The Egyptian president’s nomination was by an organisation that despite its claims has nothing to do with the UN

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi at a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin (not seen) in August 2015

A pro-government website in Egypt has stirred controversy with reports that President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has been nominated for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize.

According to the Cairo Post, the United Nations Organisation for Arts (UNARTS) office in the Middle East said in a statement issued on Wednesday that it had selected Sisi as a nominee "for his efforts in spreading peace, saving from Egyptians from imminent danger in 30 June".

On 30 June 2013, mass protests led to the military deposition of former president Mohamed Morsi from the now banned Muslim Brotherhood.

A statement released by the UNARTS office for Africa Middle East, quoted by the Cairo Post, praised Sisi for combating terrorism and corruption and said that the nomination was submitted to the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize committee in Stockholm.

"Based on his insight on best ways to fight terrorism globally, his concern for humanitarian issues including supporting people of special needs and fighting corruption, President Sisi is a well-deserved nominee for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize," the statement said.

UNARTS describes itself as part of the United Nations, founded in 2014 in California. The body includes artists and innovators from all over the world, with a goal to “build a society which texture is based on freedom and peaceful coexistence among humans”.

Middle East Eye contacted the UNARTS United States office, but could not obtain further information regarding Sisi’s reported nomination.

However, investigation by the Arabic news website Arabi21 discovered that it is not an official organisation and has nothing to do with the United Nations.

The head of the organization, an Egyptian Copt called Nabil Rizk, identified himself as the regional director for the Middle East and Africa office.

Rizk is an Egyptian artist who in the aftermath of the January 2011 uprising established a union for artists called the Arts Profession Syndicate. The syndicate was unsuccessful in obtaining government authorisation to function legitimately.

Rizk then proceeded fell out with the heads of the three main art unions- the acting, cinematic and musical guilds – after they sued him in court under the accusation of defamation.

The Nobel committee told MEE on Thursday that all nominee details been kept secret for 50 years and that it could not comment on individual nominations, even if the nominator choose to make the nomination public.

According to the Nobel Foundation, all nominations for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize had to be made before 31 January, 2015. Any nominations made after that date would be considered for next year’s Nobel Prize award.

The Nobel Committee says it has received 276 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 – the second highest number ever. Of this, 49 of these are organisations, and 227 are individuals.

Known candidates include Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in January, and Edward Snowden, the US whistle-blower.

Last year, the Nobel Peace Prize 2014 was awarded jointly to Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai and Indian child rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education".

The last Egyptian leader to receive the Nobel Prize was former president Anwar Sadat, who was jointly awarded the prize with then Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin shortly after signing the Camp David peace treaty in September 1978.

According to Alfred Nobel's will, the Peace Prize is to go to whoever "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".

The prize includes a medal, a personal diploma, and a large sum of prize money, currently more than $900,000.

Sisi played a key role in the July 2013 overthrow of Egypt's first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi. He came to power officially as president a year later, and has since been criticised by many human rights organisations for his crackdown on opposition movements and human rights.

Since Morsi's overthrow, according to Human Rights Watch more than a thousand people have been killed, and tens of thousands more arrested. Some have been forcibly disappeared, with journalists, students, dissidents, and Muslim Brotherhood supporters being singled out.

According to a report released this summer by Human Rights Watch, Egyptian authorities detained, charged or sentenced at least 41,000 people between July 2013 and May 2014, with prisons at 160 percent capacity and police stations at 300 percent. Torture of prisoners is also common, the watchdog said.

Article of August 18, 2015

Hearkening back to the Japanese interment camps of WWII, some Americans are now calling for Muslims to be placed in camps or even openly calling for genocide against the 1.6 billion practitioners of the faith.

Afghan villagers sit near the bodies of children who they said were killed during a NATO air strike in the Kunar province of Afghanistan. April 7, 2013

AUSTIN, Texas — It may never be possible to know the true death toll of the modern Western wars on the Middle East, but that figure could be 4 million or higher. Since the vast majority of those killed were of Arab descent, and mostly Muslim, when would it be fair to accuse the United States and its allies of genocide?

A March report by Physicians for Social Responsibility calculates the body count of the Iraq War at around 1.3 million, and possibly as many as 2 million. However, the numbers of those killed in Middle Eastern wars could be much higher. In April, investigative journalist Nafeez Ahmed argued that the actual death toll could reach as high as 4 million if one includes not just those killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the victims of the sanctions against Iraq, which left about 1.7 million more dead, half of them children, according to figures from the United Nations.

