'Humanity, where are you?' protestors ask at rally for Aleppo

BERLIN - Protestors rallied in Berlin on Saturday against the war in Syria denouncing the international community for failing to help civilians, especially children, in the besieged city of Aleppo.

Holding banners saying "The children of Aleppo are calling you!", or "Aleppo is bleeding and the world is watching", around 900 people braved plunging temperatures to gather in front to the Reichstag, the German parliament building, according to police estimates.

At the same time, another 1,800 people joined a second demonstration elsewhere in the German capital, police said.

"What is happening there amounts to what is the worst in the world," said Mahmoud Almizeh, a 19-year-old Syrian refugee who comes from Raqa, now the bastion of the Islamic State jihadist group.

Germany has opened its doors to some 600,000 Syrian refugees since the conflict began in 2011.

Having arrived in Germany a year ago, Almizeh lamented that European leaders were "unfortunately doing nothing".

In Aleppo on Saturday trapped Syrian civilians and rebels waited desperately for evacuations to resume from an opposition-held enclave of the city which has fallen to the brutal onslaught by Syrian government forces.

Aleppo has been ravaged by some of the worst violence of the nearly six-year war that has killed more than 310,000 people.

"We feel so powerless" about the tragedy facing the Syrians, said Anna Bone, a Berlin resident at the demonstration where another banner declared: "Stop murdering! Peace talks NOW."

"This powerlessness... this grief, it's what brought me here today," she added.

Hundreds of protestors also joined demonstrations in France on Saturday in the cities of Paris, Lille, Strasbourg and Marseille.

"It's crazy that the world powers cannot intervene," commented two protestors of Turkish origin, Hilal, 25, and Gulsan, 26, in Paris.

Thousands of trapped civilians and the last remaining opposition fighters in Aleppo were waiting for evacuations to resume on Saturday, a day after the operation was suspended by the Syrian government.

Meanwhile in New York, the UN Security Council could vote as early as this weekend on a French-drafted proposal to allow international observers into Aleppo and ensure urgent aid deliveries.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Obama denounces Aleppo 'horror' as evacuation suspended

ALEPPO, Syria – Responsibility for atrocities committed in Aleppo lies with Syria and its Russian and Iranian backers, US President Barack Obama said Friday as Damascus suspended the evacuation of civilians and fighters from the city's last rebel-held areas.

Denouncing the "horror" in Aleppo, Obama called for impartial observers and warned President Bashar al-Assad that he would not be able to "slaughter his way to legitimacy".

"The world as we speak is united in horror at the savage assault by the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian regime on the city of Aleppo," he told an end-of-year news conference.

"This blood and these atrocities are on their hands."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier warned that Aleppo had become "a synonym for hell" and said the United Nations urged "all necessary measures" for a safe resumption of the evacuation.

The Security Council could vote as early as this weekend on a French-drafted proposal to allow international observers in Aleppo and ensure urgent aid deliveries.

US Ambassador Samantha Power said after a closed-door council meeting that UN officials were ready to be sent quickly to Aleppo.

"The presence of independent observers can deter some of the worst horrors," she said.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said: "The immediate priority is to save lives, to stop the massacres and to avoid a new Srebrenica," referring to the massacre of Bosnian Muslims during the Balkan wars.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, however, argued that it would take weeks to send monitors to Aleppo.

- Besieged villages –

Turkey and a Syrian military source said the evacuation from the city had been suspended but was not yet over, while Moscow insisted the operation was "complete", with all women and children moved from the city.

Amid the confusion, a convoy of evacuees that had already left the east when the operation was suspended was forced to turn back, an AFP correspondent said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), supervising the evacuations, said it was looking into reports of shooting before the convoy was turned back.

The delicate operation to bring the last civilians and rebels out of east Aleppo began on Thursday and continued overnight, with thousands leaving in buses and ambulances.

But on Friday morning it was abruptly suspended, with the government accusing rebels of violating the terms of the deal.

State television said rebels had tried to smuggle out heavy weapons and hostages.

The opposition accused the government of suspending the operation in a bid to secure the evacuation of residents from Fuaa and Kafraya, two villages under rebel siege in northwest Syria.

