Syrian death toll now tops 30,000: activist group

Syrian death toll now tops 30,000: activist group

Related News

Syrian rebels bomb army command in Damascus
12:25pm EDT
Bombs explode at security site in Damascus: rebels
Tue, Sep 25 2012
Eyes wide shut, world watches Syria bleed
Sun, Sep 23 2012
Free Syrian Army rebel leaders move from Turkey to Syria
Sat, Sep 22 2012
Syrian air strike kills at least 54: activists
Thu, Sep 20 2012

Analysis & Opinion

Murders in the forest
Can the Middle East survive a post-Western era?

BEIRUT | Wed Sep 26, 2012 11:15am EDT

(Reuters) - At least 30,000 people have died in Syria's 18-month-old uprising, a British-based Syrian monitoring group said on Wednesday, and more than half of the victims counted were killed in the past five months.

The uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, which began in March 2011 as peaceful protests, has descended into civil war since rebels took up arms against a security force crackdown.

Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 30,716 people were killed. Most of them - at least 21,534 - were civilians. But his network of activists, who are based around Syria, do not divide their civilian death count between unarmed residents and those who have joined the rebels.

The pro-opposition Observatory said 7,322 soldiers fighting for Assad were killed, while at least 1,860 army defectors died fighting for the opposition.

"By looking through our figures, we noticed that the toll has been rising. Between 50 and 60 percent of those killed died in the past five months," Abdulrahman said.

Syrian authorities have said in the past that more than 2,600 members of the security forces have been killed, but have not given a casualty figure for several months.

Despite the rapidly rising death toll, international powers are stuck in a diplomatic stalemate. Western powers and Gulf Arab states back the opposition, while Russia, China and Iran are backing Assad.

The violence spiked rapidly in recent months as rebel forces spread, taking the fight across the country and into Syria's two major cities, the capital Damascus and business hub Aleppo.

Assad, who says his opponents are "terrorists" backed by foreign powers, has responded with heavy bombardment, including the use of fighter jets and helicopter gunships.

(This story corrects figure in headline)

(Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Stephen Powell)



http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Protests erupt in Pakistan over anti-Islam film

JOINT UN-ARAB LEAGUE ENVOY AND SYRIAN PRESIDENT DISCUSS WORSENING CRISIS

JOINT UN-ARAB LEAGUE ENVOY AND SYRIAN PRESIDENT DISCUSS WORSENING CRISIS

The Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the League of Arab States on the Syrian crisis, Lakhdar Brahimi, discussed the ongoing violence and worsening humanitarian situation with President Bashar al-Assad during a meeting in Damascus on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr. Brahimi said the crisis is getting worse and has serious consequences on the Syrian people, the region and the entire world.

"We discussed this issue. I believe that the President is more aware than me of the scope and seriousness of this crisis," said the envoy, who arrived earlier this week for meetings with representatives of the Government, the opposition and civil society.

"I informed the President that we, in the name of the United Nations and the League of Arab States, will exert every effort, present ideas and mobilize capacities and potentials required for this situ
ation in order to best help the Syrian people out of this crisis."

More than 18,000 people, mostly civilians, have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began 18 months ago. Amidst reports of an escalation in violence in recent weeks in many towns and villages, as well as the country's two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo, UN agencies now estimate that some 2.5 million Syrians are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

"This crisis is becoming worse by the day," stated Mr. Brahimi, adding that it is urgent to address it in a proper manner.

Following his visit to Syria, Mr. Brahimi will go to New York to meet with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council, "as well as a number of States which have influence, interests, or both, with regard to the Syrian issue," he said.

Mr. Brahimi earlier this month assumed the peace-facilitation role which had been carried out since February by a former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, with the aim of brin
ging an end to all violence and human rights violations in Syria, and promoting a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Four Nato troops killed by 'Afghan police'-bbc

Four Nato troops killed by 'Afghan police'-bbc

Taliban Conflict
Marching forwards
Taliban fighters switch sides
What lies ahead?
Nato's exit strategyWatch

Four soldiers with the Nato-led force in Afghanistan have been killed in an attack thought to have been carried out by Afghan police members, Nato says.

The "insider attack" took place in the south of the country and one of the attackers was reportedly killed.

The latest incident comes a day after two UK soldiers were killed at a checkpoint by a man in police uniform.

On Friday, two US marines were killed in a Taliban attack on Nato's Camp Bastion base in southern Afghanistan.

Militants breached the perimeter of the sprawling Camp Bastion base in Helmand province, destroying six aircraft.

The Taliban told the BBC that they carried out Friday's attack in revenge for a film mocking Islam which has triggered protests around the Muslim world.

More than 50 soldiers with the Nato-led force have been killed so far this year in so-called insider - or green-on-blue - attacks.


http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Al Qaida calls for more attacks

Al Qaida calls for more attacks

(UKPA) –

Al Qaida's most active branch in the Middle East has called for more attacks on US embassies to "set the fires blazing", seeking to use the outrage over an anti-Muslim film which sparked a wave of protests that swept 20 countries.

Senior Muslim religious authorities issued their strongest pleas yet against resorting to violence, trying to defuse Muslim anger over the film, a day after new attacks on US and Western embassies that left at least eight protesters dead.

The top cleric in US ally Saudi Arabia, Grand Mufti Sheik Abdel-Aziz al-Sheik, condemned the film but, urging Muslims not to be "dragged by anger" into violence, said it could not really hurt Islam.

Sheik Ahmed al-Tayeb, head of the Sunni Muslim world's pre-eminent religious institution, Egypt's Al-Azhar, backed peaceful protests but said Muslims should counter the film by reviving Islam's moderate ideas.

In the Egyptian capital Cairo, where the first protests against the film that denigrates the Prophet Muhammad erupted, police finally succeeded in clearing away protesters who had clashed with security forces for days near the US embassy. Police arrested 220 people and a concrete wall was erected across the road leading to the embassy.

No significant protests were reported in the Middle East on Saturday; the only report of violence linked to the film came from Australia, where riot police clashed with about 200 protesters at the US consulate in Sydney.

In his weekly radio and internet address, US president Barack Obama paid tribute to the four Americans, including ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, who were killed in an armed attack on the US consulate in Benghazi this week. "I have made it clear that the United States has a profound respect for people of all faiths. We stand for religious freedom. And we reject the denigration of religion - including Islam," Mr Obama said. "Yet there is never any justification for violence. There is no religion that condones the targeting of innocent men and women."

But the Yemen-based al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, considered the most dangerous of the terror network's branches to the US, called the killing of Mr Stevens "the best example" for those attacking embassies to follow. "What has happened is a great event, and these efforts should come together in one goal, which is to expel the embassies of America from the lands of the Muslims," the group said.

It called on protests to continue in Muslim nations "to set the fires blazing at these embassies". It also called on "our Muslim brothers in Western nations to fulfil their duties in supporting God's prophet ... because they are the most capable of reaching them and vexing them".

So far there has been no evidence of a direct role by al Qaida in the protests.

http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Taliban say attack on Nato's Camp Bastion is revenge for film

Taliban say attack on Nato's Camp Bastion is revenge for film


Violent protests have continued across the Middle East in response to a film made in the US seen as insulting to Islam
Mid-East protests
Friday: as it happened
Protests in pictures
Libyans speak out
Diplomat danger

The Taliban have told the BBC that they carried out an attack on Nato's Camp Bastion in Afghanistan in revenge for a film mocking Islam.

