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Syrian rebels seize largest army base in Deraa

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Opposition fighters take control of a major base that was used by the regime to shell all eastern areas of the province.

The majority of Deraa province is controlled by opposition fighters [Getty]

The majority of Deraa province is controlled by opposition fighters [Getty]

by Al Jazeera

An umbrella group of opposition fighters have seized the largest army base in the southern province of Deraa – the birthplace of Syria’s four-year uprising – after 24 hours of fighting, a rebel spokesman and monitoring group have said.

Essam al-Rayes, a spokesman for the Southern Front rebel alliance operating in the province, told the AFP news agency on Tuesday that the “fully liberated” base “was one of the main lines of defence for regime forces”.

“It was a nightmare, because they used it to shell all the areas to the east of the province,” he added.

He said at least 2,000 rebel forces overran the base, which lies near a major highway running from Damascus to Syria’s southern border with Jordan, in a “short and quick” assault.

Diaa al-Hariri, a spokesman for Faylaq al-Awwal, one of the armed groups in the Southern Front coalition, also confirmed the significance of the base.

“The base is also an important infantry base, from which the regime attacked towns and villages in the south,” he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group that relies on a network of activists on the ground, reported that opposition groups had taken the 52nd Brigade base after clashes and intense shelling that left 14 rebel fighters and 20 government forces dead.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said regime troops withdrew to the nearby village of al-Dara.
Rebel groups control a majority of Daraa province and its capital, according to Abdel Rahman.

Syria’s official news agency SANA did not mention the capture of the base. But earlier, citing a military source, it said the air force had struck the area, killing at least 40 “terrorists”.

String of regime losses

Regime forces have suffered several defeats over the last three months at the hands of opposition fighters.

One of the most recent major losses was Idlib province, which rebels claimed full control over since Saturday.

The Observatory also said on Tuesday that it has documented the deaths of 230,000 people since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011.

The Observatory said the dead include 69,494 civilians, among them 11,493 children. The conflict has also claimed the lives of 49,106 troops, 32,533 pro-government fighters and 38,592 rebels, it said.

Abdurrahman said the real death toll could be above 300,000, since there are tens of thousands of people who are missing or were buried without being counted.

Syria’s conflict began with peaceful Arab Spring-inspired demonstrations demanding political reform, but eventually escalated into a civil war after the government responded with a violent crackdown on dissent.

Today the country is split among forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, opposition factions, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group.

20 million people in grave danger as Yemen's humanitarian crisis deepens

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After months of US/Saudi military assault, almost 80 percent of population in desperate need of medical, food, and water aid

Children fetching water in Yemen's capital Sana'a. (Photo: UNICEF/Yasin)

Children fetching water in Yemen’s capital Sana’a. (Photo: UNICEF/Yasin)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

More than two months of a brutal Saudi Arabia-led military assault and siege on Yemen has sown a humanitarian crisis that now engulfs the vast majority of the country’s people, with U.S.-backed naval blockades cutting off most aid shipments, even as 20 million Yemenis—80 percent of the population—are in dire need of medical, food, and water assistance, according to United Nations figures.

The UN’s grave assessment will be formally released next week, according to The Guardian. At a press conference on Friday in Geneva, representatives of the global body said that more than 2,288 have been killed, nearly 10,000 wounded, and more than one million displaced since the beginning of the Saudi coalition military assault, in which the United States is a key participant.

“Half of the new displacement—more than half a million people—has occurred in three governorates alone: Hajjah, Ad Dhale’e and Ibb,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “The number of displaced is expected to increase further over the coming weeks if the conflict continues.”

The naval siege is also blocking shipments of oil and gas, leading to shortages that are disrupting electricity and forcing the closure of hospitals, schools, and water pumps. People living in areas heavily impacted by the Saudi coalition air bombardments, as well as on-the-ground clashes, are in the position of having to find a way to obtain food and water amidst the fighting.

In what aid group Doctors Without Borders describes as “indiscriminate airstrikes,” the Saudi coalition has bombed schools, refugee camps, residential neighborhoods, humanitarian aid warehouses, and other civilian infrastructure. The organization warned on Twitter:

Last week, the humanitarian organization Oxfam warned that at least 16 million people in the country are without access to clean drinking water and “Yemen’s hospitals are in no condition to adequately cope with an outbreak of a water-borne disease.” As they have since the Saudi-led assault began, Yemenis have turned to social media to document the impact of the war and call for an end to the fighting:

Israel’s clandestine alliance with Gulf Arab States is going public

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"Relations with Israel have long been a third rail for Arab states," writes Hussain. That, however, appears to be changing. (Photo: AP/Saudi Arabian Press Agency)

“Relations with Israel have long been a third rail for Arab states,” writes Hussain. That, however, appears to be changing. (Photo: AP/Saudi Arabian Press Agency)

by Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept

In 2009, a U.S. State Department diplomatic cable gave one of the first glimpses of a burgeoning alliance between Israel and the Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The cable quoted Israeli Foreign Ministry official Yacov Hadas saying, “the Gulf Arabs believe in Israel’s role because of their perception of Israel’s close relationship with the United States,” adding that GCC states “believe Israel can work magic.”

