LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 29/16
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.april29.16.htm
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Bible Quotations For Today
Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees
and Sadducees!’ Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the
yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
according to Saint Matthew 16/11-20:"How could you fail to perceive that I was
not speaking about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!’
Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the yeast of bread,
but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Now when Jesus came into the
district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that
the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others
Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’He said to them, ‘But
who do you say that I am?’Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of
the living God.’And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I
tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you
loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Then he sternly ordered the disciples
not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah."
Make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full
accord and of one mind.
Letter to the Philippians
02/01-11:"If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from
love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy
complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of
one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard
others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own
interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was
in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality
with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a
slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled
himself and became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every
name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Pope Francis's Tweet For Today
Before the spiritual and moral abysses of mankind, only God’s infinite mercy can
bring us salvation
Face aux gouffres spirituels et moraux de l’humanité, seul Dieu avec son infinie
miséricorde peut nous donner le salut
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on April 29/16
What Arab youths think/Chris Doyle/Al Arabiya/April 28/16
Why Egypt needs evolution, not revolution/Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/April
28/16
Iran Is Exhausted/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed//Asharq Al Awsat/April 28/16
Turkey's Fake War on Jihadis/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/April 28/16
Germany: "We Need an Islam Law"/Proposal seeks to ban foreign funding of mosques
in Germany/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/April 28/16
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on April 29/16
Top IS Official Killed on Arsal
Outskirts
Lebanese Army Carries out Raids in Brital in Search of Suspects
Bassil: Telecom Data Should be Granted to State Security Similar to Other
Agencies
Electricity in Syrian Encampments Costs Lebanon $400 Million
Poll: Quarter of Lebanese Muslims Say Laws Should Follow Quran
520 candidates running for municipal elections in Aley governorate
Maronite Patriarch, Mar Bechara Boutros Rahi in Beirut back from Belgium
UCC urges politicians to stop using committee's salary scale demands as an
excuse to disrupt democratic deadlines
Arrest warrant against Bahij Abu Hamzeh
Hariri receives Chehayeb, Kabbara and Chaar
U.S. Embassy Donates American Books to Zouk Mikael Youth and Cultural Center
Social Affairs Minister, Rashid Derbas: No security impediments to hinder
municipal elections
Culture Minister, Raymond Araji, to Jones: We support initiatives for people,
general interest
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
April 29/16
De Mistura: Aleppo hospital strike
appears deliberate
UN Syria envoy issues document on transition
Syria opposition: Setting date for next round in peace talks is up to UN
Russia asks UN to blacklist two rebel groups in Syria
Syrian regime strikes on Aleppo kill 20
Syria Army Readies Aleppo Offensive as Civilian Toll Rises
U.N. Envoy: Syria Ceasefire should be 'Revitalized' before Peace Talks Resume
ISIS in fighting on edge of Syria Druze region
Assad to shake up Syria cabinet
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Moves Tons of Arms into Tuz Khormato
Iran: 17 executions in four days including at least 3 young prisoners
Brawls in Turkish parliament delay legislation on EU migrant deal
ISIS turns to selling fish, cars to offset oil losses: report
Iran regime broadcasts video to recruit children for Syria war
Iranian refugee, 23, self-immolates; call for support for Iranian refugees in
Australia
Former engineering student, charged with a terrorist offence, denied bail in
Brampton, Ont.
The propaganda wing of ISIL has recruited several Canadians, former CSIS
official says
Saudi Executes Jordanian for Drug Smuggling
Iraq Shuts Al-Jazeera Bureau for 'Instigating Violence'
S. Korea Says North Failed with Second Mid-range Missile Test
Israel Nuclear Reactor Defects Spark Secrecy Dilemma
3 arrested after Egyptian’s death in London arson
Links From
Jihad Watch Site for
April 29/16
Italy arrests 4 Muslims in Islamic State plot to attack Israeli
embassy, Vatican.
FBI arrests brother of San Bernardino jihad murderer and 2 others.
Robert Spencer in FrontPage: Rutgers Goes Sharia-Compliant.
Terrorism theorist” Max Abrahms challenges Robert Spencer to debate, then loses
nerve and cool.
Bangladesh: Two Hindus jailed for defaming Islam.
Citadel punishing cadet for leaking story about Muslim cadet possibly getting
uniform exemption.
Australia: Muslim teen arrested for jihad plot was in “deradicalization” program.
Pakistan: Christian teen lynched for flirting with Muslim girl.
Education Dept encourages Islam in classroom to stop bullying of Muslims.
Hugh Fitzgerald: Ivan Rioufol on the Left and Far Left as Defenders of Islam.
All he could say was ‘sex, sex, sex’”: Wave of Muslim migrant sex assaults hits
Austria.
Hamas-linked CAIR releases “toolkit” to help Muslims introduce resolutions
against “Islamophobia”.
Latest Lebanese Related News published on April 29/16
Top IS Official Killed on Arsal Outskirts
Naharnet/April 28/16/The Lebanese army killed on Thursday a top Islamic State
group official and his bodyguard during a raid on the outskirts of the
northeastern border down of Arsal, the state-run National News Agency reported.
The dead official was identified as Nayef Shaalan, who goes by nom de guerre of
Abou Fawz, and his bodyguard as Ahmed Mroueh. Their death came during a special
operation carried out by the military in Wadi al-Hosn during which troops
arrested another bodyguard named Mohammed Mousalli and several others, NNA said.
The military carried out patrols inside Arsal following the operation, the
agency added. The army has been battling extremists near the border with Syria
since the IS and al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front overran Arsal in August 2014.
Lebanese Army Carries out Raids in
Brital in Search of Suspects
Naharnet/April 28/16/The army carried out on Thursday raids in the eastern Bekaa
town of Brital, reported the National News Agency. It said that the military was
searching for wanted suspects. It seized during its operation a stolen vehicle
from the residence of an individual identified as A.M.M. and later raided the
residence of an individual identified as M.A.M.
Report: Lebanese Army to
Receive Boost from Russia
Naharnet/April 28/16/Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has expressed
readiness to provide military aid to Lebanon to help it confront terrorist
threats, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday. Shoigu informed his advisers
to set a date for a meeting for joint committees next June to discuss the
details of the assistance, the newspaper quoted informed sources as saying.
Moscow will inform Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji during his upcoming visit that
it will provide the Lebanese military with helicopters, they said. According to
al-Joumhouria, a contract signed between the two sides for Russia to provide
Lebanon with rocket launchers and anti-tank guided Kornet missiles under the now
defunct Saudi military aid, will be renewed. The daily said that the Lebanese
government will fund the purchase. Riyadh announced in February it was halting
$4 billion in aid grants to the army and security forces due to what it
described as stances taken by Lebanese officials which were not in harmony with
the ties between the two countries. Saudi Arabia called on its citizens not to
travel to Lebanon for safety reasons and ordered those staying there to leave.
The Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League also blacklisted
Iranian-backed Hizbullah. Saudi's punitive measures against Lebanon began after
Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, an ally of Hizbullah, declined to support Saudi
resolutions against Iran during two meetings of Arab and Muslim foreign
ministers. The Lebanese army is fighting the Islamic State group and
al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front in border areas.
Bassil: Telecom Data Should
be Granted to State Security Similar to Other Agencies
Naharnet/April 28/16/Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil has said that he has
expressed reservations to granting security agencies full access to the
country’s telecommunications data over fears of wiretapping. Bassil told As
Safir daily on Thursday that he and Education Minister Elias Bou Saab were not
in favor of a cabinet decision to extend the agencies' access to the data for
another year to stop the Lebanese from being exposed to the apparatuses. The
foreign minister said that during Wednesday's cabinet session he made the same
stance he had announced a year ago. If there is an insistence to give the full
data to the agencies, then the State Security should be granted access to it
too, stressed Bassil. Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said in his press
briefing on Wednesday that the data would be shared with all security
apparatuses, including State Security, which is at the center of a controversy
in the government. Last week, the cabinet tasked Prime Minister Tammam Salam
with reactivating. State Security after Christian ministers insisted to resolve
the dispute between its director-general, a Catholic, and his deputy, who is a
Shiite, and to release the needed funds so that it functions properly.
Electricity in Syrian
Encampments Costs Lebanon $400 Million
Naharnet/April 28/16/The Syrian encampments are costing Lebanon some $400
million dollars in electricity expenses, ministerial sources told An Nahar daily
on Thursday. The cabinet discussed on Wednesday a suggestion that was brought up
by the Energy Ministry to install electricity meters in the Syrian encampments
in a bid to trim down illegal connection on power cables which is burdening the
Lebanese treasury with significant costs, the sources said. The annual power
consumption by the Syrian encampments totals around $400 million in a country
that already has a problem with electricity. Th suggestion did not meet the
approval of Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi who told the daily al-Joumhouria:
“Anything that could lead to the naturalization of Syrians in Lebanon or give
them a legitimate character is rejected.”Lebanon is plagued with frequent power
cuts because of outdated and damaged infrastructure. Local generator companies
have filled the gap by providing power when state electricity cuts off -- but
they often charge exorbitant prices. The poor condition of the state's power
infrastructure has been a major source of public frustration. Lebanon is home to
more than one million registered Syrian refugees, or nearly a quarter of the
country's 4.5 million people. Lebanese officials say that another half a million
Syrians live in the country as well.
Poll: Quarter of Lebanese
Muslims Say Laws Should Follow Quran
Associated Press/Naharnet/April 28/16/A survey in 10 countries with significant
Muslim populations, including Lebanon, found "striking" differences in the
extent to which people believe the Quran should influence a nation's laws.
Possible reasons for these differences include a nation's history and religious
composition as well as personal factors such as intensity of religious
observance, age and level of education, said the Pew Research Center, which
conducted the survey among more than 10,000 Muslims and non-Muslims a year ago.
Error margins ranged from 3.4 to 4.3 percentage points. The poll found that half
or more of the respondents in four countries — Pakistan, the Palestinian
territories, Jordan and Malaysia — said laws should strictly follow the Muslim
holy book. Pakistan, a declared Islamic republic, scored highest, with 78
percent supporting the statement. In Turkey, also overwhelmingly Muslim but
founded as a secular country, only 13 percent agreed. In Turkey and Lebanon,
younger respondents were less likely to say the Quran should be the source of
laws than older ones. In Nigeria, Turkey, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Lebanon and
Senegal, people with secondary school education were less likely to say national
laws should strictly follow the Quran than those with fewer years of schooling.
A majority of Lebanese Christians (59%) say the Quran should not influence their
nation’s laws. Lebanese Sunni are divided between saying that the Quran should
not influence political laws (37%) and that laws should simply reflect Islamic
values (34%). Among Lebanese Shiites, 56% say that laws should follow Islamic
principles, but not strictly. Only a quarter of Lebanese Muslims say that laws
should strictly follow the Quran, perhaps a reflection of the country’s diverse
ethnic and religious makeup and its laws that give each religious group a say in
national politics. Half of young Lebanese (18- to 29-year-olds) say that laws
should not be influenced by the Quran, compared with 36% who say this among
Lebanese 50 and older. Non-Muslims were far less likely to support the idea of
the Quran as the sole source of legislation than Muslims. For example, in
Nigeria — split evenly between Muslims and Christians — 52 percent of Muslims
but only 2 percent of the country's Christians agreed with the statement. In
some areas, support for a strict link between laws and the Quran has increased,
though the poll did not cite reasons. In the Palestinian territories, for
example, backing almost doubled, from 36 percent in 2011 to 65 percent in 2015.
