“Largest ever” evacuations from besieged Syrian towns carried outApril 21, 2016 - 12:26 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Relief agencies have been evacuating 500 wounded people from four besieged Syrian towns, in what has been described as the largest such operation so far in the five-year conflict, BBC News reports. Half are coming from towns blockaded by pro-government forces, and half from towns blocked off by rebels. A UN chief in Syria said he had been told the operation had been successfully carried out. Meanwhile, peace talks that started in Geneva a week ago are in difficulty. It is not clear whether a partial truce that has lasted seven weeks so far will hold. Opposition representatives walked out of the talks this week, blaming government violations of the ceasefire. Activists said government air strikes on Tuesday had killed 40 people in rebel-held areas. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |