Israel advances deeper into Syria now just 20 km away from Damascus - reports

Israel has expanded its occupation of Syrian territory, gaining control over the majority of the Golan region, including nine towns in the southern countryside of Damascus, Al Mayadeen reported.

Israeli forces are now positioned just 20 kilometers away from the Syrian capital, according to the outlet.

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People missing in Kursk region found, Russia cooperating with Red Cross – Russian human rights commissioner

"We are worried about the residents of Kursk who are left without electricity and heating. We are doing everything we can to bring them back," Tatyana Moskalkova, Russian Human Rights Commissioner, told Sputnik.

"We managed to find a number of people. We know their names, we know the addresses of their relatives. We are now working together with the Red Cross Committee, both International and Russian, with our military, and with the Ukrainian side," she explained.

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🇸🇾 ❗️Turmoil rocks Syria: Stay updated as developments unfold

▪️ Israel has seized all of the Golan region and nine towns just 20 km away from Damascus, said Al Mayadeen.

▪️The armed opposition in Syria has tasked politician Mohammed al-Bashir with the responsibility of forming a transitional government, Arab media cited sources as saying.

▪️The UN Security Council is united in the need to “preserve the territorial integrity of Syria," Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said. He noted the conflicting messages from Israel on the status of the Golan Heights.

▪️PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the Golan will remain part of his country “for eternity.”

▪️Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon called the incursion “limited and temporary measures.”

▪️The IDF stated that it had struck "dozens" of targets to "neutralize" advanced weapons, including anti-aircraft systems, in Syria.

▪️Syrian Permanent Representative to the UN Koussay Aldahhak said that his mission has called on the UN secretary-general and the Security Council “to put an end to the Israeli attacks on Syria.”

On US involvement:

◾️US Central Command and its regional allies will “continue to carry out operations to degrade ISIS* capabilities,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said, with over 75 targets struck over the weekend.

◾️The US was working to prevent the use of Syria’s alleged chemical weapons “against civilians or against US forces or partners in the region.”

*ISIS is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other countries

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Syrian crisis: keeping you updated

What's behind Israel's land grab in Golan?

Hungary’s Orban visits Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump & Musk

US is ready to equip and train 18-year-old Ukrainian recruits

UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect arrested in Altoona, PA

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❗️Key comments by Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR):

◻️ The West may, in the medium term, try to unleash a global armed conflict, with the epicenter in Eurasia;

◻️ The West is fully prepared to resort to extreme measures to hold on to its dominance;

◻️ The United States is losing the initiative on all fronts, from the Middle East to Asia and Africa, and is suffering outright failures in the post-Soviet domain;

◻️ The Anglo-Saxons have resorted to flagrant terror and attempts to physically eliminate opponents, a prime example of this is the assassination attempt targeting Slovakia’s PM Fico;

◻️ Regarding the threats against Vucic and Orban: Dynamic leaders of the emerging multipolar world are under attack by the Anglo-Saxons;

◻️ According to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the post-Soviet realm remains a priority target for attacks by American and British intelligence agencies.

About Russia’s Special Military Operation

➖ The Ukrainian forces are on the brink of collapse;

➖ Russia is close to achieving its set goals, the strategic initiative on all fronts belongs to the Russian military;

➖ The Zelensky regime has completely lost its legitimacy and, as a result, its ability to negotiate;

➖ The West plans to fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian, and then force the Balts, East Europeans, and Germans to fight in the future;

➖ Further escalation will not lead to the exhaustion of Russia, as Washington and London believe, rather it will culminate in the strategic defeat of the West itself.

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💬 Sputnik's sources in Syria: Reports that Israeli tanks have entered areas of the Damascus countryside, particularly the Qatna neighborhood south-west of the capital Damascus, are inaccurate.

Israeli forces and tanks currently occupy Quneitra province in Southern Syria, 16 kilometers deep into Syrian territory. Residents of the province have been warned not to leave their homes until the end of the military operations in the region.

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🗣'There is a struggle between the world's major players' - Lukashenko on Syrian crisis

"There is such a meat grinder there that this is just the beginning, I think, and now the power struggle will begin," Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said. "There is a struggle between the world's major players in Syria."

He also stressed that Syria had been turned into a testing ground for weapons.

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❗️Russian troops liberated the settlement of Zheltoye in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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🗣 'I will not care whether it is nuclear weapons or something else' - Lukashenko warned enemies of an immediate response in case of violation of the border of Belarus.

More statements by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko:

🔸 There is no antidote for Oreshnik missile, it can't be intercepted or shot down.

🔸 There are three dozen sites in Belarus to place Oreshnik, Minsk will choose based on the minimum distance to the key targets.

🔸 Putin agreed that Minsk will determine targets for Oreshnik stationed in Belarus.

🔸 The Oreshnik launcher system was made in Belarus.

🔸 Belarus will make Oreshnik launch pad itself, Russia will supply missile free of charge in second half of 2025.

🔸 There are dozens of nuclear warheads in Belarus.

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Ukraine interested in Azov* combatants, abandons ordinary servicemen

Russia has made a list of POWs that Ukraine refuses to take, amounting to 630 people, Tatyana Moskalkova, Russian human rights commissioner, told Dmitry Kiselev, director general of Sputnik's parent media group Rossiya Segodnya, in an interview.

"Ukraine is not interested in these Ukranian servicemen, but rather in officers and Azov combatants, it is either them or no one at all," Moskalkova said.

*Azov regiment is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia

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💲 Unmasking the US billions spent on advanced Patriot interceptor missiles for Ukraine

The US has sent at least 847 of its newest advanced Patriot interceptor missiles, worth a whopping almost $3.26 billion, to Ukraine since 2022, according to a Sputnik analysis.

