On Saturday, September 7, the Egyptian army began a large-scale military campaign in the villages located south of the Sinai town of Sheikh Zoweid. Al-Akhbar toured the devastated area and found consistent reports of the Egyptian army indiscriminately targeting of civilians and their property.
Sinai – On Saturday morning, the Egyptian army took control of the central telecom building in al-Arish and cut off all landlines, mobile phones, and Internet communications in the governorate of North Sinai.
The telecom outage lasted nearly 10 hours, following which the residents of the governorate learned that the army had initiated a large-scale military operation in the border region, but could not obtain any further details. When communications were restored in the evening, a flood of phone calls ensued, complaining about the aftermath of the military operation.
A spokesperson for the Egyptian army took to Facebook to announce the results of the first day of the military campaign, writing that 107 homes were burned down along with a number of vehicles used by the terrorists in their operations. But the residents, while agreeing on some of these details, had a different version of events.
The operation lasted three days. During the communication blackout, tanks and heavy hardware were moved in under cover from Apache combat helicopters, while no media or relief personnel were allowed to enter the area of operations.
Al-Akhbar only learned that the operations had ceased once it arrived in Sheikh Zoweid on Tuesday morning, September 10. Communications had returned, and the residents had not seen or heard the choppers that day. In a quick tour to examine the effects of the military campaign on the villages of al-Zuhair and al-Mokataa, two of several villages affected by the fighting, the extent of the devastation inflicted on civilian homes and vehicles soon became clear.
Al-Akhbar learned from its field guide that Hajj Salem Abu Draa was killed. Salem is a cousin of Sinai journalist Ahmad Abu Draa, who is being detained by the military. He was killed as he left the mosque following the dawn prayer, and his children could not reach his body until later that afternoon. We also learned that Umm Sulman Abu Draa, an elderly woman, was killed after a bullet pierced a wall in her home and settled in her chest.
In al-Mokataa, the Abu Munir mosque was turned to rubble after being hit by missiles, most likely from an Egyptian army Apache. Some locals explained why the mosque would be targeted, saying it was a meeting point for some militant groups. But no one could say for sure whether any militants had actually been holed up in the mosque during the operations.
Dozens of residents gave their testimonies to Al-Akhbar about the indiscriminate collective punishment, the attacks on bystanders and civilians inside homes, and the burning of civilian cars for no apparent reason. One of the residents claimed the army stopped and searched him before sending him away and burning his car.
Not far from the charred remains of the car, a number of adjacent houses met a similar fate. Residents were forcibly evicted and their homes were searched. When the army did not find any contraband inside, they used cooking gas bottles to burn furniture and appliances, and also burned any cars parked in their yards. A taxi driver whose car was burned said he begged the army to arrest him and leave the car to his children to be able to make a living and finish payments on the car, but that the army burned it anyway, as he watched.
Disaster also stuck the extremely impoverished residents of the area’s shanties. People were driven out before their shelters were set on fire although no contraband was found inside. Even the owners of expensive homes were not spared from aerial bombardment, destruction of property, and looting, despite the improbability that their lavish lifestyles were linked to radical Islamists.
According to consistent eyewitness accounts in the two villages, homes were looted of clothes, food, and even women’s jewelry. Olive trees were uprooted and cattle were slain. The army uprooted large areas of olive groves south of al-Arish, supposedly to better expose the area and secure it against infiltration. But these measures have resulted in losses to the tunes of millions of Egyptian pounds, with many families losing their only source of livelihood.
Impact on the Armed Groups
Official army statements claimed that the military operations succeeded in eliminating dens of terrorism and criminal hideouts. However, these claims were shattered on Wednesday morning, when the military intelligence building in Rafah was destroyed in a double suicide attack. On Thursday, a takfiri group called Jund al-Islam claimed responsibility for the attack.
The group’s statement helped clarify the confusion that prevailed over whether Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, a Salafi jihadi group, was otherwise responsible for the Rafah bombing, as the latter had issued another statement on Wednesday announcing figures on the army’s casualties during the three-day operation.
Ansar Bait al-Maqdis’ statement was enclosed with a picture of a military Land Cruiser that the group claimed it had destroyed, in addition to a Hummer and three armored vehicles using explosive devices. The statement also confirmed that eight soldiers were killed, including six from Special Forces.