In Nigeria, support went up by eight points, to 27 percent. In Jordan, there was
an 18 point decline since 2012, and now 54 percent believe laws should strictly
follow the Quran.
520 candidates running for
municipal elections in Aley governorate
Thu 28 Apr 2016/NNA - Candidates running for municipal councils' membership in
Aley governorate has reached up to the moment 520 candidates, NNA reporter said
on Thursday.The deadline for the closure of candidacy to Aley province's
municipal and mukhtar elections is upcoming Wednesday. 180 candidates are
reported up to the moment for the mukhtar seats in Aley governorate, NNA
reporter said. 340 candidates are required to run for mukhtar seats in Aley
province.
Maronite Patriarch, Mar Bechara Boutros Rahi in Beirut back from Belgium
Thu 28 Apr 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch, Mar Bechara Boutros Rahi, is back to
Beirut after a three-day visit to Belgium where he met with Philippe of Belgium,
the Lebanese diaspora, and lectured the European parliament. At the airport,
Rahi was greeted by the Head of the Central Maronite Council, Former Minister,
Wadih Al-Khazen, at the head of a delegation and other bishops. He went straight
from the plane to Bkirki without making any statement.
UCC urges politicians to stop
using committee's salary scale demands as an excuse to disrupt democratic
deadlines
Thu 28 Apr 2016/NNA - The Union Coordination Committee (UCC) met in session on
Thursday after which it issued a statement urging politicians to stop using the
committee as an excuse to disrupt national democratic deadlines. "We are not
planning to disrupt the popular democratic municipal and mukhatar elections. We
have been repeatedly calling for organized constitutional work to facilitate
people's affairs. "We demand politicians to set our salary scale request apart
from their political polarizations and struggles," the UCC's statement added,
refusing having its name be exploited in the service of political disruption
agendas. The UCC also pushed the House of Parliament to meet in a regular
legislative session to endorse the salary scale which was endorsed for the
private sector, with the exception of teachers, back in 2012.
Arrest warrant against Bahij
Abu Hamzeh
Thu 28 Apr 2016/NNA - Financial Prosecutor Judge, Ali Ibrahim, issued an arrest
warrant on Thursday for Bahij Abou Hamzeh for bankruptcy fraud in the case of MP
Walid Jumblatt against him, NNA correspondent reported.
Hariri receives Chehayeb,
Kabbara and Chaar
Thu 28 Apr 2016/NNA - Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri received today at the
"Center House" the Mufti of Tripoli and the North Sheikh Malek Chaar and
discussed with him the latest developments, in particular the situation in
Tripoli and the North.He then received a delegation from the town of Taanayel
headed by the Imam of the town, Sheikh Ayman Charkieh, who said that the meeting
focused on the problem of linking Taanayel to the municipality of Zahle. He also
received Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb, MP Mohammed Abdel Latif Kabbara,
and the head of the "National dialogue" party Fouad Makhzoumi. He discussed with
each of them political developments.
U.S. Embassy Donates American
Books to Zouk Mikael Youth and Cultural Center
Thu 28 Apr 2016 at 09:46/NNA - On April 27, U.S. Chargé d'Affaires ad interim
Ambassador Richard H. Jones presented 250 books and educational resources to the
Zouk Mikael Youth and Cultural Center.Minister of Culture RonyArayji and Mayor
NouhadNaufel also spoke to the assembled group of municipality leaders and scout
troops. In his remarks, CDA Jones noted that "Mastery of the English language
enhances students' employment prospects, opens a window to a broader world of
ideas and opportunities, and empowers them to contribute to the socio-economic
success of their families, their communities, towns, and ultimately all of
Lebanon."The U.S. Embassy supports English language learning in Lebanon through
many activities and educational exchanges. The U.S. Embassy awarded a grant to
the Zouk Mikael Youth and Cultural Center to purchase English language books and
materials and to host English language programming that will explainAmerican
culture to community members, promote shared values, and increase cultural
understanding.
Social Affairs Minister,
Rashid Derbas: No security impediments to hinder municipal elections
Thu 28 Apr 2016/NNA - Social Affairs Minister, Rashid Derbas, confirmed on
Thursday that there were no security impediments threatening to hinder municipal
elections, "especially that political forces are highly involved in the
municipal elections and have been forming coalitions in bigger cities." "The
state is in a standby mode, but municipal elections will be held on their set
dates despite all the doubts that have been shrouding the Lebanese," Derbas told
the voice of Lebanon radio station. As for Arsal municipal elections, Derbas
said that the army's presence inside the balloting rooms comes to prohibit
attempts to forge elections. "The Lebanese Army is a source of trust," he added.
Touching on Tripoli municipal coalitions, the Minister pointed to a will by
deputies to reach an understanding on a consensual municipal council with a
consensual president. "The matter will be left open for discussions within the
coming few days after Mikati negotiates with political forces," he added.
Culture Minister, Raymond
Araji, to Jones: We support initiatives for people, general interest
Thu 28 Apr 2016/NNA - Culture Minister, Raymond Araji, said on Thursday that the
ministry couldnot but give support and adhere to initiatives that put humans at
the center of politics and put general interest at the top of their priorities.
His words came during a ceremony organized in Zouk Mikael whereby the U.S.
Charge d'Affaires, Richard Jones, donated books and equipment for Youth and
Culture Center (YCC) in Zouk Mikael in the presence of the municipality's
president, Nohad Nawfal, YCC Director, Roula Sawan, and other personalities.
Sawan and Nawfal separately made a statement to thank the U.S. Embassy for its
donation. Araji said extended his personal gratitude and appreciation to the
diplomat for being such a loyal friend to Lebanon and giving Lebanon his
unrelenting support since 1996. "It is with great pleasure that I join you today
to receive the donation of the American Embassy in the form of books and
equipment, for the benefit of the YCC in Zouk Mikael," the minister said. "I
would like to start by thanking the United States for their attachment and
support to Lebanon, in order to preserve it as an example of open-mindedness, of
conciliation and reconciliation. It is crucial today to understand the vital
importance of such a model of conviviality and exchange, at a time where the
most fanatic obscurantism is reappearing at our doorstep and threatening the
minorities with eradication or forced exile," he added. He underscored that
these ancient minorities formed an integral part of societies and their history,
and guarantee the equilibrium of nations. "Through the emphasis on Culture,
which is where differences of opinions are voiced, and through the priority
given to the youth, which represent the budding promise of a peaceful future,
the United States and all the national and international collaborators who got
involved in the YCC projects, have chosen Peace and given priority to humanity
against savagery," Araiji went on saying. He also honored the municipality of
Zouk Mikael and its teams for being a lively and innovative local public
institution, adding that "even during our darkest hours when war was raging and
all was neglected and derelict, its public areas and roundabouts were amongst
the only ones to be adorned with flowers and greenery, conveying a message of
hope and resistance and particularly a promise of rebirth to a wounded
population." For his part, Jones said that mastering the English language
enhanced employment opportunities for students and opened a window to the world,
it also enabled them to contribute in the social and economic success, noting
that the US Embassy supports English language teaching in Lebanon through a
variety of activities and cultural exchange. He added that the U.S. Embassy
presented this donation to the YCC to encourage the purchase of English books
and host programs on the English language.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 29/16
De Mistura: Aleppo hospital strike
appears deliberate
By Staff writer Al Arabiya
News Thursday, 28 April 2016/United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said
on Thursday he did not believe the targeting of a hospital hit by air strikes in
Aleppo overnight was by mistake, Al Arabiya al Hadath television reported.
During an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya’s sister Al Hadath, de Mistura
said he does not believe the shelling of an Aleppo hospital earlier on Thursday
was ‘a mistake’, describing it as a war crime. He did not elaborate or comment
on who might have been responsible. De Mistura also warned that the ceasefire in
Syria could collapse and called for bringing it back to the previous level ahead
of the next round of peace talks. He also called on the international community
to create an inclusive Syrian government “that includes all parties.”A wave of
airstrikes and shelling killed more than 60 people in less than 24 hours in the
northern Syrian city of Aleppo, monitors and activists said Thursday. The
contested city is now one of the main battlegrounds of Syria's devastating civil
war, with a cease-fire that has collapsed and peace talks in Geneva stalled. At
least 27 people died as a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders and the
International Committee for the Red Cross and nearby buildings were hit
overnight in the rebel-held part of Aleppo. New airstrikes Thursday in
residential areas in the rebel-held part of the city killed at least 20 while
state media reported that at least 1,000 mortars and rockets were fired at
government-held areas of Aleppo, killing at least 14 civilians. The chief Syrian
opposition negotiator Mohammed Alloush blamed the government of President Bashar
Assad for the violence. He told The Associated Press that it shows "the
environment is not conducive to any political action."About 200 civilians have
been killed in the past week, nearly half of them around Aleppo. There has also
been shelling in Damascus, along with a car bombing - both rarities for the
capital. The ICRC said the fighting, including the destruction in airstrikes
overnight of a key hospital in Aleppo, is putting millions at grave risk. With
peace talks in Geneva completely deadlocked, Syrians are regarding the
escalating bloodshed with dread, fearing that Aleppo is likely to be the focus
of the next phase of the war. Rebel commanders said government forces have been
mobilizing soldiers, equipment and ammunition in preparation for a military
action in Aleppo. From our archive: Aleppo under renewed siege and violence
The well-known al-Quds filed hospital supported by MSF and ICRC and located in
the rebel-held district of Sukkari was hit shortly before midnight Wednesday,
according to opposition activists and rescue workers. Six hospital staff and
three children were among the 27 who died there. The Syrian Civil Defense, a
volunteer first-responders agency whose members went to the scene of the attack,
put the death toll at 30 and said the dead included six hospital staff. Among
those slain was one of the last pediatricians remaining in opposition-held areas
of the contested city and a dentist. The defense agency, also known as the White
Helmets, said the hospital and adjacent buildings were struck in four
consecutive airstrikes. It said there were still victims buried under the rubble
and that the rescue work continued. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said three children were among the 27 victims but it was not
immediately clear if they were patients at the hospital. MSF said in a statement
that at least 14 patients and staff were among those killed, with the toll
expected to rise. "Destroyed MSF-supported hospital in Aleppo was well known
locally and hit by direct airstrike," it said.
"This devastating attack has destroyed a vital hospital in Aleppo, and the main
referral center for pediatric care in the area," said Muskilda Zancada, MSF head
of Syria mission. "Where is the outrage among those with the power and
obligation to stop this carnage?"
The 34-bed, multi-story hospital had an emergency room and offered services such
as obstetric care, outpatient and inpatient treatment. It had an intensive care
unit and an operating theatre. Eight doctors and 28 nurses worked full time in
the hospital, the MSF said. It has supported the hospital since 2012, the aid
group said. An unnamed Syrian military official quoted on state TV denied
reports that the hospital was targeting, saying they were false. A video posted
online by the White Helmets showed a number of lifeless bodies, including those
of children, being pulled out from a building and loaded into ambulances amid
screaming and wailing. It also showed distraught rescue workers trying to keep
onlookers away from the scene, apparently fearing more airstrikes. Shortly after
midday, new airstrikes in rebel-held areas killed at least 20 people in two
neighborhoods, the Syrian Civil Defense and the Observatory said. Videos
provided by activists show scenes of dust rising up from buildings on fire as
men and women run away from collapsing houses and children cry, looking for
their parents. In one clip, a man is seen lifting his daughter out of the
rubble. State media said at least 1,300 rockets and missiles fell in residential
areas in government controlled parts of the city, killing 14 people on Thursday.
