A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – China is suspected of sharing stolen information with Russia concerning the secret identities of CIA assets subsequently arrested and executed, current and former U.S. officials told NBC News.

Federal authorities investigating Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a former CIA case officer arrested in New York City last week and charged with retaining classified information, determined that Chinese intelligence subverted the agency’s covert communications system and ascertained the identities of U.S. spies who “disappeared” soon after, NBC News reported Friday.

“A secret FBI–CIA task force investigating the case concluded that the Chinese government penetrated the CIA’s method clandestine communication with its spies, using that knowledge to arrest and execute at least 20 CIA informants,” NBC News reported, citing multiple current and former government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Iran on Sunday called for a quick end to a Turkish incursion into northern Syria’s Afrin province, saying it may help “terrorist” groups, state news agency IRNA reported.

“Iran hopes that this operation will be ended immediately to prevent a deepening of the crisis in the border regions of Turkey and Syria,” it quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying. “A continued crisis in Afrin may boost …terrorist groups in northern Syria.” [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Turkey’s army and rebel allies battled US-backed Kurdish militia in Syria’s Afrin province on Sunday (Jan 21), stepping up a two-day-old campaign against YPG fighters that has opened a new front in Syria’s civil war.

Amid US calls for restraint, Turkish artillery pounded YPG positions, while rockets fired from inside Syria slammed into two Turkish border towns, wounding dozens, according to the local governor’s office and a witness.

Turkey began its push to clear YPG fighters from a northwestern enclave of Syria on Saturday when it launched artillery and air strikes against their positions in Afrin in what it called “Operation Olive Branch”. [ Source: CNA (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The U.S. and Turkey moved closer to an open rift Sunday, with the Trump administration expressing deep concern as Turkish ground forces crossed into northern Syria in a bid to rid the area of U.S.-backed Kurdish militias.

Ankara sees the Kurdish force as an ally to a violent Turkish Kurdish separatist movement it has been battling for decades. Washington sees the Syrian Kurds as critical allies in the fight against Islamic State and a longer-term asset against Syrian President Bashar Assad in any settlement of the country’s brutal civil war.

“We urge Turkey to exercise restraint and ensure that its military operations remain limited in scope and duration and scrupulous to avoid civilian casualties,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert in a statement Sunday. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The U.S. and Turkey moved closer to an open rift Sunday, with the Trump administration expressing deep concern as Turkish ground forces crossed into northern Syria in a bid to rid the area of U.S.-backed Kurdish militias.

Ankara sees the Kurdish force as an ally to a violent Turkish Kurdish separatist movement it has been battling for decades. Washington sees the Syrian Kurds as critical allies in the fight against Islamic State and a longer-term asset against Syrian President Bashar Assad in any settlement of the country’s brutal civil war.

“We urge Turkey to exercise restraint and ensure that its military operations remain limited in scope and duration and scrupulous to avoid civilian casualties,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert in a statement Sunday. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]