Bomb blast targeting Houthis kills 33 in Yemen

Over 30 people have been killed and dozens of others wounded in an explosion targeting the Shias in central Yemen.

The attack took place on Wednesday in the city of Ibb when an assailant blew his explosives in a cultural center, where a group of Shia Houthi militants were preparing to celebrate the birth anniversary of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad.

According to medical sources, the death toll, currently at 33, is likely to rise.

“The torn body parts are everywhere. Pools of blood mixed with water. The scene is horrifying,” said Mohammed Abdel-Baki, the local spokesman for the Ansarullah fighters.

No group has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, but the Al Qaeda group in Yemen has targeted Houthis in the past.

Over the past months, Al Qaeda militants have frequently carried out attacks on Yemen’s security forces. The militants have also been engaged in battle with the Shia Ansarullah fighters.

Yemen’s central government has so far failed to confront the terrorist threat.

Source: albawaba

Iraq: two Ebola cases confirmed in Mosul

On Wednesday, an official newspaper revealed, that two Ebola cases and 26 AIDS cases have been reported and registered in Mosul.

The Iraqi official newspaper ‘Al-Sabah’ said in its today’s issue, “Many diseases and epidemics have spread among residents of the city of Mosul,” and added, “Two Ebola and 26 HIV AIDS cases were registered.”

The newspaper quoted medical sources in the city,”These diseases moved to Nineveh by terrorists and expats from different countries, especially Africa.”

On November 23, 2014, the Parliamentary Committee of Health and Environment warned from the entry of the Ebola into Iraq by the Islamic State (IS), while confirming that the Commission had taken the necessary measures to prevent the entry and spread of this disease in the country.

On November 21, 2014, the United Nations Security Council expressed its grave concern about the Ebola outbreak on an unprecedented scale in Africa, which poses a threat to the international peace and security, at a time when the World Health Organization announced the rise of Ebola victims to more than 6000.

ISIS kills its own fighters who try to disjoint militant group

A recent report from British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has revealed that the atrocious militant group, Islamic State, shows no mercy even to its own militants and executes them if they try to return home.

According to the report, nearly 200 foreign fighters who joined the ISIS from different parts of the world were executed by the militant group when they showed their will to return to their native place.

“We can confirm that 120 fighters have been killed by ISIS, but from our sources on the ground we believe that over 200 have actually been killed,” Rami Abdurrahman, the director of the group was quoted as saying by The Independent.

Although the nationalities or ages of the militants who were targeted by the ISIS remains unknown, the monitoring group suspects most of them were Europeans.

In a United Nations report obtained by The Guardian in October, it was stated that around 15,000 people travelled from 80 countries to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside ISIS and other similar extremist groups.

Some recruits have also revealed that they joined ISIS to support its fight for jihad but were made to do lowly tasks like cleaning toilets and doing the washing up.

The ISIS has so far carried out massacres in Iraq and Syria and has beheaded several detainees.

 Official statistics: ISIS committed about four million violations in Iraq

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Iraq considered on Tuesday, 2014 as the most violent and brutal year in Iraq because of ISIS terrorists’ crimes.

The Commission member , Fadel Ghraoui said in a statement for "Shafaq News", that "The number of violations reached three million and 981 thousand and 597 violations committed by terrorist gangs in Iraq."

He added that "these terrorist crimes represent a serious genocide against the Iraqi people."

The Shabaab’s AMISOM base attack proves its endurance, capability

The Shabaab al-Mujahideen Movement has proven to be resilient following the death of Mukhtar Abu al-Zubeir (AKA Ahmed Abdi Godane), largely putting to rest statements from Washington that the group had been diminished.

The group's December 25 raid on the AMISOM Halane military base near Mogadishu International Airport, a heavily protected compound housing officials from the UN and other agencies, marks a new militaristic achievement for the group inside of Somalia. The attack reveals not only feeble security and intel of forces in Somalia, but also that the Shabaab maintains an ever-threatening level military capability.

 The group issued an official statement on the raid through Shabaab-affiliated websites on December 26, a day after the Shabaab's spokesman, Ali Mahmoud Ragi (AKA Ali Dheere), claimed credit for the attack and alleged to have killed at least 17 "crusaders." The message also boasted to have breached the "seemingly impenetrable fortifications" of the base, following up:

...the Mujahideen, with the blessing of Allah, managed to penetrate deep into the base, catching the crusaders unawares and killing them when they least expected it. And while some of the Mujahideen fighters achieved their lofty aspirations of Martyrdom during the course of the attack, the remaining fighters returned safely to their base without any harm and are now preparing for their next operation.

Particularly troubling about the Shabaab's siege is its indication of the African Union (AU) and UN's lack of security and preparation for such an attack, as well as a grim indication of sturdy intel and military ability retained by the Shabaab. The militants managed to breach the base (some of whom allegedly doing so while wearing Somali National Army uniforms) during the compound's lunch hour and shared hours of gunfire with AMISOM forces, after which two Shabaab fighters allegedly detonated themselves on-site.

 It almost seems that the group's attack on of the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya in September of 2013—wherein Shabaab militants opened fire on unsuspecting shoppers—had distracted the international community from the group's militaristic aspirations. Sure, this attack at Westgate, while showing a willingness toward brutality, demonstrated little militaristic capability. However, Thursday's attack on the AMISOM Halane military base stands as sobering proof that that this terrorist organization is a danger not only to civilians, but also to domestic security forces.

The aforementioned statement by the Shabaab regarding their attack on the base also claimed the attack to be one of revenge for the death of Godane, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike on September 2.

Unfortunately, though, this attack has served as more than retaliation; the Shabaab's recent siege of the base is a reminder that killing the leaders does little to diminish a terrorist organization's activity—let alone end it.

Source:  siteintelgroup

2014: A year to forget for the Middle East

It was an eventful year in the Middle East, but 2014 will most probably go down in history as the most violent year in the region’s modern history. Gruesome attacks on civilians, perpetrated by Israel, Daesh (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), the Syrian regime and its foes, terrorist groups in Libya and the Sinai desert and militant groups in Yemen.

The year saw, nevertheless, some triumphs regionally. Egypt and Tunisia elected new presidents. Abdul Fattah Al Sissi of Egypt, elected in July, is determined to implement a political road map aimed at restoring the leading role of Egypt as the most influential player in this part of the world. Tunisia’s Beji Qaid Al Sebsi, elected earlier this month, has vowed to steer his country towards a stable pluralistic path.