Raphael Lemkin and the definition of genocide

The term "genocide" did not exist prior to 1943, when it was coined by a Polish-Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin. Lemkin created the word by combining the Greek root "geno," which means people or tribe, with "-cide," derived from the Latin word for killing.

The Nuremberg trials, in which top Nazi officials were prosecuted for crimes against humanity, began in 1945 and were based around Lemkin's idea of genocide. By the following year, it was becoming international law,according to United to End Genocide:

"In 1946, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that 'affirmed' that genocide was a crime under international law, but did not provide a legal definition of the crime."

With support from representatives of the U.S., Lemkin presented the first draft of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide to the United Nations. The General Assembly adopted the convention in 1948, although it would take three more years for enough countries to sign the convention, allowing it to be ratified.

According to this convention, genocide is defined as:

"…any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as:

• (a) Killing members of the group;

• (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

• (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

• (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

• (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

Under the convention, genocide is not merely defined as a deliberate act of killing, but can include a broad range of other harmful activities:

"Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group includes the deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group's physical survival, such as clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services. Deprivation of the means to sustain life can be imposed through confiscation of harvests, blockade of foodstuffs, detention in camps, forcible relocation or expulsion into deserts."

It can also include forced sterilization, forced abortion, prevention of marriage or the transfer of children out of their families. In 2008, the U.N. expanded the definition to acknowledge that "rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide."

A Middle Eastern genocide

A key phrase in the convention on genocide is "acts committed with intent to destroy." While the facts back up a massive death toll in Arab and Muslim lives, it might be more difficult to argue that the actions were carried out with the deliberate intent to destroy "a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."

The authors of the convention were aware, however, that few of those who commit genocide are so bold as to put their policies in writing as brazenly as the Nazis did. Yet, as Genocide Watch noted in 2002: "Intent can be proven directly from statements or orders. But more often, it must be inferred from a systematic pattern of coordinated acts."

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush employed a curious and controversial choice of words in one of his first speeches. He alarmed some by referencing historic, religious conflicts, as The Wall Street Journal staff writers Peter Waldman and Hugh Pope noted:

"President Bush vowed … to 'rid the world of evil-doers,' then cautioned: 'This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while.'

Crusade? In strict usage, the word describes the Christian military expeditions a millennium ago to capture the Holy Land from Muslims. But in much of the Islamic world, where history and religion suffuse daily life in ways unfathomable to most Americans, it is shorthand for something else: a cultural and economic Western invasion that, Muslims fear, could subjugate them and desecrate Islam."

In the wars that followed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. not only killed millions, but systematically destroyed the infrastructure necessary for healthy, prosperous life in those countries, then used rebuilding efforts as opportunities for profit, rather than to benefit the occupied populations. To further add to the genocidal pattern of behavior, there is ample evidence of torture and persistent rumors of sexual assault from the aftermath of Iraq's fall. It appears likely the U.S. has contributed to further destabilization and death in the region by supporting the rise of the self-declared Islamic State of Iraq and Syria by arming rebel groups on all sides of the conflict.

After 9/11, the U.S. declared a global "War on Terror," ensuring an endless cycle of destabilization and wars in the Middle East in the process. The vast majority of the victims of these wars, and of ISIS, are Muslims. And, as extremist terrorists created by the unrest increase tensions with their attacks on the West, some Americans are embracing Bush's controversial language of religious warfare, calling for Muslims to be placed in camps or even openly calling for genocide.

(Source / 11.09.2015)

MSF social worker in Balata camp, Nablus

Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC) announce cooperation to provide comprehensive mental health support and rehabilitation for survivors of politically motivated violence in East Jerusalem.

MSF as an International Humanitarian Medical Organization is collaborating with TRC on the provisions of holistic human rights-based mental health services for survivors of politically motivated violence in East Jerusalem. TRC will provide these services as part of its mission and work in Palestine. TRC aims to provide individual, group and family therapy to those affected by the practices of the Israeli occupation.

In this context, Doctors without Borders -Spain (MSF) will transfer funds to TRC whom will deploy its services through community-based outreach in East Jerusalem. TRC is a well known Palestinian non-profit organization that has consistently worked within the East Jerusalem district to address the needs of victims of political violence and has the capacity to ensure that such victims have access to comprehensive holistic mental health support in order to reduce their suffering and promote their well-being.

Both MSF and TRC expressed their joint understanding regarding mutual privacy and the independency for the provision of these unique humanitarian services. 

In West Bank and East Jerusalem, 70% of the population, estimated at 2.6 million people, live in a territory controlled by the Israeli occupation army. Approximately 520,000 Israeli settlers are installed in these areas. The ongoing, organized and planned implementation of Israeli civilians on the West Bank territory is a source of ongoing tension between settlers and Palestinian civilians. Incursion, threats, attacks.

In Nablus district, violence and psychological pressure generated by forced cohabitation between Israeli settlers and Palestinians result in post-traumatic syndromes, acute stress, anxiety and depression within the Palestinian population. A suffering impeding their daily lives.

(Source / 11.09.2015)

Member of the political committee Badr Jamous criticized statements made by European sides that called for engaging Bashar al-Assad in the interim period, with others calling for collaborating with him in the fight against ISIS.

"The international community must work together for the departure of Assad and his ruling elite and for the formation of a transitional governing body with full powers in accordance with the Geneva I Communique as the only force capable of effectively fighting terrorism.”

Jamous pointed out that these propositions “are just desperate attempts to cover up the Assad regime’s crimes and to try to breathe life in it again,” stressing that the Syrian Coalition and the rebels and all the Syrian opposition spectra will stand united to thwart such attempts.”

He condemns Russia's latest military build-up in Syria and its direct military intervention alongside the Assad regime, noting that Russia has become a partner of the regime in its war on the Syrian people.

Jamous calls on the Russian government to withdraw its forces completely from Syria, warning of the consequences of such acts. He warns that rebels will regard any foreign fighters fighting alongside Assad as a legitimate target.”

(Source: Syrian Coalition / 11.09.2015)

Israeli forces demolished a house where 11 Palestinians lived because they were sure a fugitive was hiding there. He wasn’t.

On the last day of August Israel Defense Forces carried out 15 raids on various communities in the West Bank. This was reported by the PLO's negotiation affairs department on the basis of reports by the Palestinian security forces.
Such raids are routine and on that day too they ended with arrests, clashes with residents here and there, entry into residents’ homes and orders to show up at the offices of the Shin Bet security service.
One raid, in Jenin's Al-Hadaf neighborhood, was different. The large number of military vehicles, troops and special police commandos, as well as the addition of two bulldozers, indicated that the forces were planning to arrest a "bigtime" fugitive and expected him to resist the arrest.

Indeed, according to the IDF spokesman's announcement, the target was a "senior Hamas figure." At about 10 P.M. the troops surrounded a house that belonged to Majdi Abu al-Hija. Eleven family members, including six children, were ordered to come out and were held as detainees in a neighbor's house.
Aalia Abu Al-Hija and her mother–in–law begged in vain to allow them to enter their house and serve as a "human shield" for the soldiers, to prove that no one was hiding in it. Nobody had fired at the surrounding forces from the house. Despite this, the family members said, the soldiers fired several missiles at the house, pausing at intervals to enable the fugitive who was not there to emerge. In the morning the bulldozers completed the demolition of the house, in keeping with "the considerations of all the security officials," as the Shin Bet statement said.
One is left with the impression that the original plan to capture a fugitive dead or alive went wrong and was replaced by plan B – to tear down the house. The more the Shin Bet tries to obfuscate that, the more it appears that a mistake had been made. After all, the head of the family who was arrested wasn't questioned and was released two days later. A police commando was wounded by a shot fired by a colleague and the security forces admit that that raid did not produce any wanted man.

The insistence on tearing down the house, despite the uncertainty of whether the fugitive was in it or not, reflects the unacceptable, cavalier attitude of the security forces in using disproportionate violence against Palestinian civilians in the territories. The speed with which it is possible to destroy a Palestinian house shows the true state of anarchy in the areas beyond the Green Line.
The police, IDF and Shin Bet must investigate the event in view of the clear failure it demonstrates. The time that has elapsed only strengthens the suspicion that the fugitive wasn't there at all and that the house was demolished for nothing.
(Source / 11.09.2015)

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (2nd L) and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa (2nd R) during a news conference with Hamas senior leaders Mahmoud al-Zahar (L) and Moussa Abu Marzouk at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo June 9, 2009

Gaza residents have been telling a macabre joke in recent weeks: Once the Egyptians finish building the huge fishponds they're planning in Rafah, tens of thousands of tunnel workers will have to take up diving.

Not long ago, Egypt announced that in an effort to stamp out the smuggling enterprise through tunnels from the Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip, it was planning to set up an enormous system of fishponds 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) long. How the ponds will be built, how the large quantities of water will be transferred from el-Arish and when the work will be completed all remain a mystery at this stage. These unknowns aside, the plan's detractors and the concerned people in Gaza say that the project — if ever implemented — would take so long to complete it would give the tens or hundreds of thousands of unemployed people enough time to find new ways to adapt to the fishponds.

Israel, too, had tried to come up with creative ideas to secure its Egypt-Gaza border, such as a deeply planted steel wall (the Philadelphi Route) or digging a sea canal on the border between the Egyptian side of Gaza and the Palestinian one to make contraband smuggling harder. The canal was never dug, and Gaza's tunnel experts found ingenious ways to overcome the obstacles that had been set up. But this time, it seems the lights have gone out in Rafah's tunnels.

Until Cairo waged its all-out war against the tunnels that were Gaza's lifeline, Hamas leaders saw the Saladin Project — the name for the smuggling enterprise from Egypt — as a huge pioneering success, a symbol of the triumphant Palestinian spirit. Thanks to the tunnels, Hamas’ leaders were able to hold onto the reins in Gaza despite the hardships. But those times seem to be over. Gaza is shutting down. Though the last eight years have been horrible for its residents, the future appears to be even bleaker.

A report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development states that by 2020, Gaza will become uninhabitable. Eight years of blockade and three wars have wreaked havoc on the 1.8 million residents in the Gaza Strip. Published on Sept. 2, the report notes that the unemployment rate has soared to 44% while 72% of households suffer from food insecurity.

This grim forecast has not been lost on Hamas leaders. Although the movement's senior officials — Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud al-Zahar and Qatar-based head of Hamas’ political bureau Khaled Meshaal — continue in their statements and speeches to sing their praises for the endurance of Gaza's residents, it is patently clear that the situation is deteriorating by the day and that no solution is in the offing.

And if Egypt's fishponds were not enough, the invitation extended to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to visit Iran has been perceived by Hamas leaders as a resounding slap in the face of those who until three years ago had been the movement's chief patrons.

The messages exchanged between Israel and Hamas about a long-term cease-fire, with the hope that it would end the blockade on Gaza, have yet to show any results. More precisely, they have never gotten off the ground.

The position of the leaders of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the movement's military wing, is well known: They seek to continue its buildup. Most of the financial resources for salaries and the development of locally made weaponry come from Muslim charities that have been contributing to Hamas for years. The military wing operates almost completely separately from the rest of the movement. The debate over the movement's future takes place primarily within the political wing's various factions and camps.

Hamas' political leadership is divided. Bitter arguments have been taking place for years, but they have become even more vigorous in recent months. Unlike in the past, when a distinction was drawn between Hamas' hawkish and pragmatic camps as well as between the leadership in Gaza and the one abroad, the divisions go deeper. Due to the immense pressure on the leadership, the movement has split into different camps and factions with only one topic preoccupying its leaders: How can the movement survive?

Al-Monitor has learned that one of the camps, which consists of a number of leaders who were once considered the pragmatic stream, believes it is high time to think seriously about the conditions of the Quartet — the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States — relating to the mutual recognition between Israel and Hamas. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in the movement told Al-Monitor that the issue of mutual recognition has come up in the series of messages that Israel and Hamas have been exchanging in recent months in consideration of a long-term cease-fire.

This does not mean acceptance of the Quartet's conditions to the letter; nor does it mean giving Israel the right to Palestinian land. Rather, there is vague wording about recognizing the right of coexistence but without giving up the rights over Palestinian lands held for generations.

The demand for it to recognize Israel as a condition for opening up Gaza to the world was raised by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair— the Quartet's former envoy to the Middle East — during his visit to the Gaza Strip in February of this year. In his meeting with the movement's leaders, including Deputy Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad, a demand was made to recognize the principles of a two-state solution. The movement's leaders, Ismail Haniyeh and Zahar, responded unequivocally, rejecting out of hand the proposals to recognize Israel. But the longer and the tighter the blockade on the Gaza Strip is, the more the idea seeps through.

