Mosque Complex in Ayodhya: Sixty Percent of The Callers Pledging Donations and Support for A Proposed Mosque Complex Are Hindus
Members of the trust plan to visit Dhannipur, the village where the site for the mosque has been allotted, soon for the demarcation of the area, occupied currently by a small shrine and rice fields. (Photo by Deepak Gupta/Hindustan Times)
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• Bengaluru Violence: Local Muslim Youth Saved Me, Says Jayanthi R, Mother of Naveen P Who Is Accused of Posting A Derogatory Post on Facebook
• Indian-American
Muslims, Sikhs Hail Kamala Harris’ Selection the Selection Of Senator Kamala
Harris As The Democratic Party’s Vice-Presidential Candidate
• Ayaan Hirsi
Ali: What Biden Needs to Understand About Prophet Muhammad Saying He Used at
Muslim Voter Event
• Putrajaya
Looking to Clamp Down on Anti-Islam Posts on Social Media
• Javed Miandad
Says He Will Challenge Imran Khan In Politics
• Hezbollah Was
Taking Beirut Ammonium Nitrate To Produce Weapons: Source
India
• Mosque Complex
in Ayodhya: Sixty Percent of The Callers Pledging Donations and Support for A
Proposed Mosque Complex Are Hindus
• Bengaluru
Violence: Local Muslim Youth Saved Me, Says Jayanthi R, Mother of Naveen P Who
Is Accused of Posting A Derogatory Post on Facebook
• Jamia Tops
List of Central Universities in Government Rankings
• Literacy rate
for Muslims worse than SC/STs
• Bengaluru
violence: Muslim youths form human chain to protect Hanuman temple
• ISI, JeM
planned Pulwama strike, trained attacker: NIA
• Bengaluru
riot: 'News of police not accepting complaint led to flare-up'
• Hizb
commander, soldier killed in Pulwama encounter: DGP
--------
North America
• Indian-American
Muslims, Sikhs Hail Kamala Harris’ Selection the Selection Of Senator Kamala
Harris As The Democratic Party’s Vice-Presidential Candidate
• Ayaan Hirsi
Ali: What Biden Needs to Understand About Prophet Muhammad Saying He Used at
Muslim Voter Event
• Islamic State
threat in west Syria growing: US commander
• Assassinations
Highlight Security Challenges for US-Backed Forces in Eastern Syria
--------
Southeast Asia
• Putrajaya
Looking to Clamp Down on Anti-Islam Posts on Social Media
• Govt to study
reinstitution of Special Committee to Empower Shariah Court, says minister
• Islamic State
Holding on in Philippines, Despite Millions in US Spending
• Snap Poll
Needed for Political Stability in Malaysia, Says PAS Chief
• PM Muhyiddin
to chair new council aimed at empowering Bumiputeras
--------
Pakistan
• Javed Miandad Says
He Will Challenge Imran Khan In Politics
• Pak army
claims major cyber-attack by Indian intelligence identified
• What’s
Pakistan Without Saudi Loan, Oil And Free Royal Jet Rides For Imran Khan?
• Pakistan bids
to split Muslim world over Kashmir
• COAS to visit
Saudi Arabia in quest to smooth ties
• FO rejects
allegations of 'illegal fencing' along Pak-Afghan border
• Maryam says
‘attackers’ intended serious harm to her
--------
Arab world
• Hezbollah Was
Taking Beirut Ammonium Nitrate To Produce Weapons: Source
• Assad: US
needs terrorists, uses sanctions to support them
• Number of
Lebanon Explosion Victims Tops 170
• Thousands of
Yazidis still missing six years after initial ISIS attack
• Offshore firms
linked to Lebanon c. bank governor worth nearly $100 mln: Report
• Beirut
explosion: Cost of damage exceeds $15 billion says President Aoun
• Syria
President Assad interrupts parliament speech after brief drop in blood pressure
• Beirut
explosion: More than half of capital’s hospitals ‘non-functional,’ WHO says
• Beirut
explosion: Children in Lebanon suffer from trauma after deadly blast
• Lebanon says
its own Judiciary can handle probe into Beirut blast
--------
South Asia
• India, Bangladesh
Traders Demand Trial Run of Vessels Through Protocol Route on Gomati River This
Month
• Taliban Rule
Out Cease-Fire Until It Is Agreed in Talks
• Taliban
‘Hopeful’ US-Brokered Afghan Talks Settle Conflict
• Myanmar Bars Rohingya
Candidate from Contesting Election
• Women and children
among 10 killed, wounded in Kandahar roadside bomb explosion
• 2 Afghan
engineers killed in Taliban attack on Kabul-Parwan highway
• ISIS, Afghan
govt planning attacks against Taliban prisoners to be released: Taliban
• An explosion
in Farah kill and injure dozens including police members
--------
Mideast
• Erdogan Says
Only Solution in Mediterranean Is Dialogue
• After fire
balloons, Israeli military carries out strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza
• Israel claims
it foiled N Korea-linked hack, cybersecurity firm says systems penetrated
• Israel attacks
Gaza Strip from air, land for 2nd night in row
• Israel
arrested 429 Palestinians, including 32 kids, in July: Rights groups
• 8 suspects
arrested over Daesh links in Turkey's Black Sea region
--------
Africa
• S. Sudan
Clashes Between Civilians, Soldiers Leave 127 Dead: Army
• Again, Boko
Haram Terrorists Kill Several Soldiers During Attack on Borno Community
• Stop foreign
terrorists’ infiltration, expert tells FG
• Police Say 19
Inmates, Guards Killed in Somalia Prison Riot
• Somalia: SNA
Kills Al-Shabaab Official in Lower Shabelle
• Militants in
Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two
--------
Europe
• France To
Bolster Military Presence In Mediterranean Amid Tensions With Turkey
• France warns
against travel to Niger after weekend attack
• Rouhani warns
Europeans against siding with US in backing anti-Iran resolution
• France to step
up security for its citizens in Africa's Sahel region, Macron says
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
--------
Mosque Complex in Ayodhya: Sixty Percent of The Callers Pledging Donations and Support for A Proposed Mosque Complex Are Hindus
Sunita Aron
Aug 13, 2020
Members of the trust plan to
visit Dhannipur, the village where the site for the mosque has been allotted,
soon for the demarcation of the area, occupied currently by a small shrine and
rice fields. (Photo by Deepak Gupta/Hindustan Times)
----
At least 60% of calls pledging donations and support for a proposed mosque complex outside Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh are from Hindus, the trust building the project said, holding out hope that communal amity can return to the city at the centre of decades of strife.
The five-acre
site was handed over to the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB) on August 2 in
line with the Supreme Court’s ruling last November on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri
Masjid title suit.
The ruling
cleared the way for the construction of a Ram temple on the 2.77 acre disputed
site in Ayodhya and awarded the Muslim parties an alternative site to rebuild
the Babri mosque, demolished by a mob in December 1992.
“We are
overwhelmed by the response that we are receiving from all over the world.
Sixty percent of the callers are Hindus,” said Athar Hussain, spokesman for the
Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation, the 15-member trust formed by the Waqf Board
for the development of the site.
According to
him, the trust will have “more than enough funds” for the project. Besides a
mosque, it plans to build a hospital, a community kitchen, and an educational
centre on the site. The trust has already received a deluge of commitments,
Hussain added.
It has opened an
office in Lucknow, is working on procedures to receive foreign donations and on
Tuesday, opened two bank accounts.
Members of the
trust plan to visit Dhannipur, the village where the site for the mosque has
been allotted, soon for the demarcation of the area, occupied currently by a
small shrine and rice fields. A virtual conference of the trust, which has
filled nine of its 15 proposed positions, to finalise the architect of the
project is also on the agenda.
“The pandemic
has slowed our pace but soon we will be moving ahead,” said Hussain, also a
member of the trust. He expressed hope that a galaxy ofpolitical leaders will
attend the inaugural ceremony of the complex. Under Islamic laws, a
groundbreaking ceremony is not permitted for a mosque.
The developments
come a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the ceremonial cornerstone
for the Ram temple at a grand ceremony in Ayodhya that was attended by chief
minister Yogi Adityanath, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat and
governor Anandiben Patel.
Also invited for
the event were three Muslim individuals – title suit litigant Iqbal Ansari,
Padma Shri awardee social worker Mohammad Sharif, and All India Muslim Personal
Law Board (AIMPLB) secretary Zafaryab Jilani, also a party to the title suit.
Temple trust chief Mahant Nritya Gopal Das announced that donations from
Muslims were welcome after some Muslim leaders said they would like to
contribute to the temple as a symbolic end to the dispute.
Soon after, a
controversy broke out when the trust for the proposed mosque complex said it
would like to invite the PM and CM for the groundbreaking ceremony of the
Dhannipur complex. The office of the PM has not responded to the statement; the
CM’s office said it was premature to do so.
The trust has
not revealed details of its plan for the site, but Hussain told HT that it was
setting up an Indo-Islamic Research Centre, comprising a library, research
centre and museum. The complex will depict the confluence of cultures and
highlight the contribution of poets Kabir and Rahim, sites like Deoband, home
to one of the world’s oldest Islamic theology schools, Firangi Mahal, an
educational centre that was an important site of the independence movement, and
the first war of Independence in 1857.
“Who would not
like to lay the foundation stone of a centre that would pitchfork Ayodhya as a
city of communal harmony,” Hussain said.
The trust faces
significant opposition within the community. After the apex court’s verdict
last year, the AIMPLB and some other litigants urged the UP Waqf Board notto
accept the land, and since then, other leaders have opposed the project because
they say the 16th-century Babri Masjid was illegally demolished .
The latest to
join the ranks of those not in favour of the complex was Urdu poet Munawwar
Rana, who wrote to the PM on Monday and suggested the construction of a
hospital on the allotted five-acre land.
In his two-page
letter, the poet also offered to donate his ancestral land, measuring 5.5
acres, along the river Sai in Rae Bareli district for the construction of a
mosque. His suggestion was dismissed by the trust, which said it would be a
violation of the apex court’s order.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/mosque-complex-in-ayodhya-gets-hindus-backing/story-IJzQ3A19Hz1ELnhsHiYtXI.html
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Bengaluru
Violence: Local Muslim Youth Saved Me, Says Jayanthi R, Mother Of Naveen P Who
Is Accused Of Posting A Derogatory Post On Facebook
Aug 13, 2020
Jayanthi R
------
BENGALURU: “Had
local Muslim youths not come to my rescue, I don’t think I would have been
alive today,” Jayanthi R, mother of Naveen P who is accused of posting a
derogatory post on Facebook, said on Wednesday.
Jayanthi, a
resident of Kaval Byrasandra, lives with her husband and family members 500
metres away from her younger brother, Congress MLA Akhand Srinivas Murthy’s
residence.
On Tuesday
evening, the family members were watching TV while Naveen and his wife had gone
out to buy groceries.
“My daughter who
lives in Vijayanagar had come to our house with her family after a person near
their house tested positive for Covid-19. We’re watching a TV serial when
suddenly a mob gathered in front of our home. At 8.30pm, the mob vandalised and
set fire to bikes. I got all my children and grandchildren to go to the terrace
from where they shifted to neighbouring houses.”
Jayanthi stayed
back as there were gold ornaments and valuables. “Though there was a lot of
commotion outside, I did assume that the houses would not be attacked. Also, I
was not aware that it was related to us. I tried to enquire with some of the
men on the street, but they did not see anything. I had never seen these men in
our area before. The situation was gradually worsening and I panicked. There
was no way I could flee as there were hundreds of people on the streets burning
cars and bikes,” she recalled.
“At 10.30pm,
four-five local Muslim youths came to my house and told me that the situation
would worsen. They said I should immediately go with them. By then, the mob
entered our compound. One person told the youths escorting me that they were
doing injustice to their religion by protecting Naveen’s mother. The locals
warned the mob that no woman or child should be touched,” she said.
“I was literally
carried across our compound to the next building. In less than a minute, our
building was set on fire,” she said.
According to
Jayanthi, it was a well-planned attack that targeted only people associated
with her brother.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/instigators-mom-says-local-muslims-saved-her-from-being-lynched/articleshow/77511867.cms
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Indian-American
Muslims, Sikhs Hail Kamala Harris’ Selection the Selection Of Senator Kamala
Harris As The Democratic Party’s Vice-Presidential Candidate
August 13, 2020
Democratic vice presidential
candidate Senator Kamala Harris - REUTERS
------
Indian-American
Muslims and Sikhs here have hailed the selection of Senator Kamala Harris as
the Democratic party’s Vice-Presidential candidate, calling it a remarkable
success for the entire community.
Democratic
party’s Presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday picked Harris as his
running mate, recognising the crucial role Black voters could play in his
determined bid to defeat President Donald Trump in the US presidential
election.
The 55-year-old
California senator, whose father is from Jamaica and mother an Indian, becomes
just the third woman to be selected as the Vice-President on a major party
ticket. Then-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in 2008 and New York Representative
Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 were the other two.
In a statement,
the Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM) congratulated Harris on her
nomination and lauded the Indian-American community for its extraordinary
success in the face of tough competition in US in just about five decades.
Kaleem Kawaja,
the executive director of AIM, expressed joy at the remarkable high success of
a second generation Indian-American in becoming a candidate for the second
highest public office in America.
Harris is the
daughter of Prof Shyamala Gopalan, a cancer biologist, who was from Chennai,
India, and had emigrated to US in 1965.
Welcoming the
addition of Harris to the Democratic presidential ticket, Rajwant Singh,
Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education and Senior Adviser to
National Sikh Campaign, said that it is a great step for such as major party to
add someone from the minorities for the national office in America. It means a
great to deal to blacks, women and to all immigrants, he said.
“We are thankful
to both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for reminding Americans about the 8th
anniversary of the shooting at Sikh Gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, just a
few days ago. We need more of our political leaders to be forthcoming on these
critical issues of gun violence and hate crimes facing America,” Singh said.
Harris being on
the national ticket opens the door for many people from all minority
communities to aspire to lead this great nation, Singh added.
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/world/indian-american-muslims-sikhs-hail-kamala-harris-selection-as-democratic-partys-vice-presidential-nominee/article32341163.ece
--------
Ayaan Hirsi Ali:
What Biden needs to understand about Prophet Muhammad saying he used at Muslim
voter event
Aug 12, 2020
On July 20
presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spoke to Emgage Action, a
Muslim advocacy group, in support of their “Million Muslim Votes” summit to
boost voter turnout in Muslim communities.
placeholder
During his
address he said, a “Hadith from the Prophet Muhammad instructs, ‘Whomever among
you sees wrong, let him change it with his hand. If he is not able, then with
his tongue. If he is not able, then with his heart.” (A Hadith is an
authoritative saying by the Prophet Muhammad).
As a former
Muslim who wishes to see genuine reforms take place within Islam to make it a
more tolerant and humane faith, it concerns me that Biden does not appear to
realize the harmful significance of the hadith he quoted.
The hadith he
cited refers to a widely known principle “Commanding Right and Forbidding
Wrong,” that is used to keep Muslims in line. Far from revealing humanism or
tolerance, the hadith emphasizes the need for social control in defense of
orthodoxy.
This mindset is
one important reason why many Muslim reformers run into serious problems in
Islamic societies. There are other Hadiths that emphasize the same principle.
When Biden
repeats, “whomever among you sees wrong, let him change it with the hand,” this
has been used in Islam to justify physical force and even acts of violence to
stop wrongdoing. But wrongdoing in Islamic doctrine is defined as acts that go
against Shariah. Islamic scholars have had long-standing debates about whether
this principle can involve weapons such as the sword (or firearms, improvised
explosive devices (IEDs), or only fists.
The risks to a
free society are undeniable.
A recent example
of using “the hand” by Islamic authorities comes from Indonesia. It involves
“two 18-year-olds [being] flogged 17 times in front of a crush of people in
front of the mosque in the capital of the province, Banda Aceh, [Indonesia],
because they were caught hugging each other.”
The phrase has
also led to Islamist acts of vigilantism.
I could point
you to an example from July in Pakistan, where Tahir Ahmad Naseem was on trial
for blasphemy and was shot dead in the courtroom. His attacker yelling that
Tahir was an “enemy of Islam.”
The next part of
the hadith Mr. Biden cited calls for using the “tongue.” A clear example of
this is the ‘sharia police’ who patrolled the streets of Wuppertal, Germany.
Last year, its
members were fined by a German court for violating German uniform laws. As
reported by The Local de, the men who made up the ‘sharia police’ would police
young Muslims, telling “them not to drink alcohol or visit cafes, betting shops
or brothels.”
Finally, using
“the heart” encourages the third prong of dawa (the first two prongs are the
hand and the tongue).
Dawa is
described as a call to Islam; however, for Islamists, such as members of the
Muslim Brotherhood, it is an all-encompassing program of social and political
control.
It consists of
proselytizing a particular type of Islamic indoctrination as a form of
ideological warfare. When the process is complete, recruits can be persuaded to
engage in acts of militancy.
In short, the
Islamist dawa in the realm of ideas is a companion to acts of jihad in
practice. When dawa is perceived to have failed, jihad follows.
Krithika
Varagur’s recent book, “The Call: Inside the Global Saudi Religious Project,”
describes Saudi Arabia’s propagation of dawa in Indonesia, Nigeria, and Kosovo
in great detail and provides example after example of the effects of this
concerted program of indoctrination.
