Syria Army repels militant advance on key air base

Syrian troops have repelled an attack by militants from the Islamic State (IS) group on a key military airport in the eastern Deir Ezzor province, a monitoring group said on Sunday.

“Troops and pro-regime militia stopped the attack that IS launched on the Deir Ezzor military airport,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that both sides suffered heavy losses in the fighting.

The militants had withdrawn to the edges of the base, a day after managing to seize a southeastern part of the complex, it said.

The Observatory said more than 100 militants had been killed in fighting for the base since Wednesday, when they launched an operation to try to take the airport.

Pro-regime forces also suffered heavy casualties, with some 59 troops killed, it said.

State news agency SANA said Syrian army units had “repelled an attempt” by IS fighters to attack positions at the base, but provided no further details.

The Deir Ezzor air base is a key regime outpost from which warplanes and helicopters mount raids on militant positions in several areas of the war-wracked country.

IS fighters control most of Deir Ezzor province, but half of its capital remains in government hands.

The oil-rich province lies between IS-controlled Raqa province and the border with Iraq, and is a key prize for the militant group which declared an Islamic “caliphate” straddling the two countries in June.

Source:  Tribune Pakistan

Kenya must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.

After two attacks in 10 days by Somalia's al Shabaab group that killed more than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his "war on terror" to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of making an Islamic Caliphate.

In Somalia, he can point t ..

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/45402523.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Kenya must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.

After two attacks in 10 days by Somalia's al Shabaab group that killed more than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his "war on terror" to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of making an Islamic Caliphate.

In Somalia, he can point t ..

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/45402523.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Kenya needs to win war of ideas to stop Islamist advanceKenya
 must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its
 northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to 
stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.

               After
 two attacks in 10 days by Somalia's al Shabaab group that killed more 
than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his "war on 
terror" to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of 
making an Islamic Caliphate.

               In Somalia, 
he can point to military gains where Kenyan and other African troops 
have retaken territory from al Shabaab, but he faces a more stubborn 
enemy on home soil where security forces are trying to drive out 
militancy from mosques.

               "The only language
 these kafirs (non-Muslims) can understand is the bullet from the AK-47 
rifle," a Kenyan preacher told worshippers at Mombasa's Mina mosque last
 month before police shut it down - with three others - detaining about 
100 youths.

               Such tough tactics may 
temporarily silence the radical voices but it also fuels anger that 
helps militants find new recruits and deepens the homegrown threat, 
Muslim activists say.

               This is where al 
Shabaab may have a trump card. While it  has been driven out of major 
Somali strongholds, a military offensive in Somalia has not stopped the 
group spreading its ideology and finding enough loyal foot soldiers for 
attacks that need little more than dedication to the cause and a few 
rifles.

               Cohorts of frustrated and often 
jobless Muslim youths in the sweltering port city of Mombasa and along 
the coast, where most Kenyan Muslims live, offer fertile ground for the 
Islamists.

                              

FIREBRAND SERMONS

               "The
 government needs to sit down and understand these people," said Hussein
 Khalid of Haki Africa, a group that works to promote dialogue with 
Muslim communities. "It always wants to use force and this merely pushes
 people away."

               Alarmed by sermons of 
firebrand imams and radicalised youths emerging from mosques in Mombasa,
 police have in the past month shut four places of worship and made mass
 arrests. This has been done before but not on such scale.

               "We want to arrest the situation from spilling over to other mosques," said Mombasa County police commander Robert Kitur.

               Al Shabaab said it launched recent raids partly to punish Kenya for such acts of "aggression" and promised to continue.

               Losing territory in Somalia has not prevented al Shabaab exploiting its guerrilla skills. It may even free up resources.

               "Now
 they are not ruling such large chunks of Somalia, they no longer have 
to pay for a shadow government," said a diplomat. "You can mount an 
insurgency for really not very much money."

               Deepening
 worries for the authorities is a video posted on YouTube this week with
 an address by Ahmad Iman Ali, a Kenyan believed to head al Hijra, the 
local branch of al Shabaab. He promised to target "non-believers" to 
avenge the suffering of Muslims in Mombasa, where Ali studied under a 
radical preacher.

               "Wait and see, it is 
just a matter of time," Ali said as a group of men toting AK-47 rifles 
shouted: "Bullets and daggers have created warriors. Let us spread this 
to all mosques."

               In 2007, Ali and his 
young supporters took over a Nairobi mosque, creating a hotbed of 
militancy. Radicals have done the same in Mombasa, defying repeated 
police crackdowns.

               "It has never worked 
anywhere in the world," Ali Hassan Joho, Mombasa County Governor, told 
Reuters of his concerns about police strategy. "This is an ideological 
battle, therefore you cannot win it in any other way besides 
engagement."

