Russia denies responsibility for attack in northern Syria that killed 33 Turkish soldiers - The Washington Post

Aref Tammawi AFP/Getty Images Turkish troops patrol in the town of Atareb in the rebel-held western countryside of Syria's Aleppo province on Feb. 19.

MOSCOW — Russian military officials denied responsibility for an airstrike in northern Syria that killed dozens of Turkish troops, as the risk of a major military confrontation between Russia and Turkey in the region escalated sharply.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense issued a statement Friday stating that no Russian jets had been operating in the area of the strike in Idlib province Thursday.

“Aircraft of the Russian Air Force did not engage in combat in the Behun vicinity,” the ministry said.

Gov. Rahmi Dogan of Hatay province in Turkey, announced that 33 soldiers were killed. Dozens more were wounded.

The Russian statement said it had warned Syria to cease the attacks on anti-regime fighters in the Behun region when it became aware of the Turkish casualties.

“As soon as the information about Turkish casualties was received, the Russian side took comprehensive measures to fully stop the firing by the Syrian forces and to ensure safe evacuation of the dead and injured Turkish servicemen to the Turkish territory,” the ministry said.

The Defense Ministry statement added that Turkey’s military had not provided Russia with the geolocation of its forces in Behun.

“At the same time, according to the coordinates provided by the Turkish side to the Russian Center for Reconciliation, there were no — and should not have been any — units of the Turkish armed forces in the area of Behun,” the Russian Defense Ministry statement said.

[Syrian airstrike kills Turkish soldiers in Idlib, Turkish official says]

Turkey convened an emergency meeting of NATO ambassadors on Friday morning, stopping short of an attempt to invoke the alliance’s all-for-one, one-for-all mutual defense pact but still drawing the group into the increasingly tense situation.

Under NATO’s founding treaty, any member can request consultations if it believes its security is under threat. It is only the sixth time in NATO’s 71-year history that a member has done so.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke Thursday night to Turkish Foreign Minister Mehmet Cavusoglu. NATO said in a statement that “Stoltenberg condemned the continued indiscriminate air strikes by the Syrian regime and its backer Russia in Idlib province.”

Turkey has deployed thousands of troops in Syria to prevent the forces of President Bashar al-Assad from defeating anti-regime militias in Idlib. In recent days, Russian officials have repeatedly accused Turkey of breaching a 2018 cease-fire deal and accused it of using artillery strikes and attack drones to defend anti-regime militias, whom it designates as terrorists. Idlib province is largely controlled by an extremist group that once had ties with al-Qaeda.

Tensions in the region have escalated sharply as Russian-backed Syrian forces have advanced into Idlib, the last opposition stronghold, infuriating Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey who fears that refugees fleeing the Syrian advance could spill across the border.

Erdogan has threatened to escalate military attacks on Syria if its forces do not retreat. Talks between Moscow and Ankara to resolve the crisis have failed to produce a solution.

The Syrian advance has caused a humanitarian crisis as hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians have fled their homes heading toward Turkey, many of them lacking adequate shelter.

Turkey, a NATO member, and Russia back opposing sides in Syria’s civil war, with Russia supporting Assad’s regime and Turkey supporting anti-regime forces. The conflict has put increasing strain on the close relationship between Putin and Erdogan.

Russia, which has two crucial military bases in Syria, has carried out airstrikes to aid the Syrian advance and provided Assad’s forces with other military support.

A senior Turkish official announced Friday that Turkey would open its borders to allow Syrian refugees to freely spill into Europe, Reuters reported Friday, without naming the official.

“All refugees, including Syrians, are now welcome to cross into the European Union,” the official said.

Russian State Duma Defense Committee deputy chairman Yury Shvytkin accused Turkey of aggression against Syria and flagrant support for terrorists.

“We will continue our effort to fight militants and terrorists together with al-Assad,” Shvytkin told Interfax news, adding that it would be “inadmissible” for NATO to intervene.

Michael Birnbaum in Stockholm contributed to this report.

