The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is gearing up to provide security to ensure a peaceful vote during the upcoming electoral process in Somalia, its head Ambassador Francisco Madeira has announced.
AMISOM has already begun working with the Somali Government and its security forces to establish a technical security committee to oversee security arrangements for the August ballot, the Ambassador said.
“The commitment taken by Somali politicians and leaders is that the 2016 elections be viewed as another transition towards a full-fledged electoral process of one-person-one-vote by 2020. We are happy that they have all agreed on how to go about this,” observed Ambassador Madeira.
In a couple years the 2020 elections will be described as a transition to something else...
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the Commission (SRCC) made the remarks at a media luncheon held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, during which he updated journalists on the progress made by AMISOM forces and the Federal Government of Somalia towards stabilising the country.
Somalia is expected to hold elections before the end of the year, after political representatives struck a deal on the electoral model to be used to designate a new president and members of parliament.
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06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Something about "exercise" and "futility" comes to mind...
Kenya and the United Kingdom are set to scale up their cooperation in trade and the fight against terrorism.
Speaking on Friday during a meeting at State House, President Uhuru Kenyatta and British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond agreed on the need for the two countries to share counter-radicalisation strategies as a move to curb terrorism. At the meeting that centred on Kenya and UK’s cooperation in defence, security and commercial partnership, Uhuru said a consolidated approach in the fight against terrorism was key to ending the scourge.
The British Foreign Secretary said the UK government is keen to take its bilateral relations with Kenya to a new level of cooperation for the benefit of the people of the two countries. He disclosed the UK’s plans to enhance cooperation with Kenya, singling out defence and energy generation as priority areas.
“We would like to see our defence cooperation moving forward and have annual joint military trainings,” Mr. Hammond said.
On energy, Hammond – who was accompanied by British High Commissioner to Kenya Nic Hailey – said British companies have a strong appetite to invest renewable energy in Kenya.
“Kenya has a huge potential for generation of renewable energy. With the right investment, Kenya could become a net exporter of energy,” the Foreign Secretary said.
Last month, Kenya signed a pact with the UK that gave Kenyan companies access to Sh36 billion of the UK Export Finance (UKEF) funding. The signed MoU also promotes opportunities for UK private sector trade and investment in Kenya’s renewable energy sector.
Uhuru welcomed the injection of capital, saying cooperation should be extended to private public partnership for rapid results.
The President and the Foreign Secretary also discussed the situation in Somalia. Uhuru called for increased international support to stabilise the Horn of African nation that has not known peace for over two decades. He said Kenya will not feel safe until peace and stability is restored in Somalia.
“More resources are required to crush the al Shabaab and strengthen the Somali National Army before the AMISOM troops can withdraw,” Uhuru said.
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06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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The head of the African Union’s peacekeeping mission in Somalia said Friday his operations against al-Shabaab militants have been hit by European Union funding cuts. Speaking in the Kenyan capital, Francisco Caetano Jose Madeira said the AU is now seeking aid from Gulf countries.
Good luck with that...
Madeira — who was addressing a news conference — told reporters that Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia had also agreed to contribute helicopters to African Union forces to aid it in fighting Somali-based al-Shabaab militants.
Officials had “undertaken a trip to the Gulf countries to sensitize those countries on the need to support the African Union Mission in Somalia [AMISOM],” Madeira said.
Madeira’s remarks comes as Turkey’s president is in Somalia where he today opened a new embassy and said his country plans to open a military training center in the capital, Mogadishu. Recep Tayyip Erdogan was speaking after an earlier meeting with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta where the Turkish leader said Ankara would help in stabilizing Somalia.
I think the Turks are going to be busy, but if Erdogan could contribute some military units there to work with the AU -- helicopters and ground support for those, as one example -- it could swing things way in favor of the AU units.
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06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] The Libyan army is now pulling itself into an effective fighting force that can defeat the so-called Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , Presidency Council head Faiez Serraj has said. Misratan-led units were cooperating with members of the Petroleum Facilities Guard from Ajdabiya, he has pointed out, and are moving towards Sirte from either side.
