120-nation NAM: US court violating law over Iran

AP, United Nations Friday, 6 May 2016

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The 120-nation Nonaligned Movement (NAM), headed by Iran, accused the United States Supreme Court on Thursday of violating international law by ruling that nearly $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets can be paid to victims of attacks linked to the country.

A communique issued by the NAM’s Coordinating Bureau follows an Iranian appeal to the United Nations last week to intervene with the US government to prevent the loss of their funds. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the ruling an “outrageous robbery, disguised under a court order.”

The NAM, comprising mainly developing countries, called the US waiver of “the sovereign immunity of states and their institutions” a violation of US international and treaty obligations.

It called on the US government “to respect the principle of state immunity” and warned that failing to do so will have “adverse implications, including uncertainty and chaos in international relations.” It also warned that a failure would also undermine the international rule of law “and would constitute an international wrongful act, which entails international responsibility.”

The US Supreme Court ruled on April 23 that the families of victims of a 1983 bombing in Lebanon and other attacks linked to Iran can collect nearly $2 billion in frozen funds from Iran as compensation.

The court’s ruling directly affects more than 1,300 relatives of victims, some who have been seeking compensation for more than 30 years. They include families of the 241 US service members who died in the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut.

Iran denies any links to the attacks. Iran’s UN Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo asked that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon circulate the NAM statement to the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

The NAM called for “dialogue and accommodation over coercion and confrontation” to peacefully settle disputes.

In last week’s letter, Iran’s Zarif appealed to secretary-general Ban to use his good offices “to induce the US government to adhere to its international obligations, put an end to the violation of the fundamental principle of state immunity.”

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in response that “US laws and the application of those laws by the courts of the United States comport with international law.”

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday that the letter is being studied. Iran has also complained to the United States that it is locked out of the international financial system.

It accused the US of failing to fulfill its obligations under last year’s nuclear deal which was supposed to give the Iranians relief from crippling economic sanctions in exchange for curbing their nuclear program.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who met Zarif on April 22, said the United States would not stand in the way of foreign banks or firms doing business with Iranian companies that are no longer subject to US sanctions. He said the administration was willing to further clarify what transactions are now permitted with Iran, and he urged foreign financial institutions to seek answers from US officials if they have questions.

Iraq PM sacks commander after Green Zone breach

By Ismaeel Naar Al Arabiya English 

 Thursday, 5 May 2016

Iraq's prime minister has sacked the commander of special forces in Baghdad's Green Zone after protesters breached the fortified area over the past week, a military statement said late on Wednesday.

The removal of Staff Lieutenant General Mohammed Ridha is being seen as an indication of tightening security as authorities plan on taking a harder line against planned protesters over the weekend.

Iraqi analyst Taif Jany told Al Arabiya English that angry protesters, most of them supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, broke into the Green Zone and stormed parliament on Saturday in an unprecedented security breach after years of frustration with the political elite.

“The fortifications reinforce a literal barrier between Parliament and the people. Not only is the government's business conducted without our input, but we are also cut off by razor wire, guards, and enormous concrete fences,” Jany, Program Manager at Education for Peace in Iraq Center, told Al Arabiya English.

Iraqi premier Haider al-Abadi issued commander Ridha’s relief order and replaced him with Maj. Gen. Karim Aboud al-Tamimi, according to a statement from Iraq's Joint Operations Command.

Warning signs

Ridha was seen kissing Sadr's hand when he entered the heavily fortified Green Zone in late March during a sit-in organized by the cleric, who has demanded the government carry out reforms.

Demonstrators are expected to protest on Friday and may attempt to re-enter the Green Zone, which is home to Iraq's main government institutions as well as various embassies, including those of the United States and Britain.

Angry protesters broke into the area after lawmakers again failed to approve new ministers proposed by Abadi.

Abadi has called for the current cabinet of party-affiliated ministers to be replaced by a government of technocrats. But his efforts have been opposed by powerful political parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds.

Jany, the Iraqi analyst, told Al Arabiya English that the green zone has become a point of contention and the next couple of days are likely to see more protesters returning to the area.

“The Green Zone contains the homes of Members of Parliament and high-ranking officials and this represents a significant class difference which begs the question: how can you represent us if you don't live among us?,” he asked.

(With AFP)

Turkish premier quits as Erdogan tightens grip

Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Thursday, 5 May 2016

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Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced his resignation on Thursday, paving the way for the country’s president to pursue a tighter grip on power.

Davutoglu, who had fallen out with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his long-standing ally, announced he was stepping aside following a meeting with executives of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which has dominated Turkish politics since 2002. 

Erdogan was a co-founder and most prominent leader of the AKP, before stepping down when he became president in 2014.
The decision is not effective immediately. The party will hold an emergency convention May 22 to select a new party leader who would also replace the premier.

Despite the rift between him and President Erdogan, Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara that he bore his former boss no ill-will. 

“No one heard or will ever hear a single word from my mouth, from my tongue or my mind against our president,” he said, according to AFP.

Davutoglu indicated he did not plan to resign from the party, saying he would “continue the struggle” as a ruling party legislator. He also pledged loyalty to Erdogan, saying the president’s honor was his honor, and suggested he would not be a party to any efforts to divide the party.

“I feel no reproach, anger or resentment against anyone,” Davutoglu said.

The shake-up is seen as the outcome of irreconcilable differences between Erdogan, who would like to see the country transition to a presidential system, and his once-trusted adviser. It comes a day after Davutoglu’s government scored a victory of sorts, with the European Union’s executive commission recommending approval of a deal to give Turkish citizens the right to travel to Europe without visas.
After being elected president in 2014, Erdogan chose Davutoglu to succeed him as premier and leader of the AKP party. Davutoglu was expected to play a backseat role as Erdogan pushed ahead with plans to make the largely ceremonial presidency into an all-powerful position.

Uncertain bloc

But the former professor, foreign minister and adviser to Erdogan tried to act independently on a range issues and often proved to be a more moderating force to Erdogan, who has adopted an increasingly authoritarian style of government.

Crisis talks between the former political allies dragged out for nearly two hours late Wednesday but clearly failed to resolve their differences.

Meanwhile, the European Union is unsure how the departure of Turkey’s prime minister will affect the deal he struck with the EU to curb migration, the EU’s foreign affairs chief said on Thursday, as Brussels watched events in Ankara with unease.

“It’s a bit too early to define if it will have implications and in that case of what kind,” Federica Mogherini said during a visit to Kosovo, Reuters reported.

“We will obviously discuss this [Davutoglu's resignation] first of all with the Turkish authorities and define together how to move forward.”
 

(With the Associated Press, AFP and Reuters)

Yazidi women leave behind lives, family to fight ISIS

Ahmed Jadallah with Emily Wither , Reuters Thursday, 5 May 2016

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When ISIS swept into the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar in 2014, a few young Yazidi women took up arms against the militants attacking women and girls from their community.
“They took eight of my neighbors and I saw they were killing the children,” Asema Dahir told Reuters last month at a checkpoint near a front line north of Mosul.

 

Dressed in military fatigues, the 21-year-old is now part of an all-female unit in the Kurdish peshmerga forces, which have played an important role in pushing back ISIS in northern Iraq.
The killing and enslaving of thousands from Iraq’s minority Yazidi community focused international attention on the group’s violent campaign to impose its radical ideology and prompted Washington to launch an air offensive.

 

It also prompted the formation of this unusual 30-woman unit made up of Yazidis as well as Kurds from Iraq and neighboring Syria. For them, only one thing matters: revenge for the women raped, beaten and executed by the militants.
Dahir said she was stunned by the brutality of the militants, some of whom were neighbors and others from outside the area.
“They killed my uncle and took my cousin’s wife who had only just married eight days earlier,” she said, her piercing eyes clouding over. The bride, like thousands of other Yazidi women, is still being held by the militants.

During the firefights that raged across Sinjar in 2014, Dahir said she killed two ISIS fighters before being shot in the leg. Reuters could not independently verify the fighters’ personal accounts.
Well-worn photographs of children and families tucked into the edge of mirrors or pressed onto walls in the women’s spartan barracks are reminders of what they have sacrificed to join the fight.
Haseba Nauzad, the unit’s 24-year-old commander, lost her marriage. She was living with her husband in Turkey when ISIS swept through northern Iraq and announced its so-called caliphate over areas that included traditional Kurdish lands.

“I saw them raping my Kurdish sisters and I couldn’t accept this injustice,” Nauzad said.

Her husband wanted to pay human smugglers to take them to Europe along with more than a million others fleeing conflict in the region, but she insisted on going home to fight the Islamists.
“I put my personal life aside, and I came to defend my Kurdish sisters and mothers and stand against this enemy,” she said. She has lost contact with her husband since he arrived in Germany.
In a conservative society where women are often expected to stay at home, these women say gender does not keep them from entering battle.
“If a man can carry a weapon, a woman can do the same,” said Nauzad. “The men are inspired to fight harder when they see women standing in the same battlefield as them.”
The women in the unit are convinced ISIS militants are scared of women fighters “because they think if they are killed by a woman, they will not go to heaven,” said Nauzad.
“This story encourages more women to join the fight.”

