Finnish President Sauli Niinisto today cited Mr. Realpolitik himself, Henry Kissinger, on the dangers of appeasement, quoting from Kissinger's 1957 book, 'A World Restored': “Whenever avoidance of war has been the primary objective of a group of powers, the international system has been at the mercy of its most ruthless member.”

The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria has confirmed that at least 1,800 Palestinian detainees are among the people imprisoned in the Syrian regime’s network of both public and secret prisons, where they are subjected to various types of torture.

Washington has reportedly reprimanded its Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) allies in northeast Syria for holding up banners depicting the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, during rallies in the SDF-controlled area.

The PKK has reportedly designated the village of Tal Ziwan located on the Qamshli-Al-Qahtaniyah road near the Syrian-Turkish border as the headquarters for PKK leaders coming from Mount Qandil in northern Iraq.

Nidal Ibo, a former financial official in the ‘Autonomous Administration’ in north Syria, whose family, including his wife and children, have been detained by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in an effort to stop him reporting SDF crimes, has revealed information about the organization’s massive financial deals, particularly concerning oil trafficking and the revenues from it.

Dozens of Iranian regime militia members have reportedly died in the past few days in rural Aleppo from the COVID-19 coronavirus, amid accusations of negligence by the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) regarding high levels of infections among its members and affiliated militias.

The commander of the Russian military submarine Velikiy Novgorod, General Denis Sobin, has described the periods surrounding the bombing of Syria as "pleasant" moments, expressing his “pleasure” at bombing operations.

The commander made his statement during an interview broadcast on Monday (March 29) on the Russian Ministry of Defence’s ‘Zvezda’ TV channel.

Iranian militiamen reportedly killed a father, mother and two of their children in countryside in eastern Aleppo countryside on Tuesday (March 23).

A report on the Al-Khabur news site reported that the victims were searching for truffles in the vicinity of the village of Al-Mohsen south of the town of Maskana in eastern Aleppo when they were shot and killed by the Iranian militias.

The victims were identified as 52-year-old Muhammad Al-Abed, his 44-year-old wife Raghad, and their two unnamed children, a son aged 19 and a daughter aged 26.

The nature of the relationship between al-Qaeda and Iran is one of the most contentious debates in the counterterrorism community, dividing analysts, policymakers and government officials. The stakes of establishing or disproving the relationship are considerable—meaningful state support is immensely useful to terrorist organizations, especially one being hunted by the U.S. government. Current analytic disagreements are not necessarily about whether al-Qaeda and Iran have a relationship; on that point, there is little room for doubt.