The intelligence hawks cell announced on Tuesday that four Iraqi warplanes have carried out air strikes targeted sites of ISIS terrorist organization in western Anbar province.

The cell said in a statement received by Shafaq News, that the joint operations in coordination with the Iraqi aircrafts implemented four strikes on specific sites in Hit district in Al-Muhammadi area.

The statement added that those strikes resulted in the destruction of a factory for manufacturing car bombs in Hit district / the industrial district, a store of ammunition and gear in Hit / al-Mohammadi area.

The statement pointed to shelling a gathering of ISIS terrorist elements called Soldiers of the Caliphate in Hit district / al-Muhammadi area, destroying a truck bomb ready to explode against our security forces.

The statement added that the results of strikes are as follows: the destruction of a truck bomb, killing the bomber and explosives expert while the latter was training the suicide on how to explode the truck bomb , and the occurrence of a very large explosion that killed a lot of members of the organization, including Abu Qatada Ansari, an expert in electrical connection and booby-trapping and the suicidal , Abu Zakaria Al-Ansari.

The statement pointed to the destruction of the organization’s meetings headquarters, killing 10 terrorists including:

The terrorist Firas al-Fayda (Abu Dhar(.

The terrorist Mulla Yasin, a security leader in the state of the Euphrates.

The terrorist Abu Nawaf from a Saudi nationality.

The terrorist Qassim Mohammed al-Marawi, an Iraqi suicide bomber live in Hit.

The statement added that a factory of car bombs was destroyed entirely in the industrial district, and killed more than 15 terrorists.

Among the most important of all their dead:

The terrorist Abu Maryam al-Ansari.

Theterrorist Abu Ali Muhajir, Chechen nationality.

The statement concluded that after these painful blows , we have been monitored a great case of confusion among members of the organization as they were transferring the remains of their dead, as a curfew was announced in Al-Muhammadi area completely, cut off the roads leading to it and the closure of Internet shops, as members of the organization observed at a late time looking for the bodies of their dead, which increased due to the explosive material stored in their headquarters.

shafaaq.com

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Iran to impose a moratorium on executions after two juvenile offenders were hanged in the past two weeks, AFP reported.

Ban said he was “deeply saddened” by the executions and recalled that Tehran had signed two international conventions outlawing the death penalty for children under 18.

“The secretary-general reaffirms the opposition of the United Nations to the imposition of the death penalty, and calls on the government of Iran to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty,” said a statement from his spokesman quoted by AFP.

Fatemeh Salbehi, a 23-year-old woman, was hanged in the province of Fars on 13 October after being found guilty for killing a man she had been forced to marry when she was just 16.

A week earlier, Samad Zahabi was hanged in Kermanshah province for shooting a fellow shepherd when he was just 17.

UN human rights experts said Iranian authorities did not provide the required notice to Zahabi’s family or lawyer ahead of the hanging.

Ban said he was “concerned that these two executions reflect a worrying trend in Iran”, where he said more than 700 people have reportedly been executed so far this year, including at least 40 publicly.

He said that was the highest total recorded in the past 12 years.

Earlier this summer, Iran launched an “execution spree“, executing an average of three people per day, with nearly 700 people executed in the first half of 2015 alone, many for political crimes or on trumped-up charges, according to an Amnesty International report at the time.

Iran regularly executes citizens who are convicted of murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking, adultery and espionage.

Iran has claimed that 93 percent of executions in the country involve drug smuggling, a fact which Ban confirmed on Monday, but also noted that drug-related crimes “do not meet the threshold of the ‘most serious crimes’ as required by international law.”

A document to deconflict U.S. and Russian military operations in Syria will likely to be released today, a White House official said Monday.

A memorandum of understanding with Russia was the result of three separate conversations between military officials from both countries that intends to deconflict activities of both sides, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

“This is ensuring that when pilots are operating, that they’re using internationally recognized communications channels, that they’re speaking English so that we can — you know, avoid mishaps,” Earnest said.

“But this does not at all rise to the level of any sort of strategic cooperation at all,” he added.