The government and Iran have reportedly sought to add an evacuation of civilians from the villages to the terms of the Aleppo deal.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pro-government fighters had blocked the road the convoy had been using and rebels were refusing the evacuation of residents of Fuaa and Kafraya.

Evacuating the last rebel pocket in Aleppo had been scheduled to start on Wednesday, but was delayed by a day because of government objections, including over Fuaa and Kafraya.

Clashes resumed for several hours before the deal was revived, and buses and ambulances began transporting evacuees to rebel territory in western Aleppo province.

- Video message –

The Observatory estimated some 8,500 people had left before the operation was suspended, including around 3,000 rebels.

Syrian state media reported a figure of around 8,000.

Ahmad al-Dbis, a doctor helping coordinate the evacuation of the wounded, said at least 500 evacuees had wounds or illnesses requiring treatment.

From a staging area near the town of Khan al-Aasal people were travelling further west, heading either to camps for the displaced or to stay with relatives or friends.

The departures began a month to the day after government forces launched a major offensive to retake all of Aleppo and secure the regime's biggest victory in more than five years of conflict.

In a video message Thursday, Assad said the "liberation" of Aleppo was "history in the making".

But US Secretary of State John Kerry said what had already happened there was "unconscionable", raising concerns for the "tens of thousands of lives that are now concentrated into a very small area of Aleppo".

It is unclear how many people remain in east Aleppo, with tens of thousands fleeing to territory held by the government or Kurds in recent days, but perhaps tens of thousands are still inside.

- 'Heart-breaking' -

The evacuations have been emotional for departing residents desperate for relief after months of bombardment and siege, but also tearful at the prospect of potentially permanent exile.

In the dust of one bus window, someone traced: "One day we will return".

"The scene was heart-breaking," said Marianne Gasser from the ICRC Syria. "People are faced with impossible choices. You see their eyes filled with sadness."

A blast at a Damascus police station, meanwhile, was caused by a seven-year-old girl being sent in carrying "a bomb" that was detonated remotely, state news agency SANA said.

It was believed to be the first time such a young child has been used to detonate an explosive device in the war.

A police source told the Al-Watan daily that she asked to use the bathroom and the explosives detonated.

More than 310,000 people have been killed since the conflict began with anti-government protests in 2011, and over half the population has been displaced, with millions becoming refugees.

Diplomatic efforts -- including several rounds of peace talks in Geneva -- failed to make progress in resolving the conflict, which reached a turning point last year when Russia launched an air war in support of Assad.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Buses evacuate thousands of exhausted Aleppo residents in ceasefire deal

Buses evacuate thousands of exhausted Aleppo residents in ceasefire deal

* Medical convoy attacked earlier

* Operation to evacuate fighters, residents under way

* Recapture of city would give Assad biggest victory of war

* Wider conflict far from over

ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT - Thousands of people were evacuated on Thursday from the last rebel bastion in Aleppo, the first to leave under a ceasefire deal that would end years of fighting for the city and mark a major victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A first convoy of ambulances and buses with nearly 1,000 people aboard drove out of the devastated rebel-held area of Aleppo, which was besieged and bombarded for months by Syrian government forces, a Reuters reporter on the scene said.

Syrian state television reported later that two further convoys of 15 buses each had also left east Aleppo. The second had reached the rebel-held area of al-Rashideen, an insurgent said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said late on Thursday that some 3,000 civilians and more than 40 wounded people, including children, had already been evacuated.

ICRC official Robert Mardini told Reuters there were no clear plans yet for how to ship out rebel fighters, who will be allowed under the ceasefire to leave for other areas outside government control.

Women cried out in celebration as the first buses passed through a government-held area, and some waved the Syrian flag. Assad said in a video statement the taking of Aleppo - his biggest prize in more than five years of civil war - was a historic moment.

An elderly woman, who had gathered with others in a government area to watch the convoy removing the rebels, raised her hands to the sky, saying: "God save us from this crisis, and from the (militants). They brought us only destruction."

Wissam Zarqa, an English teacher in the rebel zone, said most people were happy to be leaving safely. But he said: "Some of them are angry they are leaving their city. I saw some of them crying. This is almost my feeling in a way."

