Muslims Form Human Chain to Guard Temple in DJ Halli After Bengaluru Violence
New Age Islam News Bureau
12
Aug 2020
Young men are seen holding
hands and ensuring that rioters didn’t attack the temple located in in DJ Halli
police station limits in the city.
-----
• Anyone from
Pak Who Has Faith in Lord Ram Can Come to Ayodhya, Says Ram Janmabhoomi Trust
Chief
• Pakistan Urges
US to Help De-Escalate Tensions with India
• Twitter
Spreads Paid US Govt Propaganda While Falsely Claiming It Bans State Media Ads
• Myanmar
'Underreported' 2017 Rohingya Killing: Watchdog
• Hezbollah And
the People Will Have to Negotiate A New Lebanon
• Iran Claims It
Has Arrested Five Iranians Spying For UK, Germany, Israel
• Nigeria: Why
Terrorism Continues in Nigeria and How to Turn the Tide
• Perlis Mufti:
Breaching TEMCO Regulations Not Only Wrong in Eyes of Law, But Big Sin Too
India
• Muslims Form
Human Chain to Guard Temple in DJ Halli After Bengaluru Violence
• Anyone from
Pak Who Has Faith in Lord Ram Can Come to Ayodhya, Says Ram Janmabhoomi Trust
Chief
• Sunni Board Mosque
Trust Holds First Meeting, Decides To Open Two Bank Accounts To Receive
Donations
• Soldier killed
in encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district
• Abdullahs’
habeas corpus petitions: To pleas for release of 16 NC leaders, J&K admin
says none detained
• Barmer:
Pakistan Rangers accept intruder’s body after identity was established
• Two dead in
Bangalore violence over anti-Islam Facebook post
--------
Pakistan
• Pakistan Urges
US to Help De-Escalate Tensions with India
• SC Moved to
Declare Appointment of PM’s Aides Illegal
• Govt, opposition
reach consensus on six FATF-related bills
• PM talks to
Gates, emphasises resumption of anti-polio drive
Cleric accused
of uploading anti-judiciary video seeks bail
--------
North America
• Twitter
Spreads Paid US Govt Propaganda While Falsely Claiming It Bans State Media Ads
• Islamic
State's ‘Beatles’ Could Finally Face Justice for Alleged Role In Beheading
Americans
• UN Iran Arms
Embargo Vote Choice Between ‘Terror’ And ‘Peace’: US Ambassador
• Elliott Abrams
going to be involved in black op against Iran: Expert
• US sanctions
wall collapsing, but Iran’s economy not
• Brooklyn man
pleads guilty in subways-related terror case
--------
South Asia
• Myanmar 'Underreported'
2017 Rohingya Killing: Watchdog
• As Afghanistan
struggles to start peace talks, violence fills the void
• Top Pakistani
military commanders discuss progress of Afghan reconciliation process
• Polio
vaccination resume to immunize kids in Afghanistan and Pakistan: UNICEF
--------
Arab world
• Hezbollah And
the People Will Have to Negotiate A New Lebanon
• Anti-Terror
Operations Continue Successfully In Northern Iraq, Defense Minister Akar Says
• Lebanese Army
chief warns of ‘presence of dangerous substances’ at Beirut port
• Beirut
explosion death toll rises to 171, says the health ministry
• Egyptians vote
for newly created Senate amid strict coronavirus measures
• Beirut
explosion: Fleeing death in war-torn Syria, a refugee family dies in blast
• US military
investigating Iraqi Shia militia's claim it bombed the Iraq-Kuwait border
• First COVID-19
case among residents reported in Syrian IS camp
--------
Mideast
• Iran Claims It
Has Arrested Five Iranians Spying For UK, Germany, Israel
• Turkey to
Issue Mediterranean Exploration Licenses, Escalating Tensions with Greece
• US revises
resolution to extend UN arms embargo on Iran
• Palestinians
protest to demand release of BDS activist arrested for security offenses
• Turkish drone
kills two high-ranking Iraqi officers in Kurdish region: Army
--------
Africa
• Nigeria: Why
Terrorism Continues in Nigeria and How to Turn the Tide
• Boko Haram
Recruiting More Members Despite Rehabilitation By Nigerian Government,
North-East Governors Tell Buhari
• Sudan says 13
killed in ethnic clashes
• Victims of
Libyan-backed terrorism face new compensation battle
• Seven Killed
as Al-Shabab Inmates Fire at Somali Prison Guards
• France
launches anti-terror inquiry into attack on aid workers in Niger
--------
Southeast Asia
• Perlis Mufti:
Breaching TEMCO Regulations Not Only Wrong in Eyes of Law, But Big Sin Too
• Former Sabah
CM Chong may make comeback to state politics
• Sabah group
lodges police report on dissolution of state assembly
--------
Europe
• Greece To Call
Emergency EU Meeting on Tensions With Turkey
• Alleged ISIS
member living off benefits in the UK
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/muslims-form-human-chain-guard/d/122605
--------
Muslims Form
Human Chain to Guard Temple in DJ Halli After Bengaluru Violence
August 12, 2020
Young men are seen holding
hands and ensuring that rioters didn’t attack the temple located in in DJ Halli
police station limits in the city.
-----
A video claiming that a group of Muslims gathered at the DJ Halli police station limits in Bengaluru and formed a human chain to protect a temple from arsonists after violence erupted in the city is doing the rounds on social media.
News agency ANI
tweeted the video captioned: A group of Muslim youth gathered and formed a
human chain around a temple in DJ Halli police station limits of Bengaluru city
late last night, to protect it from arsonists after violence erupted in the
area. (Video source: DJ Halli local).
A Facebook post
laced with communal remarks sparked violent clashes in Bengaluru on Tuesday
night in which a mob vandalised a police station and the residence of a
Congress MLA. Three people have been killed while 60 police personnel have been
left injured after being attacked by the mob.
After night-long
tension following the arson and vandalism in the DJ Halli area of Bengaluru,
police said Naveen, whose social media post sparked the vandalism, has been
arrested.
As the police
teams tried to control the mob from damaging property and setting things on
fire, the mob rampaged through the locality. Around 10-15 cars were set on fire
in the area while a part of the MLA’s residence was also damaged. Police
vehicles were damaged and set on fire. A group entered a basement area where
200-250 vehicles were set on fire, said the Commissioner.
A total of 110
people have been arrested so far for vandalism and attacking police personnel
during the violence that broke out in DJ Halli locality in Bengaluru.
Restrictions
under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in Bengaluru and curfew has been
imposed in DJ Halli and KG Halli police station limits of the city.
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/muslims-form-human-chain-bengaluru-violence-dj-halli-1710372-2020-08-12
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Anyone from Pak Who
Has Faith in Lord Ram Can Come to Ayodhya, Says Ram Janmabhoomi Trust Chief
Aug 11, 2020
A sadhu rests at Hanuman
Garhi Mandir in Ayodhya, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. (AP)
------
After former
Pakistani cricketer Danish Kaneria expressed his desire to visit the Ram mandir
in Ayodhya, chairman of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust, Mahant Nritya
Gopal Das, on Tuesday said that Ram belongs to everyone and that those who wish
to visit Ram temple are most welcome.
“Pakistan is a
part of Akhand Bharat and Hindus living there are our brothers. If he (Kaneria)
wants to visit Ram Mandir and offer prayers, then he is most welcome,” said
Nritya Gopal Das.
“Anyone from
Pakistan who has faith in lord Ram can come to Ayodhya. The deity has a global
presence and is not limited to Bharat alone,” Das said.
The Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP) also welcomed spinner Kaneria’s wish and demanded special visa
for him from the government of India to visit the country.
“Pakistani
Hindus have a blood relation with us and Kaneria’s statement proves this,” said
Sharad Sharma, regional spokesperson, VHP, who operates from Karsevakpuram,
Ayodhya. “We welcome every Hindu from Pakistan to Ayodhya. We owe more to them
(Pakistani Hindus) as they have suffered a lot,” he said.
Priest Raju Das
of Hanuman Garhi invited Kaneria to lord Hanuman’s temple also. “Pakistani
Hindus are the most persecuted community in the world. If Danish Kaneria wants
to visit Ram Mandir, he is most welcome at Hanuman Garhi also,” said Das.
Kaneria, who is
the second Hindu cricketer to play for Pakistan after Anil Dalpat, tweeted
several times in the last one week with the religious slogan ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
In his tweet,
Kaneria, said: “The beauty of Lord Ram lies in his character, not in his name.
He is a symbol of the victory of right over evil. There is a wave of happiness
across the world today. It is a moment of great satisfaction. #JaiShriRam.”
In a recent
interview to a news channel, Kaneria expressed his desire to offer prayers at
the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi laid the foundation stone of the temple on August 5 in a grand ceremony at
Ram Janmabhoomi. Soon after PM Modi performed the Bhoomi Pujan, the former
Pakistani cricketer posted an image on social media platforms featuring Ram
Mandir’s digital image on a giant billboard at New York’s Times Square.
Sharing the
image, Kaneria had also tweeted, “Today is the historical day for Hindus across
the world. Lord Ram is our ideal.” A few reports stated that the leg-spinner
received backlash over the post as Islamists threatened him leading to the
deletion of the tweet by the Pakistani cricketer.
“There is a wave
of happiness across the world today. It is a moment of great satisfaction,” the
39-year-old former spinner was quoted as saying.
Being one of the
most successful bowlers in Test cricket history of Pakistan with 261 wickets,
Kaneria had reportedly been ‘mistreated’ by his former teammates for being a
Hindu.
And this was
revealed by former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar, who in a chat show, had
claimed how Kaneria used to be humiliated and mistreated by teammates because
he was a Hindu. “Other players used to refuse to eat with him because of his
Hindu faith,” Akhtar had said.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/anyone-from-pak-who-has-faith-in-lord-ram-can-come-to-ayodhya-says-ram-janmabhoomi-trust-chief/story-8JYboUV7ihtpBkEegTveNK.html
--------
Pakistan Urges
US to Help De-Escalate Tensions with India
12 Aug 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Tuesday asked the United States to play a role in de-escalating
tensions with India.
The call was
made during virtual consultations between Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood and
US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Ambassador David Hale.
“It was
imperative to take steps to prevent escalation of tensions and to facilitate
peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” Mr Mahmood was quoted as
having said during the talks.
Tensions between
arch-rivals India and Pakistan have spiked sharply since Delhi annexed Occupied
Kashmir last year.
“India’s continuing
military siege in IIOJK and its aggressive posturing against Pakistan pose a
threat to peace and security,” the foreign secretary said.
He also
mentioned massive human rights violations in the Indian Illegally Occupied
Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), attempts to change the demographic structure of the
occupied territory, and intensified ceasefire violations along the Line of
Control. The two sides reviewed the progress vis-à-vis the Afghan peace
process.
“The foreign
secretary reaffirmed Pakistan’s steadfast support for an Afghan-led and
Afghan-owned process and expressed the hope that the Afghan parties would seize
this historic opportunity and secure an inclusive and comprehensive political
solution through intra-Afghan negotiations,” the Foreign Office said in a
statement.
The foreign
secretary reiterated Pakistan’s desire to “forge a strong and mutually
beneficial economic partnership” with the United States. He said the
broad-based and enduring partnership between the two countries, as envisioned
by Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Donald Trump, is a factor of
stability in the region.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1573949/pakistan-urges-us-to-help-de-escalate-tensions-with-india
--------
Twitter Spreads
Paid US Govt Propaganda While Falsely Claiming It Bans State Media Ads
12 August 2020
By Ben Norton
Twitter has
demonstrated a clear, consistent bias in favor of the US government and its
geopolitical interests. The social media giant has also repeatedly lied about
its policies on state-backed media outlets.
Twitter unveiled
a new feature on August 6 that labels government-affiliated media on the
platform. Users immediately pointed out the social network’s double standards:
Chinese and Russian state-backed media have been designated, but not
state-backed media outlets funded by Western governments.
Twitter Support
claimed it decided to start labeling government-affiliated accounts from the
five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: the US, UK,
France, Russia, and China. Oddly, state-funded media outlets from the first
three NATO countries have not been labeled.
The lies flow
from there. When it announced this new policy, Twitter Support claimed, “For
clarity: we don’t let state-affiliated media accounts advertise on Twitter.”
This is
categorically false.
Twitter hosts a
web page called the “Ads Transparency Center,” where it publicly discloses all
of the paid advertisements, known as “sponsored tweets,” that the website puts
into users’ feeds.
A search in the
Ads Transparency Center for the official, verified Twitter account of the US
government’s Voice of America, and specifically its Persian-language arm VOA
Farsi, shows that the state-affiliated media outlet had paid Twitter to publish
dozens of ads just in the first week of August.
That means that
a US state-affiliated media outlet published more than 60 individual ads on
Twitter in a mere seven days – the same week when Twitter reaffirmed its ban on
ads from state-affiliated media outlets.
Many of these
ads quoted speeches from President Donald Trump and Secretary of State and
former CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Others spread fears about coronavirus in Iran,
and called for removing the Iranian government.
Voice of America
(VOA) is a US government propaganda outlet. This is indisputable. Even the
History Channel, in an article on the launching of Voice of America in 1947,
acknowledged that the “VOA effort was an important part of America’s propaganda
campaign against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.”
And of the state
propaganda organs funded by the US government, VOA Persian is the most extreme.
It is a weapon of information warfare aimed directly at the Iranian government.
The former
senior managing editor of VOA Persian described the outlet as “a mouthpiece of
Trump — only Trump and nothing but Trump.” The former executive editor added
that the US government-funded network just publishes “blatant propaganda,” with
“no objectivity or factuality.”
Twitter,
however, apparently sees no problem with allowing this Washington propaganda
organ to spit out constant disinformation – and the company profits handsomely
from its anti-Iran ads.
US Agency for
Global Media and CIA’s global propaganda network
Western
government-backed information warriors reacted to Twitter’s double standard on
the labeling of state-affiliated media outlets with glee, insisting that Voice
of America was somehow “independent” of the US government which oversees and
bankrolls it.
In reality,
Voice of America falls under the jurisdiction of the US Agency for Global Media
(USAGM). This is a rebranding of the US government’s Broadcasting Board of
Governors (BBG).
USAGM states
very clearly on its website that its first goal is to “Be consistent with the
broad foreign policy objectives of the United States.” In other words, USAGM is
a soft-power arm of the US government, along with all of its constituent
platforms, including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, and
Radio Free Asia.
USAGM adds that
some of its top broadcasting principles are, “Clear and effective presentation
of the policies, including editorials, broadcast by the Voice of America, which
present the views of the United States Government and responsible discussion
and opinion on those policies,” as well as, “The capability to provide a surge
capacity to support United States foreign policy objectives during crises
abroad.”
