Pakistan Has Committed Shirk by Funding Temple Construction in Islamabad, Says Zakir Naik
New Age Islam News Bureau
24
Jul 2020
• Prayers at
Hagia Sophia Will Crown Decades-Long Muslim Campaign
• Invite All
Babri Mosque Demolition Accused to Ram Temple 'Bhumi Pujan' and Honour Them:
Hindutva Outfit Chief
• ‘Help Us
Help You:’ French FM In Lebanon Urges Reforms
• US Congress
Repeals Travel Ban on Muslim-Majority Countries, Unlikely to Pass Senate
• Pakistan
Elected President of UN Economic and Social Council for The Sixth Time
Southeast Asia
• Pakistan Has
Committed Shirk by Funding Temple Construction in Islamabad, Says Zakir Naik
• Silence of
Muslim states on Uighurs’ plight is chilling
--------
Mideast
• Prayers at
Hagia Sophia Will Crown Decades-Long Muslim Campaign
• PM: Iraq Not
to Allow Aggression against Iran
• Turkey
pushing ahead with its agenda, risking the wrath of US, EU sanctions
• Israel
reinforces Lebanon border after Hezbollah threats
--------
India
• Invite All
Babri Mosque Demolition Accused to Ram Temple 'Bhumi Pujan' and Honour Them:
Hindutva Outfit Chief
• 198 Delhi
Mosque Tablighi Jamaat Event Indonesian Attendees Pay Fine, Allowed to Walk
Free
• Bangladesh refused
to take Imran’s J&K bait: India
• India
facilitating visa requests of Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh minorities
• Pakistan has
blocked review of Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case, says India
• Punjab:
Hearing Impaired Muslim Boy Living with Sikh Family Meets Parents 9 Years After
Separation
--------
Europe
• ‘Help Us
Help You:’ French FM In Lebanon Urges Reforms
• Islamic
State Remains 'Most Significant' Threat To UK
• 'Astonishing'
PM has not spoken to Sadiq Khan since May despite pandemic
• British
Daesh terrorists dubbed the ‘Beatles’ admit mistreatment of US aid worker
--------
North America
• US Congress
Repeals Travel Ban on Muslim-Majority Countries, Unlikely to Pass Senate
• Key senator
mounts pressure on Trump to declassify report on Soleimani strike
• ‘Trump
ordered by his Israeli masters to assassinate General Soleimani’
• Arabs and
Muslims welcome US House of Representatives passage of No Ban Act
• US fighter
jets intercept Iranian passenger plane over Syria
• US Airstrike
Hits Pro-Islamic State Militants in Somalia
--------
Pakistan
• Pakistan
Elected President of UN Economic and Social Council for The Sixth Time
• Pak Govt,
Opposition Debate Kulbhushan’sReview Petition
• Cleric
pleads not guilty in contempt case
• LHC to hear
petitions of two convicted of espionage
--------
South Asia
• Afghan Army
Releases Photo of Militants Who Joined Taliban After Being Released from Prison
• Afghan
tribal elder strips naked in protest to conferment of Marshal degree to Gen.
Dostum
• Region,
including Pakistan to benefit from Afghan peace process: NATO SCR
• Khalilzad
reacts to recent wave of violence led by Afghan forces and Taliban
• Civilians
among 45 killed in Afghan air raids against Taliban
--------
Africa
• Turkey Warns
Egypt of ‘Dangerous Military Adventure’ In Libya
• Libyan
National Army downs Turkish drone west of Sirte
• Russia,
Turkey will continue efforts for ceasefire in Libya: Russian FM
• Boko Haram
executes five aid workers
--------
Arab World
• Iraqi PM
Visits Islamic State Hotbed After Sniper Kills General
• Turkey plans
to increase its forces in Libya in case of Egyptian intervention: Report
• Coronavirus:
Lebanon's COVID-19 cases rise, dogs trained to sniff out infections
• Dangers
threatening Egypt on July revolution anniversary, El-Sisi says
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/pakistan-committed-shirk-funding-temple/d/122458
--------
Pakistan Has
Committed Shirk By Funding Temple Construction In Islamabad, Says Zakir Naik
byM R
Subramani
Jul 24, 2020
Controversial
Islamic preacher Zakir Naik.
---
Pakistan is
committing shirk (sin) by funding the construction of a Sri Krishna Mandir
(temple) in its capital Islamabad, controversial preacher and Islamic Research
Foundation founder Zakir Naik has said.
Responding to
a question if a temple can be built with Muslim taxpayers money in an Islamic
state, the preacher, who fled India to Malaysia in 2016, said in his video
channel that “a Muslim cannot donate, support or construct a house of worship
of non-Muslims”.
https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/pakistan-has-committed-shirk-by-funding-temple-construction-in-islamabad-says-zakir-naik
--------
Prayers at
Hagia Sophia will crown decades-long Muslim campaign
JULY 23, 2020
Hagia Sophia
----
Daren Butler,
Dominic Evans
ISTANBUL
(Reuters) - When YunusGenc prays at Hagia Sophia on Friday it will mark the
triumphant culmination of decades-long efforts by Islamist-rooted groups like
his to convert the ancient monument, revered by both Christians and Muslims, to
a mosque.
Genc’s
Anatolian Youth Association (AGD) held protests and organized prayers outside
the 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia, while another group waged a series of failed
legal campaigns until a top Turkish court last month finally ruled in their
favor, annulling its status as a museum.
President
Tayyip Erdogan immediately declared the building - a Christian Byzantine
cathedral for 900 years before it was seized by Ottoman conquerors and served
as a mosque until 1934 - a mosque once more, with first prayers to be held this
Friday.
The decisions
unleashed a torrent of criticism from church leaders, who said the conversion
to exclusively Muslim worship risked deepening religious divisions. Turkey says
the site will remain open for visitors and its Christian artworks protected.
“We struggled
for this for years,” Genc said in front of the mosque, whose huge gray dome and
rose-coloured walls and buttresses have marked the city skyline for a
millennium and a half, joined later by four towering minarets.
“Hagia Sophia
is a symbol and we, like all Muslims, wanted it opened as a mosque...When
Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror came to Istanbul he bought Hagia Sophia with his
own money as a symbol of the conquest, endowed it and wanted it to be a
mosque.”
Genc’s AGD
group is an offshoot of a movement founded by Turkey’s first Islamist prime
minister Necmettin Erbakan, whose political party was a forerunner of the AK
Party which has ruled Turkey under Erdogan’s leadership for 17 years.
In that time
Erdogan has reshaped Turkey’s modern republic, established nearly a century ago
by the staunchly secularist Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, lifting a ban on Muslim
headscarves in public, promoting religious education and taming Turkey’s
powerful military, once a bastion of Ataturk’s secular values.
Amid the chaos
and uprisings which shook the Middle East since 2011, Erdogan also sought to
position Turkey as a regional power and champion of Sunni Muslims. The Hagia
Sophia move was a sign toward “achieving freedom” for al-Aqsa mosque in
Jerusalem, Erdogan said earlier this month.
ICONS COVERED
Erdogan, a
pious Muslim, threw his weight behind the campaign to convert Hagia Sophia
before local elections last year which dealt a painful blow to his ruling AK
Party. Officials say the move addresses a deep-rooted wish within the country.
“The decision
to turn the Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque is based on a long-standing
demand by the vast majority of the Turkish people,” presidential spokesman
Ibrahim Kalin said. “We believe it makes more sense to use it... as a house of
worship.”
He said under
Erdogan’s rule, churches and synagogues serving Turkey’s minority Christian and
Jewish communities had also been built, or rebuilt.
In Hagia
Sophia, the Christian frescoes and the glittering mosaics adorning the
cavernous dome and central hall will be concealed by curtains during Muslim
prayer times, but remain on display for the rest of the time.
“That’s part
of the Islamic legal tradition, just like the Jewish tradition where you are
not supposed to have many descriptions and paintings, while you’re praying,”
Kalin said.
“They will be
covered during prayer times, and other times they will be open to everyone,” he
told Reuters. Icons and artwork in the building’s upper floors and side
galleries would remain uncovered, he added.
Pictures from
inside Hagia Sophia this week have shown a large carpet being laid on the floor
in preparation for the prayers.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-hagiasophia/prayers-at-hagia-sophia-will-crown-decades-long-muslim-campaign-idUSKCN24O1QT
--------
Invite All
Babri Mosque Demolition Accused to Ram Temple 'Bhumi Pujan' and Honour Them:
Hindutva Outfit Chief
Jul 23, 2020
Babri Masjid
Demolition
----
AYODHYA: All
32 accused in the Babri mosque demolition case should be invited to the
"bhumipujan" ceremony for the construction of the Ram temple here and
honoured, a Hindutva outfit leader has said.
Hindu Dharma
Sena president Santosh Dubey is one of the main accused in the case.
Dubey also
insisted that the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust must also invite
all the four Shankaracharyas to the ceremony planned on August 5.
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi is also likely to attend the event.
"The
office bearers of Ram Janmabhoomi TeerthKshetra must ensure that along with all
32 accused in the Babri mosque demolition case, the families of the karsevaks
who gave their lives in the Ram Temple movement must also be invited to the
'bhumipujan' ceremony and must be honoured there," Dubey told PTI.
The top court
verdict in favour of the Ram temple at the site would not have been possible
had the Babri mosque not been demolished, he said.
"If the
Trust does not invite the karsevaks, it will a display of ego and arrogance.
Without inviting the karsevaks who have been accused in Babri mosque demolition
and the families of the slain karsevaks, the 'bhumipujan' will remain
incomplete," Dubey added.
A special CBI
court in Lucknow is recording the statements of the 32 Babri demolition accused
under section 313 of the CrPC, which enables them to plead their innocence, if
they so want.
The court is
conducting day-to-day hearings to complete the trial by August 31 as directed
by the Supreme Court.
The mosque in
Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992 by 'karsevaks' who claimed that an
ancient Ram temple had stood on the same site. Former deputy prime minister L K
Advani and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi were leading the Ram temple movement
at that time.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/invite-all-babri-mosque-demolition-accused-to-ram-temple-bhumi-pujan-hindutva-outfit-chief/articleshow/77124584.cms
--------
‘Help us help
you:’ French FM in Lebanon urges reforms
23 July 2020
France’s top
diplomat was on a two-day visit to Lebanon Thursday in the first such trip in
recent months by a high-ranking foreign politician to the crisis-hit country
hoping for an international bailout.
Jean-Yves Le
Drian was set to meet President Michel Aoun at 6:30 GMT, followed by meetings
with Prime Minister Hassan Diab and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, the French
embassy said.
A statement to
the press is expected in the afternoon after he meets his Lebanese counterpart,
Nassif Hitti.
Lebanon is
mired in its worst economic crisis in decades, marked by a steep currency fall
and runaway inflation that have plunged nearly half of the population into
poverty.
The crisis has
sparked mass protests since October against a political class accused of being
incompetent and corrupt, and seen tens of thousands lose their jobs or part of
their income.
After the
country defaulted for the first time in March, the government pledged reforms
and two months ago started talks with the International Monetary Fund towards
unlocking billions of dollars in aid, but discussions are stalling.
Earlier this
month, Le Drian said he was “very worried” by the lack of progress on reforms
demanded before foreign financial assistance would be forthcoming.
“Help us help
you,” he urged.
Lebanon’s
government says it needs more than $20 billion in external funding, which
includes $11 billion pledged by donors at a Paris conference in 2018 never
delivered over lack of reforms.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/economy/2020/07/23/-Help-us-help-you-French-FM-in-Lebanon-urges-reforms.html
--------
US Congress
repeals travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, unlikely to pass Senate
22 July 2020
The US
Congress on Wednesday voted to repeal the Trump administration’s travel ban and
further restrict the president’s power to limit entry to the US, a symbolic
victory for Muslim American and civil rights groups.
The bill,
which passed the Democrat-controlled House 233-183, had initially been slated
for action in March, before the coronavirus forced scheduling changes on
Capitol Hill.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The measure is
unlikely to advance in the Republican-controlled Senate, where it has no GOP
support. But the bill’s passage by the House still elated advocates who had
long pushed for formal action against a travel ban that they see as
discriminatory.
The White
House noted its opposition to the bill in March, saying in a statement that
undoing the travel ban “would harm the national security of the United States”
and that the ban has been “central to the Administration’s ongoing efforts to
safeguard the American people against the spread of COVID-19.”
In debate
ahead of the vote, Democrats repeatedly blasted the travel ban that President
Donald Trump first imposed in January 2017. They called it biased against
Muslims, whose entry into the country Trump first suggested blocking during his
2016 White House run.
The
legislation goes beyond overturning Trump’s travel ban, which was retooled amid
legal challenges and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. The latest version of
the ban affects travel from five majority-Muslim nations – Iran, Somalia,
Yemen, Syria and Libya – in addition to North Korea and by some Venezuelan
government officials and their families.
In addition to
overturning the travel ban, the bill the House passed also prohibits religious
discrimination in the application of immigration law and constrains the
executive branch’s ability to limit entry to the US by certain groups of
people.
Trump earlier
this year added new immigration curbs from six other nations, including
majority-Muslim Kyrgyzstan and Sudan, as well as Nigeria, which has the world’s
fifth-largest Muslim population, according to the Pew Research Center.
Trump’s
Democratic rival in the upcoming presidential election, former Vice President
Joe Biden, vowed Monday to rescind Trump’s travel ban “on day one” if he’s
elected. His pledge came during a summit focused on Muslim voter turnout.
Muslim
Americans and other civil rights advocates have said Wednesday’s vote in the
House would help them keep the pressure on for a future rollback of the policy.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/07/23/Congress-repeals-travel-ban-on-Muslim-majority-countries-unlikely-to-pass-in-Senate.html
--------
Pakistan
elected president of UN Economic and Social Council for the sixth time
Naveed Siddiqui
24 Jul, 2020
Pakistan’s
Permanent Representative to the United Nations Munir Akram was on Thursday
unanimously elected as the president of the United Nations Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC) for the year 2020-21.
This is the
sixth time that Pakistan has been elected as the ECOSOC president and the
second time that Ambassador Akram has been elected to this post, having served
as its president in 2005. The only other envoy to have had this distinction was
Juan Somavía of Chile, according to a statement issued by the Pakistani mission
to the UN in New York.
The 54-member
ECOSOC is the third principal UN organ, along with the General Assembly and
Security Council, established in 1945 to promote international economic cooperation
and oversee the work of all international economic organisations.
In his
acceptance speech, Ambassador Akram outlined the objectives of the Pakistan
presidency.
He said UN
member states today faced three simultaneous challenges: the Covid-19 health
and economic crisis, the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals and
the existential threat of climate change. The commitments made in each area
must be implemented, he added.
Related:
Economic costs of Covid-19
Stressing the
need to end inequality among and within nations, Akram expressed the hope that
a Covid-19 vaccine would be developed soon. “Everyone, everywhere — rich or
poor — must have equal access to the vaccine,” he stressed.
The envoy
proposed that in the coming year, ECOSOC should focus on financing for
Covid-19, SDGs and climate change goals; sustainable infrastructure investment;
and application of advanced science and technology for development. He said he
would convene special meetings to advance action in these areas.
He recalled
the call by Prime Minister Imran Khan for a “Global Initiative on Debt Relief”
and mentioned the proposals for new special drawing rights (SDRs) and other
financing proposals under consideration.
He said an
additional investment of over $1.5 trillion annually in sustainable
infrastructure was “most essential” for the achievement of the SDGs. He also
proposed the creation of an Infrastructure Project Preparation and Investment
Centre.
Akram called
for preferential access for developing countries to advanced technologies and
for making the intellectual property regime “compatible with the SDGs”.
"The
digital revolution has opened vast opportunities for the developing countries,
not so much to catch up with the advanced countries, but to leapfrog into a new
and modern development paradigm," he was quoted as saying by the press
release.
ECOSOC is the
UN's central platform for economic and social development, forging consensus
and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed development goals.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1570725/pakistan-elected-president-of-un-economic-and-social-council-for-the-sixth-time
--------
Southeast Asia
Silence of
Muslim states on Uighurs’ plight is chilling
July 24 2020
Why are so
many Arab and Muslim governments supporting China as it destroys the Uighurs? A
Muslim community with a rich history and culture is being eradicated: through
mass incarceration, deportation, enforced sterilisation and the destruction of
ancient mosques and cultural sites. The Uighurs are not being exterminated.
Instead this is the world’s first high-tech genocide, the destruction of a
nation by harnessing a surveillance state. Levelling mosques says “you were
never here”. Enforced sterilisation says “you never will be”.
Yet the
Uighurs too are part of the Ummah, Arabic for “community”. Ummah is a synonym
for ummat al-Islam, a community of faith where all are equal before Allah. It
is one of Islam’s most appealing tenets. Yet instead of standing up for their
co-religionists
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/silence-of-muslim-states-on-uighurs-plight-is-chilling-2gqrbzwl3
--------
Mideast
PM: Iraq Not
to Allow Aggression against Iran
Jul 23, 2020
Iraq will not
allow its territory to be used as a ground for security threats against the
Iranian nation, al-Kadhimi stressed in a meeting with Iranian Parliament
Speaker Mohammad BaqerQalibaf in Tehran on Wednesday.
He hailed Iran
for backing the Iraqi government and nation during the fight against the ISIL,
and said Iraq will not forget that Iran is an important neighbor and thus will
continue developing bilateral economic, cultural and security ties.
Qalibaf, for
his part, called on neighboring Iraq to “vigorously” follow up on the US
assassination of top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani,
censuring the crime as a stain on the record of American statesmen.
“The United
States violated Iraqi territory and impudently assassinated those who risked
their lives to crush the bones of terrorism. This is not a simple issue. The
American assassination is a major case that must be pursued vigorously,”
Qalibaf said.
“The criminal
assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, an international hero in the fight
against terrorism, and the great martyr Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and their
companions, on the direct order of [US] President [Donald] Trump, is a stain of
shame that will never be erased from the faces of White House officials,” the
top parliamentarian said.
The Islamic
Republic, he added, believes that stability will not return to the region as
long as foreign forces are present.
Qalibaf also
highlighted the historical and religious bonds between the two neighboring
nations, and said, “We fought the ISIL and Takfiris and emerged victorious. The
Islamic Republic of Iran has been standing by the Iraqi government and since
the start [of their anti-terror fight].”
The Parliament
chief said political, economic and cultural relations between the two sides
have been growing at a proper rate, calling for serious efforts to further
enhance bilateral ties in various sectors.
In relevant
remarks on Tuesday, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed
Ali Khamenei said that Iran will never forget assassination of General
Soleimani and will definitely deal the US a counter-blow.
The Supreme
Leader made the remarks in Tehran, while speaking to the visiting Al-Kadhimi.
"The US'
crime in assassinating General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis is an
example of its presence. They killed your guest at your home, and they flagrantly
confessed to this crime. This is not a trivial thing," he said, adding,
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will never forget the martyrdom of Hajj
Qassem Soleimani and will definitely deal a reciprocal blow to the US."
Lieutenant
General Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike on Baghdad
International Airport in Iraq on January 3.
The airstrike
also martyred Deputy Commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Abu
Mahdi al-Muhandis. The two were martyred in an American airstrike that targeted
their vehicle on the road to the airport.
Five Iranian
and five Iraqi military men were martyred by the missiles fired by the US drone
at Baghdad International Airport.
On January 8,
the IRGC Aerospace Force started heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ein
Al-Assad airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria and a US
operated airbase in Erbil in retaliation for the US assassination of ant
General Qassem Soleimani.
Ein Al-Assad
is an airbase with a 4km runway at 188m altitude from sea levels, which is the
main and the largest US airbase in Iraq. Early reports said the radar systems
and missile defense shields in Ein Al-Assad failed to operate and intercept the
Iranian missiles. Unofficial reports said the US army's central radar systems
at Ein Al-Assad had been jammed by electronic warfare.
The second
IRGC reprisal attack targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in Iraqi
Kurdistan Region in the second leg of "Martyr Soleimani" reprisal
operation.
Iraq said the
attacks had not taken any toll from its army men stationed at these two bases.
The US army had blocked entrance into Ein Al-Assad to everyone, including the
Iraqi army.
It was the
first direct attack on the US army ever since world war two.
The IRGC
officials said none of the missiles had been intercepted.
Meantime, Iran
announced in late June that it had issued arrest warrants for 36 officials of
the US and other countries who have been involved in the assassination of the
martyred General Soleimani.
"36
individuals who have been involved or ordered the assassination of Hajj Qassem,
including the political and military officials of the US and other governments,
have been identified and arrest warrants have been issued for them by the
judiciary officials and red alerts have also been issued for them via the
Interpol," Prosecutor-General of Tehran Ali AlqasiMehr said.
He said that
the prosecuted individuals are accused of murder and terrorist action, adding
that US President Donald Trump stands at the top of the list and will be
prosecuted as soon as he stands down presidency after his term ends.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990502000464
--------
Turkey pushing
ahead with its agenda, risking the wrath of US, EU sanctions
24 July 2020
Washington is
growing increasingly frustrated with Turkey and its recent actions, such as
purchasing Russia’s S-400 missile defense systems, and bipartisan efforts are
mounting to change US policy toward Ankara.
Turkey’s
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made a number of other controversial
decisions and this has drawn the ire of US officials, despite US President
Donald Trump so far refraining from announcing more sanctions.
Under the 2017
Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), the US is
required to impose sanctions on any country that makes “significant” military
transactions with US adversaries, including Russia.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
In July 2019,
Turkey received its first batch of equipment for the S-400s and ultimately was
kicked out of the F-35 fighter jet program. Turkish pilots were also expelled
from training on the aircraft on US soil.
After ignoring
warnings and opposition from Washington and NATO allies, the US then sanctioned
Turkey last October for its military operation on Kurdish posts in northern
Syria. Trump subsequently increased tariffs, and sanctions were slapped on
Ankara’s foreign, defense and interior ministers.
Turkey then
threatened retaliatory sanctions.
On Monday, the
US officially expelled Turkey from the F-35 program and the US Defense
Department announced its procurement of eight Lot 14 F-35A Lightning II
aircraft “as a result of the Republic of Turkey’s removal from the F-35
program.”
The move came
as part of a more than $861 million deal with Lockheed Martin.
But Turkey was
unphased and pushed ahead with its own agenda.
It is
currently taking part in military operations inside of Syria, Iraq, and Libya
and its involvement in the latter threatens to destabilize relations with the
European Union over its encroachment of Greek and Cypriot waters and potential
natural gas reserves.
In Iraq,
Turkey is believed to be coordinating with Iran in its operations against
Kurdish forces where the Kurdish populations are viewed as a threat to the
sovereignty of those nations by Ankara and Tehran. This has been condemned by
Saudi Arabia, and US officials have said that Iraq must be able to call the
shots inside its territory.
US legislation
to sanction Turkey picks up steam
A bipartisan
group of Congress members introduced a bill last week that would sanction
Turkey for its purchase of the Russian missile defense systems.
Congressman
Adam Kinzinger said it was time for the US “to make it very clear that
[Turkey’s] actions will not be tolerated and will be met with serious
consequences.”
The bill was
sponsored by Kinzinger and co-sponsored by a Democrat and one other Republican.
“Our legislation does that and makes the actions by Turkey an explicitly
sanctionable offense,” Kinzinger said.
Congresswoman
Abigail Spangberger noted that “Turkey’s recent actions are incompatible with
our nation’s security and the interests of our NATO allies.”
In addition to
the US, French President Emmanuel Macron Thursday demanded EU sanctions against
Ankara for “violations” of Greek and Cypriot waters, saying the European Union
should act over the crisis in Libya.
Macron said
sanctions were “necessary” for a ceasefire to be reached in the Libyan crisis.
Turkey
convicts US consulate employee
Just last
month, Turkey convicted a local US consulate employee on charges of aiding an
armed terror organization linked to US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen.