Earlier, ambulances trying to evacuate people came under fire from fighters loyal to the Syrian government, who injured three people, a rescue service spokesman said.

"Thousands of people are in need of evacuation, but the first and most urgent thing is wounded, sick and children, including orphans," said Jan Egeland, the U.N. humanitarian adviser for Syria.

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, said about 50,000 people remained in rebel-held Aleppo, of whom about 10,000 would be evacuated to nearby Idlib province and the rest would move to government-held city districts.

Behind those fleeing was a wasteland of flattened buildings, concrete rubble and bullet-pocked walls, where tens of thousands had lived until recent days under intense bombardment even after medical and rescue services had collapsed.

The once-flourishing economic center with its renowned ancient sites has been pulverized during the war that has killed more than 300,000 people, created the world's worst refugee crisis and allowed for the rise of Islamic State.

'PLACE THEM ALL IN IDLIB'

The United States was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Syrian government and its allies, including Russia, mounted an assault to pin down the rebels in an ever-diminishing pocket of territory, culminating in this week's ceasefire.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that the Syrian government was carrying out "nothing short of a massacre" in Aleppo. U.N. aid chief Stephen O'Brien will brief the Security Council on Friday on the Aleppo evacuation.

The Syrian White Helmets civil defense group and other rights organizations accused Russia of committing or being complicit in war crimes in Syria, saying Russian air strikes in the Aleppo region had killed 1,207 civilians, including 380 children.

In a letter submitted to the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria and seen by Reuters on Thursday, the groups listed 304 alleged attacks carried out in the Aleppo area primarily between July and December and said there was a "high likelihood" of Russia responsibility.

The Russian U.N. mission was not immediately available to comment on the allegations. Russia has said it stopped air strikes in Aleppo in mid-October.

In Aleppo's rebel-held area, columns of black smoke could be seen as residents hoping to depart burned personal belongings they do not want to leave for government forces to loot.

A senior Russian general, Viktor Poznikhir, said the Syrian army had almost finished its operations in Aleppo.

But the war will still be far from over, with insurgents retaining their rural stronghold of Idlib province southwest of Aleppo, and the jihadist Islamic State group holding swathes of the east and recapturing Palmyra this week.

Rebels and their families would be taken towards Idlib, a city in northwestern Syria that is outside government control, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

Idlib province, mostly controlled by hardline Islamist groups, is not a popular destination for fighters and civilians from east Aleppo, where nationalist rebel groups predominated.

A senior European diplomat said last week the fighters had a choice between surviving for a few weeks in Idlib or dying in Aleppo. "For the Russians it's simple. Place them all in Idlib and then they have all their rotten eggs in one basket."

Idlib is already a target for Syrian and Russian air strikes but it is unclear if the government will push for a ground assault or simply seek to contain rebels there for now.

The International Rescue Committee said: "Escaping Aleppo doesn't mean escaping the war ... After witnessing the ferocity of attacks on civilians in Aleppo, we are very concerned that the sieges and barrel bombs will follow the thousands who arrive in Idlib."

SHI'ITE VILLAGES
The evacuation deal was expected to include the safe passage of wounded from the Shi'ite villages of Foua and Kefraya near Idlib that are besieged by rebels. A convoy set off to evacuate the villages on Thursday, Syrian state media said.

Efforts to evacuate eastern Aleppo began earlier in the week with a truce brokered by Russia, Assad's most powerful ally, and Turkey, which has backed the opposition. That agreement broke down following renewed fighting on Wednesday and the evacuation did not take place then as planned.

A rebel official said a new truce came into effect early on Thursday. Shortly before the new deal was announced, clashes raged in Aleppo.

Government forces made a new advance in Sukkari - one of a handful of districts still held by rebels - and brought half of the neighborhood under their control, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group.

The Russian Defence Ministry said - before the report of the government forces' advance in Sukkari - that the rebels controlled an enclave of only 2.5 square km (1 square mile).

The evacuation plan was the culmination of two weeks of rapid advances by the Syrian army and its allies that drove insurgents back into an ever-smaller pocket of the city under intense air strikes and artillery fire.