Alloush, who was one of the leading negotiators of the opposition in the Geneva
talks, described the airstrikes as one of the latest "war crimes" of Assad's
government. "Whoever carries out these massacres needs a war tribunal and a
court of justice to be tried for his crimes. He does not need a negotiating
table," Alloush told the AP in a telephone interview. "Now, the environment is
not conducive for any political action."The February 27 cease-fire has been
fraying in the past weeks as casualty figures from violence mount, particularly
in Aleppo and across northern Syria. Airstrikes earlier this week also targeted
a training center for the Syrian Civil Defense, leaving five of its team dead in
rural Aleppo. Since April 19, nearly 200 people have died, including at least 44
in an airstrike on a market place in rebel-held area in northern Idlib province,
as well as dozens of civilians in government-held areas from rebel shelling.
(with Reuters and the Associated Press)
UN Syria envoy issues document on transition
Reuters, United Nations
Thursday, 28 April 2016/The Syrian government and main opposition group remain
far apart in their vision of a political transition, despite some common ground,
the United Nations Syria envoy said on Thursday. UN Special Envoy Staffan de
Mistura, in a seven-page document issued at the end of a two-week round of
talks, said that the two sides shared the view “that the transitional governance
could include members of the present government and the opposition, independents
and others”. Major and regional powers, who form the International Syria Support
Group (ISSG), would need to help in elaborating the fundamental issues to reach
agreement on a viable political transition in future rounds, he said.
Syria opposition: Setting date for next round in peace talks is up to UN
Reuters Wednesday, 27 April
2016/A Syrian opposition official said on Wednesday it was up to the United
Nations to say when peace talks would resume, after a Russian official said they
would restart on May 10, adding that the opposition would not take part until
its demands were met. George Sabra of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) was
responding to comments earlier on Wednesday by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail
Bogdanov of Russia, a major ally of President Bashar al-Assad. “All the while
real steps aren’t taken on the ground in Syria, the participation of the
delegation of the HNC will remain suspended,” Sabra told Reuters. The HNC
suspended its participation in the peace talks last week as violence escalated
on the ground and the negotiations made no progress towards discussing a
political transition.
Russia asks UN to blacklist two rebel groups in Syria
The Associated Press,
United Nations Thursday, 28 April 2016/Russia said on Wednesday that it has
asked the United Nations Security Council to blacklist two powerful Syrian rebel
groups that it considers “terrorist organizations,” one which is playing a key
role in political negotiations aimed at ending the five-year conflict. Russia’s
UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters the two hardline groups - Jaish
al-Islam, or the Army of Islam, and Ahrar al-Sham – aren’t observing the
cessation of hostilities in Syria “and are engaged in terrorist activities” and
therefore should be subject to sanctions.Mohammed Alloush, a leading figure in
Jaish al-Islam, heads the High Negotiating Committee, the main opposition
umbrella group, at the Geneva peace talks which are largely stalled. The High
Negotiating Committee postponed its participation in the talks, which wrapped up
their latest round on Wednesday, citing an escalation in fighting and
insufficient aid deliveries to besieged areas. The Syrian government, which
Russia backs, also considers the two groups "terrorist" organizations and
opposed their representation in the Geneva talks. Churkin said Jaish al-Islam
and Ahrar al-Sham “are not participating in negotiations and they’re not
participating in the cessation of hostilities so it’s time to call a spade a
spade.” But Russia’s attempt to get the Security Council committee monitoring
sanctions against al-Qaida and ISIS to add the two Syrian rebel groups to the
blacklist is facing an uphill struggle. New Zealand’s UN Ambassador Gerard van
Bohemen said Russia’s attempt to sanction the two groups was raised during
closed-door council consultations on Syria following a briefing by UN special
envoy Staffan de Mistura and sparked “controversy” in the room. Van Bohemen said
he told the council that there are a lot of bad people in Syria, but not every
one of them is “a terrorist.”
Syrian regime strikes on Aleppo kill 20
AFP, Aleppo Thursday, 28
April 2016/At least 20 civilians were killed late Wednesday in regime strikes on
a hospital and nearby residential building in the Syrian city of Aleppo, civil
defense volunteers known as the White Helmets said. A dentist and five members
of a family, including two children, were among those killed “by airstrikes
targeting al Quds Hospital and a nearby residential building in al Sukkari
neighborhood in eastern Aleppo,” the volunteers told AFP. A doctor who was the
only paediatrician in the rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo was also
among the dead, an AFP correspondent on the ground said. The Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights monitoring group confirmed the raids were carried out by
“regime airplanes” and said two hospital guards and a doctor were among the
dead. Aleppo under renewed siege and violence Video footage filmed by AFP showed
images of the badly damaged hospital, aid workers transporting the victims in
ambulances and a weeping man holding a child. Rescuers were at the scene
searching for victims trapped under the rubble, the AFP correspondent said.
Separately, 11 people were killed in western parts of Aleppo earlier on
Wednesday, according to the Syrian Observatory. State news agency SANA blamed
the rocket and gunfire on al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front and its allies. Also
earlier in the day, five civilians were killed in two neighborhoods in eastern
Aleppo, according to the White Helmets. An AFP correspondent said that regime
aircraft targeted one area with barrel bombs and another with missiles.
Following a lull in fighting after the ceasefire took effect on February 27,
violence has intensified in recent days, with more than 100 civilians reported
dead in air strikes, shelling and rocket fire since Friday. Once Syria’s
commercial hub, northwestern Aleppo has been divided between rebel control in
the east and government forces in the west since 2012. The fighting has put the
ceasefire in jeopardy and overshadowed a new round of UN-brokered peace talks in
Geneva that were entering a recess on Wednesday. More than 270,000 people have
been killed in Syria and millions been forced from their homes since the
conflict erupted in 2011.
Syria Army Readies Aleppo
Offensive as Civilian Toll Rises
Associated Press/Naharnet/April 28/16/The Syrian army was preparing an offensive
on Thursday to retake the whole of Aleppo, as escalating fighting in the divided
second city killed dozens of civilians in another blow to a tattered truce.
Nearly 200 people have been killed in Aleppo in the past week as rebels have
pounded government-held neighborhoods with rocket and artillery fire and the
regime has hit rebel areas with air raids. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura warned
the hard-won February 27 ceasefire was now "barely alive" and pleaded for urgent
action by its co-sponsors Russia and the United States to rescue it. But
pro-government newspaper Al-Watan said the army was now poised for a "decisive
battle" for Aleppo and the surrounding province which would begin in the coming
days. "Now is the time to launch the battle for the complete liberation of
Aleppo," the paper said in an editorial, adding that the campaign "will not take
long to begin, nor to finish." A source close to the regime told AFP the
offensive would begin in the next few days. "The army is preparing a huge
operation in the coming days to push the rebels away from the city by encircling
it and creating a security zone," the source said.
Rebels have controlled eastern districts of Aleppo since 2012, while western
neighborhoods are held by the regime. Control of the surrounding province is
divided between a myriad of armed groups -- jihadists of Al-Qaida and the
Islamic State group, Kurdish militia and various rebel factions as well as the
army.
The upsurge in violence in and around Aleppo has severely holed the February
ceasefire between the government and non-jihadist rebels and cast a shadow over
the U.N. envoy's hopes of convening a new round of peace talks next month. Rebel
rocket and artillery fire on government-held neighborhoods on Thursday killed 18
civilians, including two children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Regime air strikes on rebel-held districts, including the densely populated
Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, killed 31 civilians, including three children,
according to the British-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on
the ground. An AFP correspondent said every building in sight in the Bustan al-Qasr
neighborhood had had its windows blown out.
"The planes have set every eastern neighborhood on fire today," one resident
told AFP. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned that Aleppo city
was "on the brink of humanitarian disaster"."Wherever you are, you hear
explosions of mortars, shelling and planes flying over," said Valter Gros, who
heads ICRC's office in Aleppo. "There is no neighborhood of the city that hasn't
been hit. People are living on the edge. Everyone here fears for their lives and
nobody knows what is coming next." Late on Wednesday, government air strikes hit
a hospital and nearby block of flats in the rebel-held Sukkari neighborhood,
killing 30 people, the civil defense group known as the White Helmets told AFP.
Among the dead was the last pediatrician still working in rebel areas of the
city. Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which had been supporting the hospital,
condemned the strike. "The MSF-supported hospital in Aleppo was the main
referral center for paediatrics and had eight doctors and 28 nurses. Hospitals
are #notatarget," the group said on Twitter. Ten of the dead were so badly
disfigured they could not be identified, a rescue worker told AFP.The Aleppo
violence has raised fears for the ceasefire in other areas of Syria and called
into question the future of U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva. The U.N. envoy
said the truce was "still alive, but barely.""It's still there... but it's in
great danger... And the perception is that it could collapse at any time," de
Mistura told reporters. He said the United States, which supports some rebel
groups, and regime ally Russia needed to act, calling on them to organize a
high-level Syria meeting before negotiations resume. As the Geneva talks went
into recess, de Mistura said he wanted to open another round "during the course
of May". But he added that he was waiting to fix a date in the hope that world
powers would use their leverage to salvage the ceasefire. "How can you have
substantial talks when you have only news about bombing and shelling?" he asked.
U.N. Envoy: Syria Ceasefire
should be 'Revitalized' before Peace Talks Resume
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 28/16/The U.N.'s Syria envoy said Thursday
he planned to hold another round of peace talks next month, but called for a
stuttering ceasefire to be "revitalized" before setting a date, as at least 20
civilians were killed in second city Aleppo. Staffan de Mistura made the
comments after briefing the United Nations Security Council on the talks, which
he said had made gains despite escalating violence on the ground that continues
to threaten the fragile truce. He said the United States, which supports some
rebel groups, and regime ally Russia needed to act, calling on them to organize
a high-level Syria meeting before negotiations resume. As the latest round of
negotiations went on recess, de Mistura said he wanted to open a fresh set
"during the course of May", to build on momentum gained so far. But he added
that he was waiting to fix a date in the hope that world powers would use their
leverage to strengthen the ceasefire, which needed to be "urgently revitalized".
"How can you have substantial talks when you have only news about bombing and
shelling?" de Mistura asked. The announcement came after regime strikes on an
Aleppo hospital and nearby residential building late Wednesday left at least 20
civilians dead, including two children, according to civil defence volunteers in
the country. A doctor who was the only pediatrician in the rebel-held eastern
neighborhoods of Aleppo was also among the dead, an AFP correspondent on the
ground said. Video footage filmed by AFP showed the badly damaged hospital, aid
workers transporting the victims in ambulances and a weeping man holding a
child.In separate attacks on the east and west of the city earlier in the day,
16 people died, including at least five civilians, according to the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights and defence volunteers. State news agency SANA
blamed rocket attacks and gunfire in the west on al-Qaida affiliate Al-Nusra
Front and its allies.