To emphasize his point, he pointed to the announcement Sunday of an operation by the U.S.-led coalition fighting Daesh that succeeded in killing the leader of an al-Qaeda affiliated group in northwestern Syria that was “notable” for the U.S, according to Earnest.

“Because we know this is where the Russians are spending a lot of time and carrying out a lot of their military operations,” he said.

“In this instance, the United States was able to successfully carry out this operation without any undue interference from the Russians.”

Russia began carrying out airstrikes in Syria late last month. The strikes are aimed at supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – an ally of Russia – against Daesh, according to the Kremlin.

Turkey and the West accuse Russia of targeting moderate groups in Syria opposed to Assad, many of which are supported by Ankara and Washington.

To avoid military conflicts in the region, the U.S. and Russian military officials on Oct. 1 began talks about air safety above Syria.

At least 250,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011, with 7.6 million internally displaced and more than 4 million having fled to nearby countries.

aa.com.tr

Different units of Ground Force, Air Force and Air Defense units are participating in the two-day massive wargames.

The drills which are being staged in the Western and Northwestern provinces of Iran are aimed at enhancing the country’s defensive power, practicing modern trainings and assessing the forces’ swift reaction and use of state-of-the-art equipment.

During the exercises, the Iranian army forces for the first time tested the home-made command-and-control system, ‘Fakour’ (Thoughtful), on Monday morning.

The tactical command-and-control system can collect information from all databases and information gathering centers linked to the air defense system, passive and active radars, missile systems and other close command-and-control centers to provide an integrated image and map of the region to command and control all land-based and air-based defense systems fully independently.

The system which was unveiled in May is mobile and can be deployed in any region and under harsh geographical conditions and has a wide range of applications in electronic warfare. Utilizing an exclusive microwave network and the national fiber-optic and wired and wireless communication network as well as real-time assurance of target interception and destruction are among other capabilities of the smart system.

Also in today’s exercises, an optic artillery system named ‘Safat’ shot down a drone with a low radar cross section flying over Khondab nuclear site.

In the main phase of Muharram exercises, the quick reaction forces of the army carried out operations using snipers and different equipment, including RPG 29.

They also destroyed simulated enemy armored vehicles using home-made anti-armor high-precision Dehlaviyeh missile systems.

Iran’s Army and IRGC hold regular wargames to practice combat tactics and also test new home-made military tools, equipment and weapons in action.

The Iranian Armed Forces have recently test-fired different types of newly-developed missiles and torpedoes and tested a large number of home-made weapons, tools and equipment, including submarines, military ships, artillery, choppers, aircrafts, UAVs and air defense and electronic systems, during massive military drills.

Defense analysts and military observers say that Iran’s wargames and its advancements in weapons production have proved as a deterrent factor

Yet, Iranian officials and commanders have repeatedly underlined that all military exercises and trainings of the Iranian Armed Forces are merely meant to serve deterrent purposes.

Earlier this month, the Iranian Air Force conducted exercises codenamed “Fadaeeyan-e Harim-e Velayat-5′ in the province of Isfahan in Central Iran.

A variety of Air Force fighter jets, fighter bombers, transport planes, reconnaissance aircraft and refueling planes took part in the military maneuvers on October 5.

Reconnaissance drones also took part in identifying the region and enemy targets, and military commanders prepared their plans for the drills on the basis of the data gathered by the reconnaissance drones.

Brigadier General Massoud Rouzkhosh, spokesman of the Fadaeeyan-e Harim-e Velayat-5, said that Sokhoi 24 with long-range operations capabilities, F4, F5, F7, Mig 29 and F14 aircraft as well as Boeings 707 and 747 and different types of drones and C130 transport planes took part in the exercises.

On September 22, the Iranian Armed Forces displayed the country’s latest home-made long-range and ballistic missiles during the annual military parades in Tehran and across the country on Tuesday.

The Iranian forces displayed various types of home-made ballistic and long-range missiles, including Sejjil and Qadr missiles.

