Germany Sends Shipment of Heavy Weapons to Kurdistan

The German Defense Ministry has announced that it will send another cargo of heavy weapons and ammunition to the Kurdistan Region.

The equipment will be delivered in two stages, totaling 100 tons.

The announcement also states that 30 Peshmerga will soon travel to Germany for training in the use of new weapons.

The fighters will be sent to the Melborgen military base near Munich. The training will start on 2^nd March and last two weeks.

German weapons have a good reputation on the frontlines, with Peshmerga sources regularly commenting on their effectiveness to BasNews.

Number of foreigners joining Peshmerga Forces on the increase

Former spokesman for the Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs of the Kurdistan Region Mariwan Naqshbandi says that the number of foreigners joining the Peshmerga to fight Islamic State (IS) is on the increase.

On his personal Facebook page, Naqshbandi said, “According to information that I have collected as a journalist, foreigners from many different countries have contacted Peshmerga officials and the ministry over the last two months, offering to volunteer for the Peshmerga.”

He stated that they have their own military equipment and that some of the volunteers are from the Kurdish diaspora, with citizenship of foreign countries.

“I asked one of those youths why he returned to the Kurdistan Region to fight IS with the Peshmerga. He said that the bravery and resistance of the Peshmerga illustrated in world media was a factor that motivated him,” said Naqshbandi.

Naqshbandi says that the volunteer explained, “Beside that, this is a fight of humanity against terrorists [IS militants]. If we don’t stop and destroy them here in the Kurdistan Region, they will have reach across the world in the future.”

According to unofficial statistics obtained by Naqshbandi, in 2015 alone, 25 foreign volunteers from Europe, the US and Australia have flown to the Kurdistan Region to join the Peshmerga.

He revealed that some had military training in their own countries and had been trained to fight in street battles.

Somalia: Al-Shabab makes a murderous bid to grab the world's attention

A propaganda video released by Somali militant group al-Shabab, threatening attacks against shopping centres in the West, smacks of a bid to remain relevant as other extremist groups such as the Islamic State and Boko Haram grab the world’s attention.

The slickly produced 77-minute film, posted online this past weekend, calls for strikes on shopping streets and malls in London, the United States and Canada. “Westgate was just the beginning,” it proclaims, invoking what might cynically be described as al-Shabab’s greatest hit: the siege of the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in which 67 people were killed by four gunmen.

 

 

But that was September 2013 and a great deal has happened since. The Islamic State has overrun swaths of Iraq and Syria and produced macabre videos tailored to the modern media cycle. Boko Haram has rampaged through northern Nigeria and stolen headlines with the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls. Islamist gunmen stunned the world by attacking a Paris satirical magazine, killing 17 people over three days.

In the perverse battle for eyeballs and retweets, al-Shabab’s public relations department has been outwitted by its rivals and has lost territory after a hammering by US drones and African soldiers. Last September, its leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a US air strike, but his successor, Ahmad Umar Abu Ubaidah, has so far failed to establish a similarly high profile.

There are two ways for al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, to put itself back on the global agenda. One was seen last Friday with the suicide bombing of a Mogadishu hotel, killing 25 people and injuring more than 40 and denting hopes that the capital has unstoppable momentum with new business, a construction boom and a returning diaspora.

Boko Haram used “copycat tactics” by declaring an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria, but that option is not open to al-Shabab since its recent setbacks on the battlefield.

Anton du Plessis, managing director of the Institute for Security Studies, warns of the continuing potential for lone-wolf attacks. “Although they are on the back foot and have suffered losses, they are still a force to be reckoned with. Nobody knows the extent of their sympathisers in other countries.”

Though al-Shabab has carried out attacks in neighbouring Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti, which all contribute troops to the African Union force in Somalia, it has not operated outside East Africa and the Horn of Africa. Yet Minnesota, home to the biggest Somali population in the US, has been singled out by terrorist recruiters, according to Associated Press.

Since 2007, it said, more than 22 Somali men from Minnesota have travelled to Somalia to join al-Shabab, and a handful of Minnesota residents have gone to Syria to fight within the last year. At least one Minnesotan has died while fighting for the Islamic State.

Cedric Barnes, Horn of Africa project director at the International Crisis Group, says: “This video has a lot to do with recruitment. It is propaganda but it’s also a recruiting tool. There is now competition for radical young Muslims in the West: rather than al-Shabab, they might go for the immediacy of the Islamic State in Iraq or Syria. There are more rivals than there were.”

Stig Jarle Hansen, an academic on al-Shabab in Somalia, notes the group has “never staged an attack in a country that was not a part of the African Union forces fighting them. The most likely scenario is that this continues, but al-Shabab propaganda is professional; it might inspire sympathisers to act.”

Source:  mg.co.za

Troops raid Boko Haram’s hideout in Yobe, Adamawa

The Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen Chris Olukolade, has said some terrorists were killed by troops during a cordon and search operation along Djimillo-Damaturu.

Olukolade said the troops had a fierce encounter with the terrorists when their hideout was discovered by soldiers near a market.

He said the soldiers killed an unspecified number of the insurgents and recovered some machines guns and rifles from them.

He added that some of the terrorists were believed to have been killed in an inferno that gutted the house which they used as their base.

Olukolade said a soldiers was killed in the exchange of gun fire with the terrorists while another, who was injured in the gun battle, was undergoing treatment.

The Defence spokesman explained that the troops also had an encounter with some terrorists, who were in the process of blowing up a bridge to halt the military operation in Gulak, the headquarters of the Madagali Local Government area of Adamawa State.

He said the troops, who killed the insurgents, also recovered some arms and ammunition.

He added that flags, hoisted by the terrorists, were being dismantled by the troops in the operational area.

Source:  punchng

Egypt, Libya Defense Ministers discuss means to fight Islamic State

Egyptian Defense Minister Col. Gen. Sedki Sobhi met with his Libyan counterpart Masoud Rahoma in Cairo for talks on bilateral cooperation to fight militants of the Islamic State (IS) group in Libya, military spokesperson Mohamed Samir said in a statement.

The meeting also tackled ways to enhance bilateral military cooperation through developing a strategy based on the exchange of security and military experiences between the two countries, according to the statement.

On Feb. 15, Egyptian armed forces, in coordination with the Tobruk-based Libyan government carried out an airstrike on alleged Islamic State group bases in Libya in response to the mass beheading of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians by IS.

The attacks targeted camps, training facilities and weapons depots in the cities of Derna and Sirte.

Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Dairi appealed to the United Nations Security Council last week to lift an arms embargo on Libya to allow its military to fight militants.