Israel and the Gulf states also shared an interest in countering what they saw as rising Iranian influence in the Middle East. So while the two sides sparred in public — Israel’s “Cast Lead” military operation had just claimed more than 1,400 lives in the Gaza Strip and was condemned by Saudi Arabia, in a letter to the United Nations, as “fierce aggression” — they enjoyed “good personal relations” behind closed doors, Hadas said, according to one cable. Hadas reportedly added that the Gulf Arabs were still “not ready to do publicly what they say in private.”

Fast forward six years, and it seems as though the GCC states have finally readied themselves to go public about their warming relationships with Israel. In an event at the Council on Foreign Relations this week in Washington, reported on by Bloomberg’s Eli Lake, high-ranking former Saudi and Israeli officials not only shared the stage but disclosed that the two countries had been holding a series of high-level meetings to discuss shared strategic goals, particularly around the perceived regional ascendance of Iran. At the event, former Saudi General Anwar Eshki openly called for regime change in Iran, while former Israeli ambassador to the U.N., Dore Gold, once a fierce critic of Saudi Arabia, spoke of his outreach to the country in recent years, and of the possibility of resolving the remaining differences between the two nations, stating, “Our standing today on this stage does not mean we have resolved all the differences that our countries have shared over the years, but our hope is we will be able to address them fully in the years ahead.”

Relations with Israel have long been a third rail for Arab states. Following the creation of Israel in 1948 and the resulting displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, other Middle Eastern countries have maintained a position of public hostility towards Israel, in line with longstanding domestic public opinion. Although countries such as Egypt, under military dictatorship, have concluded formal peace treaties with Israel in defiance of popular sentiment, for the most part Gulf states have remained aloof.

In recent years, however, the dual phenomena of the Arab uprisings and growing Iranian influence have pushed GCC leaders closer to Israel. Last year, Saudi Prince Turki bin Faisal took the unprecedented step of publishing an op-ed in a major Israeli newspaper calling for peace between Israel and GCC nations, as well as for a resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. As the United States under the Obama administration has pursued détente with Iran in recent years, reports have also surfaced suggesting covert security cooperation between Israel and GCC states. The investigative news site Middle East Eye recently documented the existence of regular, secret flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv, despite the ostensible ban on Israeli citizens entering the UAE.

In his 2012 book After the Sheikhs: The Coming Collapse of the Gulf Monarchies, Durham University Professor Chris Davidson wrote that Gulf states will continue to seek Israeli support thanks to growing external pressures on Gulf States in the wake of regional upheaval. Even as it describes the GCC countries as consisting of “national populations who for the most part are anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian, with the topics of Israel and Zionism often stirring strong emotions,” the book documents increasing clandestine economic and political coordination by GCC leaders with their Israeli counterparts in recent years.

There are signs, however, that even popular anti-Israeli sentiment within these countries may be shifting. A recent poll of Saudi public opinion conducted by students at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, an Israeli university, found that a minority of the Saudi public viewed Israel as a major threat to their country, and cited instead either Iran or the nascent Islamic State as their primary objects of concern. “What we think here in Israel about the Saudis is not exactly what they are,” said Alex Mintz of IDC Herziliya, who helped oversee the poll. “We assume that we know what people in Iran, Gaza and Saudi Arabia think, [but] nobody that I talked to thought that Saudis would say by a margin of 3-to-1 that Iran scared them more than Israel, nobody predicted that.”

With the Obama administration seeking to conclude a controversial nuclear agreement with Iran next month, it seems likely that Gulf Arab states and Israel, traditional U.S. allies united in their opposition to the deal, will continue to grow their strategic coordination. The recent decision by high-ranking former officials representing both Gulf and Israeli interests to go public with their cooperation is only the latest signal of the strength of this burgeoning alliance. Given that this relationship is flourishing against the backdrop of the still-ongoing Israel-Palestine crisis, as well as the ascendance of far-right political parties within Israel itself, it seems clear that GCC leaders have decided in the wake of the Arab Spring to place their own narrow political interests above any publicly-stated principles about stability in the region.

