French Frigate intercepted a Turkish ship carrying weapons to Libya
Syria– Russian jets bombed a military base of Al-Hamza Division, a group affiliated with the Turkish-backed National Army, in the village of Barad in Afrin, Syria. According to Al-Monitor, quoting local sources, six members of the National Army were killed, and 11 others were wounded.
Most of those who were killed hail from the eastern Ghouta area on the outskirts of Damascus. The newspaper confirmed that Russian reconnaissance planes had intensified their sorties before the raid. In recent days, Russia carried out many operations against Turkish-backed militias in different areas of Afrin.
The Russian airstrikes were not limited to the National Army areas in the countryside of Afrin but also hit large Idlib areas controlled by HTS. Al-Monitor confirms, noting that this escalation comes ahead of an upcoming meeting on Sept. 29 in the Russian city of Sochi between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers landed at the Hmeimim airbase, located in the Syrian province of Latakia after Turkey began sending thousands of its troops and hundreds of armored vehicles, artillery pieces, and also air defense equipment in Syria.
The Russian media stressed that the bombers have to carry out tactical attacks on main centers of the pro-Turkish militias in the area and, if necessary, on the positions of the Turkish army. The Russian move follows Ankara’s attack on a group of Russian military helicopters the day before, in Tel Tamer, in northern Syria.
The two Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers flew from Russian territory through the airspace of thestroyed in Misrata airport by the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Feld Marshall Khalifa Haftar. Turkey is the main sponsor of Libya’s GNA, and its earlier shipments of armoured vehicles and drones have helped the Tripoli gangs fighting the LNA with the support of groups of terrorists brought from Syria by the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of international terrorist movement Muslim Brotherhood. It’s clear that Erdogan escalated tension in the North-African country by interfering in the Libyan crisis as showed the BBC earlier this month reporting Turkey sent arms to Libya and violated a United Nations arms embargo on the war-torn country, citing satellite images and footages obtained by its investigation team.