MetinTopuz, a
translator and assistant for the US Drug Enforcement Agency, was sentenced to
more than eight years in prison.
The move was
strongly condemned by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo it would “undermine”
bilateral relations.
Erdogan’s
human rights violations
Since February
the Turkish government has detained over a thousand people for suspected links
to Gulen, who Erdogan blames for orchestrating the 2016 failed coup attempt
against him. Since the coup attempt, some 80,000 people have been held and are
awaiting trial; around 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others
have been fired or suspended.
Gulen, who has
suggested Erdogan staged the coup attempt as an excuse to consolidate power,
now lives in self-exile in Pennsylvania.
Ankara has
submitted official requests for American officials to extradite Gulen back to
his homeland of Turkey, along with other dissidents who fled persecution to the
US. American officials have denied Turkey’s requests.
Multiple US
lawmakers spoke out against Erdogan last month as part of a campaign by Turkish
NBA star Enes Kanter, arguably the most famous Gulen supporter in the US.
The campaign
aims to draw awareness to human rights violations perpetrated by Erdogan’s government.
Florida
Senator Marco Rubio called on Erdogan to “end the targeting the jailing of
journalists and dissidents in Turkey,” in a video on Twitter.
New York
Congressman Peter King said he stood “with all the people of Turkey who stand
together against the brutal dictatorship of Erdogan,” in a separate video.
Erdogan
converts Hagia Sophia into a mosque
Last month
Erdogan raised eyebrows across the globe – including with US senators and
representatives – when he announced he would convert the ancient Byzantine
monument of Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque.
Located in
Turkey’s capital Istanbul, the Hagia Sophia was originally built as a church in
the sixth century, converted into a mosque in 1453, and then a museum following
the founding of the secular Turkish Republic.
The decision
likely means the site will lose its UNESCO World Heritage status and that its
Christian relics and artwork will be transferred to another site, though
religious authorities said the Christian relics would stay put.
Senators James
Risch and Bob Menendez, Democrat and Republic, respectively, denounced
Erdogan’s decision and called it “a deep affront to Christians around the world
who look to Hagia Sophia as a shining light and deeply revered holy site.”
Congressman
Steve Cohen said that Erdogan’s changing of the monument’s status “to appease
short-term, domestic political appetites” was a mistake, while Congressman Lee
Zeldin said Erdogan’s decree was “a pointed attempt to unnecessarily stoke the
flames of religious divisiveness.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2020/07/24/Turkey-pushing-ahead-with-its-agenda-risking-the-wrath-of-US-EU-sanctions.html
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Israel
reinforces Lebanon border after Hezbollah threats
July 23, 2020
JERUSALEM —
The Israeli military said Thursday it was reinforcing the country’s northern
border with infantry troops “in accordance with the situational assessment.”
The
announcement comes after a strike earlier this week killed a fighter from the
militant Hezbollah group near Damascus International Airport. The airstrike,
which also killed four other foreign fighters, was widely attributed to Israel.
Iran-backed
Hezbollah has vowed in the past to retaliate for any fighter that Israel kills
in Syria. The group fired a barrage of anti-tank missiles into Israel on Sept.
1 last year after two of its fighters were killed in an Israeli airstrike near
Damascus days earlier.
That prompted
a reprisal of heavy Israeli artillery fire in a rare burst of fighting between
the bitter enemies. Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war in 2006 that ended
in a draw.
Israel did not
comment on this week’s strike and generally refrains from discussing its
activities in neighboring Syria. But it is believed to have carried out
hundreds of strikes against pro-Iranian forces during the nearly decade-long
civil war.
Tehran has
sent thousands of Iran-backed fighters in the past years to fight alongside
Syrian government forces.
Israel views
Iran as a regional menace and has vowed to prevent any permanent Iranian
military buildup in Syria, particularly near its frontier.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israel-reinforces-lebanon-border-after-hezbollah-threats/2020/07/23/33fdf678-ccb0-11ea-99b0-8426e26d203b_story.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1382310_
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India
198 Delhi
Mosque Tablighi Jamaat Event Indonesian Attendees Pay Fine, Allowed To Walk
Free
July 23, 2020
New Delhi: A
Delhi court Thursday allowed 198 Indonesians to walk free on payment of varying
fines, after they accepted mild charges under the plea bargain process, related
to various violations including visa norms while attending the Tablighi Jamaat
event here during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Metropolitan
Magistrate Vasundhara Azad allowed 100 Indonesians to walk free on payment of a
fine of Rs 7,000 each, said advocates Ashima Mandla, Fahim Khan and Ahmed Khan,
appearing for them.
Metropolitan
Magistrate Swati Sharma allowed 98 Indonesians to walk free on payment of a
fine of Rs 5,000 each.
The court
directed the 98 Indonesians to deposit their fines to PM CARES Fund.
The
Sub-divisional magistrate of Defence Colony, who was the complainant in the
case, Assistant Commissioner of Police of Lajpat Nagar and Inspector of
Nizamuddin said they have no objection to it.
However, one
Indonesian did not plead guilty to the charges against them and claimed trial
before the court.
Under plea
bargaining, the accused plead guilty to the offence praying for a lesser
punishment. The Criminal Procedure of Code allows for plea bargaining in cases
where the maximum punishment is 7-year imprisonment; offences don't affect the
socio-economic conditions of the society and the offence is not committed
against a woman or a child below 14 years.
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The foreigners
were chargesheeted for attending the religious congregation at Nizamuddin
Markaz event in the national capital by allegedly violating visa conditions,
indulging in missionary activities illegally and violating government
guidelines, issued in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
They were
granted bail earlier by the court on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each.
https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/198-tablighi-jamaat-event-indonesian-attendees-pay-fine-allowed-to-walk-free-2267652
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Bangladesh
refused to take Imran’s J&K bait: India
Jul 24, 2020
NEW DELHI:
Following Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s conversation with his Bangladeshi
counterpart Sheikh Hasina during which he raised the Kashmir issue, the
government on Thursday said its ties with Bangladesh were timetested and
historic and that it appreciated Dhaka's stance that Jammu & Kashmir is
India’s internal matter.
In his
conversation with Hasina, Khan had “stressed the importance of peaceful resolution
of the J&K dispute for a safe and prosperous region”.
MEA spokesman
Anurag Srivastava said India and Bangladesh on Thursday marked another historic
achievement towards strengthening their maritime and economic partnership. The
first ever movement of container cargo from Kolkata to Agartala through the
Chattogram Port was successfully concluded on Thursday.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bangladesh-refused-to-take-imrans-jk-bait-india/articleshow/77137802.cms
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India
facilitating visa requests of Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh minorities
Jul 24, 2020
India said on
Thursday it has been getting requests from members of the Hindu and Sikh
minorities of Afghanistan to settle down in the country following a spike in
terror attacks on these communities.
“There has
been a recent spurt in attacks on the Hindu and Sikh communities in
Afghanistan. These attacks have been done by terrorists at the behest of their
external supporters,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava
told a weekly news briefing.
“We have been
receiving requests from the members of these communities, they want to move to
India, they want to settle down here. Despite the ongoing Covid-19 situation,
we have been facilitating these requests,” he added.
The Indian
embassy in Kabul is providing visas to members of the minority communities to
come to the country. “Once they reach here, their requests will be examined and
acted upon based on extant rules and policies,” Srivastava said.
After Nidan
Singh Sachdeva, a leader of Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan was released from
captivity on July 18 after being kidnapped on June 22, the external affairs
ministry had said the targeting and persecution of minority communities by
terrorists was a “matter of grave concern”.
“In a recent
decision, India has decided to facilitate the return of Afghan Hindu and Sikh
community members facing security threats in Afghanistan to India,” the
ministry had said in a statement at the time.
The
controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act provides for a speedy process for
members of non-Muslim minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to
seek refuge in India.
In a separate
development, India has again asked Pakistan to ensure the safety of its
minorities after a Gandhara-style Buddha statue found during the excavation of
a house at Mardan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province was demolished on July 18 at
the behest of an Islamic cleric.
This act was
widely condemned and Buddhist monks in Gaya have condemned the vandalism,
Srivastava said.
“We have
expressed our concerns to Pakistan. We have conveyed our expectation that they
would ensure the safety, security and well-being of minority communities there,
as well as protect their cultural heritage,” he said.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/india-facilitating-visa-requests-of-afghanistan-s-hindu-and-sikh-minorities/story-bhT4CSKPXH4TmAiNkB52WN.html
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Pakistan has
blocked review of Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case, says India
Rezaul H
Laskar
Jul 23, 2020
India on
Thursday accused Pakistan of blocking all avenues for an effective review of
the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, sentenced to death for alleged involvement in
spying, and said it reserved its rights to avail of further remedies.
A day after
the Pakistan government petitioned the Islamabad high court to appoint a lawyer
to represent Jadhav for filing a review petition against his death sentence,
the external affairs ministry charged Islamabad with systematically blocking
access to the former naval officer, not providing documents related to his case
and violating the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) order for a review of
his conviction.
“[Pakistan]
has blocked all the avenues for an effective remedy available for India,”
external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told a weekly
briefing.
“Pakistan has
completely failed to provide the remedy as directed by the ICJ and India
reserves its position in the matter, including its rights to avail of further
remedies,” he said, without giving details.
People
familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that India would take
the next step after legal consultations. They didn’t preclude the possibility
of again approaching the ICJ on Jadhav’s case.
The Pakistan
government promulgated an ordinance on May 20 to give foreign citizens
convicted in the country the right to file a review petition in courts. The
ordinance was aimed at complying with ICJ’s order for effective review and
reconsideration of Jadhav’s conviction and sentencing by a Pakistani military
court.
But even here
Pakistan’s actions had led to confusion, Srivastava said. Pakistan created
confusion over the last date for filing a review petition, initially saying it
was July 19 before changing the date to July 20. Pakistan took two weeks to
inform India about the ordinance and shared the copy of it only after a request
from New Delhi.
India conveyed
its concerns about “inadequacies and shortcomings in the ordinance” with
Pakistan in June. It also informed Pakistan the ordinance “neither fulfils nor
does it give complete weight to the judgment of the ICJ”, Srivastava said.
India also
made repeated requests to Pakistan to provide documents related to Jadhav’s
case and was told they could be handed over only to an authorised Pakistani
lawyer. “Thereafter, India appointed a Pakistani lawyer to obtain the relevant
documents. To our surprise...when the authorised Pakistani lawyer approached
the concerned authorities, they declined to hand over the documents to the
lawyer,” he added.
In the absence
of unhindered consular access to Jadhav and the documents, the Indian side
tried, as a last resort, to file a review petition in Islamabad high court on
July 18. “However, our Pakistani lawyer [said] that a review petition could not
be filed in the absence of power of attorney and supporting documents related
to the case of Jadhav,” said Srivastava.
Indian
officials had walked out of a meeting with Jadhav on July 16 after Pakistan
breached assurances about providing unimpeded consular access. “The meeting of
consular officers with Jadhav on July 16 was scuttled by Pakistan authorities.
The consular officers were instructed not to hand over any document to Jadhav.
Hence, the officers could not obtain a power of attorney from Jadhav,” he said.
Srivastava
said Pakistan was “non-serious in its approach and was not interested in
implementing the judgment of the ICJ in letter and spirit”. He added, “The
whole exercise of not providing any documents related to the case even after
repeated requests, not providing unimpeded consular access and some reported
unilateral action of approaching the Islamabad high court on the part of
Pakistan again exposes the farcical nature of Pakistan’s approach,” he said.
Jadhav, 50,
was arrested by Pakistani security agencies in Balochistan in March 2016 and
charged with involvement in spying. In April 2017, Pakistan announced he had
been sentenced to death by a military court.
The ICJ ruled
in July 2019 that Pakistan had violated Jadhav’s rights under the Vienna
Convention on Consular Relations and stayed his execution while calling for an
“effective review and reconsideration” of his sentence.