A Syrian Kurdish official with the National Alliance for Syria, a main opponent to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, has revealed that Kurdish Syrian Peshmerga forces will join the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Fuad Aliko told BasNews that a delegation from the alliance has visited Kurdistan Region to take a closer look at the strenght of the Kurdish Syrian Peshmerga forces, with a view to them joining the FSA.

Aliko said that the delegation has returned to Syrian Kurdistan and are confident a deal can be reached for the Peshmerga to return to Rojava and fight the Assad regime soon.

The Kurdish official said that international efforts are underway to pressure the two main Kurdish groups – the Kurdish National Council (ANKS) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) – to reach an agreement enabling the Kurdish Syrian Peshmerga force to return to Rojava.

The Syrian Kurdish Peshmerga forces have been trained and armed by Iraqi Kurdistan and the United States.

A U.S.-led coalition air strike has killed Sanafi al-Nasr, a Saudi citizen and the leading financier for al Qaeda and its Khorasan Group offshoot.

The Pentagon said al-Nasr had organized routes for new recruits to travel from Pakistan to Syria through Turkey and played a significant role in the group’s finances. He was killed in an air strike on Thursday in northwest Syria, it said.

“Al-Nasr was a longtime jihadist experienced in funneling money and fighters for al Qaeda. He moved funds from donors in the Gulf region into Iraq and then to al Qaeda leaders from Pakistan to Syria,” a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement, Reuters reports.

Al-Nasr worked for al Qaeda’s Iran-based network before taking charge of the militant group’s finances in 2012 and moving to Syria in 2013, the Pentagon said.

He was the fifth senior Khorasan Group leader killed in the last four months, it said.

The Pentagon said al-Nasr was also known as Abdul Mohsen Adballah Ibrahim al Charekh. An al Qaeda leader by that name was mourned last year by the Nusra Front, after an attack on Syria’s coastal village of Kasab.

Also wanted in Saudi Arabia, he was designated a terrorist last year under sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council and the U.S. Treasury Department.

“This operation deals a significant blow to the Khorasan Group’s plans to attack the United States and our allies, and once again proves that those who seek to do us harm are not beyond our reach,” Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in a statement.

A security source said on Monday that the Popular Mobilization Units’ fighters killed a senior leader in ISIS terrorist organization with a number of his assistants in an ambush in Baiji, northern Salahuddin province.

The source told Shafaq News, that fighters from PMU put an ambush in one of the points near Baiji city center, which killed the leader, “Abu Hamza the Libyan” and five of his assistants.

shafaaq.com

The Russian ambassador to Turkey has angered Ankara, by refusing to recognise the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a terrorist organisation.

Speaking to Russian news channel Ria Novosti, the Russian envoy Andrey Karlov, says that Moscow does not believe the PKK to be a terrorist organisation.

In the interview, Karlov talked about his meeting at the Turkish Foreign Ministry after he was summoned over airspace violations by Russian warplanes and an alleged arms delivery to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Dismissing the claims, Karlov said that Russia understands Ankara’s concerns regarding terrorism threats posed against it and does not target the interests of any country.

He did, however, stress that the PKK is not designated a terrorist organisation by the Kremlin.

Karlov also said that Russia delivered arms to Peshmerga forces in Iraqi Kurdistan upon the request of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

“Our actions in Syria and Iraq are carried out on the same terms with their respective governments,” Karlov added.

The Russian air force and its Israeli counterpart has started a joint training exercise in order to “ensure aviation safety in Syrian airspace”, the defence ministry in Moscow has revealed.

“The first stage of training has been held, focusing on coordination between the Aerospace Force of Russia and the Air Force of Israel with the aim of preventing dangerous incidents in the sky over the Syrian Arab Republic,” Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Thursday. “Mutual information-sharing on aircraft activity has been organised using a hotline between the Russian air force command centre at the Hmeimim airbase and a command centre of Israel’s Air Force.” The second stage of training with “our Israeli colleagues” will take place on Friday, he added.

A spokesman for President Vladimir Putin said earlier that Moscow and Tel Aviv agreed during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s last visit to Russia to launch a communication channel for the exchange of information about developments in Syria.

Israeli sources confirmed that Moscow had notified Tel Aviv before carrying out airstrikes in Syria.