Syrian army says captured Israeli Jeep is proof of aid to rebels

Syrian army says captured Israeli Jeep is proof of aid to rebels

    Tuesday, May 21, 2013   No comments

Israel has denied supplying military hardware to Syrian rebels after pro-government Syrian forces on Monday displayed an Israeli-made Jeep it says was captured during recent fighting near Syria’s border with Lebanon.

The Syrian army on Monday displayed an Israeli-made Jeep it said was captured from a rebel organization during recent battles for control of Qusayr, a Syrian city near the Lebanese border. Damascus claimed the vehicle was proof of Israeli and U.S. aid to the Syrian opposition.

Israeli officials denied the claims of aiding the rebels. They said the jeep was a model that was retired from Israel Defense Forces service years ago and it is not clear how it reached the rebels.

The Lebanese television station Al Mayadeen, which has ties to Hezbollah, broadcasted video of Syrian army personnel next to the Jeep, which showed bullet damage.

The vehicle is identifiable as a relatively old, armored model of the Sufa Jeep, which is manufactured in Israel under license from Chrysler.

Such vehicles have been used by the IDF for decades in the territories and were used by Israeli forces in the South Lebanon buffer zone until Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.

The IDF license number, 669491, is clearly visible in the clip, as are the maximum speed limits and other markings typical of IDF vehicles.

The Syrian officer interviewed in the film said this was proof of Israeli aid to the Free Syrian Army, one of the major opposition groups behind the armed rebellion against Assad.

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Nigeria begins offensive against Islamist sect

Nigeria begins offensive against Islamist sect

    Friday, May 17, 2013   No comments

More than 2,000 Nigerian troops have begun an offensive in Borno state to regain territory seized by Boko Haram Islamists, army sources said Thursday. President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno and two other states on Tuesday.
Nigerian forces attacked Islamist strongholds in the northeast on Thursday, security sources said as an offensive got under way to wrest back territory from increasingly well-armed Boko Haram insurgents.

Soldiers raided areas in the Sambisa Game Reserve, a remote savannah of some 500 sq km (200 sq miles) in Borno state where Islamists have established bases, said two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. They gave no further details.

Preparing for possible further action across three frontier states where President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, the armed forces also deployed jet fighters and helicopter gunships to the region.

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Syria Death Toll Likely As High As 120,000, 41,000 of those confirmed killed were Alawites

Syria Death Toll Likely As High As 120,000, 41,000 of those confirmed killed were Alawites

    Thursday, May 16, 2013   No comments

BEIRUT, May 14 (Reuters) - At least 94,000 people have been killed during Syria's two-year conflict, but the death toll is likely to be as high as 120,000, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.

The group said that at least 41,000 of those confirmed killed were Alawites, the sect of President Bashar al-Assad.

Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Observatory, said that the Alawite death figures were confirmed by eight different Alawite sources in coastal cities and in Homs.

Syria's conflict started as peaceful protests against the four-decade rule of the Assad family but turned into civil war, pitting the Sunni majority against minorities, in particular the Alawites, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

"We believe the real figure of those killed from both sides is above 120,000 because both sides are being discreet on their casualties," Abdulrahman said. (Reporting by Mariam Karouny; editing by Mike Collett-White)

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U.N. condemns Assad forces, but unease grows about rebels

U.N. condemns Assad forces, but unease grows about rebels

    Wednesday, May 15, 2013   No comments

The U.N. General Assembly condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces and praised the opposition on Wednesday, but a decline in support for the resolution suggested growing unease about extremism among Syria's fractious rebels.

While the non-binding text has no legal force, resolutions of the 193-nation assembly can carry significant moral and political weight. There were 107 votes in favor, 12 against and 59 abstentions - a drop in support compared with a resolution condemning the Syrian government that passed in August with 133 votes in favor, 12 against and 31 abstentions.

U.N. diplomats cited concerns that Syria could be headed for "regime change" engineered by foreign governments and fears about a strengthening Islamist extremist element among the rebels as reasons for the decline in support for the resolution.

Russia, a close ally and arms supplier for Assad, strongly opposed the resolution drafted by Qatar, which Assad's government has accused of arming the rebels seeking to oust him. But Moscow, which along with China has used its veto three times to prevent Security Council action against Assad, could not block the motion as there are no vetoes in the General Assembly.

Diplomats said the Russian delegation wrote to all U.N. members urging them to oppose the resolution. Moscow has complained that the resolution undermines U.S.-Russian efforts to organize a peace conference that would include Assad's government and rebels, a meeting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said would likely take place in early June.

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Benghazi bomb kills and injured dozens as Libya's security unravels

Benghazi bomb kills and injured dozens as Libya's security unravels

    Wednesday, May 15, 2013   No comments

A car bomb ripped through the car park at the main hospital in Benghazi on Monday, killing at least 15 people, days after Britain ordered the evacuation of all non-essential staff in Libya out of security concerns.

The device was detonated outside a busy bakery next to the grounds of the al-Jala hospital in Libya's second city just after lunch time.
Local officials said more than 40 people were injured in an attack that marked how the country is struggling to prevent a slide into chaos in the wake of Col Muammar Gaddafi's removal in 2011.
Salam al-Barghathi, a senior security official, said that a well-armed militant group appeared to be responsible, adding that weapons including Kalashnikov rifles were found inside the wreckage of the car.
Witnesses described scenes of carnage in the aftermath. A doctor at the hospital said only one of the dead was carried into the hospital intact, causing difficulties with immediately establishing the number of people killed.
"I saw people running and some of them were collecting parts of bodies," said one witness.

