WhatsApp Groups Drive Islamophobia: IIT-Kharagpur and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Study
New
Age Islam News Bureau
19 February 2021
•
Muslim Leaders and Government Officials Denounce Iran’s Persecution of Baha’is
in the Farming Village of Ivel
•
Take the COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign: British Muslim Spearheads COVID-19 Vaccine
Campaign to Counter Misinformation
•
Indian Concerns about Sikh Yatris Rejected By Pakistan Foreign Office
•
Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv to Establish Spy Bases On Strategic Yemeni Island
•
Algerian President Dissolves Lower House of Parliament amid Calls for Protests
•
US Willing To Accept EU Invitation for Nuclear Talks with Iran: State
Department
•
Bangladesh Seeks Removal of Al Jazeera Controversial Investigative Report from
Online Platforms
India
•
WhatsApp Groups Drive Islamophobia: IIT-Kharagpur and Massachusetts Institute
of Technology Study
•
Gujarat Dy CM Says Love Jihad Law Soon, for the ‘Safety of Hindu girls and
Women’
•
State-Sponsored Terrorism Leads To Increase in Discrimination Against
Minorities: India At UN
•
Terrorists open fire at police in Srinagar, one constable dead
•
3 Lashkar terrorists killed in encounter in J&K's Shopian
•
NIA gets 5-day custody of Hizbul terrorists’ harbourer
-------
Mideast
•
Muslim Leaders and Government Officials Denounce Iran’s Persecution of Baha’is
in the Farming Village of Ivel
•
Daesh Terrorists Confirm Fighting Alongside Saudi Mercenaries in Yemen
•
US eases restrictions on Iranian diplomat's movements in New York imposed by
Trump
•
Iran responds to E3, US nuclear deal warning: Remove cause if you fear effect
•
Yemeni group demands popular support amid decisive battle in Ma’rib against
Saudi forces
•
Warned of Hezbollah revenge, Israel threatens to destroy Lebanon in case of war
with resistance movement
--------
Europe
•
Take the COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign: British Muslim Spearheads COVID-19 Vaccine
Campaign to Counter Misinformation
•
Franco-Iranian, German citizens arrested in Iran: French media
•
Russia detains 19 militants planning attacks: security service
--------
Pakistan
•
Indian Concerns about Sikh Yatris Rejected By Pakistan Foreign Office
•
India stops Sikh pilgrims from attending Saka festival in Pakistan
•
Five FC soldiers martyred in two attacks in Balochistan
•
Four soldiers dead after armed men attack check-post in Pakistan
--------
Arab
World
•
Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv to Establish Spy Bases On Strategic Yemeni Island
•
UN envoy: Yemen’s Houthis threaten peace, but US offers ‘new opportunity’
•
Pentagon Chief Calls MBS to Reaffirm 'Strategic Defence Partnership'
•
Hezbollah, Syrian militia-run drug factories identified near Damascus: SOHR
--------
Africa
•
Algerian President Dissolves Lower House of Parliament amid Calls for Protests
•
Kenya: Concern as Al-Shabaab Militants Spread Across Mandera County
•
Gun battle erupts in Somali capital as government forces seal off streets
•
Gunmen kidnap at least 20 boys from Nigerian boarding school
--------
North
America
•
US Willing To Accept EU Invitation for Nuclear Talks with Iran: State
Department
•
Biden withdraws Trump ‘snapback’ claim on UN sanctions against Iran
•
No ‘disorderly’ US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pentagon chief tells NATO
•
Zarif denounces US, allies for throwing ball into Iran’s court as JCPOA revival
hangs in balance
•
Biden administration approves arms sale to Egypt despite human rights abuses
--------
South
Asia
•
Bangladesh Seeks Removal of Al Jazeera Controversial Investigative Report from
Online Platforms
•
Stoltenberg: ‘No Decision’ Made On Troops Withdrawal
•
Austin: No ‘disorderly’ withdrawal from Afghanistan
•
Gov’t inflicts heavy casualties on Taliban across Afghanistan
--------
Southeast
Asia
•
Rights Groups Attack Malaysia’s ‘Abhorrent’ Deportation Plan
•
US return to Iran nuclear deal only proper approach to resolve deadlock: China
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/whatsapp-groups-drive-islamophobia-iit/d/124349
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WhatsApp Groups Drive Islamophobia: IIT-Kharagpur and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Study
Feb 19, 2021
Telegram
is too small and Twitter too open. Unfettered by constraints of reach and
scrutiny, political WhatsApp groups are where Islamophobic discourse is being
driven in India. In the first large-scale study of fear speech, going over 2
million messages in more than 5,000 Indian WhatsApp groups, researchers from
IIT-Kharagpur and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that one in
three posts in these groups incites fear of Muslims.
“We
manually curated a dataset of 27,000 posts, out of which about 8,000 were fear
speech,” the paper, to be presented at the Web Conference 2021, said.
It’s
uncharted territory. Because hate is conspicuous — when it is incited, the
patterns are easy to spot. Fear is subtle and the ways in which it is invoked,
far more insidious. While reams of algorithms can now identify hate speech,
there has been little done to zero in on fear speech. For instance, one text in
their dataset says, “Mob lynching has started with Muslim neighbourhoods … This
creates a feeling among Hindus that when they get a chance, they will also
surround them, beat them and kill them.” It’s a threat, but one veiled in
language that would not immediately be labelled as toxic, even by algorithms.
For
the study, seven annotators went over all the messages, pulled between August
2018 and August 2019, and labelled each as “fear speech” or “normal”. They
found that fear speech spreads fast (about 8 reshares for each message), is
sent to more groups (about 7, compared to 5 for non-fear speech groups) and
keeps circulating for much longer than non-fear speech (about 25 days, as
opposed to the 18 days a non-fear message is active).
Then,
they identified eight recurring subjects — the most popular were conspiracy
theories that imply “Muslim exploitation of Dalits” and that “Kerala riots”
were instigated by Muslims. “Islamisation of Bengal” is another popular
subject, as are “UPSC jihad”, “women mistreated in Islam” and “Muslim
population.”
When
TOI went over the dataset, there was a wide range of misinformation meant to
stoke fear among Hindus. Wayanad, where Rahul Gandhi was contesting, was
vilified right before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as a place where “decrees
are given to kill non-Muslims every Friday.” Muslim doctors were accused of
“medical jihad,” a conspiracy theory that they kill Hindus with the fake
treatment they offer, with a reference to Gorakhpur’s Dr Kafeel Khan. And “love
jihad”, the messages said, was actually meant to feed a black-market organ
trade — “Middle class Bharatiya girls do not smoke or drink and maintain their
bodies … Ek ladki ki kimat Rs 5 crore hai (one girl costs Rs 5 crore).”
Emojis,
they found, were used a lot. At least one emoji was present in 52% of the fear
speech messages (compared to 44% for the whole dataset). And these emojis have
taken on deeply entrenched meanings. Those of the saffron flag, trident, bow
and arrow, conch shells and the om symbol were used to represent Hindutva,
while dehumanising emojis of demon, devil smileys, pig face and pig were used
to represent Muslims.
As
on most such platforms, a few people do all the talking. In these groups, they
found, only 10% users post around 90% of the messages and 8% of these fear
speech users are admins of the groups. “One of the key points is that it seems
to be a concerted effort. Now, it’s not even a secret or a great
finding.
If messages in these politically oriented groups talk about Muslims as a fear
narrative, someone is deciding that you need to put them out,” said Garimella.
“And these messages are not short, like on Twitter.” The study found the
average fear speech message was 89 words long — “not something you just think
of and tweet.”
And
there is a fake sense of rigour. “In 1378, a part of India was separated,
became an Islamic nation. Name is Iran. In 1761, a part was separated from
India, became an Islamic nation. Name is Afghanistan ... and now Uttar Pradesh,
Assam and Kerala are on the verge of becoming an Islamic state!” says one
message with fake information. “With made-up facts, fake numbers, they create a
feeling of scientific rigour … Someone really took the time to think of this
and set it in a narrative,” said Garimella. “But this is all well-known. They
are doing it in the open. It is no longer surprising.”
The
position WhatsApp occupies in a country like India — with 452 million active
users — makes this all the more significant. “Our research study started with
thinking about moderation. One of the reasons WhatsApp is important is because
there is no moderation,” Garimella added. “I am not really interested in
studying Twitter or Telegram. They are really fringe. Telegram has 5%
penetration in India. But WhatsApp has 80% of internet users. That scale makes
a difference.”
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/wa-groups-drive-islamophobia-iit-mit-study/articleshow/81103164.cms
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Muslim Leaders and Government Officials Denounce Iran’s Persecution of Baha’is in the Farming Village of Ivel
Pictured here are, clockwise from top right:
Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau; Annika Ben David of the Swedish Foreign
Ministry; Jos Douma, the Netherlands’ Special Envoy for Religion or Belief;
Markus Grübel, Germany’s Commissioner for Global Freedom of Religion; Shaykh
Ibrahim Mogra of the UK; and Brazilian Member of Parliament Frei Anastácio.
------
GENEVA—18
February 2021
Leading
Muslims, government officials, and parliamentarians around the world have
joined a growing outcry at the unjust confiscation of properties owned by
Baha'is in the farming village of Ivel in Iran. The ruling to allow Iranian
authorities to confiscate the properties, clearly motivated by religious
prejudice, was recently upheld in an appeals court and has left dozens of
families internally displaced and economically impoverished.
The
American Islamic Congress(link is external), the Canadian Council of Imams(link
is external), Chair of the Virtues Ethics Foundation and one of the leading
Islamic scholars in the United Kingdom Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra(link is external),
the All India Tanzeem Falahul Muslemin(link is external), and the All India
Saifi Association(link is external) have all issued statements in support of
the Baha'is in Ivel, expressing grave concern about the confiscation of the
properties.
“We
are calling for the Higher court in Mazandaran and all responsible personnel to
take action and to help the Baha’i community in Ivel get back their
properties,” reads the statement from the American Islamic Congress. Echoing
these sentiments, the Canadian Council of Imams writes, “We are deeply concerned
by the ruling issued by an Iranian Court to confiscate the properties of 27
Baha’is in the farming village of Ivel.” Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra from the United
Kingdom specifically called upon Iran’s Chief Justice, Ebrahim Raisi, “to
address this injustice”, adding that “Islam does not permit a government to
confiscate land from citizens just because they follow a different religion”.
“The
sight of Muslim leaders around the world coming to the aid of their Baha'i
friends in Iran in an extraordinary wave of support is a powerful signal to the
Islamic Republic that their co-religionists around the world condemn their
actions,” says Diane Ala’i, Representative of the Baha'i International
Community to the United Nations in Geneva. “Statements of support from leading
Muslims for the Baha'is in Ivel, who have lived there for more than 150 years
with their Muslim neighbours, show that the Iranian government’s invocation of
Islamic law is a thin veil covering its persecution of the Baha'is.” Ms. Ala’i
added.
In
a further sign of international support for the Baha’is in Iran, government
officials around the world have condemned the Iranian court decision. The
Canadian Foreign Minister, Marc Garneau, says(link is external) his government
is concerned by the ruling, urging Iran to “eliminate all forms of
discrimination based on religion or belief.” The call has been echoed by
officials in Germany(link is external), the Netherlands(link is external),
Sweden(link is external), the United Kingdom(link is external), Brazil(link is
external), the United States(link is external), the European Parliament and the
United Nations(link is external). In Sweden, 12 members of parliament and
elected representatives have also strongly called on Iran(link is external) to
return the lands of the Baha’is of Ivel.
“Stop
confiscating Baha'i properties in the village of Ivel,” states Jos Douma(link
is external), the Netherlands’ Special Envoy for Religion or Belief. “And—at
last—recognize Baha'i[s] as a religious community.” The German Federal Government
Commissioner for Global Freedom of Religion, Markus Grübel, also called(link is
external) for Iran to recognize the Baha'is as a religious community in the
country and to end the “discrimination and persecution of Baha'i communities.”
South
Africa’s Legal Resources Centre, an organization known for its human rights
work during apartheid, has also issued a letter(link is external) condemning
the property confiscations.
Confiscation
of Baha'i-owned properties in Ivel began in the early years after the 1979
Islamic Revolution in Iran. In 2010, properties belonging to some 50 Baha'is in
Ivel were burned and demolished, driving them away from their ancestral farms
and homes.
The
Baha'is in Ivel have repeatedly appealed for their rights in the past, filing
complaints with the authorities at all levels and taking legal action to
reclaim their lands, to no avail.