"We are sure that the battle and the eradication of Islamic State will be carried out by Libyans," he told Rooters in his second major interview in less than a week. "I think that what was achieved from Ajdabiya to Sirte and from Misrata to Sirte was a good achievement, given the capabilities that the fighters have."
Furthermore, he added, no one would be excluded from being part of the Libyan army, so long as they accepted the authority of the central government ‐ meaning his government of National Accord.
Serraj also divulged that, so far, his administration had taken no decisions about who would head the Central Bank of Libya, the National Oil Corporation or the Libyan Investment Authority. Instead the aim at present was, as with the army, to unite the rival parallel institutions in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... and Beida in order to restart oil production and rebuild the economy.
It was up to the Libyans, too, to deal with the migrant crisis, he said, but the problem also needed to be addressed in the migrants colonists’ home countries.
The emphasis on security, national reconciliation and the economy was much the same as in a far longer interview with the Saudi daily Okaz published on Monday, although in it he added another top priority: getting displaced Libyans home.
In the interview, Serraj also rejected suggestions that the Presidency Council was a tool of the Americans, disclosed that he did not fear being assassinated, and that despite the problems that he was optimistic about the future of Libya.
In relations to those problems, he said that he had tried to reach out to House of Representatives’ president Ageela Saleh but that although the two had spoken on the phone when both were in Cairo, Saleh had refused to meet him. As to their relationship, he had no personal issues with Saleh, he said, but he had to hold a session of the HoR to approve the GNA.
There were problems with Khalifa Hafter as well, he admitted. He had made it clear in his talks with the general in January that the military leadership had to be under the Presidency Council. Subsequent attempts at direct communication with Hafter and his advisers had not worked, he intimated.
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06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] In an indication that Benghazi is far from united politically or militarily, Mahdi Barghathi, defence minister in the Government of National Accord (GNA), has rejected moves by the Beida-based government of Abdullah Al-Thinni to suppress the anti-terrorist and the security forces in the city.
Both support Barghathi.
Speaking at a presser in Benghazi today, Barghathi said that such decisions would only cause further dissension within the Libyan army.
Yesterday, Thinni’s internal minister Mohammed Al-Madani Al-Fakhri ordered the disbandment of the two forces commanded by Salah Abu Laghib and Faraj Ikgaim, both of whom back the GNA.
Bargathi also said that the creation of the "Defence Brigade of Benghazi" by former members of militias that were part of the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council was illegitimate and it would be viewed as yet another terrorist organization, especially given that it had given its allegiance to the controversial Sadek Al-Ghariani, Libya’s grand mufti in the eyes of supporters of the former Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... regime.
To those in the east opposed to him joining the GNA, Barghathi said his prime aim was to save the unity of the country. Libyans in east and west of the county, he added, had to accept one another if they wanted to avoid a civil war.
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06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] An Islamist party in Tunisia condemned an official ban on its scheduled annual congress on Saturday and accused the authorities of seeking a confrontation.
Hizbut Tahrir ...an al-Qaeda recruiting organization banned in most countries. It calls for the reestablishment of the Caliphate... , which was granted legal status in 2012, a year after Tunisia's revolution, was to hold the congress under the slogan of a "Caliphate to save the world" but it was banned by the interior ministry "for security reasons".
"They want to drag us into conflict with the security forces," party official Mohammed Yessine Smida told AFP.
"But our battle is purely political and we have no problem with the security forces," said Smida, whose party wants to establish a caliphate through non-violent means.
Interior Minister Hedi Majdoub, whose country was last year the target of jihadist attacks in Tunis and a beach resort that killed 60 people, said his ministry had the right to deny authorisation for "any event that could disturb public order".
Tunis governor Fakher Gafsi told Shems FM radio he feared "the state could have been targeted" by a congress of Hizbut Tahrir on the eve of the Moslem holy month of Ramadan.
"I think it's no coincidence that a congress of this kind was organised for two days before Ramadan... which for murderous Moslems is a time for slitting throats and killing," he said.
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[Al Ahram] Two major gangs in eastern Libya announced their support Saturday for the UN-backed national unity government as it struggles to establish its authority in the east of the country.
