President Putin hailed China’s “unprecedented” co-operation with Russia as President Xi welcomed him to Beijing hours before the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
The pair posed together for cameras in a show of unity as Moscow confronts the West over Ukraine and Beijing faces down a US-led diplomatic boycott of the Games over its human rights records.
“We are working together to bring to life true multilateralism,” Xi said to Putin, according a Kremlin press release. “Defending the real spirit of democracy serves as a reliable foundation for uniting the world in overcoming crises and defending equality.”
“China is willing to work with Russia to fully exploit the political advantage of the bilateral relations and push for more fruitful results out of pragmatic cooperation,” Xi
The race is on to save a five-year-old boy who has been stuck inside a well for the last three days.
Rescue workers in northern Morocco have been digging around the clock to reach the young child who became trapped at the bottom of the 32m (105ft) deep well after he fell down it on Tuesday night.
Response teams have managed to pass him oxygen and water using a rope but have not been able to reach him to bring him back to the surface.
Thousands of Moroccans have taken to social media to express their sympathy with the boy, causing the hashtag #SaveRayan to trend on Twitter for hours across the country.
"I pray and beg God that he comes out of that well alive and safe," the boy's mother Wassima Kharchich told local television 2M.
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"Please God, ease my pain and his, in that hole of dust."
A CCTV camera has been sent down to monitor him, according to Morocco's official MAP news agency.
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Image:Civil defence and local authorities dig in a hill as they attempt to rescue the boy. Pic: AP
On Thursday, rescuers used five bulldozers to dig a hole parallel in an attempt to reach the youngster, with local officials saying they have reached 19m deep so far.
"I managed to communicate with the child and ask if he could hear me," Red Crescent volunteer Imad Fahmy told 2M.
Image:Residents watch in concern as rescuers dig for the boy. Pic: AP
"There was a response. I waited for a minute and saw that he began using the oxygen."
Medical staff are on site to attend to the boy, with a helicopter on standby to transport him to the nearest hospital.
Government spokesperson Mustapha Baytas said they are closely monitoring the situation, studying different ways to help save him.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed a deal to deepen defence co-operation with Ukraine in defiance of warnings from Moscow not to further arm Kyiv.
The Turkish leader struck a raft of deals on free trade and defence with Kyiv after three hours of talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital.
These include joint production in Ukraine of lethal drones, expanding a partnership that has seen Kyiv buy at least 20 unmanned aerial vehicles from Turkey — and deploy them against Russian-backed separatists.
Erdogan, who described Zelensky as a “dear friend”, restated his support for the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine and Crimea and his offer to act as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia. Turkey wanted to “ease tensions rather than fuel military escalation,” he said.
Describing their relationship as one of “real friends”, Zelensky thanked Erdogan for his mediation offer. “Today we have signed an agreement that will significantly expand the production of Baykar UAVs in Ukraine,” Zelensky said, adding: “These are new technologies, new jobs and strengthening Ukraine’s of defence capabilities.”
But Erdogan faces a tricky balancing act. The show of support by Turkey, a Nato member, for Ukraine belies a close but complex relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin and significant Russian leverage over Turkey.
The Turkish president, for years accused by the west of turning towards Moscow and abandoning Nato, has not only repeatedly warned of the dangers of deeper Russian incursion into Ukraine but has also supplied the country with weapons including armed drones.
That support for Kyiv carries great risks for Turkey, analysts say, given its economic reliance on Russia and the risk that Putin could use gas, tourism, trade and the conflict in Syria as political weapons against Erdogan.
The Turkish president’s trip to Kyiv marked the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations and was long planned as part of a decade-long push to build economic, cultural and political ties.
The decision to go ahead with the trip despite the tense backdrop was viewed in Kyiv as highly symbolic. Turkey opposed Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, driven by a centuries’ long suspicion of Russian expansionism and concern for the Crimean Tatar minority.
But Erdogan’s relationship with Putin, however, has grown much closer in the years since then, spurred by his growing isolation from the west.
The Turkish president’s decision to buy a Russian S-400 air defence system in the aftermath of a 2016 coup attempt prompted claims that Turkey had abandoned Nato and led the US to expel Turkey from its F-35 fighter jet programme.
Despite warm personal ties between Erdogan and Putin, however, the two leaders have often found themselves competing rather than co-operating — especially in the realm of foreign policy. Turkish officials frequently point out that they have backed the opposite side to the Russians in conflicts in Syria, Libya and in the Caucasus.
“They are very proud of the fact that they are the ones confronting Russia on the ground [in these areas],” said a US official. “This is contradicted by the S-400 sale but it is also true.”