Radio Free
Europe and Radio Free Asia were created as CIA fronts to spread disinformation
targeting the Soviet Union and communist China, in hopes of destabilizing and
ultimately overthrowing their governments.
The New York
Times acknowledged this in a 1977 report, referring to them as instruments in a
“Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the CIA.”
Journalist Yasha
Levine has documented the CIA’s role in setting up these US government
propaganda organs, noting that Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty had originally
even been named Radio Liberation from Bolshevism.
Twitter’s work
with Western governments
The Grayzone has
extensively documented Twitter’s censorship of accounts in countries Washington
has targeted for regime change.
Thousands of
people, including journalists, activists, and civilians who are unaffiliated
with their governments, in Venezuela, Iran, Syria, Russia, China, and beyond
have had their profiles suspended or restricted by the social media giant.
This is part of
a larger context of Big Tech corporations silencing voices, and even entire
media outlets, that are critical of US foreign policy, under pressure by the US
government.
When Twitter
first announced, in August 2019, that it would ban advertising from
state-affiliated media outlets, The Grayzone noted that the social media
corporation was working with hawkish organizations funded by the US government
and its European allies.
Among the
so-called NGOs that Twitter chose to rely on to define “state-controlled media”
was ironically Freedom House, a right-wing lobby group that is itself
bankrolled by US government grants, and which produces reports whitewashing
Washington-backed dictatorships while demonizing foreign adversaries.
Twitter’s links
to Western governments go even deeper. In 2019, Middle East Eye revealed that
the top Twitter executive who edits Middle East-related content on the platform
also works for the UK military’s psychological warfare unit.
This senior
Twitter executive, Gordon MacMillan, serves in the British army’s 77th Brigade,
which uses social media networks and the internet to wage what its officials
openly call “information warfare.”
By allowing US
government propaganda organs to publish constant paid ads while hiring British
psy-ops soldiers, Twitter has been effectively transformed into an arm of
Western state media – but without the warning label.(By: Ben Norton)
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/11/631561/Twitter-Iran-US-Britain-UK-Russia-China-Trump-Information-Warfare-Disinformation-Campaign-Pompeo--
--------
Myanmar
'underreported' 2017 Rohingya killing: Watchdog
12.08.2020
A Rohingya
rights body on Tuesday disagreed with an "underreported" report of
Myanmar government on the number of killed Muslims in a brutal military
crackdown on a Rohingya village in 2017.
Strongly
rejecting a recent government report on the massacre at the Gu Dar Pyin village
in Rakhine state, home to hundreds of thousands of the Rohingya Muslims in
Myanmar, which recorded a total of "19 terrorists" were killed in the
operation, the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights claimed the
operation was ended with the killing of nearly 250 civilians.
The watchdog
said it has been "monitoring, collecting and compiling data sourced
directly from the families of victims and survivors in the Cox’s Bazar refugee
camp, Bangladesh."
"The actual
number of civilian deaths stands at 243," and the number of injured is 18,
it added.
The statement
came days after Myanmar military and a government sanctioned inquiry commission
proclaimed that a total of 19 people were killed, whom they called
"terrorist" in a crackdown on Aug. 27-28, 2017 that led to the
killing of thousands of Rohingya and forced nearly 1 million to flee their
homeland and take refuge in neighboring Bangladesh.
The
investigation report by the Myanmar government and the country’s military is
“grossly underreported,” according to the rights body.
Following the
brutal crackdown, Myanmar is facing genocide charges in several international
courts as a UN fact-finding body called it a "textbook example of ethnic
cleansing and slow-burning genocide."
In a July 2020
report, the Human Rights Watch also said the massive crackdown on the village
-- in which "hundreds of heavily armed soldiers and police" took part
-- killed an estimated 300 to 400 Rohingya civilians.
"The
soldiers abducted women and girls from the village and gang raped them at a
nearby military compound. Soldiers piled the bodies in at least five mass
graves before burning their faces off with acid,” the global rights watchdog
added, citing the UN-backed Fact-Finding Mission's report.
The Myanmar
government and military, however, denied the reports and claimed that
"security forces were responding to an attack" by the Arakan Rohingya
Salvation Army, an ethnic Rohingya armed group, and local villagers, during
which "19 Rohingya terrorists died, their bodies carefully buried."
However, a court
martial in Myanmar on June 30 convicted three army personnel, including two
officers and a soldier, for the Gu Dar Pyin incident.
The Rohingya
rights body also rejected the court martial, describing Myanmar’s report on
killed Rohingya as "blatant" and "nontransparent", and
called on the International Criminal Court and the International Court of
Justice “to see that these shortcomings in fairness and accountability are
addressed accordingly.”
It also called
for a full and transparent disclosure of details relating to the legal measures
taken by the Myanmar military against the military personnel indicted.
The Rohingya
group said they had conducted a detailed data collection over the incident and
was ready "to disclose details regarding our data collection methodology
and is willing to cooperate with any verification process."
Persecuted
people
The Rohingya,
described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced
heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in
2012.
According to
Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and
children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces
launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing
the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.
Since Aug. 25,
2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state
forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency
(OIDA).
More than 34,000
Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten,
said the OIDA report titled Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold
Experience.
As many as
18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and
over 115,000 Rohingya homes burned down while 113,000 others vandalized, it
added.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/myanmar-underreported-2017-rohingya-killing-watchdog/1938803
--------
Hezbollah and
the people will have to negotiate a new Lebanon
by Rami G Khouri
11 Aug 2020
The Beirut port
explosion is likely to go down in history as a turning point in Lebanon's
political configuration.
The blast, which
killed more than 200 people, injured more than 6,000 and destroyed large parts
of the city, has revitalised the Lebanese protest movement which had been
trying to remove the entire political class since October 2019. Last year, when
the economy finally collapsed under unbearable debt and mismanagement, many
Lebanese people realised they had become pauperised, dispossessed and
marginalised in their own country, forced to survive on their own, with few
basic services from the government and little hope for the future.
The tens of
thousands of citizens in the streets since August 7 have demonstrated new
heights of distrust and anger at their government, whose incompetence and
disregard for the people's wellbeing had allowed the port explosion to happen.
The mock hangman's nooses set up during the protests clearly express the
citizens' sheer disgust with the political elite who have long ruled them and
have driven them and the entire economy into bankruptcy and debt.
The attacks on
and takeovers of ministries and public institutions demonstrate that people
want to take direct control of governance and would not allow the same
uncaring, thieving, and criminally negligent politicians to take back the reins
of power.
The consistent
protest slogan "all means all" has been re-emphasised and people have
expressed their anger with all political forces. The protesters also made rare
explicit criticism of Hezbollah as a member of the sectarian rulers they called
"the mafia" or "a gang of thieves and criminals". Hezbollah
leader Hassan Nasrallah joined President Michel Aoun in rejecting an
international investigation of the port explosion and also sounded like all the
other discredited politicians in saying his party knew nothing about the
ammonium nitrate that exploded in the port.
The events of
the past few days have started to sweep aside the cruel recent past to reveal
the few power centres in the country that will now battle it out, or, more
likely, negotiate a transition to a new governance system.
We are likely to
see new waves and methods of citizens confronting their state, and the state
fighting back militarily, until this battle is resolved in the months ahead.
This week, for example, citizens demanded that foreign donors do not channel
humanitarian assistance through the government, who they fear might steal or
sell the aid, or only share it with sectarian loyalists.
The citizen
rebellion has sent its ominous message and revealed cracks within the governing
elite. On August 9, a number of members of parliament and government ministers
resigned under pressure from the streets. A day later, the rest of the cabinet
along with hapless Prime Minister Hassan Diab stepped down, simply formalising
their lack of authority in the face of the citizenry.
Lebanon is
experiencing the same dynamics as other Arab countries have since 2010: the
irresistible force of an enraged and pauperised citizenry marching in the
streets to bring down a power structure that refuses to budge. Yet, like in
Sudan, Algeria, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and elsewhere, Lebanon's exhausted and
humiliated citizens have struggled against an entrenched militarised regime
which is not easy to evict from power.
But Lebanon's
power structure is unlike any other Arab country's and it is even more
difficult to challenge. The main sectarian parties of Sunni, assorted
Christians, Druze, and others have shown that they will retreat a bit and
reconfigure power-sharing when threatened, if it keeps them in the governance
and money-making game.
Last year's
events discredited the main sectarian parties in the eyes of most Lebanese,
including some of those parties' own supporters, whose standard of living has
also deteriorated. These parties on their own now appear unable to prevent the
demands for structural change. Parties like President Aoun's Free Patriotic
Movement and Saad Hariri's Future Movement can only rule with the backing of
Hezbollah, as we have seen in recent years.
Hezbollah
represents something very different. It is more powerful than the state
militarily, and more cohesive than any other single sectarian organisation. It
is also structurally linked with Iran, Syria, and other militant parties in a
regional "resistance" front. Hezbollah mostly operates behind the
scenes through shifting alliances with leading Christian, Shia, and Sunni
groups in the successive governments it has supported.
We might have
entered a phase in Lebanon where, effectively, the two most powerful actors
have emerged as Hezbollah and the mass of uncoordinated but probably
unstoppable protest movement which wants to replace the current power structure
with a more democratic and rule-of-law-based governance system.
If the
protesters harness their immense popular support into a focused political
process, they could eventually engage and remove the existing power elite, and
then hold parliamentary elections that independent groups would oversee - two
of their key demands. We should expect to see intense negotiations to agree on
a new, non-sectarian elections law that would permit new elections, in turn
leading to a new president and a fully re-furbished governance system. This
would ideally be managed by a transitional emergency government of respected
technocrats focused on stabilising the economy and supporting the majority of
needy people.
Many of the now
discredited sectarian elite will oppose this, but Hezbollah would probably
accept it if it met certain criteria. The group will not allow the Lebanese
state to crumble and it does not want to rule Lebanon on its own; at the same
time, however, it will not surrender its sophisticated arms and capabilities
that twice forced Israel into ceasefires and have achieved deterrence on the
Israeli-Lebanese border.
So the big
challenge for the protesters and all Lebanese now is: can the citizenry and
Hezbollah work out a compromise agreement that allows a serious, capable
government to assume power for a long transitional period that can start the
revival of the country, while keeping Hezbollah's arms off the negotiating
table for now? And if this happens, and the day comes when the Lebanese people
demand Hezbollah give up its autonomous military capabilities, is it possible
to envisage those capabilities incorporated under the defence ministry and an
associated border security system?
Many Lebanese
have pondered these and other possibilities for many years, but no consensus
has been reached. This has allowed the old bankrupt governing system to remain
in place for so long, with Hezbollah's backing, leading to the country's
shattered condition. This legacy of corrupt and inept officials in the
foreground with Hezbollah and its external supporters in the background has now
reached its end for most Lebanese people.
The moment of
reckoning has arrived. The political elite has nothing left to steal from its
people, the people have no more patience and want to hang all political
leaders, and Hezbollah must define a new strategy that serves it and the
rebelling people of Lebanon equally well.
Finding the answer
to this riddle can no longer be the object of abstract discussions. Lebanon has
no other choice but to go through with reconfiguring its political system and
eventually incorporating Hezbollah into the national defence network. The elite
has repeatedly failed and the people have risen up more than once. They will
not stop until they have regained their dignity and their citizenship, and
established a functioning state.
Rami G Khouri is
a senior public policy fellow and journalism professor at the American
University of Beirut.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/post-blast-protests-usher-political-age-lebanon-200810132037834.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
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Iran claims it
has arrested five Iranians spying for UK, Germany, Israel
11 August 2020
Iranian
authorities have arrested five Iranians on charges of spying for Israel,
Britain and Germany, convicting and handing down prison sentences on at least
two of them, the judiciary said on Tuesday.
Read the latest
updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.
“In recent
months, five Iranians who were spying for foreign intelligence services have
been arrested,” judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said in a virtual
news conference.
Shahram
Shirkhani spied for British intelligence services and tried to recruit some
Iranian officials for Britain's MI6 agency, Esmali said.
Shirkhani had
passed on classified information about Iran's Central Bank and Defence Ministry
contracts, he said. He has been convicted and received a prison sentence.
Masoud Mosaheb,
who was secretary-general of the Iran-Austria friendship association, also has
been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for spying for Israel's Mossad and the
German intelligence services, the spokesman said.
He gave no
details on the other three detainees.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/11/Iran-claims-it-has-arrested-five-Iranians-spying-for-UK-Germany-Israel.html
--------
Nigeria: Why
Terrorism Continues in Nigeria and How to Turn the Tide
10 AUGUST 2020
For ten years,
the Nigerian authorities have engaged the terror group Boko Haram in the
northeast without making much headway. After what appeared to be some success
in 2015 and 2016, there was a resurgence of Boko Haram violence in 2017.
This worsened
with the emergence of Islamic State in West Africa and, in more recent times,
banditry and kidnap gangs all over the northern Nigeria region.
Having studied
this crisis over the years as a political scientist, my view is that it is
rooted in ethnic, religious and partisan politics and corruption. National
security springs from mutual respect, peaceful co-existence and equality of
social groups. But as argued in a paper I co-authored, the affiliation of
Nigerian leaders to identity groups poses a challenge to national security.
We conclude that
the government must show the will to fight the terrorists and eschew nepotism
and ethnic or religious sentiments in the war. It must also deal decisively
with corruption.
Additionally, we
underscore that neither Boko Haram or Islamic State in West Africa is Nigerian
or Muslim. No responsible or patriotic leader should see it as such. Nigeria
should be unified in the struggle and united against terrorism. This is how to
beat it into a permanent retreat.
Ebbs and flows
Religious
fundamentalism has long been a feature of social existence and relations in
northern Nigeria. But religion-inspired terrorism emerged from 2009 after the
murder by security forces in Maiduguri of the Boko Haram leader, Muhammed
Yusuf, and hundreds of his followers. What started as targeting some members of
the political elite in Borno by Boko Haram soon turned into organised bombings
of public places.
Despite
involvement of the military, foreign partners and counter-terrorism measures
from 2011 to 2015, the government seemed unable to get a grip of the situation.
Boko Haram grew stronger, expanded its operations and declared an Islamic
Caliphate.
By 2015, over
10,000 people had been killed and about 3 million internally displaced.
Hundreds of thousands had to flee into neighbouring countries.
The emergence of
a former military ruler as president in 2015 created the expectation that the
terror group could be brought under control. Instead, the Islamic State's West
African Province also emerged - a breakaway faction of Boko Haram. Violence
escalated and spread.
There were some
successes in rolling back the expansion of Boko Haram. Between mid-2015 and
late 2016, the federal government moved the terror and counter-terror
"situation room" to Maiduguri, the heart of the crisis. The military
halted the expansion of the "Caliphate" and took back the 14 local
governments seized by the terror group. Flights and normal business returned to
most parts of the northeast. Attacks stopped and the military could claim that
Boko Haram had been technically defeated.
But then, just
when it seemed the menace of Boko Haram had been ended by sheer military force,
the federal government suggested dialogue and ransoms. Aggression and violence
returned in Northern Nigeria and still hasn't been completely controlled.
One school of
thought argues that the will and dynamic approach in the fight against Boko
Haram were short-lived, which wasted the success achieved in two years. When
the government sought dialogue and negotiation and paid ransoms, it
re-energised the terror group.
Another view is
that the current administration was weakened when it began considering amnesty
for repentant members of the group and swapping their prisoners for release of
innocent Nigerian and foreign captives.
Yet another view
is that the group's breakup into factions fueled internal competition, with the
groups' targets on the receiving end.
For me, two
theories explain the protracted crisis. They also amplify the other
perspectives.
Factors at play
First is that
there are people in government who lack the will to fight because of religious
and ethnic affiliations or connections. Some in government consider Boko Haram
members as northerners or Muslims who should therefore be dealt with
cautiously.
Some military
leaders have been accused of nepotism and of giving away vital details to
compromise the onslaught against the terror gangs. The Borno State governor
recently accused the military of sabotage in an attack on his convoy.
The second
explanation is corruption. Since 2014, some senior soldiers and their civilian
counterparts directing the war have come to see the war budget as an endless
means to draw money for personal enrichment. There are examples of
counter-terrorism or so-called counter-insurgency funds stolen by the national
security adviser and dozens of others as well as some isolated cases of stolen war
money by some security or service chiefs. While some opted for plea bargains,
others are still undergoing trial.
The recent rise
in banditry and demonstrations against it show that the people can no longer
accept the circumstances. Boko Haram, Islamic State, bandits and kidnap gangs
are threats to Nigeria's peace, stability, security and economic prosperity.
Everyone wants a stop to it. What do we do?
How to break the
vicious circle
Government has
the responsibility to provide genuine leadership in the war. The statement
credited recently to the army chief that the crisis can only be stopped by
Nigerians, thus passing the buck to civilians, is irresponsible. It's only the
armed forces that have the arsenals and training to fight Boko Haram and other
such groups.
Corruption must
be fought and conquered. The Borno governor once accused soldiers of extorting
money from motorists where Boko Haram has a strong presence. Such practices -
as well as instances of compromised military intelligence - are a big problem
the military high command must stop by itself.
Dialogue,
negotiation, ransom payments, amnesty and integration of repentant insurgents
into the army and society are not the solution. They will only serve as the
internal seeds of destruction of the army and its efforts against terrorism.
And, in my view,
any attempt to integrate "repentant" terrorists in the army will
expose the military and security architecture to intelligence and operational
compromises.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202008110088.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
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Perlis mufti:
Breaching TEMCO regulations not only wrong in eyes of law, but big sin too
12 Aug 2020
KANGAR, Aug 12 ―
Breaching regulations under the targeted enhanced movement control order
(TEMCO), which is enforced to curb the spread of Covid-19, is a major sin
according to religion, said Perlis Mufti Datuk Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin.
He said it is
not only wrong in law, but a big sin because it endangers the lives of others
and against the teachings of Prophet Muhammad SAW in dealing with an epidemic.
Narrating a
hadis by Abdurrahman Auf, he said the Prophet had given instructions that
should there be a cholera outbreak in a certain area, the people there should
not be allowed to leave the place and outsiders not allowed to enter.
“This is what
the government is doing to fulfil its responsibility in ensuring the safety of
the people. Hence, the need for the people to obey TEMCO regulations and for
religious leaders in the community, like ulama, imam and ustaz (teacher) to
advise the people in the affected areas to abide by the government’s directive
until the end of the TEMCO period,” he told Bernama here today.
Mohd Asri said
there are wrong doings that make the people sinful to Allah and sins that
people make to another persons.
In the case of
the Covid-19 transmission, he said, those who violate TEMCO are to be blamed
for the spread of the virus.
“This is a
serious matter because the role of a religion is also to protect lives,” he
added.
Yesterday,
Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that two villages in
Sanglang, namely Kampung Kuala Sanglang
and Kampung Tanah Timbul, have been placed under TEMCO until August 31. ―
Bernama
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/12/perlis-mufti-breaching-temco-regulations-not-only-wrong-in-law-but-a-big-si/1893159
--------
India
Sunni Board
mosque Trust holds first meeting, decides to open two bank accounts to receive
donations
Aug 12, 2020
Ayodhya: The
Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation, the Trust constituted by Sunni Waqf Board for
construction of an alternate mosque in Ayodhya in lieu of Babri Masjid, held
their first official meeting via video-conferencing on Tuesday evening. “Trust
members decided to open current accounts in two banks and finalised the design
of a website with an inbuilt gateway to receive donations. Non-Muslims are also
welcome to donate,” said Trust secretary Athar Hussain. A financial officer has
also been appointed, he said.
Talking to TOI,
Hussain, said, “the Trust took a decision to open two separate accounts in two
premier private sector banks for receiving funds. Both would be current
accounts. Complying with Supreme Court’s verdict, the Trust will construct a
mosque, a hospital, community kitchen and library on 5acre allotted to Sunni
Waqf Board at Dhannipur village of Ayodhya district.” A website and portal of
the Trust has also been designed, he added.
“We are already
receiving calls from those willing to donate for the mosque and other public
facilities. The financial officer will audit and keep record of funds,” he
said.
The mosque Trust
was formed with nine members, but six more members will be added soon.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/sunni-board-mosque-trust-holds-first-meeting-decides-to-open-two-bank-accounts-to-receive-donations/articleshow/77494619.cms
--------
Soldier killed
in encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district
Aug 12, 2020
SRINAGAR: A
soldier was killed and another injured in an encounter with terrorists in
Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, officials said.
Security forces
launched a search operation in an orchard in Kamrazipora village of Pulwama in
the early hours of the day on receiving information about the presence of
terrorists there, they said.
The officials
said the search operation turned into an encounter after terrorists opened fire
on the personnel, injuring two soldiers.
The injured were
rushed to an Army hospital, where one of them succumbed, they said.
The operation
was going on when last reports came in, the officials said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/soldier-killed-in-encounter-with-terrorists-in-j-ks-pulwama-district/articleshow/77496218.cms
--------
Abdullahs’
habeas corpus petitions: To pleas for release of 16 NC leaders, J&K admin
says none detained
by Naveed Iqbal
August 12, 2020
The Jammu and
Kashmir administration has told the high court that none of the 15 National
Conference (NC) leaders, for whom party president Farooq Abdullah and
vice-president Omar Abdullah have filed habeas corpus petitions seeking their
release, had been detained.
The NC said the
UT administration’s response was “fallacious and far from reality”, and that
the “excuses put forth by the administration in the court of law are misleading
and contemptuous”.
Farooq and Omar
Abdullah had filed petitions in the J&K High Court in July seeking the
release of 16 NC leaders and functionaries from house arrest, pointing out that
they had remained in detention for more than a year. One of them, Syed Mohammad
Shafi, died after the petitions were filed.
In response to
the petitions, IGP (Kashmir Zone) Vijay Kumar said Monday, “The petitioner at
no point of time came to be detained by the respondents…” The police also said
there is “no legal proceeding currently underway or even contemplated which
would have entailed his arrest/detention”. But, “It is true that in the wake of
Constitutional amendments carried out in Article 370, it was apprehended that
inimical elements may disturb peace and petitioner may provoke them…”
No order of
detention, either under preventive detention law or substantive law, was issued
against the petitioners, police said.
NC’s counsel
Shariq Riyaz said they would file a rejoinder ahead of the next hearing on
August 24.
The leaders for
whom petitions have been filed include Ali Mohammad Sagar and Abdul Rahim
Rather. Omar tweeted, “If it’s about their security, then how come the same
‘precautions’ aren’t taken for BJP & Apni party leaders?…” Police have
argued that being a “categorised person” or protected persons, “it is well
within the charter of duties of the respondent (UT administration) to ensure
safety and security of the petitioner…”
Omar said,
“Administration failing in providing security to political workers, evidenced
by the spree of attacks against BJP workers, because the police is too busy
being jailers rather than protectors. Security NO reason to detain people in
their homes.”
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/abdullahs-habeas-corpus-petitions-to-pleas-for-release-of-16-nc-leaders-jk-admin-says-none-detained-6550898/
--------
Barmer: Pakistan
Rangers accept intruder’s body after identity was established
Mukesh Mathrani
Aug 12, 2020
Pakistan Rangers
accepted the body of an intruder (23), who was shot dead by Border Security
Force (BSF) personnel on Friday night, on Tuesday evening after his identity
was established.
The intruder got
killed after he had crossed the Indo-Pak border near pillar number 919 that
falls under the jurisdiction of Bakhasar police station in Barmer district.
Initially,
Pakistan Rangers had denied any intrusion from Pakistani soil.
However,
Pakistani Rangers agreed to accept the intruder’s body following at least three
rounds of flag meetings with the BSF.
On Saturday
noon, Pakistani Rangers produced an identity document of the intruder and his
body was handed over on Tuesday at around 7 pm, BSF officials said.
The deceased has
been identified as Bheru Ram, a resident of Dudharo village in Sindh’s province
Tharparkar district, Pakistan.
Tharparkar, the
largest district in Sindh province, also has the highest Hindu population in
Muslim-majority Pakistan.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/barmer-pakistan-rangers-accept-intruder-s-body-after-identity-was-established/story-L7o93KEHC2SvsUgoeqmpwM.html
--------
Two dead in
Bangalore violence over anti-Islam Facebook post
August 12, 2020
Two people died
after a "derogatory" Facebook post about the Prophet Mohammed sparked
riots in India's IT hub Bangalore that saw clashes between police and thousands
of protesters, authorities said Wednesday.
At least 60
officers were injured the previous evening as a furious crowd attacked a police
station, set vehicles on fire and burnt down the house of a local lawmaker
whose nephew was allegedly responsible for the social media post.
Local media
images showed protesters trying to barge into the police building and shouting
slogans outside the politician's home.
Police opened
fire with live ammunition and tear-gassed the violent crowds. Three people were
critically wounded during Tuesday's violence and at least one reporter was
injured, police told AFP.
Media reports
said the two people killed in the incident had died of gunshot wounds.
Bangalore police
commissioner Kamal Pant wrote on Twitter that the lawmaker's nephew had been
arrested for the post, along with about 100 others for rioting and arson, and
the situation was now under control.
A ban on
gatherings was in effect in some areas of the city on Wednesday, with nearly
10,000 police reservists patrolling the streets to keep order.
Bangalore is
known as the Silicon Valley of India and is home to a sizeable Muslim community
among its eight million people.
India is
officially a secular country but has been plagued by a long history of violence
between its Hindu majority and Muslim minority.
More than 50
people were killed during religious riots in the capital New Delhi earlier this
year, with most of the victims Muslims.
https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/08/12/two-dead-in-bangalore-violence-over-anti-islam-facebook-post.html
--------
Pakistan
SC moved to
declare appointment of PM’s aides illegal
Nasir Iqbal
12 Aug 2020
ISLAMABAD: The
Supreme Court was on Tuesday requested to declare the appointment of eight
special assistants and one adviser to the prime minister as illegal and
unconstitutional for holding dual nationality and order withdrawal of
notifications appointing them to the coveted posts.
The petition in
fact is an appeal against the July 30 rejection of the same by the Islamabad
High Court. The appeal was filed by Advocate Malik Munsif Awan through his
counsel Mohammad Ikram Chaudhry, who had challenged the appointments in the
high court.
The appointment
of those challenged in the apex court included Special Assistant to the Prime
Minister (SAPM) on Petroleum Nadeem Babar, Adviser to the PM on Commerce Abdul
Razak Dawood, SAPM on Power Division Shahzad Qasim, SAPM on Overseas Pakistanis
Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari, SAPM on Political Affairs Shahbaz Gill, SAPM on
National Security Moeed Yousuf and SAPM on Parliamentary Coordination Nadeem
Afzal Gondal.
In its judgment,
the high court had held that the prime minister was the chief executive of one
of the most important organs of the state and had to perform multiple/complex
functions and this onerous role of the prime minister described under the
Constitution could not be performed by him alone.
Same plea was
rejected by Islamabad High Court on July 30
“In order to
enable the prime minister to transact business of the executive organ of the
state, he ought to have the freedom to appoint officials or other persons for
assistance. There is no restriction regarding the number of special assistants
that can be appointed by the prime minster.
“There is also
no restriction of appointing persons having dual nationality. The only
restriction provided in the Constitution is under Article 63(1)(c) and it is
confined to disqualification of a person from being elected or chosen as, and
from being, a member of the Majlis-i-Shoora,” the high court had held.
The appeal
before the Supreme Court argued that the Cabinet Division had recently issued
details of assets and dual nationalities of 20 advisers and SAPMs, adding that
the notification showed that of the 19 non-elected cabinet members, four SAPMs
held dual nationality.
In addition, the
SAPMs also owned properties worth millions of rupees both in Pakistan and
abroad, the petition contended, wondering when so many enemies were trying to
cap Pakistan’s nuclear assets, how could one expect to have unbiased and honest
advice from the foreign nationals on matters pertaining to national security,
economy, digitisation and planning, future prospects, political and
parliamentary affairs.
The appeal
questioned the mechanism devised to check the alleged pilferage of sensitive
information on party of individuals who had taken the oath of allegiance to
other countries and had access and were exposed to sensitive information
vis-à-vis the country’s nuclear assets as well as development and economy.
The appointment
of these foreign nationals also amounted to abrogation of the oath to the
office of the prime minister which envisaged loyalty to Pakistan, the petition
argued, adding that every public servant/office holder was trustee of the
national interest. To secure sensitive information, the petition contended, it
had become essential to remove the foreign nationals from the coveted posts.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1573980/sc-moved-to-declare-appointment-of-pms-aides-illegal
--------
Govt, opposition
reach consensus on six FATF-related bills
12 Aug 2020
ISLAMABAD: The
government and the opposition on Tuesday finally succeeded in developing a
consensus on six out of eight FATF-related laws, thus paving the way for their
smooth passage from the National Assembly on Wednesday (today).
“Yes, we have
reached an understanding as the government has accepted almost all our
amendments,” said senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Syed Naveed Qamar,
expressing the hope that the bills would sail through the assembly easily.
He said the
government had agreed to defer the remaining two bills — the Anti-Money
Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill 2020 and the Code of Criminal Procedure
(Amendment) Bill 2020 — and discussions on these two legislations would be held
after some time.
The National
Assembly Secretariat issued a 16-point agenda for the sitting on Wednesday and
it contains the six agreed bills.
The bills on
which the two sides have reached an understanding are: the Anti-Terrorism
(Amendment) Bill 2020, the Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill 2020,
the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2020, the Control of Narcotic Substances
(Amendment) Bill 2020, the Control of Narcotics Substances (Amendment) Bill
2020, the Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill 2020 and the
Islamabad Capital Territory Trust Bill 2020.
PPP leader hopes
legislation will sail through NA today as all opposition amendments accepted
The breakthrough
was achieved during a meeting between the government and the opposition
representatives at a meeting held at the official residence of Speaker Asad
Qaiser on Tuesday — a day after the government decided to defer the
presentation of five bills in order to meet conditions of the Financial Action
Task Force (FATF) and engage the opposition parties through the speaker with
whose efforts the government had previously managed to get three such bills
approved through parliament.
The government
had decided to take the opposition on board on the legislations that had
already been passed by the National Assembly’s standing committees amid protest
by the opposition parties and following their announcement to block these bills
in parliament.
Leaders of the
PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had declared that until they could
make amendments, they would not let these laws pass from parliament. It was
after hectic consultations with the PPP and PML-N and after accepting most of
their amendments that the coalition government led by the Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf had managed to get the Mutual Legal Assistance (Criminal
Matter) Bill — for exchange of information and criminals with countries —
passed in the joint sitting of parliament last week.
Before it, the
government had already successfully managed to get two FATF-related bills — the
Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2020 and the United Nations (Security Council)
(Amendment) Bill 2020 — passed separately from both the houses of parliament
with the support of the two opposition parties and amid protest by other
smaller opposition parties, including Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F),
Jamaat-i-Islami and nationalist parties from Balochistan and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
The passage of
the bills was necessary to bring Pakistan out of FATF’s grey list.
It was after a
strong protest by the JUI-F members in the National Assembly on Monday that the
government also invited the party and MNA Shahida Akhtar Ali represented the
JUI-F in the talks with the government team comprising Law Minister Farogh
Naseem and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar on
Tuesday.
The opposition
had been opposing the bills terming them beyond the FATF requirements and
fearing that these could be used in the country for political engineering and
victimisation. The opposition had also raised objections over the procedure
adopted by the government, saying the government knew about the FATF deadlines
for a long time but kept these laws pending before the committees concerned for
months.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1573985/govt-opposition-reach-consensus-on-six-fatf-related-bills
--------
PM talks to
Gates, emphasises resumption of anti-polio drive
12 Aug 2020
ISLAMABAD: Prime
Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday spoke to Bill Gates, the co-chair of the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation, to discuss the latest situation on Covid-19
response and resumption of polio vaccination campaigns in Pakistan, said an
official announcement by the PM Office.
During the
conversation, the prime minister apprised Mr Gates of the improved Covid-19
situation in Pakistan with considerable reduction in new cases and the fatality
rate.
Mr Khan said the
“smart lockdown” policy of the government had been very effective. The timely
and prudent interventions enabled the government to mitigate the effects of
Covid-19 and the economy had successfully averted a larger catastrophe, he
said, acknowledging the Gates Foundation’s continued support for Pakistan. PM
Khan reaffirmed polio eradication as a key priority of his government.
Both Mr Khan and
Mr Gates said they were encouraged to see that polio vaccination campaigns had
been able to restart with appropriate Covid-19 precautions. They agreed to
enhance the programme to ensure vaccination of all children, including those in
the remote areas.
They discussed
how using the existing structures that were supporting efforts against
Covid-19, such as the National Command Operation Centre, could help support
polio eradication efforts.
The prime
minister expressed confidence in Pakistan’s ability to apply lessons from its
Covid-19 response to eradicate polio.
Mr Gates
acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts to combat the pandemic while protecting the
lives and livelihoods of vulnerable populations.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1573982/pm-talks-to-gates-emphasises-resumption-of-anti-polio-drive
--------
Cleric accused
of uploading anti-judiciary video seeks bail
Malik Asad
12 Aug 2020
ISLAMABAD: A
cleric charged with uploading a viral video containing derogatory, contemptuous
and scandalous language against the institution of the judiciary and judges,
especially Supreme Court’s Justice Qazi Faez Isa, has approached the Islamabad
High Court (IHC) seeking post-arrest bail.
Mirza
Iftikharuddin, in his petition, contended that he never even thought of
disrespecting the judiciary but was implicated in a false case. He said he is a
cardiac patient and may be released till the decision in the pending trial.
A Supreme Court
bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed took suo motu
notice of the viral video.
The Federal
Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested the cleric and registered an FIR against
him under different sections of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the
Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).
The
investigation report explained that the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used
by the cleric and his accomplice for uploading the video had been traced and
the concerned Internet Service Providers (ISPs) approached to provide the
subscribers detail of the internet devices through which IP addresses were
accessed.
According to the
FIA, the operators concerned have also been approached to obtain Character
Detection and Recognition (CDR) and subscriber’s details of the SIMs under the
use of the two persons to unearth their probable nexus with others.
On the basis of
the video clip, Justice Isa’s wife on June 24 lodged a case at the Islamabad
Secretariat police station, complaining that death threats were being hurled on
the judge.
Meanwhile, the
FIA in its report stated that the investigation on the basis of the FIR under
Section 7 of the ATA read with sections 34, 500, 505 and 506 of the PPC and
section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (Peca) had been entrusted
to a Joint Investigation Team (JIT), comprising Assistant Directors Khurram
Saeed Rana, Mohammad Azmat Khan and Adnan Khan and FIA’s counterterrorism wing
Inspector Raja Wajid Hussain.
During the
course of investigation, the two suspects, Mirza and Akbar, were arrested from
whom mobile phones, a movie camera and a laptop were recovered and sent for
forensic analysis.
According to the
FIA, the cleric has owned the contents of the video and stated that his
responsibility was to preach Islamic teachings. Besides, he admitted that he
had been running a web TV since 2017 in one of the rooms of his residence. His
accomplice Akbar recorded his lectures and uploaded/managed his Youtube channel
and Facebook page, the report said.
The FIA said
Mirza admitted that on June 14, he addressed six or seven namazis of the
locality where his assistant Akbar and Rasool Shah were also present. Akbar
recorded the speech through the movie camera, edited and uploaded it without
his consent on Youtube channel and Facebook page.
Mirza claimed
when he came to know about uploading the video, he immediately asked his aide
to delete it. However, Akbar claimed that he became frightened and deleted the
video when one of the page followers of Mirza told him that it amounted to
contempt of court.
dawn.com/news/1573904/cleric-accused-of-uploading-anti-judiciary-video-seeks-bail
--------
North America
Islamic State's
‘Beatles’ could finally face justice for alleged role in beheading Americans
Aug 10, 2020
Six years ago
this month, the Islamic State (IS) published its first video in what would
become the prevailing image of the war: a jumpsuit-clad hostage kneeling before
a knife-wielding executioner. For the parents of slain Americans James Foley,
Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller, justice has remained elusive.
But two of the
families told Al-Monitor they were given fresh hope after a phone call with
Attorney General William Barr on Aug. 6. Barr told them federal prosecutors
will take the death penalty off the table as a potential sentence for two men
alleged to have tortured and killed foreign hostages. News of the call was
first reported by NBC News.
This decision
would make it possible for the United Kingdom, the suspects’ home country, to
share evidence that could be key to putting El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda
Kotey behind bars in the United States. If the British government doesn't
provide its evidence within six weeks, Barr told the families that Kotey and
Elsheikh may be prosecuted in Iraq where they are currently detained.
"At this
point, the ball’s in their court," said Carl Mueller, whose daughter Kayla
was imprisoned by the group and raped by then-IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
"If [the British government] doesn't want to do anything for their
citizens that were murdered, well, so be it. Let us do it."
"I think
[Barr’s] actually given them an ultimatum. The death penalty is off the table
for this period of time. If you don’t make a decision, they might leave them in
Iraq."
The attorney
general said he would be speaking with UK Home Secretary Priti Patel ahead of a
public announcement this week, according to Diane Foley, mother of one of the
victims. US Justice Department Spokesperson Alison Kjergaard declined to
confirm whether the administration’s position on the death penalty had moved,
but she told Al-Monitor that “the department is committed to ensuring justice
for the victims.”
Two years after
their capture by US-allied Kurdish forces in Syria, Elsheikh and Kotey have yet
to step foot in a courtroom, despite admitting to at least some of their crimes
during multiple interviews with foreign journalists.
The delay is not
for lack of evidence. The British government has more than 600 witness
statements collected by the Metropolitan Police, in addition to phone calls and
other intelligence intercepts on the two men.
“It’s clear that
the US does not have that evidence and the UK does,” said Toby Cadman, a
British human rights lawyer advising Diane Foley. “I think it is a credible
concern.”
The UK
government initially handed over some materials to American prosecutors without
assurances on the death penalty, which Britain abolished in 1998. The British
Supreme Court ruled in March that the home secretary’s decision to share
information in a trial where capital punishment is a possible outcome had
breached the country’s data protection law.
The parents of
the four American victims have called on the Donald Trump administration both
privately and publicly to spare Kotey and Elsheikh from the death penalty so
that prosecutors can build the strongest case possible using British-supplied
evidence.
“They’ve
listened to us, taken meetings with us. And we’ve tried to be patient,” said
Diane Foley. “This August will be six years since Jim was killed. It’s really
time to take action.”
Foley's son, a
freelance journalist who covered the Syrian civil war for outlets including
GlobalPost and Agence France-Presse, was the first hostage publicly beheaded by
the group after the US government failed to secure his release.
“This
administration speaks of law and order,” Foley said. “To me, our American
justice system is a perfect way to give a strong message to any terrorist
seeking to kidnap or hurt our citizens.”
Dubbed “the
Beatles” by their victims due to their accents, Kotey and Elsheikh are the
remaining half of a British cell that also included Mohammed Emwazi, who died
in a CIA drone strike in 2015, and Aine Davis, who was sentenced to prison on
terrorism charges in Turkey in 2017.
The US State
Department says the group was responsible for beheading some two dozen hostages
and subjecting their victims to exceptionally cruel torture methods, including
waterboarding, electric shock and mock executions.
Former hostages
have said some of the worst treatment came from masked, British-accented
jailers matching their description, but Kotey and Elsheikh have downplayed
their role. In interviews, they claimed their duties largely consisted of
collecting email addresses and other information from the hostages, which would
later be used in ransom negotiations.
Kotey and
Elsheikh, whose British citizenship has been revoked, remain in US military
custody. The pair are currently held
without charge at Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq.
“It kind of
gives them a celebrity status and lets them become martyrs for IS,” said Marsha
Mueller, Kayla’s mother. “Just bring them here, put them on trial, put them
away and let them be forgotten.”
The Muellers
believe a trial by jury can shed some light on what happened to Kayla. Unlike
Foley, Sotloff and Kassig, whose killings were documented on video, the
circumstances surrounding their daughter's death are unclear.
“The US let all
of our families down,” Marsha Mueller said, referring to the previous
administration's no-concessions policy and its widely criticized handling of
the hostages. The Donald Trump administration, she says, “knows how we feel,
and they are listening to us.”
“We would all
prefer a life sentence in a supermax prison,” Carl Mueller said of Kotey and
Elsheikh, whose trials he said he would attend.
“These guys
shouldn’t have rights. Our children didn’t have rights. We don’t have rights,”
he added. “Marsha and I got a life sentence.”
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/08/isis-beatles-elsheikh-kotey-barr-foley-mueller-death-penalty.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
--------
UN Iran arms
embargo vote choice between ‘terror’ and ‘peace’: US Ambassador
12 August 2020
European
countries will be making a choice between “voting for terror” or voting for
“peace and security in the world” as a they decide on a revised resolution
drafted by the United States that would extend a UN arms embargo on Iran indefinitely,
according to US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app
“What’s going to
be acceptable is to make certain that Iran does not have access to more
modernized weapons in order for them to export these weapons,” Craft told Al
Arabiya. “These are lethal weapons to terrorist groups and to other malicious
actors.”
Council
diplomats said the revised draft could be put in a final form to the UN
Security Council Thursday and put to a vote Friday.
The arms embargo
on Iran
The current arms
embargo on Iran is set to expire on October 18, 2020. The US has proposed
extending the ban indefinitely, saying that Iran should not be allowed to buy
weapons due to its sponsorship of terrorist and proxy organizations across the
region and other destabilizing activities.
If the council
votes not to extend the embargo, Washington has threatened to trigger a return
of all UN sanctions on Iran under the nuclear deal.
The six nations
of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar,
Kuwait, and Oman - also support extending the ban.
"It is
inappropriate to lift restrictions on the supply of weapons from and to Iran
until Iran gives up its destabilizing activities in the region and stops
supplying terrorist and sectarian organizations with weapons," a statement
from GCC Secretary General Nayef Falah Mubarak al-Hajraf said on Sunday.
On the other
hand, Iranian officials have recently threatened to rip up the nuclear deal and
continue regional destabilization if the arms embargo is extended.
Russia and
China, who have veto powers in the UN Security Council, are expected to oppose
the extension of the ban.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/08/12/European-countries-to-decide-on-UN-Iran-arms-embargo-vote.html
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Elliott Abrams
going to be involved in black op against Iran: Expert
11 August 2020
Elliott Abrams
is a thug, a convicted criminal who’s going to be involved “in some type of
black op against Iran,” an American writer and former professor has said.
E Michael Jones,
the current editor of Culture Wars magazine, made the remarks in an interview
with Press TV while commenting on the recent appointment of Abrams as the new
US Special Representative to Iran.
“The Trump
administration announced that their ambassador to Iran, Brian Hook, is
retiring, and he's going to be replaced by Elliott Abrams. Now, in gambling,
this is known as doubling down. What that means is that when you start losing
the game at the casino instead of just walking out and cutting your losses, you
start betting twice the amount of money every time you lose. This is a short
term strategy that usually ends in disaster. You end up going completely
broke,” he said.
“This is
precisely the strategy that the Trump administration is now going to pursue
with Iran,” he said.
“Elliott Abrams
is a convicted criminal. He's a convicted felon. He was a notorious operator
behind the Iran Contra deal. He went to jail as a result of lying to Congress
about his deal with that illegal operation,” he added.
“He was known as
a violator of human rights, a promoter of human rights violations in Central
America. He has the background of criminal activity. And so I guess the Trump
administration feels he's ideally suited to become the new ambassador to Iran
because it looks as if by this appointment that the Trump administration has
criminal activity in mind. What other conclusions can you draw from hiring a
thug, like Elliott Abrams?” he said.