“The
world is watching and is appalled by the Iranian government’s blatant
injustices towards the Baha'i community,” says Ms. Ala’i. “The innocence of the
Baha'is is more evident than ever to the international community, and Iran is
being held accountable for the gross injustices it has inflicted on the Baha'i
community in Iran. The government must take the necessary steps to not only
return the lands to the Baha'is in Ivel but to end the systematic persecution
of the Baha'is throughout the entire country once and for all.”
Background
The
fresh support comes after a former Canadian prime minister and more than 50
others in Canada’s legal community signed an open letter to the head of Iran’s
judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, expressing “deep concern” over the confiscations.
The
ruling to confiscate the properties was made in a Special Court for Article 49
of the Iranian Constitution, which allows the Iranian government to seize any
properties in the country. Article 49 states that the “ruling must be carried
out by the government after investigation, research and proof through Islamic
law.”
However,
despite the requirements of law, numerous court rulings and official documents
reveal the discriminatory motives behind the confiscations. The seizure of
properties is part of Iran’s systematic persecution of the Baha'is, reported
extensively by the United Nations.
In
October 2020, despite many efforts by the Baha'is—whose lawyers were denied the
chance to see files related to their case, to prepare their defense—an appeals
court upheld the ruling by the Special Court. The ruling allowed the Execution
of Imam Khomeini’s Order, a foundation under Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, to sell the lands owned by the Baha'is.
Confiscation
of Baha'i properties—holy places as well as individual properties—has been part
of Iran’s systematic campaign of economic, cultural and social persecution
against the Baha'is. It has been part of a four-decades long effort to destroy
the Baha'i community as a viable entity in the country.
Confiscation
of Baha'i-owned properties in Ivel began in the early years after the 1979
Islamic Revolution in Iran. Baha'is were also denied access to health clinics
and other institutions, which they had helped to establish; teachers found
various means to persecute Baha'i pupils, including by failing them in their
exams; the 100-year old Baha'i cemetery in the village was confiscated and sold
for conversion into residential property; and in 1983, more than 130 Baha'is
were locked in a local mosque, held captive for three days without food and
water, and pressured to recant their faith.
https://www.bic.org/news/extraordinary-wave-support-muslim-leaders-and-government-officials-denounce-irans-persecution-bahais
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Take
the COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign: British Muslim Spearheads COVID-19 Vaccine
Campaign to Counter Misinformation
A London vaccination centre in operation, December
30, 2020. (Getty Images)
-----
February
18, 2021
LONDON:
A British Muslim has launched a campaign to provide clear and accessible
information on COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to counter the misinformation
“wildfire” surrounding them.
Kawsar
Zaman, a successful barrister who launched the Take the COVID-19 Vaccine
Campaign, told Arab News that the importance of providing coherent and
accessible information became clear to him when he tried to persuade his mother
to trust the science.
“I
asked her whether she wanted to take the vaccine, and although she’s in a
high-risk category, she said no. She was concerned about side effects and the
unusually rapid pace of the vaccine development — just 12 months,” he said.
When
he tried to find information to assuage her concerns in her native Bengali
language, he realized how difficult it is to find accessible information about
the vaccines, especially if English is not one’s mother tongue.
That
is why he launched his campaign with one clear and simple mission: “To
encourage people to take the vaccine.”
Zaman
said: “What I found is that information at the moment is very piecemeal. If you
want to find out about the production of vaccines, for example, you have to go
to the British government’s healthcare regulatory agency website or the World
Health Organization’s website. But if you want to find out about specific
vaccine ingredients, you have to go directly to the manufacturer’s website.”
He
added: “What we’ve done, and which was one of the key objectives, is bring all
of that information under one website.”
It
provides key information on the vaccines, and addresses around 50 of the most
commonly asked questions about them. Critically, he said, the information is
provided in 18 languages.
Zaman
added that the importance of including many languages becomes clear when
looking at the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the UK’s sizable ethnic
minority populations.
He
cited the example of Bangladeshis living in the UK, who are twice as likely,
and in some areas three times as likely, to die from COVID-19.
Despite
this, “uptake of the vaccine has been very low among some minority groups,
while deaths and cases have been high,” he said.
“But
if people can’t access clear information about vaccines, you can understand
their hesitancy.”
Zaman
explained that historical trust issues from minority groups, as well as
government messaging strategies that do not connect with their intended
audiences, have meant those communities are less willing to take the vaccine.
This
has been compounded by the capacity of misinformation, such as the widely
debunked idea that the vaccines are not halal, to spread “like wildfire”
through closely knit families and communities.
But
while the challenges remain significant in countering the spread of this
dangerous fake news, Zaman said the value of his campaign has already been
recognized at the highest levels of government.
The
campaign has drawn bipartisan support from over 100 MPs and members of the
House of Lords.
Zaman
said Lord Sheikh of Cornhill “has been instrumental in championing and raising
vaccine uptake issues in Parliament.”
Zaman
has also met with the vaccines taskforce, and will soon meet with Nadhim
Zahawi, who is overseeing the UK’s vaccine rollout.
Across
these meetings, Zaman said, he has been hammering home the point that getting
local community hubs and leaders involved is key to increasing trust in the
vaccines.
“Local
church leaders, local imams, play a crucial role in encouraging vaccine uptake
by encouraging people to trust the experts,” he added.
“We
need to persuade people medically. It’s ultimately a medical question. We need
to get the message across that on the balance of risks, you should take the
vaccine.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1811691/world
--------
Indian
Concerns about Sikh Yatris Rejected By Pakistan Foreign Office
February
19, 2021
ISLAMABAD:
The Foreign Office on Thursday rejected Indian concerns about Sikh Yatris
visiting Pakistan for pilgrimage and said that they were fully facilitated
during the trips.
“Pakistan
provides maximum facilitation to the Sikh Yatris from all over the world,
including India, for visiting their religious sites in Pakistan,” FO Spokesman
Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said at the weekly media briefing.
India
had disallowed around 600 Sikhs intending to visit Pakistan from Feb 18 to 25
for the 100th anniversary of Saka Nankana Sahib. The group was expected to
visit five gurdwaras in Pakistan.
Indian
Ministry of Home Affairs had in a letter denying Sikhs permission to undertake
the trip said that keeping in view the “capacity of health infrastructure in
Pakistan” it could not allow such a large group to tour the country for a week.
The
Indian home ministry also expressed concerns about the “safety” of the group
because of what it said “considerable threat”.
Mr
Chaudhri recalled that Pakistan had opened the largest and the holiest Sikh
shrine in Kartarpur Sahib to facilitate Sikh Yatris. “The Sikh as well as the
international community, including UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who
while visiting Kartarpur described it as ‘Corridor of Hope’, have immensely
appreciated this landmark initiative of Pakistan,” he maintained.
“The
Sikh community remains particularly appreciative of the efforts made by
Pakistan to complete the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor Project in record time and
for the excellent arrangements made to facilitate the pilgrims,” he added.
India,
the spokesman said, should also facilitate Sikh Yatris for visiting their
religious sites in Pakistan.
In
reply to a question about the cancellation of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s
speech to Sri Lankan parliament, Mr Chaudhri said: “The two sides are currently
working on the elements of the programme of the prime minister’s visit, keeping
in view the Covid-19 related health safety protocols.”
His
reference to “Covid-19 related health safety protocols” was in itself a
confirmation that the speech is no more taking place because the Sri Lankan
government had used the pretext of the pandemic to cancel it.
However,
diplomatic sources and Sri Lankan media claim the speech was cancelled because
of concerns that Mr Khan could raise the Kashmir issue and the plight of Lankan
Muslims.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1608149/indian-concerns-about-sikh-yatris-rejected
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Abu
Dhabi and Tel Aviv to establish spy bases on strategic Yemeni island
18
February 2021
Long
before the new chapter of relations between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv, the
Emiratis had worked with Israeli surveillance experts and firms.
In
fact, the first visit to the UAE by an Israeli official was made by the head of
Mossad to discuss “cooperation in the field of security and issues of common
interest”.
Now
with normalized ties, and given a history of cooperation between the two sides,
there are fears that the agreement might pave the way for more repression of
Emirati journalists and rights activists at home, and of course, an uptick in
cyber-attacks and surveillance operations in the region and beyond.
Shortly
after the trip, it was revealed that Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv are involved in a
joint surveillance project in Yemen.
The
two sides were reportedly working silently on a plan to establish spy bases on
the strategic Yemeni island of Socotra.
According
to JForumm, the official site of the Jewish and French-speaking community, “The
purpose of such a spy station would be to collect intelligence across the
region, particularly from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a sea route chokepoint
between the Horn of Africa and the south of Yemen, along with the Gulf of Aden
and the Middle East.”
We
have different aspects of Cyber Intelligence; Cyber Intelligence covers the
domestic threat and the external threat. And in this case we have the Emiratis
who like to control the opposition groups and like to make sure that they
monitor their own officials and other citizens or political parties, including
many foreign companies on their soil. But above all, the collaboration between
Israel and the Emirates is mainly directed toward Iran to make sure that they
can also control the nearby country and also the Iranian company that are
acting on the, they are working (in the UAE).
Elijah
Magnier, Journalist and Political Analyst
While
the Emirati authorities are engaged in regional surveillance for their regional
ambitions, which is to become the leading power of the Middle East, they need
Israel’s spying hardware and software to maintain the status quo within the
borders.
In
fact, Abu Dhabi has long been engaged in muting dissenting voices with the help
of Israeli cyber-surveillance companies.
The
Falcon Eye surveillance system
For
example, in 2015, Abu Dhabi contracted Israeli Asia Global Technology for a
civil surveillance project called Falcon Eye.
A
source privy to the project told Middle East Eye, "Every person is
monitored from the moment they leave the doorstep to the moment they return to
it."
The
Israelis managed to collect strong capability. And they've signed an agreement
with the United States on cybersecurity deals, and also they have this recent
agreement that goes back into three years where the narrative is not very new.
Every
year they invest between 450 to $500. million on the collaboration on cyber
security. Even if the normalisation of relationship was announced, only very
recently in the last few months, but the collaboration between Israel and the
Emirates, go back to several years.
Elijah
Magnier, Journalist and Political Analyst
Perhaps,
one of the high-profile cases refers to the Emirati human rights activist Ahmad
Mansoor who was targeted by the Israeli Pegasus spyware, developed by NSO Group
Technologies.
According
to the Citizen Lab, “On August 10 and 11, 2016, Mansoor received SMS text
messages on his iPhone promising “new secrets” about detainees tortured in UAE
jails if he clicked on an included link.
Instead
of clicking on the link, Mansoor sent the messages to Citizen Lab researchers
who recognized the links as belonging to NSO Group, an Israel-based “cyber war”
company.”
They
feel the wave of democracy coming in, and they feel that the countries are
asking to[for] reform, and people want their voice to be heard. And those who
are within them to be in power[sic]. And today the royal families, the kings
and Emirates, represent, first of all their interest to remain in power.
This
is where the collaboration between Israel and the Emiratis can [come in handy]
for the Emirati authorities, because they want to feel how strong is this
threat coming toward them and how it's threatening their regime. Therefore, if
this full control of all communications, internet, the main exchange of ideas,
communication, locally, domestically and with the outside world. That is
related to any potential threat against the Emirati regime.
Elijah
Magnier, Journalist and Political Analyst
To
impress their Emirati customers, NSO Group gave them two secretly recorded
phone calls of a London-based Arab newspaper editor, Abdul Aziz al-Khamis.
But
the Emiratis have gradually shown that they don’t like to be mere consumers
when it comes to surveillance technology.
In
2017, Emirati company DarkMatter reportedly recruited a number of former NSO
employees, with salaries as high as $1 million. The company hacked the iPhones
of hundreds of activists and political leaders, according to a Reuters special
report.
Any
social media that is allowed in any country, particularly in the Middle East,
the government needs to have full control of it, including communication like
WhatsApp, Viber, ToToK, Twitter and Facebook, all these social media that are
an open space, and they can provide Cyberintelligence, with an open source
intelligence, they give indication to the states of the level of threat, as I
said earlier, if it is growing, how much is it growing, who are the most active
people, who will likely represent danger to their well being or security or
regime, for advertising democracy? Who are attacking this personality or
another key figure in the state? So all these social media networks that are an
open platform, are very closely monitored. And when they are not when the
government doesn't have access to it, then it blocks it. Therefore, when it is
not blocked, and is available, it means the government has access and can
control what's going on.
Elijah
Magnier, Journalist and Political Analyst
In
2019, an investigation by The New York Times found ToTok, a free messaging app
launched in the UAE by Emirati company Group 42, was actually used by the
Emirati government "to try to track every conversation, movement,
relationship, appointment, sound and image of those who install it on their
phones."