By taking control of Aleppo, Assad has proved the power of his military coalition, aided by Russia's air force and an array of Shi'ite militias from across the region.

Rebels have been backed by the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies, but that support has fallen far short of the direct military assistance given to Assad by Russia and Iran.

Russia's decision to deploy its air force to Syria more than a year ago turned the war in Assad's favor after rebel advances across western Syria. In addition to Aleppo, he has won back insurgent strongholds near Damascus this year.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Obama weighs fresh Syria sanctions

WASHINGTON - With diplomacy faltering and Aleppo under siege, President Barack Obama is considering fresh Syria sanctions that could claw deeper into the regime and target its Russian backers.

Officials and diplomats said the strategy is still being thrashed out, but initial efforts could focus on passing UN sanctions against those implicated in chemical weapons attacks.

A UN-backed panel is expected in the next few weeks to present new findings about deadly chemical attacks in 2014 and 2015.

The panel -- formed by the United Nations and the independent Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons -- has already pinned the blame on the Syrian Air Force.

But the latest report, due before October 27, is expected to go into more detail about who is responsible, paving the way for targeted sanctions.

Supporters say the sanctions would send a signal that despite years of fighting, innumerable atrocities and at least 300,000 deaths, some small measure of accountability in Syria remains.

And while most of President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle and top military aides are already the subjects of US travel bans and assets freezes, officials believe that targeting lower-level military officers would have a chilling effect on Syrian military morale.

But the greatest impact may be diplomatic.

A demand for sanctions would put Russia in the uncomfortable position of defending chemical weapons use by its ally, and could force Moscow to wield its veto in the UN Security Council.

The report had earlier been delayed, partly to provide space for US and Russian efforts to broker a ceasefire.

Those have now failed, heaping pressure on Obama to act to stop the carnage in Syria.

"What we are doing now is a different type of diplomacy -- one which might be more robust -- it could be resolutions which are designed to put pressure on them," a Security Council diplomat said.

"The strategy that we are on is to try to change Russian behavior and let's face it we have not been very successful at that in the year that they have been militarily supporting Assad," the diplomat added.

"There is already work going on a draft resolution to take forward the 3rd and further 4th report in terms of what we do about it."

GAINING LEVERAGE

If the UN route fails, attention is likely to turn to sanctions agreed by the United States, the European Union and other allies.

Officials indicated the scope could be broad, covering not only Syrians but also Russian firms that provided the means to carry out the bombing of civilian areas.

That would be intended as a strong signal to Moscow that it is not immune and continued support for the regime would come at a price.

The sanctions would be targeted at specific firms -- aircraft parts suppliers or chemicals producers -- to overcome opposition in European capitals to broad sanctions against Russia, a major trading partner.

But with Russia and Syria dropping bombs on besieged Aleppo and a humanitarian crisis of historic proportions looming, key hurdles to action have fallen away.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, eyeing the carnage in Aleppo and the severity of the refugee crisis that has rocked Europe, is reportedly taking a tougher line.

After a call with Obama last week, the two leaders decried "barbarous Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes against eastern Aleppo," saying in unusually strong language that Moscow and Damascus bear a special responsibility to stop the fighting.

But none of the sanctions options under consideration is likely to directly end fighting in Aleppo.

Several officials poured cold water on the idea that Obama would reverse years of opposition to military action against the regime by approving air or cruise missile strikes against airfields or other targets.

"There are significant consequences for using US military force against the Assad regime," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "I'd say the most important of those consequences that we should be mindful of is dragging the United States into another ground war in the Middle East."

Sending in troops "would have grave consequences for our national security," he added. "It would be expensive, it would put at risk more American lives and it's unclear how a conflict like that would end."

Obama was elected with a mandate to draw down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has sent around 300 troops to Syria, focused on the battle against the Islamic State group, but has refused to plunge them into a civil war that is not deemed in America's strategic interest.

He has backed diplomacy instead as the only way out of the crisis.

