Islamic State militants have downed a military helicopter near Palmyra, Syria, killing two Russian pilots on board. The helicopter had been attacking the advancing terrorists at Damascus' request when it was taken down, according to the Russian defense ministry.

"On July 8, Russian military pilot-instructors Evgeny Dolgin and Ryafagat Khabibulin, were conducting a calibration flight on a Syrian Mi-25 (export version of the Mi-24) helicopter loaded with ammunition in the province of Homs," the official statement from the Ministry of Defense reads.

"The crew received a request from the Syrian command group to help defeat the advancing terrorists and fire for effect. The captain of the aircraft, Ryafagat Khabibullin, made the decision to attack."

The Ministry of Defense stated that due to the skillful actions of the crew the terrorists were thrown back and the attack had been thwarted.

However, their helicopter was shot down by terrorists as it was turning to head back to the base.

Russia's Foreign Ministry has confirmed reports about US authorities expelling two Russian diplomats from Washington DC following an incident outside the US Embassy in Moscow on June 6, 2016, when a US diplomat was allegedly 'beaten' by Russian security staff.

"I can confirm that [...] the US government did demand the departure of two employees of the Russian Embassy in Washington DC without presenting any complaints to the employees themselves. Furthermore, the State Department strongly asked us not to make this fact public. As you can see, it is customary for American diplomats to keep their word," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told the press, alluding to the publication on the incident in Washington Post.

The article claimed that a Russian guard "attacked and beat up a US diplomat who was trying to enter" the US Embassy in Moscow, citing "US officials who were briefed on the incident."

"The American diplomat - or, more accurately, a CIA officer who worked under the embassy's cover and was returning to the compound disguised after conducting an intelligence operation - attacked a police officer, who was carrying out his duty protecting the diplomatic mission," Ryabkov explained.

Footage has emerged showing a Russian guard wrestling down an American diplomat and alleged CIA spy before he enters the US embassy in the Russian capital Moscow.

The video, released Thursday by video news agency Ruptly, shows the guard tacking the man to the ground.

Apparently shot from a CCTV camera across the street, the video shows a Taxi pulling off in front of the embassy and the man jumping out.

After being taken down by the guard, the man apparently struggles to enter the embassy by dragging himself on the ground but is faced with resistance from the guard.

A number of events have happened recently which point to the possibility that something might be brewing in the Syrian conflict.

First and foremost, there was Erdogan's apology to Russia which was really much more than just an apology. The Turks have really extended a hand to Russia and their offer officially includes not only a return of Russian tourists or the sale of Turkish veggies in Russia, but a strong collaboration between the two countries against terrorism and even join military operations. The Turks have even indicated that they would be willing to offer Russia the use of the Incirlik airbase for Russian aircraft involved in the air operations against Daesh & Co. Then the Turks denied it, which is fair enough and which is how they, apparently, do business. Either way, the Russians politely declined (more about that later)

Second, just two weeks after another "leak" which claimed that 51 US diplomats wanted Obama to authorize airstrikes against government forces in Syria, the WaPo "leaked" the news that the USA was offering the Russians a new "military partnership" in Syria only to vehemently denounce this plan a couple of days later. "Moon of Alabama" immediately and correctly denounced this so-called offer as "nonsense".

Inconvenient truths about Duluth Air Show featuring the USAF Thunderbirds

The Big Oil cartels have, for decades, been poisoning the Gulf of Mexico, the Persian Gulf and many other oceans and ocean floors with uncounted millions of gallons of toxic crude oil via their risky, and very leaky deep water oil wells. It wasn't just the crime against the planet that British Petroleum and Dick Cheney's Halliburton perpetrated in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. There are many other entities that have contributed to the mortal wounding of the Gulf, including the US military.

A prime example of the damage done to the Gulf by corporate entities includes the Mississippi River delta's massive dead zone that has been enlarging rapidly for decades, thanks to the many shoreline polluters that have been allowing industrial waste, herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers and other toxins to flow downstream from such so-called "environmentally friendly" states like Minnesota and its Big Chemical and Big Agribusiness-mesmerized farmers.

There are hundreds of dead zones at the mouths of many of the world's major rivers, but much of the pollution that caused the huge dead zone at the Mississippi's mouth started in Upper Midwest farmlands, especially the corporate mega-farms. (See here for more details.)