India has
rejected the allegations against Jadhav and said he was kidnapped by Pakistani
operatives from the Iranian port of Chabahar, where he was running a business.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pakistan-has-blocked-review-of-kulbhushan-jadhav-s-case-says-india/story-LBTSYmt3I9QFaPbr0yr6cI.html
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Punjab:
Hearing impaired Muslim boy living with Sikh family meets parents 9 years after
separation
Jul 24, 2020
PATIALA: Nine
years ago, in 2011, a hearing and speech impaired 10-year-old boy, who wrote
down his name as ‘Abdul’ in English, lost his way home and reached Fatehgarh
Sahib. Since then he has been staying with Gurnam Singh of Bhaironpur village.
On Wednesday, he finally met his father again.
Abdul’s father
Tahir Ali, from Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh, said in May 2011 he had visited
his brother in Ghaziabad along with his son to spend a few days. “When we
realised Abdul was missing, we lodged a complaint with the police but for years
our efforts had gone in vain,” he added.
Abdul, then
10, said to have boarded the wrong bus. He was then picked up by a truck
driver, who dropped him in Sirhind, Fatehgarh Sahib, according to Gurnam Singh,
who met Abdul in his village streets and took him to Rauza Sharif authorities
to find his family.
“A street
vendor found him roaming on the streets of Sirhind and took him to a mosque
when he realised he is Muslim. At the mosque, Abdul met our village boy of his
age, who brought him to our village. Abdul wrote his name and his parents’
name. He knew nothing else. We gave him food and then took him to Rauza Sharif.
He stayed at my house for a few weeks. Later, in coordination with the district
administration, I got him admitted in a school under SarvSikhya Abhiyan in
Meerpur village where he stayed. But the school was shut down after a few
months. A teacher there recemmended a school for deaf and blind in Patiala,
where he was provided accommodation too,” said Gurnam.
“We never saw
him as Muslim, although some people did raise objections and some even asked us
to convert him into Sikh religion. I used to take him to Rauza Sharif in
Fatehgarh Sahib where Abdul recite his Namaz prayers while I remain seated
outside. He became part of our family and used to come home during vacations
and holidays. Like our children, he used to give a list of his requirements,”
added 70-year-old Gurnam, who lives with his wife Rajwant Kaur. His son is settled
abroad while two daughters are married. He said he is happy that Abdul is back
with his mother and father.
Colonel
Karaminder Singh (retired), secretary, Society For Welfare Of The Handicapped,
said Abdul was admitted in their school about eight years ago. “It was during
lockdown when we allowed more internet access, I encouraged Abdul to try
finding out his friends or family members on Facebook. Fortunately, he managed
to get in touch with one of his old classmates in Ghaziabad, who further got
his family’s contact and address.”
Tahir said,
“Words cannot explain the love Abdul had received from Gurnam’s family and his
school authorities. They are best examples of humanity.”
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ludhiana/punjab-hearing-impaired-muslim-boy-living-with-sikh-family-meets-parents-9-years-after-separation/articleshow/77139215.cms
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Europe
Islamic State
remains 'most significant' threat to UK
22 July 2020
The Islamic
State group (IS) remains the "most significant" threat to the UK, the
defence secretary has warned.
Ben Wallace
said the militant group's "poisonous ideology" endures despite it
having lost territory it once held in Syria and Iraq - and a possible
resurgence "should concern us all".
British
aircraft have struck 40 targets as part of the fight against IS in the past
year, Mr Wallace told MPs.
The "hard
fight" to beat IS, or Daesh, was "by no means done", he said.
Making a
statement to the House of Commons, Mr Wallace said RAF strikes had hit 40
targets since July 2019. Targets ranged from caves in remote parts of northern
Iraq, to weapons bunkers and training camps, he said.
"RAF
aircraft have continued to patrol the skies on an almost daily basis," he
said.
Members of the
group have "nowhere to hide", he said, but added that the group's
"poisonous ideology" still endures.
"Daesh
retains its intent to carry out and inspire attacks against us, and remains the
most significant terrorist threat to the United Kingdom and our
interests," he said.
"Conflict,
economic collapse and inequality is creating new opportunities that they will
continue to exploit, to grow and recruit."
Hundreds of
'low risk' fighters in UK
About 900
people who joined the group as fighters during the conflict came from the UK,
MPs were told.
Mr Wallace
said of those, about 20% had been killed and around 40% remain in the area,
either at large or in detention.
The remaining
40% - an estimated 360 people - have returned to the UK, "where they have
been investigated and the majority assessed now to pose no risk or a low
security risk", he said.
The UK
continues to provide training, mentoring, and air support to Iraqi security
forces, Mr Wallace said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53507552?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1382310_
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'Astonishing'
PM has not spoken to Sadiq Khan since May despite pandemic
23 July 2020
Sadiq Khan,
the Mayor of London, has accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of not having
spoken to him for the past two and a half months amid the raging pandemic.
Mr Khan said
that he had been lobbying Boris Johnson on the use of face masks, but that the
last time he had spoke to him was around two and a half months earlier.
"The last
time I spoke to him was the last time there was a Cobra meeting, which was in
early May," Mr Khan told the Press Association news agency.
"I find
it astonishing the Prime Minister of a country during a pandemic isn't holding
Cobra.
"I find
it equally astonishing that the Prime Minister isn't engaging with the mayor of
the capital city.
"But look,
it's for him to explain why he's not doing so, I'm keen to make sure that we
make London as safe as we can during this pandemic and our teams work with the
Government, even though it's not the Prime Minister."
The name Cobra
stands for “Cabinet Office Briefing Room A” and refers to the emergency council
which is formed when a crisis arises which will call for various different
departments to work in tandem.
As well as the
Prime Minister, who usually chairs meetings, they are attended by a
cross-departmental range of senior ministers, security officials, military
chiefs, emergency services leaders and civil servants.
Tory contender
for Mayor of London in the upcoming election, Shaun Bailey, has suggested that
Mr Khan had been deliberately excluded from the briefings since the government
did want him passing on details of their discussions to the public.
Mr Khan had
said face masks needed to be made compulsory on public transport as early on as
mid April when the government was still advising against their use for fear
there would not be enough to go around.
On 18 June Mr
Khan said masks should be worn in all shops, with the national government
taking up his advice on 14 July a month later, for retail businesses in
England.
The Mayor of
London was due to be up for re-election in May, but the contest was postponed
until next year on account of the pandemic. Polls suggest Mr Khan will roundly
beat his Conservative opponent Shaun Bailey, who claims the incumbent has
mismanaged Transport for London – a popular belief among Conservative
activists.
TfL, which
ordinarily receives no operating subsidy and funds its services from fares, has
faced a dramatic drop in income during the pandemic as commuters stayed off
public transport. The government has provided £1.6 billion in emergency funding
for the operator, but with conditions such as ending free travel for the young
and old and street-level measures to enable social distancing.
Mr Bailey told
talkRADIO last week: "Sadiq Khan complained he wasn't invited to COBRA meetings,
top level meetings with things that are being discussed in private so as to not
cause a panic in the country.
"He was
invited to a meeting and the first thing he did was to come out of that meeting
and break that meeting's confidentiality. He told us that school might be
closed down, which could have caused a great panic.
"He was
asked not to divulge any information and he did. So that's why he cannot be
trusted. The Government won't speak to him because everything they tell him, it
turns into a political game."
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/23/630261/PM-not-spoken-to-London-mayor-since-May-despite-pandemic
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British Daesh
terrorists dubbed the ‘Beatles’ admit mistreatment of US aid worker
July 23, 2020
LONDON: Two of
the British Daesh terrorists dubbed the “Beatles” further incriminated
themselves in mistreating Western hostages in Syria, including American Kayla
Mueller.
The two men,
AlexandaKotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, for the first time admitted their
involvement in the captivity of Mueller, an aid worker who was held captive and
tortured and sexually abused before her death in 2015.
In interviews
obtained by NBC News, Kotey said: “She was in a room by herself that no one
would go in.”
Elsheikh got
into more detail, saying: “I took an email from her myself,” meaning he got an
email address Daesh could use to demand ransom from the family. “She was in a
large room, it was dark, and she was alone, and she was very scared.”
Daesh demanded
the Muellers pay €5m (£4.55m) and threatened that if the demands weren’t met,
they would send the family “a picture of Kayla’s dead body.”
In captivity,
Kayla was taken to live with a senior Daesh official, and was raped by the
former Daesh leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, US officials have said.
Kayla is
believed to have died in 2015 in what Daesh said was a Jordanian airstrike
Kotey and
Elsheikh are both in US military custody in Iraq amid questions over how and
when they will face justice.
US and British
authorities say the so-called Beatles were responsible for 27 killings,
including the beheadings of Americans James Foley, Steven Sotloff and Peter
Kassig, and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1709071/middle-east
--------
North America
Key senator mounts
pressure on Trump to declassify report on Soleimani strike
23 July 2020
Pressure is
growing in the United States on President Donald Trump to declassify the legal
justification for a US drone attack, which killed top Iranian anti-terror
commander General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in January.
For months,
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), among others, has been working to unearth the
national security secret and find out the legal justification for Trump’s order
of the assassination of General Soleimani.
The Trump
administration sent Congress a formal notification of the assassination under
the War Powers Act just after it happened, but kept it classified.
Murphy
appealed to an agency called the Interagency Security Classification Appeals
Panel (ISCAP), which is tasked with reviewing declassification requests.
“We’ve seen
the Trump administration repeatedly classify information just because it is
politically damaging to President Trump, and it’s up to Congress to stop it,”
Murphy said in a statement.
“The American
people deserve to know why the Trump administration chose to kill Qassem
Soleimani back in January, since this event had far-reaching consequences for
US security. By hiding the legal rationale for this action, there can be no
meaningful public debate about the wisdom of the strike.”
Democrats
denounced the Trump-authorized assassination as “highly unusual,” with
observers saying it raised grave questions about the scope of Trump’s contempt
for oversight, the presidential warmaking power and the ever-waning authority
of Congress over those matters, Washington Post said.
Back in
February, Murphy sent a letter to the White House demanding the
declassification, as did other Democratic senators, including Senate Foreign
Relations Committee Ranking Member Bob Menendez and Senate Democratic Leader
Chuck Schumer. The White House never answered, Murphy’s office says.
The Democratic
senators called for the Trump administration to immediately declassify the
White House notification to Congress of the initiation of hostilities against
Iran, pursuant to the War Powers Act of 1973, saying there was no legitimate
justification for such extensive classification.
They said it
is critical for the Trump administration to share additional information with
the American people about the US military operation targeting General
Soleimani, who commanded the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards
Corps (IRGC).
Murphy said
that the Trump administration offered shifting and weak public rationales for
the killing of General Soleimani.
The classified
War Powers notification should contain the official reasoning and be backed up
with real intelligence. It would allow us to properly evaluate that reasoning,
he noted.
The Trump
administration claimed at the time that the Soleimani strike was legal as an
act of imminent self-defense under Article II of the US Constitution as well as
the 2002 military authorization to invade Iraq.
Democrats
maintained that General Soleimani was not planning any imminent attacks on US
interests, raising the prospect that the strike was illegal.
The US
assassination of General Soleimani and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi
al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of PMU counter-terrorism force, triggered a
wave of anger and protests in Iran and beyond, with the people calling for an
immediate revenge.
'Harsher
revenge awaits perpetrators'
Leader of the
Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that Iran will
never forget Washington’s assassination of General Soleimani and will
definitely deliver a “counterblow” to the United States.
Ayatollah
Khamenei told visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in Tehran that,
“They (Americans) killed your guest at your own home and unequivocally admitted
the atrocity. This is no small matter.”
The Leader had
warned about a pending “harsh revenge.”
Also, Iran’s
top security official said harsher revenge awaits the perpetrators of the
attack that killed General Soleimani and his companions.
Iran’s Supreme
National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said on Wednesday that, “The two
Iranian and Iraqi nations are avengers of blood of these martyrs and will not
rest until they punish the perpetrators.”
In retaliation
for the US January attack, the IRGC fired volleys of ballistic missiles a US
base in Iraq on January 8. According to the US Defense Department, more than
100 American forces suffered “traumatic brain injuries” during the
counterstrike. The IRGC, however, says Washington uses the term to mask the
number of the Americans, who perished during the retaliation.