Accusing the Egyptian army of treason and collaboration with Israel is nothing new in the statements of Salafi jihadi groups in Sinai. What is new, however, is that the latest statement described the Egyptian military as “the infidel army.” The statement also boasted that the large-scale military campaign claimed the life of only one of the group’s members, something that a resident of al-Mokataa commented on by saying, “They destroyed our homes, burned our cars, and left us with the members of the [militant] groups sticking out their tongues and telling us they were left unharmed.”
The villages in the operation zone south of Sheikh Zoweid are at least 15 km away from the tunnels northeast of Rafah, which means that the recent bombing and burning of homes has nothing to do with these tunnels and the smuggling whatsoever.
Egyptian security forces confirmed that on Sunday, September 15, army attack helicopters bombed positions supposedly belonging to militant Islamists in villages south of Sheikh Zoweid. The sources added that the army started a new military operation against militant outposts in Sinai.
September 16, 2013
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Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | al-Akhbar, Egyptian Armed Forces, Egyptian Army, Rafah, Sinai, Sinai Peninsula |
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Israel’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a decision to bar entry to the Jewish state to a Polish humanitarian worker for having unspecified links to “terrorist elements”.
Although Kamil Qandil had a valid visa when he landed at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on September 2, he was refused entry by immigration officials and held at the airport as he filed an appeal.
Upholding the ban, Chief Justice Asher Grunis cited “new material which points to the appellant having contacts with terrorist elements, which was not known at the time when he was granted the visa,” without elaborating.
“I have done nothing which could have harmed the state of Israel,” Qandil, who has a Palestinian father and Polish mother, told the court during the hearing. Grunis responded that he was “perhaps not aware of his actions.”
Part of the hearing was held in the presence only of the judges and agents of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service.
“The hearing today and the court’s verdict did little to clear the mystery about the allegations against Kamil,” his lawyer, Yadin Elam, told reporters.
The Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), which groups more than 80 organizations, said Qandil was detained on arrival to work on a project to supply water to Palestinians in a part of the southern West Bank under full Israeli control.
“He said that the biggest losers would be the villagers of the south Hebron hills where the project is located and…the Polish taxpayers who fund it,” a relative told AFP.
AIDA said PHA was seeking to refurbish rainwater cisterns on which Palestinian farmers depend for irrigation. Israel has demolished several refurbished cisterns, triggering a diplomatic response from Warsaw, AIDA said.
Shin Bet told Haaretz newspaper on Monday that Qandil was refused entry “due to security information that exists about him.”
(AFP, Al-Akhbar)
September 11, 2013
Posted by aletho |
Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism | al-Akhbar, Asher Grunis, Haaretz, Israel, Kamil Qandil, Palestine, Shin Bet, West Bank, Zionism |
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To hell with all the talk about democracy backed by the United States, France, Britain … and Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Israel.
To hell with every bid for freedom with the support of these murderers.
To hell with every fool, criminal, and coward, no matter what they look like, what they are called, where they live, or what they do.
To hell with all those who support an international war to topple Syria.
To hell with this bunch of collaborators, who people will no doubt hold accountable one day, come chaos or stability.
To hell with all traitors, their speeches, their false tears, and to hell with their human rights groups and their subservient civil society organizations.
The decision to wage war on Syria is only the last step in the course set two and a half years ago, to destroy Resistance, its cities, people, and even its very idea.
There is no room for any kind of bargaining, and there is no room for any discussion or debate. There is no room to listen to any collaborator touting the list of causes of war and the causers, and there is no room for those who cling to their opinions, positions, or labels, wearing bandanas on their foreheads after wearing blindfolds on their eyes, and joining forces with collaborators and takfiris.
To begin with, these people live on the crumbs thrown to them by the robbers of Arab resources and fortunes. They work for them and receive from them money and all kinds of support.
It is a duty for every capable person to fight these killers, wherever they may be, wherever there is a chance to take revenge against them, and punish all the traitors, one after the other, in their beds, behind their desks, inside their tanks, or in their palaces, whether they are alone, or among their families.
What do you want from us today?
Do you want to repeat the experience of Iraq?
Do you want to repeat the experience of Afghanistan and Somalia?
Do you want to repeat the experience of Libya? Do you want to repeat the experience of war in Lebanon?
