15 people killed in car bomb blast in central Syria

DAMASCUS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people were killed and 24 others wounded when a car bomb went off in a street in the central Syrian province of Homs on Sunday, Syria's local media said.

The initial information has revealed that a car bomb went off near Omar Bin al-Khattab mosque at al-Hamra neighborhood, the state-run SANA news agency said, adding that at least 15 people were killed in the blast and huge damage has also been caused to nearby buildings.

Blasts in Syria have become daily occurrences, as the armed radical rebels have seemingly resorted to such tactics to overstretch the Syrian troops as part of the war of attrition which they have waged against the Syrian administration.

Meanwhile, SANA said that army troops have clashed with al- Qaida terrorists at al-Sabkha and al-Karama at the province of al- Raqqa and inflicted heavy losses on them.

It added that the clashes have resulted in the killing and wounding of tens of terrorists while the others have fled the scene.

Also, the army has eliminated tens of terrorists and seized their weapons at Skaa town in the capital of Damascus' outskirts, said SANA, adding that engineering units have also dismantled several improvised explosive devices planted by terrorists inside houses at the Damascus suburb of Daraya.

On the opposition side, the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), an activists' network, reported government troops' shelling on several hotspots across Syria, including the focal points of Hajar al-Aswad and al-Isali and Sabaineh in the countryside of Damascus.

The LCC said that a woman and three children were killed Sunday in the northern mountainous area of Jabal al-Zawieh in the province of Idlib due to the heavy shelling on the area. It added that six others were injured due to the intense clashes between the government troops and the rebels.

There has been no independent confirmation on the activists' reports.

The violence in Syria has been dragging on since last year, sending people on the edge with the failure of all international efforts to put an end to it.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another activists' network, said last week that more than 40,000 Syrians had been killed during the 20-month-old crisis in Syria, adding that the death toll includes 28,026 civilians and rebel fighters, 1,379 defectors, 10,150 soldiers and 574 unidentified people.

DAMASCUS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army has fought back armed groups that tried to storm the capital Damascus over the past few days, the pro-government al-Watan daily said Sunday.

The paper recounted on Sunday the incidents that have been taking place since Thursday afternoon when the armed groups around the capital mounted their "crawling toward Damascus" offensive. They tried to cut off the road to the airport in a bid to take control over it while at the same time, other groups were sent to attack the capital from other routes. "The Syrian army wide-opened the gates of hell on those who have thought of inching toward Damascus or scheming to attack it," the paper said, adding that the army killed hundreds of the armed men over the past couple of days in the areas and towns near the airport roads. Full story

New blasts rattle Syrian capital amid ongoing clashes

DAMASCUS, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Multiple blasts rocked the Syrian capital of Damascus on Saturday, leaving a number of people killed or injured amid incessant military showdown across the conflict- torn country.

At least three people were killed and many others wounded when a booby-trapped car went off in the Damascus' district of Ush al- Warwar on Saturday evening, the state-run SANA news agency said.Full story

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specif

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