At least two US marines died when militants attacked the perimeter of the huge base in Helmand.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told the BBC that the target was US and UK soldiers and involved 10 insurgents.

Violent protests against Western embassies have swept the Muslim world amid widespread anger over the film.

Protests against the video - Innocence of Muslims - began on Tuesday in Egypt. On Friday, at least seven people died in escalating unrest in Khartoum, Tunis and Cairo.

Nato officials say insurgents used small arms, rockets and mortars in the attack on Camp Bastion.
Continue reading the main story
Protest timeline - main flashpoints


11 September

1. US embassy in Cairo attacked, flag torn down and replaced with black Islamist banner

2. Mob attacks US consulate in Benghazi, US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans killed

13 September

3. Protesters break into the US embassy compound in Sanaa, Yemen, amid clashes with security forces

14 September

4. Sudanese protesters attack US, German and UK embassies in Khartoum and clash with police. Three killed

5. One person killed in Lebanon in protest at a KFC restaurant

6. Protesters in Tunis attack the US embassy, with a large fire reported and shots heard. Two killed

7. Riot police in Cairo clash with protesters near US embassy. One person killed
In pictures: Anti-Islam film protests
Q&A: What is the anti-Islam film about?
Press gloomy on West's ties with Muslim world

The sprawling camp is home to troops from several countries and Friday's attack targeted the US compound, Camp Leatherneck.

Maj Martin Crighton from Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) told the BBC troops were conducting an assessment to determine the extent of the damage.

The video - produced in the US - depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a womaniser and leader of a group of bloodthirsty men. It has been circulating on YouTube.

Camp Bastion has a high level of security and is one of the world's busiest airports because of the huge number of helicopter and aeroplane flights landing and taking off.

The UK's Prince Harry is currently based there, on his second Afghan tour of duty.

Nato told Reuters that the prince was on the base at the time of the attack but was "never in any danger".

There are fears of a surge in violence in Afghanistan ahead of the withdrawal of foreign forces by 2014.Sending marines

Western countries have appealed for an end to the violent protests targeting their embassies.

On Friday The EU urged leaders in Arab and Muslim countries to "call immediately for peace and restraint".

The US is sending marines to defend its embassy in Khartoum and has called on Sudan to protect foreign diplomats.

US embassies have borne the brunt of the attacks.

Marines were deployed to Libya on Wednesday after the attack that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans and to Yemen on Friday after violence in Sanaa.

On Friday, US Vice-President Joe Biden his Sudanese counterpart, Ali Osman Taha, to express concern over the security of the US and other Western embassies in Khartoum.

"Vice-President Biden reaffirmed the responsibility of the government of Sudan to protect diplomatic facilities and stressed the need for the government... to ensure the protection of diplomats in Khartoum," a White House statement said.

A crowd of several thousand attacked the US embassy in Khartoum on Friday, and state radio said three protesters had been killed in clashes with security forces.

The German and UK embassies in Khartoum were also attacked, although the controversial film has no known links to either country.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged "national authorities in all countries concerned to swiftly ensure the security of diplomatic missions and protect diplomatic staff".

"It is vitally important that leaders across the affected regions should call immediately for peace and restraint, as has already been the case in many countries."

http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Afghanistan:Two Marines Die In Prince Harry Base Attack

Two Marines Die In Prince Harry Base Attack
The base's perimeter is breached as militants armed with rockets damage buildings, an aircraft hangar and several military jets.




Video: Insurgents Launch Attack On Camp BastionEnlarge




Email


Militants armed with rockets have attacked a major Allied military base in Afghanistan where Prince Harry is stationed, leaving two US Marines dead and a number of others hurt.

The perimeter of Camp Bastion was breached as it was hit by small arms fire and there was major damage to buildings, an aircraft hangar and several military jets.

A US official confirmed two marines had died and several troops were injured.

This facility is often subject to indirect fire, but officials in Afghanistan say the damage that resulted was far more severe than normal. The attack was launched in the US area of the base.

A spokesman at ISAF's Joint Command said the assault was over but details including the number of attackers and whether they managed to penetrate the base were not immediately clear.

Officials in Afghanistan said it was too early to know if the attack was motivated by the anti-Muslim YouTube film which has sparked violent protests in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.Prince Harry arrived in Afghanistan last Friday

Prince Harry is currently stationed at Camp Bastion on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan - expected to last four months.

A Nato spokesman said the prince, who is third in line to the throne, was on the base at the time of the attack but was "never in any danger".

The Army captain, known in the military as Captain Wales, has been undergoing training to fly operations in Apache attack helicopters and is expected to start flying missions this week as co-pilot gunner.

The Taliban had described the prince as "a high value target", saying they would "make their best efforts to arrest or kill" him.

Camp Bastion is a huge, heavily fortified base in the middle of the desert shared with British, US, Danish, Estonian and Afghan troops.

It is the logistics hub for operations in Helmand province, with supply convoys and armoured patrols regularly leaving its heavily-defended gates to support military forward operating bases and checkpoints.

http://news.sky.com/story/985315/two-marines-die-in-prince-harry-base-attack

http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Syrian Resort to Heavy Weapons a Sign of Assad's Weakness (Riyadh, S. Arabia)

Syrian Resort to Heavy Weapons a Sign of Assad's Weakness (Riyadh, S. Arabia)

GLEN CAREY
ASSOCIATED PRESS

 Bloomberg News.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The use by Bashar Assad's armed forces of ever-deadlier weapons to crush the 18-month Syrian uprising at the expense of greater civilian casualties is a sign of the regime's weakness, military and Middle East analysts say.

Syria's government has become more reliant on heavy weaponry including attack aircraft, helicopter gunships, artillery and tanks even as lightly armed rebels win and hold ground in the biggest cities — Aleppo, the business center, and suburbs of the capital, Damascus.

Assad's forces have been employing heavier weapons because "they don't have enough combat maneuver units to deal with the rebellion," according to Jeffrey White, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a 34-year veteran of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. That shortage of troops indicates a loss of army personnel from defections and desertions, White said in a phone interview.

The Syrian army's full-time notional strength is about 220,000 personnel, plus allied Shabiha militiamen, according to the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies' Military Balance 2012. Yet the fighting has reduced its effectiveness as a military force and its manpower may now be only about 100,000 troops, White estimates, while the remaining units "aren't necessarily fighting very well."

If the Syrian military is unable to break the deadlock even with air power, it may resort to still-tougher tactics.

"There is another level beyond that when they actually start systematically destroying entire suburbs of major towns," said Crispin Hawes, head of the Middle East program at Eurasia Group, a New York-based political risk research company.

In Aleppo, government forces shelled neighborhoods and battled overnight with rebels near the international airport, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on its Facebook page Wednesday. More than 140 people, including 95 unarmed civilians and 26 personnel from the Syrian army, died Tuesday in the clashes, the Britain-based group said.

A car bomb and rebel assault at military position killed at least 18 soldiers today in Idlib province, the Observatory said, after rebels attacked as many as 100 troops manning a checkpoint.