But with just months left in office, the siege and bombardment of Syria's second city has put his reluctance to use force in Syria back under the spotlight, exposing deep unease within his administration.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Video of small boy saved from Aleppo rubble sparks social media storm

Video of a small boy, bloodied and covered in dust, who was rescued after an apparent air strike in the Syrian city of Aleppo, sparked outrage and concern on social media on Thursday.

Sitting alone in an ambulance, the boy - identified by doctors as 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh - looked dazed and shocked, staring silently as he tried to wipe the blood off his head, seemingly unaware of his injuries.

Twitter user Charlene Deveraturda @malasadasbooks posted an image of the boy and wrote:

"Poor baby. Near my grandson's age. I cannot imagine. The image does not leave my mind. #syrianboy #Syria #peace"

The hashtag #Syrianboy was one of the top trending topics in the United States and Britain. More than 10 tweets posted every minute on Twitter with the hashtag, according to social media analytics company Zoomph. Many linked images of the child with a picture of Aylan Kurdi, a Syrian boy whose body was found on a beach in Turkey last year.

The video of Omran and other children being pulled from the rubble caused widespread upset and condemnation over the harrowing reality of Syria's five-year-old civil war.

Twitter user Malcolmite (@Malcolmite) wrote: "It's not important if it goes viral, what's important is what is going to be done about it? #syrianboy"

Sara Assaf (@SaraAssaf) tweeted: "So if this terrorized little boy turns into a terrorist one day ... Who is to blame? #SyrianBoy #Aleppo #Injustice"

Aleppo, split into rebel- and government-controlled areas, has become the focus of the fighting in Syria.

Rebel-held areas suffer heavy air strikes daily as pro-government forces try to retake territory lost to rebels two weeks ago in the southwest of Aleppo.

The video, shot on Wednesday in the rebel-held al-Qaterji neighborhood, shows an aid worker carrying the little boy out of a building and seating him inside the ambulance, before rushing back to the scene of the bombing. The boy sits alone, stunned, before two more children are brought into the vehicle. A man with blood on his face then joins them.

Aleppo-based freelance photographer Mohammed Raslan Abu Sheikh, who was at the scene, said civilian rescuers and aid workers were elated as Omran was pulled from the rubble alive with the rest of his family of six.

"He was in a state of shock, not even crying, he made us cry while he himself was silent, just watching us," Abu Sheikh told Reuters.

Last year, international sympathy for victims of Syria's war was heightened by a photo of a drowned 3-year-old refugee from Syria, Aylan Kurdi, who washed up on a Turkish tourist beach. The image of Aylan, who died when a smugglers' boat taking his family and other refugees to a nearby Greek island capsized, swept across social media and was retweeted thousands of times.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Virtual reality app brings crisis zones closer to home

Bombed-out buildings tower overhead, and rubble is piled high in the deserted streets of Syria's onetime economic hub Aleppo. Gunshots can be heard in the distance.

The destruction of four years of civil war is overwhelming -- and then you switch your phone off.

"Welcome to Aleppo" is one of more than a dozen virtual reality videos available on a mobile app launched this month by Los Angeles-based media company RYOT.

The project offers a 360-degree window into the war-torn city, captured with a camera made up of six GoPros, then stitched together to create a full panoramic view of the scene. A Syrian woman narrates a three-minute tour.

Users -- watching on a mobile device or wearing a virtual reality headset -- can shift their viewpoint at will -- looking up, down and even behind them to take in collapsing buildings and ruined streets by moving or tilting their device.

"I've always struggled to show the scale of devastation after a disaster. With virtual reality, you get an opportunity to really see scale and scope," said co-founder Bryn Mooser.

"It brings people directly to far-off places or places in crisis so they can experience firsthand what that looks like."

RYOT's virtual reality app offer viewers a variety of immersive experiences, from post-earthquake Nepal to the US-Mexico border fence, and most recently an up-close look at a migrant camp in Calais, northern France.

Mooser and co-founder David Darg say they hope their virtual reality films will increase awareness and generate money for aid groups working on the ground.

The films include a call for the audience to take action. The Syria film directs users to RYOT.org/Syria, where they can donate to humanitarian organizations.

