Turkish army and Free Syrian Army (FSA) units have taken “entire control” of Afrin city center in Syria’s northwestern Afrin district as part of the ongoing “Operation Olive Branch,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on March 18. Source: Hürriyet Daily News
Greece will this summer lease two state-of-the-art French warships, the defense ministry said Friday, as Athens seeks to bolster its defenses in the Aegean Sea amid growing tensions with Turkey, which calls on the former to avoid escalating tensions by stopping the violations in disputed islets. Source Daily Sabah
Speaker of the State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament) Vyacheslav Volodin is pressing for the introduction of a ban on carrying out US sanctions on Russian soil and did not rule out criminal liability for its breach. Source Tass
The European Commission on Thursday criticized the behavior of a Serbian lawmaker who trampled on the Croatian flag in the Serbian parliament. As a result of the incident, which took place Wednesday, a delegation from Croatia canceled the rest of their visit to Serbia, whose aim was to improve relations between the Balkan neighbors. Source: Politico
