civilians and destruction of many vital places and damage to archaeological sites. The border villages has been subjected to barbaric bombardment by aircraft and artillery shelling for six days and has caused considerable damage to civilian property.The border villages in Afrin region have an important strategic location, which is a point of contact between the north of Kurdistan and Rojava, while also characterized...

A new emergency decree in Turkey could allow vigilantes to carry out political violence with impunity against opponents of the government suspected of involvement in last year’s coup attempt, Turkey’s main lawyers’ groups said on Monday. snip A separate decree on Sunday dismissed 2,756 more people from their jobs, accusing them of links to terrorist organizations. snip In a joint statement, the Ankara and Istanbul bar associations called Sunday’s two decrees “the last two nails in the coffin of the law”.

US-backed fighters in Syria say they have removed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) from Raqqa’s Old City, bringing them closer than ever to the armed group’s most well-defended positions. “Our forces today seized full control of the Old City in Raqqa after clashes with Daesh,” Talal Sello, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), told AFP news agency on Friday, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL. Sello said the SDF was now on the edges of ISIL’s “security quarter in the city centre, where most of its main bases are”. Most...

Al-Raqqa – Mercenaries are applied to civilians in the city of Al-Raqqa and prevent them to leave to  being used as human shields. They are taken to the center of the city for use them in battles in the city center.Since June 6, the city of Raqqa has been the scene of fierce clashes between fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces and IS-mercenaries. After 24 days of fierce fighting, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) managed to tighten the siege on mercenaries within the city from four sides.The SDF-fighters continue to destroy the defense lines, fortifications and strategic positions of the mercenaries on...

Wrath of Euphrates fighters have rescued 15 thousand civilians from ISIS gangs during the past three days. The Operation Wrath of Euphrates launched by YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for the liberation of Raqqa territory continues in the 4th day of the 4th phase. Thousands of civilians in settlements north of Raqqa rush to the areas cleared by SDF forces during the campaign. At least 15 thousand locals have been rescued from ISIS and transferred to safe areas over the past three days. Since the launch of the 4th phase of the campaign on May 10, SDF forces have rescued...

(d) The policies set forth in this order are consistent with existing U.S. obligations under international law and are not intended to create new international legal obligations; nor shall anything in this order be construed to derogate from obligations under applicable law, including the law of armed conflict. Sec. 3. Report on Strikes Undertaken by the U.S. Government Against Terrorist Targets Outside Areas of Active Hostilities. (a) The Director of National Intelligence (DNI), or such other official as the President may designate, shall obtain from relevant agencies information about the number of strikes undertaken by the U.S. Government against terrorist...