Zelensky calls on the European Union to continue arming Ukraine
ARK News… Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Thursday, stressed that the European Union should continue to supply arms to his country.
This came in a press conference he held with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, in the capital, Kyiv.
Zelensky stressed the importance of supplying weapons to Ukraine, considering this a guarantee of the security of the European Union.
He pointed out that his country is counting on weapons coming from abroad, indicating at the same time that Ukraine continues to produce its weapons as well.
The Ukrainian president called on European Union countries to tighten sanctions on the Russian energy sector.
For his part, Michel said that the European Union strongly supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, stressing that this support will continue.
He explained that the European Union provided Ukraine with heavy weapons to help it in the war against Russia.
He added that the European Union continues to work to tighten sanctions against the Russian energy sector.
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine, which was followed by international rejection and economic sanctions against Moscow.
Russia requires to end its process Kyiv's abandonment of plans to join military entities, which the latter considers an "interference" in its sovereignty.
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3 new countries lose voting rights at the United Nations, and others are waiting
ARK News… UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced that Venezuela, Lebanon, and South Sudan have joined other countries that have lost the right to vote due to delays in payments to the UN operating budget.
Guterres mentioned that the other three countries that lost voting rights are Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon, which are members of the Security Council for two years, although their voting rights there were not compromised.
The General Assembly decided that 3 African countries included in the list of countries with arrears: Comoros, Sao Tome, and Principe, and Somalia, would be able to retain their voting rights, while the three countries were granted the same exemption last year.
According to the Secretary-General's letter, the minimum payments needed to restore voting rights are $76,244,991 for Venezuela, $1,835,303 for Lebanon, $619,103 for Equatorial Guinea, $196,130 for South Sudan, $61,686 for Gabon, and $20,580 for Dominica.
The United Nations said that, as of January 17, 2023, nine Member States are subject to the provisions of Article 19 of the Charter, which stipulates that a member of the United Nations that is in arrears in paying its financial contributions to the organization shall not have the right to vote in the General Assembly if the value of the arrears is equal to the value of the contributions due in the preceding two full years or more.
Source: UN news + sky news
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Wounded by a drone attack on the "Al-Tanf" base in the Syrian Badia
ARK News… The US Central Command, on Friday, January 20, 2023, announced that military sites belonging to the international coalition were attacked by multiple drones in Syria, which resulted in injuries.
According to a statement issued by the US military, three one-way attack drones targeted the al-Tanf barracks in the Badia region in Syria and said the coalition forces shot down two drones, while one hit the military complex.
The statement stated that no US forces were injured in the attack, while US Central Command spokesman Joe Buccino said, "Attacks of this kind are unacceptable - they endanger our forces and endanger the war against ISIS," as he put it.
Source: Al-Sham Network
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Putin dismisses the assistant secretary of the Russian National Security Council
ARK News… Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree relieving Alexei Pavlov of his post as assistant secretary of the Russian Security Council.
The official portal for legal information on the Internet published the decree, according to what was reported by Novosti Agency, on Friday.
Alexei Pavlov has worked as Assistant Secretary of the Russian Security Council since 2009, and prior to that he held several different positions in the Federal Security Service, as well as in the Federal Agency for State Communications and Information of the Russian Presidency.
The source: DBA
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The Syrian Kurdistan Writers Union holds a lecture on the occasion of the anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Kurdistan
ARK News… On the occasion of the anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Kurdistan, the Syrian Kurdistan Writers Union is holding a lecture entitled (Republic of Kurdistan "Mahabad" - history and lessons) presented by the writer Fares Osman, in the city of Qamishlo, in Syrian Kurdistan.
The lecture will be held on Sunday, January 22, 2023, at five o'clock in the evening, at the office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Syria, in the city of Qamishlo, next to the municipal stadium.
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UN study: Food insecurity faces two million people in Lebanon, 35% of whom are Syrians
ARK News… A study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Program, and the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture revealed that about two million people in Lebanon, 35% of whom are Syrians, face a high level of food insecurity, expecting that "the situation will worsen in the coming months."
The results of the “Integrated Phase Classification Analysis of Acute Food Insecurity in Lebanon” study showed that 37% of the Lebanese and Syrian refugees, i.e. 1.29 million Lebanese and 700 thousand Syrian refugees, face a high level of acute food insecurity, and are classified in the third stage (crisis).
The study expected that the number of classifiers in the third stage would increase during the period between this month and next April, to reach 42%, or 2.26 million, including 800 thousand Syrian refugees.
The representative of the World Food Program in Beirut, Abdullah Al-Wardat, said, during the launch of the study results, that "the number of people who depend on assistance in Lebanon has increased more than ever," noting that "the results of the study are very disturbing and reflect the deteriorating situation faced by many of people currently in Lebanon.
The United Nations, in a report submitted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the UN Security Council last month, warned of several challenges facing Syria, making it one of the most complex humanitarian and protection emergencies on the planet.
In the report, which dealt with humanitarian needs in Syria, Guterres said that 14.6 million Syrians were in need of humanitarian aid in Syria in 2022, with expectations that this number will rise to 15.3 million during the current year.
The report pointed out that the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, at a time when basic services are struggling amid the spread of cholera throughout the country, with indications of a deteriorating economic situation last summer.
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Abdollahian: Iran prevented a Turkish military operation in Syria
ARK News… Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian said that his visit to Ankara prevented a military operation in northern Syria that Turkey intended to launch against the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
In a video interview with "TRT World", Amir Abdullahian responded to a question about his recent meetings with the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, and Turkish officials, as well as the first meeting of the defense ministers of the Syrian regime, Turkey and Russia, saying: "A few months ago, this issue was raised that Turkey intends to carry out military operations on the Syrian lands and border areas. At that time, I visited Ankara, and the Islamic Republic was following the issue of Turkey and Syria, focusing on dialogue and a political solution, and we are glad that these efforts prevented this military operation from taking place in the border areas between the two countries.
Abdollahian added, "As a continuation of this path, the Islamic Republic of Iran has always welcomed the close relations between Turkey and the Syrian regime, so today we witness progress in this field.
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The fifth anniversary of the Turkish invasion and the armed factions in the Afrin region
ARK News... Friday, January 20, 2023, was the fifth anniversary of the start of the invasion by Turkey and the armed factions in the towns, and villages of Afrin city.
At the beginning of 2018, Turkish threats began to enter the Kurdish region of Afrin, and at the beginning of January, military movements began, and vehicles and armored vehicles headed toward the Turkish border with Afrin, without the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Afrin caring about these threats and moves to limit the occurrence of a disaster on Afrin and its people.
On January 20, 2018, at four o'clock in the afternoon, Turkey and the armed factions began to air and ground bombardment of various locations in the center of the city of Afrin and the six towns of Jenderes Rajo Mabata.
The war lasted 58 days. During those days, thousands of young men from Afrin who joined the PYD were killed, in addition to the death and injury of thousands of civilians as a result of air and ground bombardment.
Hundreds of vital centers, government institutions, hospitals, and schools were severely damaged as a result of the war and bombing.
According to the military and politicians, 7,000 Kurdish youths were martyred in the Afrin war, and the PYD's claim of the SDF's support for Afrin is baseless. Those convoys that came to Afrin were only because the leaders of the PKK and PYD fled from Afrin.
Before the PYD withdrew from the villages of Afrin, it was planting mines in the villages between the homes of civilians, their agricultural lands, and their vineyards.
On March 16, 2018, before the armed factions entered the city center of Afrin, the PYD prevented the people who decided to return to their villages and leave the city center of Afrin
Because of the war and violent clashes in the axes of the border villages from the outskirts of (Shara Bulbul Rajo), tens of thousands of Kurds had been displaced towards the center of the city of Afrin, but they decided later to return to their villages, and the border villages, and despite the continued shelling and clashes on the center of the city of Afrin, the PYD through the al-Mahmuodiya checkpoint, people were prevented from returning to their villages and earthen mounds were placed to limit the return of the people to their villages, while the Turinde village checkpoint was available so that the people could flee towards the towns of Nubil and al-Zahraa and the regions of Aleppo.
During the return of the people, and because of their insistence on returning to their villages, a gas cylinder exploded, killing dozens of civilians and injuring dozens, and the PYD media reported that a plane targeted a gathering of civilians at the Mahmuodiya checkpoint, after which the civilians were forced to flee through the Turinde checkpoint to the rural areas of Aleppo.
According to eyewitnesses who decided to return to their villages, they confirmed that the massacre was caused by the explosion of a gas cylinder, and all that is said that the massacre was the result of the bombing of the plane is untrue so they are forced to head towards the Turinde checkpoint.
A massive displacement campaign began towards the villages in the countryside of Aleppo and the areas of Nubil and Al-Zahraa. Two days after the massacre, the armed factions entered the center of the city of Afrin.
After the Turkish army and the armed factions took control of the majority of Afrin's geography and the border villages and town, except for the town of Mabata and the center of the city of Afrin, the PYD withdrew from the center of the city of Afrin on 3/18/2018, and the Turkish army and the armed factions entered the center of the city. On the 64th day, Turkey declared full control of the city of Afrin However, 12 of Afrin's border villages with the Shiite towns of Nubil and Zahraa remained under the control of the Syrian regime, according to politicians, to prevent any confrontation with the two towns and protect them from the armed factions.
As a result of the war, the people of the border villages of Afrin were displaced to the center of the city, and due to the intense shelling on the center of the city of Afrin and its villages, tens of thousands of people from Afrin were displaced to the northern countryside of Aleppo.
On March 18, 2018, when the armed factions entered the center of the city of Afrin, the factions, like locusts, started looting, looting, burglary, pickpocketing, seizing and looting the contents of civilian homes, shops, shops, factories, factories, presses, cars, tractors, and motorcycles, and they sold them in Idlib and Aza, which are adjacent to Afrin.
After that, the armed factions carried out inhumane acts of killing, arresting, seizing, imposing royalties on civilians, asking for ransom in exchange for the release of detainees, and making flimsy accusations against civilians in order to reach their goal of obtaining a handful of money from civilians who suffered scourge because of the ongoing war in Afrin.
On the other hand, the armed factions worked to change the demography of Afrin by opening room for the displaced Arabs and settling them in the homes of the displaced people of Afrin. The PYD also changed the demography of Afrin by preventing the displaced Kurds from returning to their villages, until the Kurds in Afrin became a minority, while Afrin was Kurdish 100/ 100.
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The Syrian regime arrested ten young men in Qudsaya and Al-Hamme
ARK News… During the past 48 hours, the Syrian regime's checkpoints arrested ten young men from the cities of Qudsaya and Al-Hame on charges of "failing to perform compulsory and reserve military service."
The Voice of the Capital website said that the Republican Guard and Political Security checkpoints in the area subjected passers-by to a thorough search, and demanded that all young men present documents of postponement or exemption from service.
He pointed out that the current campaign in the area is the first this year, with a difference of about a month and a half from the previous campaign on December 11, during which 6 young men were arrested in the vicinity of Qudsaya and taken for compulsory service.
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Germany classifies the massacres of ISIS against the Yezidi Kurds as genocide
ARK News… The German Parliament, on Thursday, January 19, 2023, defined the massacres to which the Yezidis in Şengal were subjected by ISIS terrorists as a "genocide crime".
The German parliament, on Thursday, held a session on the law recognizing the crimes committed by ISIS against the Yazidis as genocide according to the United Nations Charter.
The German parliament's move comes after other similar steps by European countries, as 12 countries have so far recognized the genocide to which the Yezidis were subjected.
ISIS committed one of the worst massacres in modern history against the Yezidis, following its invasion of the “Şengal” region on August 3, 2014.
The militants of the terrorist organization killed thousands of men and took away the women and children in their areas of influence in vast areas on the Iraqi and Syrian lands.
Many mass graves of the Yazidi Kurdish victims were found, and numbers of abductees who were in the grip of the terrorist organization were liberated, while many are still missing.
The director of the Office for the Rescue of the Yezidi Abductees, Hussein Qaidi, on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, said that the Kurdistan Regional Government has made great efforts to publicize the genocide that the Yezidis were subjected to, and thousands of documents were collected and submitted to the German Parliament with the support of the Kurdistan Parliament to recognize the crimes committed by ISIS in 2023. 2014 against the Yazidi Kurds in Şengal as a crime of genocide.
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