Russia: The conflict in Ukraine has turned into a confrontation with NATO
ARK News… Secretary of the Russian Security Council: It is important for Russia to have a strong army to face threats
On Tuesday, the Russian Security Council considered that the conflict in Ukraine has turned into a confrontation between Russia and NATO, stressing that the West seeks to dismember Russia.
The council secretary stressed that it is necessary for Russia to have a strong army to counter threats.
"The danger of underestimating Russia's capabilities"
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned last Thursday of the danger of underestimating Russia's capabilities, stressing NATO's need for more personnel, equipment, and weapons for the common defense.
He said in a press interview that Russia does not intend to abandon its goals in Ukraine and that indications indicate that Moscow is preparing to launch a new large-scale ground offensive.
How the Black Sea turned into a war zone between NATO and Russia
NATO Secretary General stressed that the terms of the conflict settlement agreement will depend on the situation on the battlefield, stressing the need to continue providing military assistance to Ukraine in order to persuade Russia to sit at the negotiating table and recognize Ukraine as an independent and sovereign European state.
most likely scenario
And on the impact of the military escalation in Ukraine with the advent of the new year, which had intensified during the Christmas and New Year period, experts and analysts believe that the war, which is about to enter its second year, is entering a large-scale escalation phase, which is based during the winter on air operations and mutual artillery and missile strikes. From a distance, in preparation for a major ground war before the onset of spring.
Observers also warned that the most likely scenario is that the current year will witness an expansion of military operations in Ukraine, after months of decline, especially with the Russian withdrawal from Kherson.
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The United Nations warns of challenges facing 14.6 million Syrians in need of assistance
ARK News... In a report submitted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the UN Security Council last month, and revealed on Monday, that the United Nations 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.
The UN report indicated that malnutrition rates in 2022 were on the rise, indicating that 364 thousand of children under the age of five years suffer from acute malnutrition, and 25% of children suffer from anemia.
The "Syria Response Coordinators" team said that more than 4.5 million civilians, including 1.8 million displaced people living in camps in northwestern Syria, are required to silently await their fate, starting from January 10 to renew the UN decision to cross the border with humanitarian aid.
The team explained that in these crowded camps for the displaced in northwestern Syria, thousands of civilians are waiting for a fateful decision to enter humanitarian aid across the borders, within less than one day to vote on the new decision.
He added: "Here in these camps, more than 67.3% of them suffer from lack of water and more than 56.1% from food insecurity, in addition to the large and continuous rise in food prices, and the sliding of thousands of families into poverty amid the escalation of the humanitarian crisis in the region."
The team called on the international community and the United Nations to fully assume its humanitarian and moral responsibility towards the Syrian file, to move forward with the implementation of relevant international resolutions, and to cut off any attempt to cut off humanitarian aid across the border.
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High growth of the tourism sector in Kurdistan
ARK News… The Information Department of the Kurdistan Regional Government announced the statistics of tourists for the year 2022 in the governorates of the Kurdistan Region, confirming growth in the tourism sector, with an increase of 1,978,431 tourists from the previous year.
The Information Department of the Kurdistan Regional Government said in a statement, "The revival and development of the tourism sector is one of the goals of the ninth formation of the Kurdistan Regional Government".
The statement added, "In 2022, 6 million and 168 thousand tourists visited the Kurdistan Region, compared to 2021, when it was visited by 4 million 189 thousand and 569 tourists, an increase of 1 million 978 thousand and 431 tourists from the previous year."
The statement indicated that the statistics of tourists for the year 2022 according to the governorates of the Kurdistan Region and compared to last year were as follows:
Erbil Governorate: 2 million and 752 thousand tourists.
Sulaimaniyah Governorate: 2 million 545 thousand and 156 tourists.
Duhok Governorate: 2 million and 340 thousand tourists.
In 2021, the statistics were as follows:
Erbil Governorate: 2 million 51 thousand and 550 tourists.
Sulaymaniyah Governorate: 1 million 501 thousand and 881 tourists.
Duhok Governorate: 613 thousand and 978 tourists.
"In 2022, 6 million and 168 thousand tourists visited the Kurdistan Region compared to 4 million 189 thousand and 431 tourists in 2021, which indicates that in the year 2022 was an increase in the number of tourists by 1 million 978 thousand 431 tourists.
Sirwan Tawfiq pointed to the difference between the rate of the number of tourists registered with the governorates, and said, "Each governorate records only the number of tourists in its governorate, while these tourists may go to another governorate, so the rate of tourists is the number of arrivals to the Kurdistan Region and the governorates."
With the approach of the new year, tourists flock to the cities of the Kurdistan Regional Government to participate in the celebrations organized on this occasion. The statistics of tourists for the new year 2023 were as follows:
Erbil Governorate: 61 tourists.
Sulaimaniyah Governorate: 64 thousand tourists.
Duhok Governorate: 55 thousand tourists.
Source: Kurdistan 24
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UN: Iran's executions 'state-sanctioned killing'
ARK News… The United Nations human rights official said that the Iranian government uses the death penalty as a weapon to spread fear among citizens and eliminate dissent, adding that the executions amount to “state-mandated killings,” according to Reuters.
