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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| 32 Syrian fighters die in bus blast |
| 2016-08-17 |
| Shoulda taken the 3:21 bus to Albuquerque BEIRUT: Daesh claimed a suicide bombing on a bus in Syria near the Atmeh border crossing with Turkey late on Sunday that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said killed at least 32 people. The bus was carrying fighters from foreign-backed rebel factions, local rebel sources said. Daesh terrorists claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement on Sunday, saying the blast killed 50 fighters from the Failaq Al-Sham and the Nour Al-Din Al-Zinki Movement groups. The statement said the rebels were from US-backed groups who were traveling to fight Daesh in northern Aleppo province. Pictures circulating on social media showed the burnt-out remains of a bus and medics treating wounded people. Turkey’s CNN Turk television reported that the explosion occurred at the entrance to the Atmeh refugee camp in Syria, near the frontier crossing, citing local sources. The Observatory said it had received reports that two Turkish soldiers had been killed in the attack. Turkish officials were not immediately available for comment. Syria’s Idlib province, where Atmeh is located, is a bastion of the Turkey-backed opposition to Bashar Assad’s rule. A multi-sided civil war has raged in Syria for more than five years. Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in comments aired Monday that Moscow is close to joining forces with the United States around Aleppo. “Step by step we are getting closer to the situation in which — and I’m only speaking about Aleppo here — we will be able to begin battling together so that there is peace on this territory,” Shoigu told Rossiya 24 television. In the interview conducted on Saturday but shown only Monday, Shoigu said Moscow is in close negotiations regarding the city, where Russian planes and regime forces are battling rebels for control. Shoigu said Moscow and Washington are still deeply at odds over the situation in Aleppo, accusing rebels of holding civilians hostage and waging brutal suicide bombings. “In the eastern part of Aleppo, people are hostages,” he said, accusing the rebels of planting bombs along escape routes established by Russia and of staging executions. |
| Posted by:badanov |