Closer to home, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) started the year with a dispute described as the most serious in the group’s 33-year history. Early in the year, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE recalled their ambassadors from Doha to express their anger over Qatar’s maverick foreign policy, especially its support to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement and its Gulf affiliates. But the year ended on a positive note, following a reconciliation summit that brought the GCC train back on the right track. A final communique described the GCC as stronger than ever.

Israel attacked Gaza again, while the world again stood idle — watching. But the year ended with an international push, led mainly by Europe, to recognise the Palestinian state and force the Israelis to commit to a peaceful settlement.

Yemen’s Al Houthi rebels overran the capital Sana’a. The government collapsed. The rebels seized most government buildings by force. As Al Qaida stepped up its attacks on the army, the country remains shattered and under the threat of disintegration.

Iran’s support for Al Houthis and other Arab groups in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and other countries, which will probably continue in the New Year, led to the polarisation of the region and not even a nuclear deal, between Tehran and the West, will overcome the sectarian fallouts of the 2014 conflicts.

Syria continues to be the open wound of the Arab World. And there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The regime continues to defy the basic human rights principles. Its barrel bombs continue to kill dozens of Syrians on an almost daily basis, while its opponents continue to commit the worst horrific crimes against humanity — kidnappings, beheadings and persecuting of minorities.

History, however, will register 2014 was the year of the rise of Daesh — a ruthless terrorist outfit that claims allegiance to Islam, but practices everything that our religion warns against. Shortly after the group crossed from Syria and shockingly captured Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in June, Daesh declared an ‘Islamic State’ that summarily executed thousands of innocent Iraqis — 2,000 in the last six months alone, according to international monitoring groups.

It forcibly displaced minorities from their hometowns and imposed a bizarre system of local rule in the towns they captured due to the impotence of the Iraqi army and its failure to defend the country. An international alliance has been formed to defeat Daesh, but that seems to be a very challenging task.

The New Year will likely see an escalation of the war against Daesh, which threatens the very stability of our region. We hope 2015 will witness the end of this murderous group.

Source: gulfnews

Suicide bombing outside Libyan parliament in Tobruk wounds three

A suicide bomber detonated a car laden with explosives in front of a hotel where Libya's elected parliament was in session in the eastern city of Tobruk on Tuesday, wounding three deputies, the assembly's spokesman said.

The blast was in a car park near the entrance of gate of the hotel as lawmakers sat in a nearby hall, parliamentary spokesman Farraj Hashem told Reuters by phone.

The assembly is allied to the internationally recognised government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni. Thinni and parliament were forced to relocate to Tobruk after Tripoli was seized by an armed group called Libya Dawn.

Libya Dawn has since established its own parliament, but this has not been recognised by world powers.
Tuesday's bombing is the biggest attack on the parliament in Tobruk to date. A car bomb exploded in the city in November, but did not target the assembly.

Tobruk, near the Egyptian border, has enjoyed much better security than the rest of the oil-producing country, which has been in turmoil since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted nearly four years ago.

The House of Representatives holds its sessions in a hotel outside Tobruk's city centre. The hotel has two security checkpoints through which visitors must pass when arriving from the main road.

Cameroon army kills 41 Islamist militants belonging to Boko Haram

Cameroon's army killed at least 41 Islamist militants as it fought off a wave of attacks along its border with Nigeria over the weekend in an escalation in the conflict, the government said.

The coordinated assaults on five towns and villages showed a change in tactics by Nigerian Boko Haram fighters, who have focused on hit-and-run raids on individual settlements in the past, Information Minister Issa Tchiroma added.

Boko Haram's campaign to carve out an Islamist caliphate has spread from its stronghold in northeast Nigeria to neighbouring Cameroon, raising fears for an already unstable region also threatened by Islamist militants in the Sahel.

Cameroon has sent thousands of soldiers to its Far North region to fight off the militants and said it launched air attacks on the movement for the first time on Sunday.

"Units of the (Boko Haram) group attacked Makari, Amchide, Limani and Achigachia in a change of strategy which consists of distracting Cameroonian troops on different fronts, making them more vulnerable in the face of the mobility and unpredictability of their attacks" Tchiroma said late on Sunday.

At least 34 militants were killed after the army laid siege to a base used by the militants in Chogori, and seven others and one soldier were killed near the town of Waza, he said.

The Islamists briefly occupied an army camp in Achigachia after a fierce fight, but withdrew after air attacks, army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck told Reuters by phone. All the militants had now pulled back into Nigeria, Badjeck said.

Both Tchiroma and Badjeck said it was too early to give full details of casualties.

Boko Haram has killed more than 40 soldiers and recruited hundreds of youths during raids in Cameroon's Far North region this year.

Yemen: Al-Qaeda 'in a war of attrition'

As fighting between Yemen's warring groups intensified, the recent clashes between Houthi fighters and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) could turn into a wider sectarian conflict, according to analysts.
 

On Saturday night clashes erupted between Houthi fighters and tribesmen in Arhab, a tribal area located 35km northeast of Sanaa and a bastion of Islah party supporters. Tribal sources said many Houthi fighters were killed in this confrontation, but there was no confirmation of the exact number of the dead.

Earlier this month, AQAP and tribal fighters attacked positions held by the Houthi rebels in the Yakla mountains in Radaa district of al-Bayda which left 14 Houthi fighters dead.

On Thursday, hundreds of mourners buried the civilian victims of the latest round of violence in al-Bayda province, when, on December 16, a car bomb exploded near a checkpoint in Radaa manned by Houthi rebels, killing 16 girls, nine of whom were from al-Bayda. Another car bomb exploded on the same day, near the house of Abdallah Idriss, a senior Houthi leader, killing 10 people.

A local government official told Al Jazeera that relatives of victims seek justice and compensation.

"Some of the critically injured civilians are in need of urgent medical treatment abroad, but people cannot afford to pay for this," Tareq Abu Sorema, the director of Radaa's Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, told Al Jazeera at the funeral site.

Shortly after Houthi rebels took over Sanaa, and several neighbouring provinces, they quickly advanced into al-Qaeda-controlled regions in al-Bayda, including Radaa city, where they engaged in fierce fighting with forces backed by local Sunni tribes.

Last November, AQAP's military chief, Qassem al-Rimi, warned the Houthis to brace "for horrors that will make the hair of children turn white", after the Houthi fighters expanded their presence into AQAP's stronghold of Radaa.

On Thursday, al-Bayda residents told Al Jazeera that al-Qaeda fighters and tribesmen launched an attack that claimed the lives of scores of Houthi fighters.