Syrian forces routinely storm small towns and city districts seeking rebels and their supporters. In August, loyalists entered Dariya, a town outside Damascus, leaving bodies piled on the streets and in a mosque, according to opposition groups. A video posted on YouTube showed the corpses of men covered in blankets on the floor of the Abu Sulaiman Darani mosque in Dariya. The authenticity of the video couldn't be verified.

Syria's armed forces possess a large inventory of military hardware. Mainly Russian-supplied, this includes 4,950 main battle tanks and 3,440 artillery pieces, while the air force has 365 combat-capable aircraft including 240 MiG-21s, MiG-23s, Su-22s and Su-24s assigned to ground attack, according to the IISS. In addition, it has 33 Mi-25 attack helicopters.

"Statistically the regime has considerable power, but the part that can be used is very small," said Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Geneva-based Gulf Research Center, in an interview. "We are witnessing a shift in the balance of power on the battlefield inside Syria." That's why the government is using its weaponry "to regain the balance that was lost."

Alani says the best-equipped unit, the 4th Armored Division led by Assad's brother Maher, is being held back in the capital for "the last stand of the regime."

Syria's economy is showing signs of weakening under sanctions. In June, consumer prices rose 36 percent from a year earlier and climbed by 2.9 percent from May, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics in Damascus. Crude output has fallen by almost 50 percent during the uprising, Oil Minister Said Hunaidi said last month.

Even so, Assad's downfall is not assured, Hawes says. "Syria potentially looks like an open-ended conflict," he says. Unlike the removal of governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, "Assad is going to be a lot harder to tip over."

Both sides have switched tactics as the conflict has evolved since the start of the uprising in March 2011.

"For most of last year, the military response was reasonably measured in that they were attempting to minimize civilian casualties, with the eye on re-establishing order and being able to run the country in the way that they ran it before," said Hawes. "That goal is no longer perceived to be realistic. They are happy to use helicopter gunships and air support to attack suburbs, losing a huge number of civilian casualties."

Pressure from more than a year of combat operations has "taxed" the Syrian military, causing problems with resupply, maintenance and morale, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month.

That's why Iran has started to train a new militia force, called " the Army of the People," drawn from the minority Shiite and Alawite communities "to take some of the pressure off of the Syrian military," he said.

The Syrian military is also being resupplied by Iran, says Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai. While Iran has supported Assad's government in public statements, it hasn't officially acknowledged any military role in Syria.

The rebels too have altered their approach, entering and holding areas of the biggest cities. Even so, the Free Syrian Army lacks a "grand strategy," White says.

The partial seizure of Aleppo, "didn't reflect any profound strategic thinking," he said. "They saw an opportunity, saw that regime forces were weak and not fighting very well, and they seized on the opportunity."

He says the Syrian military response has failed to dislodge them and that the rebels are fighting a long war.

"The FSA doesn't have a field force, they can't come out of the towns and villages meet the Syrian army in some kind of open battle," he said. "They can weaken the army over time, and I think that is what they are doing. They are going to break the army piece by piece."

-(Optional add end)-

Rebels have turned their attacks against airbases as they try to degrade the government's air power. Battles have been fought around the Abu Zhuhoor military base, the Kwers military airport in Aleppo and in the city of Bukmal in Deir Ezzour province near the border with Iraq.

Heavy fighting erupted in areas of Damascus and Aleppo in July as rebels confronted the government in its biggest urban power bases.

The same month, a bomb was smuggled into one of the government's most sensitive institutions, the national security headquarters in Damascus, killing key members of Assad's military establishment, including his brother-in-law, Major General Assef Shawkat, and Defense Minister Dawoud Rajhah. In August, Prime Minister Riad Hijab defected to Jordan and denounced Assad's regime as "the enemy of God."

The Syrian Observatory estimates that more than 26,000 people have died to date, an average of about 50 a day. Throughout most of August and September, opposition groups have reported death tolls of more than 100 daily, with the Local Coordination Committees in Syria identifying Aug. 25 as the bloodiest, with 440 people said to have lost their lives.

The problem for Syria's rebels, according to White, is that they lack the firepower to bring the battle to Assad's forces, while loyalist units lack the stomach for close-quarters combat. "When regime ground units attack, they don't attack very hard," he said.

With the conflict dragging on, "there will be no winners in this rolling slaughter," said Paul Sullivan, an economics professor specializing in Middle East security at Georgetown University in Washington. "Syria is likely finished as a country that functions for some time to come."

bc-syria-analysis


http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Feds ID anti-Islam filmmaker who sparked protests

Feds ID anti-Islam filmmaker who sparked protests

(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - Federal authorities have identified a southern California man once convicted of financial crimes as the key figure behind the anti-Muslim film that ignited mob violence against U.S. embassies across the Mideast, a U.S. law enforcement official said Thursday.

Attorney General Eric Holder said that Justice Department officials had opened a criminal investigation into the deaths of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other diplomats killed during an attack on the American mission in Benghazi. It was not immediately clear whether authorities were focusing on the California filmmaker as part of that probe.

A federal law enforcement official said Thursday that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was the man behind "Innocence of Muslims," a film denigrating Islam and the Prophet Muhammad that sparked protests earlier in the week in Egypt and Libya and now in Yemen. U.S. authorities are investigating whether the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya came during a terrorist attack.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation, said Nakoula was connected to the persona of Sam Bacile, a figure who initially claimed to be the writer and director of the film. But Bacile quickly turned out to a false identity.

A Christian activist involved in the film project, Steve Klein, told CBS News that Bacile was a pseudonym, and he told The Associated Press that Bacile was Christian. Klein had told the AP on Tuesday that the filmmaker was an Israeli Jew who was concerned for family members who live in Egypt.

Klein said he didn't know the real name of the man he called "Sam," who came to him for advice on First Amendment issues.

Klein said the film's financial backers are an anonymous group of Christians, Jews and Muslims with ties to the Middle East, CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports. The film itself is amateurish, shot outside Los Angeles on a very low budget. Several actors told CBS News they only saw their scenes. They were horrified and frightened by the end result.

"I pray now for the family that lost, you know, that lost their loved ones, and I'm praying for the madness to stop," said Cindy, and actor who spoke to CBS News on the condition that only her first name be used.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the film is "disgusting and reprehensible." She called it a cynical attempt to offend people for their religious beliefs but said the U.S. would never stop Americans from expressing their views, no matter how distasteful.

Still, she said the film is no justification for violence or attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel.

http://www.cbsnews.com

Arab leaders slam anti-Islam film, denounce violent protests

Arab leaders slam anti-Islam film, denounce violent protests



A Libyan man holds a placard during a demonstration against the attack on the US consulate that killed four Americans, including the ambassador, in Benghazi, Libya. (AP)

ARAB NEWS

BRUSSELS/ALGIERS: Egypt, Algeria and Morocco on Thursday slammed an anti-Islam film that has sparked protests worldwide, but also denounced attacks on US missions by angry protesters.
Egypt’s Islamist President Muhammad Mursi vowed Thursday not to allow attacks on foreign embassies in Cairo, saying the Egyptian people reject such “unlawful acts.”
Speaking during a visit to the European Union in Brussels, Mursi said he had spoken to President Barack Obama and condemned “in the clearest terms” the Tuesday attacks on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi in which the ambassador and three other Americans died.
Crowds protesting at the US Embassy in Cairo the same day climbed its walls and tore down an American flag, which they replaced briefly with a black, Islamist flag.

On Thursday, angry protesters stormed the US Embassy compound in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, tearing down and burning the US flag, in a scene reminiscent of the Cairo incident.
Officials were investigating whether the Libya rampage was a backlash to an anti-Islamic video with ties to Coptic Christians or a plot to coincide with the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Mursi, who was making his first visit to the West, also harshly criticized the film.
“We condemn strongly ... all those who launch such provocations and who stand behind that hatred,” Mursi said, adding that he had asked Obama “to put an end to such behavior.”
While criticizing the film, Algeria and Morocco also offered their condolences over the death of the US ambassador to Libya.
Morocco described as “shameful aggression” the attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, and presented its “sincere condolences” to the US government and people.

The Moroccan government stressed that the attack “cannot, in any case, be justified,” in a statement carried by the official MAP news agency.
Algeria’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, condemned the low-budget movie, “Innocence of Muslims,” reportedly made by an Israeli-American, which portrays Muslims as immoral and gratuitously.
Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci offered his condolences to his US counterpart Hilary Clinton, after the deadly attack.
Ministry spokesman Amar Belani meanwhile deplored “the irresponsibility of the authors of the film... which offends Islam and his prophet,” cited by the official APS news agency.

“The outrages on the sacred religious symbols... can only result in disapproval and indignation, because these provocations are designed to fuel hatred,” he added.
The US embassy in Algiers issued an emergency travel warning, urging US citizens to avoid large crowds, and to “be aware of the potential for protests or demonstrations at any time.”

In Morocco’s largest city Casablanca, between 300 and 400 Muslim activists gathered outside the US consulate, amid a heavy police presence, some shouting anti-US slogans, including “Death to Obama!“
On Thursday, Egyptian police used tear gas as they clashed with a stone-throwing crowd protesting outside the US embassy in Cairo, after 13 people were injured in overnight unrest, according to the health ministry.

— From reports of news agencies
http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Protests erupt worldwide over anti-Islam film

Protests erupt worldwide over anti-Islam film
Arab News




Protesters break windows at the US embassy in Sanaa on Thursday. (AFP)





Thursday 13 September 2012


SANAA: Protests by Muslims angry at an anti-Islam film erupted across the Middle East and South Asia on Thursday, with hundreds of activists storming the US Embassy compound in Yemen’s capital and burning the American flag.

The protesters breached the usually tight security around the embassy and reached the compound grounds but did not enter the main building housing the offices. Once inside the compound, they brought down the US flag, burned it and replaced it with a black banner bearing Islam’s declaration of faith — “There is no God but Allah.

Protests were also held in Bangladesh, Morocco, Iran and Iraq, while Egyptians clashed with police outside the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt.
The protests followed the violent attack on the US Consulate in Libya's city of Benghazi, which protesters set on fire before killing the US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

In Iraq, a militia that carried out some of the most prominent attacks on foreigners during the Iraq war threatened US interests in the country.
“The offense caused to the messenger (Prophet Muhammad) will put all American interests in danger and we will not forgive them for that,” Qais Al-Khazali, leader of the Asaib Al-Haq militia, said.

In Morocco’s largest city Casablanca, between 300 and 400 Muslim activists gathered outside the US consulate, amid a heavy police presence, some shouting anti-US slogans, including “Death to Obama!"
Hundreds of supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr also held a protest in the city of Najaf to voice their protest.
The demonstrators, circled by security forces, shouted slogans hostile to the United States and Israel, an AFP correspondent reported from the city, 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of Baghdad.
Sadr, in a statement, urged the Iraqi government to summon the US ambassador and to impose a ban on visitors from the United States. He also called for “Christians around the world to condemn such actions as this film.”

Sanaa attack
Before storming the grounds of the US Embassy in Sanaa, demonstrators removed the embassy’s sign on the outer wall, set tires ablaze and pelted the compound with rocks.
It was similar to an attack on the US Embassy in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Tuesday night.
In Egypt, protesters were clashing with police near the US Embassy in the capital Cairo for the third day in a row.
The violence has raised worries that further protests could break out around the Muslim world as anger spreads over the movie.
Yemeni security forces who rushed to the scene fired in the air and used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators and were eventually able to drive them out of the compound. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was inside the embassy at the time of the attack.
The Yemeni Embassy in Washington condemned the attack and vowed to ensure the safety of foreign diplomats and to step up security measures around their missions in the country.
Yemen is home to Al-Qaeda’s most active branch and the United States is the main foreign supporter of the Yemeni government’s counterterrorism campaign. The government on Tuesday announced that Al-Qaeda’s No. 2 leader in Yemen was killed in an apparent US airstrike, a major blow to the terror network.
The movie, “Innocence of Muslims,” came to attention in Egypt after its trailer was dubbed into Arabic and posted on YouTube. The video-sharing website blocked access to it Wednesday.

Apology
In Bangladesh, about 100 people burned the US flag and chanted slogans in Dhaka to register their protest.
The demonstrators, mostly students at Islamic seminaries, hit the flag with shoes before setting it ablaze in front of the Baitul Mokarram Mosque, Bangladesh’s biggest mosque.
“America should apologize immediately and arrest the people who’ve made the film,” Shah Ahmadullah Ashraf, head of Bangladesh Khalefat Andolon, a small Islamic party that organized the rally, told the crowd.
He said the US embassy in Dhaka could be targeted and called for nationwide protests after Friday prayers.
Bangladesh police said they had boosted security at the embassy to prevent any repeat of violence that left four Americans including the US ambassador dead in Libya on Tuesday.

'Death to America!'
In Tehran, up to 500 protesters chanted “Death to America!” and death to the movie’s director as they marched near the Swiss embassy, which handles US interests in the absence of US-Iran diplomatic ties.
Hundreds of police and security personnel prevented the crowd from approaching the diplomatic compound, which had been evacuated by Swiss diplomats as a precaution.
Iranian news agencies said the demonstration was called by the Student Islamic Society, a hard-line university group loyal to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that has held anti-Western rallies in the past.
US media initially cited someone claiming to be an American-Israeli calling himself Sam Bacile as saying he made the film on a $5 million budget with the help of 100 Jews, but no record of such a person has been found.
US President Barack Obama, in a telephone call to Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi on Wednesday, said he “rejects efforts to denigrate Islam, but underscored that there is never any justification for violence against innocents and acts that endanger American personnel and facilities.”
Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani responded by saying: “Obama’s comments that he respects the Muslim culture is a big and bold lie. The Americans and the Zionists do not tolerate other religions and cultures.”
Western embassies in Iran maintain a high level of vigilance over any protests.
Canada last week closed its embassy, citing concern over the safety of its diplomats.
In November last year, the British embassy was stormed and ransacked during a state-organized demonstration, prompting London to close that mission and order Iran’s diplomats out of Britain.
In 1979, in the wake of Iran’s Islamic revolution, protesters overran the US embassy in Tehran, taking 52 diplomats and other Americans hostage for 444 days. That incident led to the rupture of Iran-US ties.



http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Iraq VP Tariq al-Hashemi sentenced to death

Iraq VP Tariq al-Hashemi sentenced to death-bbc

Tariq al-Hashemi is now in Turkey, where he has held meetings with Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish politicians

Struggle for Iraq
Exploiting fragility
Iraq's dilemma
Message of hope
Divisions laid bare

Iraq's fugitive vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi has been sentenced to death in absentia after a court found him guilty of running death squads.

The ruling came as at least 92 people were killed and more than 350 injured in more than 20 attacks across Iraq.

Hashemi was the most senior Sunni Muslim in the predominantly Shia Iraqi government until he was charged last December and went on the run.

The charges against him sparked a political crisis in Iraq.

Hashemi declined to comment on the court ruling after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara, according to the Associated Press news agency.

The vice-president said only he would soon "tackle this issues in a statement".

Other Sunni politicians have denounced Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - who issued the warrant for Mr Hashemi - as a dictator, accusing him of deliberate provocation that risked plunging the country back into sectarian conflict.
One of the attacks was near the French consulate in the southern city of Nasiriya

Correspondents say the fragile coalition government of Sunnis, secularists and Shia has appeared to be in danger of collapse ever since.

Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaeda have been blamed for much of the recent violence in Iraq.

Sunday saw a fresh wave of killings, including:
at least one car bomb explosion in Baghdad, which killed at least nine people on Sunday evening
earlier, three car bombs in the capital's predominantly Shia districts killed 15 people
a shooting and bombing attack on an army base north of Baghdad, which left 11 soldiers dead
two car bomb explosions in the south-eastern city of Amara outside a Shia shrine, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than 60
a bomb blast in the northern city of Kirkuk, which killed seven police officers
a dawn raid on a military base in Dujail, north of Baghdad, in which 10 soldiers died
a bomb explosion outside the French honorary consulate in Nasiriya, in the south, which left one person dead. The French government condemned the blast
attacks were also reported in Tuz Khurmatu, Baquba, Basra and Samarra.Sectarian tensions
Continue reading the main story
Tariq al-Hashemi

Senior member of the secular, mainly Sunni Iraqiyya bloc
Iraqi vice-president since 2006
On 20 December 2011, arrest warrant issued for him on charges of running death squads; he flees to northern Iraq
In April 2012, he leaves Iraq, going to Qatar and Saudi Arabia before arriving in Turkey
In September 2012, convicted and sentenced to death in absentia; 30 days to appeal

The Iraqi government issued the warrant for Hashemi's arrest on 19 December 2011, the day after the last US troops left the country.

He fled first to the largely autonomous Kurdish north of the country, and from there to Qatar and on to Turkey.

Prosecutors said Hashemi was involved in 150 killings. During his trial in absentia in Baghdad, some of his former bodyguards said Mr Hashemi had ordered murders.

He says the charges against him are politically motivated and has accused Mr Maliki of fuelling sectarianism.

On Sunday, an Iraqi court found Hashemi and his son-in-law guilty of two murders and sentenced him to death by hanging. The judge dismissed a third charge for lack of evidence.

Although violence has decreased since its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks have escalated again after the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq at the end of last year, amid increasing political and sectarian tensions.

The Iraqi government has been hampered by divisions between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish political groups.

The Iraqi government said July 2012 was the deadliest month in nearly two years, with 325 people killed.

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a Sunni, and many Sunnis believe they are being penalised by Shias, who have grown in influence since the US invasion.

Sunnis have accused Mr Maliki of taking an authoritarian approach to government.



http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

US senators push for arming of Syria rebels

US senators push for arming of Syria rebels



Syrians wave revolutionary Syrian flags and chant slogans supporting the Free Syrian Army, in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman, Jordan, on Friday. (AP)

ARAB NEWS

Saturday 8 September 2012


UNITED NATIONS: As the United Nations on Friday nearly doubled its humanitarian appeal for Syria, United States senators urged Washington to provide weapons to Syria's rebel forces to put an end to the Assad regime's genocidal attacks.

“There is a slaughter going on. Everything that motivated all of us to get involved in Libya is happening in Syria, and more," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, who, along with John McCain and Lindsay Graham, pushed for a tougher US stance on the Syrian issue.

The three were in Italy to address the Ambrosetti Forum, a gathering of political and business leaders on the shores of Lake Como.

They urged Washington to help arm Syria’s rebels with weapons and create a safe zone inside the country for a transition government.

Lieberman noted that “Assad is the number one ally in the Arab world of Iran, and Iran is that greatest threat to stability in the region and beyond the region at this point.”

McCain blasted President Barack Obama, who defeated him in the 2008 presidential election, for recently setting the “red line” for Syria at use of chemical weapons.

“If you’re Bashar Assad ... maybe you interpret that to mean that you can do anything short of chemical weapons before the United States will intervene,” he said.

Lieberman and McCain — who together with Graham have toured the volatile Middle East in recent days — both argued that the longer the West waits the more jihadists will gain influence in the rebellion.

“We should be supplying weapons to the opposition to Assad (and) I strongly support the creation of a safe zone,” said Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, who has since become a Connecticut independent.

“The opposition has effectively seized control of a piece of land in northern Syria,” he said. “If we help them protect themselves from Assad’s helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft they can establish a transitional government ... I am confident that if we set it up and told (the regime) that if they attacked it there would be a vigorous response, they would not attack it.”

He said such a zone would enable potential future leaders now located in places like Istanbul and Paris to establish a presence among the people.

With the civil war intensifying, the number of people in need of assistance has doubled since July to 2.5 million, and the UN said it is seeking $347 million for people in need, including more than half a million children forced to flee their homes.
The plea comes even as the original appeal for $180 million is only half-funded. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged donors to increase their contributions.
“At the moment, the entire civilian population inside Syria is gripped by fear and despair,” John Ging, a senior UN humanitarian official, said after the UN humanitarian plan was launched Friday. “Humanitarian action is not a solution in conflict. The solution in conflict is political resolution ... but while there is failure to find that process ... we in the humanitarian community have to step up and do more in ever more dangerous circumstances to help people who are suffering more.”
Activists say more than 23,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad began in March 2011.

EU support

The European Union announced Friday it will provide an additional €60 million ($76 million) in humanitarian aid for Syria.

