Category Archives: terrorism

ISIS declares leader al-Baghdadi ‘caliph of the Muslims,’ changes name | News | DW.DE | 29.06.2014

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Sunday released an audio recording declaring its leader the caliph, also saying that it would change its own name, removing references to Iraq and Syria to call itself Islamic State.

“The Shura (council) of the Islamic State met and discussed this issue,” ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani said in the recording. “The Islamic State decided to establish an Islamic caliphate and to designate a caliph for the state of the Muslims. The jihadist cleric Baghdadi was designated the caliph of the Muslims.”

via ISIS declares leader al-Baghdadi ‘caliph of the Muslims,’ changes name | News | DW.DE | 29.06.2014.

Islamic State claims responsibility for Lebanon hotel bombing

The al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility Friday for this week’s Beirut hotel suicide bombing, warning that dozens of more men plan to carry out similar attacks.

The claim, in an online statement, was the first by the group for a suicide attack in Lebanon. It recently captured wide areas in northern Iraq and eastern Syria.

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a Beirut’s Duroy Hotel on Wednesday when security forces raided it to arrest him. His accomplice was wounded and was being questioned at a Beirut hospital.

via Islamic State claims responsibility for Lebanon hotel bombing.

{Anyone really in control of Iraq?} ISIS Fighters Advance Toward Large Iraqi Dam – NYTimes.com

Separately on Wednesday, Mr. Maliki rejected calls for a caretake

r government, as he has before, but it appeared to be a repudiation of the Western leaders who have asked him to agree to share power with Iraq’s Sunnis and Kurds.

via ISIS Fighters Advance Toward Large Iraqi Dam – NYTimes.com.

Peace talks can now be held in Israeli jail? 23 Palestinian members of parliament in Israeli jails | Maan News Agency

Twenty-three Palestinian lawmakers are currently being held in Israeli jails, a majority of whom have been detained in the last two weeks during the Israeli arrest campaign across the West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said on Wednesday.

Eleven of the 23 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council were detained prior to the campaign, the first of whom was Marwan Barghouthi in 2002.

The two most recently-detained lawmakers were taken on Tuesday night during a raid in Bethlehem.

More than 500 Palestinians have been detained in the last two weeks as part of an Israeli search for three Jewish teenagers who went missing from the Gush Etzion settlement in the West Bank.

Detainees who have been tried and sentenced:

1. Marwan Barghouthi, Ramallah, sentenced to five life sentences.

2. Ahmad Saadat, Ramallah, sentenced to thirty years.

3. Ahmad Atwan, Jerusalem, suspended sentence.

Administrative detainees being held without charge or trial:

1. Mahmoud al-Rimhi, Ramallah.

2. Abduljaber Fuqahaa, Ramallah.

3. Muhammad Jamal al-Natsheh, Hebron.

4. Hatem Qfish, Hebron.

5. Nizar Ramadan, Hebron.

6. Muhammad Badr, Hebron.

7. Muhammad Abu Teir, Jerusalem.

8. Yassir Mansour, Nablus.

Detained during the recent Israeli campaign, some of whom have been sentenced to administrative detention:

1. Aziz Dweik, Hebron.

2. Hassan Youssif, Ramallah.

3. Ahmad Tahtuh, Jerusalem.

4. Abdulrahman Zeidan, Tulkarem.

5. Ibrahim Abu Salem, Jerusalem.

6. Husni al-Burini, Nablus.

7. Azzam Salhab, Hebron.

8. Ahmad Mubarak, Ramallah.

9. Ahmad al-Hajj ali, Nablus.

10. Ayman Daraghmah, Tubas.

11. Khalid Tafish, Bethlehem.

12. Anwar Zboun, Bethlehem.

via 23 Palestinian members of parliament in Israeli jails | Maan News Agency.

Australian militants Abu Yahya ash Shami and Abu Nour al-Iraqi identified in ISIS recruitment video – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

“They are trying to target youth in the West with a very simple message, a very evocative message,” Dr Rodger Shanahan, a non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute of International Policy, said.

Yesterday Foreign Affairs Minister said the Government believed 150 Australians have been or are currently overseas fighting with extremists in Iraq and Syria.

via Australian militants Abu Yahya ash Shami and Abu Nour al-Iraqi identified in ISIS recruitment video – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

France shocked by violence against Roma | Europe | DW.DE | 20.06.2014

The reactions in social networks and online news portals were often racist and included expressions of support for Darius’ torturers. “If the state can’t provide security, it’s only logical that people will practice vigilante justice,” one French Twitter user wrote. What dangers that view brings with it has become clear in the past few days.

via France shocked by violence against Roma | Europe | DW.DE | 20.06.2014.

Outrage over Japan’s review of sex slave apology | Asia | DW.DE | 19.06.2014

Real men would just admit that the guys in charge during war were jerks and stand by the apology and not start the shaming of victims again. Either that or accept

The argument of the nationalists is that these women were merely common prostitutes who were assisted in plying their trade by civilian brokers. Under pressure from his conservative supporters, the Abe administration announced in February that it was setting up a team to “re-examine and understand the background” of the Kono statement, including attempting to verify the testimony provided by former comfort women.

via Outrage over Japan’s review of sex slave apology | Asia | DW.DE | 19.06.2014.

Middle East “Expert” – US military force against ISIS in Iraq ‘is no longer avoidable’ – France 24

{Not volunteering to serve or be on any front line}

Paradoxically, the current conflict in Iraq and the changing geopolitical dynamics could accelerate the process of ending the civil war in Syria. To that end, the US must seize upon this opening and spearhead the delivery of weapons to the rebels to stop Assad from continuing his indiscriminate bombing of rebel hideouts while killing thousands of civilians in the process.

For this reason, once the US commits to preventing ISIS from achieving its goal, it cannot do so incrementally. All countries in the region have a common interest to bring an end to ISIS’ unseemly ambition. They must now set aside their differences and rally under American leadership to achieve their common objective.

Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU.

via Middle East – US military force against ISIS in Iraq ‘is no longer avoidable’ – France 24.

Kidnappings put Netanyahu back on offense – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

The kidnapping of the three teenage boys suddenly dominated both the media and the public agenda. And it was with the same rapidity that Netanyahu regained his stature as the responsible adult in the room, and the person with the most diplomatic and security mileage in the government and Cabinet.

In an instant, the kidnapping erased any memory of one of the, politically speaking, worst weeks Netanyahu has had in his current term, if not the worst. His unfocused, emotional plotting to thwart the election of his sworn enemy Reuven Rivlin came crashing down around him, and he was forced to congratulate the newly elected president, though he did so without any show of enthusiasm.

via Kidnappings put Netanyahu back on offense – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Deadly “Buddhist” Violence Erupts in Sri Lanka – NYTimes.com

{Who would have thought there could be Buddhist Fascists?}

In some of the worst religious violence in Sri Lanka in decades, three people have been killed and 78 injured in riots between Buddhists and Muslims in this southwestern coastal town after months of rising tensions, officials said Monday.

The riots on Sunday followed a protest march by a hard-line Buddhist group, Bodu Bala Sena, which is led in part by monks. Its name roughly translates as “Buddhist Power Force.” Shops and homes in the area, many of them owned by Muslims, were set ablaze and vandalized in violence that continued throughout the night. Mobs shouting anti-Muslim slogans and hurling gas bombs and stones advanced on a Muslim part of the village of Welipitiya, where men were protecting a mosque.

Three mosques and several Muslim prayer houses were set on fire, according to unofficial reports. “They fought us face to face for two hours,” said M. Hussein, a Muslim man involved in the fighting on Sunday night. “The police didn’t show up until after people were dead.” Police teams eventually appeared in the early morning hours of Monday to transport the dead and injured, Mr. Hussein said.

Muslim residents said Monday that their lives had changed forever.

“They finished the Muslims in this area,” said M. Farina, who added that the police watched impassively Sunday evening as Buddhist mobs attacked Muslim shops and homes.

The Sri Lankan justice minister, Rauff Hakeem, denounced his own government’s inaction.

“The law and order machinery completely failed,” said Mr. Hakeem, who is the leader of the country’s largest Muslim party and confirmed the number of dead and injured. “For 72 hours, we begged the government to prevent this rally from taking place on Sunday for fear of riots.”

“I am ashamed,” he added. “I couldn’t protect my people.”

via Deadly Religious Violence Erupts in Sri Lanka – NYTimes.com.