"Al-Qaeda killed at least 20 people and injured many others. This is what tribesmen who fight Houthis told us," a resident said.

Houthis, on their part, declined to comment on the death toll while al-Qaeda posted details of the attacks on affiliated Twitter accounts.

AQAP sources also said that it gunned down Faisal al-Sharif, a pro-Houthi tribal leader in the Yemeni capital three days ago. 

Houthi leaders have been keen to portray their war against AQAP as part of the larger "war on terrorism" scheme. "Since arriving in Arhab over a week ago, Ansar Allah has been purging the district and surrounding villages of terrorists," said Ali Al-Qahoom, a member of the Houthis' policy-making committee.

But it is precisely the Houthis' involvement in the "war on terror" which, analysts say, helps AQAP in getting more recruits. "The Houthis' sectarian nature has enabled al-Qaeda to portray its conflict against them as Shia targeting Sunnis," Saeed Obeid, a Yemeni analyst told Al Jazeera.

Obeid added that if the government remained weak, the current clashes between al-Qaeda and Houthis could develop into all out sectarian warfare. "The clashes are a recipe for wider war so long as the government is unable to execute its duties."

In October, Houthis announced that they were driving al-Qaeda fighters out of their strongholds in Manaseh, Qaifah and Khoubza regions in Bayda province. The Houthis demanded hundreds of displaced families who fled their homes during the clashes to return home.

However, despite the Houthis' quick and visible victories, Obeid thinks that they do not maintain an upper hand in the battles against al-Qaeda.

"Al-Qaeda's strategy is to engage in a war of attrition with its opponents. Al-Qaeda is striking all over Houthi-controlled areas. They detonated bombs and gunned down Houthi-linked figures in Sanaa. They also mounted deadly attacks on the Houthis in Bayda."

Source: Al Jazeera

Al-Qaida urges 'lone wolf' attacks against western airlines

In the latest issue of its English-language online magazine, Inspire, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula called for individual jihadists to carry out "lone wolf" attacks on Western commercial passenger flights.

The magazine named a number of U.S. airline companies -- American Airlines, Delta, United and Continental -- as potential targets. It also cited British Airways, EasyJet, Air France and KLM as alternative targets.

"The first pri­or­ity and the main focus should be on Amer­ica, then the United King­dom, then France. ... This goes on with the NATO coun­tries as per the known order," the magazine said.

The magazine advised would-be terrorists on the best locations and altitudes for detonating explosive devices, saying planes should be blown up over land, as this would also cause casualties and damage down below. Methods of evading airport security were also suggested.

Inspire also named prominent American economic figures, such as former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, as potential targets for assassination.

Syrian tribe takes up arms against ISIS

According to Syria’s local sources, the tribesmen and villagers have formed a new unit, named “The Popular Resistance Front” (or Jabhat Al-Muqaawama Al-Sha’biyya).

The Shaitaat people form "The Popular Resistance Front" against Daesh after the militants killed over 900 members of their tribe.

The move comes in the wake of Daesh's atrocities against local people, especially tribesmen in Dayr al-Zawr.

Shaitaat tribes, which live along the Euphrates River, had earlier joined the armed opposition against the Syrian government.

However, they changed their positions after Daesh killed over 900 of their members.

Reports say Daesh kidnapped women and children, beheaded and crucified young men and hanged those who opposed Daesh's self-proclaimed caliph, Ibrahim al-Samerai also known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Daesh currently controls some parts of Syria and Iraq. They have been committing heinous crimes in the captured areas, including mass executions and beheadings.

More than 170,000 people have died so far in the conflict in Syria, according to the UN sources.

Over 7.2 million Syrians have also become internally displaced due to the ongoing Syrian crisis, according to the UN.

Source:  albawaba

Libya asks for international help to extinguish oil terminal fire

Libya's interior minister has called for international help to prevent a fire at the North African country's largest oil terminal from spreading, Libya's Herald Website reported.

Omar al-Sinki has asked the US and Italy to help Libya extinguish the fire that started two days ago at the al-Sidra oil export facility west of the city of Benghazi after a missile hit a tank, the website reported.

There are 17 tanks at the terminal in eastern Libya.

Firefighters have limited resources and have been unable to put out the blaze, which al-Sinki said could lead to an environmental disaster.

Islamist-allied insurgents, calling themselves "Libya Dawn", began two weeks ago an offensive to control oil facilities in the area.

The offensive has prompted a counter-attack from military forces backing an internationally recognized government headquartered in the eastern city of Tobruk.

Oil is the main income source for Libya, which has two rival governments and two parliaments.

The North African country has in recent months seen its worst violence since the ouster of longtime dictator Moamer Gaddafi in a 2011 armed revolt.

Earlier this week, Libya's state-owned National Oil Corporation said the infighting had pushed the country's oil production to a "very low level", without giving figures.

Libya's oil output reached 1.6 million barrels per day before the anti-Gaddafi uprising, according to official figures.

Yemen intelligence official abducted

Suspected Houthi fighters snatch head of country's internal security from home in the capital Sanaa

Yemen's second highest ranking intelligence official has been abducted in Sanaa by suspected Houthi fighters who have been in control of the capital since a September offensive, security sources said.

"General Yahia al-Marrani was kidnapped this morning by armed Houthis from his home in Sanaa," a source told the AFP news agency.

Another source said that about 20 fighters had stormed Marrani's residence and taken him to an unknown location on Thursday.

The kidnapping was confirmed to AFP by a relative of the officer, who had served for five years as head of the police intelligence unit in Saada province, a Houthi stronghold in north Yemen.

He was named as a director in Yemen's intelligence services and head of internal security by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who took power following a 2012 uprising that unseated longtime ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Associated Press news agency said that when the Houthi members came to Marrani's residence, he had reportedly told his guards to put down their guns to avoid clashes.

Yemen has been rocked by instability since the Shia fighters, who are also known as Ansarullah, seized control of Sanaa on September 21.

The Houthis have since expanded their presence in central and western Yemen, but have been met by fierce resistance from Sunni tribes and al-Qaeda fighters.

Source:  aljazeera

Libyan civil war escalates to airstrikes as Government Forces hit Misrata

Libya’s official government conducted several tactical airstrikes in the vicinity of the town of Misrata Sunday, another episode in the ongoing war between the internationally recognized government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni and the coalition of his political opponents known as Libyan Dawn.

According to the official reports, the Libyan air force, controlled by Thinni, hit several targets in the Libyan Dawn controlled city of Misrata, including a sea port, an air force academy near the airfield and a steel mill, the largest in the country, in an attempt to disrupt the town’s economic viability. Representatives for Libyan Dawn confirmed the airstrikes, claiming no immediate victims or damage.

"The airport at Misrata is still working normally. A flight has just taken off," a representative for Libya Dawn said as quoted by Reuters.

Libyan Dawn took control of Libya’s capital, Tripoli, in August, but they are not recognized as the nation’s legitimate government. The country's prime minister has been leading a war against Libyan Dawn from the eastern part of the country. The situation is further complicated by the activities of Islamic militants, attacking the nation’s oil infrastructure.

 Since Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed after ruling for 42 years, the nation has fallen apart. At this point, Libya is divided by the historical boundaries of its two parts, namely Tripolitania (in the west) and Cyrenaica (in the east). The opposing forces are either Islamist or utterly anti-Islamic and are engaged in a sectarian war, exacerbated by still-existent tribalism and radical jihadi terrorist activity.

Is Al Jazeera changing its tune on Syria?

It is no secret that Al Jazeera is the media arm of Qatari foreign policy, which has suffered a successive series of setbacks, particularly in Syria. But some time ago, signs that changes had taken place in the editorial line of Al Jazeera began to emerge, as evident in the terminology the Qatari satellite channel started using. For example, Al Jazeera no longer refers to opposition fighters as “rebels.” Moreover, Al Jazeera has been giving airtime for discussions about the mistakes of the Free Syrian Army.

Soon enough, coverage of Syria in Al Jazeera news bulletins started decreasing. A few weeks ago, the Qatari channel decided to cancel the dedicated Syria bulletin and the Syrian desk, transferring the journalists there to other departments. This and the fact that coverage of the Syrian conflict has also slipped down the headlines on its website has left many with the impression that Al Jazeera is indeed in the process of making an about-face on Syria.

So what is really happening behind closed doors at the station? Is it a step towards fully altering its discourse on Syria, or is it mere administrative arrangements unrelated to the broader political context of regional developments especially in Syria?

The majority of those we queried at Al Jazeera preferred not to answer but others, who requested anonymity, said that the issue is strictly “administrative and organizational.” They said that the Syrian bulletin was not the only one to be stopped, citing the cancellation of the Arab Maghreb and Egyptian bulletins.
In the past, there were dedicated bulletins for certain countries and regions tackling specific events and developments, according to these sources, who pointed out that when a major Egyptian story was unfolding, Syrian stories would be deferred to the Syrian bulletin and vice versa. But now, they added, Al Jazeera decided that all stories should have their fair share of coverage in all bulletins.

But what about the reduced coverage of the events in Syria in all bulletins? All the sources in Al Jazeera who agreed to speak to us claimed that these were all “lies and fabrications,” citing a statistic showing that at least 80 reports on Syria are aired by Al Jazeera each month, excluding guest appearance and live reports. They also said that the number of Al Jazeera reporters on the Syrian territory with the exception of the provinces of Raqqa and Deir al-Zour – where Al Jazeera reduced its footprint because of ISIS – has increased.

A dedicated bureau had been established for Syria. In effect, Al Jazeera is the only channel that still has a bureau in Syria and a team of correspondents filing live reports from the ground. This is a source of pride for Yasser Abu Hilala, the news channel’s new director.

 It is worth noting that outside the areas controlled by the regime, Al Jazeera collaborates with opposition activists, some of whom it retains as correspondents, even though many of them were never journalists before and no one has any idea about their qualifications.

The assertion of Al Jazeera’s personnel then is that what is happening is merely administrative. Everyone is aware of this, including Broadcaster Majid Abdul Hadi who relayed this information to Syrian journalists in Gaziantep, where the station opened an office recently. The office is run by Ahmed Abda, one of those overseeing the Syrian file in the channel, and brother of opposition figure Anas Abda, who is affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood.

However, a documentary filmmaker who declined to be named contradicts this claim. He said, “All the answers I got about this issue from Al Jazeera personnel claim the matter is an administrative plan but I doubt it. I see a change in Doha’s policy towards Damascus that will unfold gradually, and have an impact on the coverage of Al Jazeera, which follows precise instructions.” The filmmaker added, “What makes it likely that the station’s policy is changing is that they have turned down dozens of pitches for Syrian documentaries, even though they are of a humanitarian focus rather than about armament and fighting. It seems there is a desire to marginalize the Syrian story on more than one level.”

Source:  al-akhbar

Black day for ISIS in Iraq after hundreds of its components killed

Al Arabiya, the Saudi-owned TV said on Sunday that today can be described as a black day for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria “ISIS” organization after losing more than 250 of its components in fighting south of Tikrit as a result of air strikes on Hawija, Mosul and al-Anbar .

The Iraqi security source in Salahuddin province, revealed that 123 element of ISIS were killed in the liberation of a number of regions in Yathrib battles. The source said that the security forces and members of the popular crowd liberated areas , Al-Mahmoud village and center of Yathrib sub-district. .

A source in the leadership of the Joint operations said that more than 50 terrorists from ISIS were killed and dozens of them wounded in a bombing was carried out by fighter jets in Hawija northwest of Kirkuk province.

He added that "warplanes carried out several sorties targeted ISIS gatherings in Hawija mill , the ice plant and fertilizer stores in the district."

Bringing death toll for Sunday and Saturday to nearly 400 ISIS component killed.


Source: shafaaq

Islamic State claims responsibility for Libya’s Tripoli car bombing

The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for a car bombing in the Libya’s capital Tripoli on Saturday.

A car bomb exploded in Tripoli in front of the headquarters of the General Directorate for the Protection of Diplomatic Missions, with no casualty, according to a security official.

Col. Mubarak Abu Dhaheer, an official of the Directorate of Al-Hassi’s government in Tripoli, said that unidentified men put a BMW car in front of the building and detonated it by remote control, causing damages to the building.

Dhaheer described the explosion as a “criminal act that aims to destabilize the security and stability in the capital Tripoli, and to target police who protect diplomatic missions.”

After claiming responsibility for the explosion, the IS in Libya announced its intention to carry out similar attacks later on.

The website Manaber, the media outlet of the IS in Libya, published an image of what it described as “the state of Tripoli.”

The image was titled “targeting diplomatic security directorate headquarters with a car bomb, and the next is worse.”

Due to security concerns, most foreign diplomatic missions left the capital Tripoli since the forces of Libya Dawn took control of the capital in August.