“Elliott Abrams
is a right-wing Jewish thug of the sort of like Benjamin Netanyahu. He is the
son of loss of Norman Podhoretz who was the notorious editor of Commentary
(magazine),” he continued.
“He has been
engaged in this type of activity for his entire adult life. There is no reason
to believe that he is going to change his behavior once he gets into office
there. What they are thinking is anyone's guess. The only bright side of this
whole thing is the unpredictability of Donald Trump,” he said.
“Now Elliott Abrams
opposed Donald Trump's election in 2016. Donald Trump refused to appoint him
when Mike Pompeo nominated him the first time around as Undersecretary of
State, and now he seems to have gotten a change of heart. I have no reason to
understand that other than he's going to be involved in some type of black op
against Iran,” he noted.
“The other side
of the coin is, Trump said as soon as he gets re-elected he will come up with a
deal with Iran. What I think he's saying here is that once he's re-elected he will
have no more need of the Israel lobby. Now, Trump has already shown that he can
stand up to the Israel lobby when he wants to. This happened when he fired John
Bolton, who was the protégé of Sheldon Adelson, who was one of the three Jews
who persuaded Trump to overthrow the JCPOA,” he pointed out.
“So, put all
that together, and you have what I think is going to be problems in the short
run, but then, maybe some possibilities for negotiation, in the long run, if
Trump gets reelected,” he concluded.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/11/631559/Elliott-Abrams-going-to-be-involved-in-black-op-against-Iran
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US sanctions
wall collapsing, but Iran’s economy not
12 August 2020
Aiming to cut
Iran’s sales to zero, Washington in May 2019 ended sanctions waivers for
importers of Iranian oil. Tehran reacted with typical defiance, saying it would
find ways to sell its oil.
Fifteen months
on, Iranian officials appear right on the mark, while US authorities’ goal of
drying up Iran’s oil revenues and the mainstream media’s harping on the hype
proves all hot air.
On Tuesday, NBC
News cited data from online service TankerTrackers.com showing that Iran is
exporting a lot more crude oil than US figures suggest.
According to the
data, Iran is exporting as much as 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil –
thrice more than an estimate of 227,000 bpd made in a US congressional report.
The US
government has resorted to threats and intimidation against anyone venturing
into oil trade with the Islamic Republic. US authorities have said they were
tracking ship-to-ship transfers and working with other governments to ensure
that Iranian oil was kept out of the market.
However, Iran is
coming up with more innovative techniques in wiggling its way around the
draconian American sanctions, NBC News said.
Iran’s Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is on record saying his country will do
everything it can to keep oil sales going.
"We will
sell our oil. It’s a national secret to whom and how we sell it otherwise the
US would stop it,” Zarif told CNN’s Farid Zakaria in July 2019.
“We will sell
our oil, one way or the other. The United States will not be able to prevent
that,” Zarif separately told Russian broadcaster RT.
Officials,
meanwhile, have warned that if Iran cannot sell its oil, no other regional
country will be allowed to do so either, suggesting it would close the Strait
of Hormuz which is the world's most important oil transit chokepoint.
“America should
know that we are selling our oil and will continue to sell our oil and they are
not able to stop our oil exports,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised
speech in December 2018.
“If one day they
want to prevent the export of Iran’s oil, then no oil will be exported from the
Persian Gulf,” he added.
Iranian
officials have said the country is in an economic war with the United States
which has forced international payment networks to cut off the Islamic
Republic, making trade all but impossible.
Blessing in
disguise
On the upside,
the sanctions have helped Iran experiment life with little dependence on oil
and diversify its sources of income.
Head of Iran’s
Plan and Budget Organization Mohammad Baqer Nobakht has said the fiscal budget
for the Iranian year of 1399 which began on March 21 is the least dependent on
oil.
“Today we are
experiencing an oil-free economy,” Hossein Modarres Khiabani on Wednesday told
Iran’s parliament where he was but failed to receive a vote of confidence as
minister of mine and industry and mine.
Iran’s efforts
to cut reliance on the oil incomes began long before the US administration
announced plans in 2018 to drive the Islamic Republic’s oil exports down to
zero.
The US ratcheted
up pressure on Iran after withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Since 2017, the
Trump administration has placed layers after layers of tough sanctions on Iran
in an effort to deprive the country of financial resources.
Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo once said the administration's strategy of "maximum
pressure" aimed to cut off 80 percent of Iran's oil revenues as he gloated
over President Rouhani’s announcement that the sanctions had denied Iran $200
billion in lost foreign income and investment.
However, US
officials have little to rejoice as time goes by. Far from collapsing as
American leaders had predicted, Iran’s economy keeps humming and is getting
back on its feet.
"I think
the predictions of a quick economic collapse were too optimistic,"
according to Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economics professor at Virginia Tech
specializing in the Iranian economy.
Despite the
Trump administration's most aggressive sanctions, there is "a
misunderstanding of the level of complexity of Iran's economy and how good they
are or how experienced they are with resisting sanctions," he has told
non-profit media organization NPR.
Iran's diverse
economy
The Iranian
economy is a very diverse economy, with manufacturing being a key driver and
one of the most important areas, which accounts for about one-fifth of overall
employment.
It includes
automobiles, metals and plastics. Iran is the Middle East’s biggest automaker
and the auto industry in the country of some 85 million keeps more than 60
other industries moving.
Its
petrochemical plants have capacity to make about 65 million tonnes of products
a year, of which about 22.5 million tonnes is exported. The metals sector also
includes a vast grouping of facilities, which generate billions of dollars in
steel, aluminum, copper and iron industries.
While the US
sanctions make it difficult for Iranian businesses to access goods needed to
make their products and find customers, they can stay afloat by tapping the
domestic and regional markets and using informal payment systems that do not
rely on banks for trade.
Iran has already
forged well-integrated relations with regional partners, through which it can
barter, trade or use other types of arrangements to maintain economic activity.
"The
Iranians really do have alternative industries to fall back on and a
significant domestic capacity, as well as the ability to leverage their
relationships with several of their neighboring states to try to muddle through
economic adversity," Suzanne Maloney, an Iran specialist at the Brookings
Institution, told NPR.
"Countries
like Iraq and Afghanistan, some of the Central Asian republics and, of course,
Syria, elsewhere across the region — it does have a reach that goes beyond that
of the US Treasury Department."
Domestic
producers are the top beneficiaries of the sanctions, because less imported
goods have helped spur domestic production and that, in turn, has helped create
more employment for Iranians.
Last year,
leading American magazine The Atlantic summed up in a headline, “Why Trump’s
Sanctions on Iran Aren’t Working.”
“They know how
to get around sanctions and keep state and society afloat,” the publication
said of the Iranians.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/12/631634/Iran-Trump-sanctions--oil-exports-Persian-Gulf
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Brooklyn man
pleads guilty in subways-related terror case
August 11, 2020
NEW YORK (AP) —
A Brooklyn man charged with trying to help the Islamic State group by
encouraging attacks on New York’s subway system pleaded guilty Monday in
Manhattan federal court.
Zachary Clark,
41, pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic
State of Iraq. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on Feb.
9.
Acting U.S.
Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a release that Clark admitted pledging
allegiance to the terrorist group.
Authorities said
in court papers that he posted calls for attacks on the public and institutions
in New York in encrypted pro-Islamic State group chat rooms.
They said he
posted maps and images of the New York City subway system and encouraged
Islamic State supporters to attack it.
According to a
criminal complaint, Clark since at least March 2019 had spread propaganda and
other information, urging suicide bombings and “lone-wolf” attacks in the
United States and elsewhere.
Authorities said
the investigation relied on FBI employees working online in an undercover
capacity, law enforcement members posing as representatives of the Islamic
State group and two informants who were paid by the FBI and posed as group
members.
https://apnews.com/9cb71937d80d17c1594162eb331cda51?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
--------
South Asia
As Afghanistan
struggles to start peace talks, violence fills the void
By Susannah
George and Aziz Tassal
August 10, 2020
MAIDAN SHAHR,
Afghanistan — In one of the most heavily contested provinces in Afghanistan,
the government's control ends just two miles from the governor's residence.
Beyond that point, Taliban influence reigns.
The balance of
power in Wardak province held relatively steady for years. But since the
signing of a U.S.-Taliban peace deal in February, Taliban influence has grown
here and in other key parts of the country. An uptick in violence, aimed at
giving the militant group leverage in upcoming talks with the Afghan
government, has caused hundreds of civilian and combatant casualties and is
undermining local government officials.
“It’s created a
great distance between us and the people,” said Esmatullah Azim, a local
politician in the province. He said fewer civilians are approaching him for
help with compensation or for an explanation of the violence. Instead, they’re
turning to the Taliban.
“The people
blame the government for the delay in peace talks. They are hungry for peace
and want it any way and anyhow. Instead, day by day, the Taliban are getting
stronger.”
Afghanistan to
release last 400 Taliban prisoners, paving the way for peace talks
Under the
U.S.-Taliban agreement, the Afghan-Taliban peace talks were slated to begin in
March. But they were delayed for months by a presidential power crisis in
Kabul, increased violence and a controversial prisoner exchange that was
finalized only Sunday. The talks are now expected to launch this month in Doha.
U.S. officials have said they will bring a decrease in violence.
Washington Post
reporters traveled to Maidan Shahr this month during the three-day cease-fire
for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Wardak lies along one of Afghanistan’s
most dangerous highways, but during the cease-fire, the road was free from
clashes, and Taliban fighters temporarily disbanded their checkpoints.
The cease-fire
was a brief reprieve during an intensely violent period. Police at the security
outposts that mark the end of government control and the beginning of Taliban
influence have reported increased assaults by the militants. And in districts
beyond the government’s reach, civilians report heavier use of government
artillery.
More than 3,400
civilians have been killed or wounded since the signing of the U.S.-Taliban
deal, according to Afghan government figures. The casualties are comparable to
those in the months leading up to the agreement, when the numbers were among
the highest on record.
Islamic State
attack on Afghan prison ends on second day, with at least 29 dead
Local officials
warn that the persistent violence is helping the Taliban. They fear that the
militants are now in a stronger position as they enter delicate negotiations
with Kabul to redistribute power across the country and shape the government
that will rule postwar Afghanistan.
Naimatullah
Naimat, the head of the emergency room at Maidan Shahr’s main hospital, said
he’s seen the number of wounded coming for treatment increase.
“It wasn’t only
me — all Afghans had the same expectation, that there would be a decrease in
the violence,” he said. “But unfortunately that hasn’t been the case.”
Naimat said
patients from rural parts of the province blame the government for their
injuries and the deaths of loved ones. “If there is an operation in a village
[that causes casualties], people think it’s the government who is killing
them,” he said.
Data collected
by the United Nations suggests otherwise. The U.N. Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan attributed more civilian casualties in the first half of the year
to anti-government armed groups than to government forces. Taliban militants
were responsible for 43 percent of all civilian casualties, the mission said in
its most recent U.N. report; government forces were responsible for 23 percent.
The U.S.-Taliban
deal did not require a reduction in violence, but U.S. officials said violence
was “expected” to remain low after the signing. The week before the signing saw
a drop in violence of more than 70 percent. But within days, it surged again,
the only relief being two temporary cease-fires for holidays.
Officials in
other contested provinces echoed Azim, saying rising violence after the deal
has undermined local governance.
“The people have
lost trust in the government,” said Hamidullah Nawroz, the head of Ghazni’s
provincial council. “Instead, their trust in the Taliban has increased.”
Nawroz clarified
that he doesn’t believe that most Afghans in his province trust the Taliban to
be just rulers. But the deal with the United States has given the militants
legitimacy in the eyes of many Afghans and has made them appear to be a more
reliable source of security than the government.
Taliban declares
cease-fire in Afghanistan for Eid, as pressure builds for peace talks
Before the deal
was made public, Nawroz said, people in his province had hoped that some form
of a power-sharing government would rule postwar Afghanistan. “Now people think
it’s inevitable the Taliban will take complete control.”
undreds of
Afghan troops and police officers have been killed or wounded over the past
five months. At the height of the violence in June, 291 security forces were
killed and 550 wounded in a single week, according to Afghanistan’s national
security council.
In Wardak on a
recent afternoon, half a dozen police officers were stationed at a dusty
checkpoint just beyond the governor’s compound, atop a mound of discarded
concrete and mesh barriers that delineate the end of government-controlled
territory.
“There’s
fighting every night,” said Jamshed Afghan, a 19-year-old officer. “And every
day we hear that the Taliban overran another checkpoint.”
He said he
believes that clashes with Afghan forces have increased since the U.S. deal
because the Taliban no longer devotes resources and fighters to U.S. targets.
And with fewer U.S. airstrikes, the militants are under less military pressure.
Jamshed Afghan
pointed to a handful of places along the outpost’s perimeter where recent
Taliban attacks killed members of his unit. A small gap in a line of concrete
barrier walls, he said, was “where they shot our friend.” Muhammed Azim, 27,
was killed just days before the Eid cease-fire. He left three small children.
“Of course it
brings our morale down,” Afghan said. “The Taliban are becoming stronger, and
without the Americans they can turn their faces to us completely.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/spike-in-violence-fills-void-in-afghanistan-during-peace-talks-delay/2020/08/09/97a251fc-d3fd-11ea-826b-cc394d824e35_story.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
--------
Top Pakistani
military commanders discuss progress of Afghan reconciliation process
12 Aug 2020
The top
Pakistani military commanders commanders discussed the progress of the Afghan
reconciliation process in the aftermath of the consultative Loya Jirga (Grand
Assembly of Tribal Elders) which recently concluded in Kabul.
The
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistani military,
in a statement said the 234th Corps Commanders’ Conference discussed the
progress of Afghan peace process among other regional issues.
“Forum
appreciated the progress of Afghan Reconciliation Process and hoped for early
commencement of intra-Afghan dialogue,” the statement added.
Gen. Qamar
Bajwa, the Chief of Staff of the Pakistani Military, chaired the meeting of the
top Pakistani military commanders.
The consultative
Loya Jirga on Afghan peace process concluded earlier this week in Kabul with President
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani signing a decree on the recommendation of the Jirga to
release the remaining 400 Taliban prisoners who are deemed as dangerous
inmates.
https://www.khaama.com/top-pakistani-military-commanders-discuss-progress-of-afghan-reconciliation-process/
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Polio
vaccination resume to immunize kids in Afghanistan and Pakistan: UNICEF
11 Aug 2020
Polio
immunization campaigns have resumed in Afghanistan and Pakistan – the last two
polio-endemic countries in the world – months after COVID-19 left 50 million
children without their polio vaccine.