The announcement came days after France decided to provide direct aid and money to five rebel-held Syrian cities as it intensifies efforts to weaken Assad. It was the first such move by a western power amid mounting calls for the international community to do more to prevent bloodshed.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said that more than 1.2 million people are displaced inside Syria, half of them children. Another nearly 250,000 Syrian refugees are in neighboring Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq, including more than 100,000 people who were registered as refugees in August alone, Nesirky said.
Peter Maurer, the new president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said Friday he held “positive” talks with Assad this week on key humanitarian and human rights issues — freeing up the delivery of badly needed aid and gaining access to detainees.
He said Assad and other ministers generally agreed on the need to reduce barriers to delivering aid, and the president “expressed his readiness” to address the issue of prison detainees.
The UN plan was launched at the Syria Humanitarian Forum in Geneva, which brought together more than 350 participants from governments, regional and international organizations and UN humanitarian agencies to mobilize resources to help those uprooted by the conflict.
The updated UN humanitarian plan focuses on health, food, livelihoods, infrastructure repairs, community services, education and shelter in conflict areas including Homs, Hama, Idlib, Damascus, Deir el-Zour and Aleppo, as well as areas hosting large numbers of internally displaced people.
With thousands of Syrians fleeing the fighting, the UN refugee agency said its share of the new $347 million appeal is doubling to $41.7 million.
The agency is seeking funds for household items, medical assistance, rehabilitation of shelters and counseling of displaced populations, spokesman Adrian Edwards said in Geneva. The agency is also seeking help to provide financial assistance for 200,000 people considered vulnerable and to encourage displaced Syrian children to return to school, he said.
The EU said its new pledge brings the total aid donated by the 27-nation bloc to more than €200 million ($253 million) since the conflict began in March 2011.
The new EU funds will go to agencies that provide shelter and medical aid and for other humanitarian efforts, Kristalina Georgieva, EU commissioner for humanitarian aid, said at a foreign ministers meeting in Cyprus.
At the meeting, British Foreign Minister William Hague stressed that EU countries can only provide non-lethal aid to Syrian opposition groups because of an EU arms embargo that renders the supply of any weapons illegal.
French officials have acknowledged providing communications and other non-lethal equipment to Syrian rebel forces, but say they won’t provide weapons without international agreement.
“At the moment we have a European Union arms embargo on Syria; it’s not possible or legal for any EU nation to send weapons to anybody in Syria, and therefore our chosen route, and is the same route of France and the United States, is to give non-lethal assistance, and we’re doing that,” Hague told reporters.

— With reports of agencies
http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Iran sends elite troops to aid Assad regime

Iran sends elite troops to aid Assad regime
Iran is intensifying its support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad by sending 150 senior Revolutionary Guards commanders to Syria to help repel opposition attempts to overthrow the government.

Syrian government forces take position with a tank in the Saif al-Dawla district of Aleppo Photo: AFP



By Con Coughlin, Defence Editor

8:59PM BST 06 Sep 2012



Western intelligence officials say that Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has personally sanctioned the dispatch of the experienced officers to ensure that the Assad regime, Iran's most important regional ally, survives the threat to its survival.


In addition, Iran has shipped hundreds of tons of military equipment, including guns, rockets, and shells, to Syria through the regular air corridor that has been established between Damascus and Tehran.


Intelligence officials believe the increased Iranian support has been responsible for the growing effectiveness of the Assad regime's tactics in forcing anti-government rebel groups on the defensive.


In the past few weeks, pro-Assad forces have seized the offensive by launching a series of well-coordinated attacks against rebel strongholds in Damascus and Aleppo.


The Iranian operation to support Mr Assad is being masterminded by Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Guards' Quds force which is responsible for overseeing Iran's overseas operations. The decision to increase Iran's support for Syria was taken after the Syrian defence minister and Assad's brother-in-law were killed in a suicide bomb attack at Syria's national security headquarters in July, together with a number of other senior defence officials.

RELATED ARTICLES


Ahmadinejad: Iran sanctions hurting economy 05 Sep 2012


Iran 'will attack US bases if Israel bombs its nuclear facilities' 04 Sep 2012

Muslim tycoon in divorce fight over 'lawful polygamy' 04 Sep 2012

Barack Obama poised to announce the 'red lines' that would trigger a US attack on Iran 03 Sep 2012

Iran to install new missile system to protect its nuclear sites 03 Sep 2012

Syria and Iran 'backing Kurdish terrorist group', says Turkey 03 Sep 2012

The Revolutionary Guards officers were flown to Damascus in chartered Iranian aircraft which were given permission to fly through Iraqi air space. Iranian military equipment is said to have been shipped to Syria by the same route.

Iranian opposition groups also claim that some of the 48 Iranians taken hostage by Syrian rebels last month were part of the 150-strong detachment of Revolutionary Guards sent to support the Assad regime.

A spokesman for the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI) claimed that the Iranians being held by Syrian opposition groups included several brigadier-generals and a number of colonels who had many years of experience serving in the Revolutionary Guards.

"Iran has taken a strategic decision to deepen its involvement in the Syrian crisis," a senior Western security official said. "The Iranians are desperate for their most important regional ally to survive the current crisis. And Iran's involvement is starting to pay dividends."

Yesterday Syrian army bombardment was reported to have killed at least 20 people in an area of southern Damascus which houses a large Palestinian community. Assad loyalists have accused Palestinian refugees living in the capital of siding with the rebels, and have retaliated by launching repeated attacks against the Yarmouk refugee camp.

Iran's support for pro-regime forces in Syria, particularly the supply of arms and ammunition, is making a vital contribution to the regime's fightback against rebel forces, who only a few weeks ago were threatening to overrun the Syrian capital. Tehran's position has been prompted by fears that any change of government in Damascus could jeopardise Iranian support for Hizbollah, the militant Shia Muslim militia it backs in Lebanon.

Under the Assad regime Damascus has allowed Iran to ship regular supplies of arms and equipment to southern Lebanon to enable Hizbollah to sustain its aggressive stance against Israel. The ayatollahs fear that any change of regime in Syria might cut the supply line. Intelligence officials believe that many of the Iranian commanders sent to Syria have previous experience of working in Lebanon with Hizbollah.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9526858/Iran-sends-elite-troops-to-aid-Assad-regime.html
http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Syria army destroys houses in "collective punishment"

Syria army destroys houses in "collective punishment"


Related Video

Pro-Assad forces raze and bulldoze homes thought to shelter rebels
1:51am BST







By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN | Mon Sep 3, 2012 5:06pm BST

(Reuters) - Syrian army bulldozers razed houses in western Damascus on Monday, pursuing what activists called the first campaign of collective punishment targeting people's property in areas of the capital hostile to President Bashar al-Assad.

In northern Syria, 18 bodies were found in the rubble of a house bombed by a Syrian warplane in the rebel-held town of al-Bab and 13 more are missing, an opposition watchdog group said.

Bulldozers backed by combat troops demolished buildings in the poor Tawahin district, near the Damascus-Beirut highway, activists and residents said.

"They started three hours ago. The bulldozers are bringing down shops and houses. The inhabitants are in the streets," said a woman who lives in a high-rise building overlooking the area.

Syrian authorities restrict independent media access, making it hard to verify accounts of the conflict from both sides.

Troops forced residents to erase anti-Assad graffiti and write slogans glorifying the president instead, activists said.

"This is an unprovoked act of collective punishment. The rebels had left, there are no longer even demonstrations in the area," said Mouaz al-Shami, a campaigner collecting video documentation of the demolitions.

"The regime can't stop itself from repeating the brutality of the 1980s," he said, alluding to mass killings and wholesale destruction in the city of Hama in 1982 under Assad's father, the late Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria for 30 years.

Hama had been a centre of a Sunni Muslim revolt in the 80s. Sunnis have also been the backbone of the uprising Bashar al-Assad is now facing.

The Assad family and most members of the ruling elite belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

"The regime has not changed. It will not," Shami said.

Activists also reported the razing or burning of at least 200 houses and shops in the old part of the southern city of Deraa in the past few days. Army shelling had largely emptied the area, prompting 40,000 people to flee to Jordan.

Opposition campaigner Rami al-Sayyed said: "This the first time we see a systematic campaign to raze houses and shops using direct means like bulldozers that seems to be concentrating on Damascus and its environs."

WAVE OF DEMOLITIONS

Bulldozers entered the Khashabeh area of the northern Damascus suburb of Harasta on Monday and began razing houses in the neighbourhood.

The latest wave of demolitions follows the destruction of dozens of buildings in an area next to Tawahin in Damascus on Sunday and in the Sunni district of Qaboun last month.

"I visited Qaboun yesterday. It is no longer a dense neighbourhood. I could see from one end of the neighbourhood to the other because so many buildings have been razed," said another Damascus activist who gave her name only as Yasmine.

"This method is now being used to try and humiliate Damascenes."

The army, which appears to have regained control of Damascus proper after an insurgent offensive that began in July, shelled outlying southern and eastern districts overnight to try to drive out rebels still operating there, opposition groups said.

At least two people were killed in the southern neighbourhood of Qadam, they added.

Troops also made forays into eastern suburbs battered by artillery and air power in recent weeks, arresting and summarily executing young men, the opposition groups said.

Video footage from the eastern suburb of Irbin showed the bodies of three young men shot in the face inside a house, their blood spattered on the walls and floor

"This is the latest massacre of Assad's army in Irbin," an activist speaking in front of the camera said.

The air raid in which at least 18 people were reported killed in the northern town of al-Bab, in Aleppo province, was another sign of the Syrian military's increasing use of its planes and helicopters to attack rebel-held areas.

Five women and two children were among the dead, according to Rami Abdulrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "People in al-Bab say there are 13 more people trapped under the building after one big attack," he said.

He said five people had been killed and 27 wounded by a car bomb blast in the Damascus district of Jaramana.

Syria's state news agency SANA said earlier that the wounded included women and children but did not give details on fatalities. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A bomb killed 12 people in the same district a week ago in what state media called a "terrorist" attack. Opposition sources said the security forces were behind it.

More than 20,000 people have been killed in Syria since initially peaceful protests against Assad erupted in March 2011.

(Editing by Alistair Lyon and Alison Williams)
http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

British Ex-PM Blair Rejects Tutu's Charge On Iraq War

British Ex-PM Blair Rejects Tutu's Charge On Iraq War

In this photo released by the United Nations Foundation, Archbishop Desmond Tutu speaks at the Social Good Summit,

VOA News

Britain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair has rejected a call by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu that he and former U.S. President George W. Bush should go on trial for starting the war in Iraq.

The outspoken bishop wrote in the British newspaper The Observer that the two leaders acted on a false premise in 2003 when they said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He said that their decision to launch a war "has destabilized and polarized the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history" and should not go unpunished.

He also said that Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush "have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand - with the specter of Syria and Iran before us."

Mr. Blair issued a stern response Sunday, saying that the argument is not new and has been proven wrong. He also criticized Archbishop Tutu for saying that it was wrong to remove then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein despite his massacre of thousands of Iraqi citizens.
Former British leader added that he had great respect for the archbishop's work.

Tutu, a Nobel Peace prize laureate and retired Anglican bishop, argued that Western leaders are held to a different standard than their African counterparts. He said the death toll during and after the Iraq conflict is sufficient for Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush to face trial in an international court.

He said he had decided not to attend a recent South African leadership conference because he would be uncomfortable to appear at a 'leadership' summit together with Mr. Blair.

Tutu was a leading activist campaigning to end apartheid in South Africa, and later chaired a panel that oversaw reconciliation efforts after the end of white minority rule.

Israel Evacuates West Bank Settler Outpost

Israel Evacuates West Bank Settler Outpost

Jewish settlers speak to the media after leaving their homes in the West Bank outpost of Migron September 2, 2012.

Robert Berger

September 02, 2012
JERUSALEM – Israel has evacuated Jewish settlers from an outpost in the occupied West Bank after a long legal case.

Some 300 Jewish settlers gathered their belongings and left their homes in the West Bank outpost of Migron. The evacuation was ordered by Israel's Supreme Court, which ruled a year ago that the outpost was built on Palestinian-owned land and was illegal.

Most of the settlers left peacefully, but some youths who had barricaded themselves in a trailer home were dragged away by Israeli police.

The settlers accused the Israeli government of betraying the biblical "Land of Israel."

Migron resident Itai Chemo said Israel's leadership has failed the Jewish people, but he saw a silver lining. He said that in place of Migron, two more settlements will be established.

Israel's government has already built temporary housing on West Bank land for the evacuated settlers, and it has promised that a permanent community will be built nearby.

For the Palestinian landowners, it was the end of a long legal battle and struggle.
Abed al-Mounem Mouatan said it deeply pained him every day as he saw the Migron settlement from his house. He said he never thought that he would see the day when the settlers would leave.

But Palestinian officials say this small evacuation is not enough.

The Migron case involved a settlers' outpost that had not been authorized by the Israeli government. Palestinians and much of the international community deem all Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal.
Israel says it expects to keep major settlements in any future peace deal with the Palestinians.

Syria rebels target Assad air power

Syria rebels target Assad air power




Free Syrian Army fighters aim at aircraft in the city of Aleppo as regime forces stepped up air attacks. (AP)





REUTERS

Monday 3 September 2012


BEIRUT: Rebels seized an air defense facility and attacked a military airport in eastern Syria yesterday, a monitoring group said, hitting back at an air force on which President Bashar Assad is increasingly relying to crush his opponents.
The attacks in eastern oil-producing Deir Al-Zor province follow rebel strikes against military airports in the Aleppo and Idlib areas, close to the border with Turkey.
Rebels in Deir Al-Zor overran an air defense building early yesterday, taking at least 16 captives and seizing an unknown number of anti-aircraft rockets, said Rami Abdulrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Video posted on the Internet by activists showed the officers and soldiers captured by the rebel fighters, and Al Arabiya television broadcast footage of what it said were rockets and ammunition seized in the raid.
Abdulrahman said rebels also attacked the Hamdan military airbase at Albu Kamal, close to Syria’s eastern border with Iraq, but did not succeed in breaking into it.
The attacks come three days after rebels attacked the Taftanaz air base in Idlib province, where they said several helicopters were damaged. The insurgents also said they have shot down a fighter jet and a helicopter last week.
Bombardments of northern towns such as Azaz and Anadan, of which Assad lost control weeks ago, have led to thousands of residents fleeing to safety in Turkey.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it would be wrong to press Damascus alone to end the violence.

“It is absolutely unrealistic to say that the unilateral capitulation of one of the parties in conflict is the only way out, in a situation when there’s ongoing urban fighting,” he told students of the Moscow Institute of Foreign Relations.
Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi replaced Kofi Annan yesterday as the UN-Arab League mediator trying to end the war. Ban said he lobbied governments at the Tehran summit to support Brahimi, but he did not say how the negotiating strategy might change under the new mediator.
Brahimi’s efforts will rely to some extent on a six-point plan that was promoted, so far unsuccessfully, by Annan, Ban said. The plan envisages a UN-supervised cease-fire, prisoner releases by the Syrian government and other steps.
Meanwhile, 18 unidentified bodies were found in the Damascus area yesterday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that summary executions by both sides in the conflict were on the increase.
Most of the bodies had their hands tied and some showed signs of torture, the Britain-based watchdog said.

Five of the bodies were found in the south Damascus district of Qadam, while the others were found outside the capital, most of them in the suburb of Kafr Batna, an opposition stronghold, it added.
In second city Aleppo, meanwhile, state media said that a “terrorist” group had killed five members of a family in the central Marjeh district.
The official SANA news agency identified the dead as Ali Merhi, his brother Khaled, 42, and “three children under the age of 17.”
On Aug. 15, a UN Commission of Inquiry said it had found evidence that Syrian government forces and their militia allies had committed crimes against humanity during the conflict now in its 18th month.
It found that rebel fighters were also guilty of crimes, albeit on a smaller scale.
Jordan needs $700 million in international aid to cope with an influx of 240,000 refugees from the conflict across the border in Syria, its planning and international cooperation minister said yesterday.
“The cost for Jordan to continue to welcome our Syrian brothers ... is almost $700 million, to take in over 240,000 residents and refugees at Zaatari camp and outside,” Jaafar Hassan told a joint news conference with the UN refugee agency.
He said the Jordanian government would not be able to provide aid to the refugees without international assistance.
There are currently 177,000 Syrians in Jordan, with around 26,000 in the Zaatari refugee camp, north of Amman, that the UN opened five weeks ago, according to the minister.

Denmark will free up another two million euros to help provide aid to Syrian refugees and displaced people as a civil war rages in their homeland, Danish public television DR reported yesterday.
Out of the 15 million kroner (two million euros), 13 million will go to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and two million to the Danish crisis agency, which sends personnel and equipment to Syrian refugees in Jordan.
“It is a very hard and frightening conflict,” Christian Friis Bach, the country’s development cooperation minister said on television.

“The money will go toward the construction of a camp, sanitation and tents, food and administration, which are the most pressing needs,” he said. The extra two million euros worth of aid takes Denmark’s total contribution to the humanitarian effort in Syria to 10 million euros.

http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

British doctor travels to Syria to provide medical help on her holiday

British doctor travels to Syria to provide medical help on her holiday
A British doctor has used her summer holiday to travel to war-torn Syria and provide medical help to victims trapped in the conflict.




Dr Craven said the hospital depended on the 'exceptional' local staff, who have been working for several months without a break Photo: REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal

By Ruth Sherlock, Paris

Rachael Craven, 42, usually works as anesthetist for the National Health Service in Bristol. But she has spent the past two weeks in a war zone, treating casualties in a secret hospital that is being run by humanitarian aid agency Medicine San Frontier inside northern Syria.

Operating without the permission of the Syrian government and fearing it could come under attack by regime artillery the hospital is in the guise of a civilian home.


“Luckily it is not like a house in the UK that is furnished with carpets. This had marble floors; the kitchen is a sterilisation room and the living and reception rooms have been turned into the operating theatres and recovery rooms,” said Dr Craven. “The courtyard is the emergency room”.


She was part of a team of local doctors and foreign staff that worked around the clock to treat the constant stream of patients. Snatched moments of rest were taken on the exposed hospital rooftop.


“We slept on the roof. Accommodation is a premium in northern Syria because of the influx from Aleppo. Any house has three or four families staying with them already,” said Dr Craven. “We were at risk of shelling but so far it is a relatively safe area. I think a bigger is when the rain starts!”

RELATED ARTICLES


27 killed by Damascus car bomb 28 Aug 2012


Syria: car bomb at funeral in Damascus leaves several dead 28 Aug 2012

France moves to establish buffer zone in Syria 27 Aug 2012

Rebels shoot down Syrian regime helicopter 27 Aug 2012

NHS doctor 'led extremist cell in Syria' 27 Aug 2012

Rebels shoot down helicopter over Damascus 27 Aug 2012

The hospital was nearly always full, with patients sometimes spilling out on mats laid on the balconies. “Every few days we would have a mass casualty event. Either when a battle had taken place near us and we saw a lot of rebel casualties, or after shelling attacks where the victims were civilians,” said Dr. Craven.

Close to the end of her stay an artillery barrage hit a village bazaar where locals had been gathering supplies: “The local field clinic took care of most of the casualties in the market, but it was an hour before anybody checked the nearby basement where fifteen children had been playing. Shrapnel had come in through the ground level windows.

“The children were all from one extended family and were from two to 18 years old. Five were killed outright; a few were taken to a local clinic and the rest were brought to us. One was dead on arrival, another died with us, we were able to do surgery on two, and two were sent to Turkey,” said Dr. Craven.


For the past seven years Dr Craven has been using her annual leave to volunteer with MSF in some of the world’s most galling humanitarian tragedies and dangerous conflict zones. She has worked in Congo, Indonesia, Haiti after the earthquake and in Libya in the city of Misurata when it was besieged.


Syria was one of the most difficult operations yet. The whole medical team and hospital equipment had first to be smuggled across an international border and there no escape route should the hospital come under attack.


“There was one occasion when there was a push by government forces and we were aware that a set of tanks were heading very close to us. We were on standby to evacuate, but we had a patient who was critical and could not be transferred. It is not something they really cover in medical training in the UK, the decision of where take a patient into theatre and so commit the rest of your team to stay [in a dangerous situation].


“Every day you had a mental tally in your head of which patients would have to come with you is you had to evacuate. We had one ambulance and one car that we could use,” said Dr. Craven.


Working conditions were extremely difficult, with the medical staff having to adapt to a back-to-basics approach. “You can’t have ventilators and other similar equipment because of things like electricity. It was not uncommon for the operating theatre to be plunged into darkness and then you lose your oxygen and that is dangerous. You need solid simple tools,” said Dr. Craven.

Dr Craven said the hospital also depended on the “exceptional” local staff, who have been working for several months without a break, often treating victims that are their friends or relatives, and on the “amazing spirit” of villagers near the hospital: “If we were ever shot of blood the imam would put out a message at evening prayer and there would be a queue of volunteers”.

Now back at work at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, Dr Craven said that she was likely to use her remaining two weeks of holiday to return to Syria: “It brings a whole new perspective on life and work at home”.


http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/

Egypt reopens Gaza crossing

 Egypt reopens Gaza crossing

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

Sunday 26 August 2012


CAIRO: Egypt decided on Saturday to reopen a border crossing with Gaza it had mostly kept closed since a militant attack killed 16 of its soldiers on August 5, the official MENA news agency reported.
It said the Rafah border crossing, the Palestinian territory’s only passage which bypasses Israel, would return to opening six days a week, like before the attack.
Egypt allowed only a trickle of Palestinians to use the crossing to enter Gaza after the attack in Sinai that the military said took place under the cover of mortar fire from Gaza.
The attack on an army outpost came as Egypt’s new president, the Islamist Muhammad Mursi, was seen as making overtures to Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers, who had strained relations with his overthrown predecessor Hosni Mubarak.
It prompted an unprecedented military campaign in the Sinai peninsula, a haven for the Islamist militants believed to have carried out the attack, and a crackdown on smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza.

Security officials said on Saturday that military engineers have blocked 120 tunnels since the start of the operation.
Egyptian officials have charged that some of the 35 gunmen who stormed the army post had crossed from Gaza through the network of smuggling tunnels that run under the border.
But Gaza’s Hamas rulers have said no Palestinians are suspected of involvement in the attack.

http://MuslimWindow.blogspot.com/