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Syrian airstrike kills Turkish soldiers in Idlib, Turkish official says

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2020-02-28 10:48:00Z
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Coronavirus: Worst-hit countries boost containment efforts - BBC News - BBC News

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1. Coronavirus: Worst-hit countries boost containment efforts - BBC News  BBC News
2. Coronavirus live updates: New Zealand, Nigeria report first cases, China's death toll over 2,700  CNBC
3. Live updates: Coronavirus pummels financial markets; Japanese island declares state of emergency  The Washington Post
4. Cases Soar in Italy, Iran and South Korea as Alarm Grows  The New York Times
5. US and South Korea postpone joint military exercise as coronavirus spreads  Washington Examiner
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2020-02-28 09:29:47Z
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33 Turkish soldiers killed by airstrike in northwestern Syria - CBS News

Ankara, Turkey — Turkey on Friday raised the death toll from a Syrian government airstrike on its forces in northwestern Syria the previous night to 33 Turkish troops, the highest number of Turkish soldiers killed in a single day since Ankara first intervened in the Syrian conflict in 2016.

The deaths, which came in an attack late Thursday, were a serious escalation in the direct conflict between Turkish and Russia-backed Syrian forces that has been waged since early February. The earlier reported death toll was 29 troops.
 
Ambassadors from NATO countries were holding emergency talks on Friday at the request of Turkey, a member of the alliance.
 
Rhami Dogan, the governor of Turkey's Hatay province bordering Syria's Idlib region, said 32 wounded troops were being treated in hospitals. Turkey has had 54 soldiers killed in Syria's northwestern Idlib province since the beginning of February, including the latest fatalities.
 
Turkey is a main backer of the Syrian opposition while Russia has been giving military support to the weeks-long Syrian government offensive in Idlib that has displaced about 950,000 people and left hundreds of civilians dead.
 
Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday that the Turkish troops who came under fire in Idlib were deployed among "terrorist battle formations." The Turkish troops were in the area of Behun and, according to coordinates given to Russia's Reconciliation Center in Syria, "There were no Turkish military units in the area ... and there weren't supposed to be."
 
Russian air forces didn't carry out airstrikes in the area, the statement read, and after receiving information about Turkish casualties, "The Russian side took all the necessary measures in order for the Syrian forces to stop the fire," it said.
 
Meanwhile, two Russian frigates carrying cruise missiles have been deployed to Syria, Russian navy officials said Friday. Admiral Makarov and Admiral Grigorovich of the Black Sea Fleet are currently en route to the Syrian coast with Kalibr cruise missiles on board. Both warships previously took part in Russia's offensive in Syria.
 
Syrian state news agency SANA carried a brief report saying Turkey has acknowledged its forces were killed "in operations of the Syrian Arab Army against a terrorist organization," adding that Syrian troops at the time were repelling attacks by "terrorist groups backed by Turkey."
 
The U.N. secretary-general reiterated his call for an immediate cease-fire and expressed serious concern about the risk to civilians from escalating military actions," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
 
"Without urgent action, the risk of even greater escalation grows by the hour," he said.
 
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a six-hour emergency security meeting in Ankara late on Thursday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. 
 
Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, who plays a senior role in foreign affairs, spoke to U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien.
 
The situation in Idlib "threatens our national survival" said Devlet Bahceli, who heads the nationalist party allied to Erdogan's government.
 
The airstrike came after a Russian delegation spent two days in Ankara for talks with Turkish officials on the situation in Idlib, where a Syrian government offensive has sent hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing toward the Turkish border.
 
The offensive has also engulfed many of the 12 military observation posts Turkey has in Idlib.
 
Turkey hosts some 3.6 million Syrians and, under a 2016 deal with the European Union, agreed to step up efforts to halt the flow of refugees to Europe. Since then, Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to "open the gates" in several disputes with European states.
 
Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's ruling party, said Turkey was "no longer able to hold refugees" following the Syrian attack, reiterating a standing threat by Ankara.
 
The DHA news agency reported that some 300 Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi, Moroccan and Pakistani refugees were gathering at the border with Greece, while others gathered on beaches facing Greek islands off Turkey's western coast.
 
On Friday morning, broadcaster NTV showed images of dozens of people carrying rucksacks, suitcases and plastic bags, crossing fields toward the Greek frontier.
 
Near the Pazarkule border crossing with Greece, Turkish police stopped some 150 refugees about a half mile from the border, preventing them from going further.
 