Or do you think that this will be a war to destroy the right that will never be eliminated, and whose name, forever shall remain: Palestine?
We do not have to repeat our arguments or repeat the process of searching for answers; we do not have to repeat our comments or our warnings. All we have to do is declare one position, namely, that the war being prepared for Syria is a colonial war, and every participant in it, whether by supporting it, funding it, promoting it, justifying it, or directly fighting in it, is a cowardly collaborator… .
It’s war!
They will gang up on Damascus, the mother of all cities, with the aim of crushing the people, the army, and the leadership. They want to destroy its history and its heritage of resisting invaders. They want to destroy every spirit that resists colonialism and supports resistance in the whole region. They want to extend a permanent lifeline to Israel and the oppressive regimes in our Arab countries, and they want to have collaborators of all kinds take over countries, rob their resources, and annihilate their peoples.
When America says that it needs no cover, legal justification, scientific investigation, or political support, and that it is able to manipulate the fate of a nation, for the sole reason that it has decided that its interests require it, then this means that we must act exactly like America, and wait for no cover, support, justification, or ask about international norms and so forth.
We must fight against it, and against its colonies, all forms of war, and we must spare no effort to seek to transfer the struggle to its soil, in every place of its land and cities; we must scream in the face of the butcher. We would do all this, without giving them the ability to strip us of our humanity, which we shall keep for ourselves, our children, and for the oppressed everywhere.
Yesterday, the West showed its true colors: a spiteful, murderous West, that has no place for anyone except those who know how to kneel down before it, and raise the white flag above their heads.
Yesterday, Europe showed its foul nature. It is not just a foolish old crone, but an ugly one too, with venom spewing from all its folds. Dishonor mars its opinion-makers, factories, schools, universities, and its people who do not come out to disavow the killers among them.
All we can do is resist them, with all our capabilities. Nothing will prevent us from seeking out our sole enemy, which has many faces, but one name: the barbarians, the bloodsuckers. As for us, resistance is our destiny.
Ibrahim al-Amin is editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar.
This article has been edited for posting at Aletho News.
August 31, 2013
Posted by aletho |
Aletho News | al-Akhbar, France, Human rights, Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United States, Zionism |
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Ramallah – For the first time since the second intifada, Qalandia airport was the scene of intense activity by both Israeli civilian and military vehicles over the past two days, according to eyewitnesses in the area who spoke to Al-Akhbar. It is believed that the Israeli occupation forces are repurposing the airport to receive civilian and military aircraft, on the back of mounting talk about an imminent region-wide war.
The Jerusalem International Airport, or Qalandia airport as it is commonly called, overlooks the road linking Ramallah to occupied Jerusalem. The airport is located between populated Palestinian areas under the control of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
The British Mandate authorities built the airport in the 1920s. Under the Jordanian administration, the airport became a hub for tourism and commerce.
Following the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, it was used in a limited fashion for civil aviation, before the Israelis turned it into an army base during the second intifada. Israel closed down the airport completely in 2000. Recently, the Israelis considered turning it into an industrial park after ownership of the land was transferred to the Jerusalem municipality.
The airport has been also used as a bargaining chip between the Israeli and Palestinian sides during negotiations, with the PNA demanding to turn it into a civilian airport under its control as a condition for negotiations. However, Thursday’s activity at the airport has now raised questions about the goal for rehabilitating it at this time in particular, prompting speculations that Israel may be seeking to turn it into an emergency airport in the event of a full-scale war.
Mahmoud Awadallah, an eyewitness living near the airport, told Al-Akhbar, “We noticed suspicious activity at the airport over the past two days. Two delegations entered the premises, one civilian and one military, accompanied by military vehicles. They conducted repairs and tested the runway by driving over it at high speed. They also installed what appear to be reflectors to facilitate aircraft landing. But they stopped working today.”
In Israel, every aspect of life is being prepared for the worst-case scenario. Shelters are present in every city on a very large scale. Protection gear is widely available, even among ordinary citizens.
Furthermore, there are major expressways that can act as emergency landing strips for military and civilian aircraft, if Israeli airports in the north should come under bombardment.
All this raises questions about the reason Israel has chosen to rehabilitate Qalandia airport. Awadallah said, “The occupation wants to shelter itself among the Palestinians, as the old airport, which has been neglected since the beginning of the second intifada, is unlikely to come under attack given its location among Palestinian population centers and its proximity to Ramallah.”
Israel does not have military airports in Jerusalem. Most Israeli air bases are located in the southern regions adjacent to the Gaza Strip, in a cluster stretching from Tel Aviv along the Mediterranean, to the Negev Desert in the south. If Israeli military airports in the north were to be bombed, Qalandia would be the closest functioning airport to Syrian territory.
The Israeli home front is living a real state of war reminiscent of the situation that prevailed inside the Jewish state shortly before the Iraq war in 2003. Anyone following Israeli media would come out with the impression that the international campaign against Syria will begin in a matter of hours. Anti-missile systems like Patriot, Arrow, and the Iron Dome have been widely deployed along occupied Palestine’s northern border, as Israelis flocked to distribution centers providing gas masks for the second day in a row, in anticipation of any chemical attack from the north.
August 30, 2013
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Militarism | al-Akhbar, Israel, Qalandia, West Bank |
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Several Palestinian schools in Jerusalem will incorporate Israeli educational material in their curriculum after receiving financial incentives from Israeli officials, Ma’an news agency reported on Wednesday.
An education official told Ma’an that the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem had offered increased salaries for teachers and principals who implement Israeli course material in the classes, bringing an estimated $550 for each student enrolled in schools agreeing to the switch.
Some Palestinian and Israeli school principals and teachers met in Tel Aviv last week to discuss the change, the official added.
Jerusalem’s director of education Samir Jibril said at least five Palestinian schools in Jerusalem will switch from Palestinian Authority to Israeli education plans at certain grade levels.
“This step is very dangerous and touches the awareness of Palestinians in Jerusalem in an effort to brainwash them and control them, especially young generations,” a teacher identifying only as Jibril told Ma’an.
The Israeli curriculum purportedly includes maps marking the West Bank as part of Israel and identifying territories by their Jewish Biblical names.
The history material also identifies Jerusalem as the capital of Israel despite the fact that the United Nations and most states do not recognize Israel’s claim on the city.
The apartheid wall in the West Bank is also referred to as Israel’s security fence, and Israel is described as a bastion of human rights and democracy.
Another section depicts a conversation between Arab students who praise Israel’s development of Palestinian cities and decide to sing the Israeli national anthem.
(Al-Akhbar, Ma’an)
August 28, 2013
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Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | al-Akhbar, Human rights, Israel, Jerusalem, Palestine, Zionism |
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Plainclothes Israeli police shot dead three Palestinians during a West Bank raid early Monday, local media reported.
Ma’an news agency said that the undercover Israeli forces attempted to raid a home in the Qalandiya refugee camp around 5:00 am to rearrest a former prisoner when residents confronted them.
The occupation forces then opened fire on the residents that had surrounded them, killing 32-year Robin al-Abed, 22-year-old Younis Jahjouh and 20-year-old Jihad Aslan.
Fifteen others were wounded in the assault, six said to be in critical condition, the report added, citing medical sources. It said that most of the injured sustained bullet wounds to the head, chest and upper body.
With Monday’s killings, Israeli forces have taken the lives of 14 Palestinians in the West Bank this year, compared with three killed in the same period in 2012, according to United Nations figures.
Israeli forces last shot dead a 20-year-old Palestinian at the Jenin refugee camp on August 20. A soldier shot him directly in the heart.
The western-backed Palestinian Authority suspended the so-called peace talks with Israel over Monday’s killing.
“The meeting that was to take place in Jericho … today was cancelled because of the Israeli crime committed in Qalandiya today,” a PA official told AFP.
“What happened today in Qalandiya shows the real intentions of the Israeli government,” Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina, a separate official, told AFP as reports of the shooting started to emerge.
(Al-Akhbar, Ma’an, Reuters, AFP)
August 26, 2013
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Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, Subjugation - Torture | al-Akhbar, Israel, Palestine, Qalandiya, West Bank, Zionism |
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Four journalists have been killed in violent clashes which swept Egypt on Wednesday, with a number of the press core suffering serious injuries in the clashes. At least 238 civilians died in total as security forces brutally broke up pro-Morsi rallies.
Egypt has been swept by horrific street violence, showers of gunfire, blazing fires and tear gas as relentless clashes have shaken cities in government attempts to break up the demonstrations.
Among the 238 protesters killed were children, including the 17-year old daughter of a Muslim Brotherhood official. Police stations were torched or stormed by pro-Morsi groups amid the ruthless government suppression.
The violence also took the lives of Sky News cameraman Mick Deane and Dubai-based XPRESS journalist Habeeba Abdelaziz. Both had been covering the pro-Morsi protests in Egypt’s capital which security forces began to ‘disperse’ earlier in the day.
Deane, 61, was shot as he was documenting the turmoil in Cairo. Despite receiving medical treatment for his injuries he died shortly afterwards, according to a statement from Sky.
“He was an astonishingly good cameraman, took some brilliant pictures,” said John Ryley, head of Sky News.
Habeeba Abdelaziz was a 26 year old Egyptian reporter from Dubai, who worked for XPRESS – a ‘sister’ publication to the country’s Gulf News.
“It’s hard to believe she’s gone. She was passionate about her work and had a promising career ahead,” XPRESS Deputy Editor Mazhar Farooqui told Gulf News, commenting that the entire team was in a state of shock.
Abdelaziz had been covering protests near Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque, which has been the site of one of the largest protests for over a month, and a subsequently heavy-handed crackdown by governmental security forces. They reclaimed the area late on Wednesday.
The third journalist killed was Egyptian Ahmed Abdel Gawad of Al Akhbar newspaper. He died while covering the clashes at Rabaah al-Adawiya. The Egyptian Press Syndicate, a journalist union, confirmed Gawad’s death, but did not provide any details.
The fourth reporter to have been confirmed killed is photojournalist Mosab El-Shami Rassd of the news website (RNN), an alternative pro-Islamist media network, Ahram online reports. The agency wrote that he “was killed by the hand of betrayal while covering the Rabaa massacre at the hands of those who executed the coup,” wrote the network on its Facebook page.
Reuters photojournalist Asmaa Waguih also suffered serious injuries after being shot in the leg during protests. Shortly afterwards, she was moved to the international medical center to receive treatment. The Committee to Protect Journalists has released a statement on the issue, saying that the group condemned the killing of Sky News cameraman Mick Deane, prior to hearing of the second death.
“We call on Egyptian authorities to issue clear orders to security forces to respect the right of journalists to work freely and safely while covering events in Cairo and the rest of the country,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney.
“The killing of Mick Deane underscores the urgent need for such action and for all sides to show restraint and allow the media to do their job. The authorities must investigate all attacks on journalists and hold those responsible to account,” he said.
Other journalist were also treated for wounds. An AP photographer was hit in the back of the neck by two birdshot pellets, while Al Jazeera claims its cameraman Mohammed al-Zaki was shot in the arm. In addition, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders says that Tarek Abbas — a reporter for local Al-Watan newspaper sustained gunshot wounds to his leg and eye; and photographer Ahmad Najjar was wounded in the arm.
Approximately a dozen other journalists were arrested or threatened as they tried to document the mayhem: Reuters’ Tom Finn tweeted his own arrest. Daily Beast reporter Mike Giglio also said on Twitter he was arrested alongside two photographers named Mahmoud Abou Zeid and Louis Jammes, stating they had been beaten too.
A state of emergency was declared on Wednesday after Egyptian security forces violently broke up the sit-in camps of Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Cairo. Health Ministry officials say that over 2000 were injured in the nationwide violence, alongside the 278 who were killed including policemen.
“The dead are both from police and civilians,” said the ministry’s spokesman, Hamdi Abdel Karim.
However, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad claimed that as many as 2,000 people had been killed and 10,000 injured in the police operation.
Security forces succeeded in gaining control of the protest camps by the end of the day after turning the capital into what journalists called “a war zone”. A state of emergency has been declared and curfew imposed in major cities including Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. The curfew is set to last for the next month – or until further notice.
August 15, 2013
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Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | Ahmed Abdel Gawad, al-Akhbar, Cairo, Egypt, Gulf News, Habeeba Abdelaziz, Mick Deane, Sky News |
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Israel urged the European Union on Friday to undo planned sanctions against it in the occupied West Bank and called for talks, a shift in tone from previous Israeli anger, retaliatory measures and threats.