Source: 

Senior Shebaab leader surrenders in Somalia

A leader with the Islamic extremist group al-Shabaab, who had a $3m bounty on his head, surrendered in Somalia, a Somali intelligence official said on Saturday.

Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi surrendered to Somali police in the Gedo region, said the intelligence officer, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the press.

Hersi may have surrendered because he fell out with those loyal to Ahmed Abdi Godane, al-Shabaab's top leader who was killed in a US airstrike earlier this year, the officer said.

Hersi was one of eight top al-Shabaab officials whom the Obama administration offered a total $33m in rewards for information leading to their capture in 2012.

Despite suffering major losses such as losing major cities, al-Shabaab remains a threat in Somalia and the East African region. The group has carried out many terror attacks in Somalia and some in neighbouring countries including Kenya, whose armies are part of the African Union troops bolstering Somalia's weak UN- backed government.

On Christmas day, al-Shabaab launched an attack at the African Union base in Mogadishu. Nine people died, including three African Union soldiers, in the attack on the complex, which also houses UN offices and western embassies. Al-Shabaab said the attack was aimed at a Christmas party and was in retaliation for the killing of the group's leader Godane.

Al-Shabaab also claimed that 14 soldiers were killed, but the group often exaggerates the number of people it kills.

Al-Shabaab is waging an Islamic insurgency against Somalia's government that is attempting to rebuild the country after decades of conflict that was sparked off by the 1991 ouster of dictator Siad Barre.

Source:  news24

Islamists seeking complete control of Libyan oil: officials

Libya’s Western-backed Tobruk-based government warned that rival Islamist militias are seeking to seize complete control of the country’s oil industry, calling on the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take all necessary measures to protect Libyan state oil infrastructure.

In a statement issued on Friday, one day after Islamist fighters launched a failed attack on Libya’s largest oil terminal, the Abdullah Al-Thani government called on international law enforcement agencies to issue arrest warrants against the leaders, financiers and political and military backers of Islamist insurgents in the country.

The Tobruk-based government called on the UN Security Council to implement resolution 2174 which calls for the immediate implementation of a ceasefire in Libya and the holding of inclusive national dialogue between rival political parties.

Abdullah Al-Thani’s government fled to the eastern city of Tobruk in August after Islamist militias, known as Libya Dawn, seized control of the capital Tripoli and its airport. The Thani government subsequently allied with Libyan National Army commander Gen. Khalifa Haftar who is continuing to besiege Islamists in Benghazi and Tripoli.

Islamists, with links to Libya’s outgoing parliament, the General National Council (GNC), have rejected Thani’s government which was elected in June, installing their own rival prime minister and government in Tripoli.

The statement issued by the Thani government also called on the Ministry of Defense to speed up the approval of the purchase of weapons and military equipment needed by the Libyan army to eradicate “terrorism” in the country.

Dozens of soldiers were killed on Thursday after Libya Dawn militias mounted a failed attempt to seize control of Libya’s largest oil terminal.

Islamist fighters launched an attack on Al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf ports, firing rockets from speedboats. The attackers failed to seize any of the terminals but managed to set one oil terminal south of Al-Sidra, on fire.

“The attack by the so-called Libya Dawn militias represents a serious development in the nature of the conflict in Libya, threatening national unity and leading the country to civil war,” the Libyan government statement warned.

In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat Libyan Information Minister Omar Al-Quairi described the attack as a “systematic operation planned by militias affiliated with the outgoing GNC.”

“The General Authority for Information and Culture strongly condemns this heinous and chilling crime which it regards as a disgrace to the outgoing GNC and its government,” he said.

The incident has confirmed the UN’s inability to protect Libyan civilians, the minister said, calling for the restructuring and rebuilding of the Libyan state military.

Source: aawsat.net

What surprises are in store for Arab states?

In a few days, the world will enter a new year. At such a time, people usually hope for the best. But one is puzzled confronting the question: What does the coming year hold for us? Going by the events in the previous year, one is not optimistic. Most likely, the wars in our region will continue — in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Iraq. To a lesser degree, there will be conflict in a places like Lebanon and Egypt, as those countries are not stable yet.

Good news came towards the end of this year, with efforts by Saudi King Abdulah Bin Abdul Aziz to mediate between Egypt and Qatar bearing fruit. This is a good step forward but needs to be expanded further, as there has to be a powerful axis for stability in the region to be upheld. This could be a broad alliance of Gulf states alongside countries like Egypt and Jordan.

The Arab Spring has left deep scars on relations between Arab countries. We have seen the phenomenon of states crumbling, even beyond Arb region. We can see elements of civil war spreading and threatening state disintegration in places like Nigeria and Pakistan. The war between states, which was the norm for most of history, has been replaced by war within the state. This pattern will likely continue for a while, at least throughout 2015.

The fall in oil prices will be seen in the coming year as well. This is because of the slowing global economic cycle. This in itself will produce some difficulty for most Arab states, the oil producers and others, as the latter depend on either remittances from their nationals working in oil-producing countries or direct financial assistance from the oil-producing countries. All this will have a negative impact on the social fabric of those countries.

Nobody can predict what will be the outcome of the negotiations between Iran and the six major international powers. The time for concluding that process of negotiations is July 2015. For Arabs, whatever the results of those negotiations, it looks like a lose-lose situation. The “thinking of the day after” bit is not on the Middle East’s table yet; most of us are concentrating on the events of today, so to speak. Both the fall in oil prices, and the Iran nuclear issue need to be looked at seriously. And a plan has to be drawn, encompassing a number of alternative scenarios.

Probably we can learn something from the speech of Qatar’s Emir Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani at the summit meeting held in Doha in first week of this month. He said “We meet here in a very critical time, regionally and internationally” and went on to add that “we have to act as one man, the uncertainty around us is showing in the fields of politics and economics”. He also noted that “the failure of UN Security Council on number of serious world issues is quite obvious... we have to fight the roots of terror, by solving the causes behind it”. This shows that awareness of drastic changes taking place around us is clear in the minds of the leaders. But what is to be done about these issues? Here we can turn again to the Saudi king’s initiative.

But this has to go beyond Qatar-Egypt differences, and involve all Arab parties interested in security and prosperity of this region. Countries like the Gulf states, Jordan and Egypt can make the difference. If they can also bring in Turkey as well, it would be even better. The tension between Turkey and some Arab states can be resolved easily. The benefit of that will be tremendous for all parties. One hopes that the coming year will bring the hope we have lacked for the last four years. This can happen through hard work and good planning.