This is something that the Pentagon has been tight-lipped about. A deep dive into the DoD’s annual budget reports revealed:

🔘 A mysterious $956 million listed as for a "classified program" was injected into the US Army’s budget for fiscal year 2023, according to a Pentagon report in January 2023.

🔘 An additional $340 million was added to the $1.993 billion budget for the procurement of MSE missiles for the US Army to replace the ones those transferred to Ukraine, per an April 2023 report.

🔘 The US Army’s original 2023 budget report requested only $1.037 billion for the procurement of 252 MSE missiles.

🔘 Number crunching shows that $956 million matches the difference between the sums, suggesting that the "classified program" was to cover MSE missile costs for Ukraine.

🔘 The average unit cost of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) missile stood at around $3.85 million, according to budget reports.

🔘 The actual budget for MSE missiles for fiscal year 2023 jumped from the original $1.037 billion to $2.47 billion, due to "$1,442.764 million emergency supplemental funding to support the procurement of replacement missiles transferred to Ukraine," per the fiscal year 2025 report.

🔘 An additional $1.44 billion in "emergency supplemental funding" for fiscal year 2023 would allow the US Army to buy at least 375 MSE missiles to replace those sent to Ukraine.

🔘 The US Army’s budget for the procurement of MSE missiles for fiscal year 2024 jumped to $3.03 billion (up $1.818 billion), allowing for the purchase of at least 472 MSE missiles.

🔘 Total additional funding of $3.26 billion for both fiscal years would cover the purchase of at least 847 MSE missiles to replace those sent to Ukraine.

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🇷🇺🪖More statements from the Russian MoD daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:    

▪️Russia’s Battlegroup Zapad hammered six Ukrainian formations in its combat zone. The enemy lost as many as 530 soldiers.

▪️Russian air defence systems shot down three HIMARS missiles and 23 Ukrainian drones.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 225 militants in the Russian Yug Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 160 militants in the Russian Vostok Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 95 soldiers in the areas of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr and Sever.

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🇷🇺 🪖 Key statements from the Russian Ministry of Defense's daily briefing on the situation in the Kursk region:

◻️ Russia’s Battlegroup Sever hammered 12 Ukrainian formations in its combat zone.

◻️ In total, Ukrainian losses over the day amounted to more than 200 militants, with eight armored vehicles destroyed.

◻️ Since the beginning of combat operations in the Kursk region, Ukraine has lost more than 39,660 troops.

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⚡️Muhammad al-Bashir told the channel Al-Hadath that he has been authorized to form Syria’s interim government.

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Who is Muhammad al-Bashir, the man behind Syria's transitional government?

As the Syrian opposition authorized Muhammad al-Bashir to form a transitional government, we gather what is know about him. Born in 1983 in Idlib, Syria, in the Jabal al-Zawiya region.

Education:

🔹 Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Faculty of Communications, University of Aleppo, 2007

🔹 Bachelor's degree in Sharia and Law from Idlib University

🔹 Project Management Certificate, issued by the International Academy of Training, Languages, and Consulting, 2021

🔹 Certificate in Planning Principles and Administrative Organization, 2021

Career:

🔷 Head of Precision Instrumentation Department at the Syrian Gas Company, 2011

🔷 Director of the Al-Amal Educational Institute

🔷 Director of Sharia Education at the Ministry of Endowments, Call, and Guidance

🔷 Minister of Development and Humanitarian Affairs in the opposition faction known as the "Salvation Government"

🔷 Director of Associations Affairs at the Ministry of Development and Humanitarian Affairs In January 2024, the Shura Council of the Salvation Government elected him prime minister.

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🗣Putin supports creating BRICS human rights organization

"It is necessary to ensure that human rights are respected in our country <...> We are ready to support your work and will do everything to make the new national human rights center work effectively," Putin said during a meeting of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.

Earlier the BRICS declaration following the summit in Russia's Kazan criticized the politicization of human rights, and double standards in this area.

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❓What to know about Israeli PM Netanyahu’s corruption trial

Benjamin Netanyahu will take the witness stand for the first time in his ongoing corruption trial on Tuesday.

What are the charges against him?

◾️ Case 1000 centers on allegations that Netanyahu and his wife Sara received extravagant illicit gifts like champagne, cigars, and jewelry from Israel-born Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan and Australian investor James Packer in 2007 - 2016 to a tune of $186,000. Netanyahu reportedly helped Milchan renew his US visa and extended the tax exemption for returning expatriate Israelis.

◾️ In Case 2000, he is accused of fraud over an alleged deal with publisher Arnon Mozes, owner of the Yedioth Ahronoth. He reportedly considered enacting regulatory legislation to weaken rival outlet Israel Hayom, according to the indictment’s summary. Netanyahu did not follow through on that promise.

◾️ In Case 4000 (Bezeq-Walla), Netanyahu as communications minister is accused of authorizing regulatory decisions from 2012 to 2017 that financially benefited Israeli telecommunications company Bezeq, then owned by Shaul Elovitch. In exchange, Elovitch provided favorable coverage on his Walla news website. Elovitch and his wife are also on trial and deny wrongdoing.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and rejected calls for his resignation.

Fraud and breach of trust can result in prison sentences of up to three years. Bribery charges can result in up to 10 years in jail and/or a fine.

Fresh revelations in the trial, along with the ongoing military actions, could see Netanyahu’s coalition lose an early election, according to a poll by the Maariv daily.

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📹 This footage depicts the extensive destruction of Syrian naval ships in the port of Latakia, following a massive Israeli airstrike, as reported by Al Arabiya TV.

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