In Afghanistan,
polio immunization programs restarted in three provinces in July. A second
campaign covering almost half of the country will start this month. In
Pakistan, an initial round of vaccinations took place at the end of July,
covering about 780,000 children. A nationwide vaccination campaign is slated to
start later this month.
“These
life-saving vaccinations are critical if children are to avoid yet another
health emergency,” said Jean Gough, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia.
“As the world has come to see only too well, viruses know no borders and no
child is safe from polio until every child is safe.”
Polio is a
highly infectious, crippling and sometimes fatal disease that can be avoided
with a vaccine. Children under the age of five are particularly
vulnerable.
Child
vaccination drives, including polio campaigns, were halted in both Afghanistan
and Pakistan in March 2020 to avoid the risk of COVID-19 transmission to
children, caregivers and vaccinators themselves. As a result, reported polio
cases have reached 34 in Afghanistan and 63 in Pakistan, including in some
previously polio-free parts of the country.
The application
of new vaccination guidelines and the use of protective equipment by frontline
health workers will help ensure that vaccination campaigns resume safely.
However, while
every effort will be made to reach children nationwide in both countries,
UNICEF is concerned that up to 1 million children in Afghanistan could miss out
as door-to-door vaccinations are not possible in some areas and parents will
have to make their way to health clinics to have their child vaccinated. In
Pakistan, the suspension of vaccination drives has also resulted in the
expansion and introduction of the disease into new areas of the country.
“Although we
have experienced new challenges and a setback in the fight against polio
because of COVID-19, the eradication of this contagious disease will get back
on track and is firmly within our reach,” said Jean Gough.
“Together with
the respective Governments and other partners including the WHO, Rotary, the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and
Immunisation and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and with the
dedicated work by frontline health workers, we are committed to reaching every
child.”
https://www.khaama.com/polio-vaccination-campaigns-resume-in-afghanistan-and-pakistan-unicef-979876/
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Arab world
Anti-terror
operations continue successfully in northern Iraq, Defense Minister Akar says
AUG 10, 2020
Eighty-three PKK
terrorists have been killed and a large number of weapons and ammunition seized
as part of Turkey's cross-border anti-terror operations Claw-Tiger and
Claw-Eagle, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Sunday.
Akar inspected
troops at the border in Turkey's southeastern Şırnak province with Chief of
General Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler and Land Forces Commander Gen. Ümit Dündar.
Akar said the
Claw-Eagle and Claw-Tiger operations, which started June 16, have been
successfully continuing for the last 48 days.
"In the
operations carried out by Turkish forces, 83 terrorists have been neutralized
so far. A total of 359 mines/handmade explosives and 267 shelters were
detected,” he said.
"A large
number of weapons were seized in these shelters and caves, including 13 AT-4
anti-tank missiles, two guided missiles, 15 DShK (anti-aircraft weapons), 88
AK-47 infantry rifles, and 299 hand grenades," Akar added.
Akar also said
an operation against the PKK positions in northern Iraq's Haftanin region was
successfully carried out Saturday, adding that some top terrorists were killed
during the operation.
"Our fight
against terrorism will resolutely continue until the last terrorist is
neutralized," he noted.
During the
operations, Turkish drones also captured images of PKK terrorists setting fire
to forestland in northern Iraq, security sources said Sunday.
The terror group
uses various tools to wrongfully accuse Turkish forces of destruction in the areas
it has cleared in successful counterterrorism operations, said the sources who
asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
Akar also went
to the Yüksekova district of southeastern Hakkari province by helicopter to
inspect the border troops.
Operation
Claw-Tiger was initiated a few days after Operation Claw-Eagle, which was
launched in order to ensure the security of the Turkish people and the
country's borders by eliminating the PKK and other terrorist organizations that
have been stepping up their harassment and attack attempts against the police
and military bases.
The PKK
terrorist group managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in mid-2014, on the
pretext that it was protecting the local Yazidi community from Daesh. Since then,
the PKK has reportedly established a new base in Sinjar for its logistical and
command-and-control activities.
Turkey has long
been stressing that it will not tolerate terror threats posed against its
national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps
to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected
steps are not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terror threats,
particularly in Sinjar.
The Turkish
Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq,
a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which to carry out
attacks in Turkey. Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) also previously
called the PKK's presence in Sinjar unacceptable and urged the militants to
leave the area.
In addition to
cross-border operations, Turkish security forces regularly conduct
counterterrorism operations in the eastern and southeastern provinces of
Turkey, where the PKK has attempted to establish a strong presence.
Interior
Minister Süleyman Soylu said Monday that 474 PKK terrorists, including 64
senior figures who are on the country’s most-wanted list, have been eliminated
in 2020 so far.
In its more than
40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist
organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the European Union – has been responsible
for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/war-on-terror/anti-terror-operations-continue-successfully-in-northern-iraq-defense-minister-akar-says?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
--------
Lebanese Army
chief warns of ‘presence of dangerous substances’ at Beirut port
11 August 2020
Lebanese Armed
Forces Commander Major General Joseph Aoun warned on Tuesday of the possibility
of the presence of dangerous substances at the Beirut Port, site of the deadly
explosion that killed 171 people and injured more than 6000 others last week.
During his visit
to the Beirut Port and the Central Military Hospital near the explosion site,
the army commander stressed the need “to pay attention to the possibility of
the presence of dangerous substances.”
He called for a
general inspection of the containers, according to a report carried by the
state news agency NNA.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“We must push
forward and rise again, like the phoenix. The port is Lebanon’s breathing lung,
and efforts must be intensified so to restore it and allow it to resume its
work, especially in this less affected area,” he said.
Aoun visited the
injured in the military hospital and inspected the military buildings in the
port area that were damaged in the devastating blast.
The Army chief
affirmed that “the military institution is at the disposal of the port
administration.”
“From the port
of Beirut, we say, we will always stand by the side of the people. From here we
will export to the world our faith in our homeland,” Aoun affirmed.
Meanwhile and in
an emotional moment, church bells rang and mosques called for prayer at the
precise moment the massive explosion ravaged the Lebanese capital a week
earlier.
In a related
development, a US contractor spotted and reported the ammonium nitrate that led
to last week's deadly explosions, during a security inspection to the Port of
Beirut in 2016, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/11/Lebanese-Army-chief-warns-of-presence-of-dangerous-substances-at-Beirut-port.html
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Beirut explosion
death toll rises to 171, says the health ministry
11 August 2020
The death toll from
Beirut’s massive August 4 explosion has climbed to 171, a health ministry
spokesman told AFP on Tuesday.
The new figure,
up from 160, came exactly one week since the mega-blast ravaged swathes of the
Lebanese capital, wounding more than 6,000 and temporarily displacing 300,000
people from their homes.
At 6:08 pm in
Beirut on Tuesday, church bells rang and mosques called for prayer at the
precise moment a massive explosion ravaged the Lebanese capital a week earlier.
The last two
weeks of tumultuous change in Lebanon have revealed a country suffering from a
chronic disease – one that the Lebanese people have long diagnosed but
struggled to cure.
In a related
development, a US contractor spotted and reported the ammonium nitrate that led
to last week's deadly explosions, during a security inspection to the Port of
Beirut in 2016, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
“The diplomatic
cable, marked unclassified but sensitive, was issued by the United States
Embassy in Lebanon on Friday,” the New York Times said about a cable that
included the details of the contractor’s findings who was working with the US
Army at the time.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/11/Beirut-explosion-death-toll-rises-to-171-says-the-health-ministry.html
--------
Egyptians vote
for newly created Senate amid strict coronavirus measures
11 August 2020
Egyptians began
voting on Tuesday for members of a newly created second chamber of parliament,
with restrictive measures in place aimed at curbing a resurgence of novel
coronavirus infections.
The Council of
Senators will be an advisory body without legislative powers. It will include
200 elected members and 100 appointed by the president.
As in Egypt’s
main parliamentary chamber, supporters of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are
expected to dominate.
For more on
coronavirus, visit our dedicated section.
Officials say
the Senate will enhance political participation, but the build-up to the
elections was low key, which commentators attributed to the coronavirus
pandemic, a lack of awareness about the new chamber and apathy.
Sisi was elected
president in 2014 with 97 percent of the vote, and re-elected four years later
with the same percentage.
Last year, a
referendum approved constitutional changes that could allow him to stay in
office until 2030, widening his powers over the judiciary and establishing the
Senate.
One hundred
Senate members will be elected as individual candidates and 100 from a closed
list system, where people vote for parties.
Nearly 63
million people out of a total population of more than 100 million are eligible
to vote, according to state news agency MENA.
Polling stations
opened at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) and will close at 9 p.m., over two days of voting.
Results are due on August 19.
Measures to
guard against the coronavirus include the sterilization of voting stations and
obligatory masks.
Officially
confirmed cases of the virus in Egypt have rebounded slightly after a sharp
fall, with some officials and doctors warning of a second wave of infections.
Authorities have
reported just over 95,000 infections and 5,000 deaths.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/coronavirus/2020/08/11/Egyptians-vote-for-newly-created-Senate-amid-strict-coronavirus-measures.html
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Beirut
explosion: Fleeing death in war-torn Syria, a refugee family dies in blast
11 August 2020
Ahmed Staifi’s
wife fled the relentless bombing in neighboring Syria only to die in the
biggest explosion ever to hit Beirut.
His family
escaped the war raging across the border in Syria six years ago, looking for
refuge in Lebanon where he was already living and working as a laborer.
“My wife had
called me and said Ahmed, ‘I’m fleeing the war and coming to you.’ Death
followed her here,” the Syrian father of four said.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
When Staifi
rushed home after the warehouse explosion that rocked Beirut last week, he
heard his daughter calling out from beneath the rubble of their apartment.
“I came to see
my family, and I found this. One of my daughters was yelling ‘Dad, Dad I don’t
want to die,’” he recalled.
She survived, as
did another child who remains in intensive care.
But his wife
Khaldiya and his youngest and oldest daughters - Jude and Latifa, aged 13 and
24 - were killed as a mushroom cloud rose above the Lebanese capital from the
blast at Beirut port.
It reduced the
three-story building where Staifi’s family lived into slabs of concrete and
twisted metal.
The explosion,
which killed more than 160 people and injured 6,000 more, demolished entire
neighborhoods of Lebanon’s capital in an instant, including Karantina, where
the Staifi family had enjoyed a mostly quiet life.
More than a
million refugees from the Syrian war have poured into Lebanon since 2011, when
the conflict there erupted. Many, scraping by on daily labor and living in
camps, have languished in poverty.
At least 43
Syrians were reportedly killed in the explosion at Beirut port.
The blast
compounded months of economic collapse in Lebanon which had crashed the local
currency and left many Lebanese in dire financial straits. It also fueled
public outrage that led to the collapse of the government.
Officials have
said a huge stockpile of highly explosive material was stored in unsafe
conditions at the port for years.
In a speech
declaring his government’s resignation on Monday, Prime Minister Hassan Diab
blamed endemic corruption.
But the last
thing on Staifi’s mind is the investigation of the blast right now.
“What can I do?
My family is gone,” he said. “I have nothing.”
Now, he said, he
does not call to check up on his relatives in his city of Idlib in northwest
Syria, ravaged by years of war. “Now, they’re checking up on me instead.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2020/08/11/Beirut-explosion-Fleeing-death-in-war-torn-Syria-a-refugee-family-dies-in-blast.html
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US military
investigating Iraqi Shia militia's claim it bombed the Iraq-Kuwait border
11 August 2020
The US military
said Tuesday it was investigating a claim by a newly formed Iraqi Shia militant
group of a bombing at the Iraq-Kuwait border. Iraq and Kuwait denied an attack
had taken place.
Iraq later said
an explosion targeted a US-led coalition convoy on Tuesday in the Taji area,
north of Baghdad, causing only minor damage. No one claimed responsibility for
that attack.
The little-known
Ashab al-Kahf group claimed in an overnight statement it destroyed “equipment
and vehicles belonging to the American enemy” in a bombing targeting a border
crossing south of the Iraqi city of Basra.
The group later
published an 11-second video it claimed showed the blast, according to the SITE
Intelligence Group, which monitors militant groups. The out-of-focus video
shows what appeared to be an explosion and lights in the distance, with a man
speaking in Arabic. The Associated Press could not immediately verify the
video.
US Army Maj.
John Rigsbee, a Central Command spokesman, said the American military was
looking into reports of the explosion.
The Iraqi
military denied the border attack took place, calling the video a fabrication
intended to “mislead public opinion.” A Kuwait military statement carried by
the state-run KUNA news agency similarly denied reports about “a sabotage
attack on a northern border post.”
Kuwait has been
a staunch US ally since the 1991 Gulf War expelled Saddam Hussein's occupying
Iraqi forces. Today, Kuwait hosts some 13,500 American troops, many at Camp
Arifjan, home to the forward command of US Army Central.
Since the 2003
US-led invasion that toppled Saddam and the later war against the Islamic State
group, American troops and contractors sometimes travel by road with equipment
and supplies between the two countries.
Ashab al-Kahf,
or “Companions of the Cave” in Arabic — a reference to a Christian and Islamic
story about youths escaping religious persecution hiding in a cave for hundreds
of years —emerged alongside renewed threats by Shia militias amid rising
US-Iran tensions.
In January, an
American drone strike killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad. Tehran responded
with a ballistic missile attack that wounded dozens of American troops at a
military base in Iraq.
The Ashab
al-Kahf initially threatened US forces in April and claimed an attack on a
convoy in July in Iraq's Salaheddin province. On August 9, another explosion
targeted a convoy in the southern Dhi Qar province, reportedly causing minor
damage.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/11/US-military-investigating-Iraqi-Shia-militia-s-claim-it-bombed-the-Iraq-Kuwait-border.html
--------
First COVID-19
case among residents reported in Syrian IS camp
Aug 10, 2020
A resident of
al-Hol camp for Islamic State (IS) families in Syria has COVID-19. This is the
first confirmed case of the coronavirus in the infamous camp, and the news
follows the infections of three health workers there. There are concerns from
humanitarian organizations that the virus could spread rapidly in the
overcrowded dwelling.
The first case
in al-Hol was confirmed on Monday, according to Save the Children, one of the
international humanitarian organizations that operate in the camp. The
organization’s Syria head Sonia Khush said that poor living conditions in the
camp will make it difficult to contain the virus.
“An outbreak of
COVID-19 in al-Hol camp is going to be challenging to control considering how
overcrowded the camp is and how little access families have to water, personal
hygiene items, tests and protective equipment,” Khush said in a press release.
“Sadly, there will be more cases.”
Al-Hol camp is
home to more than 65,000 mostly women and children with varying degrees of
allegiance to IS. Most residents are from Iraq and Syria, but there are also
people from Europe, Asia and elsewhere. Families live in a conglomeration of
tents that are close together in a desert area near the Iraqi border. There are
shortages of water and hygiene materials there, making the population
vulnerable to an outbreak. The United Nations is one of the organizations to
warn about the COVID-19 situation before the first case was reported.
Officials from
the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria run the camp. The
Kurdish-led region's main military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces, fights
IS with US support and guards al-Hol.
Northeast Syria
as a whole faces struggles in its fight against COVID-19. In January, Russia
vetoed allowing the continuance of aid crossing from Iraq to northeast Syria.
Russia is the Syrian government’s main ally, and Damascus does not fully
recognize the Kurdish authorities there. Aid coming from Syrian government
territory may not reach the northeast at all. Years of war with IS and Turkey
have also taken a massive toll on the region’s health care system, and many are
not prepared for a high number of COVID-19 cases.
The first
confirmed coronavirus case among residents follows three health care workers
who contracted the virus in the camp last week. The workers were Syrian and
isolated at home following the detection, an autonomous administration official
told Al-Monitor last week.
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/08/first-covid-19-coronavirus-al-hol-camp-islamic-state-syria.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
--------
Mideast
Turkey to Issue
Mediterranean Exploration Licenses, Escalating Tensions with Greece
11 August 2020
Turkey will
issue gas exploration and drilling licenses in the eastern Mediterranean, its
foreign minister said on Tuesday, further raising tensions with Greece which
said it would seek an emergency EU meeting to address the issue.
The two NATO
allies vehemently disagree about their overlapping claims for hydrocarbon
resources in the eastern Mediterranean, based on conflicting views of how far
their continental shelves extend in waters dotted with islands.
On Monday Turkey
sent an exploration vessel into a disputed area, ending a brief period of calm
brokered by Germany. Ankara said a maritime deal Greece signed with Egypt last
week showed it could not trust Athens, and vowed to continue surveying waters
that are also claimed by Greece and Cyprus.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey’s Oruc Reis exploration vessel would continue its
work, which Greece has decried as illegal, and Ankara would issue new seismic
exploration and drilling licenses by the end of August.
“Our
determination is unfaltering here,” he told reporters in Ankara. “We will not
compromise in any way from this.”
Backing up
Cavusoglu’s unyielding tone, Turkey’s communications director Fahrettin Altun
tweeted on Tuesday video footage of Turkish fighter jets, warships and
exploration vessels deployed at sea.
“Every drop of
our blue homeland is sacred,” Altun tweeted, referring to a doctrine championed
by recent Turkish naval commanders calling for Ankara to adopt a more muscular
approach in its coastal waters.
Turkey says it
has the longest coastline in the eastern Mediterranean but is penned in to a
narrow strip of coastal water by the presence of numerous small Greek islands
close to its shore. Greece and other regional states cite a United Nations
accord to support their maritime demarcations.
Athens seeks emergency
EU meeting
Greece said it
would request an emergency meeting of the European Union foreign affairs
council, the prime minister’s office said on Tuesday.
The European
Union, which has imposed an entry ban and asset freeze on two Turkish energy
executives, called for dialogue.
“The latest
developments are extremely worrying,” European Commission foreign affairs
spokesman Peter Stano said.
Turkey’s
presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that two months of talks between
Greece and Turkey had led to “an understanding” between them which was then
scuppered by Thursday’s announcement of the Greek-Egyptian deal.
“The moment the
accord with Egypt was announced, we received very clear orders from our
president. ‘Stop the talks’,” Kalin told broadcaster CNN Turk at the weekend.
The United
States, saying it took no position on maritime boundary issues of other states,
expressed deep concern at Turkey’s exploration work and called for a return to
talks.
“We strongly
support dialogue between Greece and Turkey and encourage the parties to resume
discussing these issues,” a US State Department spokesperson said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/11/Turkey-to-issue-Mediterranean-exploration-licenses-escalating-tensions-with-Greece.html
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US revises
resolution to extend UN arms embargo on Iran
12 August 2020
The United
States on Tuesday circulated a revised resolution that would extend a UN arms
embargo on Iran indefinitely, seeking to gain more support in the 15-member
Security Council where veto-wielding Russia and China have voiced strong
opposition.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app
US Ambassador
Kelly Craft said the new draft “takes council views into account and simply
does what everyone knows should be done — extend the arms embargo to prevent
Iran from freely buying and selling conventional weapons.”
“It is only
common sense that the world’s #1 state sponsor of terror not be given the means
of unleashing even greater harm on the world,” she said in a statement.
Council
diplomats said the revised draft could be put in a final form Thursday and put
to a vote Friday.
Diplomats,
speaking on condition of anonymity because the new resolution had not been made
public, said the revised text is shorter than the original draft circulated in
June. That draft included several provisions that some diplomats objected to as
going beyond the extension of the arms embargo.
One provision in
the original resolution would have authorized all UN member states to inspect
cargo entering or transiting through their territory at airports, seaports and
free trade zones from Iran or heading there, if the member state had
“reasonable grounds to believe the cargo” contained banned items.
Another
provision would have condemned a September 2019 attack on Saudi Arabia and
December 2019 attacks on an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk and the US Embassy in
Baghdad, saying Iran was responsible.
The United
Nations banned Iran from buying major foreign weapon systems in 2010 amid
tensions over its nuclear program. That blocked Iran from replacing its aging
military equipment, much of which had been purchased by the shah before the
1979 Islamic Revolution. An earlier embargo targeted Iranian arms exports.
The US push to
make the arms embargo permanent follows President Donald Trump’s 2018
withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal between six major powers and Iran, aimed
at preventing Iranian development of nuclear weapons. Tehran has repeatedly
insisted it has no interest or intention to produce a nuclear bomb.
The 2015 UN
Security Council resolution endorsing the nuclear deal includes a provision
lifting the arms embargo on Iran on October 18.
The foreign
ministers of Russia and China, in separate letters to UN Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres and the Security Council last month, were sharply critical of
the US effort to indefinitely extend the arms embargo. They gave every
indication they would veto any such resolution if it got the minimum nine “yes”
votes in the 15-member council, which appears unlikely.
If the
resolution is defeated, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested the US
would invoke the “snap back” mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal that would
restore all UN sanctions on Iran. “Snap back” was envisioned in the event Iran
was proven to be in violation of the accord, under which it received billions
of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the Trump administration of waging a politically
motivated campaign against Iran and called for “universal condemnation” of the
US attempt to impose a permanent arms embargo on the Islamic Republic. He said
Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement and now has no legal right to
try to use the UN resolution endorsing the deal to indefinitely continue the
embargo.
Chinese Foreign
Minister Wang Yi said the arms embargo should be lifted October 18. He also
argued that since the US is no longer a party to the nuclear deal it “has no
right to demand the Security Council to activate the rapid reinstatement of
sanctions” through the “snap back” provision.
The five
remaining signatories to the 2015 deal — Russia, China, Britain, France and
Germany — remain committed to the agreement. Diplomats from several of these
countries have expressed serious concern that extending the arms embargo would
lead to Iran’s exit from the deal and its speeded-up pursuit of nuclear
weapons.
The US argues
that Iran hasn’t been cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency
for a year and has been moving a lot of weapons to proxies in the Middle East
despite the embargo.
If the embargo
is lifted, the US Defense Intelligence Agency predicted in 2019 that Iran
likely would try to purchase Russian Su-30 fighter jets, Yak-130 trainer
aircraft and T-90 tanks. Tehran also may try to buy Russia’s S-400
anti-aircraft missile system and its Bastian coastal defense missile system,
the agency said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/12/US-revises-resolution-to-extend-UN-arms-embargo-on-Iran.html
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Palestinians
protest to demand release of BDS activist arrested for security offenses
11 August 2020
Palestinians
rallied in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, urging EU pressure on
Israel to free a local leader of the global BDS campaign to boycott Israel.
Mahmoud Nawajaa,
coordinator of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in the
occupied Palestinian territories, was arrested at his home in Ramallah on July
30.
Several rights
groups, including Amnesty International, have called for his release.
“He has been
detained solely for exercising his rights to freedom of expression and
association and is therefore a prisoner of conscience,” Amnesty said in an
August 7 press release.
More than 100
protesters gathered outside the German delegation office in Ramallah urging the
country, which currently holds the European body’s rotating presidency, to
lobby Israel.
“Our main
message to the European Union and to Germany is that you need to intervene with
the Israelis, force them to uphold human rights and those who defend them,”
said Omar Barghouti, a co-founder of BDS.
The movement
calls for a wide-ranging embargo of Israel over its treatment of the
Palestinians.
Israeli sources
familiar with Nawajaa’s case who requested anonymity told AFP that he was
arrested for “security offenses,” not over his role in BDS.
They did not
detail the nature of the allegations against him and Nawajaa has not been
charged in court.
Israel sees BDS
as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism.
Activists
strongly deny the charge, comparing the embargo to the economic isolation that
helped bring down apartheid in South Africa.
Last year,
Israel expelled the country director of Human Rights Watch, Omar Shakir, after
accusing him of supporting BDS, a claim he denied.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/11/Palestinians-protest-to-demand-release-of-BDS-activist-arrested-for-security-offenses.html
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Turkish drone
kills two high-ranking Iraqi officers in Kurdish region: Army
11 August 2020
Two high-ranking
Iraqi officers were killed Tuesday in what the army said was a “blatant Turkish
drone attack” in the autonomous Kurdish region, where Ankara has for weeks been
raiding militant positions.
The strike
killed two border guard battalion commanders and the driver of their vehicle,
the army said in a statement.
It is the first
time members of the regular Iraqi forces have been killed since Turkey launched
a cross-border ground and air operation in mid-June against Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK) rebels in the mountainous terrain of northern Iraq.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Iraq has already
summoned the Turkish envoy in Baghdad twice in protest at Ankara’s operations
on its soil.
Ihsan Chalabi,
the mayor of nearby Sidakan in the north of Arbil province, told AFP that the
drone strike in the Pradost region targeted “Iraqi border guard commanders
while they were in meetings with PKK fighters.”
Witnesses had
reported clashes earlier in the day between PKK and Iraqi forces, and local
sources said the drone strike targeted an emergency meeting called to try to
calm the tensions.
The Iraqi
presidency issued a statement denouncing “a dangerous violation of Iraqi
sovereignty” and called on Ankara to “stop all its military operations” in the
region.
At least five
civilians have been killed since the start of the Turkish campaign in June.
Ankara has
announced the death of two of its soldiers, and the PKK and its allies have
reported the deaths of 10 fighters and supporters.
The PKK, which
is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, has waged
an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
It has long used
the rugged terrain of northern Iraq as a rear base to wage attacks on Turkey,
which in turn had set up military positions inside Iraqi territory to fight
them.
A ground assault
launched on June 17 and dubbed Operation Claw Tiger has seen Turkish troops
advance up to 40 km (25 miles) inside Iraq and establish over 30 “temporary
bases”, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
On June 14,
Turkish fighter jets hit Kurdish militant targets in Mount Sinjar in northern
Iraq with around 20 missiles, security sources told Al Arabiya.
Al Arabiya
English’s Souad El Skaf contributed to this report.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/11/Turkish-drone-strike-kills-Iraqi-border-guards-Iraq-military-says.html
--------
Africa
Boko Haram
Recruiting More Members Despite Rehabilitation By Nigerian Government,
North-East Governors Tell Buhari
AUG 10, 2020
Despite the
reintegration of ex-Boko Haram terrorists into the society, governors of
North-Eastern states in Nigeria have told President Muhammadu Buhari that the
group was recruiting more members in the region.
The Nigerian
Government had in March 2016 launched Operation Safe Corridor programme to
encourage Boko Haram terrorists to surrender.
The programme is
based on Deradicalisation, Rehabilitation and Re-Integration of former members
of the Islamic sect that has terrorised the North-East region for over 10
years.
A total of 881
'repentant' former terrorists have been released since the programme was
launched four years ago, with 601 released in July, 2020.
But the
governors in a meeting with President Buhari alongside heads of security
agencies on Monday recommended that the police should be empowered with
adequate equipment to bridge the existing gap in manpower.
Governors Babagana
Zulum of Borno State, who addressed journalists after the meeting, said the
governors highlighted the key security challenges in the region.
He said, “The
government of the region has commended the efforts of the Federal Government in
securing the region.
“However, we
told the President that there is a need for the Federal Government to address
the causes of insurgency, which are not limited to endemic poverty, hunger
among others.
“One of the root
causes is that of access to farm lands, people need to go back to their
farmlands, people need to be resettled in their original homes so that they can
restart their means of livelihood.
“This is one of
the reasons the insurgents are recruiting more into the sect. Therefore,
creating an enabling environment (that) will enable the people to go about
their normal duties will no doubt reduce the cases of insurgency.
“There is a need
for the federal, states and the local government to come together with a view
to proffering solutions that will end this crisis in the region. But most
importantly, there is war on the economy in the region and I think that is why
we are here.”
http://saharareporters.com/2020/08/10/boko-haram-recruiting-more-members-despite-rehabilitation-nigerian-government-north-east?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
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Sudan says 13
killed in ethnic clashes
11 August 2020
Sudan said on
Tuesday 13 people were killed and 42 injured in days of clashes between rival
ethnic groups in its Red Sea port, state media reported.
Violence broke
out in the eastern city of Port Sudan on Sunday evening, the SUNA news agency
said, quoting medics who had treated the wounded.
Police sent in
reinforcements and have imposed a night-time curfew, the statement added.
For all the latest
headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Fighting began
when protestors from the Nuba people, demonstrating against a new governor,
entered a district of the Beni Amer group.
There is long
standing hostility between the groups.
The Nuba
originate from the South Kordofan region, an area that suffered from the
decades of civil war.
The Beni Amer
people come from eastern Sudan.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/11/Sudan-says-13-killed-in-ethnic-clashes.html
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Victims of
Libyan-backed terrorism face new compensation battle
August 10, 2020
British victims
of Irish republican terrorism are preparing legal action to force the
government to share a report examining the compensation claims of those injured
and bereaved in attacks using explosives supplied by the regime of Muammar
Qaddafi.
William
Shawcross, a writer and former charity regulator, delivered his report in March
which examined how best to secure compensation from Libya for victims of 1970s
and 80s terrorism but the government has not committed to publishing his
findings.
Families of
victims responded angrily on Monday as they had believed that the report would
be made public and would bolster their campaign to persuade the UK to take a more
active role in pursuing their cases. Mr Shawcross’s task was to inform
government thinking on the subject and advise on the level of compensation that
should be sought.
Belfast lawyer
Kevin Winters, who is taking legal action on behalf of families of victims,
told The National that he was working on a multi-pronged effort to see the
report first ordered by former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
“There was an
expectation on behalf of victims that would get access to the report, if not
the whole of it,” he said. “We accept there may be sensitive issues in relation
to intelligence that may be subject to redaction and we accept that.”
At the time of
his appointment in March last year, Mr Shawcross said the “victims of the IRA
terrorism sponsored by Qaddafi deserve all support for their efforts to obtain
redress from the Libyan government”.
Mr Shawcross
said on Monday that he submitted a “confidential report for the Foreign
Secretary” in March this year and it was up to the government whether it made
it public.
The UK’s
longstanding position has been not to pursue government-to-government
negotiations with Libya on behalf of victims.
The Qaddafi
regime supplied guns and explosives to the Irish Republican Army during its
decades-long struggle for a united and independent Ireland, known as The
Troubles, that left more than 3,500 people dead.
A 1998 agreement
ended the armed conflict. Six years later, Col Qaddafi agreed to dismantle his
chemical weapons programme and pay compensation to victims from the plane that
was blown up over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988.
But the deal
struck with former prime minister Tony Blair did not address the issue of
broader compensation claims for victims of Libyan-supplied explosives.
The families of
victims of Libyan-provided Semtex have been told they should launch individual
claims rather than rely on the administration of Boris Johnson to negotiate
with any future Libyan government.
But relatives
say the suggestion is impractical and compared the government’s stance to the
US, which passed laws in 2008 that allowed the Qaddafi regime to pay $1 billion
(Dh3.67bn) in compensation for American victims.
The families saw
the appointment of Mr Shawcross as a boost to their attempts and during
meetings highlighted the cases of victims who had died or committed suicide
without securing compensation.
Foreign Office
minister Liz Sugg said last week that the Covid-19 pandemic had hampered the
Government’s efforts to examine the report.
“The issue of UK
victims of Qaddafi-sponsored IRA terrorism remains important to Her Majesty's
Government,” she said. “Government ministers will consider the report in detail
in due course, including whether to publish any elements of it.”
Jonathan Ganesh,
who was injured in a 1996 IRA bombing in east London, said that victims were
“confused, devastated and heartbroken” that they might not see the report.
"Victims
and their families are absolutely devastated to learn that the government is
apparently unwilling to publish Mr Shawcross's report,” he said. “It is
heart-breaking as the government appointed Mr William Shawcross as our
representative.”
https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/victims-of-libyan-backed-terrorism-face-new-compensation-battle-1.1061766?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
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Seven Killed as
Al-Shabab Inmates Fire at Somali Prison Guards
By Harun Maruf
August 10, 2020
Somali security
forces have shot dead four armed inmates after a fierce gun battle in
Mogadishu’s central prison, security officials told VOA Somali. Three prison
guards were also killed in Monday’s incident, officials confirmed.
The inmates, all
members of Islamist militant group al-Shabab, had obtained three pistols and
six hand grenades smuggled into the prison, a senior security official told
VOA. The inmates attacked guards, sparking the confrontation.
Two other
inmates suspected of involvement were wounded and apprehended, according to
officials. One inmate is believed to have escaped the facility.
Officials said
they believe the escapee killed the driver of a rickshaw and another civilian
outside the prison.
The gunfire
started in the section where inmates serving a life sentence are held,
according to the official.
The security
official said it is believed the weapons were hidden in food and other items
smuggled into the prison when inmates receive visits twice a week.
An inmate held
in a different part of the prison who was interviewed by a local radio said the
shooting started during change of shift by the guards.
The central
prison is located next to Mogadishu’s seaport and is heavily guarded. Dozens of
al-Shabab inmates are held at the facility, including some who are on death
row.
https://www.voanews.com/africa/seven-killed-al-shabab-inmates-fire-somali-prison-guards?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
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France launches
anti-terror inquiry into attack on aid workers in Niger
10 Aug 2020
France’s
anti-terrorism prosecutor has opened an investigation into the killing of six
French aid workers at a wildlife reserve in Niger, as Emmanuel Macron condemned
what he called a “cowardly” attack.
A local driver
working with the French humanitarian group ACTED and a guide were also killed
in the attack, which took place on Sunday morning in a reserve known as the
Giraffe Zone, home to the last remaining population of west African giraffes,
in the south-western region of Kouré. Attackers on motorbikes ambushed the
group as it drove through the reserve, which is in an area considered safe by
Niger’s government.
Images broadcast
on France’s TF1 television channel showed the torched remains of a 4x4 vehicle
sprayed with bullet holes.
Jihadist groups
have not claimed responsibility for the killing but are widely suspected, in a
country that has been beset by a jihadist insurgency. In the clearest sign yet
that France believes a militant group was involved, the office of France’s
anti-terrorism prosecutor said it was launching an investigation on suspicion
of the involvement of a terrorist group.
In a statement
posted on Twitter, the French president said: “Several of our compatriots and
Nigeriens were cowardly murdered yesterday in Niger in a deadly attack. I share
the pain of their families and loved ones. Some were hired for the most
altruistic of missions: to help people.”
Macron also
pledged support for the restive west African nation during a phone call late on
Sunday with its president, Mahamadou Issoufou. Both leaders pledged that “all
means are and will be implemented to shed light on the circumstances of this
murderous attack”, according to a statement released by Macron’s office.
A French
military source told Reuters that Nigerien and French forces had been combing
through the reserve and surrounding areas in pursuit of the gunmen.
The aid staff
were all employed by ACTED, which said on Monday: “Aid workers must never be a
target. Our colleagues have been working to support the people of Niger facing
hardship, driven by values of humanity and solidarity.”
The Association
of Kouré’s Giraffe Guides said its president, Kadri Abdou, was killed in the
attack. “We are grieving and thinking of the victims and their families to whom
we extend our deepest condolences, and especially to the family of Kadri, our
friend,” it said on Facebook.
Jihadist attacks
have proliferated in the volatile south-western Tillaberi region of Niger,
close to the borders of Mali and Burkina Faso, where jihadist groups have made
a haven.
Islamic State is
among numerous terrorist actors at large in the Sahel region also spanning
Mauritania and Chad, killing thousands of people and displacing millions in one
of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Around 13 million people are in need
of humanitarian assistance, with 4.5 million internally displaced.
France, a former
colonial power in the francophone region, has deployed thousands of troops in
Niger and the Sahel since 2013, yet violence continues to rise. Macron said
France’s determination to combat armed terrorist groups remained resolute.
West Africa’s
giraffe population has been reduced by drought and intense poaching, though in
recent years numbers have rebounded from just 50 in 1996 to more than 600,
thanks to protection from local communities and the efforts of conservation
groups.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/10/macron-condemns-cowardly-killing-of-aid-workers-in-niger?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
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Southeast Asia
Former Sabah CM
Chong may make comeback to state politics
Durie Rainer
Fong
August 12, 2020
KOTA KINABALU:
Former Sabah Barisan Nasional component party Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
has big ambitions in the coming snap state election, with the possibility of
its former president Chong Kah Kiat making a comeback.
Hoping to be the
third force, LDP is eyeing at least 40 seats out of the 73 to be contested and
believes its chances are better with Chong being the pull factor. Chong was
chief minister from 2001 to 2003 under Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s chief minister
rotation system during the latter’s first term as prime minister.
Asked if he
would contest in the coming election, Chong told FMT: “Let’s wait, have a
little patience. Let’s wait for the Election Commission meeting.”
Chong, who is
LDP life honorary president, retired as party president in 2006, allowing now
permanent Warisan chairman Liew Vui Keong to take over the helm then.
A year later,
Chong, then the deputy chief minister and tourism, culture and environment
minister, resigned from former chief minister Musa Aman’s state Cabinet, after
a falling out with the latter.
However, he
suddenly appeared after an 11-year absence from politics to campaign for BN in
the last general election, raising eyebrows after his earlier differences with
Musa.
A former state
assemblyman for the Tanjung Kapor seat in the Kudat parliamentary constituency,
Chong shot down claims he had supported Warisan prior to GE14 then.
Meanwhile, LDP
acting president Chin Su Phin said the party envisioned itself as the third
force for Sabahan voters in the coming polls.
The other forces
considered in the state are the incumbent ruling coalition of Warisan Plus
(which also includes Upko, PKR and DAP) and Sabah Umno/BN with its Perikatan
Nasional allies of Sabah PPBM, PBS and STAR.
Sabah MCA and
Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah are also part of Sabah BN.
Chin was also
coy when asked if Chong would be making his comeback. However, he said they had
conducted a survey in the state and were confident they could be the surprise
package in the election.
“Most of the
people (in their survey) said they are willing to have a third force in Sabah
so they at least have another choice.
“We are
independent … we are not joining BN or anyone else,” he told FMT.
Saying they
would contest in more seats this time, he added: “We will contest in the
Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) areas and even the Muslim Bumiputera-majority seats
(besides the Chinese seats) … we are a multi-racial party.”
LDP lost the one
parlimentary and four state seats it contested under BN in the 2018 general
election.
Two days after
the May 9 election, it became the second party to quit BN after Upko following
the disastrous results of GE14.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/08/12/former-sabah-cm-chong-may-make-comeback-to-state-politics/
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Sabah group
lodges police report on dissolution of state assembly
Hakimie Amrie
Hisamudin
August 12, 2020
KUALA LUMPUR: A
Sabah-based political group has lodged a police report against Sabah Governor
Juhar Mahiruddin and Warisan president Shafie Apdal for abuse of power in the
recent dissolution of the state assembly.
Zulkarnain
Mahdar, the pro tem chairman of Gerakan Kuasa Rakyat Malaysia (G57), said Juhar
should not have consented to the request by Shafie to dissolve the state
assembly.
He added that
Juhar should have met all the assemblymen before making the decision as Shafie
no longer commanded a majority.
“Juhar should
have met all 65 state representatives before signing the declaration for the
dissolution of the state assembly,” Zulkarnain told reporters after lodging the
report at the Sri Petaling police station.
He said the
governor had also crossed the boundary of his discretionary powers by
appointing Shafie as Sabah chief minister in 2018, just days after Musa Aman
was appointed to the position.
He said sacking
and replacing Musa was tantamount to stealing the power of the state assembly
to remove the chief minister.
He also said the
police report was meant to protect him because of his complaint to the
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Aug 5 regarding the dissolution
of the state assembly.
“I have received
reports that certain parties are trying to harm me after I lodged the complaint
with MACC,” he said.
“More than 10
police reports have also been made against me because of the complaint,
accusing me of insulting Juhar.”
Zulkarnain’s
complaint is the second to have been lodged with MACC against the governor. In
December 2018, G57 made a complaint after the Sabah constitution was amended to
allow Juhar to occupy the seat for a longer time.
Zulkarnain said
the longer tenure as governor could be interpreted as a reward for Juhar for
his role in ensuring Shafie was made the chief minister.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/08/12/sabah-group-lodges-police-report-on-dissolution-of-state-assembly/
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Europe
Greece to call
emergency EU meeting on tensions with Turkey
11 August 2020
Greece is set to
call an emergency meeting of the European Union (EU) foreign ministers to
discuss its growing dispute with Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean.
“The foreign
minister (will) request an emergency meeting of the European Union foreign
affairs council,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ office said on
Tuesday.
Peter Stano, a
spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, voiced concern about the
rising territorial tensions and said the situation needed to be solved through
dialog.
“Apparently the
developments on the ground unfortunately show that… more needs to be done in
order to defuse the tensions and reverse the very negative and unfortunate
trend of escalation,” the spokesman said.
“That’s why
(Borrell) stated that he is deploying all efforts necessary to re-establish the
dialog, positive constructive dialog, and to facilitate the re-engagement, and
these efforts are ongoing,” he said.
Tensions
escalated in the eastern Mediterranean on Monday after Turkey launched naval
exercises off two Greek islands and announced the resumption of its energy
exploration research activity in the disputed area.
Turkey
dispatched a research ship, accompanied by naval vessels, off the Greek island
of Kastellorizo, where Turkey disputes Greek maritime rights. The Turkish
vessels are being shadowed by Greek warships.
Greek Foreign
Minister Nikos Dendias urged Turkey on Tuesday to withdraw the vessels from the
Greek continental shelf.
“Greece will
defend its sovereignty and its rights. We are calling on Turkey to immediately
leave the Greek continental shelf,” he said.
Turkey had
suspended the research activities but resumed them on August 6 when Egypt and
Greece signed an agreement laying out the maritime boundary between their
exclusive economic zones. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced that
maritime deal as “worthless.”
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/2020/08/11/631589/Greece-Turkey-EU-emergency-meeting
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Alleged ISIS
member living off benefits in the UK
Jamie Prentis
August 10, 2020
A British-German
woman who is accused of marrying an ISIS fighter in Syria is now living in a canal
boat in the UK and claiming government benefits, she says.
Natalie Bracht,
45, who is a mother to nine children, rejected reports that she headed up an
all-female ISIS brigade in Syria and was the second wife of Celso Rodrigues Da
Costa, a Portuguese convert who travelled to Syria to fight for ISIS.
She was living
in Germany when Covid-19 reached Europe but she arrived in the UK on April 3.
Upon landing she was questioned under the UK terrorism act and denied having
been in Syria.
Ms Bracht said
she was asked about Brexit, elections and vaccines but also where she had
stayed in Syria.
“It has affected
my family. I’ve been treated like a terror suspect. It looks like I have to
have a new identity and the stories must be put straight,” she told The Sunday
People.
“It’s not for
me. I can live with this. I have accepted I am a full-time terror suspect
without conviction. It either breaks you or makes you stronger. In my case it
has made me stronger,” Ms Bracht added.
The newspaper
said that Ms Bracht claimed to have volunteered as a translator in 2012 for the
controversial advocacy group Cage, which says it supports victims of the war on
terror.
“They are in
prison, then they are free again and then they are not convicted but treated
for the rest of their lives as full-time terror suspects. They never had
convictions,” she said.
Cage said
volunteering claims were untrue. “We would like to clarify that our records
show she has never volunteered for us,” a representative from the group told
The National.
Ms Bracht also
said she sympathised with Shamima Begum, the ISIS supporter who is languishing
in a Kurdish-run camp after her British citizenship was withdrawn last year.
“This girl was
brainwashed on the internet, the intelligence services didn’t prevent her from
leaving the country,” Ms Bracht said.
“She was only 15
years old – this should be dealt with by child protection.”
The British
government is going to the UK Supreme Court to challenge Ms Begum’s return to
mount a legal battle aimed at restoring her British citizenship, which was
revoked on national security grounds.
Reports from
2008 suggested that Ms Bracht had a history of mental health problems
https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/alleged-isis-member-living-off-benefits-in-the-uk-1.1061870?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1430038_
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/muslims-form-human-chain-guard/d/122605