Syrian army, Hezbollah launch major offensive to drive IS out of key townApril 12, 2018 - 19:23 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) launched a big counter-offensive against the Islamic State group (IS), targeting the latter’s positions near the key desert town of Al-Sukhnah. Backed by their allies from Hezbollah and Liwaa Fatemiyoun, the Syrian army began the day by storming the IS-held areas along the Deir ez-Zor Highway. According to a Syrian military source in nearby Palmyra, the Syrian Army managed to recapture some points from the Islamic State, but they have yet to recover all the ground they recently lost. The source added that the Syrian Army recently sent a large number of reinforcements to the front in order to ensure the safety of Al-Sukhnah and to reopen the Deir ez-Zor Highway. 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. |