The Government of National Accord (GNA), established in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... more than two months ago, has been trying to unify violence-ridden Libya and exert its control over the entire North African country.
However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... it faces opposition from a competing authority based in the east which has its own armed forces -- militias and some units of the national army -- commanded by controversial General Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... Two major groups formerly loyal to Haftar, the special anti-terrorist force and a military intelligence brigade -- decided to throw their lot in with the GNA.
On Saturday, the commanders of the two units held a joint presser with GNA defence minister-designate Al-Mahdi al-Bargathi to announce their decision.
On the ground, meanwhile, forces loyal to the GNA said they had retaken an air base near the coastal city of Sirte, bastion of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) jihadist group.
The pro-government forces announced on Facebook they had "retaken control of Al-Gordabiya air base", 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Sirte, the hometown of the late dictator Moamer Qadaffy.
It said the GNA forces were able to take the complex with the backing of "five air raids against jihadists and their equipment".
GNA forces also announced the "liberation from the hands of ISIS" (an Arabic acronym for IS) of the town of Abu Hadi, 15 kilometres southeast of Sirte.
The unity government's forces and those of the rival authority in the east are currently engaged in a race to be the first to drive IS out of Sirte.
The international community believes this could jeopardise efforts to defeat IS, whose threat has grown since they established a foothold in Libya at the end of 2014.
On Tuesday, the UN's special envoy on Libya, Martin Kobler, had called on all the country's armed factions to unite against the jihadist group.
He said the rival administrations that have established themselves since the fall of Qadaffy in 2011 should "unite their efforts" into a single army.
Led by premier-designate Fayez al-Sarraj Fayez and internationally recognised, the GNA has already received the support of former authorities who controlled the capital and armed militias in the west.
The Libyan Central Bank and the State Oil Company have also rallied to his authority.
But the unity administration has yet to receive a vote of confidence in parliament, which remains linked to the former internationally recognised government also based in the east.
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06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The UN Security Council is seeking assurances from Libya's unity government that new weapons will not fall into the wrong hands before it can authorize the purchases, diplomats said Friday.
Britannia, Egypt, Italia, the United States and Russia were among 25 countries that agreed at a meeting last month to help the government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj arm itself to confront the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group.
The countries agreed to support a request to a UN sanctions committee for an exemption to the arms embargo on Libya to allow Sarraj's government to make the purchases.
The UN-backed government however has yet to present its request to the committee, a senior Security Council diplomat said.
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[Al Ahram] The French Defense Ministry has suspended five members of the country's forces in Central African Republic for violence against two of the citizens they were sent to protect.
Among the five are soldiers higher up in the military hierarchy "who assisted and failed to react to the violence," the ministry said on Saturday.
A statement said that four others who were aware of the acts but failed to report them were handed disciplinary sanctions.
The vague statement said neither when nor where the violent acts took place and didn't elaborate on them. No one was immediately available for comment.
The French mission to its former colony, sent in after sectarian violence erupted in late 2013, has been tarnished by allegations of sexual violence against children that are currently being investigated.
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06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[DailyMail] Three Minnesota men have been found guilty of plotting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... A federal jury in Minneapolis convicted 21-year-old Guled Ali Omar, 22-year-old Abdirahman Yasin Daud and 22-year-old Mohammed Abdihamid Farah of conspiracy to commit murder overseas on Friday, the most serious charge they faced. They now face possible life sentence in prison.
The three are among 10 young men accused in the conspiracy. Six have pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to support a foreign terrorist organization. A seventh, 22-year-old Abdi Nur, is on the lam, and believed to be in Syria.
Prosecutors built their case largely on recordings made by a friend of the men who became a paid informant. Testimony at trial showed he was paid roughly $119,000.
But defense attorneys argued that comments on the records were youthful bluster.
Prosecutors also argued that the trio had made 'exceptionally persistent efforts over a 14-month period' to join ISIS, reported Sky. They said that the trio knew they would be killing people once they arrived in Syria.
The young men were detained last April in San Diego, after they went with an FBI informant to buy fake passports.
Family and friends have protested what they call entrapment, and said most of the defendants were in their teens when they were caught up in the Islamic State's social media recruitment campaign.
