Published: 15:15 EST, 22 February 2016 Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Monday he was sceptical that a Syria ceasefire announced for February 27 by the United States and Russia will succeed.
He also said that both Washington and Moscow recognise Israeli freedom of action in Syria, where the Jewish state is reported to have carried out a series of raids over the past five years.
“It is difficult for me to see a ceasefire while Daesh (the Islamic State group) and Al-Nusra Front (the Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate) are not part of the process and the Russians say they will strike both organisations,” a statement said.
The Syria ceasefire is due to take effect on February 27 at midnight Damascus time (2200 GMT Friday), according to a joint US-Russian statement released by the State Department in Washington.
Since the conflict began in 2011, Israeli forces are reported to have attacked positions of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and his allies from Israel’s arch-foe Hezbollah.
“Israeli action is based on a single principle: self-defence,” the statement from Yaalon’s spokesman said.
“It is well-known in both the United States and Russia, which is currently acting in Syria, that our freedom of action and defence of our interests continue.”
The minister was speaking to an Israeli journalist aboard American warship the USS Carney at Haifa, northern Israel.
A draft deal reached between Russia and the United States has called for a ceasefire to start in Syria in late February.
Diplomatic sources said on Monday that the truce would start on February 27, 2016 and would exclude two major militant groups in Syria, namely Daesh and Nusra Front.
One western source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a previous report saying that the draft deal calls on warring sides in Syria to agree to the cessation of hostilities by midday on February 26. Another anonymous source, however, was unable to confirm the accuracy of the reports.
US Secretary of state John Kerry said on Sunday that he and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, had reached a provisional agreement on the “cessation of hostilities” in Syria. He said the sides were closer to a ceasefire than ever before.
“We have reached a provisional agreement in principle on the terms of a cessation of hostilities that could begin in the coming days,” Kerry said during a visit to the Jordanian capital of Amman, adding, “The modalities for a cessation of hostilities are now being completed. In fact, we are closer to a ceasefire today than we have been.”
Kerry said Washington and Moscow were “filling out the details” of the agreement. He said the presidents of US and Russia are expected to talk in the coming days to complete the provisional agreement in principle. Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Saudi bombardment kills 60 across Yemen
Mon Feb 22, 2016 5:10PM
Saudi Arabia’s relentless bombardment of residential areas across Yemen has killed dozens of people in a matter of hours.
Yemeni media said on Monday that around 60 people, many of them women and children, were killed as Saudi warplanes pounded areas in various provinces.
At least 24 people were reportedly killed in Saudis’ bombardment of houses in Wadi Khared district in the northern province of Jawf.
Earlier in the morning, a mother and her five children were killed after Saudi fighter jets targeted their house in Bani Zabyan district, north of the capital Sana’a.
Another 30 were killed in an attack on Ghaferah region in the northern Sa’ada Province while attacks were also reported in the provinces of Ma’rib, Lahij and Hajjah.
The carnage is the latest in Saudi Arabia’s nearly one-year of air strikes against its southern neighbor, in a bid to undermine the ruling Houthi Ansarullah movement and allied military units. Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
Breaking down the US-Russia ceasefire plan for Syria
Following Moscow and Washington’s announcement of a joint ceasefire deal for Syria, the war-torn country may be on the verge of the biggest peacemaking breakthrough since fighting broke out there five years ago. Here is how the proposed truce should work:
When does it start?
The ceasefire will become official at midnight Damascus time on Saturday, February 27 (or on Friday at 22:00 GMT). Those who subscribe to the agreement have to publicly declare that they will desist from hostilities by a deadline 12 hours before the ceasefire comes into effect, and inform the White House or the Kremlin. Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Syria’s President Assad announces April parliamentary elections
Mon Feb 22, 2016 8:23PM
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has called for parliamentary elections to be held on April 13.
The announcement was made via an official statement released by Syria’s presidential office on Monday and came directly after the US and Russia announced a ceasefire in the war-torn Arab country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the conditions for the truce, which is set to take place on February 27 midnight Damascus time, on a Russian television broadcast.
“All warring sides in Syria must confirm, to us or to our US partners, their commitment to the ceasefire before noon on February 26,” he said.
Putin went on to note that his country and the US would jointly map out the locations where the warring sides were active.
“No combat operations will be conducted against them by the Syrian armed forces, the Russian armed forces and the US-led coalition,” the Russian president said, adding, “For their part, the opposition will cease hostilities against the Syrian armed forces and the groups providing support for them.”
Syrian volunteers and their relatives wave the national flag and portraits of President Assad as they celebrate at the end of a paramilitary training conducted by the Syrian army in al- Qutayfah, 50 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, on February 22, 2016. (AFP)
The conditions of the ceasefire, which does not apply to the Daesh Takfir terrorist group and al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, were also released via a US State Department statement. Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Syria opposition meets in Riyadh to discuss truce
Mon Feb 22, 2016 4:18PM
A Saudi-backed opposition group in Syria has held a meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to discuss a ceasefire plan for the conflict-hit Arab country.
Monzer Makhous, the spokesman for the so-called opposition group known as the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said that the group held a meeting on Monday.