"Turning criminal proceedings into a weapon to punish people for exercising their basic rights, such as those who participated in or organized demonstrations, amounts to state-mandated killing," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, in a statement, explaining that the executions violated international law and human rights.
Iran hanged two men on Saturday for killing security personnel during the nationwide protests, and others have been sentenced to death since then. The statement said that the United Nations Human Rights Office had received information about the imminent execution of two other people.
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UN: Iran's executions are state-sanctioned killings
ARK News… UN Human Rights Commissioner: Trials in Iran amount to enforced deprivation of life
The UN human rights official said the Iranian government uses the death penalty as a weapon to spread fear among citizens and eliminate dissent, adding that the executions amount to "state-sanctioned killings".
A weapon to punish the people
"Turning criminal proceedings into a weapon to punish people for exercising their basic rights, such as those who participated in or organized demonstrations, amounts to state-sanctioned killing," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement, explaining that the executions violated international human rights law.
Iran hanged two men on Saturday for killing security personnel during the nationwide protests, and others have been sentenced to death since then.
A new wave of executions
The statement said that the United Nations Human Rights Office had received information about the imminent execution of two other people.
The two men who were executed, today, Saturday, were convicted of killing a member of the Basij force, and three others were sentenced to death in the same case, while 11 others were sentenced to prison terms.
About 100 face execution
Tehran is waging a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations taking place in Iran, and about 100 people are facing execution in connection with the protest movements, according to human rights organizations and networks.
Hundreds died on the sidelines of the protests. The authorities also arrested thousands of people who participated in the movements, which included raising slogans against them.
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Hawas Agid to ARK: Turkish normalization with the regime is not easy, as both sides have impossible conditions
ARK News... Hawas Agid, a member of the Office of Diplomatic and Foreign Relations of the Peace and Freedom Front, on Monday, January 9, 2023, said that political relations between the UAE and the Syrian regime took place before now, and are not new, just as intelligence relations between Turkey and the Syrian regime have never been interrupted, while what is new in the matter is the political relations between the regime and Turkey, and Turkish normalization with the regime remains not an easy matter, as the two parties have difficult and impossible conditions.
Agid attributed the reasons for the Turkish normalization with the Syrian regime to internal matters, such as holding elections next June, stressing that the ruling party is working to win the file of the Syrian refugees in Turkey, in addition to internal economic matters.
He added, during his participation in the ARK newsletter, that there are efforts to hold meetings between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, under Russian auspices, and the two parties have difficult conditions, and their are obstacles to the meeting, and holding the meeting does not mean reconciliation between the two parties, due to the presence of five superpowers. There are conflicting countries in Syria, and each of them seeks to protect its areas of influence, in addition to the United Nations resolution related to Syria.
He pointed out that the meetings will be a space of hope for the regime, but the results will not be desired, because the two parties cannot easily implement the conditions of the other party.
At the end of his speech, he said that the position of the Syrian people, the refugees and the displaced in the north, is quite clear, and they oppose normalization with the Syrian regime and reject normalization in any form.
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Afrin… Afrin city center witnesses the first explosion in the new year
ARK News... The city center of Afrin, in Syrian Kurdistan, on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, witnessed an explosion, and the damage was limited to material.
Media sources from Afrin confirmed that an explosion occurred on Tuesday in the al-Qabban roundabout in the al-Ashrafiya neighborhood, without information on human casualties.
The sources indicated that an explosive device was planted near the roundabout, while no party has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
ARK's follow-up shows that the first explosion in the new year is in 2023.
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تسع سنوات على اختطاف الناشط أمير حامد
آرك نيوز... تمر اليوم الأربعاء, 11 كانون الثاني 2023 الذكرى السنوية التاسعة لاختطاف الناشط أمير حامد, من قبل مسلحي حزب الاتحاد الديمقراطي ب ي د في مدينة الدرباسية بكوردستان سوريا.
واختطف الناشط أمير حامد يوم 11 من كانون الثاني 2014, على يد مجموعة مسلحة تابعة لحزب الاتحاد الديمقراطي PYD من منزله في الدرباسية.
واسم أمير حامد، هو من ضمن أسماء القائمة التي سلمها المجلس الوطني الكوردي في سوريا, لإدارة ب ي د للإفراج عنهم وكشف مصيرهم, كشرط للتقارب وتوحيد الخطاب الكوردي.
إلا أن بيانا لقوات سوريا الديمقراطية الذي صُدر في السنوات الماضية, نفى مسؤولية ب ي د عن معرفته بالمختطفين الذين يطالب المجلس الوطني بالإفراج عنهم. وأدّعى أن اختطافهم جرى قبل تشكيل إدارة ب ي د، سوى اثنين من القائمة وهما الناشطان أمير حامد وفؤاد إبراهيم، محملة ب ي د المسؤولية الأخلاقية للكشف عن مصيرهما.
وبالرغم من مرور تسع سنوات على اختطافه لا يزال مصيره مجهولاً.
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