Turkey, U.S., Russian military chiefs meeting on Syria: AnkaraMarch 7, 2017 - 14:33 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's military chief of staff is meeting his U.S. and Russian counterparts in the southern Turkish province of Antalya to discuss regional security, notably in Syria and Iraq, the Turkish armed forces said on Tuesday, March 7, Reuters reports. No further details were available of the meeting being hosted by General Hulusi Akar. In August, Turkey-backed forces launched an operation to drive Islamic State away from its border with Syria and prevent the Kurdish YPG militia taking territory in their wake. Since pushing the jihadists out of their al-Bab stronghold, fighting has focused on villages west of Manbij, setting Turkish-backed rebels against the Manbij Military Council, part of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that includes the YPG. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is waging an insurgency in Turkey. Manbij is controlled by the Manbij Military Council and the U.S. military has deployed a small number of forces in and around the city to ensure that different parties do not attack each other. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan last week said the next target for the operation in northern Syria was Manbij after Ankara-backed rebels seized al-Bab. But Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said military action by Turkey would not make sense unless coordinated with the United States and Russia. 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. |