Increasingly
concerned about the uncontrollable effects of this program, some members of the
Saudi elite, including the Crown Prince, are now seriously considering whether
continuing this program, and to what extent, is sensible.
As I explain in
my book “Heretic,” “Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong are very effective
means of silencing dissent.”
This is also an
effective tool against ex-Muslims, like me, or Muslim reformers, who would like
to see changes within the faith. They are scared of both the hand and the
tongue. Additionally, the hand, the tongue, and the heart are tools of
converting non-Muslims to Islam.
Religious ideas
in general are complex, and Islamic history is exceedingly complicated. An
American presidential candidate cannot be expected to know all the details. But
an American presidential candidate, especially one who lived through September
11th, plus the rise and fall of both Al Qaeda and ISIS, should be expected to
stand against America’s enemies and with Muslim reformers, or at least
recognize that Islamist doctrine is not helpful in empowering genuine
reformers.
The hadith
chosen by Biden (or, more likely, his senior advisers) in his keynote address
reveals that one of two scenarios is likely true: 1) Biden’s camp does not
understand the significance of this hadith and its use in social control or… 2)
Biden’s camp was “fed” a hadith by radical Islamist lobby groups (which tend to
be powerful in the U.S.) that appear moderate and tolerant but are not.
This is a
typical tactic of dissimulation, the selective use of traditional orthodox
Islamic texts to project tolerance and progressive views where in fact
fundamental reforms in Islam would be much more desirable to guarantee modern,
individual rights for all.
Either way, I
would strongly advise the Biden camp to reach out to Muslim reformers and
progressive dissidents to formulate a better strategy and a more complete
understanding of the challenge at hand.
I have to
caution the presidential candidate that “Commanding Right and Forbidding
Wrong,” as currently interpreted, maintains a status quo where women are
chattel, questioning orthodoxy is forbidden, and stepping outside the line
could cost you your life.
This concept is
fundamentally at odds with the Western -- and American -- principle of
individual freedom of conscience and religion.
No one, least of
all me, expects a U.S. presidential candidate to understand all of Islam’s
historical nuances. But I do expect him to understand the challenge posed by
Islamism, Shariah, and the great odds faced by reformers seeking to increase
genuine tolerance and pluralism in the Islamic world. Not to mention, the
Islamist radical’s determination to destroy America.
Here’s hoping
that the Biden camp uses this as a welcome learning opportunity.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/ayaan-hirsi-ali-biden-prophet-muhammad-saying-muslim-event
--------
Putrajaya
looking to clamp down on anti-Islam posts on social media
12 Aug 2020
IPOH, Aug 12 —
The government is ready to refine the proposal to tighten the rules related to
social media sharing which leads to views that are contrary to the teachings of
Islam, especially by liberals and apostates.
Minister in the
Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Seri Dr Zulkifli Mohamad
said for that purpose, the department was ready to work with the Ministry of
National Unity and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission
(MCMC).
“We have
discussed but for that matter, we need to be more precise and hold more
meetings to refine various issues and other angles,” he told reporters after
the conversion to Islam of 60 Orang Asli from Kinta here today.
Commenting
further, Zulkifli said the department was also ready to hold dialogue sessions
with the liberals and apostates.
Meanwhile, Perak
Islamic Religious and Information Committee chairman Mohd Akmal Kamarudin said
the state government would continue to guide the converts through the dakwah
carried out by the Perak Islamic Religious Council (MAIPk) and the Department
of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim).
“A total of 45
Muslim missionaries have been appointed by MAIPk and 57 Orang Asli appointed by
Jakim, will continue to help guide these converts,” he said. — Bernama
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/12/minister-says-working-with-mcmc-to-tighten-regulation-on-social-media-posts/1893360
--------
Javed Miandad
says he will challenge Imran Khan in politics
Aug 12, 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Legendary batsman Javed Miandad on Wednesday said that he was the captain of
current Prime Minister Imran Khan and will join politics to
"challenge" him.
Miandad said on
his YouTube channel that he was the driving force for Khan, also a former
captain, in cricket.
Miandad said he
will join politics and tell people what real politics is all about. He said
after joining politics he will call a spade a spade.
“Not only in the
affairs of sports, I will also challenge him (Khan) in the field of politics.
Imran should remember I was his captain,” he said in an angry tone.
The former
captain claimed that he made Khan the prime minister. He went on to say that
Khan lost his way and was not running the country properly. He said Khan's
appointments in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) were questionable.
Miandad said
Pakistani people were capable of managing the PCB and the practice of hiring
people from abroad should stop.
“Please do not
bring people from abroad to manage our cricket. Look for deserving people in
Pakistan. Believe in people of Pakistan,” he said.
He spoke about
the new regional cricket system and also said the treatment of former captain
Sarfaraz Ahmed was not right.
Miandad, a
member of the 1992 World Cup-winning side, was the backbone of the then
Pakistan team and is remembered for many memorable innings.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/javed-miandad-says-he-will-challenge-imran-khan-in-politics/articleshow/77511771.cms
--------
Hezbollah was
taking Beirut ammonium nitrate to produce weapons: Source
12 August 2020
Hezbollah had
been slowly siphoning off the ammonium nitrate that was stored in the port and
ignited in a deadly blast in Beirut to manufacture missiles and rockets,
according to a security source and a source close to the organization.
For all the latest
headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
A warehouse
containing 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded in Beirut on Tuesday,
killing at least 171 people, injuring thousands, and destroying much of the
city.
In the wake of
the disaster, observers have questioned why such vast quantities of highly
explosive material was left in Beirut’s port, so close to the densely populated
city center.
According a
former high security source who spoke to Al Arabiya English on condition of anonymity,
the ammonium nitrate remained at the port for years because “it was being
siphoned off for military purposes by a third party.”
This statement
was also later confirmed by a source close to Hezbollah commanders who
specified that the product was being used for missiles and rockets war heads,
which were sent by Iran to Lebanon and assembled locally in the Hermel Region
by Hezbollah. Back in 2017, the French Intelligence Online magazine had already
reported that Hezbollah was constructing two underground facilities in Lebanon
for manufacturing missiles.
“Lebanese
security services also received American warnings from US envoy David
Satterfield about the existence of two missile assembly plants, in South
Lebanon and the Bekaa,” added the high security source, who explained that
weapon shipments were transferred on regular basis into Lebanon via the port as
well as over the country's land borders.
Israel has
systematically targeted Tehran’s shipments to Hezbollah transferred into
Lebanon via Syria, striking the Lebanese party hundreds of times across the
border.
According to the
security source, a variety of organizations had control of the port: Customs,
the General Security, the army’s intelligence services and more recently the
State security. The US Treasury has nonetheless accused Hezbollah of
controlling many of Beirut’s port facilities.
“Certain
sections of the Port and the airport are used for smuggling military shipments
to Hezbollah,” a source close to Hezbollah fighters told Al Arabiya English on
condition of anonymity. The former security source pointed out that terminal 5
was a transit point for the party in the Beirut port. The port remains also a
lucrative business for all of Lebanon’s corrupt elite.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/12/Hezbollah-was-taking-Beirut-ammonium-nitrate-to-produce-weapons-Source.html
--------
India
Jamia tops list
of central universities in government rankings
Aug 13, 2020
NEW DELHI: Jamia
Millia Islamia, which had been in turmoil in the past few months, has bagged
the first spot among all central universities in the country in rankings
released by the ministry of education with a score of 90%. In the
‘Grading/scoring of performance of central universities’ by the ministry, Jamia
had a score of 90%, compared to 83% of Rajiv Gandhi University of Arunachal
Pradesh, 82% of JNU and 78% of Aligarh Muslim University.
Jamia topped
among 40 central universities. The score is based on an evaluation on key
parameters fixed under an MoU in 2019-20. “All the universities were required
to sign a tripartite MoU with MHRD (ministry of education) and UGC for
continuous evaluation. Jamia was the first university in 2017 to sign this MoU
and present itself for performance evaluation,” said a statement by the
university on Wednesday.
The evaluation
was based on parameters which included annual student intake in UG, PG, PhD and
MPhil and student diversity, which included percentage of female students,
students from other states and foreign students. The other parameters were
faculty quality and strength which included student-teacher ratio, teacher
vacancy, visiting faculty, etc. Along with this the central universities were
also assessed on the number of students placed through campus interviews, and number
of students who qualified in NET, GATE, etc.
Capture
“Jamia also did
well on other parameters of governance, finance, national and international
rankings like NIRF, NAAC and QS as well as co-curricular and extracurricular
activities,” said the statement.
Vice chancellor
Najma Akhtar said that the achievement was all the more significant because of
the challenging time the university has gone through in the recent past. She
attributed the achievement to “high-quality teaching, relevant and focused
research of highest quality and improved perception of the university” and
hoped to improve the performance in the coming years.
One of the
parameters focused on financial powers. Universities were being encouraged to
ensure a gradual annual increase in user charges/fees charged for various
courses and facilities and were expected to strictly follow the General
Financial Rules, 2017 issued by department of expenditure, ministry of finance,
and Government of India in all their financial transactions, including
procurement of goods and services.
The MoU also
made it obligatory for the universities to adopt the public financial
management system for receipt of all funds from UGC and the Centre. It stated
that the performance evaluation of the parameters shall be carried out every
financial year.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jamia-tops-list-of-central-universities-in-government-rankings/articleshow/77514852.cms
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Literacy rate
for Muslims worse than SC/STs
Aug 13, 2020
NEW DELHI: A
decade and a half after the Sachar Committee highlighted the issue, a report
from the National Statistical Office reveals that Muslims are on various
yardsticks of academic marginalisation as bad or even worse than SCs and STs.
The report shows
that among the various social groups, the literacy rate for those aged 7 yrs or
more was the highest for “others”, which is non-SC/ST/OBC population groups, at
91% for men and 81% for women. This proportion declines to 84% for OBC men and
69% for OBC women. For SCs, the ratio was 80.3% for men and 64% for women and
for STs 78% for men and 61% for women.
Among religious
groups, 88% of Christian men and 82% of women were literate, the highest
proportions for both genders. This was followed by Sikhs and Hindus. The
literacy rate of 80.6% among Muslim men was equivalent to that for Dalits and
marginally higher than the rate among tribals. The literacy rate for Muslim
women was higher than Dalit or tribal women, but lower than for women of any
other religious group.
Flap-1 Graphic-4
The gross
attendance ratio (people attending a level of education as a proportion of the
population of the corresponding age group) was the lowest for Muslims among
various social and religious groups at all levels of education except above
higher secondary, where it was between the rates for Dalits and tribals.
EDUCATION
INDICATORS (1)
At the primary
level, the GAR of 100 for Muslims was lower than “others”, SCs, STs, OBCs,
Sikhs, Christians, and Hindus. At the upper primary level, Muslims were the
only community whose GAR was below 90%. At the secondary level, the GAR of
71.9% for Muslims was lower than STs (79.8%), SCs and OBCs. Similarly at the
higher secondary level, the GAR was lowest for Muslims at 48.3%, well below
even the 52.8% for Dalits.
Above the higher
secondary level, the GAR of 14.5% for Muslims was just above 14.4% for tribals
but below 17.8% for Dalits. Unlike the tribal population, of which a
significant proportion lives in remote areas, Muslims typically don’t live very
far from higher educational institutes and yet the drop out at this level was
nearly equal.
Muslims also had
the highest proportion of youth (age 3-35 yrs) who had never enrolled in formal
educational programmes. About 17% of Muslim men in this age group had never
been enrolled for education. This was higher than for SCs (13.4%) and STs
(14.7%). Similarly, for Muslim females, this ratio was 21.9% comparable with ST
females, of whom 22.4% in the age group of 3-35 yrs reported having never
enrolled in any academic programme
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/literacy-rate-for-muslims-worse-than-sc/sts/articleshow/77514868.cms
--------
Bengaluru
violence: Muslim youths form human chain to protect Hanuman temple
Aug 12, 2020
BENGALURU:
Around 100 Muslim youths from the violence-hit DJ Halli and surrounding areas
formed a human chain outside a temple to protect it from arsonists on Tuesday
night.
The Hanuman
temple is located near Shampura main road and the youths had gathered on the
streets following violence.
Video: A group
of Muslim youth gathered and formed a human chain around a temple in DJ Halli
police station limits… https://t.co/GZ0JUmc6uB
— TOI Bengaluru
(@TOIBengaluru) 1597226276000
"Few youths
on a motorbike came near the temple. From their behaviour we suspected that they
were about to pelt stones. Realising that the act will further increase the
violence, we stopped them. Few senior citizens from our area expressed fear
saying attackers will return and target the temple. We decided to protect the
temple and formed human chain. We were there between 11.30pm and 1am,"
Mohammed Khaleed, a private company employee and resident of Shampura main road
said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/bengaluru-violence-muslim-youths-form-human-chain-to-protect-hanuman-temple/articleshow/77502922.cms
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ISI, JeM planned
Pulwama strike, trained attacker: NIA
Neeraj Chauhan
Aug 13, 2020
Islamabad was
involved in planning, training the perpetrators and executing the February 2019
Pulwama attack that left 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel dead
and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war, said two officials aware of
the details of the charge sheet the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has
readied in the case.
The charge
sheet, which is expected to be filed at the end of this month, concludes
Pakistan’s spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its proxy,
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), planned and executed the state-sponsored attack, for
which highly-trained terrorists were sent to India.
It says Pakistan
used Adil Ahmad Dar, a local resident who rammed an explosive-laden car into a
CRPF convoy in Pulwama, as a suicide bomber to project the attack as a result
of a home-grown militancy against “India’s occupation of Kashmir”, one of the
officers cited above said.
“However, strong
technical, documentary and material evidence have been collected apart from
experts’ reports and evidence shared by foreign agencies, which prove that the
Pakistani government was directly involved in the attack, aimed to create
unrest in India,” said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Maulana Masood
Azhar, who founded JeM in 2000 after he was freed from an Indian prison in
exchange for 155 passengers of a hijacked aircraft, and his younger brother, Mufti
Abdul Rauf Asghar, have been named as primary accused in the charge sheet.
Seven alleged JeM operatives arrested from Kashmir since February, Shakir
Bashir Magrey, Mohammad Abbas Rather, Mohammad Iqbal Rather, Waiz-ul-Islam,
Insha Jan, Tariq Ahmad Shah, and Bilal Ahmed Kuchey, have been named for
“conducting reconnaissance, providing logistics and assisting in planning the
attack”.
The names of
Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Umar Farooq, who was sent to India to execute the
attack, Kamran, JeM’s area commander, Mudassir Khan, and Adil Ahmad Dar also
figure in charge sheet but not as accused as they have been killed. Farooq,
Kamran, and Mudassir Khan were killed in March 2019 in separate exchanges of
fire with security forces.
A second officer
said the Union home ministry has given the go-ahead to file the charge sheet
against Azhar and others under anti-terror laws.
Azhar was among
those India designated as individual terrorists in 2019. The move came
following an amendment to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which
allows the government to designate individuals as terrorists.
The US has
similar laws for such designations and the 2019 move opened an added avenue for
joint action against terrorists.
Pakistani Prime
Minister Imran Khan has denied his country’s role in the Pulwama attack and
even offered to prosecute the culprits if India provided evidence. Islamabad
has not, however, taken any substantive action against global terrorists
operating from its soil, including Azhar even as it has been under pressure
from the international community.
Pakistan has
been on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s “grey list” of “monitored
jurisdictions” since June 2018 for failing to counter-terror financing,
especially by groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, JeM, Taliban, al-Qaeda and
Haqqani Network.
A FATF plenary
meeting in February warned Pakistan that it had failed to meet all deadlines
for a 27-point action plan, and gave the country four more months to implement
it.
HT in March
reported the Pulwama attack was originally set to be carried out in the first
week of February 2019. But weather conditions forced a suspension of the
security convoy movements. The ISI and JeM had to wait until next the CRPF convoy
travelled along the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
NIA’s probe has
concluded the explosive material for the attack was collected over a period of
time from mining blocks and locations used by cement factories for blasting
rocks in Khrew (Pulwama), Khunmoh (Srinagar), Tral, Awantipora, and Lethpora.
The NIA charge
sheet also details the email, text, and social media communications of key
players in the bombing, including Azhar’s brother, the second official cited
above said.
The Pulwama
attack threatened to spark a full-blown conflict between India and Pakistan. JeM
claimed responsibility for the attack and prompted India to carry out an
airstrike on a terror camp in Pakistan’s Balakot.
Pakistan
retaliated a day later and triggered a brief dogfight involving warplanes of
the two countries.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/isi-jem-planned-pulwama-strike-trained-attacker-nia/story-iOgoXjVhpbF6FdNwNSslAP.html
--------
Bengaluru riot:
'News of police not accepting complaint led to flare-up'
Aug 13, 2020
BENGALURU: The
riots that rocked parts of Bengaluru on Tuesday night has its genesis in a
small meeting of local minority community members in Kavalbyrasandra area. The
agenda was to discuss a derogatory Facebook post by a relative of local MLA
Akhanda Srinivasamurthy and the members decided to take up the matter with the
lawmaker and the police.
The group was
miffed that Naveen, the Congress legislator’s nephew, sounded jubilant that the
bhumi pujan was conducted for the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. While the comments on
bhumi pujan were posted a few days ago, and Naveen’s post on Tuesday -- a slur
against their faith -- was the last straw. The community leaders, including
some local SDPI activists, decided to press for action against him.
Police sources
told TOI that it was “false news, which was spread about policemen on duty not
accepting a complaint against Naveen, led to the flare up.”
“Since Naveen is
nephew of an MLA, his posts angered people. Moreover, Naveen was accused of
cheating several local residents on the pretext of jobs, land deals, government
tenders and pilgrimage to Mecca,” said an investigating officer.
A group
comprising SDPI activists, headed to Srinivasamurthy’s house, while another
went to KG Halli police station. “We did not reject a complaint against Naveen.
We only told the group to wait for senior officers to arrive as it was a cyber
crime and a sensitive issue. But they wanted Naveen to be arrested immediately.
We explained that wasn’t possible without proper evidence. We assured them of
action against, but they refused to listen,” personnel at KG Halli police
station said.
Word that the
police were refusing to act spread fast.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bengaluru-riot-news-of-police-not-accepting-complaint-led-to-flare-up/articleshow/77514914.cms
--------
Hizb commander,
soldier killed in Pulwama encounter: DGP
Aug 12, 2020
SRINAGAR: Hizbul
Mujahideen commander Azaad Lalhari and a soldier were killed in an anti-terror
operation in Kamrazipora area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district early
Wednesday, J&K DGP Dilbagh Singh said. Another soldier was injured in the
encounter.
A resident of
Pulwama, Azaad Lalhari was involved in the murder of police head constable
Anoop Singh on May 22 this year at Prichu, Pulwama, where he fired at a naka
party. Six FIRs were registered against him for terror-related killings, and
two chargesheets in separate cases were filed. Lalhari was earlier detained
under Public Safety Act as an overground worker and became active again after
his release, DGP Singh said.
Early on
Wednesday, a joint team of Army, CRPF and J&K Police launched a
cordon-and-search operation at Kamrazipora area when holed-up terrorists opened
fire at the search party, triggering an encounter. In the ensuing exchange of
fire, two soldiers were injured and rushed to Army’s 92 Base Hospital, where
one of them later succumbed. Security forces found the body of a terrorist near
the encounter site, who was later identified as Lalhari, police said.
In north
Kashmir’s Baramulla district, an Armyman was injured in Sopore area when
terrorists allegedly fired upon a team of security forces at Hygam crossing on
Wednesday evening, sources said. Soon after, a joint team of Army’s 52RR, CRPF
and J&K Police’s special operations group rushed to the spot and cordoned
off the entire area to trace the perpetrators.
Sopore SSP Javid
Iqbal, while confirming the massive cordon-and-search operation in the orchards
in the area, said, “We are verifying the incident as to whether it was an
attack or a case of accidental firing.”
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/hizb-commander-soldier-killed-in-pulwama-encounter-dgp/articleshow/77511951.cms
--------
North America
Islamic State
threat in west Syria growing: US commander
Aug 13, 2020
WASHINGTON:
Elements of the Islamic State group are working to rebuild in western Syria,
where the US has little visibility or presence, the top US commander for the
Middle East warned on Wednesday.
In the region
west of the Euphrates River where the Syrian regime is in control “conditions
are as bad or worse” than they were leading up to the rise of the Islamic
State, said General Frank McKenzie.
"We should
all be concerned about that.”
McKenzie said
insurgents are operating with some degree of freedom, and he said the US and
its allies have little hope the Syrian regime will do anything to tamp down the
group there.
The western part
of the country has historically been controlled by Russian-backed Syrian
government troops, while the US and its allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces,
have largely been in the north and eastern part of the country.
President Donald
Trump has touted the defeat of IS as one of his key national security
achievements.
He ordered the
removal of US forces from the northern border near Turkey, as part of a planned
move to pull all American troops out of the country.
But he was
eventually convinced by US military leaders to leave US forces in the east to
continue working with the SDF and help protect oil fields from IS.
Speaking online
to a United States Institute of Peace forum from his US Central Command office
in Tampa, McKenzie said that the slow-moving effort to transfer people out of
Syrian refugee camps has been further complicated and delayed by the
coronavirus pandemic.
And that, he
said, fuels concerns about the radicalization of people — particularly the
youth — in the camps, which officials worry are breeding grounds for IS
insurgents.
The al-Hol camp
in northeastern Syria is home to as many as 70,000 people — mostly women and
children — who were displaced by the ongoing civil war in Syria and the battle
against IS.
Many fled as the
US-backed SDF cleared out the last pockets of land held by IS last year.
Leanne Erdberg
Steadman, the USIP director for countering violent extremism, said getting
people out of the camps is key to having them abandon violence and secure a new
future. Officials said that there have now been the first few reported cases of
Covid-19 at al-Hol.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/us-commander-islamic-state-threat-in-west-syria-growing/articleshow/77516306.cms
--------
Assassinations
Highlight Security Challenges for US-Backed Forces in Eastern Syria
By Sirwan Kajjo
August 11, 2020
WASHINGTON -
Tensions are flaring in an eastern Syria province after the assassinations of
several powerful Arab tribal leaders, with U.S.-backed forces accusing Islamic
State (IS) sleeper cells and Syrian government proxies of carrying out such
attacks to cause instability in the former IS stronghold.
In the past two
weeks, three leaders of the al-Agidat and al-Baggara tribes were killed by
unknown gunmen in separate incidents in the eastern Syrian province of Deir
al-Zour, local news reported.
The Kurdish-led
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a major U.S. partner in the fight against IS
terrorists, has accused sleeper cells affiliated with IS of the recent killings
in the Arab-majority province.
“These cells
from the remnants of ISIS strive to cause confusion, whether through
assassinations, spreading rumors, mining and booby-trapping operations,” the
SDF said in a statement Monday, using another acronym for IS.
The SDF also
accused the Syrian regime, Turkey and their respective local allies of using
certain elements in Deir al-Zour to cause instability.
“Through their
plans, these forces have targeted security and civil peace by sabotaging and
weakening service and administrative sectors and creating a rift between the
tribes and the civil administration,” the SDF said in its statement, noting
that their goal “is to turn the tribes against each other and against the
Syrian Democratic Forces and the international coalition.”
Following the
Turkish-led invasion of parts of northeast Syria in October 2019, the SDF has
often accused Ankara of destabilizing other SDF-held areas in eastern Syria.
Turkey denies such allegations. The country views the SDF as an extension of
the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a
terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington. While Turkey has denied the
SDF allegations about its involvement in eastern Syria, Turkish officials have
often said that SDF fighters are targets for Turkish forces.
IS attacks
In March 2019,
the SDF, supported by the U.S.-led coalition against IS, declared the physical
collapse of the so-called IS caliphate after defeating the group in its last
stronghold in Deir al-Zour province.
But IS militants
have since continued to carry out attacks against SDF fighters and civilians in
the Syrian province.
In June and
July, the SDF launched two major campaigns to hunt down IS remnants in Deir
al-Zour, killing and arresting hundreds of militants.
Col. Myles
Caggins, a spokesman for the global coalition against IS, told VOA that “the
coalition’s view is that the parties in [Deir al-Zour] should focus on keeping
ISIS from causing chaos.”
Regime
cells
A senior SDF
official, who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the issue, said that in addition to IS sleeper cells, the Syrian
regime and its allies have also been using their networks to “cause chaos” in
the SDF-held parts of Deir al-Zour.
“We are facing
complex security challenges on many fronts in Deir al-Zour,” the SDF official
said, noting that “the Syrian regime is increasingly using some local networks
to target our forces and civilians.”
Forces loyal to
the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian-backed militias
control the western part of Deir al-Zour.
Reaction to the
oil deal
Some experts say
a recent deal between the SDF and a U.S. company to develop and export crude
oil in areas under the SDF control in northeastern Syria could be a factor in a
growing Syrian government involvement in attacks in eastern Syria.
“This deal has
infuriated the Syrian regime, because it means the region will never return
under its control,” said Omar Abu Layla, director of Deir Ezzor 24, a news and
research group focused on developments in eastern Syria.
“Everyone thinks
that only Daesh has sleeper cells in the Deir al-Zour region, but the reality
is the [Syrian] regime, Iran and even al-Nusra [al-Qaida’s former Syria
affiliate] have their own cells in Deir al-Zour,” he told VOA, using an Arabic
acronym for IS.
Abu Layla, whose
group has a network of researchers in oil-rich Deir al-Zour, said the oil deal
“was the last straw for the Syrian regime, who immediately gave the green light
to its cells to launch attacks in Deir al-Zour.”
The Syrian
government last week condemned the deal between the SDF and the U.S. company,
describing it as stealing Syria’s oil.
Mismanagement
and corruption
The SDF-held
part of Deir al-Zour is run by the group’s local affiliate, the Deir al-Zour
Military Council, which has often been accused by locals and experts of
corruption and incompetence.
“Since the
liberation of Baghouz [IS’s last stronghold in Deir al-Zour] in March 2019,
there has been mismanagement by the international coalition and the SDF in the
area [through] relying on corrupt civilian elements that were previously linked
to IS and the regime,” said Abdullah Al-Ghadhawi, a Syrian researcher with the
Washington-based Center for Global Policy whose research focuses on dynamics in
Deir al-Zour.
Ghadhawi told
VOA that it was a strategic mistake by the SDF and its coalition partners “to
expand the Deir al-Zour Military Council with unruly and unprofessional
forces.”
“IS is a party
to the equation and it carries out activities, but the one who rules the region
is responsible for its security,” he added.
Analyst Abu
Layla echoed similar views.
“If the SDF
wants a sustainable security solution in Deir al-Zour, it needs to be more
inclusive by having a better representation of the tribes in the local
administration as well as bringing competent individuals to run the region,” he
said.
An SDF official
admitted that corruption is a major problem for their local partners in Deir
al-Zour. He said it would take some time to remove corrupt military and civilian
officials from the ranks of the SDF.
https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/assassinations-highlight-security-challenges-us-backed-forces-eastern-syria?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1433112_
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Southeast Asia
Govt to study
reinstitution of Special Committee to Empower Shariah Court, says minister
13 Aug 2020
KUALA LUMPUR,
Aug 13 — The government is planning to reinstitute the Special Committee to
Empower Shariah Court that seeks to uphold the country’s Shariah judiciary
holistically.
Minister in the
Prime Minister Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Seri Zulkifli Mohamad
Al-Bakri said the committee was first formed in 2017, but it was dissolved
following the change of government after the 14th General Election.
“Besides, the
administration and procedures are being streamlined through the development of
Shariah Court Practice Directive, Shariah Court Procedure and standard
operating procedures to be adopted by Shariah Court,” he said during Ministers’
Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat, today.
He was replying
to the question raised by Tan Sri Noh Omar (BN-Tanjong Karang) on whether the
government plans to set up a committee to restructure the administration and
procedures used by Shariah Court so as to improve the service and integrity of
the institution.
Zulkifli said
before a restructuring exercise can be implemented, approvals must be obtained
from the heads of Islam in each state (Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultans and Raja)
and state government’s religious authorities. — Bernama
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/13/govt-to-study-reinstitution-of-special-committee-to-empower-syariah-court-s/1893559
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Islamic State
Holding on in Philippines, Despite Millions in US Spending
By Jeff Seldin
August 12, 2020
WASHINGTON -
Hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars and hundreds of hours spent working with
and training Philippine government forces appear to be doing little to dislodge
Islamic State fighters entrenched in the country’s south.
The assessment,
part of a just-released Pentagon report, warns that at best, U.S.-supported
efforts in the Philippines have fought IS and other terror groups to a
stalemate, with Philippine forces unable to gain the upper hand.
“In general,
efforts to reduce extremism in the Philippines do not appear to have made a
substantial difference,” U.S. Defense Department Acting Inspector General Sean
O’Donnell wrote in the report assessing the success of Operation Pacific
Eagle–Philippines.
IS-East Asia and
its partners “have remained about the same size and strength for the last few
years,” O’Donnell added, noting there has been “little change” in their ability
to finance and carry out operations.
US-funded
counterterrorism
The inability to
deliver a more lasting defeat to IS in the Philippines comes despite
considerable U.S. spending, including almost $70 million so far this year, down
from more than $108 million last fiscal year, and just over $100 million the
year before.
According to the
inspector general report, a majority of that money has gone to intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance, which includes the use of drones and other
equipment to help Philippine forces hunt down IS cells.
But aside from
some initial progress, when U.S. special forces aided Philippine efforts to
recapture the city of Marawi, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, in
2017, efforts to eradicate IS have not met with sustained success.
Despite seeing
1,000 of its fighters killed or captured in the five-month-long battle for Marawi,
and the death of its leader, Isnilon Hapilon, a month later, IS has persisted.
U.S.
counterterrorism and military officials say IS has managed to keep its numbers
in the low to mid hundreds.
The latest
estimates, from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency indicate IS has anywhere
from 300 to 500 fighters, divided into numerous factions, including the Abu
Sayyaf Group, the Maute Group, Ansar Khalifa and others.
There are also
indications that the terror group is spreading beyond its historical strongholds
in the southern Philippines.
This past June,
Philippine security forces said four IS fighters, part of a sleeper cell, were
killed in a raid in the capital of Manila. And U.S. officials caution that IS
continues to gain supporters across the country, even in areas where it is not
currently fighting.
IS and COVID-19
There are also
concerns that IS fighters are taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic.
"COVID-19
restrictions, coupled with force rotations, negatively impacted the amount of
U.S. intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support," the
Pentagon inspector general report said.
And there are
concerns IS groups could also get a boost from former members or sympathizers
who may have been among the 10,000 prisoners released by the government in
response to the spread of the coronavirus through the country’s prison system.
Officials also
worry about the failure of U.S. efforts to help change “the economic, social,
and political conditions” which may be fueling the popularity of groups like
Islamic State.
“We pay lip
service to this idea of countering the narrative, but we don't really have a
great sense of what that entails,” said Colin Clarke, a senior fellow at the
Soufan Center, a global security research group.
“We've pretty
much kind of rolled out the whole kitchen sink in an attempt to make progress,”
he said. “Through every step forward, there's been two steps back because we
haven't had the ability to conduct the kind of sustained nationwide CVE
[countering violent extremism] program. It's been more kind of, you know, drips
and drab.”
https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/islamic-state-holding-philippines-despite-millions-us-spending?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1433112_
--------
Snap poll needed
for political stability in Malaysia, says PAS chief
12 Aug 2020
KUALA LUMPUR,
Aug 12 — Malaysia’s majority Malay ethnic group must secure a dominant position
in new national elections to ensure political stability in the country, an
Islamist party leader who is also a senior figure within the ruling coalition
said on Wednesday.
Malaysia has
faced political uncertainty since then-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
resigned in February and a new government was formed with a razor-thin majority
in parliament.
Mahathir was
replaced by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, once his close associate, with the
backing of the Bersatu party and two others representing Malays — the
scandal-tainted United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and the
Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).
PAS president
Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said fresh polls were needed to increase Malay
representation in Parliament and legitimise the ruling Perikatan Nasional
coalition’s claim to power.
“To ensure
political stability, it is important to have the race that dominates society to
lead the government,” Abdul Hadi said in an interview.
Ethnic Malays,
who are predominantly Muslim, make up about 60 per cent of Malaysia’s
population of 32 million, with the rest mostly ethnic Chinese and ethnic
Indians.
PAS has for
decades pushed to establish an Islamic state in Malaysia, at times seeking
harsher penalties on Muslims for crimes such as adultery and consuming alcohol
under Islamic law.
“Areas that are
majority Muslim should be represented by Muslims, and likewise areas that are
majority non-Muslim should be represented by non-Muslims,” said Abdul Hadi.
Muhyiddin’s
coalition narrowly won a vote to replace the lower house speaker, but then
suffered a setback when Umno declared it would support the government but withdraw
from the coalition after its Umno leader Datuk Seri Najib Razak was sentenced
to jail over the 1MDB scandal.
Abdul Hadi said
coalition parties would continue backing Muhyiddin’s leadership and nominate
him as their prime ministerial candidate in a new election.
“If you mix the
support for PAS, Umno and Bersatu, there are many seats that we can win. We may
be able to win a two-thirds majority,” said Abdul Hadi, predicting polls would
take place sometime between the end of this year and early 2021. — Reuters
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/12/snap-poll-needed-for-political-stability-in-malaysia-says-pas-chief/1893325
--------
PM Muhyiddin to
chair new council aimed at empowering Bumiputeras
13 Aug 2020
BY SOO WERN JUN
KUALA LUMPUR,
Aug 13 — Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has announced a new council to
address Bumiputera socio-economic issues including improving the economy and
tackling the unemployment rate.
He said the
council, Bumiputera Prosperity Council or Majlis Kemakmuran Bumiputera, will
have Teraju (Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit) as a main unit to coordinate
existing agencies and government-linked companies that assist the Bumiputera
community.
“Understanding
the worsening economy and increasing unemployment rate among the Bumiputera,
the government has decided to set up a Bumiputera Prosperity Council to address
socio-economic aspects faced by the Bumiputera.
“I myself will
chair the council that will focus on expediting efforts to empower the Bumiputera,”
he told the Parliament today during Ministers’ Question Time.
Other agencies
involved in the effort include Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Berhad (PUNB),
Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) and National Entrepreneur Economic Fund (Tekun
Nasional) as well as agencies that are mandated to assist Bumiputera
communities.
Muhyiddin who is
also Bersatu’s Pagoh MP was responding to Parti Amanah Negara’s Parit Buntar MP
Datuk Seri Mujahid Yusof Rawa who asked about the government’s measures to
improve the Bumiputera economy, especially the growing number of unemployed
without blaming other races.
“With this
council, we hope to scrutinise the problems faced by the various economic
sectors such as agriculture, for example, and ensure more targeted action can
be carried out,” said Muhyiddin.
He added that
the government is also committed to making the Bumiputera agenda a success
through Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 and the 12th Malaysia Plan, which will be
tabled early next year.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/13/pm-muhyiddin-to-chair-new-council-aimed-at-empowering-bumiputeras/1893513
--------
Pakistan
Pak army claims
major cyber-attack by Indian intelligence identified
Aug 12, 2020
ISLAMABAD: The
Pakistan military claimed on Wednesday that the country’s intelligence
apparatus had identified a major cyberattack by Indian intelligence agencies
wherein the cell phones and other devices of Pakistani government officials and
military personnel were hacked.
Inter-Services
Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan military’s media arm, said in a statement
that an advisory was being sent to all government departments and institutions
to identify lapses and enhance cybersecurity measures in place.
“The Indian
intelligence apparatus is involved in various cybercrimes, including deceitful
fabrication by hacking personal mobiles and technical gadgets of government
officials and military personnel,” the ISPR claimed.
The statement
added that various targets of the attack are being investigated and the army
has “further enhanced necessary measures” to thwart such activities. “Action
against violators of standard operating procedures on cybersecurity will be
taken,” the statement added.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pak-army-claims-major-cyber-attack-by-indian-intelligence-identified/articleshow/77511959.cms
--------
What’s Pakistan
without Saudi loan, oil and free royal jet rides for Imran Khan?
NAILA INAYAT
13 August, 2020
If only
Pakistani diplomacy was like Ertugrul drama series. Foreign Minister Shah
Mahmood Qureshi is definitely not playing a warrior who can conquer nations
with a sword. Or in his case, with words. Just ask the Pakistani Army Chief
Qamar Javed Bajwa who now has to pick up the pieces and fix the mess Quereshi
has created with Saudi Arabia.
There is loan,
there is oil. And what is Pakistan without Saudi loans and oil? Well, there is
always Kashmir, of course.
In a charged
Kashmir-lost-and-not-found atmosphere on 5 August 2020, Quereshi threatened
Saudi Arabia-led Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) that if Kashmir is not
taken up at the ministerial level, then Pakistan will move forward “with or
without” the Saudis. He was hinting at the Malaysian-Iranian-Turkish Muslim
bloc that has been vocal on Kashmir post abrogation of Article 370 by India
last year. His statement was a result of a year-long Pakistani frustration at
not getting its way on Kashmir in the OIC because of India’s economic clout.
Pakistan was
asked to repay $1billion of the Saudi loan, which it did by borrowing from
China, but before Qureshi called it an economic favour to Saudi Arabia in the
Covid-19 pandemic. Really? Pakistan donating money to Saudi Arabia is a bigger
insult to the desert kingdom than forging another OIC without them. And, what’s
worse, ARY News channel and its social media platforms censored foreign
minister Qureshi by taking his comments down.
Pakistan, leader
of Islamic ummah?
Pakistan nurses
the grand delusion of being a self-proclaimed leader of Islamic ummah because
it is a nuclear power. Pakistan believes it can mediate between Iran and Saudi
Arabia, or can even smooth things up between the US and Iran, or end the war in
Yemen. Like how? When you don’t have a penny in the pocket but you want to take
up others’ causes instead of fixing your own house.
But after
Quereshi’s outburst against Saudi Arabia, will the free rides in the Saudi
crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s personal jet come to an end for Pakistan
Prime Minister Imran Khan? Or will this incident be another slap on the wrist,
like one in Kuala Lumpur last year for trying to be part of an Islamic
coalition?
But the more
important question is: will the other Islamic brother-countries, like Turkey or
Malaysia, pick up the tab for self-styled leader of Muslim world, Pakistan, the
way Saudis did?
The
Pakistan-Saudi bonding
It was in 2018
that the cash-strapped government of Imran Khan was extended a $6.2 billion
package by Saudi Arabia. This included $3 billion in loans and oil on deferred
payments worth $3.2 billion. These deals were sealed during the much-hyped
visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Pakistan last February. Now, Saudi
Arabia has stopped the oil supply after the deferred payments deal expired.
For decades,
Pakistan relied on Saudi Arabia financially and it used the religious and
cultural front to boost those ties. During the February 2019 visit when the
Imran-MBS bromance was peaking, PM himself had driven the crown prince from the
airport. Khan had told MBS that he was so popular in Pakistan that he could win
an election here. Lucky us. Not holding back in niceties, the Crown Prince
declared himself an ambassador of Pakistan in Saudi Arabia. Couldn’t believe
the nation’s luck. Later, both were seen in a horse-drawn carriage, giving an
image of happily-ever-afters. But then, there are no happily-ever-afters in
real life.
The Pakistani
journalists who had put up the photo of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi
as their Twitter display pictures to show solidarity were hounded by the
Pakistani government agencies for leading a social media campaign against the
royal Saudi guest. Those were the days. Pakistan couldn’t tolerate such insult
to the Kingdom. PM Imran Khan had his priorities clear: Pakistan was desperate
and the government needed Saudi loans to avoid defaulting. Khan had attended
the 2018 Riyadh investment summit even when several others had dropped out.
Every country
watches its own political and economic interests first, but for some strange
reason, Pakistan thinks every country should put their ‘Kashmir banega
Pakistan’ interest first.
Muslim lives
matter, but not in China
Imran Khan and
his government stays silent over the persecution of Uighurs Muslims in China.
Khan chooses to turn the other way saying: ‘Frankly, I don’t know much about
it’. The reason for Pakistan’s silence over Uighurs is simple: China is a
benefactor, you cannot offend China. Pakistan is indebted to China so the
passion for ‘Muslim lives matter’ doesn’t apply here. Unfortunately, that is
how human rights issues work.
Similarly, Saudi
Arabia has economic interests in India. For Saudis, India is a viable economic
partner, not a country that depends on it for bailout packages. And that Saudi
Arabia is India’s fourth-largest trade partner doesn’t help Pakistan’s cause
either. Same applies to Gulf countries, like the United Arab Emirates and
Qatar, who also by the way, have generously extended loans to Pakistan. But the
claims that Imran Khan would never ask for bheek and prefer to commit suicide
over it never stand because that is exactly what Pakistan has done for survival.
Beggars can’t be equal partners.
theprint.in/opinion/letter-from-pakistan/whats-pakistan-without-saudi-loan-oil-and-free-royal-jet-rides-for-imran-khan/480517/
--------
Pakistan bids to
split Muslim world over Kashmir
By MK
BHADRAKUMAR
AUGUST 13, 2020
India will be
keenly watching the outcome of the Pakistani brainwave “to call a meeting of
the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir
and support the oppressed Kashmiris,” as Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi
stated in Islamabad on August 4.
He spoke on the
eve of the first anniversary of New Delhi’s decision to fully integrate the
former state of Jammu and Kashmir by amending Article 370 of the country’s
constitution that had provided for special status to the region as part of the
Indian Union.
In retrospect,
August 5 passed eventfully within India but in an unexpected way – a
triumphalist moment marking the commencement of the construction of a Hindu
temple in Ayodhya.
The ceremony in
Ayodhya relegated Jammu and Kashmir to the back burner even as India’s
opposition – and the media – was frog-marched to provide the chorus for the
joyful occasion of temple construction.
As a columnist
in the South China Morning Post noted with biting sarcasm:
AT Premium
“Much water has flowed
down the Sarayu River – on whose banks Ayodhya stands – between the ending of
the mosque and the beginning of the ‘golden chapter.’ Opposition parties, which
once saw the demolition as independent India’s most shameful moment, now prefer
silence or seek to join in the festivities over what is to replace the debris.
“The Congress, a
sorry shadow of its former self and unsure where it fits in this ‘golden
chapter,’ has even been trying to claim credit for the temple to out-Ram the
BJP. The media, which then couldn’t hide its horror at the razing of the
mosque, now can’t hide its relief at the raising of the temple …”
Hollow threat
Strange are the
ways India’s secular democracy works. The point is, August 5 from now on is
guaranteed to be a joyful day for the Indian hinterland to celebrate.
New Delhi also
draws satisfaction that the international community did not raise dust on the
anniversary day – not even the United Nations Human Rights Council – apart from
a symbolic attempt by China on behalf of its “Iron Brother” at the UN Security
Council.
Suffice to say,
Qureshi’s threat to Saudi Arabia stems from the frustration that it could do
nothing more than the renaming of Islamabad’s Kashmir Highway as the “Road to
Srinagar” and the unveiling of a “new map of Pakistan.”
Meanwhile,
Qureshi did not seem to factor in that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
(OIC) is the diplomatic platform on which the Custodian of the Two Holy
Mosques, King Salman, exercises leadership of the Ummah. Other than oil, it is
that title that prompts the world community to take Saudi Arabia seriously.
And that
hallowed title dating back to Saladin was adopted by the Ottoman Sultan Selim I
after defeating the Mamluks and gaining control of Mecca and Medina in 1517,
and was used by all subsequent Ottoman Caliph sultans until Mehmed VI
(1861-1926), the last.
By the way, King
Salman is only the third Saudi monarch to take up the title.
Turkey’s
“neo-Ottomanism” under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dreams about the recovery
of the lost historical heritage, which was pried away from it in a blatant conspiracy
hatched by Imperial Britain when it stirred up the so-called Arab Revolt.
Self-inflicted
wound
Ankara refrained
from making any statement on Kashmir on August 5 – presumably, New Delhi’s
“quiet diplomacy” is working. Having said that, Erdogan may not be found
wanting if Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan indeed moves to challenge the
Saudi misuse of the OIC as a vehicle of Saudi foreign policies.
Yet Qureshi’s
brainwave remains quixotic. Any Pakistani initiative to gather a credible
number of countries to create a non-Saudi OIC narrative is a non-starter.
Qureshi may have ended up inflicting a wound on the Saudi-Pakistan
relationship.
This is not to
be compared to Pakistan’s reluctance to fight in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
This is about challenging Saudi leadership of the Ummah – and that too, in such
an unseemly hurry on the fourth day of the 84-year-old King Salman’s return
from the hospital after surgery.
The
Pakistan-Saudi relationship has been in some drift lately. There are telltale
signs: Pakistan reportedly scrambled to pay back a hefty Saudi loan even ahead
of time; the Saudis have not cared to renew the deal for supplying oil to
Pakistan under deferred payments; again, nothing seems to have moved on the
grand idea of US$10 billion worth of Saudi investments in the Pakistani
economy, either.
Therefore, all
factors taken into consideration, wise and prudent statecraft lies in Islamabad
focusing single-mindedly on the Afghan problem at this crucial juncture rather
than frittering away its limited diplomatic and political capital on the
Kashmir issue.
That is also
what the international community expects from Pakistan, as the timing of the
phone calls to the Indian and Pakistani ministers (here and here) by US
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week would suggest.
Washington’s
priority lies in somehow kickstarting the intra-Afghan dialogue and taking some
political mileage out of it back home during President Donald Trump’s campaign
in the November election.
Washington
expects New Delhi not to act as a “spoiler,” while it counts on Islamabad to be
a key facilitator of the Afghan peace process. What Kashmir?
The bottom line
is that despite the hype by some Pakistani – and Indian – analysts, there is no
shred of evidence to suggest that the developments in eastern Ladakh augur
China’s entry into the Kashmir issue.
That stand-off
stemmed almost entirely out of the idiocies in Indian policies – principally,
its death dance with the Quad and its gravitation toward the US-led
“Indo-Pacific strategy” and the unwarranted move to insert Aksai Chin into its
integration plan for Jammu and Kashmir under the mistaken notion that Trump
would scare off Beijing.
A consistent
message
On August 5,
Beijing restated its “consistent and clear” position on Kashmir when Foreign
Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said:
“China closely
follows the situation in the Kashmir region. Our position on the Kashmir issue
is consistent and clear. First, the Kashmir issue is a dispute left over from
history between Pakistan and India, which is an objective fact established by
the UN Charter, relevant Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements
between Pakistan and India.
“Second, any
unilateral change to the status quo in the Kashmir region is illegal and
invalid. Third, the Kashmir region issue should be properly and peacefully
resolved through dialogue and consultation between the parties concerned.
“Pakistan and
India are neighbors that cannot be moved away. Harmony between the two
countries serves the fundamental interests of both sides and the common
aspiration of the international community. China sincerely hopes that the two
sides can properly handle differences through dialogue, improve relations and
jointly safeguard peace, stability and development of the two countries and the
region.”
Simply put, as
much as Beijing cannot accept the Indian claim to Aksai Chin and considers New
Delhi’s recent assertions to be “illegal and invalid,” it remains rooted in the
belief that the Kashmir problem as such is an issue between India and Pakistan.
Unlike the
Americans, who keep inserting the “wishes of the Kashmiri people” as a
template, Beijing unequivocally frames its position that Kashmir is a bilateral
issue. Wang pointedly expressed China’s goodwill toward both its neighbors by
urging them to solve the issue through dialogue and peaceful negotiations.
Put differently,
despite the raucous Indian claim on Aksai Chin lately, the Chinese stance on
the Kashmir problem has not changed since early 1994 when the then-Chinese
foreign minister Qian Qichen conveyed to his Indian counterpart the late Dinesh
Singh, at a meeting in Tehran, Beijing’s stance on the Kashmir issue in the
post-Cold War setting on exactly the same lines as Wang Wenbin did.
This may
disappoint hardliners in Pakistan and India, but facts are facts. The sooner
Pakistan and India face these geopolitical realities, the better it will be for
their own security and prosperity.
https://asiatimes.com/2020/08/pakistan-bids-to-split-muslim-world-over-kashmir/
--------
COAS to visit Saudi Arabia in quest to smooth ties
13 Aug 2020
Army chief
General Qamar Javed Bajwa will visit Saudi Arabia this weekend, officials said,
seeking to calm diplomatic strains over Kashmir as financial support for
Islamabad hangs in the balance.
The two
countries are traditionally close and Saudi Arabia in 2018 gave Pakistan a $3
billion loan and $3.2 billion oil credit facility to help its balance of payments
crisis.
But Riyadh is
irked by criticism from Pakistan that Saudi Arabia has been lukewarm on the
Kashmir territorial dispute, two senior military officials told Reuters,
motivating General Bajwa’s planned fence-building visit on Sunday.
“Yes he is travelling,”
ISPR chief Major General Babar Iftikhar told Reuters, though the official line
was that the visit was pre-planned and “primarily military affairs oriented.”
Pakistan has
long pressed the Saudi-led Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to convene a
high-level meeting to highlight alleged Indian violations in the occupied
Kashmir.
But the OIC has
only held low-level meetings so far.
“If you cannot
convene it, then I’ll be compelled to ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a
meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue
of Kashmir and support the oppressed Kashmiris,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood
Qureshi told local media last week.
Money at stake
Last year,
Islamabad had pulled out of a Muslim nations forum at the last minute on
insistence by Riyadh, which saw the gathering as an attempt to challenge its
leadership of the OIC.
Qureshi’s
remarks have revived Riyadh’s anger, one of the Pakistani military officials
and a government adviser said.
Saudia Arabia
had already made Pakistan pay back $1 billion two weeks ago, forcing it to
borrow from another close ally China, and Riyadh is yet to respond to
Pakistan’s request to extend the oil credit facility.
“The first year
(of the oil credit facility) completed on 9th July 2020. Our request for an
extension in the arrangement is under consideration with the Saudi side,” a
finance ministry official told Reuters.
Saudi Arabia is
also asking for another $1 billion back, officials at the finance ministry and
one of the military officers said.
The Saudi
government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1574184/coas-to-visit-saudi-arabia-in-quest-to-smooth-ties
--------
FO rejects
allegations of 'illegal fencing' along Pak-Afghan border
Naveed Siddiqui
13 Aug 2020
The Foreign
Office (FO) on Thursday rejected Afghanistan's insinuation that the military
was conducting "illegal fencing" along the Pakistan-Afghan border,
adding that it was being done to address "serious security concerns".
In a statement.
FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said that the fencing was "fully in
accordance with the established norms of international law without encroaching
into Afghan territory".
On Tuesday, the
Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they had protested the move through
diplomatic channels.
In a statement
carried by Tolo News, the Afghan foreign ministry spokesperson said: "Any
action which has been taken by Pakistan, the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic
Republic of Afghanistan has recorded its protest through the Afghan embassy in
Islamabad to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Pakistani Embassy
in Kabul."
The report also
quoted the deputy governor of Kunar as saying Pakistan was putting up fencing
in a "shifty way" and claimed that residents living in remote areas
of Kunar had also complained in phone calls to the media.
Reacting to the
report, the FO spokesperson said that the Afghan side would be well-advised to
engage on border matters through the relevant institutional mechanisms to
"address any misconceptions".
