AMD seals multibillion AI chip deal with OpenAI
United States chipmaker AMD will supply artificial intelligence chips to OpenAI in a multi-year agreement that could generate tens of billions of doll...
Russian and Syrian warplanes launched airstrikes on rebel-held areas in Syria's northwest after insurgents, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, advanced into Aleppo. This marks a significant escalation in the Syrian civil war, challenging Assad's control.
AMMAN (Reuters) - Russian and Syrian warplanes targeted insurgents in an Aleppo city suburb on Saturday, two Syrian military sources said, after the rebel fighters penetrated the heart of the city in Syria's northwest in a surprise attack the previous day.
The attack by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham marks the most significant challenge in years to President Bashar al-Assad, jolting the frontlines of the Syrian civil war that have largely been frozen since 2020.
The Syrian Civil Defense, a rescue service operating in opposition-held parts of Syria, said in a post on X that Syrian government and Russian aircraft carried out airstrikes on residential neighbourhoods, a gas station and a school in rebel-held Idlib, killing four civilians and wounding six others.
Russia, which deployed its air force to Syria in 2015 to support Assad in the war, has promised Damascus extra military aid to thwart the rebels, the two military sources said, adding this would start arriving in the next 72 hours.
The insurgent force began its surprise offensive earlier this week, sweeping through government-held towns and reaching Aleppo nearly a decade after government forces backed by Russia and Iran drove rebels from the city.
Syrian authorities closed Aleppo airport as well as all roads leading into the city on Saturday, the two military sources and a third army source said.
The Syrian army has been told to follow "safe withdrawal" orders from the main areas of the city that the rebels have entered, the three military sources said.
On Friday, Syrian state television denied rebels had reached the city and said Russia was providing Syria's military with air support.
The Syrian military said on Friday it was fighting back against the attack and had inflicted heavy losses on the insurgents in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib.
Also speaking on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria's sovereignty.
"We are in favour of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible," he said.
The rebels began their incursion on Wednesday under the umbrella of an operations room, including groups that are backed by Turkey. On Friday, the operations room said its forces were sweeping through various neighbourhoods of Aleppo.
Assad recovered full control of Aleppo city from rebel forces in 2016, aided by Russian air power and Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias, with the insurgents agreeing to withdraw after months of bombardment and siege.
Insurgents maintained a foothold near Aleppo in Idlib province and in areas north of the city at the Turkish border.
SPILLOVER EFFECT OF GAZA WAR
Mustafa Abdul Jaber, a commander in the Jaish al-Izza rebel brigade, said their speedy advance this week had been helped by a lack of Iran-backed manpower in the broader Aleppo province. Iran's allies in the region have suffered a series of blows at the hands of Israel as the Gaza war has expanded through the Middle East.
The opposition fighters have said the campaign was in response to stepped-up strikes in recent weeks against civilians by the Russian and Syrian air force on areas in rebel-held Idlib, and to preempt any attacks by the Syrian army.
Opposition sources in touch with Turkish intelligence said Turkey, which supports the rebels, had given a green light to the offensive.
Turkish officials were not immediately available to comment on Saturday.
Turkey's foreign ministry said on Friday that clashes between rebels and government forces in the northwest had resulted in an undesirable escalation of tensions.
In a statement on Friday, spokesperson Oncu Keceli said that avoiding greater instability in the region was Turkey's priority, adding that Ankara had warned that recent attacks on Idlib undermined the spirit and implementation of de-escalation agreements.
The attack by insurgents is the biggest since March 2020, when Russia and Turkey agreed to a deal to de-escalate the conflict.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
Heads of state are due to start arriving in the Amazonian city of Belém in a month’s time for the United Nations climate summit, yet much of the infrastructure intended to welcome them remains incomplete.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to meet in person following a friendly video call on Monday, raising hopes of improving relations strained by tariffs and political disputes.
Clashes have broken out in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo after Kurdish YPG militants allegedly violated a ceasefire agreement and attacked Syrian forces and civilians.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to further strengthen his country’s alliance with Russia, in a letter to President Vladimir Putin marking his birthday and praising his leadership.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has alleged that Russian missiles and drones contain tens of thousands of components sourced from Western companies, calling for stricter sanctions to block these supply chains.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment