2015: A Year in Review

Dramatic and a year for historical significance. This photo essay is by no means a complete 2015 diary and is not in order of occurrence.

Charlie Hebdo Attack in Paris

Terror struck in Paris one week into the New Year when a group of men with extensive ties to terrorist organizations targeted the offices of a famed satirical newspaper. Two men shot their way into the offices of Charlie Hebdo while a third waited near the getaway car. The shooters forced their way into the publication’s offices, killing a maintenance man and police bodyguard assigned to protect the editor after he received death threats. Once arriving at the office, they proceeded to kill nine others, mostly editorial staff gathered for their weekly meeting, injuring an additional 11. A faction of al Qaeda claimed responsibility.

The attacks continued in France for two more days, taking the lives of six others, including two police officers and four people held hostage at a kosher grocery store in Paris. The three perpetrators also died.

PARIS 1/11/2015

More than 40 world leaders marched in honor of the 17 victims of terrorist attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket.

Germanwings Plane Crash

PHOTO:A screengrab taken from an AFP TV video on March 24, 2015 shows search and rescue personnel making their way to the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed in the French Alps above the southeastern town of Seyne.
PHOTO:A screengrab taken from an AFP TV video on March 24, 2015 shows search and rescue personnel making their way to the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed in the French Alps above the southeastern town of Seyne.

A major aviation mystery in 2015 differed from the series of crashes the previous year in that the plane’s recording device led investigators to a suspect shortly after the deadly crash: the co-pilot. The recording from inside the cockpit of Germanwings Flight 9525 during the March 24 flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf indicated that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the lead pilot out of the cockpit during a break and proceeded to direct the plane toward the mountains of the French Alps, killing all 150 passengers and crew on board.

“The intention was to destroy the plane,” Brice Robin, the public prosecutor of Marseille, said during the investigation.

PAYNESVILLE, LIBERIA 1/26/2015

Benetha Coleman, a nurse’s aide and Ebola survivor, comforted an infant girl with symptoms of the disease in a high-risk treatment area.

Amtrak Train Crash

PHOTO:Emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly train derailment, May 13, 2015, in Philadelphia.
PHOTO:Emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly train derailment, May 13, 2015, in Philadelphia.

A train derailment in Philadelphia killed eight and injured more than 200 Amtrak passengers in May after the Northeast Regional train sped around a curve and went off the track. The train’s engineer. who survived, could not explain what caused the deadly crash. The National Transportation Safety Board led the investigation into the accident and determined that the train accelerated before the crash and had been traveling in excess of 100 mph, which was more than twice the speed limit for that area of the track.

MIRONOVKA VILLAGE, NEAR DEBALTSEVE, UKRAINE 2/17/2015

A child played cards in the local Palace of Culture, used as a bomb shelter during fighting between the Ukrainian Army and Russian-backed militants.

Prison Escape in New York

PHOTO:In this handout from New York State Police, convicted murderers David Sweat and Richard Matt are shown in this composite image.
PHOTO:In this handout from New York State Police, convicted murderers David Sweat and Richard Matt are shown in this composite image.

One of the biggest stories of the summer seemed like something straight out of a Hollywood movie. It involved two prisoners, a sexual liaison with a prison worker who smuggled tools hidden in frozen meat and a midnight escape with a smiley-faced getaway note. David Sweat and Richard Matt, both convicted murderers, escaped from the maximum security Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York on June 6, crawling out of sewage pipes and digging through cell walls a la “The Shawshank Redemption.”

TAIPEI, TAIWAN 2/4/2015

A picture from a video of a TransAsia Airways plane as it struck an elevated highway before plunging into a river, killing 43 people.

On-Air Shooting in Virginia

PHOTO:WDBJ-TV7 news morning anchor Kimberly McBroom, center, gets a hug from visiting anchor Steve Grant, left, as meteorologist Leo Hirsbrunner reflects after their early morning newscast at the station, Aug. 27, 2015, in Roanoke, Va.
PHOTO:WDBJ-TV7 news morning anchor Kimberly McBroom, center, gets a hug from visiting anchor Steve Grant, left, as meteorologist Leo Hirsbrunner reflects after their early morning newscast at the station, Aug. 27, 2015, in Roanoke, Va.

The gunman in another tragic shooting claimed it was the racism of the Charleston church shooting that prompted him to create a scene of carnage in the late summer. Vester Lee Flanagan, a disgruntled former news anchor, shot two of his former colleagues while they were on the air on location for a Roanoke, Virginia, TV station. The Aug. 26 shooting left reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward dead. Flanagan later posted a video on social media of the shooting that he appeared to have filmed during the attack using a portable camera. He also sent a manifesto and called ABC News after the shooting. He shot himself to death during a car chase with police later that day.

SELMA, ALA. 3/7/2015

President Obama marched with thousands across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Major Murder Trials

PHOTO:Former Marine Cpl. Eddie Ray Routh stands during his capital murder trial at the Erath County, Donald R. Jones Justice Center in Stephenville Texas, Feb. 24, 2015.
PHOTO:Former Marine Cpl. Eddie Ray Routh stands during his capital murder trial at the Erath County, Donald R. Jones Justice Center in Stephenville Texas, Feb. 24, 2015.

Four of the biggest trials of the year all resulted in guilty verdicts and one of those murderers now faces a death sentence. The first verdict came in February when Eddie Ray Routh was found guilty of killing “American Sniper” Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield. Though Kyle was well-known before the trial because of his bestselling book, the case gained even more national attention when his biopic came out just over a month before the trial started. Routh received a sentence of life without parole. He has filed a notice of appeal.

HILLAR CLINTON email scandal

A key aid to Hillary Clinton is the focus of a separate FBI investigation into the former secretary of state’s use of a private unsecured server. Bryan Pagliano, who invoked his Fifth Amendment right more than 500 times to avoid testifying before a House Committee investigating the Benghazi terrorist attack. Investigators are trying to determine more about Clinton’s use of a private server that contained highly classified material.

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT HACK

The massive hack into federal systems announced last week was far deeper and potentially more problematic than publicly acknowledged, with hackers believed to be from China moving through government databases undetected for more than a year.

MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND 3/3/2015

Secretary of State John Kerry, center, took a break during a meeting with Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, over limiting Tehran’s nuclear program.

PHOTO:Aaron Hernandez watches as Robert Kraft entered the courtroom during the murder trial of former New England Patriots tight end at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River, Mass., March 31, 2015.
PHOTO:Aaron Hernandez watches as Robert Kraft entered the courtroom during the murder trial of former New England Patriots tight end at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River, Mass., March 31, 2015.

Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez was found guilty in April and sentenced to life in prison without parole after killing Odin Lloyd, who was dating Hernandez’ fiancee’s sister. The case turned into a family drama as both Hernandez’s fiancee, who was granted immunity for her testimony, and her sister took turns on the witness stand. His appeal is underway.

PHOTO:In this June 24, 2015, file courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, right, stands before U.S. District Judge George OToole Jr. as he addresses the court during his sentencing, in federal court in Boston.
PHOTO:In this June 24, 2015, file courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, right, stands before U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. as he addresses the court during his sentencing, in federal court in Boston.

In another case, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving brother of a pair of siblings, was found guilty in April of all 30 charges that he faced in connection to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and his ensuing flight from police, which included the killing of an MIT police officer. One month later, he was sentenced to death after the conclusion of the penalty phase of his trial. The first of many expected appeals is underway.

BALTIMORE 4/28/2015

Community members formed a buffer between the police and protesters at dusk, a day after protests over the death of Freddie Gray turned violent.

EL CHAPO GUZMAN ESCAPE from prison

PLANNED PARENTHOOD VIDEOS, BABY PARTS

WASHINGTON 4/16/2015

President Obama, in the Rose Garden, signed the so-called doc-fix bill, which permanently ended automatic Medicare payment cuts to doctors.

CATHEDRAL CITY, CALIF. 4/3/2015

In California, where lush developments like this one abut bone-dry desert,  the governor imposed mandatory water restrictions after a long drought.

BHAKTAPUR, NEPAL 4/29/2015

Residents retrieved belongings from homes four days after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the country and left over 9,000 dead.

IN THE ANDAMAN SEA OFF THAILAND 5/14/2015

Rohingya migrants on a fishing boat, part of an exodus in which thousands of people took to the sea to flee ethnic persecution in Myanmar.

ROOSEVELT ISLAND, N.Y. 6/13/2015

Hillary Clinton was joined onstage by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, at a rally to kick off her presidential campaign.

SANA, YEMEN 6/12/2015

Yemenis searched for survivors at a Unesco World Heritage Site after an explosion that witnesses said was caused by Saudi airstrikes. Saudi Arabia denied responsibility.

COLUMBIA, S.C. 7/10/2015

The massacre of nine black churchgoers in Charleston was a catalyst for the permanent removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s state house.

ATHENS 7/10/2015

A pensioner waited to withdraw money from Greece’s national bank.  The country implemented more austerity measures to address its debt crisis.

MANHATTAN 7/10/2015

The United States women’s soccer team celebrated at a ticker-tape parade after winning the World Cup.

KOS, GREECE 8/15/2015

Laith Majid, an Iraqi, broke out in tears of joy, holding his son and daughter, after they arrived safely in Kos on a flimsy rubber boat.

HORGOS, SERBIA 8/31/2015

A mother rested with her daughter and other relatives in a field during their almost two-month journey to escape violence in Syria.

JPOA IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL

European Refugee Crisis

PHOTO:A refugee holding a boy react as they are stuck between Macedonian riot police officers and refugees during a clash near the border train station of Idomeni, northern Greece, Aug. 21, 2015.
PHOTO:A refugee holding a boy react as they are stuck between Macedonian riot police officers and refugees during a clash near the border train station of Idomeni, northern Greece, Aug. 21, 2015.

Tens of thousands of people fleeing war-torn Syria and other areas in the Middle East and Africa spent much of this summer making the laborious, and dangerous, trek through Europe toward countries including Germany and Sweden in hopes of finding asylum. The influx of refugee families prompted international disputes and policy shifts as countries such as Hungary started to close some of their borders and put up fences with razor wire to prevent people from entering. President Obama’s plan to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States met with stiff resistance from some House Republicans who have called for stricter certifications that none of the immigrants poses a security risk.

Same-Sex Marriage Debate

PHOTO:The front of the White House is lit in the color of the rainbow, June 26, 2015, after the United States Supreme Court issued the decision in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that same-sex marriage is legal in all states.
PHOTO:The front of the White House is lit in the color of the rainbow, June 26, 2015, after the United States Supreme Court issued the decision in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that same-sex marriage is legal in all states.

The Supreme Court made a landmark decision in June, voting to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide. The 5-4 decision was praised by many, including President Obama, who called it a “victory for America.” But not everyone was pleased with the decision. A county clerk in Kentucky became a touchstone for the national debate after she claimed it was against her religious beliefs to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Kim Davis was jailed for nearly a week for defying a judge’s order to issue any marriage licenses in Rowan County.

Pope Francis Visits the US

PHOTO:Pope Francis places a white rose on the names of the September 11 victims at the edge of the South Pool of the 9/11 memorial in New York, Sept. 25, 2015.
PHOTO:Pope Francis places a white rose on the names of the September 11 victims at the edge of the South Pool of the 9/11 memorial in New York, Sept. 25, 2015.

One of the biggest moments of national excitement came when Pope Francis made his inaugural visit to the United States, sweeping the country up in a serious case of Pope-mania. His visit started in Washington, D.C., after a trip to Cuba, and he went on to visit New York and Philadelphia before returning to the Vatican. Some of the highlights of the trip included a historic address to Congress, frequent rides in his Fiat and a particularly memorable moment shared with a baby girl dressed up like a pope.

WASHINGTON 9/23/2015

President Obama welcomed Pope Francis to the White House during the pope’s first visit to the United States.

Another Terror Attack in Paris

PHOTO:A photo shows a makeshift memorial for a tribute to the victims of a series of deadly attacks in Paris, in front of the Carillon cafe in Paris, Nov. 23, 2015.
PHOTO:A photo shows a makeshift memorial for a tribute to the victims of a series of deadly attacks in Paris, in front of the Carillon cafe in Paris, Nov. 23, 2015.

A series of coordinated terror attacks struck fear through the heart of the French capital on Friday Nov. 13. A combination of shooters and men wearing explosive vests targeted a football stadium, restaurants and a concert venue that evening, leaving 130 people dead.

French officials determined that the attackers had ties to ISIS, which has claimed responsibility. The alleged ringleader of the attacks was killed five days later when authorities raided his apartment in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. An international manhunt is still underway at this time for at least one other suspect.

GREECE-MACEDONIA BORDER, NEAR IDOMENI, GREECE 8/26/2015

A child stood near police controlling a rush of refugees into Macedonia.

CLEARLAKE, CALIF. 8/3/2015

A firefighter was silhouetted by his headlamp as he battled the Rocky Fire, a wildfire that spread over three counties and burned over 60,000 acres.

HAVANA 8/14/2015

Workers hanging the seal of the United States at the reopened American Embassy.

TIANJIN, CHINA 8/15/2015

Rows of motor vehicles were destroyed in chemical explosions that killed 160 people and were strong enough to register on earthquake scales.

Russia’s air campaign in Syria has killed hundreds of civilians and caused massive destruction in residential areas, according to a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International.

SHANKSVILLE, PA. 9/3/2015

A new visitor center and museum told the story of Flight 93, forced down by passengers after it was hijacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY 9/5/2015

A Syrian father, center, slept with his son and other family members on the floor of a bus driving from Budapest to Vienna.

HUNGARY-SERBIA BORDER, NEAR HORGOS, SERBIA 9/16/2015

A man tried to save his child as Hungarian police officers fired tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons at migrants trying to cross into the country.

BODRUM, TURKEY 9/2/2015

Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose drowning off the coast of Turkey drew public sympathy to the refugee crisis.

KOBANI, SYRIA 10/27/2015

Nine months after coalition airstrikes and Kurdish fighters repelled an invasion by the Islamic State, the city was still in ruins.

MANHATTAN 10/21/2015

New York City police officers stood at attention as the remains of Officer Randolph Holder, who was killed on the job, were taken from a Harlem hospital.

WASHINGTON 10/29/2015

Representative John A. Boehner hoisted a box of tissues to laughter during his farewell remarks before the House elected Paul D. Ryan to replace him as speaker.

The Metrojet Airbus 321, bound for St Petersburg and carrying mostly Russian citizens, crashed in Egypt’s Sinai desert just 23 minutes after take-off from Sharm el-Sheikh.

PARIS 11/13/2015

A victim outside the Bataclan theater, where 90 people were killed during coordinated terrorist attacks that left 40 more dead across the city and in a northern suburb.

SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. 12/7/2015

A candlelight vigil commemorated the 14 victims of a mass shooting by a radicalized Muslim couple.

BEIJING 12/8/2015

Schools were closed, driving restricted and factories shut down after China’s capital issued its first ever “red alert” for air pollution.

WASHINGTON 12/12/2015

The lectern in the Cabinet Room of the White House where President Obama announced a historic agreement among 195 nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

RAMADI, Iraq 12/27/2015

Iraqi forces with U.S air support are taking back ‘some’ neighborhoods in the Anbar Province.

DALLAS, Texas 12/27/2015

Tornado devastation in Texas killing 48.

Photo essay taken in part from the two websites below, that offer additional text and photos.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/year-review-13-biggest-news-stories-2015/story?id=35852690 and http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/27/sunday-review/2015-year-in-pictures.html?_r=0

 

 

 

 

 

2015: a Year of U.S. Warriors

http://www.defense.gov//News/Special-Reports/1215_yip?source=GovDelivery

Impeach John Kerry over Allegiance to Iran

Incredible…..John Kerry with the Obama administration’s approval proves more loyalty to Iran than to the United States. It is no longer deniable that Iran’s best partner is John Kerry with Barack Obama’s approval. It is all about the waiver, meaning agreements, treaties and accords have no teeth, the pen is mighty when waivers unwind objectives and our own Congress.

In part from Politico: “Has anybody in the West been targeted by any Iranian national, anybody of Iranian origin, or anyone traveling to Iran?” Zarif asked. “Whereas many people have been targeted by the nationals of your allies, people visiting your allies, and people transiting the territory of, again, your allies. So you’re looking at the wrong address.”

Zarif mentioned the 9/11 attacks, as well as the recent San Bernardino and Paris attacks. His remarks were veiled references to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, whose citizens have been implicated in those and other lethal strikes. Neither nation is singled out in the new visa law.

Despite Kerry’s letter, the National Iranian American Council remained wary of the visa law. “It remains unclear how these steps will ensure that dual citizens are not discriminated against solely on the basis of their nationality,” the group said Sunday.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/iran-visa-waivers-kerry-nuclear-deal-217014#ixzz3v93uDvMt

Iran Nuclear Deal Restricts U.S. More Than Congress Knew

By &

Members of Congress knew the Iran nuclear deal came with strings attached. They just didn’t know how many.

When the administration presented the agreement to Congress, lawmakers were told that new sanctions on Iran would violate the deal. Now the administration is trying to sidestep a recently passed provision to tighten rules on visas for those who have visited Iran.

Since the accord was struck last summer, the U.S. emphasis on complying with its end of the deal has publicly eclipsed its efforts to pressure Iran. In that time, Iranian authorities have detained two American dual nationals and sentenced a third on what most observers say are trumped up espionage charges. Iran’s military has conducted two missile tests, one of which the U.N. said violated sanctions, and engaged in a new offensive with Russia in Syria to shore up the country’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad.

In the latest example of the U.S. effort to reassure Iran, the State Department is scrambling to confirm to Iran that it won’t enforce new rules that would increase screening of Europeans who have visited Iran and plan to come to America. There is concern the new visa waiver provisions, included in the omnibus budget Congress passed last week, would hinder business people seeking to open up new ventures in Iran once sanctions are lifted.

U.S. officials confirmed over the weekend that Secretary of State John Kerry sent his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, a letter promising to use executive powers to waive the new restrictions on those who have visited Iran but are citizens of countries in the Visa Waiver Program. These officials also told us that they have told Iranian diplomats that, because they are not specific to Iran, the new visa waiver provisions do not violate the detailed sequence of steps Iran and other countries committed to taking as part of the agreement. Even so, the State Department is promising to sidestep the new rule.

At issue is a provision that would require travelers who visit certain countries — including Iran, Sudan, Syria and Iraq — to apply at a U.S. Embassy for a visa before coming to the U.S., even if they are from a country for which such visas would normally be waived.

House staffers who spoke with us say Iran was included for good reason, because it remains on the U.S. list of state of sponsors of terrorism for its open support for Hezbollah and Hamas. The White House did not object until the Iranian government told the administration last week that the bill would violate the nuclear agreement, according to correspondence on these negotiations shared with us.

Since 2013, when the open negotiations with Iran began, the Obama administration has repeatedly told Congress that additional sanctions on the Islamic Republic would wreck negotiations. The resulting agreement obligates the West to lift sanctions in exchange for more transparency and limitations on Iran’s nuclear program. Iran and the White House seem to be interpreting “lift sanctions” more broadly than others expected.

“If the United States Congress cannot implement a more secure visa procedure for those who travel to state sponsors of terrorism like Iran, then the Iran deal ties the hands of lawmakers to a greater extent than even deal critics feared,” Mark Dubowitz, the executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and an expert in Iran sanctions, told us.

Over the weekend, Zarif said in an interview with al-Monitor that Iran’s inclusion on the list might violate the agreement. Zarif called the new restrictions “absurd” because no one connected to Iran was involved in the attacks in San Bernardino and Paris. He also said the provision “sends a very bad signal to the Iranians that the U.S. is bent on hostile policy toward Iran, no matter what.”

The issue is particularly sensitive for the State Department because Iran has yet to implement its side of the deal: The new transparency and limitations on the nuclear program are to begin in the coming weeks. State Department officials have said they fear more hardline elements of the regime in Tehran are trying to scuttle the deal for political advantage over President Hassan Rouhani, whose administration negotiated the accord.

In February, Iran will have parliamentary elections and elections for the powerful assembly of experts, the committee of clerics that would choose the next supreme leader of Iran after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dies. If anti-deal elements win those elections, the future of the nuclear deal will be dim.

These factors explain why Kerry has been willing to overlook Iran’s own provocations while trying to mitigate what Iran sees as provocations from the U.S. Congress. They also explain why Iran seems so intent to provoke the U.S. at the moment it’s supposed to implement the deal to which it just agreed.

Russia Committing War Crimes

Russia may have committed war crimes in Syria: Amnesty #SyriaWarThe London-based rights group says it ‘is crucial that suspected violations are independently and impartially investigated’

Amnesty International says three months of Russian air raids have killed hundreds of civilians in Syria, many in targeted attacks that could constitute war crimes.The rights group said on Wednesday that there was evidence Russia had lied to cover up attacks on a field hospital and a mosque, and was using internationally banned cluster bombs in civilian areas.Some attacks “appear to have directly attacked civilians or civilian objects by striking residential areas with no evident military target and even medical facilities”, said Amnesty’s Middle East director Philip Luther.”Such attacks may amount to war crimes,” he said, adding that it “is crucial that suspected violations are independently and impartially investigated”.

The report focuses on attacks in Homs, Idlib and Aleppo provinces between September and November, which killed at least 200 civilians and around a dozen fighters, the group said.Amnesty noted that Russian authorities “have claimed that their armed forces are only striking ‘terrorist’ targets. After some attacks, they have responded to reports of civilian deaths, by denying they killed civilians; after others, they have simply stayed silent.”In one of the deadliest incidents, Amnesty said three missiles were fired at a busy market in the Idlib locality of Ariha, killing 49 civilians.Local media activist Mohammed Qurabi al-Ghazal quoted as saying: “In just a few moments, people were screaming, the smell of burning was in the air and there was just chaos.”In another suspected Russian attack, at least 46 civilians, including 32 children and 11 women sheltering in the basement of a residential building, were killed in October in Ghantu, Homs, Amnesty said.Video footage showed “no evidence of a military presence”, and weapons experts said the nature of the destruction “indicated possible use of fuel-air explosives, a type of weapon particularly prone to indiscriminate effects when used in the vicinity of civilians”.

On Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian air strikes had killed 2,132 people since the campaign began at the end of September, including 710 civilians.The Syrian conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes since it broke out in March 2011.

Back in October:

Russia Condemned For Bombing Civilians In Syria

A coalition of countries has condemned Russia for killing civilians and not targeting Islamic State (IS) forces in its deadly bombing raids on Syria.

The UK, US, France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey voiced “deep concern” over Moscow’s actions as Russian jets carried out a third day of airstrikes in the war-torn country.

They said in a statement they are especially concerned about “attacks by the Russian Air Force on Hama, Homs and Idlib since yesterday (Thursday) which led to civilian casualties and did not target Daesh (IS).

“These military actions constitute a further escalation and will only fuel more extremism and radicalisation.

“We call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians and to focus its efforts on fighting ISIL (IS).”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s jets appear to be targeting rebel groups trying to topple his ally Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

They reportedly hit a camp operated by a rebel group trained by American CIA agents.

However, Russia says its Sukhoi-34 jets are attacking IS forces, and destroyed a command centre and training camp used to prepare “terrorists”.

Moscow says it has carried out 18 attacks in Syria since Thursday night, with 12 of them hitting IS targets.

The Kremlin has denied reports that its strikes have killed at least 36 civilians, including five children.

:: Why Is Putin Joining The Syrian Conflict?

The US-led coalition criticised Russia as Mr Putin held talks with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris to try to overcome differences on whether Mr Assad should stay in power.

The Syrian President is Russia’s main ally in the Middle East, while Western leaders are firmly opposed to his rule.

Mr Hollande told Mr Putin that Russian airstrikes must be confined to targeting IS militants.

And Mrs Merkel added the leaders “said very clearly that Daesh (IS) was the enemy that we needed to fight”.

Mr Putin left the Paris meeting without comment and did not appear alongside the French and German leaders.

Russia’s raids have triggered discussions in the Pentagon about whether America should use military force to protect US-trained and equipped rebels if they are bombed by Moscow.

US President Barack Obama said: “An attempt by Russia and Iran to prop up Assad and try to pacify the population is just going to get them stuck in a quagmire and it won’t work.”

He said Russia is also failing to differentiate between IS and more moderate insurgents in Syria.

“From their perspective, they’re all terrorists. And that’s a recipe for disaster,” said Mr Obama.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said it had been forced to suspend planned humanitarian operations in Syria, including evacuating the wounded, due to a “surge of military activity”.

U.S. Soldiers not Allowed to Fight, Turns Deadly A’stan

Afghanistan is falling to the Taliban and ISIS has mobilized operating cells in the region.

In part NYT’s: OPERATING BASE FENTY, Afghanistan — The Islamic State is establishing “little nests” in Afghanistan, adding to the complex array of threats confronting Afghan forces and their international partners as they try to reverse a serious decline in security, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said Friday. Mr. Carter was visiting this base in eastern Afghanistan, where he conferred with Gen. John F. Campbell, the American commander of the international coalition that is supporting Afghan forces, and Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, the acting Afghan defense minister.


General Campbell painted a sobering picture of the fighting ahead, though he said the American military was trying to help the Afghan forces adapt so that they could limit their casualties.
“We just went through a very tough fighting season,” General Campbell told reporters traveling with Mr. Carter. “We don’t even talk in terms of fighting seasons anymore because it is kind of continuous fighting.”

6 US Troops Killed in Afghanistan Suicide Bombing, Official Says

A view of Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan from the Air Traffic Control Tower's catwalk after a recent rainstorm. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Craig Seals)

Military.com: A suicide bombing near Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan killed six U.S. troops and wounded two other Americans and an interpreter, a senior U.S. defense official confirms to Fox News.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, which was the largest attack on foreign troops in Afghanistan since August.

It happened at around 1.30 p.m. local time in the vicinity of Bagram, the largest U.S. military facility in Afghanistan, according to U.S. Army Brig. Gen William Shoffner.

Mohammad Asim Asim, governor of Parwan province, where Bagram is located, said the bomber rammed an explosives-laden motorcycle into a combined NATO-Afghan foot patrol as it moved through a village close to the base, which is 28 miles north of Kabul.

It is the first major attack on a NATO military convoy since August 22, when three American contractors with the RS base were killed in a suicide attack on their convoy in Kabul. On August 7 and 8, Kabul was the scene of three insurgent attacks within 24 hours that left at least 35 people dead. One of the attacks, on a U.S. special operations forces base outside Kabul left one U.S soldier and eight Afghan civilian contractors dead.

Monday’s attack came as Taliban gunmen and government forces battled for control of a strategic district in the southern province of Helmand after it was overrun by Taliban insurgents, delivering a serious blow to government forces.

Mohammad Jan Rasulyar, Helmand’s deputy governor, said insurgents took control of Sangin district on Sunday. Only Afghan army facilities in the district had not been taken by the insurgents, he said. Casualties among Afghan security forces were high, he added, though he gave no figures.

Afghan Army commandoes and special forces had arrived in Sangin to push a counter-offensive, the Defense Ministry spokesman, Dawlat Waziri, said. He told reporters the Afghan air force had conducted 160 combat and transport flights over Sangin in the past 48 hours.

Among the insurgent forces in Helmand, “three out of 10 are foreign fighters,” he said, adding that they included Pakistanis, Chechens, Uzbeks, Arabs and Chinese Uighurs. “The presence of the foreigners in this imposed war complicates the sitaution in Helmand,” he said, echoing the government line that the war is run by a Taliban leadership believed to be based in Pakistan with official protection.

Helmand is an important Taliban base as it produces most of the world’s opium, a crop that helps fund the insurgency.

Sangin district has bounced in and out of Taliban control for some years, and fighting there has produced high casualties among both Afghan and international forces. British forces in particular saw intensive fighting there at the height of the war in 2006 and 2007. Britain lost more than 450 troops during its combat mission in Afghanistan, more than 100 of them in Sangin.

Helmand’s deputy governor Rasulyar on Sunday took the unusual step of using his Facebook page to warn President Ashraf Ghani that the entire province of Helmand was in danger of falling to the insurgents if central authorities failed to send help.

In Helmand, more than 90 members of the Afghan security forces died fighting in the two days before his Facebook plea, with hundreds killed in the past six months, he said in his open letter to Ghani.

The head of Helmand’s provincial council, Muhammad Kareem Atal, said that 28 members of the Afghan security forces — usually a reference to army and police who also fight on the front lines across the country — were killed fighting on Sunday. Another 15 were critically wounded, he said.

“Around 65 percent of Helmand is now under Taliban control,” Atal said. “In every district either we are stepping back or we are handing territory over to Taliban, but still, until now, no serious action has been taken,” he said, echoing Rasulyar’s plea to the central authorities for help.

Important districts across Helmand province, including Nad Ali, Kajaki, Musa Qala, Naw Zad, Gereshk and Garmser, have all been threatened by Taliban takeover in recent months. Insurgents are also believed to be dug in on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

Taliban fighters, sometimes working with other insurgent groups like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, have managed to overrun many districts across the country this year, as well as staging a three-day takeover of the major northern city of Kunduz. They rarely hold territory for more than a few hours or days, but the impact on the morale of Afghan forces is substantial.

Atal said more than 2,000 members of the security forces had been killed fighting in Helmand in 2015.

He said a major reason “that our forces are losing” was that many soldiers and police were deserting their posts in the face of the Taliban onslaught.

“There is a big difference between the number of both soldiers and police recorded as on duty, and the real number,” he said, saying the official record was stuffed with “ghost police and soldiers.”

The Taliban insurgency has spread across the country this year, following the withdrawal of international combat forces at the end of 2014. This has stretched government resources thin, as the traditional winter lull in fighting has so far failed to take place in the warmer, southern provinces.

The war has intensified since the announcement in late July that the founder and leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had been dead for more than two years. His deputy, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, succeeded him, causing internal ructions and delaying the likelihood that a peace dialogue with the Afghan government, halted after the announcement of Mullah Omar’s death, will restart in the foreseeable future.

The Pentagon released a report last week warning that the security situation in Afghanistan would deteriorate as a “resilient Taliban-led insurgency remains an enduring threat to U.S., coalition, and Afghan forces, as well as to the Afghan people.”

The U.S. now has about 9,800 troops in Afghanistan, some of which are involved in counterterrorism missions. With NATO contributions, there are about 13,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan.