Humanitarian partners working in Somalia are seeking 864 million U.S. dollars to reach 3.9 million people with urgent life-saving assistance by the end of 2017.
Also, the local UN people need funding for dinner, housemaids, and white Toyota Land Cruisers...
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revealed that on Monday through a newly-developed Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia for 2017.
“The plan has been developed in consideration of and in complementarity with ongoing and planned development programming,” the OCHA said in its latest report.
Developed within the framework of a three-year humanitarian strategy for Somalia for 2016-2018, the response plan for 2017 aims to save lives, ensure the protection of the most vulnerable, strengthen resilience, support the provision of basic services and enable durable solutions, according to the OCHA.
Five million Somalis, or more than 40 percent of the country’s population, do not have sufficient food, according to a UN-backed assessment report issued earlier this year. The report reveals the number includes over 300,000 children under five who are acutely malnourished, among them over 50,000 children who are severely malnourished.
Ask the Euros...
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01/04/2017 00:00 ||
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Ask the Euros...
I would say "ask the Paleos", since they seem to be running the UN nowadays.
UN-backed Libyan unity government received a major blow Monday as Musa al-Koni, a deputy Prime Minister of the Presidency Council (PC) left the boat citing the council’s inability to address pressing needs of Libyans.
“I announce my resignation due the failure of the Presidency Council, because it holds responsibility for the killing, kidnapping, and rape that happened over the past year,” Koni told a press conference in Tripoli.
“I don’t think we are unaware of what the citizens are suffering, but we are incapable, and I admit that we are failures because we didn’t solve the problems, which are many.”
A Middle East politician with a conscience? What's his angle?
The PC borne in December 2015 along with the Government of National Accord (GNA) arrived in capital Tripoli nearly one year ago. Led by businessman Faiez Serraj, the PC and associate GNA have been unable to address security, power, financial issues of millions of Libyans who have to queue for hours in front of banks to get their money.
The December victory over the Islamic State group (IS) in Sirte which was expected to boost the confidence of the unity government seems to have no effect.
Internal rivalries within the PC have given also reasons to the internationally recognized House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk to back away from approving the GNA line-up proposed by Serraj. The HoR twice last year rejected Serraj’s proposed cabinets.
The PC in September lost control of the country’s main oil terminals after Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar aligned with HoR snatched them from pro-GNA forces.
The move further weakened the PC’s financial resources. The UN-backed GNA in need of financial resources, expected to control the oil production which still remains the main source of income of the North African country.
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Moroccan authorities thwarted an illegal immigration attempt by nearly 1000 Sub-Saharan nationals who tried to jump the six-meter barbed wire fence of the city of Ceuta. The operation led by Moroccan authorities succeeded in foiling this mass attempt to storm the Spanish occupied enclave and resulted in the injury of 50 members of the Moroccan security forces, of whom 10 are severely wounded, the interior ministry said in a statement.
“From now on those making such attempts will be presented before the competent judicial authorities who will decree their expulsion from the kingdom (of Morocco) or heavier penalties, according to the gravity of the act,” added the statement.
Spanish authorities, for their part, said that two would-be migrants were allowed into Ceuta to be taken care of at a local hospital while the rest were returned to Morocco.
Spanish sources also said that five Spanish policemen were wounded as Sub-Saharans used rocks and metal bars in order to break through the gates of the fence.
On December 9, more than 400 migrants attempted to break through the fence and on January 1, 52 would-be migrants were rescued off shore Malaga.
Ceuta has been under Spanish occupation since the 16th century. Morocco claims the city along with the other Spanish occupied enclave of Mellilia as an integral part of its national territory.
Hand them over, Spain, and you have two fewer problems...
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Jeddah- Operation Commander in Yemen Brigadier General Fadel Hassan stated that Iran continues to breach international laws and violate the Yemeni sovereignty through repetitive endeavors to smuggle loads of arms to Houthis and their ally, ousted Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Brigadier-General told Asharq al-Awsat that “the national army, in coordination with the Saudi-led Arab Coalition, is stopping these operations before they get into the country.” He added that Iran is using some ports to smuggle arms in a pursuit to reinforce military potentials of Houthis and their allies.
Operations of arms monitoring come under the military plan imposed by the army on entry points to cut supply to Houthis and Saleh as well as warfronts.
Hassan stressed that these weapons will have no influence on the pace of battles, especially that Houthis are suffering military weakness due to huge human losses during the recent battles.
