Russia sends naval flotilla to Syrian port of Tartus-report

Russia has sent a naval flotilla of warships led by an anti-submarine destroyer to its naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday.            

Russia earlier announced that it would be ready to host a new meeting of world powers on ending the conflict in Syria and proposed broadening the talks to invite other countries, including Iran.          
Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Moscow had made the proposal at an international meeting in Geneva on June 30.              

Earlier, the opposition Syrian National Council announced that its leader, Abdelbaset Sayda will reiterate his call for the departure of President Bashar Assad and his cronies before engaging in any talks on a transition phase, during his meetings with Russian officials in Moscow.                     

In a statement, the council explained that it will once again call on the international community to issue resolutions under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, compelling the Syrian regime to put an end to violence, killings and collective massacres, and guarantee the protection of civilians in all possible ways.           

In the field           

Regime troops continued shelling the neighborhoods that have become out of its control in the central city of Homs, mainly Jouret al-Chiyah, at dawn Tuesday. Meanwhile, clashes and violence across Syria killed 8 people, mostly from the regime’s troops, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.                 

SANA news agency reported that the Syrian competent authorities and border guards thwarted several attempts by armed terrorist groups to infiltrate into Syria from Lebanon on Monday night. Many deaths in their ranks were reported.   

Meanwhile, the Syrian government has released 275 people detained “in recent events whose hands aren’t covered with Syrians’ blood,” state-run Syrian TV said today, adding it’s the seventh batch of detainees to be released.    

Separately, a Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid worker died on Tuesday a day after he was shot in a clearly marked ambulance in the town of Deir al-Zor, the organisation said.
   
Khaled Khaffaji was the fifth member of the aid group's staff to be killed in the conflict in Syria, and the second to be killed in less than a month.
   
"We are devastated. The loss of Khaled is completely unacceptable," Abdul Rahman al-Attar, the president of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, said in a statement.
   
"All sides must respect health-care workers and the red cross and red crescent emblems, and allow Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers to provide assistance unhindered and in safety."


Syrian Defense Minister         

While Syrian Defense Minister Daoud Abdullah Rajha stressed that his country will not allow terrorism and enemies to undermine its resilience, Syrian troops continued their military maneuvers using real missiles