The arms embargo was imposed in 2011 in the midst of a civil war between various opposition groups and forces loyal to late president Muammar Ghadafi.

Libya has slid into a security vacuum since then, with various militias controlling most of Libya, and an internationally recognized government based in the eastern city of Tobruk.

Egyptian court declares Hamas a ‘terrorist organization’

An Egyptian court declared Hamas a “terrorist organization” on Saturday, further isolating the blockaded rulers of the Gaza Strip once openly welcomed by the country’s toppled Islamist-dominated government.

The ruling is unlikely to have any immediate effect on Hamas, still reeling from last summer’s war with Israel and choked by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade set up in 2007. Moussa Abu Marzouk, Hamas’ No. 2 leader, is based in Cairo and is receiving medical treatment there, members of the group say.

The move underlines Egypt’s increasing hostility to Hamas, which the court blamed for violence in the country’s restive Sinai Peninsula. The secretive movement, founded in Gaza in 1987 as an offshoot of the region’s Egyptian-originated Muslim Brotherhood, faces a growing cash crunch and has yet to lay out a strategy to extract Gaza from its increasingly dire situation.

“There is no doubt that Hamas is being pushed into the corner further and further,” said Mkhaimar Abu Sada, a political science professor at Gaza’s Al Azhar University. Hamas’ relationship with Cairo has “reached a point of no return” and is unlikely to be salvaged, he said.

The ruling Saturday by Judge Mohamed el-Sayed of the Court For Urgent Matters said Hamas had targeted both civilians and security forces inside the Sinai Peninsula, and that the group aimed to harm the country. Sinai has been under increasing attack by extremists since the Egyptian military ousted Islamist President Muhammad Mursi in 2013.

“It has been proven without any doubt that the movement has committed acts of sabotage, assassinations and the killing of innocent civilians and members of the armed forces and police in Egypt,” the court wrote, according to state news agency MENA.

The ruling said that Hamas’ fighters had used heavy weapons against the army, and that the group was colluding with the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has described as the root of extremism. Mursi belonged to the Brotherhood.

“It has been also ascertained with documents that (Hamas) has carried out bombings that have taken lives and destroyed institutions and targeted civilians and the armed forces personnel,” the ruling said. “This movement works for the interests of the terrorist Brotherhood organization.”

On its official website, Hamas called the decision a “shocking and dangerous” one that targeted the Palestinian people.

“This decision is a great shame and sullies the reputation of Egypt. It is a desperate attempt to export the internal Egyptian crisis and will have no effect on the position of Hamas which enjoys the respect of all the people and leaders of the nation,” the statement read.

In Gaza, Hamas official Mushir Al-Masri condemned the decision and urged Egypt to reverse course.
“This ruling serves the Israeli occupation. It’s a politicized decision that constitutes the beginning of Egypt evading its role toward the Palestinian cause,” he said. “This is a coup against history and an Egyptian abuse of the Palestinian cause and resistance, which fights on behalf of the Arab nation. We call on Egypt to reconsider this dangerous decision.”

An Egyptian court banned Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, and designated it a terrorist organization just last month. In 2014, a similar ruling in the same court banned all Hamas activities in Egypt and ordered the closure of any Hamas offices, though the order apparently was never carried out. Government officials in Egypt did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday’s ruling.

Hamas seized the Gaza Strip by force in 2007. Since then, it has fought three wars with Israel, the latest last summer killing some 2,200 Palestinians and 72 on the Israeli side, according to the United Nations.
Since a major attack on security forces last October, the Egyptian army has been clearing a buffer zone on the frontier with Gaza in an attempt to destroy a cross-border network of tunnels.

Hamas considers the tunnels an economic lifeline, at one point earning an estimated $500 million from taxing Egyptian imports. Cheap fuel, cement and other supplies from Egypt also powered Gaza’s economy, particularly the local construction industry which employed several tens of thousands.

That dried up after Mursi’s 2013 ouster. Egypt’s new government now sees the tunnels as a two-way smuggling route for guns and fighters.

Earlier this month, Egyptian security officials said they had found and shut down the largest-ever tunnel leading into Gaza, a 2.5-kilometer (1.5-mile) passageway they said was used to smuggle weapons used in attacks on security forces.

The crackdown has been accompanied by Egypt’s closure of the Rafah border crossing — the main gateway for Gazans to the outside world. That’s left Gaza’s population of 1.8 million people largely unable to travel abroad.

Hamas officials have said they believe Egypt is trying to crush their organization, but have refused to be quoted by name for fear that criticism of the el-Sissi government would invite further sanctions.
Mohammed Hijazi, a Gaza-based analyst, said the court ruling can be appealed. However, he cautioned that both sides needed each other.

“At the end of the day, Egypt needs to deal with Hamas because Hamas is a main player in the Palestinian arena and one day Egypt will find itself in a position to talk to Hamas if it wants to play a role in the Palestinian issue,” he said.

Source: arabnews

Mullah Krekar arrested for praising Charlie Hebdo attack and charged for “inciting criminal offences”

Kurdish Norwegian-based Mullah Krekar was arrested at his home in Oslo after telling Norway’s TV Channel (NRK) that the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris made him “happy” and that anyone who made cartoons of the Prophet of Islam deserved to die.

Krekar, an Iraqi Kurd whose real name is Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, was charged for “inciting criminal offences” for the extreme statements, which caused uproar in Norway when the interview was aired on Wednesday.

“The cartoonist has become an infidel at war, and therefore it is permissible to kill him,” Krekar told the interviewer, arguing the attacks were justified under Islamic law.

“As he has trampled on our dignity, our principles and beliefs, so he must die. Anyone who does not respect 30 percent of the world’s population has no right to live.”

As a result he said, he saw the in January attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which left eleven people dead, as something to be celebrated.

“When it comes to what happened in France, naturally I am happy that it happened,” he said.

Vegard Rødås, an inspector with the Oslo police, said that Krekar had in no way resisted arrest.

“Krekar was arrested outside his apartment without any drama,” he told NRK.

Krekar’s lawyer Brynjar Meling said that his client had been well aware that he risked arrest for his provocative statements.

“Krekar is familiar with the consequences of expressing himself as he has done,” Meling told NRK. “He has chosen to say what he said.”

Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg weighed in after the controversial interview was aired to remind Norwegians that Krekar’s beliefs were not shared by mainstream Muslims.

“I know that these statements are not representative of most Muslims in Norway,” she said. “We have all witnessed major commitment for community and unity – and the distance from extreme attitudes, most recently with the ring of young Muslims around the synagogue in Oslo.”