“Government forces have seen, in a number of battlefronts, a considerable number of Africans fighting with the Houthis,” he added. “The army is coordinating with relevant authorities to put an end to exploitation of Africans through getting them involved in the war,” Hassan continued.
CAIRO: A report alleging human rights violations in Yemen by Houthi rebels has recorded 949 cases of damaged public property and 2,673 instances of private property damage, the Saudi Embassy here reported on Tuesday.
The damage varied between complete and partial by bombardment from Houthi militants and loyalists of deposed President Abdullah Saleh against civilian homes and government and private facilities, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the embassy.
The statement also said that Houthi rebels attacked and looted facilities. They also occupied some civilian buildings to be used as military barracks.
The report recorded 3,027 cases in which Houthi militias and Saleh loyalists allegedly undermined the powers of the state — which included financial, administrative imbalances, intervention in the tasks, issuance of appointments outside the framework of law, exclusion of some civil servants from their jobs and their positions, creating private prisons and checkpoints — and other acts of looting and tampering with public money during the first half of 2016.
The statement said the Houthis and Saleh militias are using heavy weapons against populated areas. As a result, more than 1,529 people were killed, including 102 women and 221 children in the governorate of Taiz.
Saudi Arabia and coalition forces are keen to use targeted, sophisticated and high-cost smart weapons to avoid civilian loss of life.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said on Sept. 7 during a speech at Chatham House Institute: “There is a lot of criticism to our (military) operations in Yemen, but the matter that is not understood by many people is that we run it with the utmost care and caution.”
He pointed out: “We have a highly professional air force and high-precision weapons. We try as much as possible to avoid causing any civilian casualties, and when accidents occur or questions arise, we do the necessary investigation and then work on changing the mechanisms we follow in order to avoid repetition. But the same criticisms do not address the Houthis and Saleh rebels who recruit children aged 9, 10, 11 and 12. They indiscriminately shell towns and villages, imposing blockades on them. They are starving people and stealing the humanitarian aid to use it as a bargaining tool in order to make political progress.”
He added: “We are working under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (2216), which condemned the Houthis for their role in the seizure of the government and calls on them to withdraw from the territories they occupied and requires them to hand over their weapons. But they flagrantly violated all these demands, and yes I do not see any criticism to them.”
The embassy’s statement stressed that the achievements of “Restoring Hope” and “Decisive Storm” operations could not be ignored. The coalition has succeeded in liberating more than 80 percent of the land of Yemen and handed it over to the legitimate government.
The “Decisive Storm” managed to destroy the Houthi air force and more than 95 percent of ballistic missiles captured by the militias, in addition to destroying 98 percent of tanks and armored vehicles seized by them.
The Arab coalition has also secured the international shipping lines across Bab Al-Mandab Strait, which led to the elimination of alleged Iranian influence in Yemen and the end of the threat posed by the Houthi militias against the Kingdom.
A wheelchair-bound Algerian terrorist suspect with alleged links to Osama Bin Laden has won a 21-year legal battle to stay in the UK. The judge ruled that the threat of deportation had been bad for his mental health.
The government has repeatedly tried to expel the man, known only as ‘G’ for legal reasons, accusing him of helping send young British Muslims abroad to train as jihadists. However, Justice Collins said that living under the threat of deportation for so long has affected him mentally, quashing the Home Office’s refusal to give him indefinite leave to remain in Britain, according to the Telegraph.
That's just plain stupid...
The judge also removed government restrictions that had forced him to stay at his home address and report to a police station once a month. He will now be allowed to study Algebraic Thinking at the Open University.
And when he kills a bunch of folks, will the government then be allowed to restrain him?
G claimed asylum in the UK in August of 1995 using a fake French passport. The Home Office tried to deport him in 2001, saying he was a threat to national security. Officials claimed that he had supported an Algerian terror organization called the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which is believed to have links to Bin Laden’s network.
The government said: “Your activities on behalf of the group and of extremist fighters in Chechnya include sponsoring young Muslims in the UK to go to Afghanistan to train for Jihad.”
The man had lost two previous appeals against deportation, but human rights laws prevented the government from returning him to Algeria.
However, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has now found that the man no longer poses a risk to national security.
Will they take him home with them?
The ruling is another blow for Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who lost a series of court cases involving the deportation of suspected terrorists last year.
A Home Office spokesperson told the Telegraph that the government is now considering its options.
#9
Don't Europe's poor bureaucrats know
That Muslims do not read Rousseau?
That rescued from drowning
And gowned, they'll squat, frowning,
Austere Boudus sauvé des eaux?
[IsraelTimes] Syed Mustufa H. allegedly received money to follow former head of society that promotes warm ties between Berlin and Jerusalem.
German prosecutors have indicted a Pak man accused of spying on a group that promotes German-Israeli relations for an Iranian intelligence agency.
Federal prosecutors said Monday that the 31-year-old, identified only as Syed Mustufa H.
...arrested in July in Bremen...
due to German privacy rules, was in contact with the unnamed spy agency since 2011.
In a statement, prosecutors said the man began spying on the former head of the German-Israeli Society, and handed over information to Iran in October.
He is alleged to have received money in return for passing on information obtained about the society
The ex-head of the Society, former politician Reinhold Robbe, told the Bild newspaper in 2016 that he wasn’t surprised by the alleged espionage and vowed he "will not be intimidated."
The suspect faces up to five years imprisonment if convicted of espionage.
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[GOV] About a year ago the principal route for the migration into Europe was closed off, thanks largely to the efforts and leadership of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Until 2015, the largest flow had been across the Mediterranean from Libya and Tunisia to Lampedusa, Malta, Sicily, and the southern coast of the Italian mainland. Migrants had been prevented from crossing the Aegean from Turkey to the Greek Islands — a very short voyage — by the actions of the Turkish coast guard, which would catch and return the boats. But in 2015 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided to change his policy (for reasons that can only be speculated about — we’ve made some informed guesses here), and stopped the interdiction the smugglers’ vessels. The traffickers seized the opportunity, and started carrying hundreds of thousands of migrants from Anatolia to Lesbos and Chios.
The rest of the story is familiar: The Greek government ferried the arrivals to the mainland, where they stayed in camps until they could be picked up by buses and taken to the Macedonian border. From there the process was repeated at each successive border — get out of the bus or off the train, walk across the border for the photographers, and get picked up by the next bus or put on the next train.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Germany’s interior minister on Tuesday outlined plans for a security services overhaul, seeking greater federal powers on domestic intelligence and quicker expulsions of illegal migrants colonists following the Berlin truck attack.
Thomas de Maiziere also called for giving federal police wider oversight across the country’s 16 states, and for a new national crisis management centre to be set up.
"We don’t have federal jurisdiction to deal with national catastrophes. The jurisdiction for the fight against international terrorism is fragmented," he wrote in a guest column for the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
"The federal police’s scope of action is restricted to railway stations, airports and border controls," he wrote, stressing that "it is time" to reexamine Germany’s security set-up.
Policing and domestic intelligence services in Germany are currently decentralised and controlled by the country’s 16 states.
The plans for a sweeping reform come after a series of embarrassing security failures, with the December 19 attack training a spotlight on the gaps.
After Tunisian suspect Anis Amri allegedly rammed a truck into a crowded Christmas market, killing 12, it swiftly emerged that the asylum seeker had slipped through the net of security services.
Amri, 24, who was days later rubbed out by Italian police, had been under surveillance since March, but German police dropped their watch in September thinking he was a small-time drug pusher.
The failed asylum seeker should also have been deported months ago but Tunisia did not provide the necessary paperwork until after the attack.
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[Ynet] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's interior minister says authorities have thwarted a total of 339 possible attacks in 2016, most of them by Kurdish bully boys.
Suleyman Soylu told parliament Tuesday that the foiled attacks include 313 planned attempts by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and 22 by 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 minister said authorities seized 247 bombs, 23 boom-mobiles and detained 23 would-be jacket wallahs last year.
Speaking a day after the IS grabbed credit for the deadly attack at a popular Istanbul nightclub, Soylu said some 80 of the attacks were thwarted in the past three months.
More than 3,506 IS suspects were detained in 2016, including 1,531 foreign nationals, the minister said.
Soylu said authorities had stepped up security on public transportation such as trams and buses as well as airports and at train and bus terminals.
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[Hurriyet Daily News] Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has accused the government of being responsible for the rise in jihadist terror in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and called on it to resign, after 39 people were killed in an attack in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Eve.
"You [the government] are a government that aids and abets terrorist organizations," Kilicdaroglu said on Dec. 3, speaking to CHP officials in the party’s weekly parliamentary group meeting.
Following the terrorist attack at the Reina nightclub on New Year’s Eve, the CHP leader slammed government for a lack of accountability and failing to prevent terrorist attacks.
"No one takes any responsibility. Nothing is clear. And the prime minister comes forward and says ’These kinds of terrorist attacks will continue.’ He does not even say they will prevent them," Kilicdaroglu said.
"Is this the way to rule a state? You should resign and admit that you cannot do it, admit that you cannot prevent terror," he added.
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[Hurriyet Daily News] The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant who attacked Istanbul’s Reina nightclub arrived in Syria from Turkey, according to newly emerged details regarding the attack.
The date when he arrived in Turkey is unknown, but he was in the Central Anatolian province of Konya on Nov. 22, 2016, before heading to Istanbul to carry out the attack on Reina, which claimed the lives of 39 people.
According to the investigation, the attacker arrived in Konya with his wife and two children and hired a house there. His family members, whose identities remain hidden, have been detained by police.
“I learned about the attack from the TV. I didn’t know that my husband was an ISIL militant, let alone a sympathizer,” his wife reportedly said in her testimony.
Meanwhile, new details continue to emerge regarding the attack, with daily Habertürk releasing new footage of how the attacker arrived at the scene. In the footage he can be seen with his backpack and a cigarette while getting into a taxi at 11:58 p.m. from the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul to head to Reina.
According to Turkish media reports, the attacker used a stun grenade while shooting at people. It has also been determined that he attached chargers to his weapon in order to shoot faster. Around 120 of the 180 bullets used were reportedly found inside the DJ cabin.
The authorities are evaluating how the attacker knew all of Reina’s exits, including the three secret doors known only by the personnel working there. He also knew that the guards of the nightclub were not carrying guns and that weapons were not allowed inside the club.
He did not enter the bathroom at any point as it was far from the entrance and he did not enter the kitchen when he was shooting because he was planning to hide there later on, Habertürk also reported, citing the investigation.
The attacker reportedly had no trouble escaping from the scene and the authorities are evaluating whether he received any help from the inside.
It previously emerged that he got into a cab after the attack and got out in Kuruçeşme, telling the driver that he had no money. According to newly emerged details, he asked to use the cell phone of the driver to call someone and the driver agreed to give it.
The driver was later detained and his testimony was taken by police. He reportedly said the attacker spoke Turkish.
Detentions have been carried out since the attack, mostly of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan citizens living in the Istanbul district of Zeytinburnu, where the police raided eight different addresses. Police also carried out operations in the Istanbul district of Başakşehir, and two foreign nationals were detained in connection to the Reina attack at Istanbul Atatürk Airport on Jan. 3.
Elsewhere, footage of the alleged attacker that he himself recorded in Taksim has emerged, in which he can be seen filming himself and the places nearby. Officials are now evaluating whether he was surveilling the area or sending ISIL a message to say he was in Taksim. Other footage that has emerged shows the attacker at an exchange bureau in the Istanbul neighborhood of Laleli.
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[RUDAW.NET] What is the plan of Iraq’s Sunnis for after ISIS?
Osama al-Nujaifi: ISIS was certainly a big test for the Iraqis and crashed almost all past ideas and notions especially about relations between the country’s different communities. I believe we will have to have something new and not return to what it was like before 2014. A situation that will give everyone a chance to participate in and have a say in governance of economy and security but under the umbrella of one Iraq and one constitution. Our only option for this is to regionalize the provinces not a region for Sunnis, and we hope the southern provinces also take the same path so that is going to be a federal Iraq which will be a cornerstone of stability.
What if it is not possible to form a region?
We certainly want to abide by and honor the constitution on the condition that everyone else would do so. But if it is violated by one party then there will be no meaning left for mutual relations on an equal basis and will force us to take another path. But the current constitution gives much room to freedoms and local powers, one is for the prime minister as commander in chief of all armed forces to give similar authority to the provinces.
There is talk of a Sunni-Shiite list for the coming elections.
That idea has been touched on, but we are working on forming a large umbrella for all the important Sunni groups with one charter which will then be able to represent the Sunnis and could form alliances with Kurds and Shiites. This will lead to stability and true alliances in the country but will we be really able to reach that level at this time?
What will happen to the initiative of the Shiite national alliance to normalize relations with the Sunnis?
That initiative is unrealistic and was suggested at the wrong time. It does not have the full consensus of all Shiites either. Shiite leaders do not see it a national project for all and see it as something of the Supreme Islamic Council only. In the meantime there is no trust lost between us as we have signed many agreements with them in the past that have all been violated. Seven agreements were reached in total in the past and this one will become another one of them. The Shiites are now fully running the country by themselves and this initiative of reconciliation is doomed to fail from the start. And I guess it can be done only once other domestic issues have been resolved.
Two Sunni leaders, Rafe al-Esawi and Atheel al-Nujaifi visited the United States and later said that the US was supporting a Sunni region in Iraq. Is that a possibility?
That issue was not raised and what has been discussed, including in a meeting of my own with the US president in 2012 and 2014 was regionalizing the provinces. They agreed at first as long as it did not conflict with the constitution and then they were concerned over the distribution of resources and wealth. To be honest the current administration made many errors with regards to Iraq and we hope the new administration has a better understanding and keep in mind the rights of all Iraqis.
Will it be all right by the Sunnis if they have guarantees from the US and Iran?
That will not happen. Now, we are asking for an international convention for regional countries such as The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , Iran, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and Jordan as well as world superpowers as the US and Russia. And a meeting of Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders could become a stepping stone for such a convention, but the issue is that internal agreements and deals are more easily ignored and violated.
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Establishing... what do they call it? Oh yes -- dominance.
[FreeBeacon] A delegation of Republican senators is moving forward with an effort to freeze some funding to the State Department until the U.S. embassy in Israel is formally moved to Jerusalem, according to new legislation.
The legislation comes as the Obama administration continues to face criticism over its behind-the-scenes effort to forward a United Nations resolution condemning Israel. The Obama administration, like previous administrations, does not formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city and has worked to stymie efforts to move the U.S. embassy there.
While Congress first approved legislation to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem in 1995, the new bill threatens to cut State Department funding until the relocation is complete.
The effort is being spearheaded by Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), and Dean Heller (R., Nev.), all of whom support efforts by the incoming Trump administration to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem after years of debate.
“Jerusalem is the eternal and undivided capital of Israel,” Cruz said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the Obama administration’s vendetta against the Jewish state has been so vicious that to even utter this simple truth—let alone the reality that Jerusalem is the appropriate venue for the American embassy in Israel—is shocking in some circles.”
“But it is finally time to cut through the double-speak and broken promises and do what Congress said we should do in 1995: formally move our embassy to the capital of our great ally Israel,” Cruz said.
The legislation orders the White House to identify Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which the Obama administration has refused to do. The bill will freeze a significant portion of the State Department’s funding until it completes the relocation.
In the past, the Obama White House has been caught scrubbing captions on official photographs that labeled Jerusalem as part of Israel. The administration also was entangled in a Supreme Court case when it refused to permit an American family to list its child’s birthplace as “Jerusalem, Israel.”
Heller said the legislation could help repair America’s relationship with Israel, which has become strained under the Obama administration.
“For years, I’ve advocated for America’s need to reaffirm its support for one of our nation’s strongest allies by recognizing Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel,” Heller said in a statement. “It honors an important promise America made more than two decades ago but has yet to fulfill. While administrations come and go, the lasting strength of our partnership with one of our strongest allies in the Middle East continues to endure.”
Rubio also championed the bill in a statement, saying it will finally close loopholes that have permitted the Obama administration to ignore congressional calls to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s official capital.
“Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish state of Israel, and that’s where America’s embassy belongs,” Rubio said. “It’s time for Congress and the president-elect to eliminate the loophole that has allowed presidents in both parties to ignore U.S. law and delay our embassy’s rightful relocation to Jerusalem for over two decades.”
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#1
A delegation of Republican senators is moving forward with an effort to freeze some funding to the State Department
Would be nice if the headline matched the story...
[RT] A woman was beaten at a marketplace in India by men who allegedly attempted to molest her. The victim of the assault has reportedly threatened to shoot herself if her attackers are not brought to justice.
Video of the incident, which took place in Uttar Pradesh in India’s Mainpuri district, shows the woman in a brawl with a group of men when another man approaches with a large stick and proceeds to strike her with it.
The woman reportedly asked men at the market for directions before they attempted to grope her and remove her dupatta (head covering). When she resisted, she was beaten with a stick and the men shouted abusive language at her.
The woman’s husband was also struck, according to the reports, while her daughter witnessed the incident.
In the video, the woman can be seen bleeding and is reported to have sustained head injuries. She registered a complaint with police and reportedly threatened to shoot herself if the culprits were not placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! Three people are being sought by police in relation to the incident, an official told The Indian Express. One of the suspects, Anand Yadav, was arrested Wednesday morning.
Let the neo-Ottomans enjoy being arrogant for a few more weeks.
[ARA News] Qamishli – The new US Administration should stop supporting Syrian Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on Tuesday.
The Turkish PM also said that only Turkey is fighting ISIS, while the US and its allies “do nothing”.
“The world talks about Daesh [ISIS] but it does not fight it. It is only Turkey that fights against Daesh. The United States and others do nothing. They just supply the [Syrian Kurds] with weapons,” said Yildirim on 3 January, in a weekly parliamentary address to his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) members.
Backed by the US-led coalition, Kurdish YPG fighters and allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have expelled Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants from major areas in northern Syria, including Hasakah, Kobane and Manbij. Currently, the same forces are combatting ISIS in Raqqa–the Caliphate’s de facto capital– as part of the US-backed Euphrates Wrath Operation.
“The Kurds proved to be one of the strongest forces fighting ISIS and other Islamist groups. The United States is aware of that, and that’s why the US support for the Kurdish forces cannot stop as long as ISIS exists in Syria and Iraq,” political analyst Shiyar Serdar told ARA News.
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[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkey and Russia, as the guarantors of a ceasefire deal between the Syrian regime and opposition groups, will establish checkpoints in Syria in order to monitor the truce and possible violations.
The Hürriyet Daily News has obtained the ceasefire document, which provides details of a mechanism for monitoring the ceasefire and a schedule for the planned peace negotiations.
In order to record violations to the ceasefire, “the guarantors will establish checkpoints in residential areas in the vicinity of the actual line of contact among the parties in order to guarantee compliance with the ceasefire by the parties,” read the agreement dated on Dec. 29.
A Turkish official also confirmed to the Daily News that Turkish and Russian officials will be located in different regions of Syria for truce monitoring activities.
Turkey and Russia will establish joint monitoring centers to closely follow the implementation of a ceasefire between the Syrian regime and the opposition groups, another Turkish official earlier told the Daily News, adding that the former will use its Eskişehir Main Air Base and the latter its Hmeimim Air Base in Syria to this end.
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Lebanese Army Intelligence Directorate indicated, in a communiqué on Tuesday, that it had referred to the judiciary court a terror ring jugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! 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 linked to Shadi Mawlaw, a commander from al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front who is still on the lam inside the Paleostinian refugee camp of Ain-el-Hilwe.
The ring, which inlcudes 11 members, was planning to dispatch booby-trapped cars to the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahiyeh), in addition to killing civilians and military officers, at the behest of Mawlawi.
Following interrogations, the army raided several places in Tripoli and seized bombs and belts, and munitions.
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[ISWRESEARCH.BLOGSPOT] 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.... of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) poses an evolving threat to the U.S., its allies, and its broader interests. Its approach to information warfare has represented a key component of its overall strategy, including during the period it has faced sustained pressure. ISIS has suffered significant setbacks on the ground, yet has demonstrated the ability to adapt.
ISIS will likely maintain the capacity to align its military and information operations (IO) in the coming years. Continuing conflicts and the plodding effort to address the underlying conditions where it has taken root will likely help ISIS retain physical sanctuary and command and control capability in Iraq, Syria, and North Africa, even if it loses control of major cities.
ISIS’s IO campaign has supported multiple objectives, including control over territory, coercion of populations, and recruitment. This campaign has enabled ISIS’s survival and execution of international terror attacks. It may ultimately usher in a "Virtual Caliphate" ‐ a radicalized community organized online ‐ that empowers the global Salafi-jihadi movement and that could operate independently of ISIS.
This "Virtual Caliphate," the emergence of which becomes more likely the longer ISIS’s physical caliphate exists, would represent a unique challenge to American national security. Other hostile actors, beyond ISIS and the global Salafi-jihadi movement, are also adopting elements of a broader IO campaign, highlighting the requirement for the U.S. to formulate a determined response.
The U.S. possesses inherent advantages, including material resources, military strength and convening power, with which to confront this evolving threat. It also has challenges to overcome, including the lack of a government-wide strategy ‐ supported by the necessary resources and proper bureaucratic organization ‐ to counter enemy IO.
The U.S. should continue to counter ISIS and other enemies in this arena by focusing on rolling them back on the ground, degrading their technical capabilities and other means they employ to reach their intended audiences, and helping facilitate the emergence of compelling counter-narratives amenable to American interests.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/04/2017 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
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
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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.
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[ISWRESEARCH.BLOGSPOT] The 