Political transition
De Mistura highlighted that all parties at the Geneva-based talks now recognized
the need for a new transitional government in Syria that should be tasked with
drafting a new constitution, even if huge divides remain on the nature of that
government. The talks are focused on creating a transitional government capable
of leading Syria out of a brutal civil war that has killed more than 270,000
people and displaced millions. "No one is doubting any more that there is an
urgent need for a true and credible political transition," he told reporters.
"There is a clear understanding that a political transition should be overseen
by a new, I repeat new, credible and inclusive transitional government, which
will be replacing the present governance arrangement," he said. But the U.N.
mediator declined to discuss the most daunting obstacle at the talks -- the fate
of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The main opposition High Negotiations
Committee (HNC) has insisted that Assad cannot be part of a transitional
government and must agree to leave power as part of any peace deal. Government
negotiators have said Assad's fate is not on the agenda at the talks. The HNC,
which is backed by Saudi Arabia and the West, officially withdrew from this
round last week to protest escalating violence, but left technical experts in
Geneva who continued to meet with U.N. mediators. On Wednesday Russia asked the
U.N. to blacklist Jaish al-Islam, a major Syrian rebel group that counts HNC
chief negotiator Mohammed Alloush among its members. The group is "closely
linked to terrorist organisations, primarily the Islamic State group and
Al-Qaeda", Moscow's ambassador to the U.N. said. But Alloush rejected the
accusation and said Russia was committing "massacres" with its air and artillery
strikes in support of Assad. U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby backed
de Mistura's concern over escalating violence, adding, "We urge Russia to press
the Assad regime to fulfill its commitments under (previous resolutions)".
ISIS in
fighting on edge of Syria Druze region
Now Lebanon/April 28/16/BEIRUT - Fighting erupted overnight between Syrian
regime forces and ISIS in the remote northeastern outskirts of Suweida, the
latest ISIS encroachment on the Druze-populated province. The Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights reported Thursday that the clashes raged between Tel Dalfah and
Tel Asheiheb, both tactically important high positions approximately 7
kilometers east of the government-controlled Khalkhalah Military Airbase.
“Regime forces are shelling the areas of the engagements, amid reports of
casualties from both sides,” the monitoring NGO tracking developments in
war-torn Syria added. Syria’s state news agency also covered the fighting,
reporting that the army “foiled an attack from the ISIS terrorist group on a
number of military posts.”SANA also said that Syrian army troops “eliminated” a
number of ISIS fighters in Tel Dalfah, which the jihadist briefly seized in late
January 2015 before regime troops routed them from the approximately 715 meter
tall hilltop. According to small pro-Assad online outlet, ISIS conducted its
latest attack with “hundreds of militants” in a bid to secure roads in the
desert region that are used for smuggling weapons from southern Syria.
On May 19, 2015, ISIS conducted a brief raid on the nearby Suweida province
village of Al-Huqf, killing five members of the pro-regime National Defense
Force as well as a woman from the village. Since then, fears have persisted in
Suweida of an ISIS onslaught on the edges of the province, with the fiercely
independent Men of Dignity Movement repeatedly warning of the “threat from the
east”—a reference to ISIS.
Assad to shake up Syria
cabinet
The current cabinet has come under criticism from regime loyalists.
Now Lebanon/April 28/BEIRUT – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is poised to make
wholesale changes to the country’s cabinet, including replacing the current
prime minister, according to a daily with an editorial line supportive of the
regime. As-Safir reported that the government shuffle will take place after the
new Syrian parliament—which was elected on April 13—convenes for its first
legislative session in the beginning of May. The Lebanese newspaper cited
“high-level sources” as saying that the change will be from “top to bottom,” and
might see the replacement of current Premier Wael al-Halqi, who has served at
the head of the cabinet since August 2012 after his predecessor Riyad al-Hijab
defected to the opposition. Article 125 of Syria’s new constitution—which was
ratified in 2012—stipulates that the country’s cabinet will be considered
“resigned” upon the convening of a new parliament, and will only hold a
“caretaker role.” However, the constitution makes no mention if current
ministers need to be shuffled from their positions. “It is believed that the
next [cabinet] changes will focus on the service and economic ministries
[touching] on the lives of citizens,” As-Safir reported. The newspaper noted
that the current cabinet is “facing considerable criticism, including its
inability to address the economic situation.” A popular pro-Assad Facebook news
page, for its part, has already hailed the foreseen government change, writing
Thursday that “a few days separate the end of the legal relationship between the
Halqi government and the Syrian people.” “The page is turning [on a government]
considered by most citizens to be melancholy and which didn’t meet the needs of
the Syrian people,” the Latakia News Network wrote in a highly-critical post.
Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
Moves Tons of Arms into Tuz Khormato
Dalshad Abdullah/Asharq Al Awsat/April 28/16
Irbil- Official security sources revealed that Iran will be sending tons of
ammo, arms and missiles to Shi’ite Popular Mobilization Forces and Hezbollah
militants who are situated in the central city of Tooz District in Saladin
Province Tuz Khormato. The artilleries are sent to support the continuation of
battles against the Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Thousands of Tuz Khormato
residents are fleeing the city’s premise and vicinity, heading to the Kirkuk
governorate, as they fear the renewal of fierce clashes their city has been
witnessing over the past few days. Fierce clashes are erupting between Shi’ite
militias and Peshmerga forces.Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper sources revealed details
on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ushering in, over the last two
nights, seven cargos packed with high and medium caliber weapons which entered
the area through the Mehran bordering exit and into Iraqi grounds.
The reinforcement came under coordination struck between official parties, the
Iraqi government and the Popular Mobilization Forces PMF. The cargos ferried
rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and rifles. As soon as the shipments
arrived on Iraqi ground, they set course for the Tuz Khormato region taking the
route through Sulaiman Bek which falls under the control of Shi’ite militias.
The loaded trucks landed in the hands of PMF groups and Lebanon-based Hezbollah
militias assigned to fight in Iraq. Meanwhile, Kurdish security director in the
Tuz Khormatu district, Major Farouq Ahmed, told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that
the PMF has been expecting an attack by the Peshmerga forces. “Over half of Tuz
Khurmato’s residents have fled in the direction of the Kirkuk northern
governorate as they fear the regeneration of clashes between the two conflicting
sides, official spheres are currently inoperative and markets are closed with
almost no sign of life across the city,” the sources added. On the other hand,
Iraqi army forces backed Peshmerga forces and the international coalition in
launching an attack over ISIS sites in Southern Mosul to free whatever cities
left under the terrorist organization’s control.
Nineveh Governorate security committee chairman Mohammed Ibrahim said that the
Iraqi Army launched Yesterday at 6:00 am a comprehensive campaign backed by the
international coalition in al-Mahana village, a strategic location, situated
south of Mosul. The village was successfully freed from over a hundred ISIS
militants; the coalition’s air campaign destroyed two explosive laced vehicles,
three missile launching platforms and a score of high-arcing ballistic
trajectories affiliated to ISIS. Ibrahim pointed out that al-Mahana is a
significantly strategic location, and with it being freed all support routes
delivering ISIS with supplies have been cut off .Moreover, ISIS now has its
movement restricted to a few villages in Mosul. “After clearing out the al-Mahana
from landmines planted by ISIS, the Iraqi Army will head towards villages
situated on the eastern bank of the Tigris River to free them as well,” Ibrahim
added.
Iran: 17 executions in four
days including at least 3 young prisoners
Thursday, 28 April 2016/National Council of Resistance of Iran/The antihuman
mullahs’ regime hanged 17 prisoners in the time span of April 23 to 27. On
Wednesday, April 27, six prisoners were collectively hanged in Gohardasht (Rajai
Shahr) Prison. One of the prisoners by the name of Milad Mostakhdem had been
taken to the hanging pole for the seventh time, a known method used by the
regime’s henchmen to psychologically torture prisoners. On April 26, three young
men - aged between 22 to 30 years - were executed in Zahedan’s central prison
while another prisoner was executed in Qazvin prison. Two other prisoners were
hanged in a prison in the city of Sari on April 24. And five prisoners were
collectively hanged on April 23 in Zahedan’s central prison. As such, the number
of executions in April reaches 52. The objective of these arbitrary and
collective executions is to intensify the climate of horror and fear and prevent
the explosion of popular discontent and loath, especially of the youth, against
the Iranian regime. These executions happening concurrent and after visits to
Tehran by the Italian Prime Minister and the EU High Representative demonstrates
that visits by European officials not only fail to result in any improvements in
human rights, but embolden this regime in its brutal and systematic violation of
human rights. Economic and political relations with this regime lack all
legitimacy and need to be preconditioned to an improvement of human rights,
particularly a halt in the executions.
The Iranian Resistance calls on the Iranian people, especially the courageous
youths, to stand up against the crimes and collective and daily executions by
this regime and to express their solidarity and sympathy with the families of
those executed and the prisoners.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
Brawls in
Turkish parliament delay legislation on EU migrant deal
Reuters Thursday, 28 April 2016/Brawls between lawmakers from Turkey’s ruling AK
Party and the pro-Kurdish opposition have delayed efforts to pass legislation on
a migration deal with the European Union and parliament has been adjourned until
Monday. Deputies threw punches, pushed and tried to restrain each other in the
assembly late on Wednesday in a row over military operations targeting Kurdish
militants in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast. The acting speaker announced at
the end of Wednesday’s session that, following these scuffles, the parliament
would now not meet again in full session until Monday. Lawmakers had been
expected to work on Friday and Saturday on legislation needed for Turks to
secure visa-free travel to Europe, a key part of Ankara’s deal with the European
Union on stopping uncontrolled migration to Europe. Brussels aims to propose
waiving visas for Turks on May 4 but that is strongly opposed by some EU member
states. The EU has said Turkey fully meets fewer than half of the 72 criteria
and that its conditions will not be softened. The fierce exchanges erupted after
MP Ferhat Encu from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) referred to
the killing of civilians in military operations against Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK) militants in the southeast. Thousands of militants and hundreds of
security force members and civilians have been killed since the PKK resumed its
insurgency last summer after a 2-1/2-year ceasefire, shattering a peace process.
ISIS turns to selling fish,
cars to offset oil losses: report
By Stephen Kalin Reuters Thursday, 28 April 2016/ISIS earns millions of dollars
a month running car dealerships and fish farms in Iraq, making up for lower oil
income after its battlefield losses, Iraqi judicial authorities said on
Thursday. Security experts once estimated the ultra-radical Islamist group's
annual income at $2.9 billion, much of it coming from oil and gas installations
in Iraq and Syria. The US-led coalition has targeted ISIS' financial
infrastructure, using air strikes to reduce its ability to extract, refine and
transport oil and so forcing fighters to reportedly take significant pay cuts.
Yet the militants, who seized a third of Iraq's territory and declared a
caliphate in 2014, seem to be adapting again to this latest set of constraints,
in some cases reviving previous profit-turning ventures like farming. "The
terrorists' current financing mechanism has changed from what it was before the
announcement of the caliphate nearly two years ago," a report by Iraq's central
court of investigation said, quoting Judge Jabbar Abid al-Huchaimi. "After the
armed forces took control of several oil fields Daesh was using to finance its
operations, the organisation devised non-traditional ways of paying its fighters
and financing its activities," the report added, using an Arabic acronym for
ISIS. Fishing in hundreds of lakes north of Baghdad generates millions of
dollars a month, according to the report. Some owners fleeing the area abandoned
their farms while others agreed to cooperate with ISIS to avoid being attacked.
