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Bible Quotations For Today
Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 08/01-11: "Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’]]

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen
Letter to the Hebrews 11/01-06: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and ‘he was not found, because God had taken him.’ For it was attested before he was taken away that ‘he had pleased God.’ And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 20-21/15
Lebanese militant leader killed in Israeli raid in Syria - Hezbollah/Mariam Karouny and Suleiman Al-Khalidi
Israeli rockets killed infamous terrorist Samir Quntar in Damascus/DEBKAfile Special Report December 20, 2015
ISIS Sets Its Sights on the East/Vijeta Uniyal/Gatestone Institute./December 20/15
ISIS Selling Yazidi Women and Children in Turkey/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute./December 20/15
The Vienna Process: Transitioning Toward a Transition/Andrew J. Tabler and Olivier Decottignies/Washington Institute/December 20/15
Two Steps to Crack Down on Islamic State Financing Options/Matthew Levitt/Wall Street Journal/December20/15
How should we deal with ISIS in Western media/Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Arabiya/December 20/15
Saudi Arabia’s women have spoken/Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/December 20/15
Putin’s words against Turkey take leadership to new low/Mohamed Chebarro/Al Arabiya/December 20/15

3 Rockets from Lebanon Hit North Israel, Drawing Retaliatory Fire
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/15/At least three rockets were fired Sunday from southern Lebanon into northern Israel, drawing retaliatory fire, several hours after Hizbullah accused Israel of assassinating its top militant Samir al-Quntar in a Syria air raid. Two Katyusha-type rockets were fired from south Lebanon into Israel on Sunday, a Lebanese security source told AFP, and in Israel the army said rockets had hit the north. "Two Katyusha rockets were fired from a Lebanese village five kilometers from the border with Israel," the Lebanese source said. A statement from Israel's military suggested that three rockets were fired. "Sirens sounded in northern Israel. Initial report suggests three rockets hit northern Israel. Forces are searching the area," it said.A red alert siren in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya and its surroundings preceded the rockets, according to the website of Israel's Jerusalem Post newspaper. "There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, yet local residents reported hearing sounds of the blast nearby," the newspaper said. Across the heavily militarized frontier, troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the Lebanese army were searching for the firing point, the Lebanese source said. "UNIFIL is conducting contacts to prevent any escalation on the border," Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said. Later on Sunday, Israeli retaliated by firing nine shells at southern Lebanon. Israeli forces "have responded with targeted artillery fire following the rockets that hit Israel earlier today from southern Lebanon," an English-language Israeli army statement said. Lebanon's National News agency said seven artillery shells hit the Wadi al-Nafkha area in the western sector, south of the city of Tyre, as two others landed in the Wadi Zebqin area.
No casualties were reported.
"Israeli warplanes are staging mock raids over Nabatiyeh and Iqlim al-Tuffah," NNA reported earlier. Media reports said Israeli warplanes were heard flying over the capital Beirut and along the Lebanese coast. The Israeli army said that it sees "the Lebanese army as responsible for activities in Lebanon and will continue to act against any attempt to harm Israeli sovereignty and the security of its citizens."The Israeli army added that, at this point, there was no change in safety instructions for residents of northern Israel. Media reports had said that Israeli authorities have opened bomb shelters in the North. MTV said several Katyusha rockets were fired from the al-Mansouri and al-Qlayleh areas in southern Lebanon. Voice of Lebanon radio said two rockets were fired from the al-Hinniyeh area as two others were fired from the Tal al-Maaliyeh region. Al-Jadeed television said "three rockets were fired at Israel from an area near the Ras al-Ain landfill south of Tyre." According to Lebanon's National News Agency, four rockets were fired at Israel from the al-Qlayleh plain. MTV meanwhile said "flares were fired over al-Mansouri and the al-Qlayleh plain in the South amid intensive overflights by Israeli warplanes."In the wake of the rocket fire, the Lebanese army took security measures along the southern coastal highway from Ras al-Ain to Naqoura, NNA said.
Israeli media outlets said Israel's security cabinet will convene to discuss the developments after the rockets incident. Earlier in the day, Lebanon's National News Agency said a state of cautious calm was engulfing the Lebanese-Israeli border area in the wake of the news of Quntar's assassination. The Israeli army “raised the preparedness of its forces to the highest level and moved its patrols away from the border fence in anticipation of any military developments,” NNA said. Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will make a televised address tomorrow, Monday at 8:30 pm, Hizbullah's al-Manar TV reported on Sunday. The announcement came a few hours after Hizbullah accused Israel of assassinating al-Quntar in an airstrike near Damascus and Nasrallah is expected to comment on the development.
Hizbullah legislator Ali Ammar vowed Sunday that Quntar's death will not go unpunished, adding that Hizbullah's military commanders will decide how to avenge the killing.

UNIFIL Says Parties Committed to 'Cessation of Hostilities' after Rocket Attack
Naharnet/December 20/15?UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major-General Luciano Portolano reassured Sunday evening that “the situation along the Blue Line is calm,” after three rockets were fired from south Lebanon into north Israel. “There is a need to act with restraint and the parties have reassured me of their continued commitment to maintain the cessation of hostilities,” he added. He described the attack as “a serious incident in violation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701,” saying it is “clearly directed at undermining stability in the area.”“It is imperative to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of this attack,” Portolano urged. He noted that “additional troops have been deployed on the ground and patrols have been intensified across (UNIFIL's) area of operations in coordination with the LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces) to prevent any further incidents.” Portolano is maintaining “close contact with the parties and has called for maximum restraint in order to prevent any escalation of the situation,” a UNIFIL statement said. Detailing the events, the U.N. force said “shortly after 17:30 hrs, UNIFIL radars detected three rockets fired from the general area of Al Hinniyah in southern Lebanon towards Israel.” The Israeli army informed UNIFIL that “two rockets had impacted in northern Israel, and a third fell in the sea,” the statement said. Israel retaliated with “approximately eight rounds of 120mm mortar fire that impacted near Zebqin in southern Lebanon,” UNIFIL added, noting that “at this time, no casualties have been reported from either side.”There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket attack, UNIFIL pointed out. “UNIFIL, in cooperation with the parties, has launched an investigation to determine the facts and circumstances of the incident as well as to locate the launching sites of the rocket fire,” it added. The rockets were fired several hours after Hizbullah accused Israel of assassinating its top militant Samir al-Quntar in a Syria air raid. The Israeli army has warned that it sees "the Lebanese army as responsible for activities in Lebanon and will continue to act against any attempt to harm Israeli sovereignty and the security of its citizens." Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to address the developments in a televised address on Monday evening. Earlier on Sunday, Hizbullah legislator Ali Ammar vowed that Quntar's death will not go unpunished, adding that Hizbullah's military commanders will decide how to avenge the killing.

Lebanese militant leader killed in Israeli raid in Syria - Hezbollah
Mariam Karouny and Suleiman Al-Khalidi
BEIRUT (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike killed Samir Qantar, a Hezbollah militant leader, in Damascus on Saturday evening, the Lebanese group and Syrian state media said on Sunday. Israel welcomed Qantar's death, saying he had been preparing attacks on it from Syrian soil, but stopped short of confirming responsibility for the strike that killed him. A former national security adviser to Israel said he doubted the strike would escalate hostilities between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah, whose last major confrontation was in 2006. Israel has formally kept out of Syria's civil war which started almost five years ago but has bombed Hezbollah targets there without publicly acknowledging these sorties. Hezbollah, a powerful Shi'ite Muslim group that has sent hundreds of fighters to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad against rebels trying to topple him, said Qantar was "martyred" in an Israeli raid on the residential district of Jaramana in the Syrian capital, but gave no details. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was due to speak on Monday evening as both supporters of the group and Syrian loyalist groups said the death of Qantar would be avenged and not be in vain.
Three Katuysha rockets that were fired from Lebanon struck open areas in northern Israel, causing no damage or injuries but bringing immediate retaliation from Israel, which fired artillery rounds into southern Lebanon amid increased tensions along the two countries' borders. The Israeli army said it held the Lebanese government responsible for attacks emanating from its territory and that it would "continue to act against any attempt to harm Israel's sovereignty and the security of its citizens." Jailed in Israel for his part in a 1979 raid in Israel that killed four people, Qantar, a Druze, was repatriated to Lebanon in 2008 in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah, which he is then believed to have joined.
Yaakov Amidror, Israel's former national security adviser, predicted Hezbollah would seek to exact "small revenge" for Qantar's killing, but said Hezbollah, like Iran, was likely too busy fighting in Syria to afford a new front with Israel. "It would not be in their interest, and if they did so, they would have a big problem," Amidror said, alluding to Israel's threats to respond to any major Hezbollah attack with strikes in Lebanon. Hezbollah's official media said Qantar would be buried on Monday in a Shi'ite cemetery in its main stronghold of Dahiya in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The party opened a condolences hall to receive the public. "Such acts of the Zionist regime (Israel), which have become a consistent method, are the most dangerous forms of state terrorism," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari was quoted as saying by Iran's ILNA news agency. Syrian Information Minister Omran al Zubi pointed the finger at Israel but stopped short of blaming it directly. "The party that gains most from the assassination of Qantar is the Zionist enemy whom we have long known for these cowardly attacks," Zubi told Hezbollah's Manar television station. Official Syrian media said an Israeli aerial strike hit a six-storey residential building in Jaramana.
EXPLOSIONS
"I am not confirming or denying anything to do with this matter," Israeli Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Gallant told Israel Radio, adding: "It is good that people like Samir Qantar will not be part of our world." Qantar, born in 1962, kept a low public profile after Israel released him. Hezbollah did not say which role Qantar played in the Syrian conflict, but Syrian state media said he was involved in a major offensive earlier this year in Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Rebels in southern Syria also said Qantar was present in battles this year to defend a Syrian air base near the Druze majority city of Sweida, close to the border with Jordan, that rebels sought to capture.
Reuters could not independently verify this.
Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked accused Qantar of overseeing covert Hezbollah entrenchment on the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau overlooking northeastern Israel. "He set up a broad terror network on the Golan, and it is good that he returned his soul to his creator," Shaked told Israel's Army Radio, without elaborating on any Israeli role. The Assad loyalist National Defence Forces in Jaramana, a bastion of government support and home to many of Syria's Druze minority as well as Christians, mourned Qantar on its Facebook page. "Two Israeli warplanes carried out the raid which targeted the building in Jaramana and struck the designated place with four long-range missiles," the NDF said. In January, an Israeli strike in Syria killed six members of Hezbollah, including a commander and the son of the group's late military leader Imad Moughniyah near the Golan Heights.(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Beirut; Editing by Dominic Evans and Greg Mahlich) Photo negative found during home reno provides snapshot in time.Greg Bruce and Laura-Beth Power were renovating their 70-year-old home in the city's downtown when they uncovered a photographic negative of two women hidden behind the walls of their home. Bruce and Power believe the photo was taken in their backyard, but don't know who is in the picture, who it belongs to or how it ended up in the wall. Power thinks that the photo was taken before the Second World War, based on the clothing and styles.
CBC'I made it through': Ottawa man earns two diplomas while living at homeless