ISIS militants seize gas field in eastern Syria

Reuters, Amman Thursday, 5 May 2016

ISIS militants on Thursday captured the main Shaer gas field in eastern Syria in the first gain for the ultra hardline fighters in the Palmyra desert area since they lost the ancient city in March, rebel sources and a monitor said.

Amaq, a news agency affiliated to the militants, said they had taken over the gas field area and its facility where Syrian troops were stationed and killed at least 30 soldiers and gained large caches of heavy weapons including tanks and missiles.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the militants seizure of the gas field area that lies roughly 150 km northwest of Palmyra after a three-day assault. The militants were able to seize the area despite heavy aerial bombing to push them back, it said.

The militants had captured the gas field and nearby gas facilities in Homs province on several occasions but had lost it late in 2014 although they continued to attack government forces stationed in the area.

ISIS suicide attacks kill 32 in southern Iraq

By Reuters 

 Two suicide car bombs claimed by ISIS killed at least 32 people and wounded 75 others in the center of the southern Iraqi city of Samawa on Sunday, police and medics said.
The first blast was near a local government building and the second one about 60 meters (65 yards) away at a bus station, police sources said. The death toll was expected to keep rising.
Unverified online photographs showed a large plume of smoke rising above the buildings as well as burnt out cars and bodies on the ground at the site of one of the blasts, including several children. Police and firefighters carried victims on stretchers and in their arms.
ISIS said it had attacked a gathering of special forces in Samawa, 230 km (140 miles) south of the capital, with one car bomb and then blew up the second when security forces responded to the site.
ISIS holds positions mostly in Sunni areas of the country’s north and west, far from the mainly Shiite southern provinces where Samawa is located. Such attacks are relatively rare.
The rise of the ultra-hardline Sunni insurgents has exacerbated Iraq’s sectarian conflict, mostly between Shiites and Sunnis, which emerged after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The quota-based governing system put in place by the United States at the time is being challenged by hundreds of protesters who camped out overnight in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone after storming the parliament building. 

Iraq PM orders arrest of Green Zone protesters

AFP, Aden

A large explosion hit central Aden on Sunday,an Al Arabiya News Channel correspondent reported, adding that there were several casualties.

The correspondent said the blast targeted the city's governor and security chief.

Four Yemeni guards were killed in a bombing that targeted the convoy of Aden's police chief, officials said, the second such attack on him in the southern city this week.

A bomb-laden car in Aden's Mansura district exploded as General Shallal Shayae's convoy passed, damaging military vehicles and prompting clashes between his guards and Al-Qaeda suspects in the area, the officials added.

Shayae himself escaped unharmed, according to his aides, but medical sources said that four of his guards were killed and eight others were wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but Shayae has survived attacks by jihadists more than once, the last of which was just days ago.

On Thursday, a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle packed with explosives when he was stopped at a checkpoint on the perimeter of the compound around Shayae's house, wounding a guard.

In February, suspected Al-Qaeda militants opened fire on a convoy carrying Shayae and Aden governor Aidarus al-Zubaidi, but they escaped unharmed.

Shayae and Zubaidi also survived a car bombing that targeted their convoy in Aden on January 5 killing two of their guards.
Other security officials in Aden, the temporary base of Yemen's Saudi-backed government, have been targeted by bombings and assassinations -- some of which Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group have claimed.

Unidentified gunmen on Friday killed Aden's traffic police chief Colonel Marwan Abdulalim as he was in his car going to weekly Muslim prayers.

Militants have exploited the unrest in Yemen as loyalist forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, fought against Iran-backed militias since March 2015 in a war that has left more than 6,400 people dead.

Brawls in Turkish parliament delay legislation on EU migrant deal

Deputies threw punches, pushed and tried to restrain each other in the assembly late in a row over military operations targeting Kurdish militants. (Reuters)

Reuters Thursday, 28 April 2016

Brawls between lawmakers from Turkey’s ruling AK Party and the pro-Kurdish opposition have delayed efforts to pass legislation on a migration deal with the European Union and parliament has been adjourned until Monday.

Deputies threw punches, pushed and tried to restrain each other in the assembly late on Wednesday in a row over military operations targeting Kurdish militants in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast.

The acting speaker announced at the end of Wednesday’s session that, following these scuffles, the parliament would now not meet again in full session until Monday.

Lawmakers had been expected to work on Friday and Saturday on legislation needed for Turks to secure visa-free travel to Europe, a key part of Ankara’s deal with the European Union on stopping uncontrolled migration to Europe.

Brussels aims to propose waiving visas for Turks on May 4 but that is strongly opposed by some EU member states. The EU has said Turkey fully meets fewer than half of the 72 criteria and that its conditions will not be softened.

The fierce exchanges erupted after MP Ferhat Encu from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) referred to the killing of civilians in military operations against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the southeast.

Thousands of militants and hundreds of security force members and civilians have been killed since the PKK resumed its insurgency last summer after a 2-1/2-year ceasefire, shattering a peace process.

3 arrested after Egyptian’s death in London arson

Mikhail’s body was found badly burnt inside a car that had been set ablaze in a garage in Southall, London, early Monday. (Scoial media)

By Shounaz Meky Al Arabiya English Thursday, 28 April 2016

Police in London have made three further arrests in connection with the ‘mysterious’ death of Egyptian student Sherif Adel Habib Mikhail earlier this week.

In a statement issued by the Metropolitan Police it was confirmed on Thursday that the men - aged 30, 35 and 40 years-old - were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson.

These arrests brought the total to four - a man in his 20s was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.

Police said that a post mortem examination which took place on Wednesday gave the initial cause of Mikhail’s death “as severe burns.”

The statement said that Mikhail’s death was still being treated as “unexplained”.

When pressed by Al Arabiya English for further information, a London Metropolitan Police spokesperson refused to comment on whether the investigation would become a murder inquiry.

Mikhail’s body was found badly burnt inside a car that had been set ablaze in a garage in Southall, London, early Monday.

He had recently graduated with a mechanical engineering degree at London’s Greenwich University, and held dual British and Egyptian citizenship.

News of Mikhail’s death was described as shocking by his family, who insisted he had no political affiliations, as speculation over the cause of his death continued to mount.

In Egypt his case appeared on the front pages of many of the country’s newspapers on Thursday, after officials including President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi’s office, the foreign ministry, and the ministry for expatriates called for an investigation into the death.

Mikhail, who lived in North Acton, London, had recently completed his degree in mechanical engineering and had hoped to become an army officer at Sandhurst, London’s Evening Standard newspaper reported.

He had a sister who is studying law at a university in London. His father owns a restaurant in London and has lived there for more than 40 years.

Nearly 10,000 people killed, 20,000 injured in Ukraine conflict

Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Vadym Prystiako display graphics during a Security Council meeting on the conflict in Ukraine, Thursday, April 28, 2016 at UN headquarters. (AP)

AP, United Nations Friday, 29 April 2016

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed and more than 20,000 injured since the Ukraine conflict began in April 2014, a top UN official said Thursday.

Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Taye-Brook Zerihoun told the Security Council that the total number of casualties now stands at 30,729 including 9,333 people killed and 21,396 injured.

He said the latest incident occurred on April 27 when shelling killed at least four civilians and injured at least eight people in Olenivka near the city of Donetsk.

Zerihoun said that fighting has escalated in recent weeks to levels not seen since August 2014, when it was at its most intense and he called on all parties to cease hostilities.

He criticized both sides for hindering access to an international monitoring mission put in place under the Minsk ceasefire agreement ironed out by the Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany on Feb. 14, 2015, but said that according to statistics provided by the monitors restrictions were more common in rebel-held areas.

Thursday’s Security Council meeting was the first to address the situation in Ukraine since December 2015.

During the meeting representatives from Russia and Ukraine traded bitter accusations over who was to blame for the flare-up in hostilities.

“Russia has organized and deployed in Donbas a 34,000-strong hybrid military force consisting of the regular Russian troops as well as of foreign and local militants. Russian generals and military officers provide direct command-and-control of this illegal military entity impressively heavily armed,” Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraine’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, told the council.

He claimed this force is better armed than most NATO members despite the Russians' claims that the weapons were acquired in local hardware stores.

“Last time I checked you will hardly be able to buy a decent knife in Ukrainian hardware stores not to mention the multiple launch rocket systems and jet flamethrowers,” Prystaiko said.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin denounced the UN session as a play for time while Ukraine's army occupies towns “in the neutral strip” stipulated by the Minsk agreement.

“Over the entire crisis the UN has been used as a propaganda platform,” Churkin said, dismissing the Ukraine statement before the Security Council as “very disappointing,” and “a lot of rhetoric.”

Russia tried to circulate a press statement that would reaffirm the UN’s commitment to the Minsk agreement, but failed to gain consensus approval because it also called for an investigation into the killing of Russian protesters in Odessa, without mentioning violations of the ceasefire by rebel forces.

The US, France and Britain all denounced Russian aggression for igniting the conflict.

“What is happening today is the result of Russia’s violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity which began with its occupation of Crimea more than two years ago and expanded with substantial military on the ground and weapons support for armed separatists in Eastern Ukraine,” US Ambassador Samantha Power told the council.

Suicide bomber in Turkey's Bursa 'linked to Kurdish militants'

The bombing took place near Bursa’s 14th century Grand Mosque, a historic symbol of the city that was the first capital of the Ottoman empire before the conquest of Constantinople (File Photo: AFP)

AFP | Istanbul Friday, 29 April 2016

A female suicide bomber who blew herself up in the centre of one of Turkey’s most historic cities this week was linked to Kurdish militants and had also fought in Syria against militants, a report said Friday.
There was no fingerprint evidence available from the remains of the woman who blew herself up in front of a mosque in the former Ottoman capital of Bursa on Wednesday but she has now been identified after DNA testing, the Hurriyet daily said.
The woman has been identified as Suzan B., who the report said is a member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has been fighting the Turkish security forces since a truce collapsed last summer.
It said she had also spent time in Syria fighting with the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) militia against ISIS militants and had crossed back into Turkey in April.
This fits the narrative of the Turkish government that the YPG is the Syrian branch of the PKK, an assertion disputed by Washington which works with the Syrian Kurdish militia as allies in the fight against ISIS.
Hurriyet quoted its sources as saying the woman had fought against ISIS in the battle for the Syrian border town of Kobane which was won by the Kurdish militia last year.
The Turkish authorities have detained 15 people in the wake of the bombing, which created new jitters in the country after a wave of deadly attacks this year.
Thirteen people were wounded in the blast but no one else was killed, leading some commentators to conclude the bomber ignited her charge prematurely.
Those detained include two women whose identity cards the bomber had taken and one of her friends.
Hurriyet said the bomber’s identity was confirmed after DNA samples were taken from her family in the Mardin region of southeast Turkey.
Two attacks that killed dozens of people in the capital Ankara in February and March were claimed by a group calling itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a radical splinter group of the PKK.
Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala said on Thursday that the group behind the attack has been identified but the authorities have so far been tight-lipped on making the details public.

Iran asks UN chief to intervene with US after court ruling

US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, speaks to the media as he meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif Friday, April 22, 2016, in New York. (AP)

Reuters, United Nations Friday, 29 April 2016

Iran asked UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday to convince the United States to stop violating state immunity after the top US court ruled that $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must be paid to American victims of attacks blamed on Tehran.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote to Ban a week after the US Supreme Court ruling, calling on the Secretary-General to use his “good offices in order to induce the US Government to adhere to its international obligations.”

Zarif’s appeal comes amid increasing Iranian frustration at what they say is the failure of the United States to keep its promises regarding sanctions relief agreed under an historic nuclear deal struck last year by Tehran and six world powers.

In the letter, released by the Iranian UN mission, Zarif asked Ban to help secure the release of frozen Iranian assets in US banks and persuade Washington to stop interfering with Iran’s international commercial and financial transactions.

“The US Executive branch illegally freezes Iranian national assets; the US Legislative branch legislates to pave the ground for their illicit seizures; and the US Judicial branch issues rulings to confiscate Iranian assets without any base in law or fact,” Zarif said.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s top adviser Ali Akbar Velayati was quoted by Iranian state media as saying that “Iran will never abandon its right and will take any necessary action to stop such an international theft.”

“This money belongs to Iran,” he said.

Ban’s spokesman and the US mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the letter or the accusations made against the United States.

Zarif told Ban he wanted to “alert you and through you the UN general membership about the catastrophic implications of the US blatant disrespect for state immunity, which will cause systematic erosion of this fundamental principle.”

The US Supreme Court found that the US Congress did not usurp the authority of American courts by passing a 2012 law stating that Iran's frozen funds should go toward satisfying a $2.65 billion judgment won by the US families against Iran in US federal court in 2007.

“It is in fact the United States that must pay long overdue reparations to the Iranian people for its persistent hostile policies,” Zarif wrote, citing incidents including the shooting of an Iranian civil airliner in 1988.

Last week Zarif met several times with US Secretary of State John Kerry in New York to discuss Iranian problems accessing international financial markets.

Tehran has called on the United States to do more to remove obstacles to the banking sector so that businesses feel comfortable investing in Iran without fear of penalties.

Some hardline lawmakers have called on the government of President Hassan Rowhani to consider the ruling a violation of the nuclear deal reached with the United States and other major powers in 2015.

Trump is not racist towards Arabs or Muslims, claims Lebanese advisor

Phares said Trump did not intend to ban the entry of Muslims to the US, describing the remarks as “illogical and does not reflect his policy or orientation.” (AP/ Al Arabiya)

By Staff writer Al Arabiya English Friday, 29 April 2016

Lebanese academic Walid Phares, who is the foreign policy advisor to US presidential candidate Donald Trump, claimed Thursday Trump would surprise Arabs with a conciliatory speech to be delivered this week.

In an interview with the pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper, Phares said Trump “is certainly not a racist” and blamed his “lack of expertise in politics” for making comments that are interpreted as racist and fascist towards Arabs and Muslims.

“He is certainly not a racist and nothing on a personal level shows that he is,” Phares said of Trump.

“The opposite is true, a number large of the employees in his companies are from different races… Muslims, women also occupy high positions in his companies, and he has a lot of investments in the Arab and Muslim world with Arab and Muslim partners.”

Phares said Trump did not intend to ban the entry of Muslims to the US, describing the remarks as “illogical and does not reflect his policy or orientation.”

“I have been informed that Trump had planned last December his first tour in the Middle East that was supposed to include Jordan, Egypt and Gulf countries. If he was appointed as a candidate for the Republican Party, he is expected to make this tour.”

Regarding Trump’s exclusionary speech towards Arabs and Muslims, Phares said: “There will be a significant change in the content of his speech, in which he will highlight for the first time his foreign policy lines, which will adopt moderation in the region. And then he will address the Arab and Islamic world and will explain how his statements about preventing the entry of Muslims to the US were a reaction after California’s terrorist attacks and Paris bombings.”

Phares - a Lebanese academic who immigrated to the United States 20 years ago – served part of Mitt Romney's foreign policy team in 2011. He works as an adviser in the US House of Representatives and is also an expert in anti-terrorism affairs.

Hamas says Israel bus bombing proof of ‘resistance’

Addressing thousands of supporters in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya praised the “heroic action” of Abdel Hamid Abu Sorur, who killed himself and wounded 20 people in the April 18 attack. (File photo: Reuters)

AFP, Jerusalem Friday, 29 April 2016

Last week’s Jerusalem bus bombing carried out by member of Hamas shows the Islamist movement’s “determination” to continue resisting Israel, the head of the Palestinian group in Gaza said on Thursday.

Addressing thousands of supporters in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya praised the “heroic action” of Abdel Hamid Abu Sorur, who killed himself and wounded 20 people in the April 18 attack.

Haniya said the bombing “shows that Hamas and the sons of Hamas are committed to resistance and determined to pursue the intifada (uprising)”.

“We say to the Zionist occupier that our people can no longer stand the blockade” which Israel imposed on Gaza in 2006.

“It is our right to have a port and an airport,” in Gaza, he said.

Israeli police said that a Hamas militant carried out the bus attack.

A wave of violence across Israel, the occupied West Bank, and Jerusalem has killed 203 Palestinians and 28 Israelis since October.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.

Russia: US force deployment violates Syria’s sovereignty

The deployment of US special forces to Syria without coordination with Damascus violates Syria’s sovereignty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. (File photo: AP)

Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Friday, 29 April 2016

Russia dubbed US plans to increase number of military personnel in Syria as illegal and violating the conflict-torn country’s sovereignty, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

“It is impossible for us to be not worried that such an action by the United States of America is being carried out without the agreement of the legal government of Syria,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

“It is a violation of sovereignty,” the state news agency Tass reported him as saying.

Ryabkov’s statement comes after US President Barack Obama said Washington would increase number of special operations forces in Syria from 50 to 300. They would work to advise and assist local forces fighting ISIS, he said.

Russia has gave Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces aerial backing since September.

Meanwhile, the United States and Russia have agreed on a “freeze” in fighting along two major fronts in Syria, but not in war-ravaged Aleppo, the Syrian and Russian militaries said Friday.

In a statement carried on state television, Syria’s armed forces said the freeze would begin at 1:00 am on Saturday (2200 GMT Friday).

‘Regime of calm’ agreed as Syria fighting rages

People inspect the damage at a site hit by airstrikes, in the rebel-held area of Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr, Syria April 28, 2016. (File photo: Reuters)

Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Friday, 29 April 2016

A “regime of calm” will be enforced in parts of Syria’s Latakia and Damascus regions from 1:00 am (2200 GMT) on April 30, in order to “secure the implementation of the agreed cessation of hostilities”, a Syrian military statement said on Friday.
A statement from the Syrian Army General Command did not mention the city of Aleppo, focus of fighting, and did not explain what military or non-military action a “regime of calm” would involve.
It would last for 24 hours in the Eastern Ghouta region east of Damascus and in Damascus, and for 72 hours in areas of the northern Latakia countryside.
“This is in order to sever the road for some terrorist groups and their supporters, who strive to prolong this state of tension and instability and to find pretexts to target peaceful civilians,” the statement said.
A Feb. 27 cessation of hostilities agreement was intended to allow an opportunity for peace talks and delivery of humanitarian relief across Syria.
Peace talks in Geneva aimed to end a war that has created the world’s worst refugee crisis, allowed for the rise of Islamic State and drew in regional and major powers, but the negotiations have all but failed and a cessation of hostilities agreement to allow them to take place has all but collapsed.

US-Russian agreement

The “regime of silence” has also been agreed by Russia and the United States which forbids military action in several parts of Syria, including the use of any kinds of weapons, the Interfax news agency quoted a senior Russian military official as saying on Friday.
General Sergei Kuralenko, in charge of Russia’s ceasefire monitoring center in Syria, was also cited as saying he saw no risk that the situation would slide back into a full-blown military conflict.

The agreement comes a day after the US and its allies carried out 22 strikes against ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria, focusing on the Mar'a area of western Syria and the city of Fallujah in Iraq, according to military figures released on Friday.
The airstrikes destroyed six fighting positions, four mortar positions and a vehicle, the military said in a statement.
Four strikes were also carried out against militants around the ISIS-held city of Fallujah, about 40 miles west of Baghdad. The strikes destroyed three fighting positions, a vehicle and two bridges, the statement said.
The coalition also carried out air or rocket artillery strikes against ISIS positions near Mosul, Qayyarah, Kisik, Al Baghdadi, Ramadi and Sinjar in Iraq, including the stronghold of Raqqa in Syria.

Aleppo attacks

An air strike on a hospital in the city of Aleppo that killed dozens of people was probably the work of Syrian government forces, a spokesman for the German government said on Friday.
A US official has also said the attack on Wednesday night appeared to be solely the work of the Syrian government. Syria’s military has denied its warplanes targeted the hospital.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference the destruction was targeted and therefore constituted the “murder of a huge number of civilians”.
“The available information suggests that this attack can, with some degree of probability, be traced back to the troops of (President Bashar al-Assad’s) regime,” Seibert said, adding that it was a “blatant violation of humanitarian law”.
The German government warned that the escalation of fighting in Aleppo and elsewhere threatened to undermine peace talks in Geneva.
“That must be avoided,” said Seibert, adding that Russia had a duty to prevent the ceasefire and the political process from failing.
The Geneva talks aim to end a war that has created the world’s worst refugee crisis, allowed the rise of Islamic State and drawn in regional and major powers, but a truce intended to allow negotiations to take place has collapsed.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement on Friday: “The Syrian government must decide - does it want to take part in negotiations seriously or does it want to continue to reduce its own country to rubble?”

Airstrikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo killed 123 civilians including 18 children during the past seven days of intensified violence in the northern Syrian city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

Seventy-one civilians, including 13 children, were killed by rebel shelling into government-held areas of the city during the same period, the British-based monitoring group said.

Eight more civilians, including three children, were killed by government shelling into areas not under its control in the city, the Observatory said.
In another attack in Aleppo, three people were killed and 25 wounded when rebel-fired mortars hit a mosque in Aleppo as people were leaving Friday prayers, the Syrian state news agency SANA said.
The mosque was in the government-held Bab al-Faraj area of Aleppo. SANA also said there were more deaths and injuries from rebel mortar attacks which hit the Bab al-Faraj and al-Midan quarters of Aleppo on Friday.

(With Reuters)

Libya calls for halt on anti-ISIS Sirte offensive

Western states are hoping the unity government will be able to make Libya’s armed factions work together against the ultra-hardline ISIS militant group. (File photo: AP)

Reuters, Tripoli Friday, 29 April 2016

Libya’s UN-backed unity government called on Thursday on military factions to hold off from any campaign against the ISIS-controlled city of Sirte until a unified military command structure is created.

The statement came amid signs that factions from both eastern and western Libya could be gearing up for an advance on Sirte, although such operations have repeatedly been announced in recent months without taking place.

ISIS has held Sirte since 2015, taking advantage of a conflict between loose alliances of armed brigades allied to Libya’s rival governments to seize a 250km strip of coastline around the central Mediterranean city, which lies between the eastern and western power bases.

Western states are hoping the unity government, which arrived in Tripoli last month, will be able to make Libya’s armed factions work together against the ultra-hardline militant group, and have said they are ready to provide training for Libyan forces if requested by the unity government.

The United States has already conducted air strikes against ISIS militants in Libya.

The unity government’s leadership, or Presidential Council, said on Thursday it welcomed the “push by various factions and armed forces to fight ISIS forces in Sirte”, but warned that an uncoordinated offensive could lead to civil war.

“In the absence of coordination and unified leadership ... the Council expresses its concern that the battle in Sirte against Daesh (ISIS) will be a confrontation between those armed forces,” it said in a statement, adding such a conflict would likely benefit ISIS.

“Accordingly, the Presidential Council, as the supreme commander of army, demands all Libyan military forces wait for it to appoint a joint leadership for the Sirte operation,” the statement said.

Obama: US may admit 10,000 Syria refugees this year

As Europe grappled with Syrians fleeing the country’s civil war last autumn, Obama promised to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of fiscal year 2016. (AP)

Reuters, Washington Friday, 29 April 2016

President Barack Obama said on Thursday he expected the United States would meet a goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees before the end of the year despite delays and opposition from critics concerned about security implications.

As Europe grappled with Syrians fleeing the country’s civil war last autumn, Obama promised to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of fiscal year 2016. But the State Department reported on March 31, halfway into the fiscal year, that only 1,285 Syrians had been admitted into the United States.

“We’re going to keep on pushing,” Obama said when asked on Thursday whether the goal would be achieved.

Obama’s promise has come under fire from Republicans concerned that violent militants could come into the United States posing as refugees.

More than 30 governors have tried to block refugees from their states, but courts and attorneys general have said it is up to the federal government to screen refugees and settle them.

The president said his administration wanted to assure the public the refugees were being properly screened and vetted. Congress may put up roadblocks to the process, he said.

“Administratively I think now we have the process to speed it up,” he told a news conference with student journalists at the White House.

“Our goal is to continue to try to make the case to Congress and the American people (that) this is the right thing to do and we believe that we can hit those marks before the end of the year.”

Washington has offered refuge to far fewer of the millions fleeing war in Syria and Iraq than many of its closest allies in Europe and the Middle East.

The agency responsible for processing and admitting refugees, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, is under added pressure to make sure none of those admitted have ties to violent extremists.

Requirements for additional screening measures were passed following the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris after Obama had laid out his goal of admitting 10,000 Syrians.

Iran holds run-off parliamentary election

Rowhani’s moderate and centrist allies made major gains in the parliamentary election held on February 26, but failed to win a majority. (File photo: AP)

Reuters Friday, 29 April 2016

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Iranians started voting on Friday in a second round of parliamentary elections for 68 seats of the 290-seat assembly, state TV reported, with the allies of President Hassan Rowhani seeking to wrest seats from hardliners.
“The voters will elect 68 lawmakers in constituencies that candidates failed to get 25 percent of votes cast in the first round of the election,” said Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, state TV reported.
Rowhani’s moderate and centrist allies made major gains in the parliamentary election held on February 26, but failed to win a majority. The current parliament is dominated by the hardline allies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Rowhani’s allies gained all 30 seats representing the capital city of Tehran in the first round of elections. Rahmani Fazli said the results will be announced by Sunday.
The new parliament will begin its session on May 27. It has no direct control over major policy matters but it can back the policies of Rowhani to bolster the country’s sanction-hit economy.
Sanctions were lifted in January in exchange for curbing Iran’s nuclear programme under a deal reached with major powers in 2015.
A moderate-dominated parliament also can influence the re-election of Rowhani as president in 2017.

Yemeni sides to meet face-to-face Saturday

 

 

Children stand at the door of their house during the first day of a ceasefire in Yemen's capital Sanaa April 11, 2016. (Reuters)

Staff writer, Al Arabiya News Channel Friday, 29 April 2016

Yemen’s warring sides are getting ready to meet for direct talks scheduled Saturday for the first time after peace negotiations entreated its second week on Thursday, sourced told Al Arabiya News Channel.

The sources said each side will have a four-member team for the direct talks which will be headed by the UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

Sources close to the negotiations have told Agence France-Presse on Thursday that the two delegations have not yet met face-to-face.

In preparation for the Yemeni talks on Saturday, the Yemeni government delegates have offered their vision for the withdrawal of armed forces, handing of arms, forming security committees and charting urgent economic measures to salvage the country.

In the same time, Yemen’s representative for the UN Khaled al-Yamani emphasized that his government and international community will not accept militias participating in the country’s political bodies like the Shiite movement Hezbollah in Lebanon’s parliament.

More than 6,800 people have been killed and around 2.8 million displaced in Yemen since a Saudi-led Arab coalition began operations in March 2015 against the Iran-backed Houthi militias, who have seized swathes of territory including the capital Sanaa.

Ahmed hailed on Thursday the “positive atmosphere” at crucial peace talks between the country’s warring sides.

So far there was no major breakthrough in the previous several rounds of talks for Ahmed but the UN envoy has managed to get the two sides to approve the agenda and has begun debating key issues.

Besides discussing ways to firm up an ongoing ceasefire, delegates also tackled “the issues related to the withdrawal of armed groups, handover of heavy weapons, resumption of the political transition and the release of prisoners and detainees,” Ahmed said in a statement.

(With AFP)