"Daesh treats its northern Baghdad province as a financial centre; it is its
primary source of financing in the capital in particular," Huchaimi said. ISIS
carries out frequent bombings in Baghdad against security forces and Shiite
residents.
Selling cars, running factories
Fish farms have supplied militants with income since 2007 when ISIS's al Qaeda
predecessor fought US occupation forces but the mechanism only came to the
authorities' attention this year, the report said. The militants also tax
agricultural land and impose a 10 percent levy on poultry and other duties on a
range of imports into their territory, it added. "Recently there has been
reliance on agricultural lands in areas outside the control of the (Iraqi)
security forces through taxes imposed on farmers."New revenues are also being
generated from car dealerships and factories once run by the Iraqi government in
areas seized by the militants. Those have helped offset the losses from lower
oil income, though perhaps only partially. The US-based analysis firm IHS said
last week that Islamic State revenues had fallen by around a third since last
summer to around $56 million a month. "In the recent period, Daesh has gone back
to using government factories in the areas it controls - like Mosul - for
financial returns," Huchaimi said, but added that oil smuggling from Syrian
refineries remains the group's primary source of international financing. The
Iraqi report, based in part on the confessions of captured ISIS suspects,
described how funds were funnelled to Bayt al-Mal, the group's finance ministry,
in the northern city of Mosul and then distributed to its provinces. "The
organization distributes money to areas outside its control through hawala
(transfer) offices first in Erbil and from there to Iraq's other provinces,"
Huchaimi said. The report said that in addition to salaries, ISIS fighters may
receive rent allowances, financial rewards for up to four children and
occasional bonuses like one worth $1,000 distributed after the militants
captured Mosul in 2014.
Iran regime broadcasts video
to recruit children for Syria war
http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/terrorism-fundamentalism/20261-iran-regime-broadcasts-video-to-recruit-children-for-syria-war
Thursday, 28 April 2016/National Council of Resistance of Iran/NCRI – The
Iranian regime, faced with a crisis in recruiting fighters to defend Syrian
dictator Bashar al-Assad, has embarked on a new propaganda campaign to encourage
children to join the war in Syria.
The Iranian regime’s state media have been broadcasting a new promotional clip
entitled ‘Martyrs who defend the sacred shrine’ in recent days encourage young
children to take part in the war. The video has been produced by the official
Bassij Music House, the propaganda arm of the regime’s paramilitary Bassij, a
branch of the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
In parts of this clip, young children are shown singing:
“Let’s rise up to save the sacred shrine.
I have joined [Imam] Hossein’s army division.
… I have a warrant from the [Imam Ali] to defend the sacred shrine.
On my leader [Ali Khamenei’s] orders I am ready to give my life.
The goal is not just to free Iraq and Syria;
My path is through the sacred shrine [in Syria], but my goal is to reach
Jerusalem.
… I don’t regret parting from my country;
In this just path I am wearing my martyrdom shroud.
… From Mashhad [north-east Iran], I will walk on foot to Damascus.
I am like the bird who flocks to the sacred shrine.”
The slogans and images in the video are reminiscent of the regime’s recruitment
effort during the Iran-Iraq war after it faced a public backlash in recruiting
soldiers, which led the mullahs to instead use young Iranian children as human
waves to clear the minefields. None of its efforts at the time bore fruit, and
eventually the regime’s founder Khomeini was forced to accept a ceasefire, which
he described as a “chalice of poison.”
In the Iranian regime’s lexicon, “defending the sacred shrine” is the equivalent
of deploying the forces of the IRGC and more recently the regular army to Syria
to defend the Assad regime as he massacres the people of Syria. This is while
the majority of the Iranian regime’s casualties are near Aleppo which is several
hundred kilometres away from the holy Shiite shrines near Damascus.
Commenting on the broadcasting of the new promotional clip, Shahin Gobadi of the
Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI),
said:
“This promotional clip first of all manifests the anti-human nature of the
regime which seeks to even mobilize the children of its own loyalists as cannon
fodder. This and similar measures by the mullahs’ regime indicate a strategy
deadlock for the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Syria which is Tehran’s
main hub for exporting terrorism and fundamentalism to the region. They point to
widespread dissatisfaction in Iran of the regime’s warmongering in Syria and its
internal isolation. After having attempted to deploy its IRGC forces and foreign
militias including Afghans, Lebanese and Iraqis, and even its regular army
units, the regime has resorted to recruiting children to the war fronts.”
“But this disgraceful and inhumane act will not bring the regime out of a
deadlock, just as it failed to do so during the Iran-Iraq war. The difference is
that this time the regime has already used up all its strategic resources, and
it is in a far more fragile state,” Mr. Gobadi added.
Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the NCRI, on April 17 told the pan-Arab daily
Asharq al-Awsat that the Iranian regime is putting all its effort into saving
the Assad regime even while it knows that it is fighting for a lost cause,
because it has no other solution. If Assad falls out of power in Syria, it will
lead to the overthrow of the regime in Tehran, she added.
Iranian refugee, 23, self-immolates;
call for support for Iranian refugees in Australia
National Council of Resistance of Iran/April 28, 2016/The Iranian Resistance
declares its deep regret for the self-immolation of an Iranian refugee, 23, that
occurred during a visit by a UNHCR delegation from a refugee camp in New Guinea.
This Iranian refugee, reported to be in dire condition, is among around 800
Iranian and Afghan refugees who had succeeded in reaching Australia but the
Australian government, in breach of recognized refugee standards, has sent these
refugees to Papua Islands in New Guinea. The Supreme Court in Papua, New Guinea,
issued a verdict on April 26 declaring Australian refugee camps on its soil in
violation of New Guinea’s constitution and ordered the camps to be promptly
closed. However, the Australian government announced that it shall not accept
any of these refugees on its soil. The Iranian Resistance calls on the
international community, especially the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and
the European Union and its member states, to condemn Australia’s ill-treatment
of Iranian refugees and their expulsion from its soil in flagrant violation of
international conventions and covenants and it further urges political parties
and organizations defending refugee rights and human rights in Australia to rush
to the aid of these refugees and prevent pressures brought upon them and their
refoulement to Iran. Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of
Iran.April 28, 2016
Former engineering student, charged with a terrorist offence, denied bail in
Brampton, Ont.
The Canadian Press/National Post/April 28/16/BRAMPTON, Ont. — A man charged with
a terrorism related offence was denied bail today in court in Brampton, Ont.
Kevin Mohamed, 23, will have to remain behind bars but details of the decision
are covered by a publication ban. Mohamed, a former engineering student, was
detained last month out of fear he might commit a terrorist act. RCMP then
charged him with participating in, or contributing to, the activities of a
terrorist group over a two-year period.Police allege Mohamed committed the
offences in Ontario — including in Whitby, Mississauga and Waterloo — between
April 24, 2014 to March 25, 2016. RCMP say the arrest followed an investigation
dubbed “Project Swap” that began last August. They say Mohamed travelled to
Turkey in April 2014 to join Jabhat Al-Nusra, a listed terrorist entity in
Canada.
The propaganda wing of ISIL has recruited several Canadians, former CSIS
official says
Stewart Bel/National Post/ April 27/16
TORONTO — The propaganda wing of ISIL, known for its gory videos and
exploitation of social media, has recruited several Canadians into its ranks, a
former senior counter-terrorism official told a security conference Wednesday.
Andy Ellis, who recently retired from the Canadian Security Intelligence
Service, where he was Assistant Director of Operations, said not all of the
roughly 100 Canadians who have converged in the region are active in combat
operations.
“Many of the Canadians, for example, found their way into the propaganda wing of
Daesh,” the 30-year-veteran of CSIS said, using another name from ISIL, in a
speech at the Royal Canadian Military Institute in Toronto. “I would argue that
would be equally as dangerous, maybe more, than someone who is joining the
military wing. A lot of these young Western adherents to Daesh are put on the
frontlines and die very quickly. Someone who is working in the propaganda wing
can hurt us over and over and over again.”
ISIL has put a heavy emphasis on its violent, religiously-oriented propaganda
and the involvement of Canadians has long been speculated, especially since the
terrorist group released its claim of responsibility for the Paris attacks using
a spokesman who had what sounded like a distinctly Canadian accent.
The same voice was featured in an earlier English-language ISIL video called
Flames of War that showed the narrator, dressed in camouflage with a black mask
on his face, forcing prisoners to dig their own graves and then executing them.
The RCMP has said it was investigating whether a Canadian had voiced the threats
and the FBI issued a seeking information alert asking for the public’s helping
identifying the man, who they said was believed to have a North American accent.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his retirement in January, Ellis said
Canadians did not fully appreciate the gravity of the terrorist threat they
faced and said the “most dangerous” category of extremists was what he called
“frustrated jihadists” who are unable to leave Canada.
He cited the example of Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at
the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Oct. 22, 2014. The attack occurred after
the extremist was unable to obtain a passport to travel abroad to join a
terrorist group.
“He had a desire to go to the Middle East. He had a desire to fight with the
caliphate. And pursuant to good judgment and the law, every effort was made by
law enforcement and security services in this country to disrupt his ability to
travel,” Ellis said. “It frustrated him. It angered him. He had a history of
drug use, of some mental illness. This exasperation probably led to his violent
outburst.”
The former CSIS official said that while the link between mental health and
violence had once been dismissed, experts were now rethinking that as “an
increasing number” of those drawn to ISIL have been found to have a serious
mental illness.
More often, these tend to be the lone actors but this is an area that requires
more study and frankly improved community resilience. This is not something that
the police, that the intelligence services, can manage alone
“More often, these tend to be the lone actors but this is an area that requires
more study and frankly improved community resilience. This is not something that
the police, that the intelligence services, can manage alone,” Ellis said.
Propaganda is playing a significant role in ISIL recruitment. CSIS interviews
with foreign fighters who had been captured and returned to their home countries
suggested they had been “mesmerized by the abhorrent violence that they saw on
the screen and there was something in that violence that drew them to
participate in it,” he said.
“The unsaid promise of sex, either legitimately through the promise of marriage
to like-minded people in the caliphate, or through the participation in pillage
and rape, has also been cited, albeit privately, as a key recruitment driver by
some returnees who have returned to their homes.”
Last week, the National Post revealed that Kadir Abdul and Samuel Augustin
Aviles had been arrested after returning to Toronto from Turkey, where they had
allegedly been detained for trying to enter the conflict zone. Neither has been
charged but the RCMP is alleging they may engage in terrorism and want their
activities restricted through peace bonds. Aviles lives on the same Whitby, Ont.
street as Kevin Omar Mohamed, who was arrested March 25 and charged with
terrorism for allegedly traveling to Turkey to join the al-Qaida faction in
Syria.
Saudi Executes
Jordanian for Drug Smuggling
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 28/16/Saudi Arabia on Thursday executed a
Jordanian convicted of drug smuggling, bringing to 88 the number of foreigners
and Saudis put to death this year. Mohammed Abu Zayed had been found guilty of
smuggling amphetamines in his car, the interior ministry said. Authorities
carried out the sentence against him in northwestern Tabuk region, which borders
Jordan. Amphetamines are stimulants most often targeted at students and laborers
in the kingdom, interior ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki told
reporters last month.He added that war-ravaged Syria has become one of the
biggest producers of the drug. Most people put to death in Saudi Arabia are
beheaded with a sword. The executions so far this year include 47 for
"terrorism" carried out in a single day on January 2. Murder and drug
trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions. Amnesty
International said Saudi Arabia had the third highest number of people put to
death last year -- at least 158. That was far behind Pakistan, which executed
326, and Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, which executed at least 977, said
Amnesty, whose figures exclude secretive China.
Iraq Shuts Al-Jazeera Bureau
for 'Instigating Violence'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 28/16/The Iraqi authorities have shut down
the Al-Jazeera channel's Baghdad office, accusing Qatar's state-funded TV
network of inciting violence and sectarianism. Iraq's Communications and Media
Commission (CMC) sent the Al-Jazeera Media Network a letter informing it of a
March 24 decision to withdraw the bureau's license and close its office for one
year. The letter cited "your continuing violations and offenses and persistent
media discourse instigating violence and sectarianism."In a statement issued
Wednesday, the Doha-based news network, one of the largest in the region, said
that it had not violated regulations or deviated from professional and objective
coverage. Al-Jazeera has repeatedly come under fire from the Iraqi authorities
for coverage perceived as too friendly to the Islamic State jihadist group and
hostile to the country's Shiite majority. The network's foreign staff were
already unable to enter Iraq because the authorities had made it difficult for
them to obtain visas, the network's Iraqi bureau chief Walid Ibrahim told AFP.
The CMC's decision contradicts the Iraqi government's "commitment to guarantee
freedom of expression", Al-Jazeera said. Ziad Ajili, from the Journalistic
Freedoms Observatory, condemned the move, saying that the CMC does not have
direct authority to close media offices in Iraq. Iraqi leaders have accused Gulf
monarchies of not doing enough to fight IS jihadists and in some cases of
directly supporting them. Qatar is accused by many in Iraq of having
intentionally sponsored hardline Sunni groups to counter the expanding influence
of Iran and Shiite Islam in the region.
S. Korea Says North Failed
with Second Mid-range Missile Test
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 28/16/North Korea on Thursday tried and
failed in what appeared to be its second attempt in two weeks to test a
powerful, new medium-range ballistic missile, South Korea's defense ministry
said. A ministry official said the North had fired what was believed to be a
Musudan missile at around 6:40 am (2140 GMT Wednesday) from Wonsan on the east
coast, but it plunged back to earth seconds after launch. "It is believed to
have failed," the official told Agence France Presse. There had been widespread
intelligence reports in recent days that the North was preparing for another
flight test of a Musudan, which is capable of striking U.S. bases on the Pacific
island of Guam. North Korea initially launched a Musudan on April 15 -- the
birthday of founding leader Kim Il-Sung -- but the exercise ended in what the
Pentagon described as "fiery, catastrophic" failure, with the missile apparently
exploding just after take-off.
- Landmark congress -The failed tests come as the country is gearing up for a
rare and much-hyped ruling party congress next month, at which Kim Jong-Un is
expected to take credit for pushing the country's nuclear weapons program to new
heights.
There is growing concern that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct a fifth nuclear
test in the run-up to the event which opens May 6. In recent months the North
has claimed a series of major technical breakthroughs in developing what it sees
as the ultimate goal of its nuclear weapons program -- an intercontinental
ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to targets across the
continental United States. The achievements trumpeted by Pyongyang have included
miniaturizing a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile, developing a warhead that
can withstand atmospheric re-entry and building a solid-fuel missile engine.
Last Saturday, it successfully tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM)
and was promptly criticized by the UN Security Council. Existing UN resolutions
forbid North Korea from the use of any ballistic missile-related technology. -
Longer range -The Musudan is believed to have an estimated range of anywhere
between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometers (1,550 to 2,500 miles). The lower range
covers the whole of South Korea and Japan, while the upper range would include
U.S. military bases on Guam.
The missile has never been successfully flight-tested. Two failures in swift
succession will be seen as an embarrassment for the leadership, especially ahead
of the party congress which is meant to celebrate the country's achievements.
Speaking last weekend during a visit to Germany, U.S. President Barack Obama
warned that North Korea was making dangerous progress even when its efforts fell
short of outright success. "Although, more often than not, they fail in many of
these tests, they gain knowledge each time," Obama said. "We take it very
seriously, so do our allies and so does the entire world," he added. Anxiety has
been high on the divided Korean peninsula since Pyongyang conducted its fourth
nuclear test in January and a rocket launch a month later that was widely seen
as a disguised ballistic missile test. The UN Security Council responded with
its toughest sanctions to date, angering the North, which has since made
repeated threats of attacks targeting the South and the United States.
Israel Nuclear Reactor
Defects Spark Secrecy Dilemma
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 28/16/Growing safety fears surrounding
Israel's largest but ageing atomic research center have provoked fresh questions
over its future and a dilemma over the secrecy of the country's alleged nuclear
arsenal. Israel, believed to be the Middle East's sole nuclear power, has long
refused to confirm or deny that it has such weapons. The Haaretz newspaper
reported on Tuesday that a study had uncovered 1,537 defects in the decades-old
aluminium core of the Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert of southern
Israel. The defects at the center, where nuclear weapons were allegedly
developed, were not seen to be severe and the risk of a nuclear outbreak is very
limited, the report said.However, there are growing calls for new safeguards and
even a new research center -- which could present the country with a decision on
whether to acknowledge for the first time that it has nuclear weapons. The
US-based Institute for Science and International Security estimated in 2015 that
Israel had 115 nuclear warheads. At the same time Israel has strongly opposed
other regional powers, most notably its arch-foe Iran, obtaining nuclear
weapons. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also one of the most
vociferous critics of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that was
implemented in January, leading to the lifting of international sanctions on
Tehran. Officially the Dimona center focuses on research and energy provision.
But in the 1980s nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at
the center, alleged to a British newspaper that it was also used to create
nuclear weapons. He was later jailed for 18 years for the revelations.
- 'Waiting for disaster' -The core of the Dimona reactor was provided by France
in the late 1950s and went online a few years later. Common practice is that
such reactors are used for only 40 years, though this can be extended with
modifications.Uzi Even, a chemistry professor at Tel Aviv University who was
involved in the creation of the reactor, is concerned about the safety of the
site and has campaigned for a decade for it to be closed -- "so far, to no
avail". He called for it to be shut off for security reasons. "This reactor is
now one of the oldest still operating globally," he said.Michal Rozin, a
lawmaker with the leftwing Meretz party, has called for a radical shakeup in
policy in the light of the safety worries. "The nuclear reactor has no
supervision besides the body that runs it, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission,"
she wrote in a letter, seen by Agence France Presse, to the parliamentary
foreign and defense committee.
"We don't need to wait for a disaster to make a change."Israel's atomic energy
agency said in a statement that the country had the "highest international
standards" of security and safety, adding that many reactors can last for far
longer than 40 years. - 'Political matter' -While a challenge, safely closing a
nuclear reactor and opening a new one is far from impossible, Arthur Motta,
chair of Nuclear Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, told
AFP."Technically it is not a difficult problem," he said. "Nuclear energy is so
dense, the volume of a reactor that provides a whole city with energy is just
(the size of) a building."
"It is more a political matter."And there are a number of political reasons why
the site has remained open, not least the thousands of jobs at risk, Even said.
Building a new site could also see Israel pushed to officially declare its
nuclear capabilities.While Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons,
officials do not formally confirm or deny the claims -- a policy often dubbed
deliberate ambiguity. As such, the country has yet to sign the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty -- which would require its sites to undergo regular
inspection of its facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Motta
explained. The IAEA declined to comment. "I don't think we have the capability
to build a new reactor (alone)," Even said. "And no one will sell us a reactor
before we sign the non-proliferation agreement."Writing in the Israeli daily
Ma'ariv, investigative journalist and security specialist Yossi Melman called it
a "strategic dilemma of the first order". "If it were to sign the treaty
(Israel) would be able to obtain nuclear reactors." "But it would also have to
declare and reveal what it has, nuclear-wise, and the monopoly it allegedly has
on this in the Middle East."
3 arrested after Egyptian’s
death in London arson
By Shounaz MekyظAl Arabiya English Thursday, 28 April 2016/Police in London have
made three further arrests in connection with the ‘mysterious’ death of Egyptian
student Sherif Adel Habib Mikhail earlier this week. In a statement issued by
the Metropolitan Police it was confirmed on Thursday that the men - aged 30, 35
and 40 years-old - were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson.
These arrests brought the total to four - a man in his 20s was arrested on
Wednesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life. Police said that a
post mortem examination which took place on Wednesday gave the initial cause of
Mikhail’s death “as severe burns.” The statement said that Mikhail’s death was
still being treated as “unexplained”. When pressed by Al Arabiya English for
further information, a London Metropolitan Police spokesperson refused to
comment on whether the investigation would become a murder inquiry. Mikhail’s
body was found badly burnt inside a car that had been set ablaze in a garage in
Southall, London, early Monday. He had recently graduated with a mechanical
engineering degree at London’s Greenwich University, and held dual British and
Egyptian citizenship. News of Mikhail’s death was described as shocking by his
family, who insisted he had no political affiliations, as speculation over the
cause of his death continued to mount. In Egypt his case appeared on the front
pages of many of the country’s newspapers on Thursday, after officials including
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi’s office, the foreign ministry, and the ministry
for expatriates called for an investigation into the death. Mikhail, who lived
in North Acton, London, had recently completed his degree in mechanical
engineering and had hoped to become an army officer at Sandhurst, London’s
Evening Standard newspaper reported. He had a sister who is studying law at a
university in London. His father owns a restaurant in London and has lived there
for more than 40 years.
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on April 29/16
What Arab
youths think
Chris Doyle/Al Arabiya/April 28/16
Any survey carried out in the Arab world must have a whole bevvy of caveats, not
least of all groupthink polls such as “What Arabs” or “What Muslims think? It is
not exactly as if this huge industry has mastered the polling art in stable
democratic states. In the most extreme case where the regime brooks no dissent,
some polls tried to determine what Syrians think, albeit all those polled were
hardly free to express their viewpoint to opine on the merits of Bashar al-Assad
or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Huge swathes of territory and population centres are
also out of reach. Who pays for the polling may also skew the findings. That
said, polls can be useful if treated with these cautionary notes. The 8th Arab
youth survey comes into this category. There are as many as 200 million youth in
the Arab world, 75 million are jobless. Graduate joblessness in Tunisia has
risen to 70 percent. Where will they get their jobs in the future? How will the
mammoth youth bulge be handled, notably in Egypt where between 1980 and 2010 the
population doubled? Yet as the survey highlights, there are huge differences
from one region of the Middle East to another. Outside the region complacency
kicks in and this is forgotten. A survey of Arab youth confirms (or for some
reveals) just how differently young Arabs do think, a statement of the obvious
that for some reads like Sanskrit. But it is an important demographic about
which we know so little. In the West we have always been ignorant about the
youth in the Arab world and dare I say, all too often in the Arab world, the
nature of society meant that Arab youth were also ignored. The survey shows
there is little support for ISIS, hardly a shock except for Fox News fans, and
what support there is, is declining. Now the youth have been in the vanguard of
change, revolutionary and extremist, the dynamo in protests and uprisings that
saw off four dictators in 2011 but also the foot-soldiers of ISIS and al-Qaeda.