Moscow has been particularly irked by the growing defence co-operation between Turkey and Ukraine. Russian officials last October warned that Turkish drones could “destabilise” the frontline after Ukraine’s armed forces said a Turkish-made drone had destroyed an artillery unit belonging to Russian-backed separatists.
Even before Thursday’s deal, Ukraine had already acquired “around 20” TB2 drones, according to Vasyl Bodnar, the country’s ambassador to Ankara, with more expected to follow.
Kyiv has also placed an order for two Turkish warships, and Ukrainian defence firms are supplying engines for Turkish-made attack helicopters, cruise missiles and for a higher-spec Baykar drone.
Western nations have been buoyed by Ankara’s willingness to continue supplying weaponry. “Turkey’s materiel support to Ukraine has been substantial,” said the US official, adding that Washington would be happy if Ankara simply did “more of the same”.
Like Germany, however, Ankara is acutely aware of the pressure points that Putin could exploit if he felt that it had crossed a red line.
Turkey is heavily reliant on imported natural gas to fuel its power stations and heat its homes, and has already been suffering from shortages this year. Nearly half of Turkey’s gas supply came from Moscow in the first 11 months of 2021, according to data from the Istanbul-based energy consultancy IBS.
Putin has previously shown willingness to weaponise Russian tourists, who were Turkey’s top foreign visitors in 2019. He banned package holidays to the country in 2015 after the Turkish air force downed a Russian fighter jet near the border with Syria.
He also banned imports of Turkish tomatoes. Russia was the most important market for Turkish fruit and vegetable exports last year, generating a third of the sector’s $3bn in foreign revenues.
The potential economic disruption to Turkey is one of the reasons why Ankara is so eager to see tensions cool, said Burak Pehlivan, chair of the Turkish-Ukrainian Business Association. “Nobody in this geography will win from a conflict,” he said. “The most affected country after Ukraine and Russia would be Turkey.”
But the vulnerability that worries Turkey the most is Idlib, the last rebel-held province of Syria, where thousands of Turkish troops are policing an uneasy stalemate with the Russian-backed regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Erdogan is already under political pressure at home over the country’s 3.6mn Syrian refugees. Ankara believes that air strikes by Russian jets on civilian targets in the province earlier this month were a warning to Turkey — and to Europe — that Moscow could send millions more refugees its way.
Turkey’s weak spots mean that western officials are resigned to the fact that the country is unlikely to sign up to a new sanctions regime against Russia if an invasion does take place.
But the real challenge for Ankara, which polices the 1936 Montreux convention that governs access for warships to the Black Sea, would be what to do if Nato called upon Turkey to provide more military support.
“What happens if Nato wants to use Turkish military facilities to support maritime or air operations?” asked a defence official from another western country. “That would really put them in a really difficult position.”
The leader of Islamic State has blown himself up in what President Joe Biden said was an "act of cowardice" during a raid by US special forces in Syria.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi exploded a bomb that killed him and members of his family as American forces approached a house in the village of Atmeh, in the rebel-held province of Idlib, a US official said.
He was among at least 13 people including four women who died during the operation, which lasted two hours.
Image:Al-Qurayshi killed himself during a US operation that lasted two hours
At least six children were also among the dead, with one girl badly injured as the violence unfolded, children's charity UNICEF said in a statement.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the mission was "successful", adding there were no US military casualties.
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President Biden announced the killing in a statement, saying: "Thanks to the skill and bravery of our armed forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi."
He said troops "successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our allies, and make the world a safer place".
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In a White House address on Thursday, the president said he was determined to protect US citizens from terrorist threats and vowed to take "decisive action" to protect the country.
Mr Biden told the nation: "Last night, operating on my orders, the United States military forces successfully removed a major terrorist threat to the world, the global leader of ISIS."
President Biden, Vice President Harris and members of the President’s national security team observe the counterterrorism operation responsible for removing from the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — the leader of ISIS. pic.twitter.com/uhK75WeUme
Since Al-Qurayshi took control of the terror group in 2019, "ISIS has directed terrorist operations targeting Americans, our allies and our partners, and countless civilians in the Middle East, Africa and in South Asia," Mr Biden said.
"He oversaw the spread of ISIS affiliated terrorist groups around the world after savaging communities and murdering innocents.
"Thanks to the bravery of our troops this horrible terrorist leader is no more."
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Biden: Terrorist died in 'final act of cowardice'
Mr Biden said the US department of defence took "every precaution possible to minimise civilian casualties" and chose to pursue a special forces raid rather targeting Al-Qurayshi with an airstrike, "at a much greater risk to our own people".
And he branded the terror leader a "coward".
Image:A doll lies among debris inside a house in the aftermath of a counter-terrorism mission conducted by the U.S. Special Operations Forces Pic: Mohamed Al-Daher/via REU
"We do know, as our troops approached to capture the terrorist, in a final desperate act of cowardice, he, with no regard for the lives of his own family or others in the building, chose to blow himself up... rather than face justice."
"Last night's operation took a major terrorist leader off the battlefield and has sent a strong message to terrorists around the world," Mr Biden added, as he warned: "We will come after you and find you."
Image:Military devices outside a house after the operation by the US military in Atmeh
A US administration official blamed the civilian casualties on the explosive used by militants.
One of the helicopters used in the raid suffered a mechanical problem and had to be blown up on the ground, officials said.
Al-Qurayshi, also known as Amir Muhammad Sa'id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, was named as the second leader of IS after founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in October 2019.
"While we are still assessing the results of this operation, this appears to be the same cowardly terrorist tactic we saw in the 2019 operation that eliminated al-Baghdadi," the US official said.
IS has been trying for a resurgence in the region, launching a series of attacks that include an assault on a prison last month.
Image:Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces fighters at a checkpoint in Hassakeh, northeast Syria
The US raid began at around midnight as helicopters landed and heavy gunfire was heard, according to residents.
American troops used loudspeakers to warn women and children to leave the area.
The top floor of the house was destroyed during the clash and body parts were seen scattered near the site.
Image:The remains of a house after a US military operation in Atmeh, close to the Turkish border
Residents told of the relentless gunfire and explosions that jolted Atmeh, near the Turkish border, in northwest Syria - which is home to many camps for people displaced from the country's civil war.
Areas in the town populated by civilians were "severely damaged" according to reports, the UNICEF statement said.
Image:Islamic State group fighters, who surrendered after clashing with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, at Gweiran Prison, in Hassakeh. Pic: SDF/AP
Since the year began, violence has heavily escalated in and around Idlib in Syria's northwest, which is home to 1.2 million children in need of assistance, the charity added.
Isis leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi has died during a US raid on north-west Syria overnight, President Joe Biden has said.
“Thanks to the skill and bravery of our armed forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — the leader of Isis. All Americans have returned safely from the operation,” he said in a statement on Thursday morning.
The attack appeared to be one of the biggest US assaults of its type in north-west Syria since special forces conducted an operation that killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the then leader of Isis, in 2019.
A senior Biden administration official said that the Isis leader “exploded a bomb that killed him and members of his own family, including women and children” at the start of the operation.
“While we are still assessing the results of this operation, this appears to be the same cowardly terrorist tactic we saw in the 2019 operation that eliminated al-Baghdadi,” the senior administration official said.
The Syria Civil Defence, a rescue service also known as the White Helmets, said its teams recovered the bodies of at least 13 people, including six children and four women. The non-governmental group, which operates in opposition areas, said in a statement that they were killed in clashes and bombing that followed an airborne operation.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the US troops landed in helicopters in the village of Atmeh in Idlib province, the last enclave held by Syrian opposition forces, and met resistance from fighters on the ground as they launched an assault on a two-storey building.
The latest special forces mission comes two weeks after Isis militants launched a bold assault on a prison holding thousands of suspected jihadis in north-east Syria that is controlled by US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, which operate the prison in Hasaka, said 121 prison staff and SDF fighters and 374 Isis militants were killed in the week-long assault on the detention facility. The US supported the SDF’s battle to retake control of the prison with air strikes and by moving Bradley fighting vehicles into the area.
The US has just under 1,000 troops in Syria where they support the SDF and have been involved in the fight against Isis.
Islamist militants exploited the chaos of the civil war in Syria to gain footholds in the country, with Isis seizing control of swaths of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in a blitz in 2014.
At its height the movement controlled an area the size of Britain, but it was driven from territorial strongholds in both countries by international coalitions.
Isis surrendered the final enclave in Syria under its control three years ago, but the attack on the prison in Hasaka has underscored the threat the jihadi group continues to pose.
Idlib province, which is home to about 3mn people, many who fled to escape Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime, is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which has emerged as the most powerful Islamist militant group in Syria.
The group, which is designated a terrorist organisation by the US, has long been considered an affiliate of al-Qaeda, but it has attempted to rebrand itself and distance itself from the network formed by Osama bin Laden.
The leader of Islamic State has been killed during a raid by US special forces in Syria.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi exploded a bomb that killed himself and members of his family as the raid began on a house in the rebel-held province of Idlib.
He was among at least 13 people who died during the operation, which lasted two hours.
Image:A house that was destroyed during the raid. Pic: AP
There were no US military casualties.
US President Joe Biden announced the killing in a statement, saying: "Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi."
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He said troops "successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our allies, and make the world a safer place".
Mr Biden said he will address the American people later today, adding: "May God protect our troops."
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A US administration official blamed the civilian casualties on the explosive used by militants.
Image:President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and members of the president’s national security team observing the operation
Al-Quraishi was named as the second leader of IS after founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in October 2019.
"While we are still assessing the results of this operation, this appears to be the same cowardly terrorist tactic we saw in the 2019 operation that eliminated al-Baghdadi," the US official said.
IS has been trying for a resurgence in the region, launching a series of attacks that include an assault on a prison last month.
The US raid began at around midnight as helicopters landed and heavy gunfire was heard, according to residents.
American troops used loudspeakers to warn women and children to leave the area - but despite these efforts, six women and four children are believed to be among those who died.
The top floor of the house was destroyed during the clash and body parts were seen scattered near the site.
US president Joe Biden has ordered the deployment of an additional 2,000 troops to bolster Nato’s defences in Europe, strengthening the alliance’s response to a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.
John Kirby, the Pentagon’s spokesperson, announced the move during a briefing with reporters on Wednesday. In addition to sending about 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Poland and Germany, the US said it would redeploy roughly 1,000 troops from Germany to Romania.
“President Biden has been clear that the United States will respond to the growing threat to Europe’s security and stability. Our commitment to Nato Article 5 and collective defence remains ironclad,” Kirby said, referring to the alliance’s mutual assistance principle.
“These are not permanent moves,” he said, adding that they were “designed to respond to the current security environment. Moreover, these forces are not going to fight in Ukraine.”
As the Russian military build-up along Ukraine’s border intensified in recent weeks, Biden put 8,500 troops on standby for deployment to the eastern flank of Nato, and had been discussing details of a possible move with US allies.
Alexander Grushko, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, described the extra US troops as “destructive steps that are unjustified by anyone”. “They increase military tension and narrow the room for political decisions,” he told Interfax on Wednesday.
Even as diplomatic avenues have remained open, US officials have warned that Russia has continued to increase its own military preparations, including additional movement of troops along Ukraine’s border in Belarus and naval activity in the Mediterranean. Moscow has deployed more than 100,000 troops and heavy weaponry along Ukraine’s borders, according to western intelligence.
“There may soon be additional posture decisions to announce, including movements that are part of ongoing military exercises. This is not the sum total of the deterrence actions we will take,” Kirby said.
The deployment of US troops — in addition to the 8,500 on standby — comes as de-escalation talks continue between Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, and Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister.
The US has offered to provide assurances to Russia over its Europe-based missile defence system, and promised to refrain from deploying troops to Ukraine, according to a document disclosed by El País, whose authenticity was confirmed by the Biden administration.
These written proposals, sent to the Kremlin last week, include a “transparency mechanism” to convince Russia that its Aegis Ashore missile defence systems, based in Romania and Poland, are not equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
President Vladimir Putin has expressed concerns that the Aegis launchers could be used to attack Russia or shoot down its intercontinental ballistic missiles rather than those fired by Iran or other rogue states, as Washington maintains.
The US said it was prepared to discuss transparency on its Aegis batteries if Poland and Romania agreed and “as long as Russian offers reciprocal transparency measures on two ground-launched missile bases of our own choosing in Russia”.
It added that it was willing to discuss transparency measures and “reciprocal commitments” by the US and Russia to “refrain from deploying offensive ground-launched missile systems and permanent forces with a combat mission” on Ukrainian territory.
Washington’s proposals were formulated as a response to Russian security demands, issued in December. “We did not make this document public, but now that it is, it confirms to the entire world what we have always been saying,” said Kirby. “There is no daylight between our public statements and our private discussions.”
Kyiv said it would welcome a reciprocal commitment by the US and Russia to refrain from stationing missiles or troops in Ukraine.
“I would like to note that, while the US has neither missiles in Ukraine nor their combat units in Ukraine, Russia has both,” said Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister. “And if this proposal is accepted on a reciprocal basis, that will imply that Russia has to withdraw. So no, we have no objections against the idea of Russia withdrawing its forces, its personnel and weapons from the territory of Ukraine.”
The US and Nato have rejected Russia’s demands for a ban on further enlargement and for a withdrawal of Nato forces from the alliance’s former communist bloc members. Nato says the contingents sent to the Baltic states and Poland following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 are small and temporary and so in keeping with its commitments to Moscow.
In a call with Putin on Wednesday, UK prime minister Boris Johnson reiterated that “all European democracies have a right to aspire to Nato membership” and that Nato was a defensive alliance, according to a UK official. Putin noted “Nato’s unwillingness to respond adequately to Russia’s legitimate concerns”, according to the Kremlin.
Additional reporting by Guy Chazan in Berlin, Polina Ivanova in Moscow,Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv and Laura Hughes in London
