Syria Violence Soars. DPRK Building Nuke-powered Sub
Connecting the geopolitical dots, so that you don't have to...
Syrian security forces are alleged to have killed hundreds of civilians belonging to the Alawite religious minority in continuing violence along the country's coast, according to a war monitoring group. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said some 745 civilians had been killed in around 30 "massacres" targeting Alawites on Friday and Saturday. BBC News has not been able to independently verify these claims. Hundreds of people have reportedly fled their homes in the region - a heartland of deposed president Bashar al-Assad, who also belongs to the Alawite sect. A total of more than 1,000 people have been killed in the past two days, the SOHR said, in what is the worst violence in Syria since rebels toppled the Assad regime in December. This figure includes dozens of government troops and gunmen loyal to Assad, who have been locked in clashes in the coastal Latakia and Tartous provinces since Thursday. Some 125 members of the Islamist-led government security forces and 148 pro-Assad fighters have been killed in the violence, according to the SOHR's report. Alawites, whose sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam, make up around 10% of Syria's population, which is majority Sunni Muslim - BBC
North Korea unveiled for the first time a nuclear-powered submarine under construction, a weapons system that can pose a major security threat to South Korea and the U.S. The state media agency on Saturday released photos showing what it called “a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine,” as it reported leader Kim Jong Un’s visits to major shipyards where warships are built. The naval vessel appears to be a 6,000-ton-class or 7,000-ton-class one which can carry about 10 missiles, said Moon Keun-sik, a South Korean submarine expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University. He said that the use of the term “the strategic guided missiles” meant it would carry nuclear-capable weapons. “It would be absolutely threatening to us and the U.S.,” Moon said. - AP
China's military said Sunday it would tighten its "noose" around Taiwan if separatism over the island escalated, warning proponents to step back from the "precipice" or face a "dead end", state media reported. Beijing considers the democratically ruled island of Taiwan to be part of its territory and has not ruled out using military force to claim it. "The more rampant 'Taiwan independence' separatists become, the tighter the noose around their necks and the sharper the sword hanging over their heads will be," army spokesman Wu Qian said, Xinhua news agency reported. "The PLA is a force of action in countering separatism and promoting reunification," said Wu, using an acronym for China's military - France 24
A Russian spymaster plotted to use private armies to control migration into Europe, reports The Telegraph. Jan Marsalek, the fugitive boss of the disgraced tech company Wirecard, planned to create a 15,000-strong band of mercenaries to control the border in the key migration route through Libya. Weaponising the flow of migrants is said to be a key aim of Vladimir Putin, with the issue being a major factor in elections across Europe. Marsalek, who is on the run, even bought a private military company and succeeded in getting the first Russian boots on the ground in Libya. The revelations come at a key time in the war in Ukraine, with Donald Trump putting pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president to get round the table with Putin for peace talks. European leaders have previously warned that the West could see a tidal wave of migrants if Ukraine falls to Russia. The details of Marsalek’s plans can be revealed for the first time after a ring of UK-based spies he was running were found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday. Leader Orlin Roussev, 47, and his team of Bulgarian operatives face jail after being caught plotting kidnapping and surveillance campaigns in one of the Metropolitan Police’s biggest-ever spying operations.
As Kyiv prepares to send its delegation to Saudi Arabia for high-stakes talks with the United States, Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine with increased strikes on civilian targets and new battlefield gains. Russian air strikes overnight in eastern Ukraine killed at least 50 people in the Donetsk region, according to local officials. Russia also claimed it had retaken three villages earlier captured by Ukraine in its Kursk region -- with unconfirmed reports that thousand of Ukrainian troops risks being encircled by Russian forces -- and the attacks come a day after Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack targeting energy and gas infrastructure across multiple regions of Ukraine. The Institute For The Study of War, a Washington-based think tank that tracks battlefield developments, said Russian forces have "intensified their multi-directional campaign to eliminate the remaining Ukrainian salient in Kursk" in the last two days. The series of strikes and battlefield pressure represent another setback for Kyiv ahead of crucial talks with the United States next week in Saudi Arabia, where Ukrainian officials will meet with their US counterparts for negotiations around how to end the three-year war - RFE/RL
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s presence in Russia’s Kursk region has deteriorated sharply, with the advance threatening Kyiv’s sole territorial bargaining counter at a crucial time in the war, CNN reports. Military bloggers from both sides say Ukraine is on the back foot – reports say Russian forces used a gas pipeline to launch a surprise raid in one area. Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday said its forces had captured three more settlements. Ukraine launched its shock incursion into Kursk in August, swiftly capturing territory in what was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II.
The Council of Europe has released its Press Freedom Report on Turkey, which highlights the growing pressure on the press and the increasing erosion of journalists' freedoms in the country. One recent case is against Kurdish journalist Diren Yurtsever by the 23rd High Criminal Court, with a potential sentence of one to three years. Yurtsever had previously spent seven months in prison.
King Charles is reportedly ‘worried about Canada v Trump’ and will call for unity. Days after meeting outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the monarch and Canadian head of state will use his Commonwealth Day message to urge nations to ‘come together in friendship.’ The Times reported.
Some Canadian coffee shops have rechristened the coffee drinks that have long been called Americanos as Canadianos, NPR reported. It's their response to President Trump's continuing threats of tariffs on Canadian goods, and his declaration that Canada ought to become the USA's 51st state. "We don't need any American products right now," Todd Simpson, who owns the Morning Owl coffeeshops in Ottawa, told CTV News. "It seems like a really good way to say we're Canadian," although the coffee beans they brew are more likely grown in Central America than, say, Alberta.
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