The region has changed, is changing and will transform. What happens when these
millennials come to power? One, two or three decades? The survey shows there is
little support for ISIS, hardly a shock except for Fox News fans, and what
support there is, is declining. Sadly, ISIS and al-Qaeda do not need millions to
support them, just thousands.
Millennials
It may surprise some that the new Arab millennials are perhaps not as religious
as their parents. There have been similar findings in Iran too. People are still
religious but perhaps less observant of rituals. Favourable views of ISIS are
equally prevalent among respondents who are “very religious” and those who are
“not religious.”An apparent tension in the findings looms between desire for
stability and support for democracy. But is this an ‘either or’ issue? Those
surveyed valued stability more than democracy yet at the same time, want more
jobs and opportunities; are fearful over sectarian tensions; and want their
leaders to do more to improve personal freedom and human rights of citizens
particularly women with 67 percent of Arab youth supporting women’s rights
rising to 90 percent in Saudi Arabia. I suspect that in 10 years’ time the
advances made by women will one of the stand out features of the region.
Change and transformation is a deep desire in much of the region’s youth. We see
protests again in Egypt, in Syria during the cessation of hostilities but
naturally none of them wants a Syria, Iraq, Yemeni civil war. It is not then an
issue of democracy versus stability but how can they have both. It is not a vote
for strong men again or for time travel back to 2010. With the revolutions, it
was not an issue of not having leaders, but frequently too many. We see a change
from the vertical to horizontal – with less social hierarchies. By protesting,
many challenged not just the state but their families. Instead of marrying who
they are told even from within families increasingly the young marry who they
love. New generations of digerati are more connected, aware of the outside
world, do not just consume media and information, but share it, debate it and
produce it. Youth argue back. Newspapers are in serious decline. So if to
communicate with Arab youth, it has to be online and on TV but not the
traditional press. Arab youth continue to be more prone to take action and
increasingly daring and innovative fashion. There is just so much else we need
to know, not least for understandable reasons – Syrians not polled in this
survey due to the conflict. It is scary to think how this conflict will affect
young Syrians and the impact of extended long term trauma. Given all the horrors
across the Middle East in the last few years, how many young Arabs want to
remain? Will the brain drain continue and if so, what will reverse it? In a 2014
survey, over 25 percent of Egyptian males said they wanted to emigrate. Far more
must be done to engage with Arab youth, to partner with them, to support civil
society and to open opportunities for them. Above all, outside powers must not
abandon them to go back to the old convenient elite relationships which neither
produce stability, freedom and rights, nor economic opportunity.
Why Egypt needs evolution,
not revolution
Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/April 28/16
“The Egyptian regime lived in fear of opposition,” wrote prominent Egyptian
activist Wael Ghonim in his book Revolution 2.0. He continued: “It sought to
project a facade of democracy, giving the impression that Egypt was advancing
toward political rights and civil liberties while it vanquished any dissident
who threatened to mobilize enough support to force real change."This sounds like
an accurate description of the current government in Egypt, but it is refers to
that of former President Hosni Mubarak. The more unstable the country becomes,
the more its government speaks about stability and uses oppressive methods to
guarantee it, and the more Egypt rages. However, the government and its
opponents are both wrong.
Youth
At the start of his rule, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took an important and
promising step that could have changed the course of modern Egyptian history: He
relied on the country’s youth. However, he failed to maintain this as a pillar
of his rule, yielding to the old regime, to corruption, and to other vices that
have historically poisoned Egypt’s development. The youth have become outsiders
in the building of the new Egypt, and are considered dangerous for its stability
due to their desire for change and a better future. By oppressing and punishing
them for taking a civic stand, and for constructive criticism that the
government considers a threat, the country is losing the guarantee of its
future. Egypt needs evolution, not revolution. This evolution should be based on
the principles of communication, respect for criticism, and the will to change
for the better. Educated youth are leaving Egypt, aspiring to satisfy their
ambitions and have a life of dignity and safety in other countries, as there is
no hope for such a life in their homeland. Those who stay - due to a lack of
education, money or both - join those that resent that they have been robbed of
the future they deserve. It is high time that the government learn to speak with
and listen to the youth, rather than respond with police batons and
imprisonment. Criticism is not sabotage, but a way for the government to improve
itself and correct its mistakes. There is no development without reasonable
criticism and freedom of expression. There is no future for a country where
civil society is continuously undermined.
The government needs to invest huge sums of money in education and providing
opportunities. An educated society guarantees a prosperous future. Oppression
and the pretence of democracy will doom Egypt.
Dual culpability
At the same time, however, those calling for a new revolution are also wrong. In
past five years, Egypt has gone through two revolutions - a third one would be
protracted, bloody and chaotic. A major problem is that Egyptians have gotten
used to relying on a mighty leader to immediately realize their dreams. They
expect a lot, but do not ask themselves if they have done all they can for their
country and themselves. The problem runs deep, not only in a vicious and corrupt
political system, but within an immature society. Revolutions as an instrument
of change are a sign of societal immaturity. Egypt needs evolution, not
revolution. This evolution should be based on the principles of communication,
respect for criticism, and the will to change for the better. Sisi has to firmly
tackle corrupt elites and side with the youth. This could be risky for him, but
not more risky than the way in which he is leading Egypt now. The future of a
country that is a cornerstone of the region is at stake.
Iran Is Exhausted!
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed//Asharq Al Awsat/April 28/16
Iran’s supreme leader bitterly complains that the West has not kept its promises
and that economic sanctions on his country have not been lifted although Tehran
has halted its nuclear program as required. The situation in Iran must be
difficult for the Iranian government to complain this much.
It has a very bad luck as the oil prices are still cheap and this is why Iran’s
financial situation, after signing the nuclear deal, is much worse than it was
at the same time last year after accepting the initial agreement! The Iranian
command did not think this will happen as it assumed lifting sanctions will end
its economic crisis.At the same time, the scope of Iran’s military involvement
in other countries has increased due to the escalation of battles and funding of
its allies, such as Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the
Houthis in Yemen.
Iran, like the rest of oil-producing countries, has lost more than 60 percent of
its major income and financial transactions, which it regained from its frozen
assets, that did not help it either. Moreover, the contracts and deals it rushed
to sign with several governments and global companies to buy weapons and civil
aircrafts and carry out infrastructure projects lack funding; this means that
Tehran will have to pay more interests for banks and fines if it delays the
payments.
The Iranian government did not get to be happy that it signed the nuclear deal
and this is why the supreme leader is expressing his anger in bitterness towards
the West. He, himself, might have been deceived when his team, which was
enthusiastic to reconcile with the West, convinced him that the nuclear deal
will resolve the country’s financial problems; however, he realized that
revenues have significantly decreased.
Nevertheless, this is not the case of his neighbors who compete with him, such
as the oil-producing Gulf countries because they have massive reserves and funds
capable of financing the deficit; in addition to that world banks are also
willing to lend them money when needed. Iran does not have any of that. This is
why the government in Tehran has to realize that the reconciliation with
Washington alone will not grant it wealth, influence or dominance. Perhaps, it
has to realize that no matter how much it empowers its military force and its
Revolutionary Guard Corps, it will not be able to end the deficiency in the
budget of bread and rice and meet its citizens’ basic needs.
Iran wants to impose its conditions everywhere and in all the fields. It wants
to raise the oil prices globally without getting affected, like it did in the
recent OPEC conference in Doha after it has repeatedly refused to decrease its
share of production and asked other OPEC countries, such as the Gulf ones, to
decrease their shares for the prices to increase.
Not only that, but Iran also wants the Yemen crisis’ peace negotiators in Kuwait
to grant its Houthi ally more than it deserves at the expense of the Yemeni
situation, which existed before the Houthis’ coup. It refuses to make any
concessions in Syria as it insists to maintain the entire Damascus regime
represented by Bashar al-Assad and uses its militias to serve this purpose. It
pushes its allies in Iraq, such as former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, to stir
chaos by altering the political map.
Possibly, what further increased frustration in Iran is that the supreme leader,
the president and the rest of the state figures have promised the Iranian
people, at the beginning of this year, that there will be a phase of quick boom.
They did so to convince them that regardless of them being forced to tolerate
the international sanctions for 20 years, they’ve finally won the battle,
although they did not fulfill their promise of a nuclear bomb. Nonetheless, the
Iranians currently realize that this is not the truth and that they put up with
20 years only to become poorer than they already were.
After failing to make profits from the nuclear deal, has the formula become
clearer to policymakers and those executing these policies in Tehran? The
reconciliation with the West will not succeed at resolving Iran’s structural
crises and will not address the regime’s urgent needs. If Tehran’s regime ruled
upon logic and reason, it would have extended its hand to all of its neighbors
to overcome its crises, which are mostly triggered by it.
The regional reconciliation can achieve the same goals of stability and
prosperity for the Iranians and their Gulf neighbors. However, for regimes like
Iran and South Korea, this logic is difficult to understand, and continuing to
reject this logic only worsens Tehran’s crises. Iran wants to expand and
dominate when it can’t even feed its own people.
Turkey's Fake War on Jihadis
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/April 28/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7858/turkey-jihadis
Last year, a Turkish
pollster found that one in every five Turks thought that the Charlie Hebdo
attack in Paris was the natural response to men who insulted Prophet Mohammed.
"Infidels who were enemies of Islam thought they buried Islam in the depths of
history when they abolished the caliphate on March 3, 1924 ... Some 92 years
after ... we are shouting out that we will re-establish the caliphate, here,
right next to the parliament." — Mahmut Kar, media bureau chief for Hizb
ut-Tahrir Turkey.
At a March meeting with top U.S. officials, King Abdullah of Jordan accused
Turkey of exporting terrorists to Europe. He said: "The fact that terrorists are
going to Europe is part of Turkish policy and Turkey keeps on getting a slap on
the hand, but they are let off the hook."
And Turkey is the country its Western allies believe will help them fight
jihadists? Lots of luck!
In theory, Turkey is part of the international coalition that fights the Islamic
State (IS). Since it joined the fight last year, it has arrested scores of IS
militants, made some efforts to seal its porous border with Syria and tagged IS
as a terrorist organization. Turkish police have raided homes of suspected IS
operatives. More recently, Turkey's Interior Ministry updated its list of
"wanted terrorists" to include 23 IS militants, and offered rewards of more than
42 million Turkish liras (more than $14 million) for any information leading to
the suspects' capture. But this is only part of the story.
On March 24, a Turkish court released seven members of IS, including the
commander of the jihadists' operations on Turkish soil. A total of 96 suspects
are on trial, including the seven men who were detained but released. All are
free now, although the indictment against them claims that they "engaged in the
activities of the terrorist organization called DAESH [Arabic acronym of IS].
The suspects had sent persons to the conflict zones; they applied pressure,
force, violence and threats by using the name of the terrorist organization, and
they had provided members and logistic support for the group."
The release of terror suspects came in sharp contrast with another court
decision that ruled for a trial, but while under detention, for four academics
who had signed a petition calling for peace in Turkey's Kurdish dispute. Unlike
the IS militants, the academics remain behind bars.