Source:  gulfnews

Kurdish offensive against ISIL gains momentum

Peshmerga forces have regained ground in northwestern Iraq, while Kurdish fighters also battle ISIL in Syria.
An offensive by Kurdish Peshmerga forces to retake territory from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in northwestern Iraq is gaining momentum.

Troops have retaken a series of villages from ISIL this week and opened a corridor for thousands of minority Yazidis to escape Mount Sinjar.

Peshmerga commander Hashim Sitaie told Al Jazeera that strategic territory has been retaken.

"We have also seized major roads, particularly one that runs along the Iraqi-Syrian border. Whoever controls these areas has the upper hand," he said.

He said US-led air strikes had helped the offensive.

"We've been guiding the coalition jets on where to target and that really helped in increasing their accuracy," he said.

The international coalition battling ISIL has continued air strikes in the vincinity of the Sinjar Mountains in recent days, claiming to have destroyed vehicles and other infrastructure used by the group.

The Peshmerga managed to break an ISIL siege of Mount Sinjar on December 18, enabling thousands of Yazidi fighters and civilians trapped on top of the mountain for months to leave.

The Yazidis, who ISIL consider heratics, sought sanctuary on the mountain after ISIL attacked their villages in August, kidnapping or killing thousands of them.

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from the area on Thursday, said a road that just days ago was under the control of ISIL is now being used as an escape route for Yazidis.

"The stream of vehicles carrying Yazidis fleeing the Sinjar Mountains is endless," he said.

Syria battles
In neighbouring Syria, where ISIL controls large swathes of land, Kurdish forces are also battling the group.
At least 44 ISIL fighters were killed in clashes with members of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) on Thursday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group that gathers information on the conflict from local sources.

Thirty of them were killed when YPG regained control of the village of Qassiab in Hasakeh province, the Observatory said.

Another 14 ISIL fighters were killed in the town of Kobane on the Turkish border, the group said.

Fighting over Kobane began in mid-September, when the ISIL launched a bid to take it over, prompting tens of thousands of Kurds to cross the Turkish border.

Coalition air strikes and Iraqi Peshmerga have since backed YPG in the fight.

Source:  aljazeera

Syria's war enters new year more fragmented than ever

Many analysts say Western powers and even staunch regional Syrian regime opponents such as Saudi Arabia now see the war's dominant factions as groups they cannot support, limiting their options.

Deep into its fourth year of conflict, Syria looks less and less like a state and more and more like a patchwork of warring fiefdoms, making outside powers more reluctant to intervene even as the Syrian conflict becomes more destabilizing for the region.

The United States finally entered Syria's war this year, three years after U.S. President Barack Obama said President Bashar Assad must leave power. But it did so only reluctantly, to staunch advances by Islamic State fighters in neighboring Iraq, and without challenging Assad.

With over 200,000 now dead and millions displaced, Syria's disintegration may worsen even further due to the surprising drop in oil prices in December. Added economic pressure may make it tougher for any faction to gain a decisive advantage.

Attempts to find a "political solution" which international powers say is the only way forward -- possibly in the form of a settlement between Assad and his opponents -- have gone nowhere.

Now it is not even clear who would be party to any future solution. The strongest anti-Assad forces are mainly hardline Islamists such as the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, and al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, who are as abhorrent to the West as they are to Assad's backers, Russia and Iran.

Many analysts say Western powers and even staunch regional Assad opponents such as Saudi Arabia now see the war's dominant factions as groups they cannot support, limiting their options.

"The idea of the opposition has evaporated for Saudi Arabia," said Nasser Qandil, a Lebanese newspaper editor and former lawmaker with good relations with Damascus. "They know that the option is ISIS and Nusra or the regime. There's no third option."

Instead, he says, many regional players, and perhaps even Western powers, are choosing what he called a strategy of "retreat" -- essentially leaving Syria's combatants to fight it out on their own.

Washington says supporting Assad's "moderate" opponents is part of its strategy. But by bombing Islamic State positions daily and carrying out a handful of strikes against Nusra Front, it has freed Assad's air force to hit other opponents elsewhere.

The opposition forces that Western powers have half-heartedly supported are now splintered into hundreds of groups, many with competing ideologies and interests.

Kurdish militias in the northeast have fought against Islamic State in coordination with the U.S.-led coalition -- as in the more than three-month battle for the border town of Kobani -- but play little role outside their ethnic enclave.

Pro-Assad militias are also playing a larger role in the conflict than ever before.

"More and more warlords are rising in Syria, who are becoming difficult for the regime to control, which of course adds pressure on the Assad regime," said Lina Khatib, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

"I think basically 2015 will be total chaos for Syria."

Fractious militias

Many analysts say U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State will do little more than contain the group, which has thoroughly embedded itself in the parts of Syria it controls.

Some "moderate" or non-jihadist rebels appear to be pinning hopes to the idea that U.S. military action could be turned against Assad -- perhaps at the urging of regional allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia, both staunch Assad opponents.

Obama's administration is planning to carry out a multiyear program to train and equip "moderate" rebels and field local forces.

Turkey also wants the United States to set up a "buffer zone" along the Syrian-Turkish border to protect moderate rebels, although U.S. officials have played down the idea.

Even with a safe zone, it would take far more resources than the United States has committed to "take a handful of fractious militias that own maybe 1 or 2 percent of Syria and turn them into the conquerors of the entire land," said Joshua Landis, an expert on Syria at the University of Oklahoma.

He pointed to the hundreds of billions of dollars and years of military occupation the United States spent in Iraq, where the government is still struggling.

"Nobody's going to do that for Syria. ... All sides, all these proxy armies in Syria -- their supporters are willing to spend enough money so that they don't lose and not enough money that they can win," Landis said.

Unresolved issues

The sharp drop in oil prices this year could put pressure on Assad's main backers, Iran and Russia, although it is unlikely they would halt support altogether. And the price decline may also affect Assad's opponents, many of whom draw support from oil-rich Gulf Arab countries.

But the fate of Assad himself seems no closer to being resolved. The leader has hung on far longer than many observers predicted when the revolt broke out and shows no sign of leaving power. Even if Assad were to lose favor with his foreign backers, they would struggle to find an alternative.

The United Nations peace envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura -- who took the position after two earlier envoys quit in frustration -- seems to acknowledge the impracticality of finding a broad solution for Syria's conflict at this stage.

Instead of a grand bargain, he has focused instead on brokering "freeze zones," or local truces, in the northern city of Aleppo, a plan which seems to acknowledge the reality of a country divided between hundreds of local factions.

