Iraq to stop more aircraft, vehicles en route to SyriaMarch 30, 2013 - 10:59 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Iraqi government says it will stop more aircraft traveling through Iraqi airspace and vehicles traveling overland en route to Syria to search for weapons on them, The Associated Press reports. Government spokesman Ali al-Moussawi said Friday, March 29, that Iraq would conduct such searches on planes and vehicles believed to be carrying weapons to Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces — or to rebels seeking to topple his regime. The move comes after U.S Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Baghdad earlier this month to stop Iranian planes that Washington believes are flying through Iraqi airspace to ferry weapons and fighters to help the prop up the Syrian regime. Iraq has promised in the past to prevent weapons transfers to Syria, but U.S. officials complain not enough is being done on the ground. 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. |