After the airstrike, angry crowds gathered outside the Russian consulate in Istanbul, Anadolu said. Standing in front of a line of riot police and a water cannon, they chanted, "Murderer Russia, murderer (Russian President Vladimir) Putin."
 
The airstrike came after Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters retook a strategic northwestern town from government forces on Thursday, opposition activists said, cutting a key highway just days after the government reopened it for the first time since 2012.
 
Despite losing the town of Saraqeb, Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces made major gains to the south. Assad now controls almost the entire southern part of Idlib province after capturing more than 20 villages Thursday, state media and opposition activists said. It's part of a weeks-long campaign backed by Russian air power into Syria's last rebel stronghold.
 
Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and the commanders of Turkey's army and air force went to the Syrian border Friday.  

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2020-02-28 08:12:00Z
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At least 33 Turkish soldiers killed in an air attack by Syrian regime, Turkish governor says - CNN

Thirty-five soldiers injured in the attack have been evacuated to hospitals in Turkey, Dogan said.

A security meeting is being held at the presidential palace after the "nefarious attack against heroic soldiers in Idlib who were there to ensure our national security," according to a statement from Turkish director of communications Fahrettin Altun.

Turkey has retaliated in an effort to "revenge our martyred heroic soldiers," the statement said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg following the Syrian attack, according to a statement released by the ministry. There were no further details about the content of the call.

The Syrian government has not commented on the Turkish claim. The Russian Defense Ministry denied that its air force carried out strikes in the area of Idlib where the Turkish soldiers were located. Moscow said Turkish forces were "located near the areas where terrorist groups were situated" and then "came under fire from Syrian forces."

Turkish soldiers are in the last rebel-held area of Syria as part of a 2018 de-escalation agreement between Ankara and Moscow. The Syrian government, backed by Russia, has mounted an aggressive air campaign against rebels in Idlib in recent weeks.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the last opposition-held territory in Syria in the last two months, per Unite Nations figures, in the wake of an air campaign and swift ground offensive by the Syrian regime and its Russian backers.

Tens of thousands are still on the move, and nearly 700,000 of the displaced are women and children, the UN said.

A spokesperson for the State Department said the United States is "very concerned."

"We are in contact with Turkish authorities to confirm these developments and to have more clarity on the current situation on the ground," the spokesperson said.

"We stand by our NATO Ally Turkey and continue to call for an immediate end to this despicable offensive by the Assad regime, Russia and Iranian-backed forces."

CNN's Dakin Andone, Mary Ilyushina and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.

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2020-02-28 07:27:00Z
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33 Turkish soldiers killed in Syrian air raid in Idlib - Al Jazeera English

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1. 33 Turkish soldiers killed in Syrian air raid in Idlib  Al Jazeera English
2. Airstrike Hits Turkish Forces in Syria, Raising Fears of Escalation  The New York Times
3. Syria war: 33 Turkish troops killed in air strike in Idlib  BBC News
4. David Adesnik: In Syria, Trump should act to save thousands of lives  Fox News
5. Syria’s carnage nears a horrific climax  The Washington Post
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2020-02-28 06:44:02Z
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New Delhi riots leave 38 dead as India balks at U.S. reaction to the religious violence - CBS News

People mourn next to the body of Muddasir Khan, who was fatally wounded Tuesday in a clash between people demonstrating for and against a new citizenship law, in New Delhi, India, February 27, 2020. ADNAN ABIDI/REUTERS

Delhi — The death toll from four days of sectarian violence in India's capital has risen to 38, making it the worst religious rioting Delhi has seen in more than three decades. Over 200 people have been injured, dozens of them shot, as mostly-Hindu supporters of a controversial new citizenship law seen as discriminatory against the country's minority Muslim population clash with opponents. 

Despite assurances from government and police officials Wednesday that the situation was under control, new clashes were reported early Thursday morning, and the death toll continued to rise sharply. Residents in the hardest-hit neighborhoods have told CBS News they're afraid to leave their homes.

The violence prompted the U.S. Embassy in India to issue an advisory for American citizens in the capital city, urging them to "exercise caution," "keep a low profile" and "avoid all areas with demonstrations."

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In Washington, the U.S. government's Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemned the "brutal and unchecked violence" in Delhi and urged the Indian government to "take serious efforts to protect Muslims and others targeted by mob violence."