Oliver Money with the International Rescue Committee, one of the groups linked to the Syria project, said virtual reality could "bridge that divide" between crises and donors.

For IRC and other aid groups, it is a "huge challenge" to keep crises like Syria in the public consciousness, Money said.

"Something that can help bring that home to people in a more immersive way has the potential to be very powerful," Money told AFP.

- VR: fad or here to stay? -

Big-name companies are buying into the power of virtual reality.

Last year, Facebook bought Oculus VR in a deal valued at $2 billion. And the New York Times has released its own virtual reality mobile app, sending more than one million Google Cardboard headsets to subscribers earlier this month.

For a full virtual reality experience, users of VR apps can pair their smartphone with a headset, an option that is more available and affordable than many might think. The Google Cardboard viewers cost as little as $4, and the higher-end Samsung Gear VR is on sale for $99.

RYOT is embracing the technology full-on. Their first effort came six months ago in Nepal. Darg arrived in the country to film less than 48 hours after the quake hit on April 25, with a grapefruit-sized 360-degree camera in his bag.

The resulting four-minute "Nepal Quake Project" was shown at film festivals across the country and helped raise more than $100,000 for humanitarian aid.

"A lot of people took the headset off and were in tears," Darg said.

Darg, who has been responding to disasters for over a decade as a journalist and aid worker, said he thinks virtual reality technology will revolutionize non-fiction storytelling.

"We're able to create that connection in a deeper way, and that is the most exciting thing," Darg said. "Being able to transport someone there -- it's a game-changer."

John Trybus, director of Georgetown University's Center for Social Impact Communication, says while virtual reality has a lot of potential to enhance storytelling, it may not be ready to go mainstream.

"Sight and sound are some of the most powerful human senses, and this technology activates those like nothing else," Trybus said.

"But it's not ready for prime time as a sustainable engagement strategy just yet. For most organizations, the cost is still prohibitive. It takes a lot of power to do it effectively."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Russian jets hit Islamic State targets in Palmyra, Aleppo

BEIRUT - Syrian state television and a monitoring group said on Tuesday that Russian jets hit Islamic State targets in the Syrian city of Palmyra and the northern province of Aleppo, in some of the heaviest Russian attacks on the hardline Islamist group.

But Russia's defence ministry denied that its jets hit the city of Palmyra, saying they "do not strike populated areas and especially ones with architectural monuments."

The reason for the apparently contradictory reports was not immediately clear. Local activists said that Russian war planes killed at least 12 people from two families in the city.

Syria's state television said the strikes destroyed 20 vehicles and three weapons depots in Islamic State-held Palmyra. In Aleppo, they hit the towns of Al-Bab and Deir Hafer, about 20 km (10 miles) east of a military airport currently besieged by Islamic State fighters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group tracking Syria's civil war, said the Palmyra strikes killed 15 Islamic State fighters.

"It was the heaviest Russian attack on Palmyra," Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said. Across Syria, Russian jets carried out at least 34 air strikes in the last 24 hours, the Observatory said.

Another four Islamic State fighters were killed near Raqqa, the eastern city which has been the group's stronghold in Syria for the last two years.

Al-Manar television, run by the Lebanese Hezbollah group which is allied to President Bashar al-Assad, said Russian planes also carried out four raids in the Jabal al-Zawiya area in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Islamic State forces captured Palmyra in May, an advance which brought them closer to the core of government-held territory in western Syria. It also put the city's Roman-era ruins under the militants' control.

Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said on Sunday Islamic State fighters blew up Palmyra's Arch of Triumph, one of the most treasured monuments in the 2,000-year-old city. They had already destroyed temples and other antiquities.

Russia has carried out dozens of strikes in Syria since launching its air campaign last Wednesday.

While Moscow has said its intervention targets the hardline Islamic State fighters who control much of eastern and northern Syria, many of the Russian strikes so far have hit rival insurgent forces opposed to Assad.

Russia said on Saturday it would step up it air strikes in Syria, where a U.S.-led coalition of Western and Arab forces has been waging a year-long air campaign against Islamic State and across the border in neighbouring Iraq.

So far, according to Russian defence ministry statements, it has carried out roughly 20 sorties per day.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com