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Syrian rebel atrocity video: No apology for ‘revenge’, more clips promised

Syrian rebel atrocity video: No apology for ‘revenge’, more clips promised

    Wednesday, May 15, 2013   No comments

A chilling tape of a Syrian rebel apparently eating the lung of a slain government soldier has prompted calls on the opposition to prevent such abuses. However the fighter has also reportedly had support from within his ranks for his “act of revenge.”

The video, 27 seconds of footage, was first spotted in April, with the TIME magazine conducting a probe into whether it had been faked for propaganda purposes. On Sunday, the clip emerged on a pro-regime website, triggering a wave of rage online.

Human rights organizations, as well as his fellow rebels, have condemned the rebel.

However, Khalid Hamad, known by his war nickname Abu Sakkar, didn’t seem to regret his behavior much, labeling it as revenge: “an eye for eye, a tooth for tooth.”

In an interview with TIME magazine, he commented on his actions: “We opened his cell phone, and I found a clip of a woman and her two daughters fully naked and he was humiliating them, and poking a stick here and there.”


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Soad El Khammal : "Je ne peux pas pardonner" aux auteurs des attentats du 16 mai 2003 au Maroc

Soad El Khammal : "Je ne peux pas pardonner" aux auteurs des attentats du 16 mai 2003 au Maroc

    Wednesday, May 15, 2013   No comments

Dix ans après les attentats du 16 mai 2003, les victimes et familles de victimes de la barbarie terroriste restent profondément marquées par les drames personnels et familiaux qu’elles ont vécus. Parmi elle, Soad El Khammal, présidente d’une association de victimes, a perdu son mari et son fils dans les attentats. Reconstruction personnelle, pardon, justice : elle s’est confiée à Jeune Afrique. Interview.
La vie de Soad El Khammal, ancienne professeure d’histoire-géographie et mère de deux enfants, a basculé dans la nuit du vendredi 16 mai 2003. Ce soir-là, son mari, avocat de 49 ans, et son fils, adolescent de 17 ans, dînent au restaurant La Casa España, dans le centre de Casablanca.
Vers 22 heures, deux jeunes terroristes kamikazes pénètrent dans cet établissement très fréquenté et actionnent leurs explosifs. Le bilan est terrible : 22 morts et des dizaines de blessés. Le mari et le fils de Soad font partie des victimes.


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Turkish PM under fire over bombings ahead of US trip

Turkish PM under fire over bombings ahead of US trip

    Wednesday, May 15, 2013   No comments

Turkish opposition leaders accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of pursuing a flawed Syria policy that has cost Turkish lives following a deadly twin bombing last week as Erdoğan headed to Washington Wednesday for talks on the Syria crisis.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Turkey's two main opposition parties of assuming a “provocative and inhuman approach” in the aftermath of a deadly May 11 twin bombing near the Syrian border as the opposition leaders accused Erdoğan of pursuing a Syria policy that has cost the lives of Turkish citizens.

The angry exchanges between Erdoğan and Republican People’s Party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahçeli are the latest indication of the strong differences between their respective Syria policies. The harsh rhetoric came just hours before Erdoğan departed for a much-anticipated official visit to Washington, where he will have talks with US President Barack Obama on Thursday that are expected to focus on the Syrian crisis.
 

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Syria mutilation footage sparks doubts over wisdom of backing rebels

Syria mutilation footage sparks doubts over wisdom of backing rebels

    Tuesday, May 14, 2013   No comments

Leader of Umar al-Faruq brigade who committed the crime

Anti-Assad fighter appears to eat internal organ of dead government soldier in horrific footage

Horrific video footage of a Syrian rebel commander eating the heart or lung of a dead government fighter has aroused furious international controversy, fuelling an already heated debate over western support for the armed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The grisly film had been circulating for several days, attracting extensive comment on social media networks such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. But in the face of of an often vicious propaganda war between the government and rebels, early doubts about the film's authenticity faded when the perpetrator, named as Khaled al-Hamad, admitted that he had mutilated the corpse of an unnamed soldier as an act of revenge.

"We opened his cell phone and I found a clip of a woman and her two daughters fully naked and he [the dead soldier] was humiliating them, and sticking a stick here and there," Hamad told the Time news website.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), an independent monitor, said: "The figure in the video cuts the heart and liver out of the body and uses sectarian language to insult Alawites [Assad's minority sect]. At the end of the video [the man] is filmed putting the corpse's heart into his mouth, as if he is taking a bite out of it."

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Algeria and the Shirt of Nessus

Algeria and the Shirt of Nessus

    Tuesday, May 14, 2013   No comments

Yasmina Khadra emerged as a writer in the 1980s, at a time when Islamic extremism was taking root in his native Algeria. Economic suffering gave an opportunity to the Islamists, some of them inspired by the example of the mujahideen in Afghanistan. Women were accosted for dressing immodestly, bars and restaurants attacked for serving alcohol, and traditional imams driven from their positions. The Islamists called for a Muslim regime, and succeeded in forcing the government to accept elements of Sharia law. A drop in Algeria's oil revenue drove further unrest, culminating in the violent protests of October 1988. Hundreds of people were killed in the government crackdown, and outrage at government repression gave more power to the Islamists. Understandably, the question of Muslim extremism became the core of Khadra's work as a novelist.

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