Norway’s authorities ruled that Krekar should be expelled from he country on national security grounds as long ago as 2003, but because he faces the death penalty if he is returned to Kurdistan Region, they are prevented from doing so.

Krekar was released from prison in February, after which police planned to put him in an internal exile, sending him to the small town in northern Norway.

Libya's PM says Turkey supplying weapons to rival Tripoli group

Libya's internationally recognised Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni said his government would stop dealing with Turkey as it was sending weapons to a rival group in Tripoli so "the Libyan people kill each other", ramping up his rhetoric against Ankara.

Two administrations, one in the capital and Thinni's in the east, have been vying for power since an armed group called Libya Dawn seized Tripoli in July and reinstated lawmakers from a previous assembly, four years after Muammar Gaddafi's ousting.

"Turkey is a state that is not dealing honestly with us. It's exporting weapons to us so the Libyan people kill each other," he told Egyptian TV channel CBC late on Thursday.

A spokesman for Turkey's foreign ministry strongly denied Thinni's allegations.

"Instead of repeating the same baseless and untrue allegations we advise them to support U.N. efforts for political dialogue," spokesman Tanju Bilgic told Reuters.

"Our policy vis-a-vis Libya is very clear. We are against any external intervention in Libya and we fully support the ongoing political dialogue process under U.N. mediation."

Thinni's government said this week it would exclude companies from future deals, accusing Ankara of backing the Tripoli government and its allied armed groups.

He repeated that Turkish firms would be excluded from contracts in territory controlled by his government in the CBC interview, noting that any outstanding bills would be paid.

"We don't say we are hostile to Turkey but we say we don't deal with it," he said.

Turkey is one of a handful of countries which has publicly received officials from the Tripoli government and parliament.

Critics of Ankara say its Libya policy is an extension of a pro-Islamist agenda which has already seen relations sour with other former regional allies, notably Egypt.

Thinni also accused Qatar of giving "material" support to the rival side in the Libyan conflict. He did not elaborate.

Army general Khalifa Haftar, who merged his forces with the army in the east to fight Islamist militants, is seen as a potential rival to Thinni. While the alliance between the groups has enabled them to win back territory, Haftar has been criticised for air strikes on civilian airports and seaports.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for Thinni's parliament said the assembly's president would appoint Haftar as top army commander.

Italian coastguard wants to carry weapons

Italy's coastguard on Friday called on the government to change its status so that its 11,000 seamen can carry weapons, amid mounting concern over the possibility of attacks by people traffickers or terrorists.

The demand is a long-standing one but has been renewed following a recent incident in which traffickers armed with Kalashnikovs threatened coastguards engaged in an operation to rescue thousands of migrants in danger of drowning close to Libya.

It also follows signs that the Islamic State group has established a base in conflict-torn Libya, from where propagandists claiming to speak for the jihadists have threatened to mount attacks on southern Europe and merchant shipping in the Mediterranean.

The coastguard wants to be given the same status as Italy's police forces, which would automatically give it the right to carry weapons.

A resolution adopted by the coastguard's General Command called for urgent talks on the issue with Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi, whose department oversees the coastguard.

It said it was self-evident that the coastguard was now engaged in mainly policing activities and that having to rely on other forces for protection was "humiliating" and "seriously undermining staff morale."

The resolution also highlighted the ordeal of coastguards who were threatened by armed people smugglers during a rescue operation on February 15.

As the coastguards evacuated a migrant boat, four smugglers arrived on a speedboat and forced them to hand over the empty vessel, which they then took off with, presumably for re-use in future crossings.

Italy's Federation of shipowners called on the government to introduce naval patrols to protect fishing boats operating in international waters between Italy and North Africa.

"Our fisherman are afraid of being attacked by terrorists, they cannot be allowed to live with the nightmare of not coming home," the federation's chairman, Carmelo Micalizzi, said in a statement.

"They need to feel protected and more at ease in a Mediterranean that becomes more dangerous every day."
Dwindling stocks closer to Italy have forced fishermen in Sicily to venture further afield and many now depend for their livelihood on catching tuna, swordfish and prawns in waters close to Africa.

Islamic State must keep expanding to survive, says financial report

International investigators said on Friday that in order for the Islamic State to remain financially viable it would have to further expand territory it controls in Iraq and Syria and take over more resources.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said in a report that the Islamist group's need for large amounts of money to govern areas it has conquered meant it was uncertain how long it could finance its current level of activity.

"In order to maintain its financial management and expenditures in areas where it operates, (Islamic State) must be able to seize additional territory in order to exploit resources," it said.

The task force, which is made up of government officials from around the world who are combatting money laundering, noted that the group had generated large amounts of money by appropriating oil fields and from criminal activity such as theft and extortion.

"Cutting off these vast revenue streams is both a challenge and opportunity for the global community to defeat this terrorist organization," the report said.

Degrading the group's financial resources is one aspect of a campaign led by the United States to destroy Islamic State, ranging from military attacks to counter-propaganda.

The report said air strikes by the United States and its allies against Islamic State's oil facilities as well as falling oil prices and the group's own need for refined oil products had "significantly diminished" its revenues.

FATF said there was a "need to better identify the origin, middlemen, buyers, carriers, traders and routes through which oil produced in (Islamic State)-held territory is trafficked."

Further details of the report are expected to be published on the task force's web site http://www.fatf-gafi.org/

Saudi Arabia: 6,000 twitter accounts ‘are threatening security’

A number of accounts on social networking websites are spreading false information in an attempt to destabilize Saudi society.

Lt. Abdulaziz Alhowaireny, director general of Investigation, made these remarks at the opening speech of the two-day conference on “Security and Media” organized by the Naif Academy for National Security.

The academy works to identify and address security risks facing citizens, as well as bridging the gap between the media, society, and security institutions.

The security spokesman at the Interior Ministry, Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, urged media institutions to prioritize public interest over their own private interests, and contribute to spreading awareness on these matters.

Al-Turki said media coverage should be accurate and clear to all, noting that absolute media freedom does not exist in any country, as every newspaper is influenced by political orientations.

Abdel Moneim Al-Mushawah, head of Al-Sakina Campaign, said some accounts have been trying to divide Saudi society for the past 10 years, but have failed so far.

However, over 6,000 accounts on Twitter are trying to destabilize Saudi society, while another 4,000 accounts are re-tweeting their posts, Hussein Al-Qahtani, faculty member at Naif Academy, said during the conference.