Just
before the normalization deal, Group 42 said it had signed a cooperation deal
with Israel Aerospace Industries' Elta Division over coronavirus solutions.
In
the words of Andreas Krieg of King's
College London, "With Israeli technology being world leading and the UAE
building a 21st century surveillance state with deep penetration into countries
in the region, both have seen this as a win-win. Such relationships are only
possible because the Israeli security establishment has sanctioned it."
For
the security-minded leadership in Abu Dhabi, warmer full relations with Tel
Aviv is a good opportunity for them to build up their police state even if it
necessitates the betrayal of the Palestinian cause internationally and
underdevelopment of a real civil society nationally.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/18/645575/bu-Dhabi-and-Tel-Aviv-to-establish-spy-bases-on-strategic-Yemeni-island-
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Algerian
president dissolves lower house of parliament amid calls for protests
19
February 2021
Algerian
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has dissolved the lower house of parliament and
called for snap legislative elections as activists have launched a campaign to
mobilize the street again against authorities.
“I
decided to dissolve the assembly and call elections to build a new
institution,” Tebboune said in a televised address to the nation, without
giving a date for the vote.
The
five-year lower house of parliament was formed after the May 2017 election
which saw allies of deposed President Abdelaziz Bouteflika winning a clear
majority.
Tebboune
described the dissolution of the parliament as part of reforms after voters
approved amendments to the constitution aimed at giving parliament more powers
in November last year.
He
also announced that a government reshuffle would take place "within 48
hours at most", and ordered the release of about 60 detainees of the
“Hirak” protest movement that ousted his predecessor, Bouteflika, in 2019.
The
release of protesters, who have been in detention since the protests broke out
on February 22, has been one of the major demands of the Hirak.
“We
have vowed to meet all demands raised by the Hirak,” Tebboune said in the speech.
His
speech comes amid calls on social media to stage street marches to mark the
second anniversary of the demonstrations.
The
Arab Weekly reported that opposition activists launched a large campaign on
social media to turn the movement’s second anniversary into a launchpad for a
new wave of anti-regime protests.
The
new announcements are seen as an attempt to appease protesters.
Thousands
of people staged a protest in the town of Kherrata, the cradle of the Hirak, on
Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of the movement, defying coronavirus
restrictions.
They
chanted “President Tebboune is a forger brought in by the army” and “the
generals in the trash.”
The
protesters called for “a civilian, not military state,” “the release of
detainees” and “the exit of the authorities and the generals,” bringing back
memories of the political protests that swept Algeria between 2019 and 2020
before the government banned marches in March last year as part of measures to
curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Tebboune,
once a prime minister under Bouteflika, was elected in December 2019 amid
protests demanding the removal of the whole ruling elite, with many people
boycotting the vote as they saw it as unfair and not transparent.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/19/645587/Algerian-President-dissolves-parliament
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US
willing to accept EU invitation for nuclear talks with Iran: State Department
Joseph
Haboush
18
February ,2021
The
United States is willing to accept an invitation from the European Union for
talks with Iran over its nuclear program, a State Department spokesman said
Thursday.
"The
United States would accept an invitation from the European Union High
Representative to attend a meeting of the P5+1 and Iran to discuss a diplomatic
way forward on Iran’s nuclear program," Ned Price said in a statement.
Enrique
Mora the EU’s Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs tweeted hours
earlier that he was ready to make the move.
“The
#JCPOA at a critical moment. Intense talks with all participants and the US. I
am ready to invite them to an informal meeting to discuss the way forward,”
Mora said on his Twitter account.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/19/US-willing-to-accept-EU-invitation-for-nuclear-talks-with-Iran-State-Department
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Bangladesh
Seeks Removal of Al Jazeera Controversial Investigative Report from Online
Platforms
February
19, 2021
DHAKA:
Bangladeshi officials have sought the removal from online platforms of a
controversial investigative report by Al Jazeera after a high court ruling
cleared legal grounds for the move.
The
report, “All the Prime Minister’s Men,” broadcast by the Qatar-based TV channel
on Feb. 1, alleged that Bangladeshi Army chief Gen. Aziz Ahmed had offered aid
to his fugitive brothers, who are wanted for the murder of a rival politician,
with the tacit approval of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The
high court in Dhaka on Wednesday ordered the country’s telecom regulator to
remove the content from several online platforms, including Facebook, YouTube,
Twitter and Instagram.
However,
the court rejected a writ filed by a Supreme Court lawyer seeking to ban Al
Jazeera transmission in the country.
Mustafa
Jabbar, Bangladesh’s post and telecommunication minister, told Arab News on
Thursday: “We have already contacted Facebook authorities and placed a request
to remove the Al Jazeera report content immediately.”
However,
he added that the ministry will not block websites that carry the report.
“Technically,
we can’t block any particular content on a particular website in Bangladesh. We
need to block the website in such a case. But we don’t block any website that
contains news and information as it hampers people’s rights of expression,”
Jabbar said, adding that he expected Facebook to act soon.
It
is unclear when the Al Jazeera content will be removed.
Brig.
Gen. Nasim Parvez, director-general of system and service at the Bangladesh
Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), said the organization has also
been in touch with Facebook over the matter.
“They
(Facebook) will work in their way. It’s not a time-defined matter,” he told
Arab News.
Senior
high court lawyer Monjil Morshed said that while the court can request the
removal of any content that appears harmful or demeaning to the state, the BTRC
has no control over what is streamed from abroad.
“In
this case, BTRC will make requests to Facebook and other online platform
authorities, and they will conduct their own investigation before making any
move,” he said.
Leading
Bangladeshi journalist Naimul Islam Khan said that the decision to remove the
Al Jazeera report was not “much needed.”
“The
report had many shortcomings and we were critical (of its) weaknesses. In many
cases it seemed politically motivated,” he told Arab News.
However,
he added: “Personally, I don’t like any kind of interference in the freedom of
expression and journalism.”
Meanwhile,
another case related to the Al Jazeera report was filed with a Dhaka court on
Wednesday, accusing Swedish-Bangladeshi journalist Tasneem Khalil, Hungary-based
entrepreneur Zulkarnain Saer Khan, British journalist David Bergman and Al
Jazeera Media Network Acting Director Mostefa Souag of sedition in connection
with their involvement in the documentary’s production.
An
order in the case is expected on Monday.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1811801/world
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India
Gujarat
Dy CM Says Love Jihad Law Soon, for the ‘Safety of Hindu girls and Women’
By Vaibhav Jha | Ahmedabad |
February
19, 2021
CAMPAIGNING
for the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation elections Thursday, Deputy Chief
Minister Nitin Patel said the Gujarat government will bring a legislation to
check “love jihad” in the coming Assembly session, adding that this was
required for the safety of Hindu girls and women.
“Of
what use are good roads, hospitals and schools if our religion and country are
not safe?
We
may build schools, colleges to educate our girls, give fee waivers, but if our
girls cannot go to medical colleges freely and safely, then there is no use of
such hostels and colleges. Security is necessary, which was ensured only after
the BJP government came, and strengthened it day after day… Now we are
thinking… they mislead and take our daughters… those people of other religions,
they keep Hindu names, appear like Hindus, have no food to eat at home but roam
around on motorbikes, and big cars which people like you would have given for
repairs… someone else would have paid for the petrol… and try to impress our
daughters. If unfortunately our daughters fall in their trap and change their
religion and marry them… to put curbs on such people our Bharatiya Janata Party
government is seriously planning to bring a law on love jihad in the coming
Vidhan Sabha session. So I say not just Narmada waters, not just roads, but
safety (is important).”
Raising
the Babri Masjid issue while campaigning for the Gota ward, Patel added in
Gujarati, “If they had made the mosque somewhere else, we would have had no
objection. They made the Taj Mahal, we had no objection… But these vidharmi
(infidels) are taught by their mullahs who have come from abroad… Afghanistan…
Timur Lang… Humayun to Babar and their sons… None of them are shudh (pure)
Bharatiya (Indians). If you test their DNA even today, it will show
Afghanistan… These people come here and incite… somebody makes a movie,
somebody comes up with a song, so that Hindu sentiments get hurt. These people
have been taught by the mullahs that if you want to break Hindus… you must not
just snatch their kingdoms, but break the symbols of Hindus such as the Somnath
temple, Ramji mandir and Krishna temple… Mohammad Ghazni plundered Somnath
temple… his aim was to destroy the place of Hindu belief… That’s why they
desecrated the pious bhoomi of Lord Ram.”
Patel
said that earlier the Hindus had no power or unity, and hence “we couldn’t do
anything”.
Attacking
the Congress, he said, “The blood of the party is from the time of Jawaharlal
Nehru.” He went on to talk about Nehru trying to dissuade then President
Rajendra Prasad from attending the inauguration of the rebuilt Somnath temple.
Patel
said people of Gujarat had not forgotten “what it was like to live in Congress
rule”. “Back then I was a businessman and often had to travel from Kadi town in
Mehsana to areas such as Kalupur, Jamalpur, Dariapur and Relief Road in Ahmedabad.
I had to confirm from my colleague businessmen in Ahmedabad if it was safe to
travel there. They used to tell me a curfew was on in the city. I remember
boarding a bus from Mehsana to Ahmedabad and how it would be stopped at Adalaj
area in Gandhinagar by the police as there was a curfew in the city. Even
farmers who wanted to sell their produce couldn’t travel to Jamalpur area…
Thanks to the BJP government which came in power in 1995, the misery of
Ahmedabad ended.”
He
said the Congress was only motivated by vote bank politics. “It chose not to
upset its vote bank, at the cost of this country, our culture, our temples and
rath yatras. Cow killers, butchers, goons, mafia and bootleggers used to roam
in the open… They knew that if they took action against any goon, people from
that goon’s area would stop voting for them. Goons would harass our daughters
and sisters outside schools, colleges and public places.”
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/nitin-patel-says-love-jihad-law-soon-for-the-safety-of-our-women-7195027/
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State-sponsored
terrorism leads to increase in discrimination against minorities: India at UN
Feb
19, 2021
UNITED
NATIONS: State-sponsored terrorism targeted against specific communities leads
to increase in discrimination against minorities and their further
marginalisation, India has said, calling on UN member states and agencies to
not give an opportunity to justify terrorism on any ground.
“The
scourge of terrorism has emerged as a major source of discrimination in our
societies today. State-sponsored terrorism targeted against specific
communities lead to increase in discrimination against minorities and their
further marginalisation in society,” India's permanent representative to the
UN, ambassador T S Tirumurti, said.
He
said this while addressing the ECOSOC Meeting on ‘Eliminating Racism,
Xenophobia and Discrimination for All in the Decade of Action for the SDGs' on
Thursday.
India
calls on countries to desist from such terrorist acts and also calls on member
states and the UN bodies to not give an opportunity to justify terrorism on any
ground, he said.
As
the world becomes interconnected, new media, especially social media has
emerged as a platform for amplifying racial hatred and discriminatory ideas,
Tirumurti said.
“We
need to tackle infodemic with all our might to ensure social cohesion. United
Nations has the responsibility to ensure that countering racism and
discrimination should not be limited to a select few but should encompass all
those affected.”
Addressing
the session, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres gave a clarion call to
reject racism.
“Racism
plagues our world. It is abhorrent. It is ugly. And it is everywhere. We must
condemn it without reservation, without hesitation, without qualification,” he
said.
The
UN chief said as societies become ever more multi-ethnic, multi-religious and
multi-cultural, there is a need for greater political, cultural and economic
investments in inclusivity and cohesion, to harness the benefits of diversity
rather than perceiving it as a threat.
Tirumurti
noted that India is firmly committed to social, economic and political equality
through legislations and well-designed multi sectoral interventions.
He
told the meeting that in the wake of Covid pandemic, India has adopted a
variety of interventions, particularly targeted at vulnerable sections, to
ensure that there is no discrimination in the society.
“The
role of the State in the last one year has been crucial in ensuring that we are
able to recover with minimal damage and at the same time contribute to the
welfare of all countries.”
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/state-sponsored-terrorism-leads-to-increase-in-discrimination-against-minorities-india-at-un/articleshow/81105809.cms
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Terrorists
open fire at police in Srinagar, one constable dead
Feb
19, 2021
SRINAGAR:
A policeman died and another was injured in an attack by terrorists in the
Baghat area on high security airport road here on Friday, police said.
The
terrorists shot the two policemen from close range, a police official said.
The
injured policemen were taken to a hospital where one among them succumbed,
police said.