                              

LIVING IN FEAR

               Such
 worries are not yet turning into action. Haki Africa's Khalid said 
meetings between officials and the Muslim community had thrashed out 
strategy but there had been no "concrete meetings to confirm or at least
 agree on how to roll that out."

               Rattled 
by border raids in the north and other al Shabaab attacks this year 
along the coast, Kenyatta urged the Muslim community to help root out 
Kenya's militant "collaborators".

               But many
 moderate Muslim preachers have been cowed. In November, Sheikh Salim 
Bakari Mwarangi, who supported moves to stamp out radicalism, was shot 
dead by unknown assailants. Another moderate leader was killed in June.

               "There
 is a very big sense of fear and people think it's not worth challenging
 these (radical) people," said Mudhar Khitamy, coast chairman of the 
Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims.

               When 
Mombasa's Mina mosque was shuttered, about a dozen young men chanting 
"Allahu akbar", or "God is greatest", marched through the street and 
hacked to death a Christian shopkeeper.

               Kenya needs rethink strategy, said a Western diplomat: "They're not reaching the population they are trying to reach." 

Kenya
 must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its
 northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to 
stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.

               After
 two attacks in 10 days by Somalia's al Shabaab group that killed more 
than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his "war on 
terror" to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of 
making an Islamic Caliphate.

               In Somalia, 
he can point to military gains where Kenyan and other African troops 
have retaken territory from al Shabaab, but he faces a more stubborn 
enemy on home soil where security forces are trying to drive out 
militancy from mosques.

               "The only language
 these kafirs (non-Muslims) can understand is the bullet from the AK-47 
rifle," a Kenyan preacher told worshippers at Mombasa's Mina mosque last
 month before police shut it down - with three others - detaining about 
100 youths.

               Such tough tactics may 
temporarily silence the radical voices but it also fuels anger that 
helps militants find new recruits and deepens the homegrown threat, 
Muslim activists say.

               This is where al 
Shabaab may have a trump card. While it  has been driven out of major 
Somali strongholds, a military offensive in Somalia has not stopped the 
group spreading its ideology and finding enough loyal foot soldiers for 
attacks that need little more than dedication to the cause and a few 
rifles.

               Cohorts of frustrated and often 
jobless Muslim youths in the sweltering port city of Mombasa and along 
the coast, where most Kenyan Muslims live, offer fertile ground for the 
Islamists.

                              

FIREBRAND SERMONS

               "The
 government needs to sit down and understand these people," said Hussein
 Khalid of Haki Africa, a group that works to promote dialogue with 
Muslim communities. "It always wants to use force and this merely pushes
 people away."

               Alarmed by sermons of 
firebrand imams and radicalised youths emerging from mosques in Mombasa,
 police have in the past month shut four places of worship and made mass
 arrests. This has been done before but not on such scale.

               "We want to arrest the situation from spilling over to other mosques," said Mombasa County police commander Robert Kitur.

               Al Shabaab said it launched recent raids partly to punish Kenya for such acts of "aggression" and promised to continue.

               Losing territory in Somalia has not prevented al Shabaab exploiting its guerrilla skills. It may even free up resources.

               "Now
 they are not ruling such large chunks of Somalia, they no longer have 
to pay for a shadow government," said a diplomat. "You can mount an 
insurgency for really not very much money."

               Deepening
 worries for the authorities is a video posted on YouTube this week with
 an address by Ahmad Iman Ali, a Kenyan believed to head al Hijra, the 
local branch of al Shabaab. He promised to target "non-believers" to 
avenge the suffering of Muslims in Mombasa, where Ali studied under a 
radical preacher.

               "Wait and see, it is 
just a matter of time," Ali said as a group of men toting AK-47 rifles 
shouted: "Bullets and daggers have created warriors. Let us spread this 
to all mosques."

               In 2007, Ali and his 
young supporters took over a Nairobi mosque, creating a hotbed of 
militancy. Radicals have done the same in Mombasa, defying repeated 
police crackdowns.

               "It has never worked 
anywhere in the world," Ali Hassan Joho, Mombasa County Governor, told 
Reuters of his concerns about police strategy. "This is an ideological 
battle, therefore you cannot win it in any other way besides 
engagement."

                              

LIVING IN FEAR

               Such
 worries are not yet turning into action. Haki Africa's Khalid said 
meetings between officials and the Muslim community had thrashed out 
strategy but there had been no "concrete meetings to confirm or at least
 agree on how to roll that out."

               Rattled 
by border raids in the north and other al Shabaab attacks this year 
along the coast, Kenyatta urged the Muslim community to help root out 
Kenya's militant "collaborators".

               But many
 moderate Muslim preachers have been cowed. In November, Sheikh Salim 
Bakari Mwarangi, who supported moves to stamp out radicalism, was shot 
dead by unknown assailants. Another moderate leader was killed in June.