Al-Monitor has learned that Haniyeh — once considered the leader of the movement's pragmatic stream — is aware of this keen debate and for the time being has not expressed any objection to the ideas that have been introduced — nor, it should be noted, has he expressed any reservations. Some people in Hamas see Haniyeh's irresolute position as a positive sign.

Mentioning Haniyeh in the context of possibly recognizing Israel is not insignificant. After Hamas' victory in the 2006 elections and following the Quartet's demands that it recognize Israel, accept past agreements and renounce violence, it was Haniyeh who coined the phrase "We will never recognize Israel," using every possible negation in the Arab language. It seems that even Haniyeh realizes now that the day of reckoning is approaching, given that the other options for survival are nonexistent.

Yet, it should be remembered that pitted against the camp that wants the issue of mutual recognition to be brought for a serious deliberation at the Shura Council is the hawkish camp that believes that Israel only understands the language of force. One of the staunch advocates of a military buildup is Zahar, who also keeps pushing for moreattempts to reconcile with Iran.

The debate within Hamas will not end anytime soon. It is hard for people to admit that their policy has failed and their promise was left unfulfilled. The movement's leaders and activists, who have lived their entire lives on the notion of destroying Israel, cannot change overnight. But the debate that is now taking place within the movement is indicative of Hamas' distress and deep crisis.

(Source / 11.09.2015)

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association issued the following update on their legal visit with the hunger strikers in the Battle of Breaking the Chains on 8 September:

Ramallah- 8/9/2015- On their 10^th day of hunger strike, administrative detainees reported to Adv. Samer Samaan during a visit he conducted in Ela, Ashkelon and Eshel prisons that they will continue with the "breaking the shackles" battle to end administrative detention policy and to guarantee a life of freedom for themselves and for everyone who has ever suffered from administrative detention, confirming that their will not be broken.

The five administrative detainees, Ghassan Zawahreh (34 years old), Shadi Maali (39 years old), Nidal Abu Aker (48 years old), Munir Abu Sharar (31 year old) and Bader Ruzzeh (27 years old) launched an open hunger strike on 30/8/2015 as a continuation to the escalatory steps they started on 20 August 2015 in protest of administrative detention policy after which the prison's administration placed them in isolation in Negev, Ashkelon, Ela and Eshel prisons.

The hunger striking administrative detainee Ghassan Zawahreh stated to Addameer lawyer, who visited him on Sunday at Eshel isolation in Beersheba, that he is being held in a 100 x 180 centimeter room that only fits the mattress and does not have a toilet. As a result Zawahreh decided to stop taking water for one day to protest the conditions he is forced to live in. The prison's administration transferred him to a slightly bigger cell that contains a bunk bed and a toilet. However, the cell does not have a shower or a sink and he was not allowed to have clothes other than the prison's "Shabas" uniform. He also was not provided with a blanket and was not allowed to go to the fora (prisoners' recreation time).

As for his health condition, Zawahreh stated that he gets a blood pressure test on daily basis and that he lost 11 kilograms of weight. He added that he will stop medical examinations in the future in protest of denying him his right to go to the fora and to shower, as well as denying him access to regular clothing.

Shadi Maali confirmed to Adv. Samaan, who visited him on Sunday at Ela isolation, that he stopped taking water on 6/9/2015 to this moment in protest of the behavior of the intelligence officer who tried to provoke Maali by putting food and water in front of his cell. Maali added that he is being held in a 200 x 300cm cell that contains a bunk bed, a shower, a sink and two blankets. The prison's administration did not give him his personal belongings and clothes and he has lost 8 kilograms since the initiation of the hunger strike.

 As for Ashkelon isolation, the hunger striking administrative detainee Nidal Abu Aker told Adv. Samaan, who visited him on 3/9/2015, that he is being held in a 150 x 180 cm cell that contains a bunk bed, a toilet and a shower. When he needs to get out of the cell, his hands and feet are shackled.

Abu Aker stated that he has lost 8 kilograms since the beginning of the hunger strike. He refuses to take the medications he used to take before starting the hunger strike (blood pressure medication and four other medications). Abu Aker added that he is starting feel pain in both his legs as a result of the implanted platinum.

