The Russian military in principle agrees with proposals made by the United States on coordinating military flights in Syria, TASS news agency reported on Tuesday, citing Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov.

Informed diplomatic sources predicted that the United States could propose granting the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad a “safe exit” from Syria.

Member of the Syrian National Coordination Commission opposition group (NCC), Khalaf Dahowd disclosed: “Some scenarios have begun trading to resolve the Syrian crisis but we are not sure about the extent of their seriousness.”

Dahowd revealed that there is a US initiative to be presented during the UN General Assembly meeting.

In remarks to the London based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper on Sunday, Dahowd said: “The US initiative may include offering a safe exit for Assad to Russia or any other country.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry said after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday that he sees an opportunity to make progress towards resolving the Syrian crisis this week.

Turkish Interior Minister Selami Altinok says at least 2,000 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed since the Turkish military launched airstrike operations against the group in late June.

“Since July 22^nd, a total of 2,483 terrorist attacks have taken place in Turkey. Turkish gendarmerie, security and armed forces have conducted 4,328 operations in the country during which over 2,000 terrorists have been neutralised,” Altinok told Pro-Turkish government Anadolu news agency on Monday.

He stressed that Turkey would not allow anyone to compromise its sovereignty.

Turkey has been engaged in one of its biggest military operations of recent times in the southern border region.

The Turkish military has been conducting offensives against Islamic State (IS) militants in northern Syria as well as those agaisnt the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan and southeastern Turkey.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 20^th bombing in the Kurdish-majority southern Turkish town of Suruç, located close to Kobani over the border in Syria, where over 30 people died.

The Turkish government blamed IS for the bombing while the PKK saw the government as responsible for the attack over its support for the IS militants.

According to a report published by Hurriyet daily newspaper, over 150 Turkish military and police officers have been killed since July in armed attacks blamed on the PKK.

On September 17^th, the PKK declared as null a unilateral ceasefire with the government in Ankara, accusing it of waging military operations against the group to gain more votes in the November 1^st snap elections.

Iran displayed its Hoot high-speed rocket-torpedo for the first time during an exhibition by the naval wing of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGN) on 3 October.

The imagery confirmed long-held suspicions that the Hoot is identical to the VA-111 Shkval supercavitating torpedo that was developed by the Soviet Union. It has the same eight jet nozzles at the rear and four stabilisation fins that pop out of the torpedo’s body.

Launched from a standard 533 mm torpedo tube, the rocket-powered weapon creates an air pocket around itself, thereby reducing drag and enabling it to reach speeds of up to 200 kt (370 km/h).

NATO’s secretary general has said a “substantial” build-up of Russian forces in Syria includes ground troops.

Jens Stoltenberg also said he doubted Russia’s claim that violations of Turkey’s airspace were a mistake because there were two incursions and they lasted longer than a few seconds.

He said the incidents were “very serious” and added: “It doesn’t look like an accident, and we’ve seen two of them over the weekend.”

Israel will provide Russia with intelligence information about opposition sites in Syria to facilitate Moscow’s military operations, Channel 2TV has reported.

The Israeli network said that a senior delegation of Russian army officials will arrive in Israel on Tuesday to coordinate the military cooperation.

The delegation will be led by First Deputy Chief of General Staff General Nikolai Bogdanovsky, who will meet his Israeli counterpart, Major-General Yair Golan as well as senior officials in Israeli military intelligence, the air force and the Mossad.

Channel 2 noted that the visit follows the meeting between Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow three weeks ago.

According to the media report, Israel will submit more requests to the Russians in exchange for “attractive” offers to facilitate the Russian army’s military operations in Syria.

It also revealed that Netanyahu and Putin have agreed on several issue in principle, including a Russian pledge to stop the flow of weapons from Syria to Hezbollah, as well as to allow the Israeli air force to carry out operations freely in Syria, even in areas where the Russian army is stationed on the Syrian coast.

Senior officers in the Russian and Israeli air forces will discuss the mechanisms for the coordination of Israeli overflights of Syrian airspace to avoid any conflict with Russian aircraft on operations against opposition groups.

Israel is likely to request Russia to coordinate its moves in the Mediterranean in a manner that does not affect Israeli submarines gathering intelligence about Lebanon and Syria.

Another report by Israel Radio on Sunday claimed that Tel Aviv will provide vital intelligence to the Russians in a bid to reduce Iranian influence in Syria.

Meanwhile, Israel’s former Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, has called for direct cooperation with Iran and Hezbollah in order to protect Israeli interests. Maariv newspaper quoted Livni as saying on Friday, “Netanyahu must understand that the world looks at Iran and Hezbollah as legitimate partners in the confrontation against Daesh.”

She warned that Tel Aviv’s geostrategic position will be hurt if the Israeli leadership does not realise what must be done do to influence the shifts in the balance of power in Syria.

Russia has fitted one its jets with a Go Pro in order to capture footage of it dropping bombs in Syria.

The aircraft can be seen taking off and releasing the weapons midflight, before showing the results on the ground.

The plane was operating from the Hmeymim Air Base near Latakia.

Since initiating air strikes against militant targets in Syria, Russia has released several videos of its involvement in the country.

Over the weekend, Russia intensified its attacks in the Homs and Idlib provinces, despite criticism from Nato countries.

The latest member of this alliance to criticise Putin’s decision was Turkey, with President Erdogan saying that Ankara was “saddened and perturbed” by Russia’s “grave mistake”.

The bombings recently became an unexpected addition to a Russian weather report, when maps and tables were used to inform the audience that it was “excellent weather conditions for air strikes.”

It’s a report where we see that Turkey, along with Saudi Arabia, is supporting Syrian rebels to help take President Bashar al-Assad down.

According to the document leaked from the German Intelligence Services, Turkey is providing Ahrar al-Sham and the Islamic Front with weapons.

Turkey denied the claim again in May, but it still doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

The document shows German parliamentarian Katrin Kunert’s written request from the German government on May 18.

Here’s a translation:

… Question 25 asked which Syrian parties are receiving which type of weapons from the Turkish government (if possible please list border cities where deliveries take place).

Answer: Since mid-November of 2014, information from Federal German Intelligence Service indicate that Ankara delivers weapons to armed Syrian rebel groups. Recipients are said to be the groups Ahrar al-Sham and Islamic Front. 

German paper Die Welt (“The World”), which published a photo of the document, seemed to confirm the document’s legitimacy when it reported Germany’s attempts to find the person who leaked it to PKK-owned media.

“The German Parliament is filing charges,” said Martin Steltner, a speaker of the prosecution, according to Die Welt. “We are investigating and the investigations will continue.”

So what’s the problem with Turkey supporting these rebels? Both Salafist groups, Ahrar al-Sham and the Islamic Front are known to have more extreme goals in the Syrian conflict. Ahrar al-Sham has partnerships with al-Nusra Front, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda and sometimes considered more dangerous than Daesh (ISIS) itself.

Saudi newspaper Okaz reported that Russia reached an agreement with Iraq and will begin attacking ISIS targets in Iraq, in addition to its attacks in Syria.

The attacks are expected to begin in the coming days. A ground operation is also possible at a later date.

Meanwhile, Al-Hayat, published in London, reported that the United States halted its intelligence coordination with Iraqi security forces to protest its cooperation with Russia.