Free Republic

Turkish tanks and howitzer launchers at the Turkish border with Afrin. According to reports clashes have broken out between the Turkish army and Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northwestern Syria’s autonomous Afrin region.The local Hawar news agency reported that Turkish forces fired on and bombed the Firfirike village in Afrin’s Rajo district using howitzers and heavy artillery.YPG fighters responded to the attacks and clashes continue according to reports.A tweet by the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has also confirmed clashes.Turkish army presence on the Afrin border has been heightened recently with howitzers and armoured vehicles being brought to the area, Turkish...

Kurdish officials on Monday accused the Turkish army of shelling the villages of Maranaaz, Vilat al-Qadi, Sheikh Issa east of Afrin district and entering Syrian territory. Turkish media confirmed the shelling. “Turkish army and affiliated terrorists are heavily shelling east Efrin [Afrin] from Azaz city since Monday evening — the attacks continued until the moment,” the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) said in a statement. The Turkish army has been bombarding Kurdish positions in Afrin district from the rebel-held areas of Marea and Azaz in Aleppo Governorate, in northwestern Syria. It’s unclear if the shelling was a result of clashes...

One of the mortar shells fired at the embassy complex hit the residential area, while two others landed near the embassy building, the ministry said in a statement. Nobody was injured by the explosions. “According to reports, the shelling came from the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus, which is under control of the terrorist groups Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and Failak ar-Rahman,” the ministry said. Jabhat Fateh al-Sham is the new name taken by Al-Nusra Front, the Al-Qaeda offshoot universally considered a terrorist organization. Failak ar-Rahman is a lesser-known Islamist group. Moscow said the shelling is “result of the actions of those...

The Hague - A witness for the prosecution testifying in the trial of wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, told the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), that the Bosnian Muslim army at least on one occasion fired at their own people to blame the Serbs during 1992-1995 war. Canadian general David Fraser, who served with the UN peacekeepers in Bosnia, told the tribunal that Bosnian Serbs shelled the capital Sarajevo “excessively and unselectively” during 44-month siege, But “at least in one case”, it was determined that a mortar fired from Muslim positions hit the centre