Addameer expresses its full support and solidarity with the administrative detainees and their legitimate demands and rejection of the arbitrary administrative detention policy. Addameer believes that the systematic use of administrative detention by the Israeli occupation forces  is a form of torture and a violation of Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, a crime against humanity according to Article 7 of the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court, and a war crime according to Article 8.

Addameer demands the immediate release of all administrative detainees and the fulfillment of their rights in accordance with international law. Addameer calls upon solidarity organizations, human rights organizations and individuals around the world to join the campaign to end administrative detention while emphasizing the necessity of popular support for Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

It should be mentioned that by the end of August 2015, the number of administrative detainees held in the occupation's prisons had exceeded 350 detainees. About 50 administrative detainees began boycotting the military courts in July 2015 to emphasize the falsity of these courts that depend on secret information that neither the detainee nor his lawyer can review, in addition to their utilization as a tool to legitimize the occupation's policy of arbitrary detention.

(Source / 11.09.2015)

By Peter Clifford                   ©        (www.petercliffordonline.com/syria-iraq-news-5/)

SYRIA NEWS  IRAQ NEWS

Following on from the incursions into Rojava by the Islamic State at the beginning of the week there is a report of a major attack at Derik on Wednesday.

According to Kurdish media sources, unconfirmed as yet by the YPG, an Islamic State (IS) suicide bomber drove a vehicle laden with explosives into a YPG weapons and ammunition store at the western entrance of Derik, setting off a massive blast and killing as many as 35 YPG fighters.

Kurdish Asayish Special Forces Unit

YPG General Command is only reporting 2 other attempted attacks by IS on Wednesday. In the first IS fighters tried to penetrate the border village of Sirikkiran, 18 kilometres west of Tal Abyad, coming from the north, presumably across the frontier.

A fast response by the YPG/YPJ saw the insurgents quickly withdraw.

In the second infiltration by IS, the Jihadists attacked the village of Fatsa 9 kilometres east of Ain Issa. Again the attackers fled after a short confrontation.

35 kilometres east of Ain Issa, the PKK (described coyly by the YPG as "a leftist revolutionary group, fighting alongside the YPG") attacked a group of Jihadists preparing for an operation at the IS-held village of Gantari.

4 x IS fighters were killed in the operation.

Yesterday, Thursday, IS also launched an attack on the village of Qolan in Kobane Canton.

The clash lasted 3 hours after which the Jihadists withdrew with one dead and 3 wounded. 2 YPG fighters were mildly injured.

In August, IS infiltrated Qolan and abducted a number of Kurds, including women and children. Concern remains for the whereabouts of the abductees and their welfare.

According to Ciwan Ibrahim, head of the Asayish, Kurdish security, 450 members of his force have received specialised counter-terrorism training from Western military advisers in Rojava in the last 2 months.

The training centred around how to deal with car bombs and booby-trapped buildings. The Asayish, which numbers several thousand, was formed in 2012 to support the YPG/YPJ.

US Central Command (Centcom) reports 10 airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, 3 near Hasakah and 2 in Kobane Canton, destroying 3 x IS fighting positions, 2 x IS motorcycles, an IS structure and 2 x IS excavators. Other strikes hit Mare, Abu Kamal, Raqqah and Palmyra, with not always conclusive results according to the report.

Grim reports are coming out of south-eastern Turkey where the Turkish military has put a number of Kurdish towns under siege and 24 hour curfew.

Baby Shot in Cizre, Mother Killed

The Army's attention seems to be centred on Cizre (not to be confused with the Kurdish Canton in Syria called Cizire), a town with a predominantly Kurdish population of 120,000.

It has been under Army siege for more than 7 days now, with no Internet, intermittent electricity and running out of food and water.

As Turkey's Government launched attacks on the Kurdish PKK across the border in Iraq, the PKK's youth wing, the HPG, took steps to defend the town by blocking roads and digging ditches to keep Turkish security forces out.

The curfew, the breaking of which is punishable by sniper fire, has led to a number of unnecessary deaths including children.

The Turkish Government says it has only killed "militants" but Kurdish sources say 21 civilians have died.

In one incident a 10 year girl was shot dead and in another, a young woman going to make a phone call at a neighbour's house to her lorry driver husband in Germany, with a babe in arms, was killed by a sniper, followed by her mother-in-law who went to help her. The baby suffered wounds to its ear and leg.