He added that the meeting is anticipated to continue until Thursday and the participants planned to discuss developments since the UN-brokered talks over Syria’s crisis halted earlier this month.
This came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry said following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Jordanian capital, Amman, that both sides struck a provisional deal on terms of cessation of hostilities in Syria.
Russia will speak to the Syrian government and Iran, and the US will speak to the Syrian opposition and its partners, Kerry said.
On February 12, diplomats from the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) agreed to seek a temporary “cessation of hostilities” in Syria. The ISSG also agreed to “accelerate and expand” deliveries of humanitarian aid to various besieged Syrian towns. Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
Migrants rape friend at Norwegian asylum center, shoot crime on video
Four migrants have been charged with rape in Norway after assaulting their 19-year-old friend, whom they knew before arriving in Europe, local media report. The video of the crime made by the assailants has become key evidence in the case.
The incident took place at the Oslofjord Convention Center in Vestfold on December 4, 2015, according to the NRK media outlet.
The four men – three in their 20s and one in his 40s – raped and beat up their 19-year-old friend, who was then taken to hospital in serious condition. Click here for the full story
From The Independent
Israeli winner of Berlin Film Festival brands Netanyahu government ‘fascist’
The 56-year-old director made the comments just hours before being presented the Panorama Audience Award
Director Udi Aloni attends the ‘Junction 48’ press conference at the Berlin Film Festival Getty Images
Israeli director Udi Aloni, who won the top audience at Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, has labelled the Israeli government “fascist” and urged Germany to cease its military support of the Jewish state.
At a Q&A session about his award-winning film Junction 48, hours before being presented with the Panorama Audience Award for best fiction film, Mr Aloni said Germany supported the “fascist regime of Israel”, according to a report by Channel 10 News.
The 56-year-old called Israel a “democracy of white people” and criticised German chancellor Angela Merkel’s support for Israel, saying: “Merkel does not mention the occupation and sells submarines to Netanyahu to continue such things.”
(JTA) — Canada’s Parliament passed a motion formally condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
The motion passed Monday in a 229-51 vote, CIJ News reported. Introduced last week by members of the opposition Conservative Party, the motion won support from the ruling Liberal Party as well.
It calls on the Canadian government to “condemn any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups or individuals to promote the BDS movement, both here at home and abroad.” Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israel, US holding major air defense drill
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel and the United States are holding a major air defense drill in Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces and the U.S. European Command launched the exercise, called Juniper Cobra 2016, on Sunday to improve cooperation between them. The exercise is held about every two years and lasts for several days. This is the eighth time the drill has been held since 2001.
During the exercise, over 1,700 U.S. service members, civilians and contractors will join with the IDF in addressing computer-simulated challenges that Israel could face, the IDF said in a statement.
Planning for the exercise began over a year ago and is not related to any specific events or developments in the region, according to the IDF. Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Report: Israeli city routinely refuses to register Ethiopians for marriage
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Ethiopian-Israelis registering for marriage licenses in the central Israeli city of Petach Tikvah reportedly are routinely rejected and forced to register elsewhere.
At least 30 Ethiopian-Israeli couples have been denied marriage licenses in Petach Tikvah in the last nine months, Army Radio first reported Monday, when it interviewed an Ethiopian-Israeli woman identified as Shega, a Petach Tikvah resident who is scheduled to be married in April.
In a conversation last week with the registrar that was secretly recorded, Shega said that despite presenting the paperwork proving she had converted to Judaism, the registrar asked her to provide a letter from a rabbi attesting to the fact that she was a practicing Orthodox Jew. He then suggested the couple register in her groom-to-be’s home community. Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Bernie Sanders reaches out to Israelis on Facebook, gets an earful
Bernie Sanders’ campaign issued a message of multicultural unity last week, posting graphics on social media that read, “Not me, us,” in 14 different languages.
Facebook users generally responded positively to the posts, which in each language feature a silhouette of Sanders — fist raised — comprising smaller silhouettes of various shapes and colors. Israelis, though, were less impressed.
A UN commission has condemned ‘widespread war crimes in Syria’, saying those responsible for the violent atrocities should be held accountable as part of the international peace process.
“Flagrant violations of human rights and international humanitarian law continue unabated, aggravated by blatant impunity,” the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said in a report on Monday.
The report added that civilians were the “primary victims” of Syria’s five-year-long conflict and “their suffering has been compounded by an absence of civilian protection.”
The commission further noted that those responsible for war crimes should face justice as part of a ceasefire aimed at ending the conflict in Syria.
Paulo Pinheiro, the head of the commission, also said the warring sides in the Arab country do not respect international humanitarian law.
Syrians gather at the site of a series of attacks near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine south of Damascus on February 21, 2016. (AFP photo)
This came as reports say that Russia and the US announced that a cessation of hostilities in the Arab country will go into effect on February 27.
On February 12, diplomats from the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) agreed to seek a temporary “cessation of hostilities” in Syria. The ISSG also agreed to “accelerate and expand” deliveries of humanitarian aid to various besieged Syrian towns. Click here for the full story
© Ilya Pitalev / Sputnik 
© Jan Morten / Reuters 
Director Udi Aloni attends the ‘Junction 48’ press conference at the Berlin Film Festival Getty Images 
