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Added on the 21/08/2023 07:42:46 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Moscow to discuss what the Russian leader described as an "escalation" in the Middle East. The meeting late Wednesday comes at a time when Russia, which saved Assad's government through its military intervention in 2015 during a civil war, could mediate to defuse tensions between Syria and Turkey. IMAGES
The United States condemns recent Iranian strikes in Pakistan, Iraq and Syria, which Tehran has claimed were carried out against "anti-Iranian terrorist groups." "We do condemn those strikes. We've seen Iran violate the sovereign borders of three of its neighbors in just the past couple of days," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller tells reporters. SOUNDBITE
Plumes of smoke rise in the mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area of Syria's Idlib province following bombings by Russian aircraft. The White Helmets volunteer emergency service said that two children were killed and five other civilians wounded when their home in the village of Kansafra was hit. Russia is the main military ally of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. IMAGES
The Damascus Opera House lights up with colours of the Russian flag on "flag day", an annual Russian holiday celebrating Russia's tricolour flag, restored following the Soviet collapse in 1991 and marked on August 22. Russia's military intervention in 2015 helped turn the war in President Bashar al-Assad's favour. Moscow remains a key regime ally and maintains military bases in Syria. IMAGES
Syria will grant the United Nations permission to use a key crossing to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in rebel-held northwest Syria for a period of six months, Bassam Sabbagh, Syrian ambassador to the UN, tells reporters. SOUNDBITE