Under guidelines adopted by the executive European Commission in June, Israeli “entities” operating in the West Bank and East Jerusalem will not be eligible for EU grants, prizes or loans from next year.
The move was deplored by Israel, which has constructed thousands of illegal settlement houses in the West Bank and claims all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital. Neither the settlements nor claims to Jerusalem are recognized internationally.
The right-wing Israeli government responded on July 26 by announcing curbs on EU aid projects for thousands of West Bank Palestinians. On Thursday it accused the Europeans of harming so-called Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and said it would not sign new deals with the 28-nation bloc given the planned sanctions.
But Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin backed down a little on Friday, offering to negotiate with the European Union over the guidelines of the sanctions.
“We are ready to hold a creative dialogue with the Europeans. We understand their position. We reject it, we don’t like it, but it’s their right when it comes to using their money,” Elkin told Israel Radio.
A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Aston, Michael Mann, said Brussels was willing to clarify the new guidelines in talks with Israel.
Some 500,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem among 2.5 million Palestinians who own the land. Israel snatched those territories, along with the Palestinian Gaza Strip and Syrian Golan Heights, in the 1967 war.
Occupation forces left Gaza in 2005 but has annexed the Golan – another territory affected by the EU move.
Internationally, the settlements are considered illegal.
(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)
August 9, 2013
Posted by aletho |
Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | al-Akhbar, East Jerusalem, European Union, Israel, West Bank, Zionism |
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Four Israeli soldiers were injured on Wednesday by a landmine after having crossed into Lebanese territory, the Lebanese National News Agency reported.
“As a new violation of the Lebanese sovereignty, a pedestrian patrol belonging to the Israeli enemy breached the Blue Line at the Labboneh border area, for a distance of 400 meters inside the Lebanese territory, and during the infiltration, an explosion occurred and injured a number of the patrol elements,” a Lebanese army command statement read.
“Afterwards, the [Lebanese] army units deployed in the region mobilized and took the necessary field measures, while a special military commission of the Lebanese army took charge of the investigation into the circumstances of the incident and the type of the explosion, in coordination with the UNIFIL,” it added.
An Israeli military spokesman told AFP that the Israeli troops were “carrying out nocturnal activities in the Lebanese border area when the explosion occurred,” adding that the wounded had been hospitalized.
South Lebanon is riddled with tens of thousands of landmines and cluster bombs, many of which were placed there by Israeli forces at the end of Israel’s occupation of the region in 2000 and during the July 2006 war.
Israel’s army regularly violates Lebanese sovereignty, crossing over the blue line demarcating the disputed border between Lebanon and Palestine, as well as sending war planes over Lebanese territory.
On Tuesday, Lebanon’s army registered two violations of the Lebanese airspace, as four Israeli planes flew over the northern city of Tripoli, the NNA reported.
(Al-Akhbar, AFP)
August 7, 2013
Posted by aletho |
Illegal Occupation | al-Akhbar, Blue Line, Israel, Lebanon |
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Under the headline “Bir Al-Abed Explosion: A 130 Kg Voice Message to Hezbollah!” Al-Akhbar newspaper published an article in which it highlighted Saudi Arabia, in cooperation with the CIA’s central role in the Southern Suburb of Beirut blast which left only material damage behind.
Nasser Sharara pointed out that “after three weeks on Bir Al-Abed blast, there are still no leaks on the discovered threads, despite the fact that many of these threads could lead to knowing the sides behind it.”
However, he reminded of Lebanese Parliament Speaker, Nabih Berri’s remarks that this blast was “the beginning of a security escalation,” which according to what he said were “well-informed sources”, aimed at confusing Hezbollah by putting pressure on its working society in the Gulf and Lebanon, to punish it for participating in the Syrian events.
In this context, the Lebanese daily said new information that it has obtained revealed that the explosives used in the attack weighted at least 130 kg, and they were put in a vertical, not horizontal position, because the aim was only to send a “voice message”.