In the meantime, Syria's disintegration continues, a process that seems to benefit one player above all: Islamic State, which has proved adept at setting up administrative structures to fill the chaotic vacuum left by the war.

An op-ed in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat put it bluntly: "Of all the forces fighting in Syria and for it, only ISIS has a clearly defined strategy for the present and future."

Nine Killed in Al-Shabab attack on African Union base in Somalia

Three African Union (AU) soldiers, a civilian contractor and five al-Shabab militants were killed during a militant attack on the main AU base in Mogadishu, Somalia. The Islamists launched the attack during a Christmas day lunch hour on December 25.

Five militants were killed and three captured during an al-Shabab attack on the key base of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) located in the capital of Mogadishu, AMISOM said in a statement.

"Our forces shot dead three of them, two detonated themselves near a fuel depot," Col. Ali Aden Houmed said, as quoted by the Associated Press. "An investigation is underway on how they entered the base," he added.

Three AMISOM soldiers and a civilian were killed in the fighting.

At least eight al-Shabab militants, some of whom were wearing uniforms of the Somali National Army, launched the attack during a Christmas day lunch hour, according to the New York Times. The Islamists were allegedly targeting a Christmas party at the Halane base, the media outlet said.

The African Union condemned the attack.

Attack on Libya oil terminals leaves 22 soldiers dead

A militant attack on Libya’s main oil terminals on Thursday left 22 pro-government soldiers dead, officials said, as the country’s latest clashes pushed oil prices higher in Asia.

Libyan militants used speed boats in a failed bid Thursday to seize some of Libya's main oil terminals, officials said.

The militiamen belonging to the Fajr Libya, or Libya Dawn, launched an attack on Sidra port by firing rockets from speedboats, setting an oil tank on fire, security sources said.

"Speedboats fired several rockets at the terminals of Ras Lanuf and Sidra and one of them hit a tank south of Sidra port which then caught fire," said Ali al-Hassi, security spokesman for the region.

Sidra is in the "oil crescent" region that has been the scene of recent fighting between government forces and Fajr Libya.

In early December, a warplane belonging to Fajr Libya fired missiles at a sector to the west of Sidra, in the first such raid in the energy-rich region.

According to witnesses, Thursday’s attack was launched overnight, and reported seeing smoke from the burning oil tank.

Military and medical sources said 18 soldiers and a Fajr Libya militant were killed during the latest clashes in Sirte, and another four soldiers were slain in Sidra.

Most of the dead soldiers belonged to the 136th battalion responsible for monitoring a power plant west of Sirte, the sources said.

The 136th battalion, which was able to repel the attack, is affiliated with the military, and most of its fighters are from a tribe loyal to former general Khalifa Haftar.

Haftar's forces have been fighting alongside forces from the internationally recognized government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani to overrun Islamists from Benghazi.

A military official said Haftar's forces and pro-government troops had lost several positions in Benghazi to Islamist militias in the past days.

Current conflicts forced tens of thousands to leave Benghazi and also caused frequent fuel, power and water shortages, increased food prices and damaged infrastructure.

The fighting in Benghazi is only one element of the turmoil sweeping the North African country. Two rival governments, each with its own parliament and army, claim legitimacy, almost four years after a NATO-backed war ended Muammar Gaddafi's one-man rule in 2011.

In August, Thani and his cabinet were forced to leave Tripoli for the east when militants from Fajr Libya seized the capital. The new rulers of Tripoli have set up their own administration, the General National Congress (GNC), which has not been recognized by the United Nations and world powers.

Meanwhile, also on Thursday, three Fajr Libya men were killed in a raid on Tripoli.

Amnesty International said in a report late October that both pro-government and rebel militias vying for control of western Libya are committing war crimes including torturing detainees and targeting civilians.

According to Amnesty, militias in the west showed "an utter disregard" for civilian casualties and accused them of indiscriminately lobbing artillery fire into crowded civilian neighborhoods, damaging homes and hospitals.

Oil prices rise
The latest clashes in Libya pushed oil prices higher in Asia on Friday, with US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rose 10 cents to $55.94 in afternoon trade, while Brent for February gained nine cents to $60.33.

Analysts said some bearish dealers were taking profits on short positions, pushing prices up.
Since the clashes erupted on December 13, the country's oil production has dropped to nearly 350,000 barrels per day compared with 800,000 previously, according to industry experts.

Trading volumes in Asia were thinner than usual with major regional financial markets including Hong Kong and Australia closed on Friday. US and European stock markets will also be shut for the Boxing Day holiday.

"Prices seem adamant on staying above support levels, and it seems they will hold for this festive season," said Daniel Ang, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

"We continue to attribute this to the short-covering at the end of the year as oil bears close out positions to celebrate the New Year," he said.

Source:  al-akhbar

Explosions in Iraqi capital kill 45

At least 45 people were killed and 64 others wounded in two separate explosions on Wednesday, in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, according to a police source.

“Forty-three have been killed and 61 others wounded -mostly from security forces - in a suicide bomber attack. The attack targeted pro-government Al-Sahwa forces in the Al-Mada’in district in southeastern Baghdad,” a police source who preferred not to divulge his name, told The Anadolu Agency.

In addition, two people were killed and three others were wounded in another explosion in the Al-Za’franiya neighborhood, in southern Baghdad, according to the same source.

The attacks have yet to be claimed.

Iraq has been gripped by a security vacuum since June, when the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group took control of large areas in Iraq and Syria.

Source:  aa.com.tr

Military intervention in southern Sahel highlights risks of attacks on extractive projects in Niger, Chad, Algeria

Chadian president Idriss Déby has ordered troops to position themselves for incursions into southern Libya, at the request of French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, local media reported on 22 December.

The moves comes within a week of the African Security Summit at which G5 member countries Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, and Burkina Faso called on the United Nations and NATO to set up an international force to neutralise militants in Libya.

On 21 December, regional neighbour Algeria deployed 4,000 additional soldiers to its Libyan and Nigerien borders in an effort to prevent jihadists infiltrating its southeast borderlands.

Source:  janes

Without help, Libya could become next Syria

Libya, torn by a growing political divide that threatens to engulf its oilfields, could become the next Syria if it does not patch its divided government and get help battling Islamic militants, the country's foreign minister said on Tuesday.

"If we don’t do the right thing now, in two years’ time we could have – hopefully not – a repeat of what happened in Syria in 2014 because the international community didn’t react adequately," Foreign Minister Mohamed Dayri told Reuters in an interview.