HDP MPs Stopped by Turkish Police on the Road to Cizre

In other cases, Kurdish families have not been allowed to bury their dead and have been forced to keep the decaying bodies at home.

30 Kurdish MPs, recently elected to Parliament, and fronted by their leader Selahattin Demirtaş, attempted to walk 90 kilometres to Cizre in protest at the curfew, but were blocked by Turkish police yesterday, Thursday, 30 kilometres from the city at Idil.

Prosecutors are also investigating Demirtaş for supposedly "insulting the president" and are seeking to revoke his parliamentary immunity.

The BBC has more information.

OPPOSITION END OPERATION TO TAKE DARAA CITY, WHILE RUSSIANS APPEAR TO BE IN CHARGE OF DAMASCUS AIRPORT:

The Islamic State are starting to perhaps their true colours at last, in the appointment Abu Hussein Al-Iraqi as the "Governor of Hasakah Province".

Abu Hussein is a former Saddam Hussein military officer and an ex-leader of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, wherein lie the roots of IS.

The German Intelligence service, BND, has confirmed that from their examination of blood samples taken from Peshmerga victims of an Islamic State suspected gas attack in Iraq, IS did use mustard gas, either produced at the University of Mosul laboratories or seized from former Saddam Hussein stockpiles. You can read more, HERE:

Al Qaeda has also confirmed that French Jihadist David Drugeon, who was accused by the US of being a Khorasan Group bomb maker, was killed earlier this year in a Coalition airstrike.

Macedonian Police Manhandling Refugees in the Mud and Rain

On the refugee front there is still much good and bad. This footage shows the brutal uncaring face of the Macedonian Police, HERE:  and in Hungary, refugees, most of them Syrians, were housed in a bleak warehouse without any heating and fed like animals, HERE:

In Damascus province, Opposition fighters are attempting to break the pro-Assad and Hezbollah siege ring around Zabadani and so far they have seized 4 barriers to the north-east of the Opposition-held city.

In the area known as Bloudan near Zabadani, 18 members of Hezbollah and 11 pro-Assad forces were killed yesterday in the new fighting.

Due to the sandstorms in Syria, only 27 civilians were killed on Wednesday in Syria, the smallest number for several years, but as soon as the weather started to clear on Thursday Assad's jets and helicopters were in the air again firing rockets and dropping barrel-bombs.

Fierce fighting is still underway near Adra prison, HERE: and recent reports suggest that the Opposition have blocked the nearby Damascus – Homs highway.

In Daraa it seems that the Opposition has given up on the operation known as "Southern Storm" to take Daraa city which it launched in June.

Opposition fighters seem to have made a strategic blunder in failing to concentrate on capturing Khirbet Ghazaleh and cutting off the Assad regime's supply routes to their forces in Daraa city.

As a consequence, the Opposition even lost the financial and hardware support of US-run Military Operation Center (MOC) in Jordan. You can read more, HERE:

Vice News have released the second part video report on the Southern Storm Operation, here:

https://youtu.be/TOSZLqaqQYU 

In Homs province new clashes are reported between the Syrian Government and the Islamic State around the Shaer Oil Field west of Palmyra and fighting is also taking place between the same 2 sides to the east near Deir Ez-Zour military airport. IS advanced towards the airport yesterday but Assad's Republican Guard launched counter attacks today, Friday.

36 x IS fighters and 18 of Assad's forces were killed on Wednesday as IS seized a small rocket battalion base less than 1 kilometre from the airport. Unconfirmed reports say that both sides are using toxic gases on each other.

Some of the Spoils From Abu Dhuhur Airbase

In Idlib province it seems that a number of Hezbollah fighters were killed in the Opposition seizure of Abu Dhuhur military airfield earlier this week and a number of Assad's regulars captured as they tried to run away, HERE:

This footage, Arabic only, gives you a flavour of what it looks like inside the base,HERE:

Video has also appeared to show convoys of men and heavy Opposition weapons on their way to the battle for the 2 Alawite enclaves of Fuah and Katarya, the last Assad regime footholds in Idlib province, HERE:

In Aleppo province, an IS car bomb hit the entrance to the Opposition-held town of Azaz, killing 5, HERE:

And in Lattakia province anger grows among Alawites after the Assad regime failed to rescue their sons and relatives at the Abu Dhuhur airfield. This follows similar demonstrations last month after a significant attack on the Kweires airbase in Aleppo province by the Islamic State.