Source:  arabnews

Turkey to support Iraqi Forces in Mosul operation "Without freeing Mosul, we can’t say IS has been weakened"

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says that without the liberation of Mosul, it cannot be claimed that Islamic State (IS) has been weakened.

Davutoglu met with Iraqi Vice President Osama al-Nujeifi and his delegates in Ankara on Wednesday.

He expressed his concern about the security situation in Iraq. He said that since IS insurgents took control of Mosul, it has changed from a mafia to something far more powerful and dangerous.

Davutoglu pledged to provide whatever aid Iraq and its army need to liberate Mosul from the grip of IS militants.

Turkey supports the formation of an inclusive, representative Iraqi army, which it would provide with military aid.

Vice President al-Nujeifi said that IS is not only a threat to Iraq, but to all countries in the region. He asked Turkey to support the Iraqi army with training and weapons.

On Wednesday, Turkey’s ambassador to Iraq, Farouq Qaimagja met Sayyid Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq in Baghdad.

Qaimagja said that IS militants have nothing in common with Islamic doctrine.

Source: BasNews

UNESCO calls for emergency meeting following ISIS artifacts video

The head of the United Nations' cultural agency on Thursday demanded an emergency meeting of the world body's Security Council following the mass destruction by jihadists of ancient artifacts in Iraq.

"This attack is far more than a cultural tragedy — this is also a security issue as it fuels sectarianism, violent extremism and conflict in Iraq," UNESCO chief Irina Bokova said in a statement.

"This is why I have immediately seized the President of the Security Council to ask him to convene an emergency meeting of the Security Council on the protection of Iraq's cultural heritage as an integral element for the country's security," she said.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group on Thursday released a video in which its militants were seen smashing ancient statues and attacking artifacts — some of them identified as antiquities from the 7th century BC — to pieces with sledgehammers in the main museum in Mosul, saying they were symbols of idolatry.

They were also shown using a jackhammer to deface a large Assyrian winged bull at a huge archeological site also in Mosul, their biggest hub and Iraq's second city,

Bokova pointed out that some of the statues destroyed in the video were from the ancient city of Hatra, a UNESCO world heritage site which lies around 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Mosul.

She also said the destruction was a violation of the UN Security Council's resolution 2199, which was adopted earlier this month in a bid to curb trafficking of looted antiquities from Iraq and Syria, which is considered a key source of funding for ISIS.

In September, officials said that ISIS militants were using intermediaries to sell priceless treasures, such as ancient Iraqi artifacts, on the black market to finance their activities.

The militants gained some experience of dealing in antiquities after taking control of large parts of Syria, but when they captured the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and the Nineveh province in June, they gained access to almost 2,000 of Iraq's 12,000 registered archaeological sites.

Archaeologists and heritage experts have described the destruction as a catastrophe and compared the 2001 dynamiting by the Taliban of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan.

Lamia al-Gailani, an Iraqi archaeologist and associate fellow at the London-based Institute of Archaeology, said the militants had wreaked untold damage. "It's not only Iraq's heritage: it's the whole world's," she said.
"They are priceless, unique. It's unbelievable. I don't want to be Iraqi any more."

Thomas Campbell, the director of New York's famed Metropolitan Museum of Art condemned the "act of catastrophic destruction to one of the most important museums in the Middle East."

"This mindless attack on great art, on history, and on human understanding constitutes a tragic assault not only on the Mosul Museum, but on our universal commitment to use art to unite people and promote human understanding," he said in a statement.

"Such wanton brutality must stop, before all vestiges of the ancient world are obliterated."

The director of UNESCO's Iraq office, Axel Plathe, would not comment on the content of the video, saying it has yet to be verified. But he described the damage to Iraq's heritage since ISIS overran Mosul last year as an attempt "to destroy the identity of an entire people."

Plathe said UNESCO was working with Iraqi authorities and governments of neighboring countries to crack down on the smuggling of artifacts from areas under ISIS control, and had alerted auction houses to be on the lookout for stolen items.

ISIS espouses a strict Salafist interpretation of Islam, deeming many other Muslims to be heretics. Its fighters have destroyed Shia and Sufi religious sites and attacked churches, tombs and shrines and burned precious manuscripts and archives in the parts of Syria and Iraq under their control.

"Muslims, these relics you see behind me are idols that were worshiped other than God in the past centuries," the unidentified man in the ISIS video said.

"What is known as Assyrians, Akkadians and others used to worship gods of rain, farming and war other than God and pay all sorts of tributes to them."

Iraq's heritage already suffered a major blow in the lawlessness and looting that followed the toppling of President Saddam Hussein by US-led forces in 2003, when looters torched buildings and ran off with treasures thousands of years old.

Last week, ISIS released another video showing a pile of books in flames.

An employee of the Mosul museum said he feared these books were manuscripts from the library of endowments, although the library itself was still in tact last week.

In early December, Bokova called for “protected cultural zone” in both Iraq and Syria, stressing the importance of cooperating with local actors and setting the Syrian city of Aleppo as a start point.

Source:  al-akhbar

Iraq: christian militia formed to fight off Islamic State

Villagers have not returned yet to the Christian village of Telleskof since it was cleaned of Islamic radicals, even though an armed Christian militia is there in force to protect them.

The Nineveh Plain Force (NPF) is one of the homegrown fighting groups that have sprung up to fight the extremist Muslim group ISIS, or Daesh as it is called locally.

“Daesh is near. They are only 2 kilometers away. They shoot at us every day,” said Safa’a Elias, 38, who leads the NPF in his home village of Telleskof. Elias helped recapture the town from ISIS last year, after two months of occupation.

Since August, ISIS has occupied most of the Nineveh Plains, the area between the ISIS stronghold Mosul and territory controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government. The area is home to Christians, Arabs and other minorities. The Kurdish Peshmerga has worked with the NPF to push back the jihadists.

During their stay in Telleskof, ISIS looted houses and shops. Four kilometers away in the next village, Batnaya, the militants took over local homes and used them as bases.

Months after ISIS was evicted, Telleskof is still empty. Civilians say they don’t dare to return with ISIS so near.
A car drives past with furniture stacked up high on the roof. Civilians come, take with they need, and leave again – even though thousands of refugees wait impatiently in temporary housing in Iraqi Kurdistan for the chance to return home.

Only the military is present and mans the checkpoints. Occasionally, a shot rings out. A pothole in the road is a reminder of a grenade explosion.

“I call on all Christians in Iraq to come and help us. This is a struggle on life and death. Daesh has destroyed more Christian places than any of the others,” Elias said.

In fact, he was only partly correct. Recently discovered mass graves in the Yezidi region of Shingal are evidence of the minority group’s huge suffering at the hands of ISIS. Thousands of Yezidis are still missing.

Like the Christians, Yezidi’s have also set up their own militias. One is supported and trained by the Kurdistan region, the other by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The groups played a major role in pushing ISIS back from the Yezidi region.

The main militias in Iraq are Shiite, some of them revived after a call to arms against ISIS when with the group overran Mosul in June last year and the Iraqi army proved unable to stop the radicals.

The main militias are connected to Iran, like the Badr Brigade, led by Iraqi Shiites who trained in Iran and returned to Iraq after 2003, and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which works with the Iranian Al Quds brigade.

The total number of Shiite militiamen in Iraq is thought to be around 800,000, a bigger group than the Iraqi Army.

The Nineveh Plain Force counts only about 150 men, but a newly graduated group of around 500 fighters will soon join Elias and his men. Even though the militia cannot pay any salaries, new volunteers come forward every day. As Elias said proudly, “Just since yesterday eight more signed on.”

The sound of a plane high in the sky shatters the silence. Every afternoon around 3pm, the coalition comes to take a look, according to Elias, who searches the bright sky for the plane.

“And afterwards they come back to hit Daesh,” he said.

A bit further down the road towards the border with ISIS, a unit of the Kurdish Peshmerga is situated, led by 45-year-old General Tarik Sulaiman. He said his men came under fire earlier that day.

“Daesh always starts, shooting mortars at us daily. Then we phone the coalition to come and bomb them,” he said.

In the room full of Peshmerga fighters, sweet coffee is being served. A general in civilian Kurdish clothes comes by to chat and exchange the latest news.

Sulaiman explains why the peshmerga is working with the NPF, and trains its fighters: “We have the same goal. To fight Daesh, so the civilians can return home.”

Not everyone thinks the Assyrian initiative to form a militia is helpful for the Christian community of Iraq. The Chaldean Patriarch Louis Seko has warned that although Christians should be able to defend themselves, the forming of militias could eventually destroy the country. Christians became victims of the fighting between Shiite and Sunni militias in Baghdad after the American invasion of 2003.

Still, many people support the Kurdish authorities’ initiative to train minorities in order to form special units within the Peshmerga that can protect their own areas.

A major issue still to be resolved is the fact that many Arabs living in villages next to Christians have worked with ISIS – and this is preventing Christians from returning home.

Elias stresses that his problems are not with any religion.

“We know who worked with Daesh. Not all Muslims did. Most of them are like our brothers – we have nothing against them at all. But we will kill all Daesh, definitely.”

Source:  rudaw.net

Turkish ‘permissiveness’ aiding IS jihadists, US spy chief says

James Clapper tells Senate committee that stopping the flow of foreign fighters into Syria is not a priority for Ankara

Turkey does not place a high priority on fighting Islamic State jihadists and as a result foreign fighters are able to travel through the country into Syria, US intelligence chief James Clapper said Thursday.

When asked, Clapper told senators he wasn’t optimistic Turkey would take a more active role in the war against the IS group.

“I think Turkey has other priorities and other interests,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Turkish government was more concerned with Kurdish opposition and the country’s economy, the director of national intelligence said.

“Public opinion polls show in Turkey they don’t see ISIL as a primary threat,” said Clapper, using an alternative acronym for the extremists.

The effect of Turkey’s approach was to allow a “permissive” climate for foreign recruits heading to Syria to take arms for the IS group, he said.

“And of course, the consequence of that is a permissive environment… because of their laws and the ability of people to travel through Turkey en route to Syria,” Clapper said.

“So somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 percent of those foreign fighters find their way to Syria through Turkey.”

The spy chief said some other governments in the Middle East have been reluctant to join the US-led coalition against the IS group because of Washington’s reluctance to directly confront the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But the “brutal savagery” of the IS militants, including the beheadings of hostages and the immolation of a captured Jordanian fighter pilot, “have had a galvanizing effect on opinion in the Mideast region,” he said.

There was more willingness to cooperate with the United States in the war effort, with some Arab countries now sharing intelligence with Washington, he said.

The spy chief acknowledged that the United States faced intelligence “gaps” in Syria, as Washington had no embassy or any major presence on the ground.

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the Islamic State group was struggling to find the money to pay for electrical power and other services, Clapper added.

“They do not have enough financial wherewithal to provide the services, municipal services that are required to run a city of a million people,” he continued.

“We’re seeing signs of electricity outages, shortages of food and commodities.”

There were signs the IS group was resorting to conscription to fill their ranks after having suffered heavy losses on the battlefield, especially in the Syrian border town of Kobane where large numbers of jihadists were killed in US-led airstrikes, he said.

“At least” 3,000 IS fighters were killed in Kobane, stated Clapper.

Source: ToI

Shabaab: mortar attack kills guard at Somali president’s palace

Insurgents in Somalia’s capital fired a barrage of mortar rounds on Thursday targeting the highly fortified presidential palace and main government compound, killing a guard, security officials said.

“At least four rounds of mortar shells struck the parking area and a guard was killed in the attack,” security official Abdirahman Mohamed said.

Witness Mohamud Hassan said several cars parked in the area were damaged.

“Shrapnel destroyed the windows of several cars in the parking area, and I saw one person who was lightly injured,” Hassan said.

Al-Shabab claimed the responsibility for the shelling, according the group’s radio station, Andulus.

There was no immediate word if Thursday’s attack caused any casualties or damage. The area was sealed off by security forces and journalists could not approach Captain Mohamed Hussein says that two more mortars struck a residential area near the state house which houses Somali president, prime minister and speaker of the parliament.  

Al Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab rebels have staged a string of attacks in their fight to overthrow the country’s internationally-backed government.

However, other militia forces operate in Mogadishu, and the parliament is often riven by intense political power struggles.

Last week two Shabaab suicide bombers killed at least 25 people when they attacked major hotel close to the presidential palace and popular with top government officials. 

The extremists say they are targeting the government and lawmakers as they allowed the deployment of foreign troops on Somali soil.

Source:  gulftoday.ae

Somalia's al Shabaab militants said they carried out a mortar attack on the presidential palace in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The al Qaeda-affiliated group was pushed out of Mogadishu by African peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has waged a series of gun and grenade attacks to try to overthrow the government and impose its strict version of sharia law.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000153079&story_title=Kenya-al-shabaab-admit-to-firing-mortars-at-somalia-presidential-palace

Somalia's al Shabaab militants said they carried out a mortar attack on the presidential palace in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The al Qaeda-affiliated group was pushed out of Mogadishu by African peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has waged a series of gun and grenade attacks to try to overthrow the government and impose its strict version of sharia law.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000153079&story_title=Kenya-al-shabaab-admit-to-firing-mortars-at-somalia-presidential-palace

Niger: Canadian special forces withdraw after Boko Haram attacks

Canadian special forces participating in military training in southeast Niger, near the border with Nigeria, were ordered to withdraw recently to avoid battling with Boko Haram Islamists, the military said Thursday.

The troops had been posted to the town of Diffa, where the government of Niger declared a state of emergency on February 11 following attacks in the region that borders Boko Haram’s stronghold in northeast Nigeria.

The Canadians are participating in US-sponsored counterterrorism training that started on February 16 and is due to wrap up on March 9.

The annual program has 1,300 troops from 19 countries training militaries in five African countries in shooting, movement, communications, and mission planning.

Dominique Tessier from Canada’s defense department did not say how many Canadians were at risk of confrontation with Boko Haram, but noted in an email to AFP that “several members” were relocated from Diffa to other areas such as Agadez and Niamey in Niger and N’Djamena in Chad “due to security issues.”

“This was seen as a prudent measure given the current security situation in the region,” Tessier said, adding the exercise continues.

“Recent events in Niger involving Boko Haram do highlight training such as this to help collective efforts against violent extremist organizations.”

The Canadian special forces also stand ready to provide humanitarian or other assistance, should Ottawa decide to offer help, Tessier said.

Source:  punchng

Libya needs international maritime force to help stop illicit oil, weapons -UN experts

Libyan authorities are unable to halt the illicit trade in oil or the flow of weapons in and out of the country, and they need an international maritime force to help, United Nations sanctions monitors said in a new report.

The confidential report by the U.N. Security Council’s Panel of Experts on Libya, first seen by Reuters on Thursday, will likely increase pressure on major world powers to consider intervention to stop the North African state from spinning further out of control.

“The capacity of Libya to physically prevent (arms) transfers is almost nonexistent and there is no authorization to enforce the arms embargo on the high seas or in the air as there were during the 2011 revolution,” the panel wrote in the report.

The 15-nation Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Libya in 2011 to stop delivery of weapons to the government of former leader Muammar Gaddafi during his crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations. Under the embargo, the government can import munitions with approval of a council committee.

“The absence of universal enforcement of the embargo, the very high demand for (arms) materiel and the resources and support available to fighting parties to procure materiel indicate that continuing large scale illicit trafficking is inevitable,” the report said.

The panel urged the Security Council to form an international maritime force “to assist the Libyan government in securing its territorial waters to prevent the entry into and exit from Libya of arms … the illicit export of crude oil and its derivatives and other natural resources.”

The Libyan Mission to the United Nations was not immediately available to comment on the report. Reuters could not independently verify the allegations in the report.

Earlier this month, Libya and Egypt asked the United Nations Security Council to lift the arms embargo on Libya, impose a naval blockade on areas not under government control and help build Libya’s army to tackle Islamic State and other militants.

Libya has descended into factional fighting, leaving it almost lawless nearly four years after the fall and death of Gaddafi. Two competing governments backed by militia brigades are vying for control of the oil-producing OPEC member, and U.N.-brokered talks between them have been unsuccessful.

The panel said that U.N. exemptions aimed at enabling Libyan authorities to buy munitions to establish law and order have helped militias develop considerable arsenals.

One example cited in the report involved the council’s 2013 approval for Belarus to export 3,000 tons of ammunition to Libya.

The panel wrote that in February 2014 much of the first shipment from Belarus was not only “diverted upon arrival at Tripoli airport by brigades controlling it, but some of the deliveries appear to have been made directly to autonomous armed groups.”

There were 15 other flights from Belarus. “This raises the possibility that further shipments may have been diverted by the Zintani brigades and the panel is still investigating,” it said.

Between the revolution and August 2014, Tripoli airport was controlled by fighters from the town of Zintan, who are loosely allied with the official prime minister and the elected parliament of Libya.

The panel wrote that in March 2014 a shipment of 23 assault rifles, 70 handguns and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition for the European Union Border Assistance Mission in Libya went missing at Tripoli airport.

The panel said arms proliferation from Libya to Egypt and the Sahel remained “significant,” though transfers of weapons to Syria appeared to have declined.

“Libya is a preeminent source of arms used in criminal and terrorist activities in Egypt,” the panel said in the report. “Transfers of the arms to Gaza through Egypt are also continuing.”

Egypt conducted air strikes on militant targets in Libya last week after Islamic State released a video purportedly showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.

The panel also said the illicit export of crude oil and oil products was providing “funding to the ongoing conflict.”

A year ago the Security Council authorized states to board ships suspected of carrying oil from Libyan rebel-held ports and allowed the Libyan government to request that vessels carrying the oil be blacklisted by the council’s sanctions committee.

“No vessels were designated despite the export of crude oil from ports that are not under the control of the Libyan government,” the report said.

Source:  libyanewstoday

Iran tests ‘combat robot with machine gun’ at massive drills

Iran has reportedly tested an armed robot during the massive war games currently underway in the country. Pictures shown by the local news outlets showed a tracked mobile turret armed with a machine gun.

The combat robot was tested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the Prophet Mohammed-9 exercise in the Jask region.
 
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the robot is equipped with a 7.62 mm caliber machine gun as well as optical and thermal cameras, allowing operation in night conditions. It is said to have an operational range of 5 to 7 kilometers.

The second day of the IRGC exercises give the Iranian military a chance to test in the field other new weapons, including RPH reconnaissance drone, Jamarat short-range missile, 23mm Gatling gun Asef and Siyavash sniper rifle, the media reported.

Earlier the revolutionary guard's naval forces destroyed a mock US aircraft carrier in a gunboat mosquito fleet attack.

 The war games that started Wednesday are to last for three days. General Mohammad Ali Jafari said the drills send a "message of [Iran's] might" to "extraterritorial powers," a veiled reference to the United States.

Iran regularly carries out naval war games in the region. Tehran is keen to assert its influence within the Persian Gulf given the latter’s economic and political importance.

Tehran has often said that it is prepared to block the Strait of Hormuz if it ever came under military attack.

In December, Iran conducted six days of drills in the Strait of Hormuz in which it tested warships and submarines, while also testing a suicide drone able to hit aerial and ground targets, as well as ships.

The drone, which is known as Yasir, is equipped with state-of-art, light cameras for reconnaissance. It can fly for eight hours with a range of 200km and reach an altitude of 4,500 meters.

