Hundreds of gunmen evacuate south Damascus district: reportMarch 14, 2018 - 12:29 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Several hundred gunmen and at least one thousand of their family members have been evacuated from the district of Al-Qadam in southern Damascus, Al-Masdar News says citing reports from semi-official Russian sources. Some 300 armed gunmen and ‘more than 1,000’ relatives left the south Damascus suburb for the town of Qalaat al-Mudiq in northwestern Hama province, TASS says. Qalaat al-Mudiq (for many years an unbreachable rebel stronghold) fully reconciled with the Syrian government less than one week ago following a breakthrough in Russian-mediated inter-faction talks. The voluntary withdrawal of insurgent fighters from Al-Qadam was part of a deal struck as early as September 2017, but since took six months to realize. Islamic State forces reacted with an offensive on the district amid the withdrawal of rival militants but were rebuffed by the Syrian army who which assumed control of 70 percent of it following a day of heavy clashes. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. |