Israeli rockets killed infamous terrorist Samir Quntar in Damascus
DEBKAfile Special Report December 20, 2015
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2015/12/20/israeli-rockets-killed-infamous-terrorist-samir-quntar-in-damascus/
Syrian and Hizballah media confirme that Israeli rocket fire from four air force jets early Sunday, Dec. 20, destroyed a building in the eastern Jaramana district of Damascus and killed Samir Quntar, head of Hizballah terror networks in southern Syria and the Golan. Footage showed a multi-storey residential building collapsed and rescue workers digging through the rubble for survivors. In addition to Quntar, Issam Sha'alan, a senior commander of the National Syrian Golan Resistance Organization was also killed. This organization was established by Syrian intelligence for terrorist operations against Israel.
Israel remembers Samir Quntar for the exceptionally vicious murder of a family in Nahariya in 1979. He was released by Israel in 2008 in a controversial swap in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli reservists killed by Hizballah in 2006. debkafile’s military and counterterrorism sources report that in the last two years, Samir Quntar established a network of terrorist cells in all of southern Syria on behalf of three masters: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hizballah and the Assad regime’s Military Intelligence Agency. In Tehran and Damascus, his mission was defined as "establishing commando units for special operations." Those units were in fact hit and terror squads. His territory ranged from Jebel Druze in southeast Syria up to the Druze villages of the Syrian Hermon range and the Syrian Golan including Quneitra. In the past year, he recruited scores of Syrian Druze to fight for Bashar Assad and was able to prevent the Druze community from joining the rebel forces fighting the Assad regime in southern Syria. He was outstandingly successful in thwarting every US-Jordanian-Israeli action for deploying an effective military force to the rear of the Syrian army in the South. The renegade Druze terrorist additionally mustered Druze recruits to his terror cells in 30 villages on the Hermon opposite IDF positions. These cells were responsible for the intermittent short-range rocket fire into the Israeli Golan and Galilee. They caused slight damage but they were an effective stratagem in his drive to plant is spies in the Druze villages and turn them against relations with the IDF and Syrian rebel forces. Quntar acted under the direct command of the Al Qods Brigades chief the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, after he was appointed commander of Iranian forces in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, and Mustafa Badr, Al-Din, head of Hizballah forces in Syria. He was recently promoted to take charge of building a combined terrorist network of Syrians, Hizballah commandos and Palestinians for mounting incursions deep into Israel for major terrorist attacks. His transfer from southern Syria to a high security residential building I Damascus attested to his enhanced status.
On April 22, 1979, at the age of 16, as a Lebanese Druze member of the Palestinian Liberation Front, Samir Quntar perpetrated a vicious terrorist attack in Nahariya that ended in the murder of an Israeli policeman, the attempted kidnapping of an Israeli family and the death of four Israelis and two of his fellow kidnappers. Quntar and his team reached the northern Israeli coastal town by boat from Lebanon, broke into an apartment building and kidnapped a father, 31-year-old Danny Haran, and his 4-year-old daughter, Einat. He took them to the beach, shot the father in the back and smashed in the head of the child. The mother, Smadar Haran, who hid in a crawl space in the house with her two-year-old daughter Yael, accidentally suffocated Yael to death while trying to quiet her. Qantar was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In November 2008, after his release from Israel in a prisoner swap for two reservists killed by Hizballah, Syrian president Bashar Assad presented Quntar with a Syrian medal and in early 2009 he was honored by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. On 8 September 2015, the United States Department of State designated him as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

Lebanese militant leader killed in Syria blasts
Reuters Beirut Sunday, 20 December 2015/Lebanese militant leader Samir Qantar was killed in an Israeli strike that hit a building in the Damascus district of Jaramana in the early hours on Sunday, the Lebanese Hezbollah group and Syrian government loyalists said. The powerful Lebanese Hezbollah group said Qantar was martyred in an Israeli aerial raid on a residential district of the Syrian capital Damascus but gave no details. An Israeli cabinet minister welcomed on Sunday the killing of Qantar but stopped short of confirming allegations that Israel was responsible. Released Lebanese prisoner Samir Qantar attends a rally at Ain al-Tineh village on the Syrian side in the Golan Heights in front of Majdal Shams village, in the Israeli-occupied area in the 1967 war, in this November 24, 2008 file photo. (Reuters) Israel released Qantar, a Druze, in 2008 as part of a prisoner swap with the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group and he is believed to have joined the group since. He was welcomed as a hero in Beirut and he married a Lebanese Shiite woman from a Hezbollah family. Israel has struck Syria several times since the start of the war five years ago, mostly destroying weaponry such as missiles that Israeli officials said were destined for Hezbollah, Israel's long-time foe in neighboring Lebanon. After his release, Qantar kept a low public profile. But it is believed that he had become a commander in Hezbollah, which has sent hundreds of its members to fight alongside forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. However, it was not immediately clear what role Qantar, born in 1962, plays in the fighting in Syria. His brother Bassam Kantar had earlier mourned him on his Facebook page without giving details about his death, but said his brother was a martyr. "With pride we mourn the martyrdom of the leader Samir Qantar and we are honored to join families of martyrs," Bassam Kantar said on his Facebook page. Syria's state media, which did not mention Qantar, blamed "terrorist groups" for the attack and said it caused casualties. But government loyalists said the explosions were an Israeli strike believed to have killed Qantar, who is reviled in Israel for a 1979 attack that killed four people. The National Defense Forces in Jaramana, which are part of a nation wide grouping of loyalist Syrian militias under the umbrella of the army, mourned Qantar and one of its commanders on its Facebook page. "His (Qantar) body has been sent to a Damascus hospital moments ago," it said. In January, an Israeli strike in Syria killed six members of Hezbollah, including a commander and the son of the group's late military leader Imad Moughniyah in the province of Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Syrian government loyalists blamed Israel for the attack on Sunday. "Two Israeli warplanes carried out the raid which targeted the building in Jaramana and struck the designated place with four long range missiles," the NDF in Jaramana Facebook page said. Jaramana is a bastion of government support and is the home of many of Syria's Druze minority as well as Christians.

Nasrallah to Deliver Speech Monday as Israel Boosts Measures on Lebanon
Naharnet/December 20/15/Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will make a televised address tomorrow, Monday at 8:30 pm, Hizbullah's al-Manar TV reported on Sunday. The announcement comes a few hours after Hizbullah accused Israel of assassinating the group's top militant Samir al-Quntar in an airstrike in Syria and Nasrallah is expected to comment on the development. Hizbullah legislator Ali Ammar vowed that Quntar's death will not go unpunished, adding that Hizbullah's military commanders will decide how to avenge the killing. Earlier in the day, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said a state of cautious calm was engulfing the Lebanese-Israeli border area in the wake of the news of Quntar's assassination. The Israeli army “raised the preparedness of its forces to the highest level and moved its patrols away from the border fence in anticipation of any military developments,” NNA said. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has also boosted its monitoring of the situation on both sides of the border as it intensified its patrols along the Blue Line. Quntar was freed by Israel as part of a prisoner swap in 2008, three decades after he was convicted of killing four Israelis, and he then became a high-profile figure in Hizbullah. In September, the United States placed Quntar on its terror blacklist, saying he had "played an operational role, with the assistance of Iran and Syria, in building up Hizbullah's terrorist infrastructure in the Golan Heights."

Samir al-Quntar Killed in Israeli Raid in Syria
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/15/Hizbullah figure Samir al-Quntar was killed in an Israeli air raid near the Syrian capital, media reports said on Sunday. Israeli warplanes targeted a building where Quntar and a number of his companions were residing in Hay al-Homsi in Jarmana southeast of Damascus, killing an unidentified number, media reports said. Witnesses said that three missiles were launched at the residential building and led to its total collapse, killing six individuals and wounding another twelve. Media reports close to Hizbullah said that Israeli warplanes carried out raids on the said location, killing at least nine individuals and an unidentified number were wounded. Al-Jazeera, al-Jadeed, and Russia Today said that an Israeli air raid at dawn on Jarmana in Reef Damascus led to the killing of Hizbullah figure Samir al-Quntar and other members. At dawn, Journalist Bassam al-Quntar, mourned his brother Samir in a tweet on Twitter saying: "We are proud to have joined the long list of families of martyrs."Moreover, Hizbullah issued a statement early on Sunday confirming the news, saying he was killed on Saturday "when the Zionist enemy planes bombed the building where he lived in Jarmana." Al-Manar TV aired footage of what it said was the residential building targeted in Jarmana Saturday night. The building appeared to be completely destroyed. The Syrian state news agency SANA reported the "martyrdom of... Samir Quntar last night in a terrorist raid on a residential building" on the southern outskirts of Jarmana. It released a picture showing Syrian pro-government forces standing guard next to a partially collapsed building where Quntar was said to have been killed. Al-Mayadeen TV said that Farhan al-Shaalan, a senior commander with the anti-Israeli "resistance" movement in the Golan Heights, was also killed in the air raid together with an aide to Quntar. Quntar was imprisoned in 1979 in Israel after he was convicted of murder in an attack that left an Israeli policeman, a father and his two children dead. He was long wanted in Israel for the attack considered one of the grisliest in Israeli history. Israel released Quntar as part of a prisoner exchange in 2008, three decades after the killings, and has since become a high-profile figure in Hizbullah. In September the United States placed Quntar on its terror blacklist, saying he had "played an operational role, with the assistance of Iran and Syria, in building up Hizbullah's infrastructure in the Golan Heights."

Syria, Iran, Hamas Condemn Killing of Quntar
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/15/Several of Hizbullah's allies in the region condemned Sunday the assassination of the group's top militant Samir al-Quntar in a raid in Syria. Syrian Prime Minister Wael Halaqi condemned the attack, saying targeting Quntar was equivalent to "targeting the axis of resistance," referring to Syria and its allies. Iran, a close ally of Hizbullah and the Syrian regime, called it an "assassination" that was a "violation of an independent country's national sovereignty and territorial integrity."In Gaza, Palestinian group Hamas condemned what it called "the Israeli assassination crime" against Quntar. Quntar was freed by Israel as part of a prisoner swap in 2008, three decades after he was convicted of killing four Israelis, and he then became a high-profile figure in Hizbullah. In September, the United States placed Quntar on its terror blacklist, saying he had "played an operational role, with the assistance of Iran and Syria, in building up Hizbullah's terrorist infrastructure in the Golan Heights." The 54-year-old was killed on Saturday night "when the Zionist enemy planes bombed the building where he lived in Jarmana," southeast of Damascus, Hizbullah said in a statement.

Political and Religious Figures Denounce Quntar's Assassination
Naharnet/December 20/15/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat denounced on Sunday the assassination of Hizbullah figure Samir al-Quntar, describing the slain as “a symbol of struggle and steadfastness.”“Apart from our political differences with regard to the Syrian crisis, we denounce targeting Samir al-Quntar with an Israeli air raid in Jermana that led to his death. He will continue to be a symbol of struggle and steadfastness”, said Jumblat in a statement. “The martyr Quntar has devoted his life to confront the Israeli occupation, and had spent decades in solitary detention without backing down on his positions and principles,” added the PSP chief. For his part, MP Marwan Hamadeh also denounced the act, he said: “Israel's criminal act in Jarmana is but a continuation of the Israeli approach based on murder, treachery, destruction.”The AMAL Movement issued a statement demanding quick international community reaction, it said: “We urge the International community to take direct action to put an end to these crimes.”The deputy head of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council, Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan denounced the assassination of Quntar, also known as Lebanon's Dean of Lebanese Prisoners, he said: “Through this crime, the Zionist enemy aimed to raise the morals of its soldiers, and has therefore made a grave mistake and will bear its consequences.”Hizbullah said in a statement that he was killed on Saturday night in an Israeli air raid near the Syrian capital Damascus. Quntar was imprisoned in 1979 in Israel after he was convicted of murder in an attack that left an Israeli policeman, a father and his two children dead. He was long wanted in Israel for the attack considered one of the grisliest in Israeli history. Israel released Quntar as part of a prisoner exchange in 2008, three decades after the killings, and has since become a high-profile figure in Hizbullah.

Israel Minister, Victims' Family Praise Killing of Hizbullah's Quntar
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/15/Israel's justice minister Sunday welcomed the death of Lebanese militant Samir al-Quntar but did not claim credit for the air strike in Syria that killed him, which Hizbullah said was an Israeli raid. The Israeli family of his victims also said "justice has been done."Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked told army radio that Israel "has not claimed" the strike but "was happy to learn the news.""He was an arch-terrorist who killed a young girl by fracturing her skull and had continued his terrorist activities after being freed," she said. "It's a good thing he met his maker." Quntar had denied killing the girl, saying she was killed in the crossfire. Israel had convicted Quntar of murdering three Israelis, including the four-year-old girl. He was freed by Israel as part of a prisoner swap in 2008, three decades after the killings, and he became a high-profile figure in Hizbullah. Israeli Cabinet minister Yuval Steinitz said he was not sorry about Quntar's death but could not comment on the accusations that Israel was behind the killing. "If something happened to him I think that no civilized person can be sorry. But again I learned it from the reports in the international media and I can make no concrete reference to it," he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment about the strike in his weekly Cabinet meeting. Hizbullah said Quntar was killed on Saturday night in an Israeli air raid near the Syrian capital Damascus. Israeli media have quoted military sources as saying Hizbullah had put him in charge of the Syrian part of the Golan Heights. Former Israeli national security adviser Yaakov Amidror noted that Israel has said it will act against weapons transfers to Hizbullah as well as what it sees as preparations to attack Israel. Quntar "was very active in the north part of the Golan Heights in the Syrian side, responsible for preparing the area for attacks against Israel," he said. "And if he is neutralized by someone, it's good news for the state of Israel," Amidror, a senior fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, told reporters. He said however he did not know whether Israel was responsible. Asked why Israel does not claim credit for such incidents, he said it makes it less likely for the other side to retaliate. Quntar was a teenager when he and three other members of the Palestine Liberation Front infiltrated the Israeli village of Nahariya by sea from Lebanon. Israeli authorities said the militants shot dead Danny Haran, 28, and battered his daughter Einat's skull with rifle butts. Quntar was sentenced to five life terms plus 47 years for murdering Haran, Einat and an Israeli policeman. Smadar Haran, Danny's widow, told army radio on Sunday that "justice has been done, especially when we know that he has continued to be active in terrorism against us since his release."Their second daughter suffocated as Smadar Haran tried to keep the two-year-old from making noise and revealing their hiding spot during the kidnapping of her husband and other daughter. Danny Haran's brother Ronny told the Ynet news website that Quntar's death is "a small comfort, but it doesn't detract from the pain one bit."

Supporters of Ex-MP Yaacoub Block Roads, Protest Ongoing Detention
Naharnet/December 20/15/Supporters of ex-MP Hassan Yaacooub, who is detained in the kidnapping case of Hannibal Gadhafi, blocked the Tamnine-Riyaq road in Baalbek protest to his ongoing detention, the state-run National News Agency reported on Sunday. Later during the day, the protesters blocked the Riyaq-Baablek and the Baalbek-Hermel highways with burning tires, expressing major dismay, it added. On Saturday, the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau concluded investigations with former Yaaqoub in the kidnapping case of Hannibal Gadhafi, the son of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. He was then referred to the General Prosecution. The former lawmaker was arrested in connection to the abduction of Hannibal last week.He has denied any involvement in the case. Hannibal was released on December 11 after a brief kidnapping at the hands of whom he said were groups sympathetic of the case of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, who disappeared following a trip to Libya in 1978. Hassan Yaaqoub is the son of Sheikh Mohammed Yaaqoub – one of two companions who disappeared together with al-Sadr in 1978. Hannibal was arrested for withholding information in the case.

Report: Dialogue Session Will not Address Presidential Settlement
Naharnet/December 20/15/The settlement that could bring Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh to the top state post, will not be addressed during the dialogue session set for the beginning of the week, An Nahar daily reported on Sunday. Speaker Nabih Berri is committed to limit the discussions to the items listed on the agenda, sources close to Ain el-Tineh told the daily. Ruling out the possibility that the issue could be tackled, they said on condition of anonymity: “The settlement to bring MP Franjieh to the post of president may not be discussed.”Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri has been leading efforts to nominate Franjieh as president as part of a greater initiative aimed at ending the political deadlock in Lebanon. However his initiative was not welcomed by the Christian blocs of the Kataeb, Change and Reform, and Lebanese Forces as they expressed reservations over the nomination.
Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls.

Pope Welcomes U.N.-Backed Roadmap on Syria, Efforts in Libya
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/15/Pope Francis welcomed a U.N.-backed roadmap to end the Syrian war on Sunday, and said recent efforts to establish a national unity government in Libya sparked hopes for an end to a political deadlock which has allowed jihadists and people-smugglers to flourish. "I am moved to turn my thoughts to beloved Syria and express my great appreciation for the agreement just reached by the international community," the pontiff said following the Angelus prayer in Saint Peter's Square. "I encourage everyone to continue energetically down the path to an end of violence and a negotiated solution for peace," he said, after the U.N. backed a U.S. and Russian initiative Friday to end Syria's brutal civil war by summoning rebels and the regime to the negotiating table. The Argentine pontiff also sent his thoughts to "Libya, where the recent engagement between parties for a national unity government inspires hope for the future." An agreement was reached this week among rival Libyan factions in a bid to stem the chaos in that country which international experts fear is creating conditions for the so-called Islamic State to put down roots. The accord, reached during U.N.-mediated talks in Morocco, faces an uncertain future however, with some Libyan tribal or regional groups rejecting it in advance.

Final Day of Yemen Peace Talks as Ceasefire Crumbles
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/15/Representatives of Yemen's warring sides were meeting Sunday for a final day of U.N.-backed peace negotiations, concluding nearly a week of talks with few results and clouded by widespread ceasefire violations on the ground. U.N. special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has announced a press conference in Bern at 1600 GMT Sunday concluding the talks, and is expected to announce a new round, likely starting in mid-January, according to a source close to the rebel delegation. Negotiators are scrambling to end the spiraling conflict, which has killed more than 5,800 people since March, according to the United Nations. The sides, who have been meeting since Tuesday in a remote part of Bern canton in a bid to keep the media at bay, agreed Saturday to create "a neutral military committee" to monitor the collapsing ceasefire and another committee to oversee the delivery of humanitarian aid, sources from both delegations said. The ceasefire theoretically took effect as the talks began six days ago, but it has repeatedly been violated. Missiles have been fired from rebel-held areas, even slamming down on the Saudi side of the border with deadly consequences, while government forces have seized several areas back from the rebels. "The negotiations have basically failed," said a source with the delegation representing both the Iran-backed Huthi Shiite rebels and renegade troops still loyal to wealthy ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh. He told AFP that the ceasefire, which was meant to facilitate the delivery of desperately-needed humanitarian aid, was "still-born." "We have not achieved any results," agreed a source in President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government delegation. The talks have among other things stumbled on the question of prisoners, with the rebels demanding swaps, while the government wants the Huthis to first liberate a number of its captives, including the president's brother, several sources said. If nothing else, the talks have managed to get the rival sides to sit down at the same table. During the last round of talks in Geneva in June, the U.N. mediator was forced to shuttle between the two delegations, who remained holed up in separate hotels. Yemen's conflict erupted in September 2014, when the Huthis advanced from their northern strongholds to occupy the capital Sanaa. It has escalated dramatically since Saudi-led air strikes against the rebels began in March, with more than 5,800 people killed -- about half of them civilians -- and more than 27,000 wounded since then, according to the U.N.

Toll 'Tops 100' as Turkey Presses Major Offensive against PKK
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/15/The number of Kurdish rebels killed in a massive huge Turkish military offensive in the restive southeast has jumped to 102, a security source told Agence France Presse on Sunday, as the operation entered its fifth day. At least two soldiers and five civilians have also been killed in the fighting, the source said. An earlier toll released on Saturday put the figure at 70 dead in the unprecedented police and army operation, with the military saying all were suspected members of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Some 10,000 troops backed by tanks have been deployed in the southeast to try to rout young PKK supporters from urban areas, according to local media. The operation, which has targeted the towns of Cizre and Silopi in the province of Sirnak as well as a neighbourhood in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region, began on Wednesday, according to the army. On Friday, the military also carried out air strikes on alleged PKK hideouts and weapons sites across the border in northern Iraq, where the outlawed group has its rear bases. Images published by the Anatolia news agency show heavily armed soldiers backed by tanks going house-to-house in the towns and firing from street corners. Army forces chief General Hulusi Akar visited Sirnak province on Saturday for a briefing by the local military command. The Turkish government says the operation is needed to eliminate militants who were effectively taking over the towns by building barricades and digging trenches. But Kurdish activists and politicians have accused the army of acting with impunity and pounding large parts of the towns to rubble. - 'Attempt to unleash civil war' -The army said that two schools that had been used by the PKK as hideouts had been rendered inoperable while a stash of arms had been seized in Silopi. The education ministry recalled teachers from the area and schools were closed, as were health services due to a lack of doctors who have fled the conflict zone. The operations mark a new escalation in five months of fighting between the army and the PKK since a two-and-a-half year truce collapsed in July. Although analysts have called for peace talks, the authorities led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, buoyed by his party's victory in the November 1 election, have said Ankara must eradicate the PKK. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu condemned what he said was "an attempt to unleash a civil war".He warned that the military operations, criticised by some members of the political opposition and rights groups, will last until the towns targeted are completely "cleansed". But Turkey's Human Rights Association (IHD) protested that the operations and "the systematic recourse to curfews, represent an unacceptable collective punishment". The PKK launched an surgency against the Turkish state in 1984, initially fighting for Kurdish independence although it is now pressing more for greater autonomy and rights for the country's largest ethnic minority. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.

Saudi Says 3 Civilians Killed by Missile Fired from Yemen
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/15/A missile fired from war-torn Yemen has struck a Saudi border city, killing three civilians, the kingdom said, in yet another violation of a ceasefire aimed at helping peace talks. Saturday's attack on Najran left one Saudi citizen and two Indian workers dead, according to a civil defence spokesman quoted by the official SPA news agency. India's consul general in Jeddah, B.S. Mubarak, confirmed that two Indians from the southern state of Tamil Nadu were killed in the attack near a museum on the edge of Najran. Another Indian was killed in shelling in the border region about six months ago, he said. The latest incident comes after the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels in Yemen announced that two ballistic missiles were fired Friday at the kingdom from its neighbour. One of the missiles was intercepted by Saudi air defences, while the other struck a desert area east of Najran, the coalition said without reporting any casualties in that incident. The attack had prompted Saudi Arabia's border guard to repeat a warning that residents should stay away from the frontier. On Thursday the civil defence agency said a civilian had been wounded in the Jazan border region by shelling from Yemen. The ceasefire has been repeatedly breached since it came into force as UN-sponsored talks opened Tuesday in Switzerland. Since March, Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition whose warplanes and troops have supported embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against the rebels who have seized the capital and other areas. More than 5,800 people have been killed -- about half of them civilians -- and over 27,000 wounded in Yemen since then, according to the UN. In Saudi Arabia, more than 80 people, most of them soldiers and border guards, have died in shelling and cross-border skirmishes since March.

Palestinian Shot Trying to Stab Israeli Troops
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/A Palestinian woman attempted to stab Israeli soldiers in the flashpoint city of Hebron in the West Bank on Sunday before she was shot and arrested, officials and medics said. It was the latest in nearly three months of such attacks. The incident set off a clash between Palestinian residents -- who said they were seeking to help the wounded woman -- and Israeli security forces who fired rubber bullets and stun grenades, witnesses and Palestinian medics said. Two people were hurt by rubber bullets but their injuries were not believed to be serious, according to the medics. No injuries were reported on the Israeli side. "In Hebron, an assailant attempted to stab soldiers stationed in the area," the Israeli military said in a statement. "The forces responded, thwarting the attack. The assailant has been arrested and evacuated for medical treatment." A wave of violence since the start of October has claimed the lives of 123 on the Palestinian side, 17 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean. Many of the Palestinians killed have been attackers, while others have been shot dead by Israeli security forces during clashes. Tensions have been particularly high in Hebron, where several hundred Israeli settlers live under heavy military guard in the heart of the city among about 200,000 Palestinians. The stabbers have often been young Palestinians, including teenagers, who appear to be acting on their own. A number of them have attempted attacks with kitchen knives in what some analysts have described as de facto suicide missions. Palestinians have grown frustrated with Israel's occupation, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership, while international efforts to end the violence have so far failed.

ISIS militants stole ‘tens of thousands’ of blank passports: report
AFP, Berlin Sunday, 20 December 2015/The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) may have stolen “tens of thousands” of blank passports that it could use to smuggle its fighters into Europe as refugees, a German newspaper reported Sunday. The Welt am Sonntag cited Western intelligence sources as saying that ISIS could have acquired the stolen travel documents in areas of Syria, Iraq and Libya it now controls. The passports could be issued to would-be attackers to enter the European Union as asylum seekers, according to the report. Moreover ISIS has already launched a money-spinning operation with the fake documents, selling them on the black market where they fetch up to 1,500 euros ($1,630) each, Welt said. European authorities have repeatedly warned of the potential threat posed by refugees travelling with counterfeit documents. The two unidentified Stade de France attackers in Paris have been tracked back to two fake Syrian passports used to enter Europe. “The large influx of people who are travelling to Europe unchecked represents a security risk,” the head of EU border agency Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, told Welt. Leggeri said that passports issued in war-ravaged countries such as Syria where conditions are chaotic mean that no one can guarantee “that documents that look real were actually issued by an official authority.”Asked about the report, the German interior ministry offered a similar assessment.“In light of the large number of entering migrants, it cannot be ruled out that among them are for example, criminals, war criminals, members of militant groups or terror organizations, or individuals with extremist views,” a spokesman told AFP. “At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that these people are carrying fake documents.” The German government said last week that it had initially overestimated the proportion of people entering the country with fake Syrian passports, which was in fact far less than the 30 percent announced by the interior minister in September. Germany has to date maintained an open-door policy for Syrians escaping their country’s bloodshed, giving them “primary protection” -- the highest status for refugees.
Germany is Europe’s top destination for refugees, most of whom travel through Turkey and the Balkans, and expects more than one million arrivals this year.

Arab League backs U.N. plan to end Syria war
AFP, Cairo Sunday, 20 December 2015/The Arab League welcomed Sunday a U.N.-backed roadmap to end the Syrian war and vowed to support international efforts to implement a ceasefire. The resolution, approved unanimously by the U.N. Security Council on Friday, foresees talks between the rebels and the regime, and a rapid truce. “The unanimous adoption of the UN Security Council resolution offers a chance for the first time to find a serious solution to the crisis in Syria,” Nabil al-Arabi, head of the Cairo-based Arab League, said in a statement. He said the Arab diplomatic body was ready to continue co-ordinating with the U.N. envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, in “removing any obstacles that impede the implementation of the resolution.”Arabi urged the U.N. Security Council to take necessary steps in establishing an international monitoring mechanism “to impose the ceasefire on all parties in order to end strikes and shelling against civilians.”The U.N. proposal has been met with skepticism by members of Syria’s fractured opposition who insist President Bashar al-Assad must go to achieve peace. The Istanbul-based National Coalition, the main Syrian opposition grouping, has described the plan as unrealistic. The United States and Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia insist Assad must leave office as part of the process, but his backers Moscow and Tehran insist this is a decision for the Syrian people.

Syria regime, Russia making ‘extensive’ use of cluster munition: HRW
AFP, Beirut Sunday, 20 December 2015/Human Rights Watch charged Sunday that Syrian government forces and their Russian allies have been making “extensive” use of cluster munitions against rebel groups since late September. The New York-based rights watchdog said in a report it had documented the use of cluster munitions on 20 occasions since Russian and Syrian forces launched their assault on Sep. 30. HRW “collected detailed information about attacks in nine locations that have killed at least 35 civilians, including five women and 17 children, and injured dozens,” the report said. All the bombs were either made in Russia or the former Soviet Union, the rights group said. “Syria’s promises on indiscriminate weapons ring hollow when cluster munitions keep hitting civilians in many parts of the country," HRW's Ole Solvang said in the report. Solvang urged the U.N. to “get serious about its commitment to protect Syria’s civilians by publicly demanding that all sides stop the use of cluster munitions.”Cluster munitions contain dozens or hundreds of bomblets and are fired in rockets or dropped from the air. Widely banned, they spread explosives over large areas and are indiscriminate in nature, often continuing to maim and kill long after the initial attack when previously unexploded bomblets detonate. Russia launched an aerial bombing campaign against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad on Sep. 30. More than 250,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011, and millions more have fled their homes.

Jets believed to be Russian kill scores in Syrian city: rescue workers
Reuters, Beirut Sunday, 20 December 2015/Air strikes believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes killed scores of people in the center of the rebel-held city of Idlib in northwest Syria on Sunday, rescue workers and residents said. They said at least six strikes had hit a busy market place in the heart of the city, several government buildings and residential areas. Rescue workers said they had confirmed 43 dead but that at least 30 more bodies had been retrieved that had still to be identified.

Iraqi forces ask residents of ISIS-held Ramadi to evacuate city
Reuters, Baghdad Sunday, 20 December 2015/Iraqi military planes dropped leaflets on Sunday on Ramadi, asking residents to leave within 72 hours the western city which is under the control of ISIS militants, state TV reported, citing a military statement. It gave no further details but an army officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: “It is an indication that a major military operation to retake the city center will start soon.” Last week Iraqi security forces said they had made advances on two fronts in Ramadi, clearing ISIS militants from a key military command base and the sprawling neighborhood of al-Taamim on the western rim of the city. Iraqi intelligence estimates the number of ISIS fighters that are entrenched in the center of Ramadi at 250 to 300.

Indonesian police say new year terror plot foiled, five held
AFP, Jakarta Sunday, 20 December 2015/Indonesian police have foiled a major terror plot with the arrest of several men allegedly linked to a planned suicide bombing in Jakarta during New Year celebrations, according to documents seen Sunday.During raids in several cities across Java island on Friday and Saturday, police arrested five members of an alleged extremist network and seized chemicals, laboratory equipment and a flag inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group. Among those arrested was Asep Urip, a 31-year-old teacher at an Islamic boarding school in Central Java, and his 35-year-old pupil Zaenal, whom police allege was being “groomed” to carry out an imminent attack. “From early information, it’s known that Zaenal was a candidate for a suicide bombing in Jakarta to be conducted on New Year’s 2016,” stated police documents into the arrests seen by AFP. A subsequent raid on the teacher’s house uncovered a black flag inscribed with text “similar to an ISIS flag”, police said, referring to an acronym often used for the militant group controlling large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. Elite anti-terror police detained the teacher and the student after swooping on two other men with connections both to the religious school and to expert bombmakers and radicals in other parts of Java. One of those men, Iwan, had travelled to West Java this month with the intention of building a bomb, police allege. A fifth man was arrested near the city of Semarang on Saturday, leading to a raid on his home where a wide array of suspect materials was seized including laboratory equipment, chemical textbooks, fertilizer, buckshot and spikes.
Organized
Police said the nationwide operation -- the largest of its kind in Indonesia for some time -- was targeting an organized terror cell.“These arrests were carried out because of indications these men were involved in a terrorist network,” police documents state. The raids came just a month after Indonesia increased security at its airports after a threat was directed at one serving the capital Jakarta. Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, suffered several major bomb attacks by Islamic radicals between 2000 and 2009, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people. But a crackdown has weakened the most dangerous extremist networks. However the emergence of ISIS has sparked alarm that Indonesians returning from battlefields in the Middle East could revive the networks. Indonesian police in August arrested three people with links to the ISIS who were planning to launch bomb attacks during Independence Day celebrations.

Yemen peace talks end without agreement, to resume Jan. 14
Agencies Sunday, 20 December 2015/Yemeni peace talks in Switzerland ended on Sunday without an agreement to end nine months of civil war and foreign intervention but rival factions will resume negotiation on Jan. 14, a government delegation source told Reuters.“The first round of Yemeni discussions ended with an agreement for them to be revived ... in Ethiopia on the 14th of January,” the source told Reuters. Earlier, the United Nations said peace talks between warring sides in Yemen have ended amid severe new fighting in the country. The U.N. office in Geneva says the special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, will hold a press conference later Sunday. The peace talks between pro-government fighters and militias began Tuesday in the Swiss village of Macolin. Fierce fighting and airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition pounded northern Yemen on Saturday, as the two main parties in the country’s conflict continued to violate a cease-fire. Clashes in Hajjah Province near the Saudi border between militia-allied units and pro-government Yemeni forces have killed more than 75 people over the past three days, according to Yemeni security officials and witnesses said. Yemen’s fighting pits the internationally recognized government backed by a Saudi-led, U.S.-supported coalition against the rebels, known as Houthis, who are allied with a former president and backed by Iran. Local affiliates of al-Qaeda and the ISIS group have exploited the chaos to grab land and exercise influence. According to U.N. figures, the war in Yemen has killed at least 5,884 people since March, when fighting escalated after the Saudi-led coalition began launching airstrikes targeting the militias. (With AP, Reuters)

Hundreds protest against Turkey’s anti-PKK offensive
Agencies Sunday, 20 December 2015/Turkish police fired tear gas to disperse several hundred protesters in Istanbul’s main Taksim square demonstrating against security operations and curfews in the southeast, Reuters witnesses said on Sunday. Dozens of riot police with protective gear chased protesters into side streets, pushing pedestrians aside as shoppers and tourists on the busy street watched. At least two protesters were detained and shops began closing shutters. Earlier, a security source told AFP Sunday that the number of Kurdish rebels killed during a huge Turkish military offensive in the country’s restive southeast has jumped to 102 as the operation entered its fifth day. At least two soldiers and five civilians have also been killed in the clashes, the source said. An earlier toll released on Saturday put the figure at 70 dead, with the army saying all of them were suspected members of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).Some 10,000 troops backed by tanks have been deployed in the southeast to try to rout young PKK supporters from urban areas, according to local media. The operation, which has targeted the towns of Cizre and Silopi in Sirnak province as well as a neighborhood in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region, began on Wednesday, according to the army. On Friday, the military also carried out air strikes on PKK “hideouts” and “weapons sites” across the border in northern Iraq, where the outlawed group has its rear bases.(With Reuters, AFP)

U.S. embassy warns citizens over possible Tunisia mall attack
Reuters, Tunis Sunday, 20 December 2015/The United States embassy in Tunisia has warned its citizens to avoid a major shopping mall in the capital Tunis on Sunday because of a reported threat of a potential militant attack there. Tunisia is under a state of emergency following a suicide bomb attack on a presidential guard bus in Tunis last month. That followed two major militant gun attacks on a Tunis museum and a beach hotel targeting foreign tourists. A statement late on Saturday advised U.S. citizens to stay away from the Tunisia Mall in Berges du Lac area in the capital on Sunday because a “report of unknown credibility indicates the possibility of a terrorist attack.” It gave no further details. But Tunisia security forces have been on high alert since the November 24 suicide bombing that killed 12 presidential guards as they boarded a bus to start their tour of duty. The November attack on a main boulevard in the capital underscored the vulnerability of Tunisia to Islamist militancy, following assaults on the Sousse seaside tourist hotel in June and the Bardo Museum in Tunis in March, all claimed by ISIS. One of the Arab world’s most secular nations, Tunisia has become a target for militants after being praised as a symbol of democratic change in the region since its 2011 uprising ousted autocrat Zine Abidine Ben Ali.

U.S. strike ‘mistake’ led to Iraqi army deaths
AFP, Washington Sunday, 20 December 2015/U.S.-led coalition forces appear to have been responsible for air strikes that mistakenly killed several Iraqi soldiers, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday. The strike appears to have been “a mistake that involved both sides,” Carter told reporters, adding that he had called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to express condolences. Carter made his remarks, which were broadcast widely in U.S. media, while on a visit aboard the USS Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship supporting coalition missions in Iraq and Syria against ISIS militants. U.S. media reported that the air strike is believed to be the first friendly fire incident in the coalition war on ISIS. The Pentagon chief did not say how many soldiers died in the attack, but Iraqi officials put the toll at 10 dead. “These kinds of things happen when you’re fighting side by side as we are,” Carter told reporters, calling Friday’s air strike, near the western Iraqi city of Fallujah, “regrettable.” The incident “has all the indications of being a mistake of the kind that can happen on a dynamic battlefield,” he said. A U.S. military statement said all coalition air strikes against IS are conducted with the approval of the Iraqi government. “To the best of our knowledge, there have been no previous incidents of friendly fire in Iraq involving the coalition during the course of Operation Inherent Resolve,” it added, using the name for the coalition air campaign. Carter, who visited Afghanistan on Friday, will fly to Moscow on Sunday for talks on Syria. On Saturday, he visited France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Gulf, which is being used to launch strikes on ISIS targets.

Iraq welcomes Turkish withdrawal announcement
AFP, Baghdad Sunday, 20 December 2015/Baghdad on Sunday welcomed Turkey’s move to pull troops out of northern Iraq but said it would keep up efforts at the United Nations to achieve a full withdrawal. “What has been reported in the media is a step in the right direction,” Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was quoted as saying in a statement from his office. “We will carry on our process with the (U.N.) Security Council until a full withdrawal is achieved,” he added. Turkey announced on Saturday that it had begun withdrawing troops in a bid to de-escalate a bitter row with Baghdad and following a call from U.S. President Barack Obama. “Taking into account the sensitivities on the Iraqi side... Turkey will continue the process it has already begun to withdraw its troops stationed” near Mosul, the Turkish foreign ministry said. Earlier this month, Turkey deployed troops to a base in Nineveh province where it has a long-running training program for forces battling the ISIS group. Ankara insisted the deployment was routine and necessary to protect the trainers, while Baghdad said it was unauthorized and protested to the Security Council. In a phone call on Friday, Obama urged his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to continue the pullout and “to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq.”

ISIS Sets Its Sights on the East
Vijeta Uniyal/Gatestone Institute./December 20/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7050/isis-india-hindus
This month's ISIS manifesto claims India as part of Islamic Caliphate and, referring to the recent resurgence of Hindus in the country, states: "a movement of Hindus is growing who kill Muslims who eat beef."
ISIS flags and insignia are regularly displayed at protest rallies and religious gatherings in the Muslim-majority province of Kashmir.
Indian officials seem just as afraid of calling Islamist terror by its rightful name as their Western counterparts. Instead, they appear to be trying to distract the public by throwing money at ineffective social welfare programs. Perhaps these officials hope the public will think that at least "something" is being done.
The Islamic State (ISIS) is apparently planning to subjugate and conquer the ancient civilizations of the East as part of its worldwide jihad.
The Islamic State's newly-released manifesto contains, among the ideological positions and strategic objectives of the self-proclaimed Islamic Caliphate, direct threats to Hindus and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The 130-page English-language manifesto, entitled "Black Flags from the Islamic State (2016)," was uploaded in early December on various online forums sympathetic to the Islamic State. Previously, in July 2015, ISIS had circulated another document declaring its ambitions of expanding its Jihad into India.
This month's ISIS manifesto claims India as part of Islamic Caliphate and, referring to the recent resurgence of Hindus in the country, states: "a movement of Hindus is growing who kill Muslims who eat beef."
Hindu groups have lately been campaigning for a national ban on the slaughter cows, in keeping with the religious sentiments attached to the animal, which most Hindus consider sacred.
The social and political movement of reviving Hinduism in India was also strengthened by the historic election, 18 months ago, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his nationalist BJP party.
The ISIS manifesto mentions India's Prime Minister Modi as a "right-wing Hindu nationalist who worships weapons and is preparing his people for a future war against Muslims."
Modi's government wants to reduce India's dependence on foreign defense suppliers by encouraging foreign firms to set up manufacturing operations in the country. Encouraged by the deregulation of the defense sector, several foreign companies have set up production lines and set up joint ventures with local partners.
Undeterred by the current losses on the ground in Syria and Iraq, ISIS propaganda on social media has repeatedly proclaimed the group's dream of an Islamic Caliphate or theocratic empire ruling the entire Indian subcontinent, parts of East Asia, the Middle Eastern and North and Central Africa.
The new manifesto recognizes the Mumbai 2008 massacre, which targeted tourist, commercial and cultural targets in the city -- including a Jewish synagogue -- as the blueprint for the Paris attacks. "In the centre of Paris," the booklet states, "some Mujahideen holding AK-47s copied the Mumbai attacks' style of shooting through the window of a Cafe bar (where alcohol and food was served), then the people fell on the floor, so they threw a grenade into the building."
After last month's Paris attacks, India issued a nation-wide alert.
Seeking to broaden the 'intellectual' horizon of its sympathetic readers, the manifesto recommends earlier texts published by ISIS such as; "Black Flags from the East," "Black Flags from Rome" and "Black Flags from Palestine."
According to India's intelligence agencies, which monitor ISIS activities, at least 20 Indians have joined the ranks of the Islamic State as fighters in Iraq and Syria, and an additional 150 people are being monitored because of suspected involvement in activities related to ISIS. Since 2005, India has lost over 7,400 civilians and 3,200 security personnel to terrorism.
Support for ISIS is not, however, limited to a handful of identifiable operatives. ISIS flags and insignia are regularly displayed at protest rallies and religious gatherings in the Muslim-majority province of Kashmir. In July, the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Fitr was marked by widespread vandalism and stone-throwing, carried out by rioters waving Pakistani, Palestinian and ISIS flags.
The Islamic State's social media operation also bears at least one Indian signature. Last year, police in southern Indian city of Bangalore arrested a 24-year-old engineer who operated one of the main Twitter accounts associated with ISIS. The India-based Twitter account had 17,700 followers and circulated ISIS propaganda, including beheading videos.
The stated ambitions of ISIS to make India part of Muslim empire are not based on the historic Islamic conquest of India, mainly from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, but are rooted in established, mainstream Islamic theology, central to an Islamic end-of-time prophecy in the hadith. Those reports of the sayings and actions Islam's prophet Mohammad -- collectively called Ghazwa-e-Hind -- predict a final battle with India, and resulting in victory over the Hindus by the invading Muslim armies.
Instead of tackling the problem head-on, Indian Muslim organizations continue to deny the presence of the Islamic State and its affiliates in the country. On December 9, 2015, the umbrella body of Muslim organizations, the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat (AIMMM), issued a press release calling the reports of ISIS's penetration into India "baseless and misleading."
In 2014, this photo of Muslim ISIS supporters in India's Tamil Nadu state went viral on Twitter.
Despite regular video footage broadcast by Indian news channels, showing Muslims regularly carrying ISIS flags during religious gatherings and protests in the Muslim majority region of Kashmir, Muslim leaders maintained their claim that "ISIS does not exist in Kashmir." Instead, they portray themselves as victims of an elaborate conspiracy hatched by the Indian security forces to "pave the way for their large-scale arrests."
Prime Minister Modi's government has reacted to the heightened security threat posed by ISIS with a new counter-terrorism strategy. The measures could best be described as an attempt at "social engineering," with the government pledging more spending on education and employment programs in the hope of keeping Muslim youths away from the influence of radical Islamists. The problem with this approach is that it addresses a problem that is not relevant. Most of the Indian Muslims known to have joined the ranks of ISIS seem to come from affluent families and hold professional degrees. All of them had the means to travel abroad to join ISIS -- in a country where majority of people earn less than 3 dollars a day. Poor people are too busy just trying to exist.
If poverty were driving people to commit acts of terrorism, why are Indian's Hindus not lining up to join their version of "jihadi" outfits?
Indian lawmakers and officials are trapped in the same politically correct -- if in every other way incorrect -- assumption as their Western counterparts. They also seem just as scared of calling Islamist terror by its rightful name. Instead, they appear to be trying to distract the public by throwing taxpayer money at ineffective social welfare programs. Perhaps these officials hope the public will think that at least "something" is being done and fail to see that, instead of countering ISIS, in they are really just fleeing from the problem.
Vijeta Uniyal is an Indian current affairs analyst based in Europe.
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ISIS Selling Yazidi Women and Children in Turkey
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute./December 20/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7078/turkey-isis-slaves
"Some of those women and girls have had to watch 7-, 8-, and 9-year-old children bleed to death before their eyes, after being raped by ISIS militia multiple times a day." — Mirza Ismail, chairman of the Yazidi Human Rights Organization-International.
"An office has been established by ISIS members in Antep [Turkey]; and at that office, women and children kidnapped by ISIS are sold for high amounts of money. Where are the ministers and law enforcement officers of this county who are talking about stability?" — Reyhan Yalcindag, prominent Kurdish human rights lawyer.
"Five thousand people have been taken as captives. Women and children are raped, and then sold. These must be considered crimes." — Leyla Ferman, Co-President of the Yazidi Federation of Europe.
"Turkey has signed several international treaties, but it is the number one country when it comes to professional non-compliance with human rights treaties." — Reyhan Yalcindag.
This month, the German television station, ARD (Consortium of Public Broadcasters in Germany), produced footage documenting the slave trade being conducted by the Islamic State (ISIS) through a liaison office in the province of Gaziantep (also known as Antep) in Turkey, near the border with Syria.
In August 2014, Islamic State jihadists attacked Sinjar, home to over 400,000 Yazidis. The United Nations confirmed that 5,000 men were executed, and as many as 7,000 women and girls made sex slaves.
While some have escaped or been ransomed back, thousands of Yazidis remain missing.
A news report from German broadcaster ARD shows photos of Yazidi slaves distributed by ISIS (left), as well as undercover footage of ISIS operatives in Turkey taking payment for buying the slaves (right).
Last month, after Kurdish forces recaptured the area from ISIS jihadists, mass graves, believed to contain the remains of Yazidi women, were discovered east of Sinjar.
The German TV channels NDR and SWR declared on their website:
"IS [Islamic State] offers women and underage children in a kind of virtual slave market with for-sale photos. ... The transfer of money, as the reporter discovered, takes place through a liaison office in Turkey. ...
"For weeks, NDR and SWR accompanied a Yazidi negotiator, who, on behalf of the families, negotiates with the IS for the release of the slaves and their children. ... the women are sold in a digital slave market to the highest bidder. 15,000 to 20,000 US dollars are a typical price. Similar sums for ransom are also required to free Yazidis. The money is then transferred via IS-liaison offices and middlemen to the terrorist group.
"NDR and SWR were present at the liberation of a woman and her three small children, aged between two and four years old, and followed the negotiations. How many Yazidi slaves are still 'owned' by IS is unclear. Experts estimate that there still could be hundreds."
The negotiator told NDR and SWR that in the course of a year, he transferred more than USD $2.5 million to ISIS from the families of 250 Yazidi women and children, in order to free them.
He also said that to advertise the slaves, ISIS assigns numbers to the female and child slaves, and posts their photographs on the WhatsApp Messenger smartphone app.[1]
In response to these reports, the Gaziantep Bar Association filed a criminal complaint against "Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and law-enforcement officers that have committed neglect of duty and misconduct by not taking required measures, and not carrying out preventive and required intelligence activities before the media covered the said incidents."
The bar association also demanded that the prosecutors start prosecuting and punishing perpetrators engaged in crimes of "human trafficking, prostitution, genocide, deprivation of liberty, crimes against humanity, and migrant smuggling," according to the Turkish penal code.
"The tragic reality," said lawyer Bektas Sarkli, the head of Gaziantep Bar Association, "is that Gaziantep is a crowded city; the suicide bombers easily cross [to Syria and Iraq]. Unfortunately, Gaziantep exports terrorism."
Sarkli added: "When you see the ammunition captured and especially take into account the money transferred here [it is clear that] ISIS easily shelters in this city. Gaziantep is the logistic site of ISIS."
Mahmut Togrul, an MP of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), in a motion to Efkan Ala, Turkey's Interior Minister, asked about the alleged office where ISIS members engage in slavery and the sex trade. His questions included: "How many liaison offices affiliated with ISIS terror organization are there in Gaziantep? If there are, do those liaison offices have any legal basis? Under what names do these offices operate? Are those offices affiliated with any institution?"
Interior Minister Ala has not yet provided any answers.
"According to the local press of Gaziantep, as well as the national press," Togrul said, "Gaziantep has been turned into a city with sleeper cell houses for the ISIS terror group; ISIS members abound and travel freely." [2]
The "Struggle Platform for Women Forcefully Seized," the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) and the Kurdish Congress of Free Women (KJA) in Diyarbakir also filed a criminal complaint, calling for the prosecutors to investigate allegations and bring the perpetrators to account.
Reyhan Yalcindag, a prominent Kurdish human rights lawyer, said, "An office has been established by ISIS members in Antep; and at that office, women and children kidnapped by ISIS are sold for high amounts of money. Where are the ministers and law enforcement officers of this county who are talking about stability?"
"Turkey," she said, "has signed several international treaties, but it is the number one country when it comes to professional non-compliance with human rights treaties."
The Co-President of the Yazidi Federation of Europe, Leyla Ferman, referred to the number of the genocides to which the Yazidis say they have been exposed throughout history. "The Yazidis have been given 73 death warrants," she said, "The people are massacred under the Islamic State. Thousands of Yazidi women are missing. Five thousand people have been taken as captives. Women and children are raped, and then sold. Today, due to the war, women have been scattered all around. These must be considered crimes."
This is not the first time the presence of ISIS in Antep appeared in the news.
In November 2015, after the terrorist attacks in Paris, a group waving black ISIS flags appeared, honking the horns of their cars and celebrating in the streets of Antep. The footage was shared widely on social media. One user wrote, "This is Turkey supposedly struggling against ISIS. This is the ISIS convoy in Antep celebrating the Paris massacre."
The Yazidis, a historically persecuted community, are ethnically Kurdish, but not Muslim; their native religion of Yazidism is linked to ancient Mesopotamian religions. The Yazidis are indigenous to northern Mesopotamia and Anatolia; part of the Yazidi homeland is located in what is modern Turkey; other parts are in Syria and Iraq.
Yazidis have been exposed to campaigns of forced Islamization and assimilation, according to the Turkish sociologist Ismail Besikci, a prominent expert on Kurdistan:
"During the 1912-13 Pontic Greek deportations and the 1915 Armenian genocide, Yazidis were also driven out from their lands. Throughout the history of republican Turkey, all methods have been tried to Islamize the Yazidis. Before 1915, for instance, Suruc was an entirely Yazidi town. So was the town of Viransehir. Today, there is not a single Yazidi left in Suruc. Furthermore, the Islamized Yazidis can be seen exhibit insulting behavior towards those who remain Yazidis."
Because they are Kurds, the state has not recognized their Kurdishness; and because they are Yazidis, the state has not recognized their religion. The section of 'religion' in Yazidis' identity cards has been left empty; or the religion of some has been registered as 'x' or '-' .
"Research states that in 2007, there were only 377 Yazidis left in Turkey," an Assyrian MP of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Erol Dora, said.
"Yazidis, just like other minorities in Turkey, have also been exposed to discrimination and hate speech; that is why they have had to leave their lands. Their villages and lands have been seized; their agricultural areas have been appropriated, their holy sites have been attacked. All these racist attitudes continue today; the language, religion and culture of Yazidis face extinction."
Yazidis say they have been subjected to 72 attempts at extermination, or attempted genocide. Today, they are the victims of yet another attempted genocide in Iraq -- at the hands of ISIS jihadists.
"According to many escaped women and girls to whom I spoke in Northern Iraq, the abducted Yazidis, mostly women and children, number over 7,000," said Mirza Ismail, founder and chairman of the Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International, in his speech at the U.S. Congress.
"Some of those women and girls have had to watch 7-, 8-, and 9-year-old children bleed to death before their eyes, after being raped by ISIS militia multiple times a day.
"I met mothers, whose children were torn from them by ISIS. These same mothers came to plead for the return of their children, only to be informed, that they, the mothers, had been fed the flesh of their own children by ISIS. Children murdered, then fed to their own mothers.
"ISIS militias have burned many Yezidi girls alive for refusing to convert and marry ISIS men. Young Yezidi boys are being trained to be jihadists and suicide bombers. All of our temples in the ISIS controlled area are exploded and destroyed. Why? Because we are not Muslims, and because our path is the path of peace. For this, we are being burned alive: for living as men and women of peace."
The Yazidis, one of the most peaceful people on earth, are struggling to survive yet another Muslim genocide, before the eyes of the entire world.
While much of the world has been silent, a NATO member, Turkey has been openly complicit -- the enabler of jihadist terrorism. Reports and eyewitnesses testify that Turkey has contributed to the rise of the Islamic State by letting fighters and arms over the border. Some of the fighters go on to join the jihadist terrorist group.
The latest reports reveal that in Turkey, a country that fancies itself as a candidate for EU membership, Yazidi women and children are enslaved and forced into sexual slavery. Meanwhile, the Turkish government has not even bothered to make a single statement about these reports.
That is what happens when a regime is never held responsible.
Uzay Bulut, born and raised a Muslim, is a Turkish journalist based in Ankara.
[1] Using chat logs, documents, photographs and witness statements, the footage of ARD shows Abu Mital, a Yazidi man who works as an intermediary for ISIS, purchasing a Yazidi woman, her three children aged between two and four, and an 11-year-old boy from ISIS, and returning them to their family.
Mital contacted and bargained with ISIS members on the internet and set a price for the sale of the woman and the children. He then went to the southeastern province of Gaziantep in Turkey. During his visit to the office in Gaziantep, he was secretly filmed. The office had a number of money-counting machines. It employed only Syrians.
ISIS demanded $20,000 for the woman and $15,000 for the 11-year-old boy. The footage shows Mital handing the money to the Syrians in the office, who then counted the money using the money-counting machines.
After he paid the money, he went to a hotel in Syria, where he waited for another WhatsApp message. He was then told he would be contacted by someone for the delivery of the woman and her three children. When members of the Yazidi family were reunited with their relatives in Syria, they burst into tears. (Source: "German TV channel films ISIL slave trade in Turkey", December 03, 2015, Today's Zaman.)
[2] Other questions of Togrul's motion included:
"If the amount of money that ISIS earns from the slave trade of women and children is correct, who is the intermediary that transfers this money? Through what means does he transfer the money to ISIS?
"Is the governor informed about the slave selling office of ISIS in Gaziantep? If he is, has he made any statement or research on the issue?
"How many of the Yazidi women and girls ISIS has kidnapped from South (Iraqi) Kurdistan region have entered Turkey and Gaziantep?
"Do you have information about how many Yazidi women and other refugee women live in Gaziantep and where they shelter?
"How many ISIS cell houses have been raided so far? How many people have been detained from those cell houses? Have you accessed any finding as to whether the members of that terrorist organization have engaged in the slave trade of Yazidi women and children?
"How many cell houses affiliated with ISIS are there in Gaziantep? Do Turkish intelligence units have any data about this issue? If they do, why do they not intervene in the ISIS terrorist organization that commits slave trade? Does the fact that they do not intervene not mean they are complicit?
"ISIS terrorist organization uses Gaziantep as a base. What kind of a precaution is your ministry planning to take against that?"

The Vienna Process: Transitioning Toward a Transition?
Andrew J. Tabler and Olivier Decottignies/Washington Institute/December 20/15
Recent talks have yielded encouraging dialogue and a plan, but the sticky challenge of Assad’s fate remains.
The United States and other members of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) will meet Friday in New York in the latest effort to jump-start a political process to end the Syrian civil war. Indeed, recent diplomatic momentum has yielded some results. Conferences for the Syrian opposition in Riyadh, Damascus, and Syria's Kurdish territories have prompted the election of representatives who could carry out talks with the regime as early as next month. And Iran and Saudi Arabia are quietly engaging with each other over a Syrian settlement.
But substantial obstacles remain. The key stumbling block is still the "Assad knot" -- referring to the role Syrian president Bashar al-Assad will play in a Syrian transition, as well as his eligibility to run in future Syrian elections. With the opposition reiterating at last week's Riyadh conference that Assad cannot be part of a transition, and Assad himself stating that he will not meet with "terrorist" groups -- his umbrella name for the armed, and often unarmed, opposition -- the diplomatic momentum started in Vienna last October and relied on by U.S. secretary of state John Kerry will soon hit the rocks of reality. The outcome of the talks in New York concerning a transition's modalities will indicate if actors are headed toward an agree-to-disagree ballet of diplomats, the "Potemkin" negotiating process many in the opposition fear, or the substantive political process necessary to find a way out of the civil war and defeat the Islamic State.
International Syria Support Group
On November 14, twenty countries -- including Iran -- formed the ISSG "to accelerate an end to the Syrian conflict." The meeting's communique expanded the conclusions of the October 30 meeting in Vienna. Unlike that meeting's statement, which omitted the word "transition" and was not time-specific, the ISSG communique outlines clear scheduled steps to end the Syrian conflict. The major points include the following:
Nationwide ceasefire. The parties agreed to support a nationwide ceasefire and work toward its implementation, culminating in a UN Security Council resolution for a UN-endorsed ceasefire-monitoring mission. The monitoring mission would be in "those parts of the country...not under threat of attacks from terrorists" and would also support a political transition process in accordance with the Geneva Communique of 2012. The UN, which leads the ceasefire's planning, will determine the requirements and modalities of the ceasefire. All ISSG members pledged to take steps to require adherence to the ceasefire by the groups each country supports, supplies, or influences. The ceasefire does not apply to the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra, or other groups internationally recognized as "terrorist."
Humanitarian issues. To build confidence for the political process, the ISSG called for humanitarian access throughout Syria, according to UN Security Council Resolution 2165, and granting of the UN's pending requests for humanitarian deliveries. After "expressing concern" for the plight of refugees and internally displaced persons, the ISSG "reaffirmed" the devastating effects of use of indiscriminate weapons (e.g., barrel bombs) and "agreed to press the parties to immediately end any use of such weapons."
Formal Syrian government-opposition talks. The ISSG has called for the Syrian government and opposition representatives to convene formal negotiations under UN auspices with a target date of January 1, 2016. UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura is responsible for bringing together the "broadest possible spectrum of the opposition, chosen by Syrians." The talks are to be guided by an emphasis on Syria's unity, independence, territorial integrity, and nonsectarian character, and by the maintenance of intact state institutions and the protection of the rights of all Syrians regardless of religion or ethnicity.
Support for the transition process outlined in the 2012 Geneva Communique. The group reaffirmed support for a Syrian-led process that will establish "credible, inclusive, nonsectarian" governance within six months, including a schedule and process to draft a new constitution, and culminate in "free and fair elections" guided by that constitution within eighteen months. The elections would be administered under UN supervision, with the "satisfaction of the governance" and the highest standards of accountability, and with all diaspora Syrians eligible to participate.
Commitment to fighting terrorism. The ISSG agreed that the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra, and other UN-designated terrorist groups must be defeated. New terrorist designations will be agreed upon by participants, and the findings will be endorsed by the UN. Under UN auspices, and coinciding with the start of the political process, Jordan will head a working group among "intelligence and military community representatives" on common understanding of terrorist groups and individuals.
Major Questions Remain
Whereas earlier renditions of the Vienna process were largely exercises in constructive ambiguity, the November 14 statement sets out an agreed timetable and is firmly anchored in the Geneva Communique of 2012, the template for a political transition in Syria. The statement was notably generated in the aftermath of the attacks in Paris, Beirut, and the Sinai Peninsula. In light of these developments, participants agreed that the goal was to defeat -- not contain or degrade -- the Islamic State and other UN-designated terrorist groups.
Yet two weeks before the "target date" for the start of regime-opposition negotiations, the exact modalities of a transition remain elusive and major questions persist. It is also unclear to what extent these questions were resolved in this week's Moscow meeting between Kerry and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Namely, does the new "governance" foreseen in Vienna mean the devolution of Assad's powers to a genuine "transitional governing body," as outlined in the Geneva Communique, or the mere inclusion of some handpicked opposition figures in his government under Assad's continued leadership?
Also still unclear is how the "close linkage between a ceasefire and a political process" will play out and what would be the "initial steps toward the transition" for activating the ceasefire. In particular, the opposition would seem unlikely to silence its weapons without the prospect of an Assad departure at some point. Further, can the UN realistically monitor a "nationwide" ceasefire if its mission can only deploy "in those parts of the country where monitors would not come under threat of attacks from terrorists"? The Vienna process may have achieved "a common understanding on several key issues," but more specifics are needed.
Some of the more encouraging developments in the Vienna process have taken place on the sidelines. For instance, the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers attended the two Vienna meetings, and over the past few weeks, both countries have signaled a prudent willingness to engage with each other. Riyadh has also introduced a new ambassador to Tehran -- potentially filling a position that had been left vacant for months. And according to a senior Iranian diplomat, "a level of negotiation" has been reached between the two capitals. The January 1 target date also proved an incentive for the fractious Syrian opposition to become more structured.
Also positive was the Syrian opposition meeting in Riyadh, where a broad spectrum of groups convened, albeit without the Kurds, and agreed on a platform for future talks. Proposed steps included both political and, crucially, if a ceasefire is to be achieved, military groups. Interestingly, the Salafi armed group Ahrar al-Sham appears to have participated in the conference but judged the platform too tepid -- not military or religious enough. This is perhaps a sign that the rest of the opposition is moving in a healthier direction.
Conclusion
For all the positive ripple effects of Vienna, the time has come to address the core conundrum: what a viable transition in Syria will mean and ultimately accomplish. Carefully untying the "Assad knot" will be essential. As for the parties that would satisfy the Geneva Communique's mechanism of "mutual consent" for a transitional governing body (TGB), the "current government" refers to the Syrian government as headed by Assad. If the TGB is in practice controlled by Assad or other key regime members, one strains to imagine how a viable transition would take place. Assad may be able to bandwagon some small opposition groups and perhaps the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) and reshuffle his government accordingly. But without including most of the political and particularly military opposition now controlling Sunni Arab majority areas in northern and southern Syria -- while excluding terrorist entities -- the likelihood of ending the war or assembling a potent force to destroy the Islamic State will remain dim.
**Andrew Tabler is the Martin J. Gross Fellow in The Washington Institute's Program on Arab Politics. Olivier Decottignies is a French diplomat-in-residence at the Institute.

Two Steps to Crack Down on Islamic State Financing Options
Matthew Levitt/Wall Street Journal/December20/15
The finance ministers gathering at the UN this week should focus on taking actionable steps against the Islamic State's backdoor funding schemes, some of which involve continued access to the international banking system.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is chairing a summit of finance ministers on Thursday on strengthening global efforts to combat Islamic State's financing. This has the potential to be much more than a photo op.
Much has been done to cut Islamic State off from the international banking system, but a large portion of ISIS's revenue base is beyond the reach of finance ministers and their private-sector partners. Neither government regulators nor bank compliance officers have tools to contend with the massive sums ISIS raises through criminal activities in its territory. Coalition forces have left Iraq, and there is no longer an Iraq Threat Finance Cell operating out of Baghdad's Green Zone to follow the money trail. Iraqi law enforcement is unable to effectively combat ISIS's massive extortion and taxation rackets. That leaves airstrikes -- the domain of defense ministers -- to liberate territory from ISIS extremists and try to deny them the ability to tax and extort local populations.
Still, the finance ministers could follow up on the work of the Counter ISIL Finance Group by focusing attention on Islamic State's continued access to the international financial system, which includes banks and informal networks such as money exchange houses. ISIS has found ways to move payments for smuggled oil and antiquities through the banking system, as well as small transactions from foreign fighters, and more. At least 20 Syrian financial institutions continue to operate in ISIS-held territory, the Financial Action Task Force reported this year, and embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uses these banks to further his business interests with Islamic State. In Syria, some bank branches in ISIS territory could "maintain links to the financial system," even though most international institutions ceased business operations with these banks.
In Iraq, the government's central bank ordered financial institutions to prevent transfers involving banks in ISIS-held territory, but the group continues to use banks just outside of areas it controls to access the international financial system. ISIS has received funds through electronic funds transfers "in areas known to be a funding, logistical and smuggling hub for foreign terrorist fighters and terrorist organizations," according to U.S. authorities. "Excessive cash deposits" have also been placed in U.S. accounts and then sent via bank wire transfers to areas close to where ISIS operates.
Adam Szubin, the head of Treasury's terrorism and financial intelligence branch, pointed in a speech last week to international cooperation facilitated by the Counter ISIL Finance Group, including financial intelligence sharing and freezing of ISIS revenue streams. But the working-group level cannot span the politically sensitive gap that allows ISIS to continue accessing the banking system.
This brings us to the finance ministers gathering Thursday and two key objectives: First, support and empower front-line states -- Turkey in particular -- to prevent ISIS operatives and supporters from accessing the banks within their borders. Because ISIS continues to access banks in Syria, where the regime is part of the problem, the finance ministers should press for a United Nations-level commitment to wall off Syria from the international financial system. The U.S. Treasury Department has been working with governments in the Middle East and beyond to wall off ISIS from the international financial system. In March, a Treasury delegation warned banks in the region to watch for ISIS money transfers from Persian Gulf countries through Turkey or Lebanon. But as Mr. Szubin noted last week, the U.S. "cannot counter ISIL's finances alone."
Second, the finance ministers should agree to strengthen the cooperation between their respective governments and the financial sector. ISIS recruits from outside Syria often have financial trails that can be exploited by those monitoring them, an FBI official said last month. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has created a set of "business rules" to vet suspicious activity reports filed by banks. Searching names, IP addresses, emails, and phone numbers generates more than a thousand investigative leads each month in the U.S. This type of information reporting between private-sector and government agencies should be systemized across borders, along with intelligence sharing; a resolution is expected to be issued after Thursday's meetings urging member states to increase such intelligence sharing.
Islamic State does not enjoy easy access to the banking system, but its backdoor schemes mean it is not fully cut off. Plugging those gaps will be no small feat, but the finance ministers gathering Thursday can take actionable steps.
*Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Fellow and director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute. This article originally appeared on the Wall Street Journal blog "Think Tank."

How should we deal with ISIS in Western media?
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Arabiya/December 20/15
We live in a world where it seems like things are increasingly breaking down. The environment is degrading, and we are already beginning to notice this all around us. Extreme weather events keep breaking records. Even here in the UK, storms that would happen less than once a century now happen every decade, as we have seen with Desmond. States are breaking down too. Syria and Iraq are clearly failed states. As are Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, and quite a few others. Others still are very close to breaking point. But perhaps the most important thing is that the moral discourse, the political culture underpinning these states, and indeed the entire geo-political system, is breaking down. Not just in fragile states in the Middle East. Secessionism has been on the ascendant in Europe, in Scotland, Catalonia, Flanders and other places. Meanwhile nationalist fascism is on the rise in the political discourse across Europe, North-America and indeed the Middle East - if one takes radical Islamism to be counted as fascism. I would argue that it is very similar indeed. But the odd thing is that the moral failures of the Western-dominated world order are not any worse now than they were in the past. Less than 75 years ago, when the Japanese attacked the U.S. at Pearl Harbor, the American government reacted by imprisoning in concentration camps every ethnically Japanese American they could find - over 110,000 people. It kept them locked up for the duration of WW2. Yet in 2001 when Al Qaeda attacked the U.S. in the heart of New York, there were no such communal reprisals against Muslims in the United States. This despite the fact that there was a popular backlash, and reprisals could have earned a Republican president such as Bush some votes. We report on those who go to join ISIS, but do not give nearly as much coverage to the millions fleeing from the Islamic garden of Paradise that ISIS have established in their controlled territories. We do still have torture facilities, and we still do very questionable things - at home and abroad. We allow our allies to do very questionable things. But we have been making moral progress in the West, and we continue to do so. Yet the faith of the general public, and the faith of our minority groups, in the moral system underpinning our societies and states both here in the West and across the world is crumbling.
A moral malaise
ISIS enters the scene in this moral malaise. And what ISIS has that we do not is a clear moral vision. It is an utterly repugnant moral vision: one that glorifies intolerance and brutality. But in the media, in our media, ISIS is the only voice that has moral coherence. And not because the ideology of ISIS is necessarily more coherent than our own world view or our values. But simply because the media allows ISIS to run its narrative unchallenged. We broadcast the horrors they perpetrate, but do not speak about why they claim to perpetrate them. We do not engage with the moral vision of ISIS because we take it for granted that it is absurd. Well, we do. But not everyone in the audience does. Clearly. Over 25,000 Western recruits to ISIS testify to that. We still need to have this ongoing discussion. It is not enough that the ISIS narrative is absurd or morally repugnant. It must be demonstrated, again and again, that this is so. And all parts of our society, both Muslims and non-Muslims, must be invited to take part in this discussion.
We Westerners have limited our moral response to expressing outrage against the actions of ISIS. But we do not argue an active case for our values in opposition to it. And often we do not uphold those values we claim to hold to in practice. Think Guantanamo Bay. We assume everyone is on board with our moral complaints, and we continue to work on that assumption even though the actions of our governments at home and abroad stray from our stated values routinely. We all abhor the violent excesses of ISIS, but we continue to sell weapons to regimes who have a human rights record which is at least as bad. Weapons often used against civilians. And so we leave ourselves open to be painted as amoral hypocrites.
That we scrutinize our leaders and hold them up as hypocrites as we do is entirely appropriate. And our media is brilliant at critically deconstructing the bogus moral claim made by our own leaders. We expose the hypocrisy of our politicians, of our religious leaders, or of business leaders as a matter of course. This has become almost the synonym of ‘current affairs reporting’. But why do we not apply the same treatment to ISIS? Why do we not report on their hypocrisy – they claim to be fighting for Islam, but they largely kill other Muslims. They claim to be fighting Assad’s oppression, but there are hardly any confrontations with the Syrian regime and they often trade with them for oil and gas. We report on those who go to join ISIS, but do not give nearly as much coverage to the millions fleeing from the Islamic garden of Paradise that ISIS have established in their controlled territories. We do not have a monopoly on amoral hypocrisy. But we should at least report on the hypocrisy and lies of all politicians and militants with equal rigour.

Saudi Arabia’s women have spoken
Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/December 20/15
The municipal elections that resulted in 21 Saudi women winning municipal council seats may seem trivial to some abroad, but it has a historic significance for the future of this country.
When women’s participation in the elections was announced, the altitude was that they would not make any gains as society was against it. But those with this notion were proved wrong.
Yes, there were many who opposed it. There were the self-appointed religious “leaders” who issued edicts against it and there were others who voiced their opposition through blaring loudspeakers and other forms of media. To all of them, the nation spoke and said: “enough!”. We have had enough of your obscurantism, enough of trying to run our lives according to “your customs and traditions”, enough of your actions that have made us a laughingstock and embarrassed us in front of others, enough of your domination of our personal lives.
The Saudi woman is determined and progressive, she wants to lead and not to be led. There is no such thing as a woman’s place - This country belongs to all!
Partners in progress
Most Saudi women want to lead normal, healthy lives like their counterparts in other parts of the world. They want to be partners in progress. They want to contribute by being part of the decision making process in society. They do not want to be sitting still within the confines of four walls subjected to rulings by people with half of their intellect.
The government has focused on education for all. Today you have Saudi women spread across all segments of society and producing for the nation. They are educators, bankers, media people, scientists and doctors. They have overcome many obstacles to continue the journey which has not yet ended.
I am a critic and a person who does not mince words with regard to any transgression be it official or personal. However, I say very clearly that the government has encouraged and promoted women’s welfare and continues to do so. It knows that preventing any part of the population from participating in societal development will hamper progress. The women who ran for elections encountered several problems, including red tape, but they overcame all of these. Saudi women from all strata of society, from all regions of the Kingdom and both the young and the old, including at least one nonagenarian, came out to exercise their right to vote. Credit should also be given to the men who believed in their cause and supported them.
The Saudi woman is determined and progressive. She wants to lead and not to be led. She wants to play a constructive role. Society is evolving. There is no such thing as a woman’s place. This country belongs to all!
Nor are women going to be misled by ill-informed clergy who claim that they are inferior. In this month, precisely next Wednesday the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was born. He was a great advocate of women’s rights. In fact, he worked for a woman. Let women read his farewell sermon and be encouraged. And to all the women in Saudi Arabia we say congratulations and more power to you!

Putin’s words against Turkey take leadership to new low
Mohamed Chebarro/Al Arabiya/December 20/15
Watching and hearing Russian President Vladimir Putin speak is an amusing but sad experience.
The leader of the world’s second or third superpower, on paper at least, continues to take the concept of leadership to new lows – whether it’s what he says or does.
From posing as a Judo black belt, then topless on horseback, to emerging from a mini submarine, or stroking a leopard in a cage, many of his images have been designed to create shock and awe. Those pictures have ridiculed the leader rather than elevated him as a political figure, at least in the eyes of many around the world.
What a president and his image advisors do to promote him nationally is that nation's own business, but those image consultants must know that the world is a mini village where national quickly becomes international.
Putin’s speech was testament to the diminishing style of leadership this world is enduring
What Putin does at home is usually followed worldwide. A few days ago he held a press conference which lasted in excess of three hours and the president descended to a new low in his use of language and anti-Turkey rants.
Turkey downed a Russian aircraft that allegedly entered its airspace in November. But this Russian incursion into Turkish airspace was not the only incident of its kind since Russia’s aerial campaign to prop up Bashar al-Assad’s dying regime in Syria began, with planes repeatedly entering the airspace since September.
Russian envoys were repeatedly summoned by Ankara to no avail, as the Kremlin wanted to send a clear message that Moscow had become a key player in the fight against ISIS and other terror groups in Syria.
The Turks have made it no secret that they see the Russian air campaign, with its declared sole objective to target ISIS, as targeting moderate Free Syrian Army opposed to Assad 40 years rule of Syria instead, as well as civilians caught up in bombs and missiles raining over their ruined towns and villages. Russia seems to be targeting Turkmen forces near Latakia and areas in northwestern Syria close to Turkey's border.
Defending Assad, supporting Trump
President Putin continued his anti-Turkey tired and his near-demonizing of its leaders, serving as a bully rather than a leader. He was talking to 1,400 invited journalists in attendance. In addition to fiercely attacking Turkey its leaders and indirectly its people, he described the downing of the Russian SU-24 as a ploy by the Turks to suck up to the Americans and he blamed the Turkish act as an effort to "lick the Americans," stopping short of describing what he meant.
Putin in the same presser defended President Assad despite his many crimes against humanity listed by many human rights organizations for atrocities committed by his forces against Syrian civilians.
Putin also used part of his 3 hours 10 minutes rant to congratulate Donald Trump, who recently caused outrage among American Muslims when he called for a ban against Muslim visitors to the U.S. But Putin did not stop there. He even defended Sepp Blatter of FIFA who is currently facing corruption charges, perhaps to show solidarity with the man who granted Russia the privilege to host the 2018 World Cup.
In this press conference, Putin also came close to admitting some Russian soldiers are president Putin operating in eastern Ukraine, a claim Moscow repeatedly denied for the past two years.
In short, Putin’s speech was testament to the diminishing style of leadership this world is enduring.
With President Obama’s non-leadership on Syria, Yemen and Palestine, Russia's leader is filling the void with interventionism and bold policies that drive further discord and pave the way for a mafia-style leadership that would stop at nothing to achieve its aims, even if it means degrading and using non-diplomatic language while addressing foes.

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006 Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006