Iran has also
issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in detaining Trump, who
ordered the assassination, and several other US military and political leaders
behind the strike.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/23/630235/US-Trump-drone-strike-report-Soleimani-assassination-Chris-Murphy
--------
‘Trump ordered
by his Israeli masters to assassinate General Soleimani’
24 July 2020
US President
Donald Trump was ordered by his Israeli masters to authorize the American
military to assassinate Iran’s top General Qasem Soleimani, says political
analyst Kevin Barrett.
Soleimani, the
commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC),
and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization
Units (PMU), were killed in US airstrikes at Baghdad’s international airport on
January 3.
A few days
later, Iran responded to the assassination, striking the American airbase of
Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq and another in Erbil, the
capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
Speaking to
Press TV on Thursday, Barrett said, “The Democrats in Congress are demanding
that the Trump administration release its justification, its fake justification
if they even have one for the murder of General Qasem Soleimani.”
“Trump lied
and claimed that there was information that General Soleimani was planning to
kill Americans, but there has been actually no evidence presented for this,” he
said.
But “the real
reason for killing General Soleimani was presumably because Trump was ordered
to do that by his Israeli masters,” he opined.
Trump was put
in office by Israel, he said, adding “there are all sorts of evidence that in
the summer of 2016, Israel contacted the Trump campaign and said ‘you’re going
to lose, unless we step in’.”
He went on to
say that “Trump and (Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo and others should be going
on trial for this murder.”
For months,
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), among others, has been working to find out the
legal justification for Trump’s order of the assassination.
The Trump
administration sent Congress a formal notification of the assassination under
the War Powers Act just after it happened, but kept it classified.
Murphy
appealed to an agency called the Interagency Security Classification Appeals
Panel (ISCAP), which is tasked with reviewing declassification requests.
“We’ve seen
the Trump administration repeatedly classify information just because it is
politically damaging to President Trump, and it’s up to Congress to stop it,”
Murphy said in a statement.
“The American
people deserve to know why the Trump administration chose to kill Qassem
Soleimani back in January, since this event had far-reaching consequences for
US security. By hiding the legal rationale for this action, there can be no
meaningful public debate about the wisdom of the strike.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/24/630302/us-donald-trump-general-qasem-soleimani-Israel-
--------
Arabs and
Muslims welcome US House of Representatives passage of No Ban Act
RAY HANANIA
July 23, 2020
CHICAGO: The
US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved legislation that would repeal
President Donald Trump’s controversial 2017 immigration ban targeting visitors
from a number of predominantly Muslim countries.
The “No Ban
Act” would also reign in the authority of the president to prevent a similar
ban from being introduced by future administrations, and expand antidiscrimination
provisions in US immigration law.
With 233 in
favor and 183 against, Wednesday’s vote was largely split along party lines.
Although the passage of the bill in the Democrat-controlled House sent a strong
message about the party’s stance on immigration, it now faces a vote in Senate,
which is controlled by Republicans, who support Trump.
Even if the
bill passes the Senate, it would then go to the president for signing. He would
be certain to veto it, forcing the House and Senate to vote again in an attempt
to override his veto with a supermajority vote, which requires a two-thirds
majority in favor.
“National-security
experts have been clear that the ‘Muslim ban’ has made our country less safe,”
said Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. She represents Michigan’s 12th District,
which has one of the country’s largest Arab American populations. “In fact,
strong national-security policies include protecting the fundamental pillars of
our democracy: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, compassion and justice.
“My
constituents fled war and violence in their home countries, and their families
still experience it daily. The Muslim travel ban keeps these families
separated, while it runs contrary to our values as Americans, and I am proud to
send a strong message that we will not allow fear and hatred to divide us.
“We must stand
together as Americans to protect the values and ideals that make this nation
great.”
The No Ban Act
— short for National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants Act —
was introduced in April 2019 by Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, and California Rep.
Judy Chu.
Trump issued
his executive order, titled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry
into the United States” in Jan. 2017. Detractors denounced it as a ban on Muslims.
The order, which has been revised several times, targets visitors from
predominantly Muslim countries Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, along
with travelers from certain non-Muslim countries, including North Korea, and
some government officials from Venezuela. Trump expanded the ban to include
other countries, including Nigeria, Sudan and Myanmar
Several courts
have found the order to be unconstitutional. However, the US Supreme Court
ruled in June 2018 that it was within the constitutional powers of the
president. Adoption of the No Ban Act would overrule this Supreme Court ruling.
Despite the
slim chances of the bill progressing further, the House approval was hailed by
Arab and Muslim organizations as a step toward preventing discriminatory laws
being enacted by future White House administrations
It also
positions anti-Muslim discrimination to be a key issue in the upcoming
presidential election. Joe Biden, who is likely to be the Democrat’s choice to
challenge Trump in November, has denounced the ban and said that, if elected,
he will repeal the executive order.
Wa’elAlzayat,
the CEO of Emgage Action, a Muslim advocacy organization in Washington DC, said
the legislation would end the Trump administration’s discrimination against
Muslims.
“Today, we
came one step closer to ensuring that no human being is illegitimate, unwelcome
or bannable,” he said. “The Muslim ban, in all its iterations, has been
absolutely antithetical to our American values of diversity, inclusion, and
liberty and justice for all. Its shameful existence will forever be an
undeniably dark part of our history.
“But today, we
are incredibly heartened to call ourselves Americans and to continue working to
uphold the values we so dearly espouse. We are proud that Congress has proven
to be on the right side of history, and has contributed to an America in which
all people, regardless of faith, can be American. “Now, we urge the Senate to
pass the No Ban Act so that we can put an end to this vitriolic banning of
humanity, once and for all."
Farhana Khera,
the executive director of Muslim Advocates, said: “For the first time ever, a
chamber of Congress has passed a Muslim civil rights bill. We went
office-to-office and district-to-district to gain support for the No Ban Act
and convince House leaders to make it a priority.
“But most
importantly, this vote marks the beginning of the end of the Muslim ban, a
cruel policy that continues to tear families apart. Now we must take the fight
to the Senate, where we refuse to stop fighting until every senator hears from
us and the bill lands on the president’s desk.”
Some groups
questioned parts of the bill they believe to be unconstitutional and misguided,
but welcomed the legislation overall.
“While this is
an important first step, the act is not perfect,” said a spokesman for the
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “It does contain language that
falsely links immigrant communities to COVID-19. This language was unnecessary
and weakened the final version of the act. Moving forward, we call on lawmakers
to support the full passage of this bill without the additional and unnecessary
language.
“Since taking
office in 2017, the Trump administration has continuously targeted immigrants
and communities of color. Despite the recognition that white-supremacist
violence is a serious issue, the administration continues to focus on
suppressing the rights of minority and immigrant communities.
“The
xenophobic immigration agenda of the administration was furthered earlier this
year when additional countries, mainly in Africa, were added to the Muslim
ban.”
Supporters of
Trump’s executive order point out that of the 50 nations with predominantly
Muslim populations, most are not affected by the restrictions on entering the
US.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1708706/world
--------
US fighter
jets intercept Iranian passenger plane over Syria
July 23, 2020
BEIRUT: An
Iranian passenger plane was intercepted by two fighter jets in Syrian airspace
during a flight from Tehran to Beirut.
The pilot of
the Mahan Air plane said two US jets approached the airliner forcing him to
change altitude to avoid a collision, Iran’s IRIB news agency reported.
Earlier, the
agency said the Airbus A310 had been approached by a single Israeli jet.
The US
military said its F-15 jet did pass by the Iranian plane, but at a safe
distance.
There were
conflicting reports as to what had happened, as Iran initially blamed Israel
for the incident.
Syrian state
media quoted unidentified civil aviation officials in Damascus as saying two
jets, suspected of belonging to the US-led coalition, “intercepted” an Iranian
passenger plane over Al-Tanf, in southwestern Syria.
US troops
fighting Daesh militants have established a presence in the Al-Tanf area since
2016, which is near Syria’s borders with Iraq and Jordan. The US has declared
it a so-called de-conflicted zone. Beyond it, Syrian forces and their Iranian
allies operate, which makes it a remaining flashpoint in the region.
The reports
said the interception forced the pilot to sharply change altitude, flying low
and causing slight injuries among some of the passengers.
Iran’s
official IRIB news agency quoted a passenger describing how his head had hit
the roof of the plane during the change in altitude, and video showed an
elderly passenger sprawled on the floor.
Aviation
experts told Arab News that the plane, Flight 1152, landed at Rafic Hariri
International Airport at 7:50 p.m. after flying from Tehran through the
airspace of Iraq and Syria.
The two
warplanes intercepted the plane at 6:14 p.m.
Fight tracking
data showed the plane dive and then climb again.
“The pilot was
forced to suddenly increase the altitude by 350ft to avoid the intercepting
planes, which led to the state of turbulence inside the plane,” a source from
Lebanese Plane Spotters said.
Immediately
after the plane landed, video circulated on social media showing the shocked
passengers on board, a child with a bandaged head and another person with a
head wound. The passengers’ contents were scattered across seats and along the
floor. Some passengers were wearing life jackets.
In another
video passengers could be heard screaming and in panic.
Photos claimed
to show the two intercepted planes.
All the
passengers left the plane, some with minor injuries, the head of the Beirut
airport told Reuters.
The plane
arrived back in Tehran in the early hours of Friday, the Fars news agency
reported.
Ambulances
were seen on the runway in Beirut transporting four injured passengers,
including an elderly man, to hospital.
The US imposed
sanctions on Mahan Air in 2011, saying it provided financial and other support
to Iran's Revolutionary Guards
In a separate
incident, Lebanese Army Command said an “Israeli enemy reconnaissance plane”
entered Lebanese airspace in the morning over the town of Kafr Kila, and
carried out a circular flight over southern Lebanon.
The military
added that a similar enemy plane “violated Lebanese airspace” over the town of
Aitaroun shortly after.
Tensions have
spiked between Tehran and Washington since 2018, when US President Donald Trump
exited Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers and reimposed sanctions that
have battered Iran’s economy.
Visual
inspection
The US
military’s Central Command, which oversees American troops in the region, said
the F-15 aircraft was conducting a visual inspection of the Iranian aircraft
when it passed near the Tanf garrison in Syria where US forces are present.
Captain Bill
Urban, the senior Central Command spokesman, said the F-15 “conducted a
standard visual inspection of a Mahan Air passenger airliner at a safe distance
of about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) from the airliner this evening.”
“The visual
inspection occurred to ensure the safety of coalition personnel at AtTanf
garrison,” Urban said. “Once the F-15 pilot identified the aircraft as a Mahan
Air passenger plane, the F-15 safely opened distance from the aircraft.”
He added the
intercept was carried out in accordance with international standards.
The pilot of
the passenger plane contacted the jet pilots to warn them to keep a safe
distance and they identified themselves as American, IRIB reported.
Diplomatic
protest
Iran’s Foreign
Ministry said that following the incident, a protest note was sent to the Swiss
Embassy, which represents America’s interests in Iran, warning that if any
accident happens on the plane’s return flight to Tehran, it will be the
responsibility of the United States.
The ministry’s
spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, said Iran is investigating the incident. The same
note was also delivered to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres by Iran’s
ambassador to the United Nations, Majid Takht-e Ravanchi.
Mahan Air is a
privately owned airline based in Tehran that flies across the Mideast. In 2011,
the US Treasury sanctioned the airline for allegedly “providing financial,
material and technological support” to Iran’s Quds Force, the expeditionary arm
of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
The Treasury
also alleged Mahan Air had carried weapons, goods and personnel for the Lebanese
militant group Hezbollah.
All this comes
amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US after President Donald Trump
unilaterally withdrew from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers over two
years ago.
In the time
since, a series of escalating incidents have occurred across the Mideast
between the two countries, including the US killed an Iranian general in a
drone strike and Tehran launching ballistic missiles targeting American forces
in Iraq.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1709046/middle-east
--------
US Airstrike
Hits Pro-Islamic State Militants in Somalia
By Fadumo
Yasin
July 22, 2020
BOSASO,
SOMALIA - The U.S. military says it conducted an airstrike in Somalia’s
Puntland region that killed seven pro-Islamic state militants.
VOA’s Somali
service initially reported the airstrike on Tuesday. Local officials and
witnesses told VOA that Puntland regional forces carried out a ground operation
against the militants in Turmasale and Amayra, mountainous hideouts near the
village of Timirshe, 140 kilometers southeast of Bosaso.
A statement
Wednesday from the U.S. Africa Command said the airstrike was in response to an
attack on partner forces by the militants.
"We
continue to apply pressure on terrorist groups and assist our Somali partners
in disrupting their operations," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Miguel
Castellanos, deputy director of operations, AFRICOM. "We continue our
support to rid Somalia of the likes of ISIS and al-Shabaab."
AFRICOM said
it assesses no civilians were injured or killed as a result of this latest
airstrike. This was the United States’ 42nd airstrike of the year in Somalia,
and the first targeting pro-ISIS forces.
Officials in
Puntland issued their own statement, saying they killed 20 ISIS militants
during 48-hour operation in the eastern parts of Bari region. Puntland says
senior local militants and one senior foreign fighter were among those killed
in the operation.
The statement
did not identify the foreign fighters killed in the operation but say he was a
trainer and a liaison between ISIS in Somalia and ISIS fighters in other parts
of the world.
Puntland says
the targeted foreign fighter has been in Somalia since 2014. Puntland also said
their forces destroyed a storage for weapons, explosive materials and foods.
https://www.voanews.com/africa/us-airstrike-hits-pro-islamic-state-militants-somalia?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1382310_
--------
Pakistan
Pak govt,
opposition debate Kulbhushan’s review petition
Jul 23, 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan’s opposition parties walked out of the National Assembly on Thursday
to protest against the government ordinance seeking implementation of the
International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) 2019 ruling in the case of Indian
national Kulbhushan Jadhav allowing him to file a review petition against his
conviction and sentence by a military court here.
Before the
walkout, a heated debate was held on the issue, with the opposition accusing
the government of trying to give an "NRO" to an Indian national
through the ordinance, while the treasury blamed the former Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) government for opting to go to the International Court of
Justice during its tenure.
The acronym
"NRO" refers to the National Reconciliation Order under which Benazir
Bhutto (and many others) were able to return to Pakistan from exile as cases
against them were dropped. The term is now commonly used in Pakistan to
describe an attempt to use an ordinance to allow someone to escape the legal
process.
"A
terrorist who has confessed to his involvement in terrorism in our country,
against whom we have completed legal proceedings — what has happened now that
we are formally legislating to facilitate him," Khawaja Asif, a PML-N
stalwart and former foreign minister, asked. "When we (PML-N) were in
government, Jadhav was a slur used against us. It was said that Nawaz Sharif
was appeasing India," he said. "Who is appeasing India today?"
Asif asked, urging the lawmakers not to allow the ordinance as it was
"against national respect and honour".
Responding to
Asif’s speech, human rights minister Shireen Mazari said both Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had opposed the then
PML-N government’s decision to contest the case in the ICJ after India took it
there. "Why did you go to the ICJ then?" she asked.
"Now that
you have accepted their jurisdiction and they have passed a verdict, we will
have to implement it," Mazari said.
PPP chief
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, also criticised the government for passing the
ordinance in May without informing anyone. He pointed out that the rules and
laws stated that an ordinance must be presented in parliament "as soon as
possible" if it is promulgated when the House is in session. Both the
Houses (NA and Senate) were in session in June, he said.
In response to
Mazari’s speech, Bilawal said: "If you did not accept the jurisdiction of
international courts, it does not mean that you grant an NRO to Jadhav through
Pakistan’s law."
The PPP chief
said the government had "already given an NRO" to Tehreek-i-Taliban
Pakistan spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan, who had admitted his role in the Army
Public School massacre of 2014. The interior minister had admitted earlier this
year that Ehsan had escaped from Pakistan’s custody.
Bilawal said
the "opposition’s conscience does not allow it" to let the session
continue with the ordinance on its agenda and pointed out lack of quorum,
prompting the Speaker to adjourn proceedings.
The ICJ
(Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance, 2020, which was promulgated on May 20,
gives foreign citizens convicted in Pakistan the right to file a review appeal
in the country’s courts. The ordinance was promulgated after the ICJ, in its
verdict last year, ruled that Pakistan grant consular access to Jadhav and
allow him to file a review appeal.
Pakistan had
invited India to move a review and reconsideration petition against Jadhav’s
conviction before the Islamabad high court, which the Indian government did not
file. A day earlier, the government approached the Islamabad HC for appointment
of state counsel for Jadhav, in accordance with the ICJ’s verdict.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pak-govt-opposition-debate-kulbhushans-review-petition/articleshow/77135427.cms
--------
Cleric pleads
not guilty in contempt case
24 Jul, 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Cleric Mirza Iftikharuddin, who is facing contempt charges over derogatory and
scandalous speech against the judiciary, on Thursday pleaded not guilty before
the Supreme Court and said he would defend himself.
At the last
hearing on July 15, a three-judge SC bench had framed charges against the
Rawalpindi-based cleric for committing contempt of the court.
His counsel
Sarkar Abbas, however, had sought time to consult the alleged contemnor to
determine whether he pleads guilty or not.
But on
Thursday, the accused told the court that he would defend himself and pleaded
not guilty in the contempt matter, adding that he was facing two cases on the
basis of one video clip.
If the accused
still declines to accept the guilt despite filing unconditional apology before
the court, this is his choice, observed Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, also a member of
the bench, adding that cybercrime and terrorism charges were independent of the
contempt case.
Chief Justice
Gulzar Ahmed, however, said that every department involved in the matter would
function in accordance with the law and would follow its own rules.
Meanwhile, the
Federal Investigation Agency in its fresh report highlighted that analysis of
the call data record of his cellular phone showed communication of Mirza
Iftikhar on the National Technology Council, Pakistan Telecommunication Company
Limited and mobile phone numbers, besides international calls to Iran, Saudi
Arabia, South Korea, Malaysia, China, Zambia and England.
The contact
list of his phone showed 486 persons who include civilians and retired army
officers, the report said, adding that 26 most frequent contact persons had
been examined and found to be the persons with whom the accused had routine
contacts. So far none of these persons could be found to have links with the
matter at hand.
The report
said that after conducting a raid on the cleric’s residential premises on June
30, the bank record and analysis of the receipt books were seized, which showed
donations in large number within and outside Pakistan as his financial source.
However, the
investigation for identifying the most frequent and big amount donors from the
receipt books and bank statements was under way, the report said, adding that
the Federal Board of Revenue chairman had been requested to provide the record
of his tax returns and wealth statements.
The report
explained that Chairman of the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) Shahzad Akbar also
joined the investigation and recorded his statement in which he said that he
neither had any acquaintance with the accused nor did he have any relation with
this matter.
Mirza Iftikhar
had uploaded 698 videos on social media and so far 175 videos have been
examined and further scrutiny is continuing. Forensic analysis will be made as
and when any video, which amounts to violation of any law, is identified, the
report said.
The cleric’s
bank record suggested 19 accounts, the report said, adding that alleged
complainant Abdul WaheedDogar on the complaint of whom a presidential reference
was moved to the Supreme Judicial Council against Justice Qazi Faez Isa was
also summoned and his statement recorded.
Mr Dogar
stated that he was a professional journalist and mostly dealt with reporting of
the matters pertaining to the ministries of finance and interior, law
enforcement agencies, the Oil and Gas Development Company, etc.
He admitted
that he had met Shahzad Akbar only once after submitting application to the ARU
and denied categorically that he had any acquaintance with Mirza Iftikhar.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1570836/cleric-pleads-not-guilty-in-contempt-case
--------
LHC to hear
petitions of two convicted of espionage
24 Jul, 2020
RAWALPINDI:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) has admitted for hearing the petitions of retired
Brigadier Raja Rizwan Haider and scientist Dr Wasim Akram who were awarded
capital punishment by a military court for espionage.
Justice
Sadaqat Ali Khan of LHC Rawalpindi bench overruled the administrative
objections to Brig Haider’s petition and directed the registrar office to fix
it for hearing on a suitable date.
On May 30,
Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar JavedBajwa had ratified the death sentences
for Brig Haider and Dr Akram and 14-year imprisonment for retired Lt Gen Javed
Iqbal. The then director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)
had tweeted that the three officers were handed over to “civil jail
authorities”.
The convicts
had challenged the military court’s verdict in the Military Appellate Court,
which dismissed their appeal. After that they moved the LHC, claiming in their
petitions that the military authorities were not sharing with them the details
related to the trial proceedings.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1570833/lhc-to-hear-petitions-of-two-convicted-of-espionage
--------
South Asia
Afghan army
releases photo of militants who joined Taliban after being released from prison
24 Jul 2020
The Afghan
army released a photo a couple of militants who joined Taliban ranks after
being released from prison few weeks ago.
The 209th
Shaheen Corps issued a photo of Taliban militants who were allegedly arrested
during an operation, few weeks after after they were released from prison.
According to a
statement released by Shaheen Corps, the two militants took oath by placing
their hands on Holy Quran after being released from prison but arrested by
joining the Taliban ranks.
The statement
further added that the security forces arrested the two militants during an
operation which they conducted in SheeshaKhana area of Faizabad district in
Jawzjan province.
The security
forces apprehended the two militants as they were planning to ambush the
security forces in the area, the 209th Shaheen Corps added.
The Taliban
group has not commented in this regard so far.
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-army-releases-photo-of-militants-who-joined-taliban-after-being-released-from-prison-08980/
--------
Afghan tribal
elder strips naked in protest to conferment of Marshal degree to Gen. Dostum
24 Jul 2020
A tribal elder
from nothernBaghlan province stripped naked during a large gathering in protest
to conferment of Marhshal degree to General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the former
First Vice President of Afghanistan
Hassan Ahmadzai,
a resident of Baghlan province and one of the leaders of Ahmadzai tribe in the
province, stripped naked during a gathering in Kabul on Thursday, protesting
against the conferment of Marshal degree to Gen. Dostum.
A video of
Ahmadzai has gone viral on social media in which he claims the government has
compromised with the brutalities against Pashtun tribes while conferring the
Marshal degree to Gen. Dostum.
He later
posted a statement on Facebook, claiming that he took off his clothes to defend
the rights of the supressed people, slamming Ghani for stripping them off and
distributing their rights on other ethnic groups.
Ghani
conferred the title of ‘Marshal of Afghanistan’ on Gen. Dostum earlier this
month. The Office of the President in a statement said President Ghani issued a
decree in this regard late in June.
According to a
copy of the decree which has been published online, President Ghani approved
the conferment of the Marshal title on Gen. Dostum as per the Article 19 and
Item 64 of the constitution of Afghanistan.
The decree
further added that the title on Gen. Dostum has been conferred for his services
in resolving the political stalemates and ensuring security in the country.
The issue of
conferment of Marshal title remained a hot topic during the negotiations to
resolve political tensions which arose following 2019 controversial
presidential elections.
The former
first vice president Mohammad Qasim Fahim was previously holding the title of
the Marshal of Afghanistan.
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-tribal-elder-strips-naked-in-protest-to-conferment-of-marshal-degree-to-gen-dostum-08979/
--------
Region,
including Pakistan to benefit from Afghan peace process: NATO SCR
23 Jul 2020
The NATO
Senior Civilian Representative for Afghanistan Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo
said regional countries including Pakistan would benefit from Afghan peace
process.
He made the
remarks during an interview with Khaama Press, while responding to a question
regarding Pakistan’s role in supporting the Taliban group as well as playing a
key role in bringing the group to negotiations table.
Ambassador
Pontecorvo said Pakistan will benefit much from Afghan peace process as the
rest of the regional states. “Pakistan has been recognized… actually by
American negotiators that they have played a helpful role.”
He also
pointed towards the recent interactions with Gen. Qamar JavedBajwa, the Chief
of Staff of the Pakistani military while noting Pakistan’s role in Afghan peace
process.
Meanwhile,
Ambassador Pontecorvo said a stable Afghanistan would be beneficial for the
whole of South Asia.
Ambassador
Pontecorvo mainly pointed towards the major infrastructural projects that would
benefit the region, passing through Afghanistan, including TAPI gas pipeline
and the CASA-1000 electricity project.
This comes as
efforts are underway to launch intra-Afghan talks in a bid to find a negotiated
political settlement to end the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.
Washington
signed a peace deal with Taliban group late in February in a bid to pave the
way for further advancement of peace efforts in the country. However, there are
concerns that the recent wave of violence could impede the peace process.
https://www.khaama.com/region-including-pakistan-to-benefit-from-afghan-peace-process-nato-scr-0979/
--------
Khalilzad
reacts to recent wave of violence led by Afghan forces and Taliban
23 Jul 2020
The U.S. envoy
for Afghan peace Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad reacted to recent wave of violence
led by the Afghan and Taliban group across the country, insisting that more
graves will not bring negotiations forward.
“The last 24
hours have been very violent in Afghanistan with many losing their lives. In
Herat, photos and eyewitness accounts suggest many civilians including children
are among the victims of an Afghan airstrike. We condemn the attack and support
an investigation,” Khalilzad said in a Twitter.
He also added
“Similarly, we deplore the recent Taliban attacks in which many Afghans have
lost their lives.”
“The Afghan
people want an immediate start of peace negotiations and a settlement that is
in their best interest,” said, emphasizing that “More graves will not bring
negotiations forward.”
“Rather than
setting the process back, we urge all sides to contain the violence, protect
civilians, and show necessary restraint as the start of intra-Afghan
negotiations is so close,” Ambassador Khalilzad added.
This comes as
efforts are underway to launch intra-Afghan talks in a bid to find a negotiated
political settlement to end the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.
Washington
signed a peace deal with Taliban group late in February in a bid to pave the
way for further advancement of peace efforts in the country. However, there are
concerns that the recent wave of violence could impede the peace process.
https://www.khaama.com/khalilzad-reacts-to-recent-wave-of-violence-led-by-afghan-forces-and-taliban-08978/
--------
Civilians
among 45 killed in Afghan air raids against Taliban
July 24, 2020
Air raids by
Afghan security forces against Taliban fighters have killed at least 45 people,
including civilians, according to a local official.
Ali Ahmad
Faqir Yar, governor of Adraskan district in the western Afghan province of
Herat, said on Wednesday at least eight civilians were among the dead.
"Forty-five
people had been killed so far in air strikes by security forces in the Kham
Ziarat area. Taliban were among those killed," he said.
It was unclear
how many of the remaining 37 were civilians and how many were members of the
Taliban.
Qari Mohammad
Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said in a statement two air raids in Herat
killed eight civilians and wounded 12. Two local officials confirmed there had
been two rounds of air raids.
"Such
attacks would compel recently freed prisoners who wish to live normal lives to
take up arms once again against the enemy," said Ahmadi.
Acting Defence
Minister Asadullah Khalid said on Thursday Taliban fighters were killed in the
attacks. His ministry issued a statement saying it was investigating the
reports of civilian casualties, and would make the findings public.
"The
National Defense and Security Forces have the responsibility to protect the
lives and property of the people, in this regard, they use all the
opportunities and facilities and will not spare any effort," the statement
said.
The air raids
were condemned by the US envoy trying to start peace talks involving all sides.
'Spare no
effort'
Habib Amini, a
local official in neighbouring Guzara district, confirmed the incident and said
45 people were killed and more injured.
JailaniFarhad,
spokesman for the Herat governor, told Anadolu news agency at least six key
Taliban commanders involved in major assaults in Herat were targeted in the air
raids.
He said the
civilian casualties were caused by a land mine blast nearby.
The US special
peace envoy for Afghanistan, meanwhile, condemned the attack and called for an
investigation.
"In
Herat, photos and eyewitness accounts suggest many civilians including children
are among the victims of an Afghan airstrike. We condemn the attack and support
an investigation," Zalmay Khalilzad said on Twitter, adding that
Washington also "deplored" recent Taliban attacks.
The US is
winding back troops under an agreement with the Taliban struck in February,
which was meant to pave the way to formal peace talks between the group and the
Afghan government.
However,
disagreement over the release of prisoners demanded by the Taliban and rising
violence around the country have hampered progress, and talks have yet to
start.
The fragile
Afghan peace deal hinges on the prisoner exchanges. In line with the landmark
US-Taliban peace agreement, about 5,000 Taliban prisoners should have been
released from government prisons in return for the estimated 1,000 captive
security forces in March.
But, according
to the National Security Council, the government has released 4,019 Taliban so
far, while the Taliban freed about half of the 1,000 prisoners it agreed to
release.
The
Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission said recently in the first six
months of this year a total of 1,213 civilians were killed, while 1,744 had
been wounded in 880 incidents.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/air-strikes-afghanistan-kill-45-civilians-taliban-fighters-200722203403995.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1382310_
--------
Africa
Turkey warns
Egypt of ‘dangerous military adventure’ in Libya
23 July 2020
Turkey has
warned that Egypt would embark on a “dangerous adventure” if it went ahead with
a plan to deploy troops in the North African country.
Ibrahim Kalin,
a top security adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, issued the
warning in an interview with Reuters news agency on Wednesday after the
Egyptian parliament gave a green light for possible military intervention in
Libya.
Kalin underlined
that any Egyptian deployment in the oil-rich African country would hamper
efforts to end the conflict and would be risky for Cairo, saying, "I
believe it will be a dangerous military adventure for Egypt."
Libya has been
beset by chaos since the overthrow and killing of its long-serving ruler
Muammar Gaddafi following a NATO operation in 2011.
The conflict
has escalated into a regional proxy war fueled by foreign powers pouring
weapons and mercenaries into the country.
Tensions
escalated further last year after the so-called Libyan National Army (LNA)
under rebel commander Khalifa Haftar moved toward Tripoli to seize the city,
which was repelled by Libyan government forces.
The UN-backed
Libyan government in Tripoli has the support of Turkey, while the LNA based in
Benghazi is supported by Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
A big
escalation in Libya could risk igniting a direct conflict among the foreign
powers that have poured in weapons and fighters in violation of an arms
embargo.
Turkey and Russia
agreed on Wednesday to press for a ceasefire in Libya, calling on Haftar's
rebel groups to withdraw from key positions for a credible truce to take hold.
Ankara and
Moscow also vowed to facilitate the “advancement of the intra-Libyan political dialogue”
in line with the 2020 Berlin Conference on Libya.
In January, a
conference took place in the German capital in order to start a political
process and reach a permanent ceasefire in Libya.
Several
countries expressed commitment to support the truce, respect an arms embargo
and support the UN-facilitated political process.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/23/630254/Turkey-military-intervention-Egypt-dangerous-adventure
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Libyan
National Army downs Turkish drone west of Sirte
23 July 2020
Forces from
the Libyan National Army have shot down a Turkish drone west of the city of
Sirte late on Wednesday, according to sources from the eastern-based forces in
Libya.
The LNA warned
Turkey on Wednesday against making advances toward the Libyan coast,
threatening to target any hostile naval vessels present in Libyan waters.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Colonel Abu
Bakr al-Abyad, an LNA naval officer, said that any Turkish naval vessel that
attempts to approach the Libyan coasts will be subject to destruction, adding
that the LNA has “capabilities necessary to defeat any enemy approaching
Libya.”
Turkey
supports the Government of National Accord (GNA), which is fighting for control
of the country against eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar.
Egypt, the
United Arab Emirates and Russia all back the LNA forces led by Haftar.
Earlier on
Monday, Egypt’s parliament authorized the deployment of troops outside the
country after the president threatened military action against Turkish-backed
forces in Libya.
Rhetoric on
the Libyan conflict has been ramping up in recent days, with Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan aide FahrettinAltun tweeting “Turkey has the "power
and ability to obliterate the illegitimate bloc targeting Libya's legitimate
government."
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/north-africa/2020/07/23/Libyan-National-Army-downs-Turkish-drone-west-of-Sirte.html
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Russia, Turkey
will continue efforts for ceasefire in Libya: Russian FM
22 July 2020
Russia and
Turkey have agreed to continue efforts to bring about a long-term and
sustainable
ceasefire in
Libya, Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Russia,
alongside Egypt and the UAE, backs the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by
commander Khalifa Haftar, whose fighters have been battling the Government of
National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez al-Sarraj, which is supported by Turkey.
Turkey’s
intervention in May, when Ankara sent thousands of Syrian mercenaries to Libya
in support of the GNA, helped lift the LNA’s siege of Tripoli and put the GNA
in the position to assault the strategic city of Sirte.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/north-africa/2020/07/22/Russia-Turkey-will-continue-efforts-for-ceasefire-in-Libya-Russian-FM.html
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Boko Haram
executes five aid workers
July 22, 2020
Abdulkareem
Haruna
Suspected
members of the extremist Boko Haram sect have shot dead five persons believed
to be humanitarian workers.
The terrorist
group publicized the development via a viral video it published on social media
Wednesday.
The gunmen who
carried out the killing said their victims were aid workers working for
nongovernmental organisations.
The 35 seconds
video featured five hooded armed men standing behind five abductees who were
kneeling before them.
An
unidentified voice speaking in Hausa said, “this is a message to the infidels
who are using you to cheat and turn our people into unbelievers. You should
know that your employers are just using you to achieve their aims, but they
don’t care about you. That’s why whenever we abduct you, they don’t care about
you.
“Our advice
for you is that you should repent and turn to God, or else we shall continue to
waylay and abduct you all in all the routes that you traverse.
“And if you
don’t heed to our warning, what is about to happen to these five aid workers
would also be fate that will befall you too.”
At the end of
the speech, one of the gunmen ordered them to fire the abducted aid workers.
The gunmen
summarily shot at the five men whose faces were all blinded.
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/404486-breaking-boko-haram-executes-five-aid-workers.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1382310_
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Arab World
Gen. Ali Hamid
Ghaidan al-Khazraji had taken part in a military operation in Tarmiyah to clear
it of Islamic State remnants.
Khazraji,
commander of the 6th Infantry Division’s 59th Brigade, was in a large convoy of
armored vehicles when he was targeted by a sniper, a local resident told
Al-Monitor in a July 19 WhatsApp exchange.
IS claimed
responsibility for his killing.
The Tarmiyah
resident — who this journalist had previously met with in Baghdad — said,
“There are concerns some of the men protecting the general had been compromised,”
and asked, “How else could the sniper have known exactly which vehicle he was
in?”
The source
went on to say that he would be “killed if you use my name because there are IS
sleeper cells in my area,” close to where the general was killed, but also noted
that Khazraji had prevented an unnamed armed group from firing rockets at the
Taji base “about two months ago.”
He noted that
Khazraji had been very popular but that after that incident he had heard that
“militias operating in the area” wanted to get rid of him.
The source
claimed that these armed groups wanted to enter Tarmiyah and cut down the
orchards, destruction he said would lead to “the displacement of inhabitants.”
He noted that there is a large contingent of various forces surrounding the
city now, frightening residents.
A different
security source from Tarmiyah had told this reporter in early 2019 that a
previous commanding officer had been under investigation for being in indirect
contact with IS through local Tarmiyah residents from the Mashhadani tribe and
that the security situation had improved significantly after the commander was
replaced.
Sheikh Saeed
Jassim al-Mashhadani, who this journalist interviewed in December 2018 at his
Tarmiyah home, told Al-Monitor in a WhatsApp message on July 19 that “everyone
in the area loved Gen. Khazraji” and that despite this attack, security in the
area is good.
The sheikh is
the former head of the Arab Awakening in northern Baghdad. Three of his sons
were killed in attacks by or fighting against al-Qaeda and IS. He was in one of
the photos with Kadhimi during the prime minister's visit and is generally seen
as one of the more powerful dignitaries in the town.
Several
security incidents in and near the capital have raised concern in recent weeks.
The July 6
assassination of Iraqi counterterrorism and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi
in Baghdad by as yet unknown perpetrators — though many believe the Iran-linked
armed group Kataib Hezbollah may have been behind it — and continued rocket
attacks on the Green Zone by anti-US armed groups mean there are several
sources of potential unrest and violence.
Hashimi had
spoken out against Iran-linked armed groups in the country in the months prior
to being killed but had long been known mostly as the go-to expert on jihadists
in Iraq.
In a 2018
interview, Hashimi told Al-Monitor that Tarmiyah was “the center of Salafi
recruiting in the Baghdad area.”
Hashimi also
said that IS had continued to profit from fish ponds in the Tarmiyah area,
among other sources of funding for the group, after Iraq officially declared
victory against the transnational terrorist organization in December 2017.
Several
top-level al-Qaeda and IS leaders are originally from Tarmiyah or the
surrounding area and many are from its largest tribe, the Mashhadani. Khalid
al-Mashhadani, for example, was the highest-ranking member of al-Qaeda in Iraq
when he was arrested in 2007. He is from the Hurriya area in northern Baghdad
along the road toward Tarmiyah.
Camp Taji,
which in recent months has come under repeated attack from armed groups unhappy
with the presence of the US-led international coalition in the country, is also
between Baghdad and Tarmiyah.
A May 26
Danish unclassified situational and threat assessment cited Shiite militias as
a “political and military threat” and noted that the “Taji base in northern
Baghdad is particularly vulnerable” to attacks.
The United
Kingdom announced July 16 that British troops had pulled out of the base. The
NATO-led training mission, which will be led by Denmark starting in December,
is for the moment set to continue at the base. The plan may change if the
attacks continue, however.
The area north
of Baghdad is key to security in the capital. Iraq will be ever less able to
depend on coalition assistance and intelligence if the presence of the
international coalition continues to be reduced in the country, as is expected.
With his visit
to the town, Kadhimi seems to be trying to reassure residents that the state
will not allow armed groups to act with impunity nor let sectarianism flourish.
For him to do so effectively, however, the perpetrators of these attacks in and
around the capital will have to be found and prosecuted.
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/07/tarmiya-iraq-baghdad-government-militias.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1382310_
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Turkey plans
to increase its forces in Libya in case of Egyptian intervention: Report
24 July 2020
Turkey put in
place a military plan in anticipation of a possible Egyptian intervention in
Libya, Turkish Zaman newspaper reported on Thursday citing unnamed government
officials.
The report
said the Turkish government prepared the plan after Egypt’s parliament
authorized on Monday the deployment of troops outside the country, allowing
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to act on his threat of military action
against Turkish-backed forces in Libya.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Libya has
plunged into chaos since the 2011 toppling of dictator Moammar Gaddafi.
Clashes
between the two main warring parties in the North African country, the Libyan
National Army (LNA), commanded by Khalifa Haftar and the Government of National
Accord (GNA), led by Fayez al-Serraj, have intensified recently.
Many foreign
powers have backed different sides of the conflict with varying degrees of
support, with the most prominent countries being Turkey backing the GNA and
Egypt backing the LNA.
The Turkish
sources Zaman cited said: “Turkey is ready to respond to any attack on its
forces in Libya, whomever the attacker maybe,” and added: “if Egypt send
military forces to Libya, Turkey has a plan to increase its forces and military
equipment in Libya to confront the Egyptian forces.”
Turkish
President Recap Tayyip Erdogan’s top security adviser Ibrahim Kalin had
recently said that his country did not want to escalate tensions in Libya or to
confront Egypt in the North African country, but he stressed, however, Ankara’s
continued support to the GNA.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/07/24/Turkey-plans-to-increase-its-forces-in-Libya-in-case-of-Egyptian-intervention-Report.html
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Coronavirus:
Lebanon's COVID-19 cases rise, dogs trained to sniff out infections
23 July 2020
With Lebanon’s
coronavirus numbers in the midst of a troubling upswing, officials announced
that they are training police dogs from the country’s various security agencies
to detect the smell of the virus in sweat.
Lebanon joins
a number of countries that have been testing the effectiveness of canines in
sniffing out COVID-19, including Germany, Finland, Chile, and the United Arab
Emirates. The UAE announced that its studies had shown a 92 percent accuracy
rate.
The dogs in
Lebanon were trained at an Internal Security Forces barracks in the town of
Aramoun south of Beirut, officials announced Wednesday.
Lebanon’s
Health Minister Hamad Hassan, said the program was “desperately needed.”
Grandjean
noted that two specially trained dogs would have the capacity to search about
4,000 people per day.
Lebanese
surgeon Riad Sarkis worked on a proof-of-concept study to evaluate the efficacy
of using dogs to detect COVID-19 in collaboration with a French team led by
Professor Dominique Grandjean of the National Veterinary School of Alfort in
France, with testing conducted in both countries.
Read more:
Dogs can smell coronavirus in infected people’s armpit sweat: Report
The testing
involved eight dogs – originally trained as explosive detection and colon
cancer detection dogs – that had been trained to recognize the smell of sweat
samples from people who had tested positive for COVID-19.
“Through this
experiment, we will provide additional technology to protect our society from
every arrival, visitor or resident who may be infected with the coronavirus,”
Hassan said.
The
researchers ran 232 trials using 33 positive samples in France and 136 trials
using 68 positive samples in Lebanon, according to a preprint of an article
released from the study. Four of the dogs had a 100 percent success rate in
identifying the positive samples, with the others being between 83 and 94
percent.
“In a context
where, in many countries worldwide, diagnostic tests are lacking in order to
set up a mass detection of COVID-19 contaminant people, we think it is
important to explore the possibility of introducing dog olfactive detection as
a rapid, reliable and cheap ‘tool’ to either pre-test willing people or be a
fast checking option in certain circumstances,” the researchers wrote.
Lebanon’s
cases on the rise
While
Lebanon’s coronavirus numbers had until recent weeks remained low, they have
increased substantially in recent weeks, particularly since the Beirut airport
was reopened to commercial flights beginning July 1. Although all arrivals are
required to undergo PCR tests, not all of the returning expats and visitors
have adhered to quarantining measures prior to getting the results.
On Wednesday,
the country reported 124 new cases and two new deaths, bringing the total
number of cases to 3,104 and deaths to 43.
Of particular
concern to health officials has been the spread of the virus among health
workers.
— FirassAbiad
(@firassabiad) July 23, 2020
Earlier this
week, a 32-year-old doctor, Louay Ismail, died after contracting the
coronavirus.
FirassAbiod,
director of Rafic Hariri University Hospital, the public hospital that has been
leading the country’s coronavirus testing and treatment, wrote that the new
numbers are concerning as the majority of them do not appear to be
travel-related and almost half of new local cases have no known contact history
with other cases.
“We are
clearly entering a phase of community spread,” he wrote.
He also noted
that with more than 180 healthcare workers having been infected, hospitals will
face an increased strain.
“Each
infection leads to the quarantine of multiple other workers who were in
contact,” he wrote. “This further depletes much needed hospital capacity.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/coronavirus/2020/07/23/Coronavirus-Lebanon-s-COVID-19-cases-rise-dogs-trained-to-sniff-out-infections.html
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Dangers
threatening Egypt on July revolution anniversary, El-Sisi says
LAILA MOHAMMED
July 24, 2020
CAIRO:
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi addressed the Egyptian people in a
statement marking the 68th anniversary of the July 1952 Revolution, stressing
that “time has demonstrated the nobility of the goals of the revolution.”
El-Sisi
extended his “sincere greetings to the symbol of the revolution” — former
Egyptian presidents Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel-Nasser.
“The days and
years pass carrying events and memories that remain glued in the minds of the
people . . . generation after generation and the history of Egypt abound in the
glories of those events that we use as inspiration. July 23 1952 remains one of
the most important days of our glory and one of the most prominent moments of
our pride. As the 68th anniversary of this glorious revolution arrives, we
recall our people’s struggle for freedom,” the president said.
“Our
celebration of the glorious July revolution has always been an occasion in
which we derive determination to achieve the aspirations of our people and
their hopes for a bright future for themselves and for future generations,
those generations who have the right to live a decent life in a secure, stable
and prosperous country,” he said.
“In the spirit
of the July Revolution and its goals, the country is continuing to implement a
comprehensive strategic vision and unique development to build a strong and
advanced homeland in all fields by setting up major national projects in all
parts of the country and promoting work values and modern science and its
approaches in all aspects of our lives. All this with the aim to help the
Egyptian face challenges and take from his ancient legacy as a starting point
toward achieving everything that he aspires to in the shortest possible time,”
the president said.
“Just as the
generation of the July revolution was on a date with destiny, God has
determined that this generation face challenges that Egypt has not gone through
in its recent history. The threats to our national security make us more eager
to possess the comprehensive and influential ability to preserve the rights of
the people.
“You may be
aware of the extreme dangers of high sensitivity currently surrounding the
country and requiring that all Egyptians be confident in their abilities to
pass through crises in a way that preserves Egypt’s security and guarantees
Egyptians their right to life in a stable homeland and a nation that seeks to
value cooperation, construction and peace which are the basis for human
relations among all peoples.”
Al-Azhar,
Islam’s seat of learning, and the church also issued two separate statements in
celebration of the July revolution, highlighting the need to confront the
threats facing Egypt’s national security.
Al-Azhar Grand
Imam Ahmed El-Tayeb stressed the need to be aware of the challenges facing
Egypt and join hands for the sake of the nation, and to put the nation’s
interest above any individual interest.
El-Tayeb
praised Egypt’s constant concern for peaceful solutions as a firm doctrine of
the Egyptian armed forces, asking God to protect Egypt, Libya and the Arab
nation from all harm.
Egyptian
churches in their various denominations declared their support for the Egyptian
state, the political leadership and the armed forces in facing the challenges
facing the region to preserve the state. The General Milli Council and the
Coptic Endowments Authority of the Orthodox Church issued a statement declaring
their support for El-Sisi’s position in support of the Libyan people and their
struggle against the “Turkish colonizer.”
“Members and
deputies of the General Council and the Coptic Endowments Authority support the
courageous stance taken by President El-Sisi to support the Libyan people in
their struggle against the Turkish colonizer and to protect the borders of
Western Egypt. At the same time, they pray for the safety of each of the brave
soldiers of Egypt’s army, and never forget how the Egyptian army took revenge on
the martyrs of the Egyptian Copts who were martyred by the terrorist groups in
Libya,” the churches’ statement said.
A number of
political experts stressed the issue of unification of all state bodies in the
face of the dangers posed to Egyptians.
“Ethiopia and
Libya are two sides of the same coin, and two issues that are equally important
for Egypt,” political expert Hani Assal said.
“There is no
priority for one issue over the other. The first is a water security issue, the
second is a border security issue and the two are national security issues, a
struggle for survival, and life or death for Egypt and its people,” Assal said.
Assal said
that there was no difference “between those who plan to kill Egyptians hoping
to gain control of the south, and those who plan to kill them with weapons from
the side of the Islamic State.”
“Those who
assume that we have to fear and that war is difficult must remember that we
have been in war since 2011, and that thousands of martyrs, both military and
civilian, have already fallen and we are ready to provide more, rather than
give up our rights,” Assal said.
“(Egypt will
remain) in between wars, threats, conflicts and conspiracies forever, and we
will remain a joint force, and we will come out of all of this safe and secure,
God willing, and modern and far back history attests to that,” Al-Ahram writer
Hagar Salah said.
“We will
continue to back up our leaders and our army and keep our trust in them, and
have them depend on us. We do not fear wars, nor are we shaken by psychological
wars, nor provocations, frustrations, conspiracies or betrayals,” Salah said.
Egypt is
currently facing a two-pronged foreign policy crisis. Egypt fears Ethiopia’s
Renaissance dam will greatly reduce its access to water. In neighboring Libya,
forces loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA), who are supported by
Turkey, are reportedly planning to launch an attack on the port city of Sirte
and Al-Jufra, which El-Sisi has called “red lines” in terms of Egypt’s
security.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1709101/middle-east
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/pakistan-committed-shirk-funding-temple/d/122458