Similarly, in the Bekka valley in Lebanon a local Sheikh has been banned from speaking at the local mosque after he was accused of persuading or coercing local young men to go and fight for Hezbollah at Zabadani. You can read more, HERE:

Lastly, reports late this afternoon, Friday, suggest that the Russians have taken over the running of Damascus airport. A number of workers there say Russian officers are directing all air operations and issuing instructions.

Until now the Russians have been using the Bassel al-Assad International Airport near Lattakia where satellites have identified construction work underway during the latest Russian military build-up.

There are also reports that the Assad regime intends to create a "defensive military cordon" in the villages around Damascus International Airport to protect against Opposition attacks which limit it air operations.

The Better Face of the Refugee Crisis – Policeman Plays With Refugee Girl in Germany

Syrian refugees wait at a makeshift camp on the border before being driven by the Jordanian army to the eastern town of Ruwaished on September 10, 2015

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned that millions more Syrians may flee the deadly violence by foreign-backed militants in their homeland and head to Europe if the crisis in the Arab state does not come to end.

"There could be millions and millions more refugees leaving Syria and ultimately going to the European Union (EU) and beyond," said Peter Salama, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa on Friday.

He added that almost eight million people were displaced within Syria, which has been grappling with violence fueled by foreign-backed Takfiri terror groups since March 2011.

The fund also urged all EU member states to fully protect refugee children, adding that children already make up a quarter of all asylum seekers in Europe so far this year.

"Protecting refugee and migrant children from harm, especially as winter approaches, has to be at the very heart of Europe's response," said Yoka Brandt, UNICEF deputy executive director.

The UNICEF official emphasized the child refugees' right to "protection and to dignity," saying, "Now is the time to make those rights a reality."

Hundreds of asylum seekers wait for buses at the former truck custom station on the Austrian side of the border between Hungary and Austria on September 11, 2015 near Nickelsdorf, Austria

Earlier this week, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) voiced alarm over deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Syria, saying the conflict in the Middle Eastern state has forced thousands of Syrians to risk their lives on perilous journeys to get to Europe.

The UN refugee agency further said a large number of some 4.08 million Syrian refugees already in neighboring countries live outside proper camps. Only 12 per cent of refugees across the region live in formal refugee camps.

According to the UNHCR, over 380,000 asylum seekers, about half of them Syrians, have crossed the Mediterranean so far this year, a figure "expected to continue rising rapidly over the coming weeks and months."

Earlier in the day, the UN announced that 7,600 refugees, mostly from violence-ravaged Syria, entered Macedonia from Greece between 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Wednesday and 6 p.m. on Thursday.

(Source / 11.09.2015)

Egyptians have taken to the streets to protest this week’s reported re-opening of the Israeli embassy and against the government’s ongoing crackdown on Islamists

Anti-government protesters held marches around Egypt on Friday to condemn the re-opening of the Israel embassy in Cairo.

Muslim Brotherhood-supporting demonstrators in Cairo, Alexandria, al-Sharqiya and Beheira also called on the Egyptian government to stop killing political opponents and called for ousted Islamist President Mohammad Morsi to be reinstated into power.

Al-Araby al-Jadeed's Arabic service reported the turnout was especially strong among young people and women.

In addition to the closure of the Israeli embassy, the protester’s demands included the release of political prisoners and an end to police brutality and torture.

Local media widely reported on Wednesday that the Israeli embassy in Egypt had opened its doors once again after a four-year hiatus.

But a source in the Egyptian foreign ministry denied it was ever closed.

“The embassy has been operating normally for the past three years, however its headquarters have been moved to the Maadi area close to the residence of the Israeli ambassador,” the anonymous source said.

Former President Morsi came to power following the 2011 ousting of Hosni Mubarak. But after just a year in power, was himself toppled by Sisi who at the time was army chief.

The new authorities then launched a sweeping crackdown against supporters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, in which more than 1,400 people have died and thousands jailed.

This week, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was found dead after he was arrested.

In July, at least six people were killed in clashes between Islamist protesters and police in Cairo on the first day of the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday.

(Source / 11.09.2015)