Egypt’s options to fight terror: differences on countering terrorism

The US-hosted Conference on Countering Violent Extremism that brought together the representatives of 60 nations in Washington last week did not go as Egypt’s representatives had expected.

Fresh from waging air strikes in Libya to punish Islamic State (IS) forces for slaughtering 20 Egyptian Copts, the country had been hoping for an international alliance to act on Libya.

At the very least, they expected that the international coalition operating in Syria and Iraq would include Libya on its agenda, but this was not announced at the conference.

The conference did not give birth to a global strategy on terror and served instead to underline differences between various points of view, especially those of Cairo and Washington.

According to Alaa Ezzeddin, director of the Strategic Studies Centre, an affiliate of the Egyptian military, Egypt has made it clear to other nations that it will strike at reservoirs of terrorism whether these are inside or outside the country.

Speaking at the last week’s conference, US Secretary of State John Kerry told participants that the West “is not in a war against Islam” and that terrorist groups do not act in the name of the world’s one billion Muslims.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that Muslims are more often than not the victims of extremism. The Jordanian foreign minister told the conference that the current confrontation with terrorist groups should be viewed as “World War Three.”

Saudi Arabia called for drying up the sources of terror through concerted global action. The UAE called for partnership with the US to confront the IS propaganda war.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri said that the terrorism seen today has its roots in the Islamist radicalism of the 1920s, a possible reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which was formed in this period.

Egypt’s ambassador to Washington, Mohamed Tawfik explained Egypt’s point of view and voiced the hope that the international coalition against IS would pay more attention to the situation in Libya.

Gamal Abdel-Gawad, a political science professor at the American University in Cairo who followed the conference, sees a clear divergence in views between Egypt and the US.

“The US still sees political Islam as a present and legitimate player, not a synonym for extremism,” Abdel-Gawad said. “The US administration also differentiates between extremist Islamists and moderate Islamists and believes that the moderates can be effectively integrated in politics as part of an acceptable political system.”

According to Abdel-Gawad, “US officials believe that the integration of political Islam currents, including those suspected of extremism, in political life would be beneficial.”

Egypt, whose government has labelled the Muslim Brotherhood a terror group, disagrees.
Countries in Europe are starting to appreciate the Egyptian point of view, Abdel-Gawad said. Even in the US, differences exist over the best way to deal with terror.

In a speech to the nation on Sunday, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi reiterated the importance of Egyptian-US strategic ties. But the future of these ties depends on US perceptions of how the Egyptian government is acting on domestic issues, Abdel-Gawad said.

If Egypt can maintain stability and produce a political system of an inclusive nature, the Americans may come round to Cairo’s point of view.

Meanwhile, the Brotherhood is doing all it can to destabilise the country, in order to boost its argument that its exclusion from power is the reason for the instability.

Kamal Al-Helbawi, a former leader of the Brotherhood’s international organisation, believes the Americans are hedging their bets. Speaking to the Weekly, Al-Helbawi said the US position, stated in the national security document released a few weeks ago, calls for continued talks with both the government and opposition in Egypt.

“Washington is dealing with the government and the opposition at the same time, according to a strategy of keeping options open and seeking to manipulate the contradictions in the region,” Al-Helbawi said.

“The moderate Islamism Washington is talking about is the one it wishes to create, not the one it ascribes to the Brotherhood or other so-called moderates. This at the end of the day could lead to further turbulence in the region,” he added.

For now, Egypt’s best option is to turn to its Arab partners for help. Its diplomats will try either to dust off the Arab Joint Defence Agreement, or form a coalition with other nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Jordan, Ezzeddin said.

Abdel-Khaleq Al-Abdallah, a political adviser to the Abu Dhabi heir apparent, believes that Egypt will put together an Arab alliance to deal with terrorism. “After all, this issue is of more concern to the Arabs than any other people,” he said.

Along with the military response Egypt has shown itself capable of, Cairo is also pursuing diplomatic efforts. It is talking to Russian diplomats in Syria about a possible political deal, and engaging Libyan civil currents in talks to explore a possible end to the turmoil across its western borders.

With or without help from the West, Cairo has a strategy on terror, various regional allies and a multi-faceted plan of action.

Source:  ahram.org

Libya: Haftar must be supported to lead fight against ISIS

The growing influence of ISIS in Libya in recent months, culminating in the recent beheading of 21 Egyptians and a decision by Cairo to use its air force in strikes against the militants, shows just how far the North African nation has slipped towards an abyss of chaos.

The internationally recognised government, based now in internal exile in Tobruk, is proposing that General Khalifa Haftar take the reins as the overall commander of its forces in an attempt to turn back the tide against militant factions that have divided the country since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The decision to turn to Haftar shows the increasing influence of military figures in the official government and parliament, which has been forced to operate from eastern Libya since the Libya Dawn militia seized Tripoli last summer.

In the chaos, Haftar has emerged as the only military leader capable of combating the factions in the east and has become an essential pillar in ensuring that the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Al Thinni maintains its legitimacy.

Under normal circumstances, supporting a military strongman would not be a natural first step, considering that the very intent of the anti-Gaddafi rebels then was to oust such a leader.

But recent events in Libya show that these are not normal times.

There is little choice but to allow Haftar to pursue his military campaign from a position of full authority.

Source: gulfnews

Syrian Christian leader urges airstrikes against ISIS in northeast

A Christian leader in northeastern Syria urged U.S.-led air strikes to help repel an attack by Islamic State militants on villages where they are estimated to have abducted at least 220 Assyrian Christians this week.

Ablahd Kourieh, an Assyrian Christian who is deputy head of a Kurdish-led defence council in northeastern Syria and an official in an Assyrian political party, put the number of Christians abducted by Islamic State at between 350 and 400.

Speaking to Reuters by Skype from the area, he urged the U.S.-led alliance to bomb Islamic State's positions in areas near the town of Tel Tamr in Hasaka province, where he said the group had attacked 16 Assyrian villages this week.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, has put the number abducted at at least 220.

"We call for bombardment of the terrorists' positions there, and the provision of quality weapons," said Kourieh, who is also an official in the Syriac Union Party.

"Our message to the alliance is to be sincere in their promises. Today is the third day of this attack ... and we haven't seen a single coalition airplane bomb the area," said Kourieh, who is also a member of the Assyrian defence council that was formed in 2011 and is part of the Kurdish-led YPG militia.

The country’s largest Muslim organization, Nadhlatul Ulama (NU), revealed that more than 500 Indonesian citizens had joined the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria without the relevant authorities taking any preventive measures.
“At least 514,” kompas.com quoted NU Chairman Said Aqil Siraj as saying after a meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the State Palace on Thursday.
He said the President had not commented on the increasing number of Indonesian citizens joining IS.
An intelligence report revealed recently that IS teachings had been spreading and recruitment to the organization had been conducted underground in many regions of the country, including West Java, following the government’s official ban of IS teachings in the country.
The government has threatened to criminalize those joining IS and revoke their nationality.
Aqil said the President had asked the NU to help fight radicalism in the country.
He said, however, most Islamic countries had urged Indonesia to be in the front row in the fight against IS, the influence of which is spreading more rapidly in the Middle East.
“Islamic countries have asked the President to bring Indonesia to the frontline in the fight against IS and radicalism. IS has more effectively damaged Islam than non-Muslims,” he said.
- See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/26/over-500-indonesians-join-is.html#sthash.x6UKlRdS.dpuf

The country’s largest Muslim organization, Nadhlatul Ulama (NU), revealed that more than 500 Indonesian citizens had joined the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria without the relevant authorities taking any preventive measures.
“At least 514,” kompas.com quoted NU Chairman Said Aqil Siraj as saying after a meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the State Palace on Thursday.
He said the President had not commented on the increasing number of Indonesian citizens joining IS.
An intelligence report revealed recently that IS teachings had been spreading and recruitment to the organization had been conducted underground in many regions of the country, including West Java, following the government’s official ban of IS teachings in the country.
The government has threatened to criminalize those joining IS and revoke their nationality.
Aqil said the President had asked the NU to help fight radicalism in the country.
He said, however, most Islamic countries had urged Indonesia to be in the front row in the fight against IS, the influence of which is spreading more rapidly in the Middle East.
“Islamic countries have asked the President to bring Indonesia to the frontline in the fight against IS and radicalism. IS has more effectively damaged Islam than non-Muslims,” he said.
- See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/26/over-500-indonesians-join-is.html#sthash.x6UKlRdS.dpuf

The country’s largest Muslim organization, Nadhlatul Ulama (NU), revealed that more than 500 Indonesian citizens had joined the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria without the relevant authorities taking any preventive measures.
“At least 514,” kompas.com quoted NU Chairman Said Aqil Siraj as saying after a meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the State Palace on Thursday.
He said the President had not commented on the increasing number of Indonesian citizens joining IS.
An intelligence report revealed recently that IS teachings had been spreading and recruitment to the organization had been conducted underground in many regions of the country, including West Java, following the government’s official ban of IS teachings in the country.
The government has threatened to criminalize those joining IS and revoke their nationality.
Aqil said the President had asked the NU to help fight radicalism in the country.
He said, however, most Islamic countries had urged Indonesia to be in the front row in the fight against IS, the influence of which is spreading more rapidly in the Middle East.
“Islamic countries have asked the President to bring Indonesia to the frontline in the fight against IS and radicalism. IS has more effectively damaged Islam than non-Muslims,” he said.
- See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/26/over-500-indonesians-join-is.html#sthash.x6UKlRdS.dpuf

UN holds “Urgent Consultations” with Libya warring factions

The UN mission in Libya said on Wednesday it held urgent consultations with rival factions aimed at resuming a political dialogue after the internationally-recognized parliament suspended its participation.

"The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) is undertaking a series of urgent consultations with the parties to ensure the convening of the next round of talks soon," a statement said.

It appealed to "all parties not to allow this window of opportunity to slip away," while calling on them to "renew their commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Libyan crisis."

Among the priorities was the urgent need to reach an agreement on a "strong and independent government," said UNSMIL.

Other priorities included "combatting terrorism," which threatened the political process and the "security and stability of the country and the region."

On Monday, Libya's internationally-recognized parliament suspended its participation, saying it would issue a statement later giving the reasons for the decision which came after recent attacks in al-Qubbah.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) said it was behind suicide car bombings that killed 40 people in the eastern town on February 20.

A parliamentarian, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision to pull out of talks was taken over fears that the international community would exert pressure to include Islamists in a future unity government.

Almost four years after a NATO-backed war ended Muammar Gaddafi's one-man rule, Libya has descended into chaos with the internationally-recognized government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani forced to flee to the country's east and militias in control of Tripoli and other main cities since August.

Since launching efforts at dialogue in September, UN envoy Bernardino Leon has been unable to bring together leading players from the rival camps.

The United Nations had invited the elected parliament and its Tripoli rival, the Islamist-dominated General National Congress (GNC), to the new round of talks on Thursday in Morocco.

On February 11, Leon met separately with officials from both sides in the southern Libyan oasis town of Ghadames — the first between the two bodies since a national dialogue was launched last September.
The UN envoy called the indirect talks "positive and constructive," despite not managing to sit the rivals round the same table.

Analysts believe efforts to bridge the gap will fail so long as the rival armed factions — led by General Khalifa Haftar for the elected government and Fajr Libya (Libyan Dawn) for the GNC — do not talk face to face.

Amid the chaos, a number of Islamist militant groups have been active in Libya. A few have declared ties to ISIS and claimed high-profile attacks over recent weeks in what appears to be an intensifying campaign.

Source:  al-akhbar

Dozens of suspected Islamist militants killed in Egypt's North Sinai

Egypt's military killed dozens of suspected Islamist militants in an operation in Sinai, security sources said on Wednesday, while state media reported the kidnapping of a businessman in the region.

Apache helicopter gunships killed 18 suspected militants after they destroyed four vans in North Sinai, security sources in the remote but strategic region said.

Twenty were killed when the military bombed a residence, a school and a youth centre where the suspected militants were gathering near the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid, the sources said. Twenty-eight militants were wounded, they said. Another security source in Cairo said the military launched an operation in North Sinai that had left "scores" dead.

The military was not immediately available for comment.

Egypt's state news agency, MENA, also said that unidentified gunmen kidnapped the local director of a water distribution company from his home in Sheikh Zuweid.

North Sinai is the epicentre of an Islamist militant insurgency that has killed hundreds of police and soldiers since then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

The militant group Sinai Province claimed attacks that killed at least 30 security personnel in late January, the worst anti-government violence in months.

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt's most active militant group, changed its name to Sinai Province last year after swearing allegiance to Islamic State, the hardline Sunni militant group that has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, drawing U.S.-led air strikes.

Most of the worst attacks have hit the Sinai peninsula, which borders the Gaza Strip, Israel, and Egypt's Suez Canal, but smaller-scale blasts and attacks have become increasingly common in cities.

Source:  aswatmasriya