They
identified the slain policeman as constable Sohail.
Security
forces have launched an operation to track down the assailants, the official
said.
This
is the second attack in the city in the past three days. Terrorists shot at and
injured son of a restaurant owner in high security Durganag area of the city on
Wednesday.
The
attacks in the city have come as a 24-member delegation of envoys from various
countries visited Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday for assessing the ground
situation in the union territory.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/terrorists-open-fire-at-police-in-srinagar-one-constable-dead/articleshow/81106772.cms
--------
3
Lashkar terrorists killed in encounter in J&K's Shopian
Feb
19, 2021
SRINAGAR:
Three terror associates affiliated with the proscribed terror outfit
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were killed in an encounter in the Badigam area of Shopian
district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Friday.
Vijay
Kumar, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Zone, confirmed that all three
terrorists killed in the Shopian encounter were affiliated with LeT.
Kashmir
Zone Police in a statement said that incriminating materials including arms and
ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.
"Further
search is underway," police added.
An
encounter between security forces and terrorists broke out at the Badigam area
of Shopian on Thursday night.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/3-lashkar-terrorists-killed-in-encounter-in-jks-shopian/articleshow/81102675.cms
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NIA
gets 5-day custody of Hizbul terrorists’ harbourer
Feb
19, 2021
JAMMU:
A special court here remanded a terrorist harbourer and logistical support
provider for Hizb-ul Mujahideen terror outfit in five-day custody of the
National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday. The agency had arrested Taraq
Hussain Giri, a resident of J&K’s Kishtwar district, on Wednesday.
According
to an NIA spokesperson, Giri was arrested from Kishtwar in a case pertaining to
snatching of the service rifle from the escort in-charge of the district
magistrate in March 2019.
“Giri
was held for harbouring and providing logistical support to Hizbul terrorists
Osama Bin Javed and Haroon Abbas Wani in March 2019, after the duo snatched the
service rifle from the escort in-charge,” the spokesperson said.
The
case was initially registered by Kishtwar police on March 8, 2019 under various
sections of the Ranbir Penal Code, the Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act. Later, NIA re-registered the case on November 2, 2019 and
took over the investigation.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/nia-gets-5-day-custody-of-hizbul-terrorists-harbourer/articleshow/81101566.cms
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Mideast
Daesh
Terrorists Confirm Fighting Alongside Saudi Mercenaries in Yemen
18
February 2021
The
Daesh terrorist group has openly confirmed that its members are fighting
alongside Saudi-backed mercenaries against Yemen’s army and forces from popular
committees in the province of Ma’rib.
Over
the past few weeks, Ma'rib has been the scene of major operations by Yemeni
forces pushing hard to recapture it from forces loyal to the former
Saudi-backed government.
Daesh
issued a short statement on Wednesday, saying it has carried out operations
against Yemen’s Ansarullah forces in Ma’rib province, killing and wounding a
number of the movement’s forces.
The
new development came after Ansarullah forces and their allies in the Yemeni
army launched a major offensive to retake Ma’rib, which is considered as the
last stronghold of Saudi-backed forces in northern Yemen.
Their
advances have raised concerns in the Saudi-led coalition and their allies,
including the US. On Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price called on
Ansarullah to halt its offensive and end retaliatory strikes on Saudi Arabia.
The
movement says the call proves US support for terrorist elements in Ma'rib.
Last
October, the Foreign Ministry of Yemen’s National Salvation Government first
said that militiamen loyal to former
Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi were closely working with al-Qaeda and
Daesh terrorists.
The
ministry, in two separate identical letters addressed to the United Nations and
the UN Security Council, elaborated on clean-up operations carried out by
Yemeni armed forces and fighters from the Popular Committees against al-Qaeda
and Daesh terror cells in the central province of Bayda.
The
letters said there were foreign nationals, mostly Saudi citizens, among
militant commanders and combatants slain in Yemeni operations. Large amounts of
weapons, bombs and explosive belts were also seized, the letters said.
A
senior Yemeni official also said last month that Washington was fighting
alongside Takfiri terror outfits such as Daesh and al-Qaeda against Yemen.
“This
American description [of Ansarullah] comes from the same people fighting on the
same front with Daesh and al-Qaeda against us,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a
member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, told Russia Today on January 18.
Al-Houthi
said the US was supporting the two terror groups so it could use them as “its
two arms” to fight Yemen’s defense forces.
The
official, meanwhile, denounced the US as the “killer of the Yemeni people,”
saying Washington had to apologize to the Arab nation and compensate it.
He
was referring to the unreserved arms, logistical, and political support that
Washington has been lending to Saudi Arabia and its allies during a war they
have been waging against Yemen since March 2015.
Tens
of thousands of Yemenis have died, millions more have been displaced, and the
entire impoverished country has turned into the site of the world’s worst
humanitarian crisis.
The
US-backed Saudi war was launched to restore Hadi, who had fled Yemen amid a
power crisis and refused to stay behind and negotiate.
Ansarullah:
Daesh-based coalition responsible for crimes against people of Ma'rib
Hours
later, the political bureau of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement issued a statement
noting that the announcement by the criminal Daesh group reveals the close
relations between forces of aggression in Ma’rib province and the Takfiri
terrorist outfit.
The
statement added that the terrorist coalition, which includes Daesh, is
responsible for all crimes committed against the people of Ma’rib.
Ansarullah’s
political bureau also announced that the Yemeni people will not stand idle and
will continue to fight to save the country.
It
added that Yemeni people will continue to fight against the coalition of
criminals and murderers, which pursues no goal, but to create chaos in the Arab
country and pave the way for further foreign interventions.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/18/645556/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-Biden--Ansarullah-Daesh-al-Qaeda-COVID-19-
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US
eases restrictions on Iranian diplomat's movements in New York imposed by Trump
19
February ,2021
The
United States said Thursday it was easing draconian restrictions imposed by Donald
Trump's administration on movements of Iranian diplomats accredited at the
United Nations, headquartered in New York City, as part of a bid to reduce
tensions.
"The
idea here is to take steps to remove unnecessary obstacles to multilateral
diplomacy by amending the restrictions on domestic travel. Those had been
extremely restrictive," a State Department official told reporters.
As
part of his maximum pressure campaign on Iran, Trump in 2019 barred Iranian
diplomats from all but a few blocks around the United Nations and their
mission, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif saying he was even
prohibited during a UN visit from visiting a colleague in a New York hospital.
The
State Department said that Iranian diplomats would still be subject to restrictions
on diplomats applied to nations with poor relations with the United States,
such as North Korea, who need authorization to go beyond a 25-mile
(40-kilometer) radius from Midtown Manhattan.
President
Joe Biden's administration also said Thursday it was ready to meet with Iranian
officials under EU auspices to jumpstart diplomacy and reversed Trump’s widely
derided contention that the United States snapped back UN sanctions against
Iran.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/19/US-eases-restrictions-on-Iranian-diplomat-s-movements-in-New-York-imposed-by-Trump
--------
Iran
responds to E3, US nuclear deal warning: Remove cause if you fear effect
18
February ,2021
Tuqa
Khalid
Iran’s
Minister of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday Tehran was holding its ground on
ending snap nuclear inspections by the IAEA, urging the United States and the
E3 countries to “remove the cause if you fear the effect.”
“Instead
of sophistry and putting onus on Iran, E3/EU must abide by own commitments and
demand an end to Trump's legacy of economic terrorism against Iran. Our
remedial measures are a response to US/E3 violations. Remove the cause if you
fear the effect. We'll follow ACTION [with] action,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said
in a tweet.
The
foreign ministers of the US, UK, Germany and France stressed on Thursday their
“shared fundamental security interest in upholding the nuclear
non-proliferation regime and ensuring that Iran can never develop a nuclear
weapon.”
“The
E3 and the United States are united in underlining the dangerous nature of a
decision to limit IAEA access, and urge Iran to consider the consequences of
such grave action, particularly at this time of renewed diplomatic
opportunity,” the UK foreign ministry said in a statement.
Iran
had said on Monday it informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of its
plan to end sweeping inspection powers given to the agency under the 2015
nuclear deal.
President
Joe Biden’s administration aims to return the United States to the deal, which
his predecessor Donald Trump abandoned in 2018. Under the deal, Iran agreed to
curbs on its uranium enrichment program in return for the lifting of sanctions.
After
Trump quit and re-imposed sanctions, Iran began violating some of the deal's
limits on sensitive uranium enrichment.
Washington
and Tehran now disagree over how best to restore the accord, with both sides
demanding the other side act first to return to compliance.
The
E3 and US expressed concern and condemned Iran’s latest moves to enrich uranium
up to 20 percent and produce uranium metal.
“These
activities have no credible civil justification. Uranium metal production is a
key step in the development of a nuclear weapon,” they said.
Iran
has long denied striving to develop nuclear weapons through uranium enrichment,
though its intelligence minister said last week persistent Western pressure
could push Tehran to fight back like a “cornered cat” and seek nuclear weapons.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/18/Iran-nuclear-deal-Iran-responds-to-E3-US-nuclear-deal-warning-Remove-cause-if-you-fear-effect
--------
Yemeni
group demands popular support amid decisive battle in Ma’rib against Saudi
forces
19
February 2021
A
Yemeni group has called on people from all walks of life in the country to
throw their weight behind the ongoing battle in the strategic central province
of Ma’rib as Yemeni army and allied fighters from Popular Committees are
pushing to drive out Saudi-led coalition forces and their mercenaries.
The
Future of Justice said in a statement released on Thursday that Saudi monarch
King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who claims to be the Custodian of the Two
Holy Mosques, has been conducting a military onslaught in Yemen for 70 months
with the support of the United States and the Israeli regime, and has reaped
nothing out of the campaign.
The
Yemeni nation, on the other hand, showed such strength, faith and steadfastness
that Saudi authorities, their Arab allies, Israeli officials and former US
president Donald Trump could never imagine their imposed war would last for
more than six years, the statement added.
“The
aggressors thought the war would last for six months even with Yemenis’
resistance, after which the country would have been handed over to the Israeli
regime and their American masters. This would have made Yemen the first country
to host Zionist groups, and would have allowed them to back up their claim of
Yemeni heritage,” the statement pointed out.
The
Future of Justice went on to say that Yemeni army forces and their allies are
on the fringes of Ma’rib, calling on Yemeni people to support them in their
decisive battle as they are only a few steps away from final victory.
The
group asked all Yemeni intellectual, cultural and political figures as well as
civil society organizations to assume their religious, national and
humanitarian responsibilities, and asked the Yemeni military forces throughout
the country to join forces with the Sana’a-based National Salvation Government.
Daesh
alliance with Saudi mercenaries
The
politburo of the Ansarullah movement denounced the West's opposition to the
Ma’rib offensive which comes amid Daesh's confirmation of helping Saudi
mercenaries in the battle.
“Daesh’s
recent announcement that it is fighting alongside the coalition of aggression
in Ma’rib represents the intimate connection between the criminal [Saudi-led]
alliance and Daesh terrorist group,” it said in a statement.
“We
hold the coalition of aggression and Daesh fully responsible for the crimes
committed against Arab people,” Ansarullah pointed out.
“The
Yemeni nation will never be left alone, and it reserves the right to continue
the fight for liberation and to confront the criminal and murderous coalition,
which has no objective but to keep Yemen in a state of turmoil and under the
foreign influence,” the statement said.
Over
the past few weeks, Ma'rib has been the scene of large-scale operations by the
Yemeni troops and allied Popular Committees fighters pushing hard to retake it
from forces loyal to the Saudi-backed government of former president, Abd
Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Daesh
issued a short statement on Wednesday, saying it has carried out operations
against Yemeni armed forces in Ma’rib province, killing and wounding a number
of them in the process.
The
Yemeni forces' advances have raised concerns in the Saudi-led coalition and
their allies, including the United States.
On
Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price called on Yemeni forces and
Popular Committees fighters to halt their offensive and end retaliatory strikes
on Saudi Arabia.
Ansarullah
says the call proves the US support for terrorist elements in Ma'rib.
‘Civilians
used as human shields in Ma’rib’
The
Yemeni High Council for Humanitarian Affairs said the Saudi coalition and its
mercenaries are using civilians and internally displaced people in Ma'rib as
human shields to stop the advance of Yemeni army troops and fighters from
Popular Committees.
The
council, in a statement on Thursday, deplored the insistence of militants from
the al-Qaeda-affiliated Salafist Islah Party to use Ma'rib civilians as human
shields, and their blunt refusal to open humanitarian corridors for unarmed
civilians to leave the conflict zone.