India's External Affairs Ministry dismissed the commission's comments as "factually inaccurate and misleading," and said they appeared to be "aimed at politicizing the issue."

New law behind the clashes

The controversial law at the heart of the violence is called the Citizenship Amendment Act. Brought in by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, the law makes it easier for people facing religious persecution in three neighboring countries — Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh — to get Indian citizenship. But the law specifically excludes Muslims. 

There were widespread, deadly protests as soon as the law was passed in December, and they have continued to this day.

Opponents of law in secular India, including both Hindus and Muslims, argue that it is unconstitutional for singling out a religious group. They say it is part of a larger plan by Modi's right-wing, Hindu nationalist government to marginalise the country's 200 million Muslims. 

"We don't sleep at night"

The latest clashes kicked off in Delhi on Sunday, the eve of President Donald Trump's first state visit to India.  

Houses, shops, cars, and mosques were gutted as mobs armed with sticks, stones, and Molotov cocktails ransacked at least 10 neighborhoods in northeast Delhi. There has been no official breakdown of the casualty figures, but local reports suggest the majority of the dead and injured are Muslims. But Hindus, including members of the security services, are among those to have been killed. 

A resident in Mustafabad, one of the worst-hit areas in the capital, who wished to be identified only as Ahmed, told CBS News the trouble started when a mob shouting Hindu religious slogans tried to break up a sit-in protest against the new citizenship law, which had been carrying on peacefully for 40 days.

"They started throwing stones at the protesters, who then retaliated," he said. 

A group of men chanting pro-Hindu slogans beat Mohammad Zubair, 37, who is Muslim, during protests sparked by a new citizenship law in New Delhi, India, February 24, 2020. DANISH SIDDIQUI/REUTERS

Police have been accused of failing to stop such aggression against Muslims. On Wednesday, India's Supreme Court said timely action by the police could have saved lives, and the Delhi High Court also chastised the police for failing to file cases against politicians who gave hate speeches days before the clashes began. 

"The police did nothing. They just gave the rioters a free hand," said Ahmed. "They didn't even let ambulances come into our areas." 

Ahmed said the Hindu attackers were not from the adjacent, Hindu-majority area of Shiv Vihar, whom he and his neighbors know well. He said those neighbors had even given "refuge to hundreds of Muslims who fled when the militant mobs were on rampage." In other words, the attacking mob was not a local group, but from outside the immediate area, according to Ahmed.

"There is so much fear and tension we don't sleep at night," said Jamal, another resident who uses only one name. "We remain on guard in the streets the whole night." 

"I know five people who have died in our locality; four of them have bullet wounds and one was stabbed," he told CBS News.

Fearing further violence, dozens of families from the worst affected areas — both Muslims and Hindus — have moved out to safer places in the sprawling capital city, further afield. 

People look out near a burnt-out and damaged shop at the riot-hit area following clashes between people supporting and opposing a cententious amendment to India's citizenship law, in New Delhi on February 27, 2020. MONEY SHARMA/AFP/Getty

The Delhi judge who accused the police of failing to cite politicians for hate speech was transferred to a different court later the same night. The government called his transfer "routine," and said it had been arranged previously. The new judge heard the case on Thursday and gave the government one month to tell the court what action it has taken against the politicians for their alleged hate speech.

An address by a Hindu leader of Prime Minister Modi's own party sparked the complaints of hate speech. Kapil Mishra had told a crowd, in front of a senior police officer, that he had appealed to the police to clear the anti-citizenship law protest sites. 

"I want to tell them (police) that we will stay silent until Trump's departure, but after that we will not even listen to you," Mishra said.  

Journalists attacked   

Several journalists who covered the recent clashes have said they were threatened, heckled, and in some instances even beaten by the mobs. 

Times Now correspondent Parbina Purkayashtha told CBS News she was surrounded by a group of men with sticks in their hands while she was reporting live on camera in the Maujpur area Sunday evening. 

"They said they would kill me," she said. "I sat down, cried and pleaded with them to let me go, but they didn't listen. They were about to hit me with a stick when one of them told them not to and I ran for my life."

"I was scared they would catch me for being a journalist, molest me for being a girl, lynch me for being a Muslim," another journalist, Ismat Ara, wrote about her experience covering the clashes.

She told CBS News it would "take some time to recover from all this."   

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2020-02-27 14:48:00Z
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Trump taps Pence to head up coronavirus outbreak response - CBS News

Washington — President Trump announced Wednesday night that he's placing Vice President Mike Pence in charge of efforts to tackle the coronavirus, as the administration seeks to reassure the public and the markets amid the global coronavirus outbreak. The president, speaking for only the second time from the White House press briefing room, tried to instill confidence that his administration is on top of the health epidemic.

Speaking to reporters while flanked by Pence, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, and other officials on his coronavirus task force, the president said the risk to Americans from the virus is "very low," even as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns Americans to prepare for disruptions of their normal lives and the spread of the virus is a matter of if, not when. Mr. Trump appeared to disagree with that assessment.

"I don't think it's inevitable. It probably will. It possibly will. It could be at a very small level or it could be at a larger level. Whatever happens, we're totally prepared," the president told reporters.

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Minutes after the president ended his press conference, the CDC announced a confirmed case of the virus in California in someone "who reportedly did not have relevant history or exposure to another known patient with COVID-19," the official name for the virus that experts believe originated in China. 

President Trump holds a news conference with members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the coronavirus outbreak at the White House on February 26, 2020. Getty Images

Azar is remaining the head of the president's coronavirus task force, but Pence said the administration will add personnel to the White House to address the outbreak, and work closely with Congress to address the situation.

Democrats and some Republicans are suggesting the $2.5 billion in funding the president has requested from Congress isn't enough. Mr. Trump, who said $2.5 billion is a "lot," said his administration is willing to spend "whatever's appropriate" to address the outbreak.

Part of that funding is going towards developing a vaccine, which is still at least 12 to 18 months away, Dr. Andrew Fauci of the National Institutes of Health told reporters. Senators had offered similar estimates after a briefing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

"We can't rely on a vaccine over the next several months to a year," Fauci said.

Earlier in the day, Azar said in a congressional briefing that he couldn't guarantee price controls when a vaccine is developed, sparking concerns about affordability even when a vaccine is available to the general public.

The president, when asked, said schools should be preparing for the virus to spread. 

Mr. Trump has blamed news outlets and Democrats of stoking panic, as stocks suffered three days of steep losses on fears about the virus' impact. Pelosi criticized the president's response to the virus as underwhelming, and Mr. Trump took the opportunity Wednesday night to hit back at the speaker, calling her incompetent and suggesting she isn't capable of managing her own district.

"She's trying to create a panic, and there's no reason to panic," Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump appeared to express confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying the Chinese leader is working "very hard" to combat the outbreak. The president's own top officials, like economic adviser Larry Kudlow, have expressed they don't think China is being transparent enough with its information, and is blocking U.S. health officials from entering the country. 

The president highlighted his administration's efforts to screen people coming from high-risk areas, and temporary ban on non-citizens coming to the U.S. from China. That action, Mr. Trump said, is critical. 

"Had I not made a decision very early on not to take people from a certain area, we wouldn't be talking this way," Mr. Trump said. "We'd be talking about many more people being infected. I took a lot of heat. Some people called me racist because I made a decision so early. And we had never done that as a country before, let alone early. So, it was a bold decision. Turned out to be a good decision."

The administration has been inconsistent in its statements about the virus, which started last last year in China. There are now tens of thousands of cases worldwide and a handful in the United States.

The pieces of information about the virus coming from the administration have, at times, been inconsistent. 

Kudlow asserted Tuesday on CNBC that "we have contained this ... I won't say airtight, but pretty close to airtight." And Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, was caught making inaccurate statements about the coronavirus during a hearing Tuesday. 

On Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans alike have expressed frustration with administration officials about inconsistencies in the information they're providing. GOP Senator John Kennedy grew testy with Wolf, who incorrectly stated what the coronavirus mortality rate is, compared to the flu virus. Wolf also testified that the U.S. is "several months" away from a vaccine for the coronavirus, but the CDC said the timeline is closer to 12 to 18 months.

"You're head of Homeland Security, sir. Your job is to keep us safe," Kennedy told Wolf after he couldn't answer how many coronavirus cases are expected in the United States. 

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2020-02-27 15:45:00Z
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