DAMASCUS, 26 December, 2020, (TON): A total of six pro-government fighters were killed during an Israeli strike that targeted positions in central Syria after midnight, a war monitor reported on Friday.

Two members of the militant group and four Iranian-backed fighters were killed. Israeli strikes also targeted dozens of sites in the Gaza Strip, according to Israel's military.

The Israeli missile strike targeted the defense factories where a scientific research center is located in the city of Masyaf in the western countryside of Hama province in central Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based watchdog group said the strike destroyed weapon depots run by Iranian fighters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the shelling hit a post located a few kilometres from the Damascus International Airport, which was manned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

For its side, the Syrian army said the Syrian air defenses had intercepted most of the Israeli missiles that were fired on Masyaf.

It is rare for Israel to directly claim responsibility for such strikes.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air and missile attacks on Syria since a civil war broke out in 2011, targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces as well as government troops.

Iran has been a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government throughout the civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Western intelligence sources say the increase in Israeli raids on Syria this year is part of a shadow war approved by Washington in a bid to check Iran’s military reach.

KATMANDU, 26 December 2020, (TON):  Nepal’s Supreme Court on Friday issued a show-cause notice to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli-led government, asking to submit a written clarification over its decision to abruptly dissolve Parliament.

Earlier, a preliminary hearing of five-member Constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana on the writ petitions filed against the government’s decision to dissolve the 275-member House of Representatives was held which recommended notice to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli-led government, Council of Minister and the President to find out the circumstance leading to dissolution of the Parliament.

The court has also asked the government to submit within 10 days an original copy of the recommendations made by the government to dissolve the House and the decision made by President Bidya Devi Bhandari to authenticate the government’s recommendations.

Meanwhile, a protest rally was organized in front of Prime Minister’s Office Saturday by Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’-led faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) against the decision.

Around 350 protesters, comprising of Central Committee members of the Nepal Communist Party and members of the House participated in the rally in front of Prime Minister’s office from where they moved to Election Commission (EC) office. The participants of the rally chanted slogans, “Reinstate the House of Representatives,” “Dissolution of the House is Unconstitutional.”   

Prachanda and Madhav Kumar Nepal, senior leaders Jhala Nath Khanal, spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha along with the party’s Central Committee members and members of the dissolved House gathered near the Prime Minister’s Office for the protest.

 The spokesperson of the Election Commission said decision is yet to be made which faction of the NCP is legitimate to carry the party name and election symbol.

In a statement, Sunil Manahdhar, who is also a Central Committee member of the NCP said, “We have the support of the majority of the Central committee members. Therefore, we are going to the commission to prove and show that we are the legitimate faction.” He claimed that his party will launch the agitation against the Oli government in collaboration with other Opposition parties, including the Nepali Congress and Janata Samajwadi Party for the reinstatement of the House of Representatives.

DHAKA, 25 December 2020, (TON): Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki expressed his country's stance as to the Rohingya repatriation process to their homeland in Myanmar and they want to see the start of the process next year.

On Thursday, Japanese Ambassador Naoki joined the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) Talk at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka and said about the Rohingya repatriation process as well as the importance of Bangladesh to Japan.

"The Rohingya issue is very important. To see progress, we should see the start of the repatriation process next year. Japan will continue to help in this matter", he said.

Highlighting Japan's initiatives to solve the solution, he said Japan is communicating directly with top military officials and at the government level on the Rohingya crisis.

The Japanese Ambassador mentioned both Bangladesh and Myanmar are also traditionally a very friendly country to Japan and there is a possibility to negotiate this matter.

To date, two repatriation attempts turned futile as Myanmar failed to remove distrust among the Rohingyas and there was a lack of congenial environment in Rakhine for their return.

Also, Myanmar did not take back a single Rohingya from Bangladesh over the last two years but they misled the international community by claiming that a total of 397 displaced people voluntarily returned from Bangladesh to Myanmar.

Naoki shared four reasons why Bangladesh is important to Japan including growth potential and geopolitical strategic location.

He said Bangladesh has a great opportunity for its readymade garments to develop its economy more and there will be a completely different look of Bangladesh in terms of quality infrastructure with the implementation of quality projects.

"There is no doubt that beyond Covid-19 pandemic, Bangladesh will keep growing", he said.

Ambassador Naoki said the Bangladesh government has done a wonderful job to create an investment friendly environment in Bangladesh.

ANKARA, 25 December 2020, (TON): Turkish parliament on Tuesday approved a motion that extended its troop deployment permission in Libya for another 18 months, according to its official gazette published on Thursday.

"There are threats from Libya to Turkey and the entire region, and if attacks resume again, Turkey's interests in the Mediterranean and North Africa will be adversely affected," said the motion, noting that permanent peace, a cease-fire that was agreed to in October, and political dialogue in Libya are of great importance to Ankara.

"Turkey, within the Memorandum of Security and Military Cooperation signed with Libya, will continue to contribute to the training and consultancy support to Libya," said the motion.

In 2019, Ankara and Libya's UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) signed two memorandums of understanding on military cooperation and maritime boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean.

WASHINGTON, 25 December (TON0): One of the two UN teams tasked to assess the humanitarian needs in Ethiopia's Tigray region is being stranded, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on Thursday.

One team is now in Mekelle, capital of Tigray, waiting to proceed to Adigrat. The other team, however, had not proceeded to Shire as planned due to additional permissions requested by the authorities, the spokesman quoted UN humanitarians as saying.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Peace is expected to facilitate the clearance as soon as possible, he told a press briefing.

Health, nutrition, food, water, sanitation and hygiene as well as non-food items are the priority needs, said Dujarric.

The spokesman said Wednesday that humanitarian assistance started to gradually trickle into Tigray although access was limited in areas where conflict was ongoing.

Since Nov. 4, the Ethiopian government has been undertaking military operations against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which rules Ethiopia's northernmost Tigray state.

MOSCOW, 25 December 2020, (TON): The expanded sanctions list published by the US authorities in relation to Russian companies allegedly classified as "military end users" is a destructive move for bilateral ties, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

"The latest innovations of the U.S. Department of Commerce aimed at modernizing its export regime, namely, the incorporation of the concept of 'military end user' and the inclusion of more than 40 Russian legal entities in the corresponding list, are perplexing and outrageous," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said while weekly briefing.

She emphasized that this was another unfriendly move on the part of the United States, aimed at containing Russia.

"We call once again on the U.S. side to listen to the voice of reason, at least ours, and, finally, to start adequately assessing the consequences of their destructive actions both for the general political atmosphere of relations between our countries and for their trade and economic component," she added.

The ministry considers that with this move, the United States undermines competition in global markets and acts to the detriment of its own businesses.

On Monday, the US Department of Commerce drafted a sanctions list of 103 entities, among which were 45 Russian companies that were allegedly labelled as "military end users," claiming they have military ties.

WASHINGTON, 25 December 2020, (TON): The killing of an another unarmed African-American man by police in the US state of Ohio, this time in Columbus city, sparked a fresh wave of outrage this week against institutional racism in the country.

Andre Maurice Hill, 47, was in the garage of a house on Monday night when he was shot several times by a police officer who had been called to the scene for a minor incident.

Bodycam footage shows Hill walking towards the policeman holding a cell phone in his left hand, while his other hand cannot be seen. Seconds later, the officer fired and Hill collapsed.

The footage has no sound, and it is not clear why the officer, Adam Coy, fired. Hill was not carrying a weapon.

Coy and his colleague waited several minutes before approaching the victim, who was still alive, but died later.

According to local media reports, Coy had previously received complaints of excessive force.

Protesters gather outside the home where Andre Maurice Hill, 47, was killed in Columbus, Ohio on Dec 24. the second African-American killed by police in Columbus in less than three weeks.

Casey Goodson Jr, 23, was shot several times on December 4 while returning home. Earlier, US was rocked by historic protests against racial injustice and police brutality killing of African American man George Floyd.

“Once again officers see a Black man and conclude that he’s criminal and dangerous,” said lawyer Ben Crump, who defends several families of victims including Floyd’s, on Wednesday. Ginther said he was “outraged” by Hill’s death.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said he was "outraged" by Hill's death.

WASHINGTON, 25 December 2020, (TON): A group of seven influential US lawmakers, including Indian American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, have written to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, urging him to raise the issue of farmers' protest in India with his Indian counterpart.

This is a matter of specific concern to Sikh Individuals linked to Punjab, though it additionally closely impacts the Indian Individuals belonging to different Indian states, the lawmakers stated of their letter to Pompeo dated December 23.

“Many Indian Individuals are instantly affected as they’ve members of the family and ancestral land in Punjab and are involved for the well-being of their households in India. In view of this severe scenario, we urge you to contact your Indian counterpart to bolster the US” dedication to the liberty of political speech overseas,” they stated.

Of their letter, the lawmakers stated that the US as a nation that’s aware of political protests can supply counsel to India throughout their present interval of social disturbance.

“As nationwide legislators, we respect the precise of the federal government of India to find out nationwide coverage, in compliance with present legislation. We additionally acknowledge the rights of these in India and overseas who’re at present protesting peacefully in opposition to agricultural legal guidelines that many Indian farmers see as an assault on their financial safety,” the lawmakers stated.

Earlier, a number of political leaders in Canada, the UK and Australia have since criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of the growing crisis.

KABUL, 25 December 2020, (TON): Afghan women’s rights activist Freshta Kohistani was assassinated along with her brother by unknown gunmen in Dahno village of Hes-e-Awal in Kohistan district of Kapisa province, a security source said on Thursday. The Afghan Ministry of Interior in a statement also confirmed.

“At around 5:00pm today, unknown gunmen riding on a motorcycle martyred Freshta Kohistani in Hes-e-Awal area of Kohistan district of Kapisa, her brother was wounded in the attack, the intelligence units have launched an investigation into the attack,” said the MoI in a statement.

But police in Kapisa said that Kohistani's brother was also killed in the attack.

No one has claimed responsibility so far.

On December 13, Freshta Kohistani in a Facebook post criticized the Afghan security agencies for not helping to ensure her security and she requested help from First Vice President Amrullah Saleh.

The assassination comes a day after unknown gunmen killed Yousuf Rasheed, CEO of the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA) in Kabul along with his driver in the early morning.

YEREVAN, 25 December 2020, (TON): Police in the Armenian capital detained dozens of people on Thursday during protests against the country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is being pressured to resign over his peace agreement with Azerbaijan.

Police detained 77 people following clashes when thousands of protesters converged on center of the capital Yerevan and surrounded the heavily guarded government building. Pashinyan and other cabinet members were able to get into the building despite the unrest.

“Now our goal is that they don’t get out until Nikol Pashinyan resigns,” Ishkhan Saghatelyan, a leading member of the opposition Dashnaktsutyun party, said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan had earlier brokered a peace deal that saw Azerbaijan reclaim control over large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas. The Russia-brokered agreement ended 44 days of fierce fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.