Day: September 7, 2022

Dozens of Boko Haram terrorists drowned in a river while fleeing military airstrikes in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State, military sources said on Tuesday.

Two military sources told Anadolu Agency that a significant number of terrorists fled amid a heavy air bombardment by the air component of the counter-terrorism forces during an operation on Monday.

During their escape, however, “dozens drowned in a river,” a source told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

However, the officer in command of counter-terrorism operations in Borno, the country’s terror epicenter, could not confirm the incident.

Nigeria has recently increased its efforts to end 13 years of terrorism in the country’s northern region.

More than three million people have been displaced and over 100,000 have been killed since the start of terror attacks in 2009 by Boko Haram and its splinter group, the Islamic State in West Africa Province.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Assad regime forces have taken positions near French cement giant Lafarge’s factory in northern Syria, only 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Turkish-Syrian border, Anadolu Agency has learned.

In September 2021, Anadolu Agency documented that Lafarge had provided funds to the Daesh/ISIS terror group to be able to continue its operations in the area.

The plant, located in the Aleppo province’s town of Jalabiya, houses around 60 US soldiers with armored vehicles and heavy weapons, according to local sources.

It is worthy of mentioning that the YPG/PKK terrorist organization, in the face of the possibility of a new Turkish military operation in northern Syria, seeks to reestablish warm ties with the Assad regime.

The YPG/PKK is trying to dissuade Ankara by allowing the deployment of Syrian regime forces to the areas it occupied.

Against this backdrop, the regime forces took positions in a couple of locations near the plant.

It is estimated that around 300-400 regime troops with their tanks and armored vehicles are as close as 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the plant.

Anadolu Agency gained access to the visual proof of regime forces’ presence in the area. One of the videos shows that the plant is out of operation and a military helicopter, thought to belong to the US-led military coalition, patrols the area.

Another video exposes the regime forces and their heavy weaponry.

Meanwhile, Anadolu Agency, via e-mail, asked Lafarge which merged with Swiss company Holcim and changed its name, whether the plant in Syria still belongs to the corporation and whether they are comfortable with the US forces’ using the factory as a military base. The company has yet to provide a reply.

Allegations of Lafarge’s financing Daesh/ISIS

Lafarge, a French industrial company that specializes in cement, concrete, and construction aggregates, was accused of paying almost €13 million ($13.68 million) to foreign groups, including the terrorist organization Daesh/ISIS, to maintain their factory presence in the city of Jalabiya in northern Syria, during the Syrian civil war, which is still ongoing.

CEO Bruno Lafont and eight Lafarge executives were also accused of financing a terror group and endangering the lives of others.

In 2019, the Paris Court of Appeals dismissed the charges of crimes against humanity, accepting the defense that payments made by Lafarge were not used in aiding or abetting the war effort. The other charges, however, stood, including that of violating an EU embargo.

Lafarge has denied any wrongdoing in the allegations that it negotiated with terrorist organizations and has continued to contest all charges.

Documents obtained and published by Anadolu Agency earlier revealed that Lafarge constantly informed the French intelligence agencies about its ties with the Daesh/ISIS terror group.

The documents unveiled that Lafarge ran a relationship with the group and the French intelligence was aware of it.

They showed that the French intelligence agencies used Lafarge’s network of relations, its cooperation with the terror groups in Syria, and meetings to maintain its operations there to get information from the region. They also revealed that the French intelligence did not warn the company that they were committing a crime.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Oil prices declined to 7-month lows on Wednesday as fears of a global economic recession and ongoing lockdowns in the world’s largest oil-consuming country China weighed on market sentiment, increasing demand concerns.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at $91.77 per barrel at 09.51 a.m. local time (0651 GMT) for a 1.14% loss from the closing price of $92.83 a barrel in the previous trading session.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $85.84 per barrel at the same time for a 1.19% decrease after the previous session closed at $86.88 a barrel.

Prices fell to the low levels seen before the Russian-Ukraine war, with Brent decreasing to $91.20 in previous trade over weak demand fears following lockdowns imposed in China on Saturday on an estimated 65 million people across some 33 cities, according to public information compiled by Caixin.

On Tuesday, the country introduced fresh restrictions in parts of Guiyang, the capital of the mountainous southern Guizhou province, as part of the country’s “zero-Covid” policy, which was designed to stamp out outbreaks as soon as they occur.

Investors have already digested supply concerns after the world’s biggest oil producers from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies, known as OPEC+, agreed Monday on a “symbolic” production cut of around 100,000 barrels per day in October.

Oil prices indexed to the US dollar also came under pressure from the rising value of the greenback.

The US dollar index, which measures the value of the American dollar against a basket of currencies, including the Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona, and Swiss franc, rose 0.22% to 110.44.

On Wednesday, the dollar reached a 24-year high against the yen and new highs against Australian and New Zealand currencies after US economic data supported the monetary policy tightening of the Federal Reserve.

Source: Anadolu Agency

RB Leipzig on Wednesday sacked their Italian head coach Domenico Tedesco after the German team were handed a shocking home loss in the UEFA Champions League.

“RB Leipzig have parted company with Domenico Tedesco with immediate effect. Assistant coaches Andreas Hinkeland Max Urwantschky have also left the club,” the German Bundesliga club said on Twitter.

The club is now looking for a new head coach.

On Tuesday night, Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk beat RB Leipzig 4-1 in Champions League Group F match in Leipzig that caused the dismissal of Tedesco and his assistants.

Tedesco, 36, was hired by RB Leipzig last December, and he led them to win the German Cup, their first major trophy.

Tedesco has also coached Germany’s Schalke 04, and Russian club Spartak Moscow.

Source: Anadolu Agency