               "There
 is a very big sense of fear and people think it's not worth challenging
 these (radical) people," said Mudhar Khitamy, coast chairman of the 
Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims.

               When 
Mombasa's Mina mosque was shuttered, about a dozen young men chanting 
"Allahu akbar", or "God is greatest", marched through the street and 
hacked to death a Christian shopkeeper.

               Kenya needs rethink strategy, said a Western diplomat: "They're not reaching the population they are trying to reach." 

Kenya
 must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its
 northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to 
stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.

               After
 two attacks in 10 days by Somalia's al Shabaab group that killed more 
than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his "war on 
terror" to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of 
making an Islamic Caliphate.

               In Somalia, 
he can point to military gains where Kenyan and other African troops 
have retaken territory from al Shabaab, but he faces a more stubborn 
enemy on home soil where security forces are trying to drive out 
militancy from mosques.

               "The only language
 these kafirs (non-Muslims) can understand is the bullet from the AK-47 
rifle," a Kenyan preacher told worshippers at Mombasa's Mina mosque last
 month before police shut it down - with three others - detaining about 
100 youths.

               Such tough tactics may 
temporarily silence the radical voices but it also fuels anger that 
helps militants find new recruits and deepens the homegrown threat, 
Muslim activists say.

               This is where al 
Shabaab may have a trump card. While it  has been driven out of major 
Somali strongholds, a military offensive in Somalia has not stopped the 
group spreading its ideology and finding enough loyal foot soldiers for 
attacks that need little more than dedication to the cause and a few 
rifles.

               Cohorts of frustrated and often 
jobless Muslim youths in the sweltering port city of Mombasa and along 
the coast, where most Kenyan Muslims live, offer fertile ground for the 
Islamists.

                              

FIREBRAND SERMONS

               "The
 government needs to sit down and understand these people," said Hussein
 Khalid of Haki Africa, a group that works to promote dialogue with 
Muslim communities. "It always wants to use force and this merely pushes
 people away."

               Alarmed by sermons of 
firebrand imams and radicalised youths emerging from mosques in Mombasa,
 police have in the past month shut four places of worship and made mass
 arrests. This has been done before but not on such scale.

               "We want to arrest the situation from spilling over to other mosques," said Mombasa County police commander Robert Kitur.

               Al Shabaab said it launched recent raids partly to punish Kenya for such acts of "aggression" and promised to continue.

               Losing territory in Somalia has not prevented al Shabaab exploiting its guerrilla skills. It may even free up resources.

               "Now
 they are not ruling such large chunks of Somalia, they no longer have 
to pay for a shadow government," said a diplomat. "You can mount an 
insurgency for really not very much money."

               Deepening
 worries for the authorities is a video posted on YouTube this week with
 an address by Ahmad Iman Ali, a Kenyan believed to head al Hijra, the 
local branch of al Shabaab. He promised to target "non-believers" to 
avenge the suffering of Muslims in Mombasa, where Ali studied under a 
radical preacher.

               "Wait and see, it is 
just a matter of time," Ali said as a group of men toting AK-47 rifles 
shouted: "Bullets and daggers have created warriors. Let us spread this 
to all mosques."

               In 2007, Ali and his 
young supporters took over a Nairobi mosque, creating a hotbed of 
militancy. Radicals have done the same in Mombasa, defying repeated 
police crackdowns.

               "It has never worked 
anywhere in the world," Ali Hassan Joho, Mombasa County Governor, told 
Reuters of his concerns about police strategy. "This is an ideological 
battle, therefore you cannot win it in any other way besides 
engagement."

                              

LIVING IN FEAR

               Such
 worries are not yet turning into action. Haki Africa's Khalid said 
meetings between officials and the Muslim community had thrashed out 
strategy but there had been no "concrete meetings to confirm or at least
 agree on how to roll that out."

               Rattled 
by border raids in the north and other al Shabaab attacks this year 
along the coast, Kenyatta urged the Muslim community to help root out 
Kenya's militant "collaborators".

               But many
 moderate Muslim preachers have been cowed. In November, Sheikh Salim 
Bakari Mwarangi, who supported moves to stamp out radicalism, was shot 
dead by unknown assailants. Another moderate leader was killed in June.

               "There
 is a very big sense of fear and people think it's not worth challenging
 these (radical) people," said Mudhar Khitamy, coast chairman of the 
Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims.

               When 
Mombasa's Mina mosque was shuttered, about a dozen young men chanting 
"Allahu akbar", or "God is greatest", marched through the street and 
hacked to death a Christian shopkeeper.

               Kenya needs rethink strategy, said a Western diplomat: "They're not reaching the population they are trying to reach." Kenya must 
win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its 
northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to 
stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.Kenya must 
win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its 
northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to 
stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.