Defense attorneys said that Farah's desire to leave the country was motivated by humanitarian aims.
Farah was one of four co-defendants stopped by FBI agents in New York as they were tried to board planes en route to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , according to the Star Tribune. Audio recordings also caught him defending an ISIS video that captured a Jordanian pilot being burned alive, as well as saying he would kill an FBI agent,
Daud was born in a refugee camp in Kenya and arrived in Minnesota aged 9. Last April, he was tossed in the calaboose Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! with Farah driving to Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, allegedly in an effort to obtain fake passports to travel to Mexico.
Omar is one of 13 siblings who, as a teen, led religious studies groups that included discussions about the Syrian civil war, according to the Tribune.
In 2007 his older brother left Minnesota to fight for Somali bad boy group al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... . While Omar himself had made two unsuccessful attempts to leave the U.S.
More than a dozen people have left Minnesota to join jihadist groups in Syria in recent years, said the FBI.
The Minnesota case was the third ISIS-related case to trial nationwide, according to CBS. It is unique because of the sheer number of people personally connected to each other, rather than being recruited online.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
instead on incurring the costs to fed and house these assholes, I suggest flying them to Syria like they wanted and dropping them from 20,000 feet.
Win-win for everyone
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/05/2016 10:29 Comments ||
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[DAWN] Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said that Pakistain has lost at least US$118 billion during the ongoing war on terror.
Addressing a post-budget presser, the minister maintained that despite constraints the "defence allocations have been increased".
Zarb-e-Azb ..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)... is entering its final round and its successful conclusion would help attract direct foreign investment.
Shedding light upon the 'salient features' of the budget, the minister said that significant reduction in the prices of fertilisers, decreasing Rs400 per bag, and the Rs300 reduction on DAP bags was aimed at benefiting the farmer and agricultural sector on the lam.
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06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain has turned down India's request seeking consular access to detained Indian spy Kulbushan Jadhav, who was placed in durance vile ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... by Pak forces earlier this year, it has been learnt.
"After due consideration, it has been decided not to grant consular access to Jadhav," a top security source told DawnNews.
The source said the decision was taken due to the arrested Indian Navy officer's involvement in "subversive activities" in Pakistain.
The security forces had arrested Jadhav from Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... in March and announced that he was 'a serving officer in the Indian Navy and deputed to the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).'
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06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] Local officials in the Fallujah region claimed that ISIS left the city 60 days ago and those fighting the Iraqi security forces are residents of the city who have no ties to ISIS but are terrified of the Shiite militia groups who have been caught on video torturing refugees who fled the city.
"It has been 60 days since ISIS has withdrawn from Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids... and the residents fear what [Shiite militia] Hashd al-Shaabi snuffies might do to them," Raad Sleman, a Sheikh from the tribes of Anbar, told Rudaw.
"We have informed the Iraqi government. Those who are fighting inside Fallujah are the residents," Sleman claimed.
He added that they have proof that the Shiite militias are mistreating the families of Fallujah, a predominantly Sunni city.
Video footage showing members of the Shiite militia known as Hashd al-Shaabi torturing refugees from Fallujah has gone viral on social media and angered many people of Iraq, especially Sunnis.
Sleman blames Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi for the torture the refugees are suffering, saying that Abadi is a weak person and not suitable for the post of prime minister.
Shiite militia leaders deny the accusations of mistreatment. Kareem Noori, a spokesperson for the militia group, told Rudaw, "Hashd al-Shaabi snuffies are treating the residents very well, and there have been no violations."
"Fallujah residents have no links to ISIS," Noori added.
The governor of Anbar agrees. Sofean Essawi, media advisor for tribal matters of Anbar province, told Rudaw that Anbar governor Suhaib Rawi has followed the situation of the refugees closely, and said that no violations have been committed by Shiite militias against Fallujah families.
An estimated 50,000 civilians are still trapped in Fallujah, including at least 20,000 children. The Iraqi government had urged those who could to leave and those that could not to fly white flags to show the incoming forces that they posed no threat.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) estimates that a mere 3,000 people have managed to escape Fallujah since the Iraqi operation began.
