The Syrian army has launched a new offensive against the city of Raqqa, the Daesh extremist group's stronghold, media reported Friday.

According to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, the Syrian authorities began the new operation after they rejected a plan to advance toward the city of Deir ez-Zor in northeastern Syria. The primary target of the Syrian army is the city of Tabqa near Raqqa, the daily specified.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) also announced the launch of the operation to free Raqqa, the newspaper noted.

The Syrian troops are currently in the Hama province, preparing for an offensive, Al-Akhbar reported.

Israeli society is constantly swerving to the Right and, by doing so, the country's entire political paradigm is redefined regularly. Israel is now 'ruled by the most extreme rightwing government in its history' has grown from being an informed assessment to a dull cliché over the course of only a few years.

In fact, that exact line was used in May 2015, when rightwing Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, formed his thin majority government of like-minded right-wingers, religious zealots and ultra-nationalists. The same sentiment, with almost the exact wording, is being infused again, as Netanyahu has expanded his coalition by bringing to the fold the ultra-nationalist, Avigdor Lieberman.

As of Wednesday May 25, Lieberman has also become Israel's Defense Minister. Considering Lieberman's rowdy and violent politics as demonstrated in his two terms as Foreign Minister (from 2009 to 2012 and, again, from 2013 to 2015), being a Defense Minister in Israel's 'most extreme rightwing government in history' harbors all kind of terrifying prospects.

While many commentators rightly pointed to Lieberman's past provocations and wild statements - for example, his 2015 statement threatening to behead Palestinian citizens of Israel with an axe if they are not fully loyal to Israel; advocating the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian citizens of Israel; his death ultimatum to former Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya, and so on - his predecessor, Moshe Ya'alon, was spared much blame.

Worse, the former Defense Minister, Ya'alon, was regarded by some as an example of professionalism and morality. He is 'well-regarded', wrote William Booth in the Washington Post, compared to the 'polarizing maverick' Lieberman. But 'well-regarded' by whom? By Israeli society, the majority of whom support the cold-blooded murder of Palestinians?

I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a
good thing, and as necessary in the political world
as storms in the physical......It is a medicine necessary
for the sound health of government.

—Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787

If Hillary Clinton occupies the White House her presidency will be unpleasant for her and chaotic for the country. Ms. Clinton will encounter a nationwide rebellion she cannot comprehend and hence will not address.

The rebellion is already underway, and it will continue. It is not a violent, man-the-barricades revolution, but a visible one in which millions of voters in both parties are openly rejecting conventional candidates. They are seeking a radical transformation of American governance.

Ms. Clinton will take office because she gamed the nomination process brilliantly, but she was victimized by classic tragedy. In the most bizarre political season in memory, she was the right person in the right place at the wrong time.

China is set to be the second-largest country to share United Nations' peacekeeping costs from 2016 to 2018, just behind the United States, accounting for 10.2 percent of the total.

Herve Ladsous, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, was quoted during an interview on Sunday, ahead of his visit to China in early June.

China's contribution to the UN peacekeeping operations budget will rise from 6.6 percent to 10.3 percent, surpassing Japan for the first time, Wang Min, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said in December.

Meanwhile, the country will also pay 7.92 percent of the total UN regular budget from 2016 to 2018, making it the third-largest contributor among 193 member states, following the United States and Japan.

The Roadmap on NATO-Ukraine Defence Technical Cooperation was approved during the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Joint Working Group on Defence and Technical Cooperation in the Ukrainian city of Lvov, the Ukraine's NATO Mission said Friday.

"The sides discussed the provisions of the State target defense program on weapons and military equipment development for the period till 2020, implementation of projects in the framework of the NATO Trust Funds for Ukraine and the reform of the national defense industry. During the meeting the Roadmap on NATO-Ukraine Defence Technical Cooperation was approved. It is going to be signed at the NATO Summit in Warsaw," the mission said on its website.

US and Greek authorities in a joint operation intercepted a container carrying 26 million prescription opioid painkillers that were destined to be supplied to the Daesh jihadists by sea, Greek media reported Friday.

According to the Ekathimerini newspaper, the container with Tramadol was discovered by officers of the Greek Financial Crimes Squad's narcotics unit and agents of US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The container, which, according to the declaration carried towels and tablecloths, had reportedly arrived from India last month and was expected to be delivered to Libya.

Russia's defense ministry released a video of Su-34 bombers destroying an Islamic State oil-refining plant near the Syrian city of Ras al-Ayn on the border with Turkey, as Russia intensifies airstrikes on the terrorists' oil smuggling routes.

The video released on Thursday shows Russian jets hitting oil reservoirs located on territory under Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) control.

"Strikes took technical equipment out of operation and inflamed oil products, causing a large fire at the plant," reads the bulletin of the Russian Centre for reconciliation of opposing sides in Syria from June 1.

The Russian president has signed into law a bill defining the term political activity of non-governmental organizations and allowing charity groups receiving funding from abroad not to register as foreign agents.

The new law lists political activity as participation in street rallies and marches and any activity aimed at influencing the result of an election or a referendum. The list also includes elections monitoring, participation in the work of political parties, public appeals to state agencies seeking changes in laws, circulating appraisals of existing laws or state policies and attempts to influence views on political issues through opinion polls.

The act also names the spheres where no activity can be recognized as political. These are culture, science, sport, fine arts, healthcare, environmental protection, volunteering and charity. Groups involved in these activities should not register as foreign agents even if they get foreign funding and at the same time participate in events seeking to influence the decisions of state bodies.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a naval aircraft carrier, has set sail for a seven-month deployment in the Middle East with around 7,000 service members on board. The Navy says it will support operations against Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL) in the region.

The vessel, along with its airwing and escorts, headed out on its long journey across the Atlantic and beyond from Norfolk, Virginia.

"The Dwight David Eisenhower Strike Group deploys to relieve the Harry S. Truman Strike Group and will be supporting air strikes against ISIS, answering the nation's call and stepping up the fight," said Admiral Phil Davidson, the head of Fleet Forces Command, as reported by the Navy Times.

Baghdad has sent an envoy to Ankara to discuss withdrawing Turkish troops from Iraq, the country's ambassador to the US, Lukman Faily, told Sputnik. It coincides with report that Iraqi troops are planning to free Fallujah from Islamic State "within a week."

"We have recently had our ambassador, new ambassador, sent to Ankara about last week, so we have given another sign to Turkey that we are serious about discussions and dialogue,"Ambassador Faily said.

The move comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the Turkish troops' presence in Iraq as unacceptable.

"We demand that Turkey withdraw its troops from Iraqi territory, where they are deployed, as former Turkish Prime Minister Davutoglu put it, to 'strengthen' Iraq's sovereignty. This position is absolutely unacceptable,"Lavrov told Komsomolskaya Pravda daily on Tuesday.