"Regrettably,
Pakistan’s suggestion for conducting joint topographic surveys had not been
positively responded to by the Afghan side," he said.
The spokesperson
also reaffirmed that Pakistan respected the territorial integrity of
Afghanistan and conducted its relations with the brotherly country in
accordance with the principles of the United Nations charter and expected
"reciprocity from the Afghan side".
On July 30, at
least three people, including a woman, were killed and over 20 injured on the
Pakistan side in a clash between an unruly mob and security forces at the
Friendship Gate border crossing in Chaman, while a heavy exchange of fire also
took place between Pakistani and Afghan security forces.
The FO had later
said that Afghan forces had opened "unprovoked" fire on civilians
gathered on Pakistan's side of the Friendship Gate and the incident resulted in
casualties after Pakistani troops responded to the fire "only in
self-defence".
https://www.dawn.com/news/1574189/fo-rejects-allegations-of-illegal-fencing-along-pak-afghan-border
--------
Maryam says
‘attackers’ intended serious harm to her
13 Aug 2020
LAHORE: PML-N
Vice-President Maryam Nawaz said on Wednesday the bullet-proof car by which she
travelled to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) offices was attacked by
police from all sides.
“It does not
seem that the bullet-proof vehicle which belongs to Nawaz Sharif was attacked
with stones as stones cannot damage it [that badly]. It was something else that
hit the vehicle,” she said and also posted a video clip of the damaged SUV on
her Twitter account.
“See this
[damage] and decide if it was only pelting of stones or a well thought out act
far more sinister in nature. The police were unaware that the car was an
armoured one. What they intended to do is clear. When you can’t prosecute,
persecute,” she said.
“The ambushed
black SUV is mine & clearly I am the target. They kept attacking viciously
even after the car turned back & ran after it until it was out of range.
Unprovoked assault,” she added.
Meanwhile, PML-N
President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif has strongly
condemned the handcuffing of detained party workers and leaders during their
court appearance.
In a statement,
Shahbaz said the act of treating political workers like terrorists and
dangerous criminals was extremely disappointing and should be condemned. He
said assaulting and torturing political workers and then shackling them in
handcuffs showed the “fascist mentality” of this government.
The PML-N
president said the current government had sadly turned politics into a revenge
drive. He pledged that he would not rest until every single worker and leader
of the PML-N was freed.
He paid rich
tributes to the PMLN workers and said he was proud of their resilience,
conviction and high spirits. He said the PMLN’s enthusiasm had petrified the
enemies of the people’s government. “The lawyers are working for their
[workers] release and they will soon be free of these fascist shackles,” he
said.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1574154/maryam-says-attackers-intended-serious-harm-to-her
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Arab world
Assad: US needs
terrorists, uses sanctions to support them
12 August 2020
Syria’s
President Bashar al-Assad says the US needs terrorists on the ground in the
region, and levied its recent draconian sanctions against Syria as a means of
throwing support behind them.
“The US needs
terrorists in the region, on top [of them] Daesh,” he said in an address at the
People’s Palace in the capital Damascus on Wednesday, according to the official
Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
The Takfiri
terrorist group, the most violent of the type ever known to the world, invaded
the country and neighboring Iraq in 2014. The group that was defeated by Damascus
and its allies three years later, has been found in receipt of US support
across many reports and by many regional officials.
Assad said
Washington lent force to “the Caesar Act, [because] it wanted to express its
support to the terrorists,” referring to the most recent bout of the US
sanctions on Syria.
The
much-condemned Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act came into effect on June
17, six months after it was signed into law by US President Donald Trump,
targeting individuals and businesses anywhere in the world that operate either
directly or indirectly within the sphere of Syria's economy.
US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo called the bans “the beginning of what will be a sustained
campaign of economic and political pressure to deny" the Syrian government
"revenue.”
The measures are
meant to prevent the government "from securing a military victory,” US
Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft said that month amid Syria’s ongoing battle
against foreign-backed militancy and terrorism.
Assad, however, asserted
that the war will not prevent the country from assuming its duties, and
attributed all of the country’s gains against the foreign-backed mercenaries so
far to supporting the country's army, SANA reported.
Washington’s
blockade, he advised, was to be confronted through boosting domestic production
and self-reliance.
‘Israel strikes
sought to help Daesh’
The president
went on to point to an instance of Israeli support for Takfiri terrorists
inside the country by citing a round of Israeli strikes against Syrian military
positions in the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr and the southwestern province
of al-Suwayda on June 23. The Syrian Defense Ministry confirmed at the time
that two Syrian army soldiers had lost their lives and four others sustained injuries
during the strikes.
“The Israeli
aggression on Dayr al-Zawr came to facilitate the movement of Daesh
terrorists,” Assad said, according to the news agency.
Tel Aviv
repeatedly targets the Syrian army and its allies’ strongholds in what Damascus
condemns as an attempt at slowing the Arab country’s counter-terrorism
advances.
The Israeli
regime had previously been found supporting the Takfiris on numerous occasions
too as seen in its providing medical treatment and safe havens for them outside
the Syrian territory.
‘Liberating
Golan, terror fight no different’
The Syrian
president, meanwhile, asserted that Syria’s Golan Heights, which has been
occupied by Israel since 1967, “remains in the heart of every honest Syrian.”
The US
recognized Israel’s “right” over the territory in 2019, but Assad asserted that
no “immoral” Israeli or American decision could change the territory’s status
among Syrians.
“Our right to
regain it is inseparable from our right to liberate all our lands from
terrorism,” he said.
Still addressing
the country’s aggressors, Assad said “there is no difference between a local or
imported terrorist, a Zionist soldier, Turkish or American one, all of them are
enemies on our territory.”
The US and its
allies invaded Syria after Daesh’s emergence under the pretext of uprooting the
outfit. The coalition retains its presence in the Arab country, three years
after Daesh’s defeat.
Since 2016, the
Syrian territory has also been subject to repeated Turkish incursions. Late
that year, Turkey began joining Iran and Russia in de-escalation efforts in
Syria, but the Turkish forces assigned to the Arab country have repeatedly
violated their mandates, engaging with the Syrian military. Ankara has also
been found liable for funding several anti-Damascus terrorist groups.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/12/631669/Syria-Assad-United-States-terrorists-region-Daesh-sanctions-Israel-Turkey
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Number of
Lebanon Explosion Victims Tops 170
Aug 12, 2020
According to the
health minister, the number of people missing after the catastrophe, which was
caused by some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, is around 40-50, while over
1,500 need special medical treatment.
Following the
hearth breaking incident at Beirut port last week, terrifying footage showed a
huge mushroom cloud of fire and smoke covering much of Beirut’s port area,
blowing out windows and destroying buildings in the neighborhood, as a
warehouse at the Beirut docks caught fire on Tuesday afternoon. Photos on
social media showed many buildings in the area damaged or destroyed, leaving
residents covered in glass and blood.
Several smaller
explosions were heard before the bigger one occurred and turned the city’s
streets into a debris-strewn wasteland.
The explosions
left a 43-meter deep crater at the site, according to local reports. The blast
at Beirut's port also injured more than 6,000 people and devastated nearly half
the buildings in the city. Red Cross volunteers at the scene of the explosion
declared they expect the death toll to rise.
Lebanese rescue
workers and army soldiers are struggling to remove huge items of debris in
search for possible survivors at Beirut's port. The Lebanese Red Cross believes
there are still tens of people missing.
Beirut Governor
Marwan Abboud has stated several foreign workers and truck drivers remain
missing following the explosion and are assumed to be dead.
In an interview
with Al-Jadeed TV station, Abboud noted that many of the fatalities are still
unidentified, and that it could take time to complete the identification of the
remains.
Health Minister
Hamad Hassan blamed the explosion on a fireworks accident, ordering all
hospitals in Beirut to prepare for the victims of the incident.
Lebanese General
Security Director Abbas Ibrahim has also dismissed rumors of Israeli
involvement, noting that a large cache of highly explosive ammonium nitrate was
stored at the site, after being confiscated off a ship several months ago. He
did not explain how the fire has started.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990522000346
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Thousands of
Yazidis still missing six years after initial ISIS attack
12 August 2020
As Yazidis
commemorated the ISIS attacks on their community six years ago, activists
demanded support for their fragile minority in Iraq.
Last week, in
the mountainous province of Sinjar in northern Iraq, a historic heartland for
Yazidis, locals gathered on the main road and outside public buildings to light
candles and commemorate the dead.
In 2014, ISIS
militants invaded the province and deliberately targeted the community killing
hundreds and kidnapping thousands.
Half a million
Yazidis were displaced. The attack was described as a genocide by the United
Nations in 2015 and an UN-funded international investigation into ISIS war
crimes was launched in 2018.
Yet six years
after the initial attack, the community in Iraq still faces tremendous
challenges. About 250,000 Yazidis still live in camps in the Kurdistan region,
and over 100,000 migrated out of Iraq. Three thousand people are missing or
unaccounted for, with hundreds known to be in refugee camps in Syria.
At the
commemoration, mourners held banners demanding international justice and
greater security for their homeland.
“We don’t see
any movement from the Iraqi authorities. It’s as if nothing happened to us in
the last six years,” said Naji Khadida, 28, a resident of Sinjar.
The sentiment
was echoed globally. “How can our community heal and return? Sinjar is left
behind and continues to regress without long-term investment,” asked Nobel
Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, who fled IS captivity in 2014.
A lifetime in
camps
Though ISIS was
defeated in 2017, less than a third of its displaced Yazidis have gone back to
Sinjar.
“There is no
water or electricity, basic services are limited,” said Khadida, a recent
returnee. He described his neighborhood to Al Arabiya English on the phone.
“There are
school buildings with books and pupils, but few teachers.”
Khadida spent
six years in a refugee camp outside the city of Dohuk, in the Kurdistan region
of Iraq, with his parents and siblings.
“We lived in a
small tent with no kitchen or bathroom,” he said. But for years, this was
better than returning to his devastated homeland.
“We had an
obligation to go back to Sinjar to preserve our community. Our language and
culture were changing in the camps,” said Khadida.
Coronavirus
forces camp exit
A coronavirus
outbreak in the Kurdistan region compelled an estimated 3,000 internally
displaced people (IDP), including Khadida and his family, to leave the camp
once and for all.
“They had been
living in camps for six years, and in the days of the pandemic it became more
difficult for them to travel in and out,” said Saoud Misto, the director of an
IDP camp, which at its peak in 2015 hosted 19,000 families.
“It was a
voluntary, unplanned and spontaneous return. The authorities in Sinjar were not
ready for this and did not provide any services,” he said.
Instead of
moving back to his original house, Khadida lives in a rented apartment in a
different part of Sinjar province.
“Our old neighborhood
was destroyed and our home was looted, even the doors and windows were missing.
There were no visible attempts to rebuild or reconstruct.” he said.
He and his
family feel like strangers here, he added: “It’s like being displaced again. We
want to go back to living in our old neighborhood with our local community.”
Meanwhile, life
in the camps has become increasingly precarious.
“With the
economic crisis and the current coronavirus crisis, our supplies and medical
equipment could run out soon,” said Misto.
Some have
anticipated another wave of returnees.
“We are on the
verge of a blessed return of Yazidis to Sinjar,” said Saeb Khidr, a Yazidi
member of the Iraqi parliament, at a conference dedicated to the
commemorations.
But there will
be little infrastructure to support them, he added: “Where are the services?
Where are the radical solutions?”
Unresolved
security issues
Unresolved
security issues are preventing the voluntary return to Sinjar.
Since 2017, the
province has been under the control of non-state armed groups allied to
Baghdad, including the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) and the
Sinjar Resistance Units, a Yazidi militia affiliated to the Kurdistan Worker’s
Party (PKK).
“While visiting
mass graves in Kocho, I was shocked to find PMU flags flying higher than the
Iraqi flags,” said Joey Hood, a former US general consul to Saudi Arabia, who
spoke at the same commemoration event.
He was
describing a visit to a Yazidi town whose population was decimated by ISIS.
“The state
should take care of security. Sinjar should be under rule of law that is
enforced by local police,” said Khidr.
Yet attempts to
restore Iraqi rule of law by training a local police force have so far been met
with silence from Baghdad.
“There are too
many forces in politics and the military trying to block these solutions,”
added Hood.
These armed
groups fought ISIS alongside Iraqi, Kurdish and international coalition forces.
Many are viewed sympathetically in Sinjar.
Today, their
presence hampers humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts. “Many
international organizations are hesitant to operate in Sinjar. We don’t have
enough qualified professionals on the ground,” said Khidr.
Their competing
agendas also interferes in forming civil life in the province.
“We tried to
appoint the director of a hospital, and every faction got involved,” said
Khidr. “The negotiations resembled the appointment of a prime minister.”
They also
attract hostilities from regional conflicts. Turkey, which views the PKK as an
existential threat, has targeted the militia’s bases close to Sinjar since
April.
In July, locals
protested against the PKK’s presence in Sinjar.
“We don’t want
to become another Qandil,” said a banner held by protestors, referring to a
mountainous region on Iraq’s border with Turkey that has been occupied by
forces loyal to the PKK since the 1980s.
Locals have also
expressed concerns about the PKK’s recruitment of minors.
“Children are
compelled to join them out of hunger,” Ibrahim Kasso, a journalist living in
the displacement camp of Sardasht on Mount Sinjar, told Al Arabiya English.
Days after
joining the protests, Kasso received threats from politicians affiliated with
the militia, he said.
Politically
sidelined
At the heart of
this crisis is a territorial dispute between the Iraqi government and the
Kurdistan Regional Government.
Though the
Nineveh plains, where Sinjar is located, are under the Iraqi government’s
authority, Erbil has laid claim to the territory since 2003.
“The simplest of
services and facilities get caught up in politics between Baghdad and Erbil,”
said Khidr, “Each side places its burdens and responsibilities on the other.”
Erbil, which
currently funds the majority of humanitarian aid for IDPs in its territories,
blames the Iraqi government for the current neglect and lack of services in
Sinjar.
“We are ready to
collaborate with Baghdad to come up with a solution,” said Falah Mustafa, an
adviser to the Kurdistan regional government.
Meanwhile armed
forces close to Baghdad have claimed the Kurdish administration failed to
protect Yazidis from ISIS in 2014.
The result is
that Yazidis are left feeling sidelined from the political process, and
helpless as to their fate in Iraq.
“We are a small
community of less than a million, in a country of 40 million,’ said Khadida.
“Our voice is drowned by more powerful political actors.”
Sinjar’s Yazidis
once embraced Kurdish nationalism, but today, many of them feel betrayed by the
leadership in Erbil.
“Yazidis suffer
from the domination of Kurdish policies which are inconsistent with our
culture, identity and aspirations,” said Kasso, reflecting this backlash.
Yet turning to
Baghdad yields little results.
“We are second
class citizens,” said Khadida.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2020/08/12/Thousands-of-Yazidis-still-missing-six-years-after-initial-ISIS-attack.html
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Offshore firms
linked to Lebanon c. bank governor worth nearly $100 mln: Report
12 August 2020
Offshore companies
linked to Lebanon’s central bank governor own assets worth nearly $100 million,
a media group said in a report, as his role in Lebanon’s economic turmoil is
under intense scrutiny.
The companies
tied to Riad Salameh invested in real estate in Britain, Germany and Belgium
over the past decade according to a report by a collective of European news
outlets called the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a
nonprofit media organization, and its Lebanese partner, Daraj.com.
The report by
the Sarajevo-based OCCRP does not allege any wrongdoing by Salameh and Reuters
has not reviewed any of the documents on which the report is based.
Responding to
the report, Salemeh told Reuters he had declared during a TV interview in April
his net worth prior to becoming a governor in 1993 and it was $23 million
dollars.
“I have shown
the supporting documents as a proof. This to eliminate doubts on the origin of
my net worth and that it was prior to holding office,” he said.
He said he had
previously stated that he asked professionals and trustees to manage his net
worth. “The origin of my net worth is clear, this is the important matter,” he
said.
Salameh,
previously seen as a guarantor of financial stability in the country, has
become a focus of anger for street protesters since Lebanon’s financial system
collapsed earlier this year under the weight of one of the world’s biggest
public debt burdens.
The report into
his personal wealth comes at a sensitive time as Lebanon grapples with the
aftermath of an enormous chemicals explosion that devastated the capital
Beirut, fueling public anger with the country’s leadership.
The OCCRP report
also comes after central bank accounts seen by Reuters last month revealed that
Lebanon’s central bank governor inflated the institution’s assets by over $6
billion in 2018, showing the extent of financial engineering used to help prop
up the Lebanese economy.
The governor
told Reuters last month that the central bank accounting was in line with
policies approved by the board.
A Lebanese judge
last month ordered a protective freeze on some assets held by the governor
after ruling in favor of a complaint that he had allegedly undermined the
financial standing of the state.
By the end of
2018, Salameh’s assets were worth more than $94 million, the report said,
citing balance sheets of Luxembourg companies controlled by the governor.
Salameh said his
declaration on his net worth demonstrated he was not trying to escape public
scrutiny and was the proof he has “nothing to hide.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/12/Offshore-firms-linked-to-Lebanon-c-bank-governor-worth-nearly-100-mln-Report.html
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Beirut
explosion: Cost of damage exceeds $15 billion says President Aoun
12 August 2020
The massive blast
at Beirut port on August 4 caused more than $15 billion in damages, Lebanese
President Michel Aoun said Wednesday.
“Preliminary
estimates of the losses suffered following the port explosion top 15 million
dollars,” he was quoted as telling Spain’s King Felipe in a phone call, in a
message on the presidency’s Twitter account.
Meanwhile, a
Lebanese prosecutor is set to question several ministers and former ministers
over last week’s deadly chemical blast at Beirut port, a judicial official said
Wednesday.
“The
interrogations will begin with former public works minister Ghazi al-Aridi,”
the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“If a
shortcoming or negligence on the part of one of the questioned ministers is
found, the judiciary will have to state that it does not have jurisdiction to
sue them,” the official explained.
The chief
prosecutor will then have to transfer their file and connected evidence to
parliament because the jurisdiction lies with a special council in charge of
suing ministers and presidents.
The official
said the current minister of public works, now working in a caretaker capacity
because the government has resigned over the August 4 explosion, would also be
questioned in coming days.
Several other
former public works ministers, current and former ministers of finance and
justice, will also be brought in, he said.
According to
latest health ministry figures, the monster explosion at Beirut port killed
171, injured 6,500 and left 300,00 people temporarily homeless.
The explosion,
Lebanon’s worst peacetime disaster, caused devastation across Beirut and is
widely seen as a direct consequence of state incompetence and corruption.
Prime Minister
Hassan Diab’s government resigned on Monday but that did little to appease
protesters who want heads to roll over the disaster.
Documents seen
by AFP reveal that relevant officials at every echelon of the state were aware
of the danger posed by the large pile of ammonium nitrate stored for years in a
port warehouse until it blew up.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/12/Beirut-explosion-Cost-of-damage-tops-15-billion-says-president.html
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Syria President
Assad interrupts parliament speech after brief drop in blood pressure
12 August 2020
Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad interrupted a speech he was giving to parliament after he
suffered a brief drop in blood pressure, the Syrian presidency said Wednesday.
The office said
the speech was halted for “several minutes” because of a “mild” case of low
blood pressure he suffered, after which he continued the speech as normal.
The presidency’s
Facebook page posted that the speech would be aired later Wednesday. It did not
provide further details.
Assad, 54, is
not known to have any specific health condition.
Assad gave the
speech Wednesday on the occasion of the first parliament session after
elections were held last month. The vote was the third to take place in Syria
since Syria’s conflict began in 2011.
The elections
also coincided with Syria’s worst economic crisis and a currency crash, which
has dragged more of the country’s population into poverty.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/12/Syria-President-Assad-interrupts-parliament-speech-after-brief-drop-in-blood-pressure.html
--------
Beirut
explosion: More than half of capital’s hospitals ‘non-functional,’ WHO says
12 August 2020
More than half
of Beirut's healthcare facilities evaluated by the World Health Organization
are “non-functional” following last week's deadly portside explosion, the
organisation said Wednesday.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Following an
assessment of 55 clinics and health centers in the Lebanese capital, “we know
now that just over 50 percent are non-functional,” said WHO's regional
emergency director Richard Brennan at a virtual press conference in Cairo.
Three major
hospitals were non-functional and another three operating at well below normal
capacity, he said.
“That means we
have lost around 500 beds,” he added.
He urged
Lebanese authorities and their partners to “restore functionality of many of
those health facilities as quickly as possible” to help the country deal with
both casualties of the blast and a spike in novel coronavirus cases.
Lebanon has so far
tallied 7,121 cases including 87 deaths, out of a population of six million,
according to the Lebanese health ministry's tally on Tuesday.
The Eastern
Mediterranean country was rocked on August 4 by its worst-ever peacetime
disaster when more than 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded at Beirut
port, killing 171 people and disfiguring the country's capital.
Iman Shankiti,
WHO Representative for Lebanon, said intensive care units and regular beds were
occupied by trauma cases following the explosion.
This, coupled
with the increase in coronavirus infections, resulted in “deficiency within the
ICU and the regular beds in hospitals... which will have an impact on the
hospitalization capacity in Lebanon,” she added.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/12/Beirut-explosion-More-than-half-of-capital-s-hospital-s-non-functional-WHO-says.html
--------
Beirut
explosion: Children in Lebanon suffer from trauma after deadly blast
12 August 2020
When the huge
explosion ripped through Beirut last week, it shattered the glass doors near
where 3-year-old Abed Achi was playing with his Lego blocks. He suffered a head
injury and cuts on his tiny arms and feet, and he was taken to the emergency
room, where he sat amid other bleeding people.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
In the days
since then, Abed has not been the same. Like thousands of others in Lebanon, he
is grappling with trauma.
“When I got to
the hospital, I found him sitting in a corner in the emergency room, trembling
at the sight of badly injured people around him, blood dripping all over the
floor,” said his mother, Hiba Achi, who was at work when the blast hit on Aug.
4 and had left him in the care of his grandmother.
“He hates red
now. He refuses to wear his red shoes," Achi said, adding that Abed
insists that she wash them.
The massive
explosion of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate in Beirut's port killed more
than 170 people, injured about 6,000 others and caused widespread damage. The
UN children’s agency UNICEF said three children were among the dead and at
least 31 were hurt seriously enough to need hospital treatment.
As many as
100,000 children were displaced from their homes according to Save the
Children, with many of them traumatized.
“Any noise makes
him jump now. He is not eating well anymore,” Achi says. “He was a happy boy,
very sociable. Now, he doesn’t talk to anyone.”
Joy Abi Habibi,
a mental health expert with Save The Children, says young people who are
traumatized can react differently.
“Headaches,
nausea, bed-wetting, digestive problems are physical symptoms parents tend to
overlook,” she said. “They become clingy and extremely on edge.”
Zeinab Ghazale’s
daughters, Yasmine, 8, and Talia, 11, have refused to sleep alone in their
bedroom since the explosion, which broke windows in their apartment and sent
glass flying around their room.
“We miraculously
survived,” said Ghazale, who had to move her daughters out of their home for a few
days until the windows were fixed. “But my daughter Yasmin keeps asking, ‘Why
don’t I have a normal childhood? Why do I have to go through all this when I am
only 8?’"
Psychologist
Maha Ghazale, who is no relation, has been treating many children after the
explosion. She said many are experiencing uncertainty "and they keep
asking if this will happen again.”
“Many children
are refusing to go back home, to get close to a glass door or window,” Ghazale
added.
Ricardo Molaschi
was visiting his grandparents' apartment in Beirut with his Italian father and
Lebanese mother. When the blast hit, the 6-year-old was cut by flying glass,
requiring stitches. His grandfather, Kazem Shamseddine, was killed.
The youngster
has been having recurrent bursts of anger toward whoever caused the explosion.
“I want to put
them in a volcano and let them explode,” he said.
Ghazale said
that allowing children to process the trauma is crucial — letting them be angry
but also encouraging them to tell the story orally or through art and play.
“My son, Fares,
keeps playing a game where there is a fire, and he needs to escape,” says Rania
Achkar, a mother of two. Her 4-year-old daughter Raya has turned the Lebanese
national anthem into a song about the blast.
“The whole world
has exploded,” she sings, “there is a fire everywhere, everyone is talking
about us on television.”
The trauma can
repeat itself if children are exposed to the news and adult conversations about
it, says Ghazali, who advises isolating them from that and seeking help.
“Children are
resilient, but unprocessed trauma can lead to increased anxiety, behavioral
problems, it becomes part of their life and can lead later to negative coping
mechanisms,” she says.
Restoring a
sense of safety, normalcy and routine will help, Ghazali says.
Hiba Achi says
she has decided to leave Lebanon with her son and join her husband who works in
Dubai. It's a sentiment echoed by many.
“This place is
not safe for Abed, it never was, never will be,” she says, “I don’t want to
stay here anymore, that’s it."
Her guilt is
shared by many parents, particularly those who have lived through Lebanon's
1975-90 civil war and feel like they have failed their children.
“Our generation
is traumatized forever,” says Achkar, the mother of two, referring to those who
grew up in Lebanon after the war. “But why do our children have to go through
this as well?”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/12/Beirut-explosion-Children-in-Lebanon-suffer-from-trauma-after-deadly-blast.html
--------
Lebanon says its
own Judiciary can handle probe into Beirut blast
13 August 2020
Lebanon’s
caretaker justice minister has dismissed calls for an international
investigation into the recent deadly explosion in Beirut, saying the country’s
judiciary can handle the probe itself.
Marie-Claude
Najem said on Wednesday the August 4 explosion in Beirut is a
"chance" for the judiciary to “prove they can do their jobs and win
back the confidence of the people.”
Speaking to Al
Jazeera, Najem said public pressure and the international coverage of the
explosion would also likely push matters in the right direction.
The Lebanese
politician has dismissed calls for an international probe into the issue,
saying, "My starting point is always the Lebanese judiciary because I
don't want to create a system where every time there is an important issue I go
to the international. We can use international experts but my role is to try to
improve the judiciary here.”
She said the
investigations have already been “internationalized” as French police officers
and forensic specialists were involved in the ongoing investigations into the
incident, but their participation was due to the existence of French
casualties.
A judicial
official said Wednesday that a Lebanese prosecutor is to question several
ministers and former ministers over the explosion.
“The
interrogations will begin with former public works minister Ghazi al-Aridi,”
the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“If a
shortcoming or negligence on the part of one of the questioned ministers is
found, the judiciary will have to state that it does not have jurisdiction to
sue them,” the official said.
The official
said the current minister of public works, now working in a caretaker capacity
because the government has resigned over the August 4 explosion, would also be
questioned in coming days.
Several other
former public works ministers, current and former ministers of finance and
justice, will also be brought in, he said.
According to
latest health ministry figures, the monster explosion at Beirut port killed
171, injured 6,500 and left 300,00 people temporarily homeless.
Prime Minister
Hassan Diab's government resigned on Monday amid protests.
The Lebanese
judiciary is due to interrogate four former public works ministers - nominally
in charge of overseeing the port - on Friday.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/13/631680/lebanon-beirut-blast
--------
South Asia
India,
Bangladesh traders demand trial run of vessels through protocol route on Gomati
river this month
Aug 12, 2020
AGARTALA:
Traders of India and Bangladesh have demanded a trial run of vessels on the
Gomati river this month to operationalise the Indo-Bangla protocol route
between Sonamura in Tripura's Sipahijala district and Daudkandi in the
neighbouring country, officials said.
The 93-km long
Sonamura-Daudkandi waterway was included in the list of Indo-Bangla protocol
(IBP) routes in May this year.
A high-level
team of officials of the Bangladesh Shipping Ministry surveyed the riverine
protocol route on Tuesday, Sonamura sub-divisional magistrate Subrata Majumder
said.
But they did not
meet Indian officials during the tour, he said.
"Of the
90-km stretch, around 89.5 km is in the neighbouring country. Export-import
traders of the two countries proposed a trial run of barges through the
protocol route," he said.
Indian traders
have also discussed the prospects of the protocol route with their Bangladeshi
counterparts through a video conference.
All Tripura
Merchant Association's general secretary Sujit Roy said they have interacted
with the Bangladeshi businessmen on the issues of exporting and importing goods
through the riverine route.
"Traders of
the two countries believe that the transport cost will come down, if the
protocol route is operationalised. We have proposed a trial run to expedite the
operationalisation process," he said.
The Tripura
government had launched a floating jetty on the Gomati river as part of the
Indo-Bangla international inland waterways connectivity project on July 4 this
year.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/india-bangladesh-traders-demand-trial-run-of-vessels-through-protocol-route-on-gomati-river-this-month/articleshow/77498839.cms
--------
Taliban rule out
cease-fire until it is agreed in talks
SAYED SALAHUDDIN
August 12, 2020
KABUL: The
Taliban have rejected calls for a truce before the long-awaited talks with the
government get underway. They said that the possibility of a cease-fire could
be debated only during the talks.
“When our
prisoners are released, we will be ready for the talks,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a
Taliban spokesman, told Arab News on Tuesday.
“A cease-fire or
reduction of violence can be among the items in the agenda of the talks,” he
said.
This follows
President Ashraf Ghani signing a decree for the release of 400 hardcore Taliban
prisoners on Monday — who Kabul said were responsible for some of the worst
attacks in the country in recent years — thereby removing the last obstacle to
the start of the negotiations set by the Taliban.
However, Kabul
has yet to announce the date of their release.
Feraidoon
Khawzoon, a spokesman for the government-appointed peace council, said that
Doha, Qatar, would be the likely venue.
“Deliberations
are continuing, and no decision has been made on a firm date yet,” he said.
Ghani pledged to
release the prisoners after the Loya Jirga, or traditional assembly, voiced
support for their freedom.
After three days
of deliberations the Jirga, which comprises 3,400 delegates, said that its
decision was for the sake of “the cessation of bloodshed” and to remove “the
obstacle to peace talks.”
After the
Jirga’s announcement, Ghani said that “the ball was now in the Taliban’s court”
and that they needed to enforce a nationwide cease-fire and begin talks to
bring an end to more than 40 years of war, particularly the latest chapter in a
conflict that started with the Taliban’s ousting from power in the US-led
invasion in late 2001.
The exchange of
prisoners between the government and the Taliban was part of a deal signed
between the insurgent group and the US in Doha in February
this year.
The prisoner
swap program — involving the release of 5,000 Taliban inmates in return for
1,000 security forces held by the group — was to be completed within 10 days in
early March, followed by the crucial intra-Afghan talks.
February’s deal
between the Taliban emissaries and US delegates, led by the US envoy for
Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, came after 18 months of intensive and secret
talks, amid growing public frustration in the US about the Afghan war —
America’s longest in history.
Ghani, whose
government was sidelined from the February accord, initially voiced his
opposition to freeing the Taliban inmates.
However, faced
with increasing pressure from the US, Kabul began releasing 4,600 prisoners in
a phased manner.
The intra-Afghan
talks are also crucial for US President Donald Trump, who is standing for
reelection in November and is keen to use the pull-out of forces and the start
of negotiations as examples of his successful foreign policy. However, experts
say the next stage will not be easy.
Analyst and
former journalist Taj Mohammad told Arab News: “The talks will be a long, complicated
process, with lots of ups and downs. It took 18 months for the Taliban and US
to agree on two points; the withdrawal of all US troops and the Taliban
pledging to cut ties with militant groups such as Al-Qaeda. Now, imagine, how
long it will take for the completion of a very complicated process of talks
between Afghans who will debate women’s rights, minorities rights, election,
Islamic values, … the form of government and so on.”
For some
ordinary Afghans on the streets, however, the planned talks have revived hopes
for peace and security and “are more needed in Afghanistan than in any other
country.”
“I am more
optimistic now than in the past. All sides have realized they cannot win by
force and may have decided to rise to the occasion and come together,” Fateh
Shah, a 45-year-old civil servant from Kabul, said.
Others spoke of
their dreams to “go back home.”
“I have been
away from my village for 19 years, and as soon as peace comes, we will pack up
and go there,” said Rasool Dad, a 50-year-old porter who lives as a
war-displaced person in Kabul, talking of his desire to return to his
birthplace in southern Helmand province.
However,
30-year-old banker Sharif Amiri wasn’t very optimistic about the future.
“Even if the
talks turn out to be successful, that will not mean an end to the war or the
restoration of security. There are spoilers in the region, at home and at an
international level who will try to sabotage peace here,” he said, hinting at
rivalries among countries in the region, including major powers such as Russia,
China and the US, who have used Afghanistan as a direct and indirect
battleground for years.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1718236/world
--------
Taliban
‘Hopeful’ US-Brokered Afghan Talks Settle Conflict
By Ayaz Gul
August 11, 2020
ISLAMABAD - The
Taliban reaffirmed Tuesday its commitment to ending violence in Afghanistan,
while emphasizing that a comprehensive cease-fire has to be discussed during
intra-Afghan peace negotiations due to begin later this month.
The proposed
talks are an outcome of the agreement the United States sealed with the Taliban
in February to end the nearly 19-year-old Afghan war, America’s longest.
Taliban
political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told VOA the Islamist insurgency is
determined to move the Afghan peace process forward in line with the pact,
dismissing suggestions the start of the talks would mark an end to insurgent
violence.
“It is clearly
written in the agreement that cease-fire will be one of the topics to be
debated and agreed upon during intra-Afghan negotiations,” Shaheen said by
phone from the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Qatar.
The text of the
landmark U.S.-Taliban pact states that participants of the intra-Afghan
negotiations will discuss the date and modalities of a permanent and comprehensive
cease-fire, including joint implementation mechanisms, which will be announced
along with the completion and agreement over the future political roadmap of
Afghanistan.
Shaheen
emphasized that the Taliban will enter the negotiations with the intention of
finding a solution to the conflict but the other side must also demonstrate
“flexibility” for the talks’ eventual success.
“This conflict
cannot be solved unilaterally. If they want a solution, then we too are looking
for same and God willing we will hopefully find a solution,” he said.
No exact date
has been announced for the opening round of intra-Afghan negotiations that are
expected to begin as early as next week in the Qatari capital, Doha, where the
U.S.-Taliban deal was negotiated and signed on Feb. 29.
The way to the
long-delayed peace negotiations between Afghan warring sides was cleared on
Monday when the country’s president, Ashraf Ghani, signed a decree to release a
last group of 400 Taliban prisoners to complete a controversy-marred prisoner
swap with the insurgents as stipulated in the U.S.-Taliban deal.
The Afghan
government was required to free 5,000 insurgent prisoners in exchange for 1,000
national security personnel the Taliban was holding captive. The insurgents
freed all the detainees but Ghani had refused to release the 400 Taliban men,
citing their involvement in serious crimes. A traditional Afghan Loya Jirga on
Sunday advised the president to free the insurgents so intra-Afghan talks could
begin immediately.
The agreement
requires all American and coalition forces to leave Afghanistan by July 2021 in
exchange for the Taliban’s anti-terrorism commitments and a pledge to negotiate
peace with other Afghan factions.
But skeptics
continue to question insurgent commitments, fearing the Taliban may want to
grab power by force after the foreign military withdrawal.
“The atmosphere
for intra-Afghan negotiations is tense and, with the U.S. seemingly determined
to downgrade its involvement in Afghanistan, an already fragile process is
fraught with high stakes,” said the International Crisis Group in its report
released Tuesday.
The
Brussels-based monitor group noted the Taliban’s positions remain “ambiguous or
undefined” on issues such as the existing Afghan constitution and political
system, as well as protection of the rights of women and minorities in
Afghanistan.
The insurgents
reject the constitution as un-Islamic and a product of the U.S. occupation of
the country.
“Many in the
Afghan government and civil society worry that talks may presage the
unravelling of legal, social and economic achievements made since 2001.
Widespread uncertainty as to the Taliban’s aims deepens these fears,” the ICG
report said.
The U.S.
military’s size has been reduced to 8,600 troops from around 13,000 at the time
of the singing of the agreement with the Taliban. U.S. President Donald Trump
said earlier this month that there will be "between 4,000 to 5,000” troops
left in Afghanistan by the time of the U.S. November elections.
https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/taliban-hopeful-us-brokered-afghan-talks-settle-conflict?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1433112_
--------
Myanmar bars
Rohingya candidate from contesting election
Aug 13, 2020
A Rohingya
Muslim has been barred from standing in Myanmar's upcoming election, in a
decision decried by rights groups as discriminatory and a symptom of the
"ongoing genocide" against the persecuted minority.
A 2017 military
operation drove 750,000 Rohingya out of the country into sprawling refugee
camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, prompting genocide charges at the UN's top
court.
Myanmar has
denied the allegations and justified the military operations as a means of
rooting out "terrorists".
Another 600,000
Rohingya remain in Myanmar, but most are not regarded as citizens and will have
no vote, living in what Amnesty International describes "apartheid"
conditions.
Three
Rohingya-led parties had hoped to field at least a dozen candidates in
November's vote, according to regional watchdog Fortify Rights.
But Abdul
Rasheed, 58, a member of the Democracy and Human Rights Party, told Fortify
Rights, which monitors the situation of the Rohingya minority, that he was
denied the right to run for office in Myanmar's forthcoming national elections.
The commission
said this was because his parents were not Myanmar citizens when he was born,
Rasheed said - even though he had proof his parents and grandparents were
granted citizenship in 1957, four years before his birth.
"They don't
want Rohingya in the parliament and that is the only reason this is
happening," Abdul Rasheed told Fortify Rights.
"Why are
there restrictions for Rohingya? Why is there a separate set of questions for
Rohingya? These are my questions."
Sittwe's
election commission was not immediately available for comment.
The Muslim
minority has had citizenship and other rights eroded over decades.
Rasheed, who
said his father worked as a Myanmar government civil servant for more than 30
years, also tried without success to stand in the country's landmark 2015
election.
"This
rejection is discriminatory and not unrelated to the ongoing genocide of
Rohingya," said Matthew Smith from Fortify Rights.
"The
government of Myanmar must end its mass disenfranchisement of Rohingya."
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/myanmar-bars-rohingya-candidate-contesting-election-200812111259373.html
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Women and
children among 10 killed, wounded in Kandahar roadside bomb explosion
13 Aug 2020
An explosion in
southern Kandahar province killed or wounded at least ten civilians inducing
women and children, the local authorities said.
A source in
Kandahar Police Headquarters confirmed the incident said the blast killed at
least four civilians.
The source
further added that the incident took place in Panjwai district of Kandahar
earlier today after a roadside bomb ripped through a civilian vehicle.
The explosion
also wounded at least six civilians including many women and children, the
source said.
According to the
official, women and children are also among those killed in the blast. No
individual or group including Taliban has so far claimed responsibility for the
incident.
Taliban
militants often use improvised explosive devices as roadside bombs to target
the security forces but majority of such attacks inflict casualties on ordinary
civilians.
https://www.khaama.com/women-and-children-among-10-killed-wounded-in-kandahar-roadside-bomb-explosion/
--------
2 Afghan
engineers killed in Taliban attack on Kabul-Parwan highway
13 Aug 2020
The Taliban
militants ambushed a vehicle carrying Afghan engineers on Kabul-Parwan highway,
killing at least two of them, the officials said.
Abdul Shaiq
Shorish, a spokesperson for Kapisa Police Headquarters, confirmed the incident
and said the militants killed two engineers of National Water Affairs
Regulation Authority.
According to
Shorish, the driver of the vehicle also sustained injuries in the attack.
He also added
that the engineers were in charge of regulating the waters of Kabul River and
had visited Kapisa province, accompanying a governmental delegation.
However, he said
the engineers were ambushed as they were on their way to Kabul after concluding
a similar visit to northern Parwan province.
The Taliban
group has not commented regarding the incident so far.
https://www.khaama.com/2-afghan-engineers-killed-in-taliban-attack-on-kabul-parwan-highway/
--------
ISIS, Afghan
govt planning attacks against Taliban prisoners to be released: Taliban
13 Aug 2020
The Taliban
group has claimed that the Islamic State’s offshoot in Afghanistan is planning
attacks against the Taliban prisoners who are going to be released in Kabul in
the near future.
Zabiullah
Mujahid, a spokespreson for Taliban group said “Based on accurate intelligence
reports and documents, the Islamic Emirate warns that there exists a grave
security threat against the safety of the remaining prisoners to be released
from Puli Charkhi prison.”
“A group of
Daesh gunmen in coordination and cooperation with Kabul administration
intelligence, some military personnel and prison check post commanders plan to
conduct an attack against vehicles that are to transfer the remaining released
prisoners,” he claimed in a statement.
Mujahid went on
to claim that “They seek to disrupt the negotiations process with this crime
and exact revenge on the prisoners.”
“The Islamic
Emirate has serious concerns regarding this issue and notifies all involved
sides to take preventative measures and execute the prisoner transfer process
with utmost care and safety,” the statement said, adding that “If, God forbid,
anything unfortunate were to happen then all those sides will be held
responsible whom have shown negligence in this regard.”
This comes as
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani recently signed a decree for the release of the
remaining 400 Taliban prisoners who are considered as the most dangerous
inmates.
President Ghani
took the step after the members of Consultative Loya Jirga approved the release
of the remaining Taliban inmates in a bid to pave the way for the launch of
intra-Afghan talks.
https://www.khaama.com/isis-afghan-govt-planning-attacks-against-taliban-prisoners-to-be-released-taliban/
--------
An explosion in
Farah kill and injure dozens including police members
12 Aug 2020
An explosion
targeting police vehicles inside Farah city kills 4 police and injures 22
civilians in Farah city, an official said.
“Explosives
placed inside a vehicle targeted a police car around 18:30 in district 4 of
Farah city on Wednesday, killing 4 policemen and injured 22 civilians”, Tariq
Aryan, a spokesperson to the Ministry of Interior Affairs said in a statement.
However,
eyewitnesses believe a minimum of around 10 people has been killed in this
incident.
No individual or
group have so far claimed responsibility of this attack.
This comes as
both the Taliban and Afghan government are to start an intra-Afghan talk soon
to discussing reaching a stable peace and ending the long Afghan war.
https://www.khaama.com/an-explosion-in-farah-kill-and-injure-dozens-including-police-members/
--------
Mideast
Erdogan says
only solution in Mediterranean is dialogue
August 13, 2020
ANKARA:
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that the only solution to Turkey’s
dispute with Greece over energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean was
through dialogue and negotiation, and Ankara was not chasing any “adventures”
in the region.
Turkey and
Greece, NATO allies, are vehemently at odds over overlapping claims for
hydrocarbon resources in the region, and tensions have risen since Ankara
launched exploration operations in a disputed area of the Mediterranean on
Monday, in a move Greece called illegal.
Speaking to
members of his ruling AK Party, Erdogan said the escalation of tensions in the
region was caused by Greece, and urged Athens to respect Turkey’s rights. “The
path to a solution in the eastern Mediterranean is via dialogue and
negotiation. We are not chasing any unnecessary adventures or seeking
tensions,” he said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1718836/middle-east
--------
After fire
balloons, Israeli military carries out strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza
12 August 2020
The Israeli
military said Wednesday it carried out overnight strikes on Hamas targets in
the Gaza Strip after incendiary balloons were launched across the border from
the Palestinian enclave.
The army said
the strikes were “retaliation” for the launching of multiple balloons from the
Hamas-run enclave in recent days.
Jets, attack
helicopters and tanks struck a number of Hamas targets including “underground
infrastructure and observation posts,” a statement said.
Fire services in
southern Israel said the balloons caused 60 fires on Tuesday alone but reported
no casualties.
Explosives tied
to balloons and kites first emerged as a weapon in Gaza during intense protests
in 2018, when the makeshift devices drifted across the border daily, causing
thousands of fires in Israeli farms and communities.
Israel has
closed its Kerem Shalom goods crossing with the Gaza Strip in response to the
recent balloon launches.
Hamas denounced
the closure as an “aggressive” move that showed Israel’s “insistence on laying
siege” to Gaza, and warned it could cause further worsening of the humanitarian
situation in the territory.
As the Kerem
Shalom crossing closed, the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt opened
Tuesday for the first time since April.
Traffic in both
directions was to be permitted for three days, allowing Gazans to leave the
enclave for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
The Rafah
crossing provides Gaza’s sole access to the outside world not controlled by
Israel. The Palestinian territory has been under an Israeli blockade since
2007.
Hamas and Israel
have fought three wars since 2008.
Despite a truce
last year, the two sides clash sporadically with rockets, mortar fire or
incendiary balloons.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/12/After-fire-balloons-Israeli-military-carries-out-strikes-on-Hamas-targets-in-Gaza.html
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Israel claims it
foiled N Korea-linked hack, cybersecurity firm says systems penetrated
13 August 2020
Israel says it
has thwarted a hacking attack by a North Korean-linked group against its
military industries, a claim challenged by a cybersecurity firm, which says the
hackers penetrated the targeted systems and likely stole a large amount of
classified data.
Israel’s
ministry for military affairs said in a statement on Wednesday that the
hackers, posing as potential employers, had asked to send their targets a list
of job requirements.
The file
contained invisible spyware that infiltrated the employee’s personal computer
and attempted to penetrate into classified Israeli networks and gather
sensitive information.
The group, known
as Lazarus, built phony profiles on the LinkedIn network to disguise its
hackers and separately attempted to hack Israeli military firms via their
websites, the ministry said.
The Israel
ministry claimed the attack was thwarted “in real time” and that there was no
“harm or disruption” to its computer systems.
It did not
identify what companies were targeted or when the incidents took place.
However,
security researchers at ClearSky, the international cybersecurity firm, which
first exposed the attack, said the North Korean hackers penetrated the computer
systems and were likely to have stolen a large amount of classified data.
ClearSky
researchers said that the attack on Israel’s military industry began with a
LinkedIn message last June.
North Korean
hackers posing as a Boeing headhunter sent a message to a senior engineer at an
Israeli administration-owned company that manufactures weapons for the Israeli
military and intelligence.
The hackers
created a fake LinkedIn profile for the headhunter, Dana Lopp.
Lopp is indeed a
senior personnel recruiter at Boeing.
She was one of
several headhunters from prominent defense and aerospace companies — including
Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and BAE Systems — whom North Korea’s hackers mimicked
on LinkedIn.
After establishing
contact with their Israeli targets, the hackers asked for an email address or
phone number to connect via WhatsApp or, to increase credibility, suggested
switching to a live call.
Some of those
who received the calls, and whom ClearSky approached later, said the other side
spoke English without an accent and sounded credible.
The researchers
said that the level of sophistication had not been demonstrated by Lazarus
before.
Israeli
officials speculated Wednesday that North Korea may have outsourced some of
their operation to native English speakers abroad.
ClearSky said
the attacks, which started early this year, “succeeded, in our assessment, to
infect several dozen companies and organizations in Israel” and around the
globe.
“North Korea’s
Lazarus is once again proving high capability and originality in its social
engineering and hacking methods,” said Boaz Dolev, the chief executive and
owner of ClearSky.
American and
Israeli officials have said the Lazarus Group, also known as Hidden Cobra, is
backed by Pyongyang.
US prosecutors
have accused the hacking unit of orchestrating the leak of emails from Sony
Pictures in 2014 and stealing tens of millions of dollars from the Central Bank
of Bangladesh in 2016.
Pyongyang has
neither confirmed nor denied the report.
Israeli
officials fear that classified data stolen by North Korea could be shared with
Iran, which has been the target of US and Israeli cyber terrorism for a decade,
including attempts to remotely sabotage the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
Earlier in May,
Israel carried out a cyber terrorist attack that caused disruption at an Iran’s
Shahid Rajaee port, briefly knocking computers at the port terminal off line.
According to a
report by the Washington Post, the US and foreign government officials said the
attack appeared to have originated from Israel which has a history of terrorist
attacks on Iran’s nuclear energy program.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/13/631699/North-Korea-cyber-group-Israel-military-industry
--------
Israel attacks
Gaza Strip from air, land for 2nd night in row
13 August 2020
The Israeli
military has launched aerial and ground attacks against targets across the Gaza
Strip for a second night in a row, while Tel Aviv tightens its grip on the blockaded
territory’s fishing activities and fuel imports.
It claimed in a
statement that warplanes, attack helicopters and tanks struck a number of
positions belonging to the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement, which runs
the territory, early Thursday.
Reports coming
out of Gaza and videos of the strikes that circulated online, however, showed
residential buildings and agricultural land have also been hit.
Gaza-based media
said the strikes hit targets across the Gaza Strip from Rafah in the southern
part of the occupied territory to Beit Hanoun in the north.
The Israeli
military said the strikes were in response to the launch of incendiary balloons
from Gaza over the past several days.
According to the
report, dozens of balloon-borne devices were launched into southern parts of
the occupied territories on Tuesday and Wednesday, igniting over 80 fires.
Flying fiery
kites and balloons has become a new mode of protests by Gazans since March
2018, when the Tel Aviv regime began a crackdown against anti-occupation
demonstrations near the fence separating Gaza from the Israeli-occupied land,
killing and injuring many people.
Israel, however,
blames the launch of incendiary balloons on Hamas.
Tel Aviv targets
fuel supplies to Gaza
Hours after the
raids, Israel also announced Thursday that it was halting the “import of fuel
into the Gaza Strip.”
Gaza media also
said Israel banned fuel from entering the Kerem Shalom crossing between the
southern Gaza Strip and the occupied territories until further notice.
On Monday,
Israel closed Kerem Shalom to commercial traffic with exceptions for fuel, food
and humanitarian goods.
Israel cuts Gaza
fishing limits
A day earlier,
Israel had also slashed Gaza’s permitted fishing zone.
COGAT, an
Israeli military body, said the fishing zone would be halved from 15 nautical
miles to eight.
The restriction
on the Gaza fishing zone would remain in place “until further notice,” it said.
Under the Oslo
Accords signed in 1993, Israel is obligated to permit fishing up to 20 nautical
miles, but this has never been implemented.
Israel maintains
a heavy naval presence off the coast of the impoverished Palestinian enclave,
severely affecting the livelihood of some 4,000 fishermen and at least 1,500
more people involved in the fishing industry.
Over the past
few years, Israeli forces have carried out more than a hundred attacks on
Palestinian boats, arresting dozens of fishermen and confiscating several
boats.
The economy of
Gaza has also suffered from years of Israeli and Egyptian blockades.
The Gaza Strip
has been under an Israeli blockade since June 2007. It has caused a decline in
the standard of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and
unrelenting poverty.
Israel has
launched three major wars against the enclave, killing thousands of Gazans each
time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/13/631686/Israel-Palestine-Gaza-Hamas
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Israel arrested
429 Palestinians, including 32 kids, in July: Rights groups
12 August 2020
Israel has
detained 429 Palestinians, including 32 children, in July, adding that the bulk
of the arrests were made in Jerusalem al-Quds, Palestinian rights groups say.
The institutions
said in a joint statement on Wednesday that 201 of the detainees are from
al-Quds, while 13 others are from the Gaza Strip and the rest from several
areas across the West Bank.
According to the
statement, the total number of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons
has reached 4,500, including 41 females.
The institutions
that issued the statement are the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees
Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners Club, the ADDAMEER Prisoner Support and
Human Rights Association, and Wadi Hilweh Information Center – Silwan.
The statement
explained the state of the detainees and the circumstances of their arrests as
well as their suffering amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The institutions
said the Israeli forces adopt “unfair” policies to harass the prisoners.
“They exploit
the pandemic to undermine the lawyers’ work and prevent them from visiting the
prisoners,” the statement said, adding the ban also includes the detainees’
families.
It noted that
the Israeli authorities turned some detention centers that are not suitable for
human detention into quarantines for newly-arrested people in which they are
held for 14 days without being referred to investigation, and which also lack
the least sterilizers.
The institutions
urged the international community to exert pressure on the Israeli regime to
release the sick prisoners and women and children, and to allow an impartial
international commission to review the conditions of the prisoners and the
results of their coronavirus test samples.
The statement
also noted that the number of detainees under administrative detention has
reached about 360.
The
administrative detention is an imprisonment without trial or charge in which
Israel keeps the detainees for up to six months, periods that are in turn
extendable an infinite number of times.
Such detentions
are given on orders from a military commander and on the basis of what the
regime describes as secret evidence.
Some prisoners
have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years without any
charges having been brought against them.
Human rights
groups, including the Israeli group B’Tselem, have said the practice violates
international law.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/12/631651/Israel-Palestinians-prisoners
--------
8 suspects
arrested over Daesh links in Turkey's Black Sea region
AUG 11, 2020
At least eight
suspects have been arrested in Turkey's Black Sea region for their links to the
Daesh terrorist group, security sources said Tuesday.
Police,
anti-terror and intelligence teams in northern Samsun province launched
simultaneous operations at various sites to nab the Iraqi suspects, said the
source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
The raids were
held in the districts of Ilkadım, Canik, Tekkeköy and Atakum, it added.
Digital
materials were also seized from their residences.
Following
medical examinations, the suspects were taken to the police station.
Turkey was one
of the first countries to recognize Daesh as a terror group in 2013, as soon as
it emerged. The country has since been attacked by Daesh terrorists numerous
times, including 10 suicide bombings, seven bombings and four armed attacks
that killed 315 people and injured hundreds of others.
In response,
Turkey launched military and police operations at home and abroad to prevent
further terrorist incidents.
The Daesh
terrorist group held vast swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq from its
rise in 2014 until its military defeat last year. Their expansion in Iraq and
Syria featured horrendous public abuses. Largely unseen but equally egregious
were the widespread detentions and kidnappings by Daesh, in which thousands of
people were snatched from their homes, cars and at checkpoints and subsequently
went missing.
The terrorist
group also frequently filmed its members executing the people it abducted or
detained. Daesh systematically committed torture, rapes, forced marriages,
extreme acts of ethnic cleansing, mass murder, genocide, robbery, extortion,
smuggling, slavery, kidnappings and the use of child soldiers.
https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/war-on-terror/8-suspects-arrested-over-daesh-links-in-turkeys-black-sea-region?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1433112_
--------
Africa
S. Sudan clashes
between civilians, soldiers leave 127 dead: Army
12 August 2020
Clashes between
soldiers and civilians during a disarmament exercise in the central South
Sudanese town of Tonj have left 127 dead, the army spokesman said Wednesday.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Major General
Lul Ruai Koang told AFP that the fighting erupted on Saturday as security
forces carried out an operation to disarm civilians in the area which has seen
deadly inter-communal clashes.
More than six
years after a civil war broke out in the country, and in the absence of a
functioning government, many communities are flush with weapons, which they
keep for protection or defense against cattle raids.
The violence in
Tonj began after several armed youths got into a disagreement with soldiers. An
initial armed confrontation was brought under control, but according to Koang
the youths mobilised others for an attack on the army position.
“On the latest,
the number of those killed, I can confirm to you that it rose to 127,” said the
spokesman Major General Lul Ruai Koang, adding that 45 of those killed were
security forces and 82 were youths from the area.
A further 32
soldiers were injured.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/12/S-Sudan-clashes-between-civilians-soldiers-leave-127-dead-Army.html
--------
Again, Boko
Haram Terrorists Kill Several Soldiers During Attack On Borno Community
AUG 11, 2020
Several soldiers
have been reportedly killed in an ambush by suspected Boko Haram insurgents in
Baga, a town under Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State, military
sources told SaharaReporters on Tuesday.
“Boko Haram
Fighters in several vehicles again stormed Baga town and engaged Nigerian
troops in intense fighting, killing several of them. The exact number of
casualties is not yet known,” one of the sources said.
The attack came
a few weeks after the insurgents attacked the convoy of Governor Babagana Zulum
in the town.
Zulum was on his
way to some Internally Displaced Persons camps in the Northern part of Borno
when the incident happened.
SaharaReporters
gathered that Boko Haram had in January 2015 overran the MNJTF base and took
control of Baga, killing hundreds of residents and forcing thousands to flee to
Maiduguri.
The town was
later retaken, but jihadists continue to attack the military and civilians in
the area, which is an ISWAP stronghold.
In the past
months, soldiers have been targeted by the insurgents who lay ambush on their
path.
http://saharareporters.com/2020/08/11/again-boko-haram-terrorists-kill-several-soldiers-during-attack-borno-community?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1433112_
--------
Stop foreign
terrorists’ infiltration, expert tells FG
August 12, 2020
The President of
the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, Dr Ona
Ekhomu, has advised the Federal Government to take urgent actions to counter
the infiltration of terrorists from the West African sub-region into the
country.
He said
Nigeria’s already dire security situation would be severely aggravated if it
was further complicated with attacks by foreign Sahelian Jihadi groups linked
to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Ekhomu stated this
on Monday while reacting to the intelligence provided by the United States of
America that ISIS and Al-Qaeda terror groups were on the march to Southern
Nigeria through the North-West of the country.
He said the
rising spate of terrorist/bandit attacks in the North-West states of Zamfara,
Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kebbi and Niger, was sufficient evidence of the
occupation of ungoverned spaces in Nigeria, from where attacks were being
launched.
Ekhomu said
since Nigeria’s porous borders had made it hard for the authorities to prevent
infiltration into the country by foreign terrorists, the law enforcement
agencies should detect and arrest them once on Nigerian soil.
He asked
Nigerian authorities to strengthen the security infrastructure of the country.
“The terrorists
have access to illicit weapons. So they are armed and dangerous and must be
confronted with overwhelming force,” he added.
https://punchng.com/stop-foreign-terrorists-infiltration-expert-tells-fg/?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1433112_
--------
Police Say 19
Inmates, Guards Killed in Somalia Prison Riot
Aug. 11, 2020
NAIROBI, Kenya —
A Somali police officer says at least 19 people were killed during a riot in
the central prison in Somalia's capital on Monday evening.
Abdiqani Mohamed
Qalaf, spokesman for the police force in charge of prisons, told reporters the
dead included 15 inmates and four guards. He said the situation is back to
normal, but he gave no details.
Gen. Mahad
Abdirahman, commander of the custodial corps, told reporters that the violence
started when an inmate grabbed an officer’s gun and went on a shooting spree.
In the chaos,
other inmates, including some sentenced on terrorism charges, recovered guns from
fallen guards.
The prison holds
some members of the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab.
It was the first
such riot at the prison in recent memory.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/08/11/world/africa/ap-af-somalia-prison-riot.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1433112_
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Somalia: SNA
Kills Al-Shabaab Official in Lower Shabelle
10 AUGUST 2020
The Somali
National Army [SNA] has killed senior Alshabab militant group leader on Sunday
in an operation in Lower Shabelle.
According to
Somali military chief, general Odawa Yussuf Rageh the military managed to take
over Awdhegle, Mubarak and Darussalam villages and killed the Al-Shabab
official identified as Osman Gaab who ruled the villages.
"The
soldiers have killed a number of fighters including commander administering the
villages," he said.
He also added
army said it will intensify military operations to ensure they flush out all
al-Shabab remnants in the areas which are still under their control.
On Friday the
military killed 17 Alshabab militants and dozen others were wounded after they
clashed in Daynunay village outskirts of Baidoa in Bay region, southern
Somalia.
The government
forces backed by African Mission in Somalia chased al-Shabab militants from the
capital Mogadishu in August 2011, but the militants still control swathes of
rural areas in southern regions conducting ambushes and planting land mines.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202008110145.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1433112_
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Millitants in
Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two
AUGUST 11, 2020
Militants in
volatile central Mali killed a prison officer and a gendarme late Monday night,
officials said, in a raid that saw a jail set ablaze and five inmates escape.
The overnight
attack occurred in the village of Kimparana, in the Segou region of central
Mali, which has witnessed a surge in violence linked to a Jihadist insurgency.
Gunmen targeted
a prison and gendarmerie in the village late Monday night or early Tuesday
morning, the district prosecutor Dramane Diarra told AFP, killing one gendarme
and prison guard.
He added that
the jail had been “torched” and that five prisoners escaped in the melee,
without offering further details.
A local
Kimparana resident told AFP that the prison guard “fought until his last
breath,” and that soldiers had now secured the area. “We wish that they would
protect us more,” he said of the security forces.
According to the
United Nations, at least 580 civilians have been killed in Central Mali this
year.
Michelle
Bachelet, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights told UN News that “all of
these violations and abuses have been perpetrated in a context of overwhelming
impunity,” only eroding the public’s confidence in government institutions.
Large swathes of
territory in Mali lie outside of the control of the government, which has been
grappling with an Islamist insurgency that first emerged in the north in 2012.
Despite
thousands of foreign troops, the conflict has spread to central Mali and
neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
The ethnic
mosaic of central Mali has become the epicenter of the violence, however, where
warring jihadist groups vie with Malian soldiers and local militias.
In mid-June,
jihadists killed 24 soldiers when they ambushed a military convoy in central
Mali.
That attack
followed a January 26 raid by al-Qaeda-linked militants on a military camp in
central Mali, which killed 20 gendarmes.
President
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who has been in power since 2013, is facing mounting
pressure over the jihadist conflict. Public anger has helped to fuel a protest
movement insisting on his resignation.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/08/11/mali-prison-escape/?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1433112_
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Europe
France to
bolster military presence in Mediterranean amid tensions with Turkey
13 August 2020
France has
planned to increase military presence in the eastern Mediterranean, amid rising
tensions between Turkey and European Union (EU) member Greece over Turkish oil
and gas exploration in disputed waters in the sea.
French President
Emmanuel Macron announced the plan in a phone conversation with Greek Prime
Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday, also voicing concern about the
“unilateral” exploration by Turkey in a disputed area of the eastern
Mediterranean.
France will
“temporarily reinforce” its military presence to “monitor the situation in the
region and mark its determination to uphold international law,” Macron’s office
said in a statement.
The statement
also underlined that prospecting had to “cease in order to allow a peaceful
dialog” between Greece and Turkey.
Last month,
Macron called for EU sanctions against Ankara for what he described as
“violations” of Greek and Cypriot sovereignty over their territorial waters.
Ties between
Turkey and Greece are in tumult over competing claims to natural gas reserves
in the eastern Mediterranean. Cyprus and Turkey have argued for years regarding
the ownership of fossil fuels in the eastern Mediterranean, where Ankara says
Turkish Cypriots are entitled to a share of the resources.
The standoff
between Ankara and Athens deepened on Monday after Turkey launched naval drills
off two Greek islands and announced the resumption of its energy exploration
research activity in the disputed area.
Turkey has
dispatched a seismic research vessel, accompanied by warships, off the Greek
island of Kastellorizo, where Ankara contests Greek maritime rights.
Turkey had
paused the research activities after a request from Germany but restarted them
after an agreement signed between Greece and Egypt that designated an exclusive
economic zone for oil and gas drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean
between the two countries. Turkey views the agreement as an attempt to keep it
out of the region.
The Turkish
defense minister said on Wednesday that his country was interested in resolving
the dispute with Greece through dialog.
Greece and Turkey
almost went to war in 1974 over Cyprus, which has since been divided, with the
northern third run by a Turkish Cypriot administration recognized only by
Turkey and the southern two thirds governed by the internationally-recognized
Greek Cypriot government.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/13/631692/France-military-presence-Mediterranean-Turkish-drilling
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France warns
against travel to Niger after weekend attack
12 August 2020
The French
Foreign Ministry on Wednesday issued a firm warning against travelling to Niger
after six French nationals were among eight people killed by suspected
militants at the weekend.
The ministry
website said people were "strongly advised" not to travel anywhere in
the country, the exception being the capital Niamey, for which travel was
"not advised unless for compelling reasons."
The new advice
means that the southern part of Niger, roughly a quarter of the country, has
been added to the so-called red zone, for which there is a strong
recommendation to avoid.
"The
terrorist threat against Niger, especially outside the capital and near the
borders, is very high," the ministry said.
The impoverished
country lies in the heart of the Sahel, which has become badly destabilized by
militancy that began in northeastern Nigeria in 2010 and in Mali in 2012.
Six French aid
workers, their Nigerien guide and a driver were murdered on Sunday in the Koure
National Park, a wildlife haven 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the capital
Niamey.
The killings
were the first by gunmen in that area, a
destination for weekend leisure trips by Niamey residents, including
foreigners.
Previously,
Niamey and the town of Koure were marked as yellow under France's color-coded
security advice – a category that calls for additional vigilance but says the
risk is "compatible with tourism."
Niamey is now
classified as orange (travel "not advised unless for compelling
reasons") while Koure, like the rest of the country, is in the red zone.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/12/631652/France-Niger
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Rouhani warns
Europeans against siding with US in backing anti-Iran resolution
12 August 2020
Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani has warned the Europeans against falling into the trap
of siding with the US in supporting a resolution that aims to extend an arms
embargo against Iran indefinitely.
Speaking during
a telephone conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on
Wednesday, Rouhani stressed that Europe should not be swayed by the US,
reiterating Tehran's opposition to Washington's attempts to act against UN
Security Council resolutions.
"According
to UN Security Council Resolution 2231, the arms embargo on Iran must be lifted
as of October 18, and if the United States seeks to act against it, it is a
violation of the resolution," the Iranian chief executive said.
Rouhani said
that maintaining the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action, and sticking to UNSCR 2231, which endorses the JCPOA,
constitute obvious commitments of all countries that remain in the Iran
agreement.
He added that
Tehran expects close consultations and cooperation between Iran and the three
European parties to the JCPOA as well as Russia and China, the other two
signatories to the accord, in different forums, including in the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the IAEA Board of Governors, as well as the UN
Security Council, to prevent the opponents of the JCPOA from achieving their
goals.
Commenting on US
bids to invoke a sanctions snapback mechanism enshrined in the JCPOA, Rouhani
said the United States has no right to use the mechanism, given that it left
the agreement more than two years ago.
He said the US
policy to impose illegal and inhumane sanctions against Iran amid the
coronavirus pandemic is "abhorrent" and in contradiction with
international regulations and the 2005 enactments by the World Health
Organization, and stressed the need for European action in activating economic
relations with Iran and cooperating in the fight against COVID-19.
The US has
stepped up attempts aimed at extending the UN arms ban on Iran that is set to
expire on October 18 as part of the JCPOA.
The
administration of US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to
trigger the so-called snapback provisions of the 2015 nuclear deal if it cannot
secure an arms embargo extension.
Since leaving
the JCPOA, the US has been resorting to its maximum pressure campaign against
Iran by reinstating its sanctions and persuading others to follow its suit.
Rouhani stresses
unity in Lebanon
Also in his
remarks, Rouhani pointed to the current situation in Lebanon following last
week's massive explosion in Beirut and underlined the need for unity in the
Arab country.
"It is very
important that we all help the Lebanese judiciary to find those mainly
responsible for this incident," he added.
"Lebanon
needs further unity among political groups and we must all help create such
unity. Lebanon needs a strong government, and the Lebanese parliament and all
parties must work together to that end," he stressed.
Rouhani also
welcomed the French president's invitation for Iran to join the international
group to help resolve Lebanon's problems.
Macron, for his
part, underlined the need for keeping the JCPOA in place and said, "Our
views with the United States on the extension of the arms embargo on Iran are
quite different, and we have made this clear to them."
On Iran-Europe
economic ties, the French president said, "We are taking steps to make the
European financial system with Iran more active."
He also called
on Iran to help resolve the Lebanese political crisis and invited Iran to join
an international action group on Lebanon.
A powerful
explosion on August 4 shook the Lebanese capital and its environs after 2,750
tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse at the port caught fire.
The shockwave
razed nearby buildings and caused extensive damage in Beirut, killing at least
171 people, wounding some 6,000 others and leaving hundreds of thousands of
people homeless. Dozens of people are still missing.
The explosion
took place at a time when the Arab country is dealing with a severe financial
crisis, along with the coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/12/631655/Iran-warns-Europe-against-supporting-US-arms-embargo-resolution-
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France to step
up security for its citizens in Africa's Sahel region, Macron says
11/08/2020
France will step
up security measures to protect French nationals in Africa's Sahel region,
President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, two days after six French aid
workers were shot dead in Niger.
"We will do
everything we can to support the families of the victims and to respond to the
attack that cost the lives of six of our compatriots and two Nigeriens. These
six young people, who were members of the NGO 'ACTED', showed extraordinary
commitment to the local population," Macron tweeted.
"I have
decided to step up security measures for our citizens in the region. We will
continue in our action to eradicate the terrorist groups, with the increased support
of our partners."
https://www.france24.com/en/20200811-france-to-step-up-security-for-its-citizens-in-africa-s-sahel-region-macron-says?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1433112_
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