Carcinogenic corporate waste products that are dumped directly into the river or otherwise seep into the ground water are known to sicken and then kill living creatures downstream. As I was growing up, I fished in the Minnesota River and I witnessed the beginnings of the mortal wounding of that river because of massive corporate farm chemical runoff. The Minnesota went from swimmable and fishable to muddy, smelly, toxic and relatively fishless during the years in which I was coming of age.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has accused the US of importing terror to the Middle East through its interventions, pointing to Iraq, Libya and Syria as examples.

Speaking at an event being held in honor of the holy Islamic day of Eid'l Fit'r in Davao City on Friday, the leader challenged the narrative that the Middle East is the root of terrorism. "It is not that the Middle East is exporting terrorism to America; America imported terrorism (to the Middle East)," he said.

Duterte slammed the US and UK for presenting Saddam Hussein as a dictator in order to justify the Iraq war of 2003, and for failing to admit their mistakes after the fact. "They forced their way into Iraq," he told the Muslim crowd.

"After almost 10 years of investigation, it turned out there was no legal basis to declare war against Iraq. You see, it's a useless war," he explained.

"Look at Iraq now. Look what happened to Libya. Look what happened to Syria. Even children are being doused with gasoline. They were pushed to the wall for the failed promises," he added.

Kiev's military over the past 24 hours 585 times opened fire on territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), the military authority told the Donetsk News Agency on Saturday.

"Over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military opened fire 585 times," the source said. "The enemy launched 82 and 120mm calibers mines and used grenade launchers and small arms."

Under fire were villages Zaitsevo, Shirokaya Balka and Ozeryanovka, Leninskoye near Gorlovka, Yasinovataya and its suburbs - Zhabunki, Mikhailovka and Spartak, Dojucheyevsk, villages Sosnovskoye, Sakhana and Kominternovo in southern DPR, as well as Statomikhailovka, the Pertrov district, western and northern suburbs of Donetsk.

All data on violations of the Minsk agreements have been presented to observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission and to representatives of the Joint Coordination Center for Ceasefire Monitoring.

On July 5, the Defense Committee of the British parliament published report on Russia and the implcations for UK defence and security. The conclusions of the 58-page report were similarly alarmist.

The report says Russia has to be seen as a "strategic competitor" and military threat. According to the report, Russia had intensified anti-Western propaganda, boosted military capabilities, and, the worst thing, shown readiness to "maintain a sphere of influence beyond its own frontiers."

"The U.K. and NATO need to have adequate military capability and the capacity to deter, and where necessary confront aggressive Russian moves," the report reads.

The report recommends to:

• increase the number of experts advising Britain on Russia
• renew sanctions
• impose fresh travel bans on Russia's leadership
• "find ways" to deal with Russian propaganda

NATO welcomes the efforts of its members to overcome their dependencies on Russian military equipment, the alliance said in the Warsaw Summit Communique adopted on Saturday at the end of the two-day Warsaw summit.

"We welcome Allied efforts to address, as appropriate, existing dependencies on Russian-sourced legacy military equipment," the communique says.

In September 2014, the heads of state and government participating in the Wales summit pledged to gradually increase military spending to two percent of the GDP, meeting the demand from the United States. Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that in line with the latest data of the alliance, its accumulated military spending shall be higher by $8bln, or three percent up against last year.

Washington demands that its allies should boost their spending on defense and should acquire new weapons and military equipment, produced by the U.S. defense industry as the key manufacturer for NATO.

British instructors will complete the training of 4,000 Ukrainian military personnel by March 2017, UK Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs Philip Hammond told journalists on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Warsaw.

"We have a very active cooperation with Ukraine. The UK will train 4,000 Ukrainian servicemen until March 2017," Hammond said.

The minister also expressed his hope to deepen cooperation between Ukraine and NATO, adding that the UK plans to make a significant contribution to this cooperation, particularly in the field of training Ukraine's servicemen.

He also emphasized that the process of Montenegro's accession to NATO shows that the alliance's door is potentially open to all countries, including Ukraine.

In March, British Secretary of State for Defense Michael Fallon said in a statement that the UK instructors and advisers already trained 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers, adding that there are plans to train 300 more in 2016.