The
statement said the Saudi-led coalition and its mercenaries are using Ma’rib
residents as a tool to delay the liberation of the city.
The
council noted that the forces are endangering the lives of civilians and
exacerbating poor conditions in refugee camps around Ma’rib.
It
said it is closely monitoring the developments in Ma’rib, and has made
preparations for the reception of all civilians who exit the city.
The
Yemeni humanitarian council finally stressed that the international community
must stop the Saudi-led coalition's crimes so that civilians and displaced
people are safe from the repercussions of the clashes, emphasizing that the
alliance must not hide behind civilians to conceal its actions.
Houthi
rebukes UN special envoy
A
member of Yemen's Supreme Political Council called the battle to liberate
Ma’rib an act of defense against the relentless aggression of the Saudi-led
coalition and its mercenaries, which began with an onslaught on Sana’a back in
March 2015.
“Ever
since they failed to overrun Nihm city east of Sana’a [in February 2017], their
assaults have intensified and battles raged on, and now [the United Nations
Special Envoy for Yemen Martin] Griffiths wants to stop the fighting and terms
the latest development an attack on Mar’ib,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi noted in a
post published on his Twitter page.
He
added, “The UN envoy knows that aggressors dismissed the seven-point Yemen
peace plan [brokered by the United Nation during talks in the Omani capital
Muscat back in October 2015] on the grounds that the Saudi-led coalition and
its mercenaries were advancing in the battle for the capture of Sana’a.
“They
did not agree to the cessation of airstrikes and removal of siege in exchange
for us to stop our attacks.”
Griffiths
on Thursday said that the advances of Yemen’s army and forces from popular
committees in the province of Ma’rib “threaten all of the prospects of the
peace process” in the war-torn Arab country.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/19/645592/Yemeni-group-demands-popular-support-amid-decisive-battle-in-strategic-Marib
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Warned
of Hezbollah revenge, Israel threatens to destroy Lebanon in case of war with
resistance movement
18
February 2021
Fearing
the threat of a Hezbollah reprisal, the Israeli regime alleges that it may
target the Lebanese resistance movement and make the country feel the
repercussions of such act of aggression.
Israel’s
minister for military affairs Benny Gantz made the remarks on Thursday,
commenting on an Israeli military analysis that the movement could initiate
“days of battle” on the regime, Israeli paper The Jerusalem Post reported. The
analysis had also warned that the group was exercising its idea of “the
equation” that consisted in its seeking to retaliate for Tel Aviv’s aggression.
“Facing
that type of threat,” the Israeli military was prepared to use whatever force
necessary, Gantz said, “Hezbollah would take a serious hit, and Lebanon would
feel it.”
He
also acknowledged that a battle of such length “would be difficult for the
Israeli home front.”
Last
July, an Israeli airstrike led to the assassination of a Hezbollah member,
named as Ali Kamel Mohsen Jawad, in Syria.
The
movement that enjoys notable presence across Lebanon’s political and military
spheres has vowed to avenge the assassination.
In
two speeches that followed the assassination, Hezbollah Secretary General
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah unveiled significant advancements concerning the
group’s capabilities.
He
first announced that the movement had managed to acquire the prowess to take on
Israel’s intrusive drones. Ever since, Hezbollah has brought down many of the
aerial vehicles, while UAVs belonging to the group itself have twice captured
detailed videos of Israeli military installations across the occupied
territories.
On
another occasion, Nasrallah said his group had, within the space of just one year,
doubled the size of its missile arsenal. He also noted that the entire occupied
territories were within the range of the movement’s precision projectiles.
Most
recently, the Hezbollah chief vociferously cautioned the Israeli regime against
risking an attack on the resistance movement or any other target in Lebanon.
“Should
war erupt, Israelis will see events they haven’t witness since 1948. So, stop
playing with fire. We are in the Resistance era,” Nasrallah said on Tuesday,
referring to the year, in which the regime claimed existence after a wholesale
Western-backed war against regional territories.
Israel
and Lebanon are technically at war due to the former’s continued occupation of
Lebanese territory, including Shebaa Farms that the regime overran in a
subsequent war in 1967.
Israel
launched two more wars, exclusively targeting Lebanon, in the 2000s. Hezbollah
forced it into a retreat on both occasions.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/18/645554/Israel-Lebanon-war-Hezbollah-Gantz-Nasrallah
--------
Europe
Franco-Iranian,
German citizens arrested in Iran: French media
19
February ,2021
A
person with dual French and Iranian citizenship and a German national were
arrested in Iran more than two weeks ago, French daily newspaper Le Figaro
reported on Friday.
Without
citing its sources, the newspaper said the two individuals were arrested and
detained before Feb. 4 as leverage in anticipation of the sentencing of Iranian
diplomat Assadolah Assadi in Belgium that day.
The
diplomat was sentenced to 20 years in prison for planning to bomb an Iranian
opposition rally in France in 2018.
Le
Figaro said the Franco-Iranian was arrested in the desert flying a drone.
France's
foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither
German nor Iranian officials were immediately reachable.
The
arrests, if confirmed, would come at a sensitive time. The United States on
Thursday signalled it was ready to talk with Iran about how both nations could
return to a 2015 agreement that aimed to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear
weapons.
In
a joint statement, the United States, France, Britain and Germany also called
on Iran to release all their arbitrarily detained nationals.
Iran’s
elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals in recent
years, mostly on espionage charges.
Rights
activists have accused Iran of arresting dual nationals to try to win
concessions from other countries. Tehran denies it holds people for political
reasons and has accused many of the foreigners in its jails of espionage.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/19/Franco-Iranian-German-citizens-arrested-in-Iran-French-media
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Russia
detains 19 militants planning attacks: security service
FEBRUARY
17, 2021
MOSCOW
(Reuters) - Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday it had
detained 19 suspected Islamist militants planning attacks in the North
Caucasus.
The
FSB said it had seized a suicide belt, homemade bombs and automatic weapons
from the suspects this month.
The
19 detainees, suspected members of the Takfir wal-Hijra Islamist group, were
spread across the Rostov, Krasnodar and Karachay-Cherkessia regions, as well as
Crimea, the peninsula Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Footage
from the detentions published by Russian news agency RIA showed FSB operatives
scaling an apartment building and entering through a window to detain a
suspect.
Russia
has repeatedly been targeted by Islamist militant groups, including in an
attack on a train carriage in a St Petersburg metro tunnel in 2017.
In
recent years, some parts of the North Caucasus have been plagued with militant
attacks on security officials.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-attacks/russia-detains-19-militants-planning-attacks-security-service-idUSKBN2AH0P7?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2014761_
--------
Pakistan
India
stops Sikh pilgrims from attending Saka festival in Pakistan
Khalid
Hasnain
February
19, 2021
LAHORE:
India stopped on Thursday 720 Sikh pilgrims from attending the Saka festival
being held in Pakistan from Feb 18 to 25, citing Covid-19 and “safety” reasons.
Pakistan
criticised the Indian government decision, calling it a grave human rights
violation.
“Sikh
pilgrims were scheduled to enter Lahore via Wagah border and we all were there
to welcome them, when we came to know that the Indian government has barred
them from coming to Pakistan,” Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PGPC)
Chief Sardar Satwant Singh told a press conference at Lahore Dera Sahib temple
on Thursday.
“It
is a blatant violation of human rights as it is the fundamental right of
everyone to freely participate in religious festivals and events. We all
condemn this act of Indian government widely.”
According
to an official source, the Pakistan High Commission in New Dehli issued visas
to 840 Sikh pilgrims on the request of Shirumani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee
(Sri Amritsar Sahib) -- a representative body of the Indian Sikh pilgrims.
However, 720 of the total 840 confirmed their participation to the PGPC -- a
representative committee of the Pakistani Sikh community that assists the
Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) and the government in organising the annual
religious events/rituals in various parts of the country.
According
to a letter by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the SGPC, the Indian government
halted the pilgrims’ departure to Pakistan on the pretext of Covid-19 spread.
“This
is with respect to a proposal by the SGPC to send a special Jatha (group) to
Pakistan from Feb 18 to 25 to attend the 100th anniversary of ‘Saka Nankana
Sahib’,” reads the letter issued by Avi Prakash of India’s home affairs
ministry.
It
states the recent inputs indicate a threat to the safety and security of Indian
citizens visiting Pakistan. As the Jatha which may have nearly 600 members is
scheduled to visit five Gurdwaras across Pakistan over a period of a week, we
apprehend considerable threat to the safety of a large number of our citizens
during this visit.
“You
may also be aware that the traffic on India-Pakistan international border
remains suspended since March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While the
pandemic continues to persist, it is pertinent to note that Pakistan has so far
recorded over half a million cases with over 10,000 plus death due to Covid. Considering
the capacity of health infrastructure in Pakistan, it is not advisable for a
large group of our citizens to visit Pakistan for a week during the pandemic,”
the letter written to SGPC President Bibi Jagir Kaur Begowal explains.
“In
view of the factors mentioned above, the MHA has not accorded permission to the
Jatha for crossing over to Pakistan, which was mandatory, in view of the
ongoing suspension of cross border traffic due to Covid-19 pandemic,” it
concludes.
Not
impressed by the Indian statement, PGPC’s Pradhan Sardar Satwant Singh urged
the UN and rights organisations to take notice of the human rights violations
being committed by the Indian government with their citizens.
The
ETPB administration said despite barring entry of Sikh pilgrims by the Indian
government, the Saka celebrations/events would be held as per schedule.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1608167/india-stops-sikh-pilgrims-from-attending-saka-festival-in-pakistan
--------
Five
FC soldiers martyred in two attacks in Balochistan
Saleem
Shahid
February
19, 2021
QUETTA:
Five members of the Frontier Corps were martyred and two others injured in two
attacks in different areas of the province.
In
one incident, which took place in the western bypass area of the provincial
capital on Thursday, an FC soldier was martyred and two others were injured
when a remote-controlled bomb fixed to a motorcycle parked at the roadside
exploded, as an FC vehicle was passing by.
“The
bomb blast took place near the official vehicle of the Frontier Corps in which
one FC soldier was martyred on the spot and two other soldiers were injured,”
senior police officer Shaukat Mohmand told Dawn, adding that the blast badly
damaged the vehicle.
“An
improvised explosive device strapped to a motorcycle parked at the roadside was
detonated with a remote control,” the police officer said.
Personnel
of FC and police rushed to the area after the blast and took victims of the
blast to a hospital.
In
the second incident, four soldiers of Frontier Corps were martyred in an attack
by armed men on their check-post in Kahan area of Kohlu district.
Sources
said the armed men opened fire on Zaman Khan check-post the other day which
resulted in the martyrdom of four FC soldiers while another was injured.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1608144/five-fc-soldiers-martyred-in-two-attacks-in-balochistan
--------
Four
soldiers dead after armed men attack check-post in Pakistan
Feb
19, 2021
ISLAMABAD:
Unidentified armed men opened fire on a security check-post in Pakistan's
restive Balochistan province, killing at least four paramilitary soldiers. The
attack took place on Thursday in Kahan area of Kohlu district.
The
armed men opened fire on Zaman Khan check-post which resulted in the death of
four Frontier Corps soldiers. One soldier was injured in the attack, sources
said.
Balochistan
has been battling an insurgency for more than a decade by separatists demanding
complete autonomy or a larger share of the province's gas and mineral
resources.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/four-soldiers-dead-after-armed-men-attack-check-post-in-pakistan/articleshow/81103920.cms
--------
Arab
World
UN
envoy: Yemen’s Houthis threaten peace, but US offers ‘new opportunity’
Tuqa
Khalid
18
February ,2021
Yemen’s
Houthis’ latest offensive to take Marib city, the last stronghold of the
internationally-recognized government, threatens peace prospects, but the new
US administration’s efforts to end the conflict present a “new opportunity” to
reopen negotiations, the UN envoy to Yemen said on Thursday.
“The
conflict in Yemen has taken a sharp escalatory turn with [the Houthis’] most
recent offensive in Marib governorate. I have condemned this many times since
early last year when this offensive operation started, and I will repeat my
call now: the attack on Marib must stop. It puts millions of civilians at
risk,” Martin Griffiths told the UN Security Council.
The
recent push towards Marib by Iran-backed Houthi forces, who control Yemen’s
most populous areas, has coincided with a fresh push by the United Nations and
the United States to end the war, which the United Nations says has created the
world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
This
push includes US President Joe Biden’s administration revoking a terrorist
designation of the Houthis introduced by former President Donald Trump in
January.
“I
join others in particularly welcoming the renewed focus the United States is
placing on this conflict… International support for ending the conflict is
indispensable, and this offers us a new opportunity to reopen space for a
negotiated solution,” Griffiths said.