The Turkish government, which controls the judiciary almost in its entirety,
relies on Islamist grassroots supporters of various flavors -- from Islamists
and 'lite jihadists' to radicals.
Last year the Turkish pollster MetroPOLL found that one in every five Turks
thought that the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris was the natural response to
people who insulted Prophet Mohammed [only 16.4% of Turks thought of the
incident as an attack on freedom of expression]. Among the ruling Justice and
Development Party's (AKP) voters, the rate of approval of the attack was 26.4%;
and only 6.2% viewed it as an attack on free speech. Only 17.8% of AKP voters
thought the attack was the work of radical Islamists. Three-quarters of AKP
voters thought Muslims were aggrieved by the attack; while as few as 15.4%
thought the victims were the cartoonists who were murdered. Two-thirds of AKP
voters thought attacks on Islam by Christian Crusaders were continuing.
The fact that key IS suspects are now free because the government may fear
looking mean to its Islamist supporters only partly explains the appalling
judicial rulings on jihadists and academics. "The suspects may be holding the
Turkish government hostage ... What if they threatened the authorities that they
would reveal the government support for their organization in the past? You
normally don't walk free over such serious legal allegations," observes one
western diplomat in Ankara. Russia has been claiming that Turkey keeps
supporting the Islamic State through trading the jihadists' oil, their main
source of income. A new report claims that total supplies to terrorists in Syria
last year was 2,500 tons of ammonium nitrate; 456 tons of potassium nitrate; 75
tons of aluminum powder; sodium nitrate; glycerine; and nitric acid. The report
stated:
"In order to pass through the border controls unimpeded, effectively with the
complicity of the Turkish authorities, products are processed for companies that
are purportedly registered in Jordan and Iraq ... Registration and processing of
the cargo are organized at customs posts in the [Turkish] cities of Antalya,
Gaziantep and Mersin. Once the necessary procedures have been carried out, the
goods pass unhindered through the border crossings at Cilvegozu and Oncupinar."
Turkey keeps playing a fake war on jihadist terrorists. At a March meeting with
top U.S. officials, King Abdullah of Jordan accused Turkey of exporting
terrorists to Europe. He said: "The fact that terrorists are going to Europe is
part of Turkish policy and Turkey keeps on getting a slap on the hand, but they
are let off the hook."In fact, the Turkish government's secret love affair with
various Islamist groups is not always so secret. In March, thousands of
supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a global Islamist group, gathered at a public
sports hall in Ankara -- courtesy of the Turkish government -- to discuss the
re-establishment of the Islamic caliphate. In his speech, Mahmut Kar, the media
bureau chief of Hizb-ut Tahrir Turkey said:
"Infidels who were enemies of Islam thought they buried Islam in the depths of
history when they abolished the caliphate on March 3, 1924 ... We are hopeful,
enthusiastic and happy. Some 92 years after ... we are shouting out that we will
re-establish the caliphate, here, right next to the parliament."
(Hizb ut-Tahrir, viewed by Russia and Kazakhstan as a terrorist group, defines
itself as a political organization aiming to "lead the ummah" to the
re-establishment of the caliphate and rule with sharia law.)
Guess what else Turkey is doing while pretending to be fighting jihadists?
Apparently, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's declared political ambition to
"raise devout generations" seems to have geared up. Turkey's Religious Affairs
General Directorate (Diyanet), the ultimate official religious authority in the
country, recently issued comic books to the nation's children telling them how
marvelous it is to become an Islamic martyr. Turkey's Religious Affairs General
Directorate (Diyanet), the ultimate official religious authority in the country,
recently issued comic books to the nation's children telling them how marvelous
it is to become an Islamic martyr.
One comic strip is a dialogue between a father and his son. "How marvelous it is
to become a martyr," the father says. Unconvinced, the son asks: "Would anyone
want to become a martyr?" And the father replies: "Yes, one would. Who doesn't
want to win heaven?"
And this is the country its Western allies believe will help them fight
jihadists? Lots of luck!
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily
and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone
website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without
the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Germany: "We Need an Islam
Law"/Proposal seeks to ban foreign funding of mosques in Germany
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/April 28/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7931/germany-islam-law
"All imams need to be
trained in Germany and share our core values. ... It cannot be that we are
importing different, partly extreme values from other countries. German must
be the language of the mosques. Enlightened Europe must cultivate its own
Islam." – Andreas Scheuer, the General Secretary of the Christian Social Union
party (CSU).
The Turkish government has sent 970 clerics — most of whom do not speak German —
to lead 900 mosques in Germany that are controlled by a branch of the Turkish
government's Directorate for Religious Affairs. Turkish clerics in Germany are
effectively Turkish civil servants who do the bidding of the Turkish government.
Erdogan has repeatedly warned Turkish immigrants not to assimilate into German
society. During a trip to Berlin in November 2011, Erdogan declared:
"Assimilation is a violation of human rights."
A senior German politician has called for an "Islam law" that would limit the
influence of foreign imams and prohibit the foreign financing of mosques in
Germany.
The proposal — modelled on the Islam Law promulgated in Austria in February 2015
— is aimed at staving off extremism and promoting Muslim integration by
developing a moderate "European Islam."
The move comes amid revelations that the Turkish government is paying the
salaries of nearly 1,000 conservative imams in Germany who are leading mosques
across the country. In addition, Saudi Arabia recently pledged to finance the
construction of 200 mosques in Germany to serve migrants there.
In an interview with the newspaper Die Welt, Andreas Scheuer, the General
Secretary of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), said that Berlin
should restrict Turkish financing of mosques in Germany and begin training and
certifying its own imams. Otherwise, he argued, Muslim integration will be
difficult or impossible to achieve. He said: "We need to become more critical in
our dealings with political Islam, because it hinders Muslim integration in our
country. We need an Islam Law. The financing of mosques or Islamic kindergartens
from abroad, e.g. from Turkey or Saudi Arabia, should be banned. All imams need
to be trained in Germany and share our core values. "It cannot be that we are
importing different, partly extreme values from other countries. German must
be the language of the mosques. Enlightened Europe must cultivate its own Islam.
"We are still at the beginning of our efforts. We must start now. We cannot on
the one hand enact an Integration Law and on the other side close our eyes to
what is being preached in mosques and by whom."
Scheuer's comments come amid reports that the Turkish government has sent 970
clerics — most of whom do not speak German — to lead 900 mosques in Germany that
are controlled by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), a
branch of the Turkish government's Directorate for Religious Affairs, known in
Turkish as Diyanet. Successive German governments are responsible for this state
of affairs. An essay in Der Tagesspiegel states: "Over past decades, the federal
government has welcomed the fact that the Turkish religious authority exercises
a great influence on German mosques. Turkey was considered a secular state, and
their influence was viewed as a shield against religious extremism."This was
before Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan embarked on a mission to turn the
formerly secular nation an Islamic country.
According to Die Welt, Erdogan has increased the size, scope and power of the
Diyanet, which now has a budget of 6.4 Turkish lira ($2.3 billion; €1.8
billion), which is more than the budgets of 12 Turkish government ministries,
including the interior ministry and the foreign ministry. The Diyanet now has
120,000 employees, up from 72,000 in 2004. The Turkish clerics in Germany are
effectively Turkish civil servants who do the bidding of the Turkish government.
Critics accuse Erdogan of using DITIB mosques to prevent Turkish migrants from
integrating into German society. German politician Cem Özdemir, co-chairman of
the Green Party, said that DITIB is "nothing more than an extended arm of the
Turkish state." He added: "Rather than being a legitimate religious
organization, the Turkish government has turned DITIB into a political front
organization of Erdogan's AKP party. Turkey must let go of the Muslims in
Germany."
Erdogan has repeatedly warned Turkish immigrants not to assimilate into German
society. The Cologne Central Mosque, run by DITIB, is used as a key base in
Germany for Turkey's intelligence agency, where they run a local "thug squad" to
mete out "tough punishments" to Turkish dissidents in Germany. (Image source: ©
Raimond Spekking/CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) During a trip to Berlin in
November 2011, Erdogan declared: "Assimilation is a violation of human rights."
In February 2011, Erdogan told a crowd of more than 10,000 Turkish immigrants in
Düsseldorf: "We are against assimilation. No one should be able to rip us away
from our culture and civilization." In February 2008, Erdogan told 16,000
Turkish immigrants in Cologne that "assimilation is a crime against humanity."
For his part, Saudi Arabia's King Salman recently announced a plan to finance
the construction of 200 mosques in Germany to provide for the spiritual needs
migrants and refugees who arrived there in 2015. The mosques would, presumably,
adhere to Wahhabism, the official and dominant form of Sunni Islam in Saudi
Arabia. Wahhabism is an austere form of Islam that insists on a literal
interpretation of the Koran. On April 11, Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of
Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV), expressed alarm at the growing
number of radical Arab-language mosques in Germany. "Many mosques are dominated
by fundamentalists and are being monitored because of their Salafist
orientation," Maassen said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag. He added that
many of the mosques were being financed by donors in Saudi Arabia.
It remains uncertain, however, whether Merkel will back the "Islam Law," which
is certain to antagonize Erdogan, who effectively controls the floodgates of
Muslim mass migration to Europe. If Merkel were openly to support a ban on
foreign financing of mosques in Germany, Erdogan likely would threaten to pull
out of the EU-Turkey deal on migrants, a deal Merkel desperately needs to stanch
the flow of mass migration to Germany. It is yet another indication of the
tremendous leverage Erdogan has gained over Merkel and German policymaking.
Germany's coalition government has, however, reached a compromise deal on a new
"Integration Law." On April 14, Merkel announced the broad outlines of the law,
which will spell out the rights and responsibilities of migrants in Germany.
Under the law, the text of which will be finalized by May 24, asylum seekers
must attend German language classes and integration training or have their
benefits cut. The government pledged to make it easier for asylum seekers to
gain access to the German labor market by promising to create 100,000 new
"working opportunities." The government will also suspend a law requiring
employers to give preference to German or EU job applicants over asylum seekers.
In an effort to prevent the spread of migrant ghettoes in Germany, the new law,
which is expected to enter into force this summer, will prohibit refugees from
choosing where they live until they have secured asylum. Migrants who abandon
state-assigned housing would face unspecified sanctions.
The new law also includes a counter-terrorism provision, which would allow
German intelligence agencies to work more closely with their European, NATO and
Israeli counterparts. "We will have a German law on integration," Merkel said.
"This is the first time in post-war Germany that this has happened. It is an
important, qualitative step." But critics say the proposed law does not go far
enough because it does not threaten with deportation those migrants who refuse
to integrate. In his interview with Die Welt, Scheuer insisted that Muslim
immigrants must integrate or be deported: "Anyone who fails to attend
integration and language courses attests that they are not prepared to integrate
and accept our values. Moreover, it is important that people who want to stay in
Germany register with the Federal Employment Agency [Bundesagentur für Arbeit]
and provide for their own livelihood. The message is clear: Those who are not
integrated cannot stay here. We need to cease having romantic views of
integration. Multiculturalism has failed. Those who are not integrated must
count on deportation."
**Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He
is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de
Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on
Twitter. His first book, Global Fire, will be out in 2016.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone
website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without
the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute