Many Syrian soldiers killed as US airstrikes target eastern Syria

News Network
March 24, 2023

Damascus, Mar 24: The US military has carried out multiple airstrikes in eastern Syria in another flagrant breach of Syria’s sovereignty, killing a number of Syrian military forces.

The US military earlier alleged that Iran-aligned groups carried out a drone attack on a US-occupied base in northeastern Syria. A US contractor was killed, another was injured, and five US troops were wounded in the attack.

"At the direction of President [Joe] Biden, I authorized US Central Command forces to conduct precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)," Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin said in the statement, issued late Thursday.

However, local sources pointed out that the target was not an Iran-aligned military post as the US military claimed, but rather a rural development center and a grain center in Hrabash neighborhood, near Dayr al-Zawr military airport.

Meanwhile, no Iranian was killed in the act of aggression. 

A military source in Syria said that the resistance groups reserve their right to respond to the American attack and will take reciprocal action.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army launched an act of aggression with missiles that targeted Aleppo International Airport causing material damages.

Since March 2011, when Syria fell in the grip of foreign-backed militancy, the Syrian government has said that the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies aid Takfiri terrorist groups continue to wreak havoc in the country.

Iran's military forces play an advisory role in Syria at the request of Damascus, unlike the American troops that are deployed to the Arab country without the Syrian government's consent.

The US military has stationed forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.

Damascus, however, maintains the deployment is meant to plunder the country's rich mineral resources.

US and Israeli attacks have severe humanitarian repercussions for the people of Syria, who are currently facing a humanitarian crisis, and will only worsen their situation.

‘Misinformation’

Syria’s permanent representative to the UN, Bassam Sabbagh, said that the US, France, the UK and Germany are still spreading misinformation and misleading world public opinion to escape their involvement in the war on Syria and imposing unilateral coercive measures for further suffering to the Syrian people.

Sabbagh, in a statement at UN Security council session on the humanitarian and political issues in Syria, said that the counterproductive policies by some member states prevented the security council dealing seriously with hundreds of letters addressed to the UN on aggression and violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Moreover, he said that Syria has always called for protecting and promoting human rights away from political considerations, still, they are politicized by others.

“The West keeps politicizing the humanitarian and development work along with imposing coercive measures on Syria, the issue that hindered securing items needed for searching and rescuing the earthquake victims,” Sabbagh said.

A devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake and series of aftershocks struck southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria on February 6.

Due to US sanctions and the Caesar Act, the Syrians had to suffer severe repercussions in the aftermath of the earthquake, amid lack of all sorts of logistical and humanitarian aid.

This comes at the time Iran and other countries said the international community should focus on removal of unilateral and inhumane Western sanctions in order to solve the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria more effectively. 

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News Network
December 5,2025

indigoCEO.jpg

New Delhi, Dec 5: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled today, making it the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline of the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily number of flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also said that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.

"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said. 

IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.

Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience due to delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.

The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps".

Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.

"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs, for this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information, refunds, cancellations and other customer support measures was sent," he said.

The airline has also stepped up its call centre capacity.

"Secondly, due to yesterday's situation, we had customers stranded mostly at the nation's largest airports. Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved. For this, we also ask customers whose flights are cancelled not to come to the airports as notifications are sent," the CEO said.

"Thirdly, cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start tomorrow morning afresh. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettable, have proven not to be enough, but we have decided today to reboot all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest numbers of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," he added.

As airports witnessed chaotic scenes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo a temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. It also allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period. 

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said a high-level inquiry will be ordered and accountability will be fixed.

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