Dayri represents the internationally recognized government in eastern Libya, which is locked in an increasingly violent struggle for power with a rival faction, known as Libya Dawn, that seized control in the capital of Tripoli in August.

In an ominous turn of events, a force allied to the self-declared Tripoli government earlier this month moved to seize Libya's two biggest oil export ports, Es Sider and Ras Lanuf. Fighting has since spread to a third oil port.

Dayri repeated his government's charge that forces attacking the oil facilities included elements of Ansar al-Sharia. The United States has designated Ansar al-Sharia as a terrorist group and accuses it of involvement in the deadly September 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

U.S. officials said that while they see Ansar al-Sharia as a problem, the name is sometimes used loosely as a label that covers other militant groups, including Islamic State and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Various Islamic militants - as well as secularist groups - are trying to take over the oil facilities, the officials say.

Asked whether he was worried that Libya was not high on the list of U.S. President Barack Obama's priorities, the foreign minister said, "I do worry about that."

He said he spoke to a United Nations session in New York on Friday and met with officials in Washington to "draw the international community’s attention to the rising threats of international terrorism in Libya and the need to fight it."

Dayri said the eastern-based government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani faces what he called "a serious financial crunch, funding crunch" and may seek international loans.

Al-Thani's' government does not have access to oil revenues routed to the Central Bank in Tripoli.

"We can get loans, and this is what we may be seeking to achieve in the coming days and weeks," Dayri said, adding that he held discussions at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on Monday night.

Also on Tuesday, the U.N. Special Envoy for Libya, Bernadino Leon, informed the U.N. Security Council that the rival factions in Libya have agreed in principle to hold a new round of peace talks early in the new year.

Dayri said his government remains committed to the peace talks, adding: "It goes without saying that the process will be difficult."

Source: 

Egypt, Hezbollah improve relations

 

 

The longstanding issues between Egypt and Hezbollah are shrinking with each passing day. The icy relationship reached its peak on Jan. 28, 2011, with the escape of Sami Chehab from Egyptian prison. All following events have helped break the ice in a situation that today has somewhat thawed to a point that the relationship has been described by the parties involved as solid and fixed.

Now that ties between Hezbollah and Egypt have been developed, it is possible to count five Egyptian priorities constituting common denominators with Hezbollah:

1. Maintaining the security of Lebanon and supporting its army.
2. Fighting extremist terrorism in the two countries and in the region.
3. Disseminating moderation in the Sunni environment and confronting extremism through Al-Azhar missions, in addition to re-strengthening the role of Dar al-Fatwa.
4. Emphasizing on the central importance of the Palestinian issue (Hezbollah calls on all Palestinian factions to meet to consolidate the relationship with Egypt.
5. Stressing the need to preserve the unity of the Syrian state, its institutions and its army, to reach a political solution and confront extremist organizations.

Although the consolidation of the Egyptian relationship with Hezbollah cannot be separated from the improvement of Egyptian-Iranian relations, which reached their worst level when Tehran described the June 30 revolution as a coup. Yet Hezbollah was able to draw the lines of a stable relationship with the Egyptian side, which ultimately falls within the best interest of Egyptian-Iranian ties. This is despite Egypt’s inability to free itself from Saudi Arabia’s considerations in the foreseeable future, notably the economic aid needed to guarantee [survival of] the Egyptian economy.

When the Muslim Brotherhood ascended to power in Egypt, Iranians cheered it on, based on its initial support for political Islam. However, it soon became apparent that passion prevailed over this support. Just like the Iranians, Hezbollah also welcomed the advent of the Brotherhood but remained more cautious. It appears that Hezbollah was not wrong [to wait].

President Mohammed Morsi went to Iran to attend the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, [exercising] an approach that did not observe the minimum decency between the states. The division expanded when then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Egypt and the Egyptian welcoming reception was [less than fitting] for a president. Issues that further drove the two countries apart accumulated, to the point that Cairo Stadium hosted the National Conference for the Support of the Syrian Revolution. Hezbollah saw this as the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Later, Hezbollah preferred not to be dragged along with Iran's reaction to Egypt's June 30 revolution. It contented itself with monitoring, and followed up on the new regime’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood locally and abroad. [Egyptian leader] Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s diplomatic transfers of a number of ambassadors specifically affected Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Hamdi, who was replaced by Ambassador Mohammad Badr al-Din Zayed. In this respect, many reports reached the Egyptian presidency accusing Hamdi of transforming the embassy into the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

After the revolution, Egypt's first option was to open up to all Lebanese political forces while these relationships used to be limited to the March 14 coalition under the rule of President Hosni Mubarak. At that time, Egypt’s breakup with Hezbollah fell under three major headings: the war of July 2006, where Egypt accused Hezbollah of launching an unjustified war without taking the consequences into consideration; the Israeli aggression on Gaza in 2008, where Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on Egypt to intervene militarily in favor of the Strip, which was considered by Cairo a blatant interference in its internal affairs; and the arrest of a Hezbollah-affiliated cell in Egypt in 2010 accused of spying and planning to carry out terrorist attacks and smuggling weapons to the Hamas movement across the Egyptian border.

While these issues were historical, the dispute has not completely subsided. The escape of Chehab remains the most provocative issue for Egyptians, despite Hezbollah’s assurances that it was not responsible for his fleeing. The two parties decided to leave this matter to the judiciary. The Egyptian judiciary is still examining the case, known as the Great Escape, which also implicates Morsi.

Contentious issues and mutual observations are not simple, but the mutual interest of both parties today require them to be set aside. Egyptian-Saudi relations are a sensitive matter for Iran and Hezbollah. Although the latter understands the Egyptian financial crisis and the fact that Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries to recognize the new Egyptian regime, which witnessed international isolation at [its beginning], Hezbollah advises the relevant Egyptian parties it meets to reduce this close relationship, seen in some circles as a relation of subordination to Saudi Arabia.

For Egyptians, this relationship is a mere relationship of gratitude to Saudi Arabia for its positions supporting Egypt. In Cairo, there are always some parties who recall that the Egyptian strategic view of the Syrian war does not match the Saudi position. These recall the Arab League summit in September 2013, where a number of countries exerted pressure to support [military] strikes against Syria for having used chemical weapons. Back then, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy categorically rejected any strike against any Arab country, which practically led the Arab League to content itself with stressing the need to keep all actions within the framework of international legitimacy and thus link the Arab League position to a UN Security Council resolution.

Source: As Safir