Middle East

The decision of the Taliban movement to take part in the Moscow format meeting on the Afghan settlement has led to the US large-scale operations against it in northern Afghanistan, which enabled the Daesh terrorist group to mount an offensive in this area, Delawar Aimaq, a member of the Afghan National Assembly's security commission, told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Navy 6th Fleet is informed about the deadly crash of the Russian Il-20 in the Mediterranean near Syria and is ready to provide assistance at sea to any country if needed, the 6th Fleet's public affairs officer, Cmdr. Kyle Raines, told Sputnik.

TEL AVIV (Sputnik) – Israeli satellite operator ImageSat International (iSi) published satellite photos of what it called an ammunition warehouse destroyed as a result of the recent Israeli airstrikes in Syria’s eastern province of Latakia, during which a Russian Il-20 aircraft with 15 servicemen on board crashed.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States has sanctioned a dual US-Trinidadian national along with another citizen Trinidad and Tobago over their alleged roles in financing the Islamic State (Daesh) terrorist group in Syria, the Treasury Department said in a statement on Wednesday.

Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad has sent a letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin, expressing his condolences over the recent Russian Il-20 plane crash in Syria, local media reported.

Israeli military delegation led by air force commander to travel to Moscow to share information on Il-20 plane crash.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moscow believes that the development of the Iranian missile program is Tehran's sovereign right, and all the issues arising in this regard should be resolved without pressure, especially military, at the negotiating table, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Daesh used rudimentary chemical weapons and encouraged sympathizers to use whatever other weapon at their disposal to carry out terrorist attacks, the US Department of State said in a report on Wednesday.

CAIRO (Sputnik) – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) nominated on Wednesday former Iraqi Kurdistan’s leader Barham Salih for the post of Iraqi president, PUK spokesman Saadi Bira said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Palestinian Ministry of Public Works and Housing has allocated a Kuwaiti grant worth $3 million to rehabilitate and develop infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, Maan reported Wednesday citing Housing Minister Mufid Hasayneh.

Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi made the statement while meeting with a British delegation during the IAEA annual summit. Earlier, he promised that Tehran would come out stronger should the 2015 nuke deal collapse in the wake of Donald Trump's withdrawal from it.

ANKARA (Sputnik) – Turkey has significantly simplified its rules for foreigners wanting to acquire Turkish citizenship, according to the relevant decree of the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan published in the government’s Resmi Gazette on Wednesday.

The downing of the Russian IL-20 plane in Syria will not affect in any way the agreements reached by Russian President Putin and Turkish President Erdogan on Monday regarding Syria's demilitarization, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday. The IL-20 was brought down by a missile Syria launched in response to an Israeli air strike.

Kabul refused to participate in a meeting in Moscow to discuss the situation in Afghanistan due to US pressure; Washington was not interested in ending the conflict, the chairman of the defense and security commission of the National Assembly, Shabaz Naseri, told Sputnik.

On Monday, a Russian recon aircraft carrying 15 servicemen was destroyed by friendly fire off the Syrian coast; the incident coincided with an Israeli attack on targets in Syria. Following the disaster, Russia's Ministry of Defense accused Israel of "irresponsible action" and of using the aircraft as a shield against Syrian anti-aircraft systems.

The Anglo-Soviet incursion in Iran, codenamed Operation Countenance, took place between August 25 and September 17, 1941. It still sparks a lively debate among historians: while some researchers claim that the Soviet Union and Britain had used WWII as an excuse to occupy the country, others insist that sending troops there was entirely justified.

To prevent the creation of an autonomous Kurdish entity in northern Syria by US-backed Kurdish militias and to solve the Idlib issue, Ankara needs to revive working relations with the Syrian government, Turkish political observers told Sputnik, commenting on Washington's alleged attempts to boost its positions to the east of the Euphrates.

TEL AVIV (Sputnik) - Israeli police officers shot and killed a Palestinian who attacked a passerby and the policemen with a "sharp object" in Jerusalem, the press service of law enforcement agencies reported Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's Investigative Committee said Tuesday it had opened an investigation into the crash of the Il-20 reconnaissance plane off the Syrian coast that killed 15 military personnel.

A former high-ranking MEK official confirmed long-held suspicions that Saudi Arabia has been financing the political-militant group bent on violent regime change in Iran through sophisticated channels to provide the group with valuables like gold and Rolex watches, according to a new report.