Yemen’s
war started in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of the
country’s north. The conflict has killed some 130,000 people and spawned the
world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
The
offensive on Marib was accompanied by increased drone attacks on Saudi Arabia,
which leads the Arab Coalition supporting the internationally recognized
government in Yemen.
Saudi
Arabia said a Houthi drone attack caused a fire in a civilian aircraft at an
airport in Abha last week.
Griffiths
warned of “worrying spikes of violence and hostilities” and stressed that he
was “alarmed by continued cross-border attacks, which damage prospects for
peace and regional stability.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/02/19/UN-envoy-Yemen-s-Houthis-threaten-peace-but-US-offers-new-opportunity-
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Pentagon
Chief Calls MBS to Reaffirm 'Strategic Defence Partnership'
19
February 2021
Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia and the
kingdom’s defense minister – has received a phone call from Pentagon chief
Lloyd Austin weeks after the new US administration took office.
“Secretary
Austin reiterated recent changes in US policy toward the Saudi-led coalition in
Yemen, discussed the importance of ending the war, and thanked the crown prince
for Saudi Arabia’s commitment to a political settlement,” said the readout of
the call.
According
to the Pentagon, Austin called the crown prince, known as MBS, Thursday to
reaffirm the “strategic defense partnership” between the United States and the
kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“He
underscored Saudi Arabia’s role as a pillar of the regional security
architecture in the Middle East and the importance of sharing the
responsibility of regional security and stability,” it added.
The
call came a week after White House press secretary Jen Psaki said no call had
been planned between US President Joe Biden and MBS after the new
administration said it was allegedly reviewing the US policy toward Riyadh.
“Well,
obviously, there’s a review of our policy as it relates to Saudi Arabia,” Psaki
said at a daily press briefing on February 12, when she was asked if Biden was
willing to “even pick up a phone and talk with MBS of Saudi Arabia”, given the
Saudi crown prince’s involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.
“There’s
not a call planned that I’m aware of, but I can speak with our team if there’s
something more significant than that to report,” she said.
Psaki
also said on Tuesday that the White House was going to “recalibrate” its
relationship with Saudi Arabia, and engage with the kingdom on a
counterpart-to-counterpart basis.
“The
President’s counterpart is King Salman,” she emphasized, “and I expect that, in
appropriate time, he would have a conversation with him. I don’t have a
prediction of the timeline on that.”
On
his campaign trail before the November 3 presidential election, Biden emerged
as an outspoken critic of MBS’s Saudi Arabia, saying he would make the kingdom
“the pariah they are” and stop selling weapons if he was elected.
The
White House announced earlier this month that the administration was ready to
release a report detailing its understanding of who was responsible for the
Khashoggi murder. The CIA has already concluded that MBS was behind the
killing, partly due to his absolute control over Saudi affairs.
The
Biden administration has also claimed that it would suspend weapons sales to
Saudi Arabia, which has been leading the ongoing war on Yemen since 2015.
The
weapons sales had been authorized by former President Donald Trump, who courted
MBS and overlooked Saudi war crimes in Yemen and the kingdom’s rampant human
rights violations at home and abroad, including the high-profile killing of
Khashoggi.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/19/645591/MBS-receives-call-from-US-counterpart
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Hezbollah,
Syrian militia-run drug factories identified near Damascus: SOHR
Tala
Michel Issa
18
February ,2021
There
has been a widespread trade of “narcotics” within the Syrian territory in
Lebanese Hezbollah and Syrian militia-run factories, the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Wednesday.
According
to SOHR sources, there has been an increased trade of “hashish” and narcotic
pills in the surrounding areas of the Syrian-Lebanese border, namely in the
Damascus countryside and some surrounding areas, allegedly instigated by
officials and members of Hezbollah with the help of local militants.
The
sources also added the narcotic pills are being produced in factories within
the region. They noted that around 14 factories were involved in the production
process, three of which were in Sergaya, two in Assal al-Ward, two in al-Jebba,
two in Rankos and one factory each in Bakha’a, Madaya, Talfita, al-Saboura and
Madaya.
The
sources also stated that on January 16, the drug production seemed to be
noticeably increasing throughout Syria and that it was not limited to
regime-held areas, but to several different areas across the country.
SOHR
has confirmed that military groups affiliated with Lebanon’s Hezbollah are
behind the broad proliferation of hashish and pills.
The
narcotic pills and “hashish” were allegedly being sold in public
regime-controlled areas as cargos containing the drugs were allowed entry via
unofficial crossings.
These
include a crossing in Sarghaya area on the border between Lebanon and Assal
al-Ward, one of the most prominent areas where cargoes carrying hashish cross
into Syria and some nonofficial crossings with Al-Qusayr city in Syria’s Homs
countryside which is supervised by members and officers of the regime-backed
forces.
A
Damascus-based civilian and an employee in the regime government circle who
goes by the initials M.A. told SOHR that “the area of al-Baramekah in the
capital Damascus, became a hotbed for the dealers of hashish and drug pills.
These dealers were even standing on street corners with their hands in their
pockets, waiting for boys, girls and even children and sell them drugs in
public.”
Adding
that: “I did witness one of such deals when a young man bought hashish from a
drug dealer, while I was waiting for a bus.”
Another
civilian known by his initials as S.Q., who comes from the Sarghaya area in Rif
Dimashq, said, “hashish trafficking and love have become the career of the
jobless. Every young man has a little money goes to NDF [National Defense
Forces] officers, buy a little hashish and sell it to other young people.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/18/Hezbollah-Syrian-militia-run-drug-factories-identified-near-Damascus-SOHR
--------
Africa
Kenya:
Concern as Al-Shabaab Militants Spread Across Mandera County
16
FEBRUARY 2021
By
Manase Otsialo
A
wave of attacks by the Al-Shabaab that has left death and destruction in its
wake in Mandera County, has raised questions about preparedness to fight terror
even as the government warned of a local and ominous angle to the problem.
Within
the county, the militants operate in Mandera East, Lafey, Elwak and Kutolo and
recently spread their activities to the interior parts of Banisa, Rhamu and
Takaba.
The
latest attack was last Monday, after al-Shabaab militants raided Jabibar
village and killed a police reservist and a civilian at 2am.
Security
crisis
And
now North Eastern Regional Coordinator Nicodemus Ndalana has admitted the
militants have moved to the interior of the county, after dismissing earlier
warnings by Mandera Governor Ali Roba that a security crisis was unfolding in
the county.
The
governor claimed the militants control more than half of the county and man the
county's roads.
Mr
Ndalana revealed that the State saw the Al-Shabaab crossing into Mandera but
waited to see their actions inland.
"I
know there is a problem because they have reached where they have never been before.
I agree with everyone on that; we never used to have Al-Shabaab in Banisa and
Takaba. They were only along the border, but currently, they have spread all
over," Mr Ndalana said at a peace meeting in Mandera town.
"I
saw Al-Shabaab moving in that direction. It's only that we did not know exactly
what they were going to do in those new areas."
The
administrator explained that initial intelligence reports showed the militants
wanted to disrupt public transport on the Mandera-Banisa-Takaba road. On January
11, a Nairobi-bound bus was ambushed in Banisa but no one was hurt.
On
the same day, a vehicle carrying examination material to Mandera town was hit
by a roadside explosive and three of its five occupants were kidnapped.
Two
police officers from Nairobi who were escorting the vehicle ran off and reached
Banisa town. The three kidnapped civilians were found after a week of intensive
search.
"They
wanted to ensure the Mandera-Banisa-Takaba road is closed, just like the
Mandera-Lafey-Elwak road," added Mr Ndalana.
The
State has since dispatched sophisticated machinery to the affected area to deal
with the militants, he said.
On
January 13, a telecommunications mast at Darkale was vandalised and the
following day, armed residents at Didkuro in Mandera West repulsed the
militants who attempted to hit another mast in their area.
According
to the administrator, the militants, who attack and vanish into Somalia, have
disrupted business on the Mandera-Lafey-Elwak road, which is on the border.
"They
managed to disrupt normalcy along the road near the border because they hit and
run back into Somalia but their current mission is impossible because we have
surrounded them," he warned.
He
noted that the Al-Shabaab usually attacks Mandera in December and January.
He
said Mandera had more than enough security personnel and equipment.
To
deal with the situation, the government has set up a special unit camp in
Banisa to respond to any distress in Banisa and Mandera West sub counties.
The
government is now planning an anti-Al-Shabaab meeting with the residents.
Fear
of a major attack
In
the past three months, residents said, the militants have taken over mosques,
imposed a tax on local businessmen and destroyed crucial installations such as
telecommunication masts in preparation for what many fear could be a major
attack.
"Al-Shabaab
are planning something sinister, considering their efforts to destroy the
communication network in Mandera. We are confused as we continue to find
ourselves between terrorism and military fights of the Somali security
camps," said Mr Ali Hassan, a resident.
Mr
Ndalama concluded by saying that the insecurity in Mandera is worsened by the
long porous border and unstable Somalia as a neighbour.
Sleeper
agents also deceptively remain inactive for a long time, during which they
carry out espionage until they are ordered to carry out or assist in the
execution of attacks.
"We
just have to learn how to live with terrorism," he said as he appealed for
community participation in the fight against terrorism in Mandera.
"We
need wananchi, the politicians, police and special forces to win this fight. It
lies in our hands to win the fight and we can only win if we provide
information to the security agencies," he said.
Mr
Ndalana revealed that apart from Al-Shabaab seeking to disrupt operations on
the road passing through the two sub-counties, the militants are also shielding
and enabling drug trafficking.
"Apart
from seeking to close use of the road, they are in the drug business and we are
aware of that," he said.
Bute,
in Wajir North Sub County, has become a major drug transit point from Ethiopia.
A
security operation launched towards the end of January has seen five suspected
militants arrested and two others killed by the Kenya Defence Forces special
units.
Three
of the arrested suspects are being held in a police station in Mandera South
and an attempt by police to take them to court on Monday aborted after
militants ambushed the vehicle to free them.
Police
managed to sneak the three into Mandera town on Wednesday but Mandera Senior
Resident Magistrate Mukabi Kimani pushed their plea taking it to Thursday.
Two
other suspects were arrested by Ethiopian forces as they crossed the border.
Their
whereabouts remain unknown as police in Mandera denied having them in their
custody.
Since
2014, Mandera has continued to suffer terrorist attacks executed by the
Al-Shabaab.
Services
at health centres and schools in Mandera have been affected because government
teachers have resisted deployment to the county due to insecurity.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202102170193.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2014761_
--------
Gun
battle erupts in Somali capital as government forces seal off streets
19
February, 2021
Gunfire
and rockets exploded on Friday in Mogadishu as Somali government forces clashed
with protesters angered by delayed elections, hours after fighters loyal to the
government and to the political opposition exchanged gunfire.
Video
sent to Reuters from an anti-government demonstration showed civilians in
facemasks waving Somali flags scattering as gunfire erupted. Reuters
journalists nearby could hear intermittent gunfire as well as heavier
explosions.
“Many
forces heavily attacked us, I am now on my chest in an alley. This is a
massacre,” protester Farah Omar told Reuters by phone.
The
spillover of political rivalries into open conflict will dismay Somalia’s
allies and play into the hands of the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgency,
which mounts attacks on civilians around East Africa in its bid to install
strict Islamic law.
Prominent
opposition figure Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame Wadajir had earlier posted a
video of himself leading a small crowd of protesters into the street, in
defiance of a government ban on demonstrations.
Hours
before that, Somalia’s former president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, accused
government troops of attacking a hotel where he was staying with another former
president ahead of Friday’s rally.
“Tonight,
Farmajo attacked us with armoured vehicles. That is dictatorship. He attacked
us and residents at Maida hotel,” Ahmed tweeted after the attack, referring to
President Mohammed. “We ask all civilians to come out and respond.”
Somalia’s
minister of security Hassan Hundubey Jimale accused the opposition of starting
the fighting.
“Armed
militia attacked government forces. We repulsed and overpowered the militias,”
Jimale said in an overnight statement.
Without
mediation, the fighting has the potential to spread quickly.
Somalia
has been riven by civil war since 1991 and both the government and opposition
can call on heavily armed supporters.
Legislators
often travel in vehicles armed with anti-aircraft guns.
Somali
lawmakers were due to select a new president on February 8, but the process was
delayed after the opposition accused the government of packing regional and
national electoral boards with supporters.
Somalia’s
opposition alliance has said that Mohammed’s term has expires and he is no
longer president.
Mogadishu
resident Ahmed Aden, 44, told Reuters on Friday he had to flee during the
night’s gunbattles.
“Last
night we took our children and mattresses on our shoulders and fled before war
started,” he said. “We returned at gunpoint. Turkish-made armored vehicles and
government forces blocked every road and alley.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/02/19/Gunbattle-erupts-in-Somali-capital-as-government-forces-seal-off-streets
--------
Gunmen
kidnap at least 20 boys from Nigerian boarding school
By
Danielle Paquette
Feb.
17, 2021
DAKAR,
Senegal — Gunmen stormed a north-central Nigerian boarding school early
Wednesday, kidnapping at least 20 teenage boys, the local governor said — the
second mass abduction of children to shake the country in three months.
The
attackers raided the Government Science Secondary School in the town of Kagara
before sunrise and dragged the classmates into the dense woods.
Police
initially said they suspected “hundreds” could have been taken. Three teachers
and 12 family members also vanished into the night, Abubakar Sani Bello, the
governor of Niger state, said on television.
Schools
in the region have been shuttered. Helicopters hovered over the treetops as
security forces continued their search and, by midmorning, authorities were
still counting the missing.
No
one has asserted responsibility for the ambush, but the region is regularly
afflicted by criminal gangs — authorities call them “bandits” — that take
hostages for ransom.
That
threat recently collided with Boko Haram, the extremist group that gained
global notoriety after abducting hundreds of schoolgirls in 2014.
Those
radical fighters normally operate hundreds of miles away in the nation’s
northeast. Then the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, shocked Nigerians when he
claimed responsibility for kidnapping 300 boys from a northwestern school in
December. Security forces freed the boys days later.
Boko
Haram staged the attack in its quest to eradicate “Western education,” Shekau
said in an audio message.
The
group has killed at least 36,000 people and forced millions from their homes
over the past decade, striking most often near its stronghold in the Lake Chad
Basin.
But
it has cells throughout Nigeria’s rural north, which are known to have forged
relationships with criminal gangs, analysts say.
“The
line between Boko Haram and the bandits is getting more and more blurred,” said
Bulama Bukarti, a sub-Saharan Africa researcher from northeastern Nigeria at
the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in London. “More broadly, this is
another demonstration of the deteriorating insecurity in Nigeria.”
The
gunmen who struck the school Wednesday in Kagara could have been copycats
seeking big ransom payouts, he said. Or the mass abduction could be another
sign of extremist organizations expanding their reach across Africa’s most
populous nation.
West
Africa faces the fastest-growing Islamist insurgencies in the world. Unrest by
disparate forces is rocking Nigeria and three of its neighbors: Mali, Burkina
Faso and Niger.
Boko
Haram spawned an offshoot in recent years, the Islamic State in West Africa,
which more typically strikes military targets.
Bandits,
meanwhile, continue to rattle life with their own high-profile kidnappings.
Assailants
grabbed more than 20 people off a bus last week in the same state, Niger, and
have demanded ransom payments of more than $1.3 million, according to local
media reports.
They
released a video Wednesday showing the victims — including several children —
crying and pleading for their freedom.
The
captors, faces obscured by bandannas, stand next to them with machine guns.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/nigeria-kidnapping-school-boys-kigara/2021/02/17/7fe04b72-7106-11eb-8651-6d3091eac63f_story.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2014761_
--------
North
America
Biden
withdraws Trump ‘snapback’ claim on UN sanctions against Iran
Joseph
Haboush & Talal Al-Haj
18
February ,2021
The
United States has rescinded its claim that United Nations sanctions on Iran
were reimposed based on the so-called snapback mechanism, sources familiar with
the matter said Thursday.
Certain
sanctions on Iran were lifted after Tehran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action (JCPOA) with the permanent members of the UN Security Council in
2015.
But
after the Trump administration withdrew from the deal in 2018, Iran began to
breach the agreement and made progress on nuclear enrichment.
Former
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo then announced the return of all UN sanctions
against Iran under the snapback provision of the original deal, claiming that
the US had not officially withdrawn.
Despite
its unilateral move, Washington was met with stiff opposition from France,
Germany and the United Kingdom, who said the move was “incapable of having any
legal effect.”
On
Thursday, it was first reported by Reuters that President Joe Biden's acting
envoy to the UN, Richard Mills, had sent a letter to the UN Security Council
notifying it that the new administration did not believe the UN sanctions were
reimposed, as did Trump.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/19/US-foreign-policy-Biden-withdraws-Trump-snapback-claim-on-UN-sanctions-against-Iran
--------
No
‘disorderly’ US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pentagon chief tells NATO
Joseph
Haboush
18
February ,2021
The
United States will not make “disorderly” withdrawals from Afghanistan or Iraq,
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday, in an apparent jab at the Trump
administration’s decisions to abruptly withdraw troops previously.
During
the NATO Defense Ministerial meeting, officials focused on NATO operations in
the two Middle East countries and “Alliance military readiness.”
On
the latter, Austin said the US was committed to a diplomatic solution to end
the war in Afghanistan.
Since
Joe Biden became the US president, Washington has been reviewing foreign policy
moves made under Donald Trump. This includes the peace agreement reached with
the Taliban.
Austin
said the review was still in progress to determine if all parties had adhered
to the promises made. “He reassured Allies that the US would not undertake a
hasty or disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan,” a statement from the Pentagon
read.
In
an agreement reached last year, Trump, who had long promised to end America’s
longest war, signed the United States up to a full withdrawal in coming months.
As
for Iraq, the US official reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to the defeat of
ISIS, “respecting Iraq’s sovereignty, and ensuring long-term regional
stability.”
The
rocket attack at a US-led military base in Iraq’s Erbil on Monday was further
proof of the “importance of our continued work in the region,” Austin said in
his virtual remarks.
Prior
to Austin’s comments, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced that
the alliance would expand its training mission in Iraq from 500 to around 4,000
personnel.
This
was welcomed by Austin, who said that the work being done in coordination with
the Iraqi government and security forces would lead to “a self-sustainable
mission.”
Austin
stressed the need to “maintain ready forces and capabilities to both support
ongoing NATO operations and to respond immediately to emerging crisis. He noted
progress on the NATO Readiness Initiative and Allied efforts to rebuild a
culture of readiness.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/18/US-foreign-policy-No-disorderly-US-withdrawal-from-Afghanistan-Pentagon-chief-tells-NATO
--------
Zarif
denounces US, allies for throwing ball into Iran’s court as JCPOA revival hangs
in balance
18
February 2021
Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denounces the US and its European allies for
attempting to paint Iran responsible for, what they call, nuclear
non-compliance, while it was their non-commitment in the first place that had
Tehran suspend its obligations under a nuclear agreement.
Zarif
made the remarks in a tweet on Thursday night in reaction to a joint statement
that his American, British, French, and German counterparts had released
earlier following a virtual meeting.
Through
the statement, the quartet “affirmed their shared objective of Iran’s return to
full compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA.” White House Press
Secretary Jen Psaki separately reiterated the Western allies’ allegations by
saying, "Iran is a long way from compliance."
The
JCPOA stands for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which is the official
name of the nuclear deal that came about in Vienna in 2015 between Iran and the
P5+1 group of states -- the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany.
It lifted nuclear-related economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic that,
in turn, enacted some voluntary changes in its nuclear energy program.
In
2018, the US left the deal under former president Donald Trump and returned the
draconian sanctions that Iran has denounced as “economic terrorism.” Washington
then successfully pressured the European trio into abiding by the economic bans
and stopping their trade with Tehran.
The
United States’ violations came in sheer disregard for the multi-party nature of
the agreement. Taking the measures, the US also ignored the fact that the deal
has been ratified by the United Nations Security Council as one of its
resolutions.
A
year after the US’s withdrawal, the Islamic Republic began a set of
countermeasures that saw it suspending its commitment to the JCPOA gradually
and through many steps as the allies would sustain their non-commitment to the
deal.
Zarif
rebuked the four states for their continued way of finding fault with Iran,
despite their own sheer liability in the matter. He reminded them that it was
their measures that initiated the vicious circle and also their persisting
non-commitment to the JCPOA that sustained it.
“Instead
of sophistry & putting onus on Iran, E3/EU must abide by own commitments
& demand an end to Trump's legacy of Economic Terrorism against Iran,” he
tweeted.
Instead
of sophistry & putting onus on Iran, E3/EU must abide by own commitments
& demand an end to Trump's legacy of #EconomicTerrorism against Iran
Our
remedial measures are a response to US/E3 violations. Remove the cause if you
fear the effect
We'll
follow ACTION w/ action.
—
Javad Zarif (@JZarif) February 18, 2021
“Our
remedial measures are a response to US/E3 violations,” the foreign minister
added, referring to Iran’s reprisal.
“Remove
the cause if you fear the effect. We'll follow ACTION w/ action,” the top
diplomat asserted.
He
was echoing remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali
Khamenei, who has declared Iran’s “definitive stance” on the matter on several
occasions since the beginning of this month.
According
to the Leader, given the many instances of counterparty non-compliance that
Iran has faced since the conclusion of the deal, the Islamic Republic would not
settle just for “nice words and promises” this time around but would take
“action” as its only yardstick.
The
country, Ayatollah Khamenei has noted, would, therefore, only retrace its
nuclear countermeasures if all the oppressive sanctions against the country
were lifted in a way that could be verifiable by Tehran.
Trump’s
successor Joe Biden has just expressed an alleged interest in returning the US
to the JCPOA without taking any action that could mirror the announcement or
adopting any measure towards relieving the sanctions.
On
Wednesday, Zarif addressed the Biden administration’s inaction, saying the new
US president was upholding Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy towards Iran that
had brought Washington nothing but frustration and disgrace.
The
Western allies, though, kept paying lip-service in support of their alleged
respect for the nuclear pact by saying “the conclusion of the JCPOA was a key
achievement of multilateral diplomacy.”
US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, said in complete disregard for
Iran’s official stance on the matter that his country would resume its
obligations “if Iran comes back into strict compliance with its commitments.”
The
allies, meanwhile, urged Iran not to take action on its pending stage of
retaliation that will see it suspending its adherence to the Additional
Protocol of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on February 23. The protocol
that Tehran has been observing voluntarily, allows intrusive and short-notice
inspections of the country’s nuclear program.
The
quartet also urged “strengthening of the JCPOA” to include Iran’s missile
program and regional influence. Tehran has repeatedly assured the allies that
it would not renegotiate a “done deal.” It has also avowed that its defensive
activity and region might were never open to negotiation.
Despite
the obstinate-sounding statement that saw the European states apparently
aligning themselves strictly with Washington against Iran, CNN suggested that
the Europeans could not close their eyes on Washington’s role in the standoff,
and that Europeans were “privately” pointing out that it was the US’s departure
from the JCPOA that brought about the whole situation.
'US
open to EU invitation for talks'
Cited
by Reuters, a “senior US official,” meanwhile, said the country was ready to
participate in talks including the rest of the JCPOA’s signatories after a top
European official reportedly said he was prepared to convene such a meeting.
“We
are ready to show up if such a meeting were to take place,” the American
official told Reuters.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/18/645579/Iran-nuclearr-United-States-UK-France-Germany
--------
Biden
administration approves arms sale to Egypt despite human rights abuses
18
February 2021
The
administration of US President Joe Biden has approved an arms sale worth nearly
$200 million to Egypt despite concerns over human rights violations in the
North African country.
The
sale "will support the foreign policy and national security of the United
States by helping to improve the security of a Major Non-NATO ally country that
continues to be an important strategic partner in the Middle East,” the State
Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
The
$197 million sale of the Raytheon-made Rolling Airframe Missiles was requested
by the Egyptian navy to improve defense in coastal areas and around the Red
Sea, the US Department of State said.
Washington's
arms sale comes only days after the arrest in Egypt of family members of a
US-based Egyptian opposition activist, Mohamed Soltan.
Price
said Washington was "looking into" reports about the targeting
relatives of Soltan, who has filed a lawsuit alleging torture in Egyptian
custody.
He
said plainclothes officers raided the homes of six of his family members on
Sunday, detaining two cousins.
“We
take seriously all allegations of arbitrary arrest or detention," Price
claimed.
"We
will bring our values with us into every relationship that we have across the
globe. That includes with our close security partners,” he said. “That includes
with Egypt."
Soltan
was arrested in August 2013 after President Abel Fatah el-Sisi led the military
ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi.
He
was released in 2015, and deported to the United States after renouncing his
Egyptian citizenship. He spent 490 days on hunger strike before being released.
Soltan
filed the lawsuit in a US court in June.
“Now
the Egyptian regime is arresting his relatives to try to intimidate him into
silence,” said Eric Lewis, a lawyer for Soltan.
“Such
tactics have no place in the international community," he added.
The
government of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been accused of serious human rights
abuses.
According
to the State Department's 2019 country report on human rights practices in
Egypt, those abuses included "unlawful or arbitrary killings, including
extrajudicial killings by the government or its agents and terrorist groups;
forced disappearance; torture; arbitrary detention; harsh and life-threatening
prison conditions; and political prisoners.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/18/645534/US-arms-sale-Egypt-missile-human-rights
--------
South
Asia
Stoltenberg:
‘No decision’ made on troops withdrawal
19
Feb 2021
Jens
Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary-General said on Thursday that no decision on troops
withdrawal taken on a two-day NATO defense ministers meeting.
According
to Stoltenberg, no decision was made because the alliance feels there is still
hope for the peace process in Afghanistan.
Deciding
to whether withdraw all troops by May 1st per US-Taliban deal is a very
difficult decision, If NATO stays its troops will be attacked and if they leave
the will put the decades of gains at extreme risk.
Stoltenberg
reiterates that the withdrawal of all the troops is condition-based, he added
that the alliance was hoping for a decrease in violence but it escalated as
feared by many.
No
progress has yet been made, and that peace talks are in a “fragile” state,
Stoltenberg added, “there is still time to reach a political agreement before
the deadline of 1st of May”
He
emphasized that the Taliban should negotiate in good faith, decrease the level
of violence and cut ties with all terrorist groups.
NATO
is closely monitoring the situation on the ground and an assessment is ongoing
and based on it a decision will be made.
President
Ashraf Ghani on Thursday urged the international community and regional nations
to put pressure on the Taliban and their supporters to reach a political
settlement.
On
the other hand, President Ashraf Ghani urged international and regional nations
to put pressure on the Taliban.During his speech at a Geneva summit follow-up
workshop, he raised the matter of extreme rise in the violence gripping
Afghanistan, he added Taliban violence escalation proves the legitimacy of the
Republic.
President
Ghani expressed that he believes violence is not the political solution as
political solutions require a comprehensive agreement in which “independent,
free and nationally united Afghanistan” exists and every citizen man, woman,
young, old consider themselves “owners of Afghanistan”.
This
comes as intelligence units from regional countries of Afghanistan held a
two-day conference on security and the fight against terrorism.
This
summit was attended by ministers and heads of national security and
intelligence services from eight countries including the United States,
Pakistan, and Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and
Turkmenistan.
The
reason for establishing the summit was to attract the support of regional
countries and the world in the fight against terrorism and work for the peace
process in Afghanistan.
https://www.khaama.com/stoltenberg-no-decision-made-on-troops-withdrawal-3434343/
--------
Austin:
No ‘disorderly’ withdrawal from Afghanistan
19
Feb 2021
Lloyd
J. Austin US Secretary of Defense following the NATO defense ministerial
statement reiterated that the US remains committed to diplomatic efforts to end
the war in Afghanistan.
Austin
thanked NATO for their continued efforts and commitment, he told allies that
the US is currently conducting a thorough review of the conditions of the
US-Taliban Agreement to determine whether all parties adhered according to the
setup rules.
US-Taliban
in February of 2021, signed an agreement the US agreed to a complete withdrawal
from Afghanistan.
Austin
made it clear that he is consulting with allies and partners throughout this
process.
“The
US would not undertake a hasty or disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan,”
Austin assured allies.
As
the new administration reviews the US-Taliban deal, Austin welcomes NATO for
their expanded role in IRAQ, he expressed his confidence that their works will
lead to a self-sustainable mission in the region.
Earlier,
Taliban in an open letter requested for full withdrawal despite raged violence
in the war-ravaged Afghanistan.
This
comes as Defense Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed to fellow NATO Defense
ministers that the UK will scale up its
commitment in line with Alliance’s efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“First
and foremost we are committed to delivering on NATO operations. The UK
Government remains resolute in our support to the government of Afghanistan in
the face of unacceptable Taliban violence,” Wallace said in the virtual
meeting.
“We
are determined to ensure that conditions are met for achieving a lasting
political settlement, which is the only means of ensuring security from
terrorism for the people of Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, and its Allies,”
Wallace added.
https://www.khaama.com/austin-no-disorderly-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-554455/
--------
Gov’t
inflicts heavy casualties on Taliban across Afghanistan
18
Feb 2021
According
to defense and provincial officials, 67 Taliban have been killed in operations
conducted by the Afghan national defense and security forces in various parts
of Afghanistan.
The
Ministry of Defense stated on Thursday, that ANDSF members backed by air
support, targeted Taliban fighters in Arghandab and Mizan districts of Zabul on
Wednesday.
The
operation resulted in the death of 28 Taliban fighters and five others were
injured, also a group’s hideout, a mortar shell, some weapons, and ammunition
were completely destroyed, MoD stated.
In
a similar incident, Afghan security members with air support attacked Taliban
gatherings in Arghandab and Maiwand districts of Kandahar on Wednesday.
Air
force and infantry killed 29 Taliban militants and injured five others during
the skirmish, also an explosive depot, 110 Taliban positions, and a large
quantity of ammunition were reportedly wrecked.
The
statements added, that security forces discovered and defused 78 anti-vehicle
mines in the Arghandab and Maiwand districts of the province.
On
the other hand, security officials in Ghor reported that the Taliban suffered
casualties during an area clearing operation supervised by the defense and
security force members in the western part of Firuzkuh city.
Amirdad
Parsa, Spokemsn to Ghor police HQ told Khaama press that 10 Taliban fighters
were killed and five others were wounded during an air raid conducted by the
Afghan Air Force unit.
Parsa
added, that no injuries or harm was inflicted to the security forces during the
operation.
Security
force members also seized several Taliban motorbikes, and two roadside bombs
were also defused.
The
security official emphasized that the clearance operation will continue until
Ahangaran and Ashtarkhan areas in the west of Firuzkuh city are complete
cleared of the Taliban influence.
Meanwhile,
in Daikundi Province eight civilians and a people uprising force member were
killed in a Taliban offensive on a village in Patoi district.
The
incident took place at around 4:00 am on Thursday morning.
According
to the governor of Daikundi, 10 other people were also injured in the skirmish.
This
comes as battle across the country has raged despite efforts for prolonged
peace.
https://www.khaama.com/govt-inflicts-heavy-casualties-on-taliban-across-afghanistan-4554411/
--------
Southeast
Asia
Rights
Groups Attack Malaysia’s ‘Abhorrent’ Deportation Plan
By
Sebastian Strangio
February
19, 2021
Human
rights groups have excoriated the Malaysian government’s planned deportation of
1,200 people back to Myanmar next week, as the latter’s military government
comes under increasing international pressure following the coup of February 1.
On
February 12, the government of Malaysia accepted an offer by the army to send
three navy ships to repatriate 1,200 Myanmar nationals held in Malaysian
immigration detention centers.
According
to a report by Reuters, Myanmar, via its embassy in Kuala Lumpur, made the
offer to take back its citizens held in Malaysian immigration detention shortly
after the military’s seizure of power. The ships are scheduled to arrive this
weekend, and to return to Myanmar on February 23.
Malaysia
claims that it will not deport any refugees or asylum seekers registered with
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). But the U.N. agency
says that it has not had access to immigration detention centers in Malaysia
since August 2019, and according to human rights groups, there is a good chance
that the group will include asylum seekers and those qualifying for refugee
status, including some arrested in mass immigration raids by Malaysian
authorities last May, who could face jail or persecution upon arrival back in
Myanmar.
“The
Malaysian government is recklessly imperiling the lives of over 1,000 Myanmar
people by deporting them under a curtain of secrecy to a country in the middle
of a coup marred by human rights violations,” Katrina Jorene Maliamauv,
executive director of Amnesty International Malaysia, said in a statement.
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Chamnan
Chanruang, a member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights and a former
Thai member of parliament, described the move as “utterly abhorrent.” He added
that the groups could include legitimate asylum seekers who “will be put back
into the hands of the Myanmar military who caused them to flee violence and
desperation in the country in the first place.”
Malaysia
has long been a destination for asylum seekers from Myanmar, particularly
Muslim Rohingya who had fled Rakhine State in the country’s west. Rohingya have
been casting off from the coasts in leaky boats for years, but fierce assaults
by the Myanmar military in 2016 and 2017 have increased the numbers desperately
seeking asylum abroad.
Refugees
and asylum seekers from Myanmar make up the majority of those registered with
UNHCR in Malaysia. Of the 178,610 refugees and asylum seekers registered with
the U.N. agency as of December, 154,030 are from Myanmar. This includes 102,250
Rohingyas, 22,410 Chins, and 29,360 from other ethnic groups who have fled
conflict or persecution.
However,
Malaysia does not formally recognize refugees, regarding them instead as
illegal migrants, and the authorities there have a history of mistreating
refugees and asylum seekers, including Rohingya. According to the Reuters
report, Myanmar has offered to take back only its citizens, implying that it
would not take any Rohingya, which it views as illegal migrants from
Bangladesh.
Given
its timing, it’s hard not to see the offer by Myanmar as a bid for Malaysia’s
support (or at least acquiescence) for its seizure of power, which has prompted
international condemnations and strident domestic opposition. For its own part,
Kuala Lumpur seems happy to take the opportunity to rid itself of a group of
people that it views as illegal immigrants.
At
the same time as it collaborates with Myanmar on the deportation, Malaysia has
voiced support for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to convene
a special meeting to address the escalating crisis in Myanmar. After a meeting
between Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Jakarta on February 5 and Prime
Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, both leaders agreed to instruct their foreign
ministers to push forward efforts to convene an ASEAN meeting. Muhyiddin
referred to the military takeover as representing “one step backward in the
process of democracy in that country.”
https://thediplomat.com/2021/02/rights-groups-attack-malaysias-abhorrent-deportation-plan/
--------
US
return to Iran nuclear deal only proper approach to resolve deadlock: China
18
February 2021
China
describes the US’ potential return to the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran
and world countries as the only means of resolving the deadlock that has been
born out of Washington’s illegal moves in violation of the accord.
The
nuclear issue is at a critical stage, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua
Chunying said during a press briefing in Beijing on Thursday, adding,
"China holds that the return of the United States to the JCPOA is the only
correct approach to resolve the impasse on this issue.”
The
JCPOA stands for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the official name of
the agreement that came about in Vienna that year between Iran and the P5+1
group of states -- the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany. It
lifted nuclear-related economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic that
voluntarily changed some aspects of its nuclear energy program in return.
Under
its former president Donald Trump, though, the US left the nuclear deal, and
reinstated the sanctions. Washington then pressured its allies in the pact --
the UK, France, and Germany -- into abiding by the economic bans and stopping
their trade with Tehran.
The
Islamic Republic, however, managed to withstand the economic pressure and even
began some nuclear countermeasures to retaliate for America and its allies’
violations of the JCPOA.
The
latest round of Iran’s countermeasures came when the country's parliament set
February 23 as the deadline beyond which the Islamic Republic would no longer
adhere to the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The
protocol that Tehran has been observing on a voluntary basis, allows intrusive
and short-notice inspections of the country’s nuclear program.
Hua
urged those who rounded up during the latest ministerial meeting of the JCPOA’s
member states to begin pressing the US into resuming its obligations towards
the agreement and resolving the standoff.
“All
parties should act with greater urgency, work together to implement the
consensus reached at the foreign ministers' meeting last December, and push for
the unconditional return of the United States to the JCPOA as soon as possible
and the lifting of all sanctions on Iran. On its part, Iran should resume full
compliance with the JCPOA," Hua noted.
Iran
has said it will reverse all of its retaliatory measures immediately, but only
after the US lifts all of the sanctions in a way that could be verifiable by
Tehran.
The
Chinese diplomat, meanwhile, addressed a pending visit to Tehran by Rafael
Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who
is slated to travel to the Iranian capital now that the Islamic Republic has
informed the United Nations nuclear watchdog of its plan to opt out of the
Additional Protocol.
She
hoped that the visit would help ameliorate the situation brought about by
Washington’s obstinate stance.
"China
supports the IAEA and Iran in properly handling issues related to safeguards
through dialogue and consultation. We hope all parties will play a constructive
role in this regard," Hua concluded.
Tehran
has reiterated that despite suspending its commitment to the protocol, it would
keep cooperating with the IAEA concerning the body’s regular inspections of its
nuclear facilities.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/18/645564/China-United-States-Iran-nuclear-deal-sanctions-IAEA
--------
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