The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... ’ children’s organization UNICEF called on "all parties to protect children inside Fallujah, provide safe passage to those wishing to leave the city and grant safe and secure environments to displaced civilians."
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06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] An Iranian-backed Shia Iraqi militia said on Saturday it planned to storm Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids... Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group's stronghold near Baghdad, once civilians left the city, backtracking on earlier statements that it would leave this task to the Iraqi army.
"We will not enter Fallujah as long as there are families inside," said Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization, the largest component of the Shia paramilitary coalition known as Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization.
"Of course, we will go in and rid the city from the evil of this cancerous gland, with nobody preventing us," he said, when asked what would happen if civilians managed to flee the Sunni city that lies 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad.
Fallujah is the first Iraqi city that IS group captured, in January 2014, and the second largest still under its control after djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... in the north. Sunni politicians have voiced concern that the presence of Shia militias alongside the army in the battle to retake the city could lead to sectarian violence.
Amiri was speaking to news hounds while touring one of the frontlines near Fallujah. Last week he said the militias would take part in encirclement operations but leave the army to storm the city.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on June 1 the offensive to dislodge the ultra-hardline Sunni forces of Evil had slowed down in order to protect civilians. About 50,000 are trapped in the city, with limited access to water, food and healthcare, according to the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... .
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[IsraelTimes] Measures include permits for Gazooks to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque, travel between Paleostinian territories for family visits
Israel announced Friday it was relaxing restrictions on the movement of Paleostinians to and from the West Bank and Gazoo Strip during the Moslem holy month of Ramadan.
The measures, similar to those of previous years, were announced by COGAT, the unit which manages civilian affairs in the West Bank under the auspices of newly appointed hardline Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
Up to 500 people from the Gazoo Strip will be allowed to attend Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem over the holy month, set to begin on Monday.
In addition, 200 Gazoo residents will be allowed to visit relatives in the West Bank during Ramadan, and 500 Paleostinians from the West Bank will be authorized to visit family in Gazoo, COGAT said.
Israel will also allow 300 Paleostinians living abroad to visit relatives in Gazoo, and 500 West Bank Paleostinians would be permitted to travel out of Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
There will be additional allowances for the Moslem holidays which follow the end of Ramadan.
The COGAT statement said the measures were "in line with the Israeli civil policy striving to improve the quality of life" for Paleostinians and "maintaining freedom of religion."
Israel has been facing a wave of Paleostinian attacks since October that cost hundreds of Paleostinian and Israeli lives, triggered in part by tensions over Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, which sits atop the flashpoint Temple Mount, the site of the two Jewish temples in biblical times. Non-Moslems are allowed to visit the site, but not pray there.
The attacks have largely abated, but a ban remains in place on Israeli politicians -- both Moslem and Jewish -- from visiting the site, to prevent tensions from flaring.
But MKs from the Joint (Arab) List have informed the Knesset they intend to pray at the site during Ramadan, regardless of the ban.
#1
Measures include permits for Gazooks to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque, travel between Paleostinian territories for family visits and suicide attacks in Israel.
#5
Disassemble the Al-Aqsa thingy stone by stone, drop the stones a couple of hundred miles out in the Mediterranean. No further need for access to the site. Declare the involved real estate to now be Israeli land forever. Problem solved.
[IsraelTimes] Citing a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam, a growing movement is targeting Arabic-language films, theater and athletics
There are no official figures on how many consider themselves Salafists, though community leaders estimate they number a few thousand.
When Hanin Radi tried to make her dream come true of staging a marathon in her hometown, the Arab Israeli received death threats from radical Islamists.
"I’ve run marathons everywhere, but in the streets of my town I’m afraid to run," said Radi, who is from the Arab town of Tira in central Israel.
Continued on Page 49
[Ynet] Washington has asked Moscow not to target the al-Qaida's branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, for fear of hitting the moderate opposition, Russia's foreign minister said Friday.
Sergey Lavrov said that Russia long has insisted that the moderate, US-backed opposition groups should leave the areas occupied by Nusra.
He said in televised remarks that Russia and the US have engaged in close dialogue on how to secure a cease-fire in Syria, but added that fighting the Islamic State group and Nusra should be a top priority.
"They are telling us not to hit it (Nusra), because there is 'normal' opposition next .. to it," Lavrov said. "But that opposition must leave terrorists' positions, we long have agreed on that."
Iran is ready to engage in direct battle with the US, said the country's armed forces spokesman Masud Jazayeri.
"We are ready to rid humanity of the war-seeking and domination-loving policies of the US in a real and direct battle," he said in reaction to recent statements by a US presidential candidate, Press TV Persian reported June 4.
On Thursday Hillary Clinton
...who will never be compared to George Schultz, let alone John Foster Dulles...
said that notwithstanding the nuclear deal, the US would take action at any time to prevent Iran from gaining access to nuclear weapons, adding that the military option was still on the table.
Jazayeri dismissed the remarks as mere campaign propaganda in the first place.
"Our nation and armed forces are never after war, but will not overlook the need for preparedness for a moment," he maintained.
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06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
As the US believes that there will be no more large or wide-scale military conflicts between the great powers from now thru 2050, iff not the rest of the century, IMO BE MORE WORREID ABOUT THE US HAVING TO GO TO WAR IN SUPPORT OR DEFENSE OF ITS OVERSEAS ALLIES.
China vs Japan [SOKOR?], China vs Philippines, Iran vs KSA, ... ...@etc.
And a time of weak econ + Anti-US US Globalist or pro-isolationist leaders in the WH.
[RUDAW.NET] The People’s Protection Units (YPG) have not abandoned their previous plan to integrate the three Kurdish-controlled cantons of Jazire, Afrin and Kobani in northern Syria despite their military collaboration with Arab factions in other areas, a spokesperson for the group told Rudaw.
Under the active US air protection, the YPG fighters have fought alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for the past months and pushed back the ISIS Death Eaters from areas surrounding the jihadist bastion of Raqqa in the north of the country.
As they fight on, the YPG and other forces are getting closer to the gates of Hasaka in the northeast and Aleppo in the northwest of the war-torn country. This will famously facilitate the integration of the separated cantons of Afrin and Kobani with Jazira in the east and give Kurds the territorial illusory sovereignty that they need to declare a cohesive polity in Syria’s Kurdistan.
But before that, Kurdish authorities have said, the YPG forces need to secure the town of Manbij, some 50 kilometers south of Kobani, currently under ISIS control and which has proved to be difficult since Ankara started shelling the advancing Kurdish troops in the area.
"Many people think that the unification of the three cantons is an illusion," said Nasir Mansour, a YPG front man and an advisor to the SDF military command.
"Sometimes military and political tactics dictate different conditions, but that does not mean that the grand strategy will be abandoned. We are committed to unify the three cantons," Mansour said.
The capture of Gire Sipi (Tell Abiad) located between the cantons of Jazira and Kobani last year pushed the unification of the enclave a step further after intensive festivities and Ankara’s open opposition to the YPG’s control of the border gate.
Manbij, located between Kobani and Afrin cantons, seems to have similar significance as Gire Sipi to the further unification of Kurdish enclave that currently stretches from northeastern Syria to the westernmost corner of the country.
"Manbij and the other areas around the Euphrates River have strategic importance for both the SDF and the Kurdish forces," said Idris Naaman, former spokesperson of Kobani canton.
"Both try to take this area, but The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s loud opposition and even some regional interference has indefinitely postponed the liberation of Manbij," Naaman told Rudaw.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Annual terror activity report says Tehran continues to support terror groups worldwide, sow instability; lists Islamic State as ’greatest threat globally’
Yes, we all knew it, but now it's official. What will Mr. Trump do with this information?
The US State Department released its annual report on global terrorist activity on Thursday, listing Iran as the top state sponsor of terrorism and labeling the Islamic State as "the greatest threat globally" and a "formidable force" in Iraq and Syria.
"Iran remained the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2015, providing a range of support, including financial, training and equipment, to groups around the world," the State Department report read.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[DAWN] Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said that Pakistain has lost at least US$118 billion during the ongoing war on terror.