“The aim… was to send a voice message, as the planning side intended to put the explosive in a far spot inside a parking, and pointed the blowing downwards, yet it magnified the explosives to make a huge explosion echo,” Al-Akhbar reported, adding that “another basic conclusion is that the side which carried out the operation was a professional body, and not just some group or organization…”
In addition to Speaker Berri’s estimation and fear from the security situation in the coming period, Al-Akhbar quoted “well-informed” sources as saying that “there is an international and Arab decision, specifically in Saudi Arabia, to occupy or confuse Hezbollah… and Saudi Intelligence Chief Prince Bandar Bin Sultan has a major role in that…”
The Lebanese daily pointed to Bandar’s significant role, as he is “America’s strong man, who is assigned internally, to guard the throne transition process from one generation to another, and externally, to lead Saudi Arabia’s security agenda, which is strongly tied to the CIA.”
The paper further revealed that Bandar had visited the United States around 15 days ago and met with important officials and with President Barack Obama.
“Leaked information from the meeting revealed that the latter (Obama) agreed on Saudi’s proposal which states that Riyadh becomes the only Arab side assigned with the Lebanese and Syrian fields, under the condition that Bandar would manage these two files,” it added.
August 1, 2013
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War Crimes | al-Akhbar, Al-Manar, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Nabih Berri, Saudi Arabia, United States |
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Two roadside bombs in Lebanon’s eastern Hermel region injured one woman and two army men Sunday, state news reported.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said Iman Nasreddine, was rushed to a hospital after an explosion hit her Honda CRV on a road that had previously been targeted by suspected militants with ties to Syria’s anti-government rebels.
A second bomb went off as security forces rushed to the scene, injuring an army officer and a soldier, the report added.
Two roadside bombs late last month targeted a convoy that reportedly belonged to Hezbollah. Fighters from the powerful Shia movement have joined Syria’s government forces in the over two-year-long conflict.
Militants opposed to Hezbollah have launched a series of attacks in recent months that have killed a number of Lebanese security forces in East Lebanon.
There have also been deadly clashes in the northern city of Tripoli between supporters and opponents of Syria’s government.
And in the southern city of Sidon, Islamist militant last month waged a two-day battle on the Lebanese army that killed 18 soldiers and more than 20 gunmen.
(Al-Akhbar, AFP)
July 7, 2013
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War Crimes | al-Akhbar, Hermel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria |
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Four million Syrians, a fifth of the population, are unable to produce or buy enough food to survive, the United Nations said on Friday.
The statement comes as donations to Syrian civilians has been lagging far behind the levels of financial assistance initially pledged by member states and called for by the UN.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) said Syria’s domestic wheat production over the next 12 months is likely to be severely compromised and that it will need to import 1.5 million tons of wheat for the 2013 to 2014 season.
“There is a limited window of opportunity to ensure crisis-affected families do not lose vital sources of food and income,” the two agencies said.
After two years of a civil war that has killed more than 90,000 people, food shortages have escalated due to massive population displacement, disruption of agricultural production, unemployment, economic sanctions and high food and fuel prices.
FAO has launched an appeal for $41.7 million to assist 768,000 people and has so far only received $3.3 million.
The WFP and the FAO said the funding must be secured by August to provide farmers with fertilizers and seeds to plant in October. Otherwise, the report said, many farmers will be unable to harvest wheat until mid-2015.
Syria’s livestock sector has also been seriously depleted by the conflict, with poultry production down by more than 50 percent compared with 2011 and significant declines in numbers of sheep and cattle, the report found.
The agencies said domestic wheat output was seen at about 2.4 million tons in 2012 and 2013, some 40 percent less than the average annual harvest of more than 4 million tons before the conflict.
WFP said last month that Syrian families were increasingly resorting to begging for food to cope with shortages and high prices.
The average monthly price of wheat flour has more than doubled between May 2011 and May 2013 in several areas, and there are serious bread shortages across the country.
Food production has been hampered by high costs, damage to machinery and storage facilities and by the fact that many farmers have fled their land for fear of violence, the report found.
The FAO and the WFP also warned of a serious risk that livestock diseases could be transmitted to neighboring countries and said farmers needed vaccines to prevent this from happening.
A Syrian state buyer earlier this week issued a tender to buy 200,000 tons of flour on the international market and planned to pay with funds from bank accounts frozen by trade sanctions.
Food is excluded from US and European trade sanctions imposed on President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
More than a million Syrians have fled the war-torn country, and about 4.25 million Syrians have been internally displaced, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center.
(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)
July 5, 2013
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Aletho News | al-Akhbar, FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization, Syria, WFP, World Food Programme |
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Aletho News
Aletho News 