 

Ruling party loses majority in Turkey elections

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Preliminary results suggest AK party won polls, but lost simple majority in parliament due to pro-Kurdish party gains.

HDP supporters has started celebrating the election results in predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey [Reuters]

HDP supporters has started celebrating the election results in predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey [Reuters]

by Umut Uras, Al Jazeera

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK party) has won Turkey’s parliamentary polls, but lost its single-party government, according to the preliminary results.

The country’s pro-Kurdish left-wing Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) crossed the country’s unusually high 10 percent electoral threshold that affected the distribution of seats and, consequently, the power of the ruling party.

Official results based on 99.9 percent of votes counted gave the AK party 41 percent of Sunday’s votes, while the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) scored 25 percent.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) secured 16.5 percent of the votes, while the HDP won 13 percent.

About 54 million citizens were eligible to vote in the polls, with 86 percent of attendance rate, according to Turkey’s semi-official Anatolia news agency.

According to the official projections, the AK party is set to secure 258 MPs, below the 276 seats necessary to form a single-party government in the 550-seat parliament. The CHP, MHP and HDP are projected to secure 132, 81 and 79 seats respectively.

‘Our march will continue’  

The AK party, which currently has 311 seats in parliament, has ruled the country with a single-majority government for the last 13 years.

“Our nation’s decision is final. Respecting this is a responsibility for all political parties,” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a public address from AK party headquarters in Ankara.

“For long marches, 13 years is a short time. There is much more to do. Our blessed march is to continue… We will evaluate the messages to get from the polls and we will continue walking in our way with further determination,” he said.

“Turkey’s democracy proved itself. The ones who tried to stain our democracy are ashamed now.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Davutoglu had campaigned to write a new constitution to bolster the powers of the country’s presidential office. The AK party needed at least 330 seats to unilaterally initiate such a change and take it to a referendum. All the other three main parties are against a presidential system.

The HDP, which was contesting the elections on a liberal platform, was seeking to cross the country’s electoral threshold to make its way to the parliament. The party had independent candidates in the last two polls that significantly decreased the number of the MPs it won through Turkey’s electoral system.

“The ones who are authoritarian and arrogant lost, and the ones who are in love with the liberty and peace in Turkey won in the polls,” Selahattin Demirtas, the co-chairperson of the HDP, said in a televised statement.

“We, the oppressed of Turkey, have beaten a government who used all the state’s facilities against us, to attack us… This is the victory of the oppressed and alienated in Turkey,” he added.

Both HDP and CHP officials said that the debate for a presidential system ended in Turkey.

Haluk Koc, the CHP spokesman, said that the AK party became increasingly authoritarian throughout its 13-year government.

“The country has avoided a one-person dictatorship and a civilian coup,” he said, adding that his party was the key party to form the new government.

‘Voters punished AK party’

Garo Paylan, an HDP candidate from Istanbul who is likely to make his way to the parliament, told Al Jazeera that Turkish voters punished the AK party’s divisive rhetoric.

“The results show that the citizens of Turkey have expressed their support for the HDP’s language that has been calling for all the citizens of Turkey to live together in harmony,” Paylan said.

“We want all political parties in Turkey to see this picture and make their contributions to form a new culture for all citizens of this country to live harmoniously together. We will work in the parliament for a new constitution for all people to respectfully live together,” he told Al Jazeera.

Thousands of Kurds in the country’s predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey celebrated the unofficial results, setting off fireworks and waving HDP flags.

The political atmosphere was tense in the region before the polls, with bombings targeting HDP buildings and rallies.

“The election results are a big success for the HDP as it has moved from a Kurdish-oriented party to a party that addresses the whole Turkey. It got votes from liberal voters who previously voted for the AK party and CHP and who wanted to block Erdogan and AK party this time,” Deniz Ulke Aribogan, a professor of political science from Istanbul Bilgi University, told Al Jazeera.

“The results show that Turkish citizens want Erdogan to act in line with his position as a neutral president. They don’t want to see him rallying as if he is the leader of the AK party.”

Former Iraqi deputy PM Tariq Aziz dies in prison

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Aziz, who was Saddam’s deputy PM and foreign minister, surrendered to US forces in 2003 and had been a prisoner since.

Tariq-Aziz

by Al Jazeera

Tariq Aziz, Iraq’s former deputy prime minister and foreign minister, has died in prison aged 79 years old.

Iraqi officials said Aziz, who was one of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s top deputies, died on Friday afternoon after suffering a heart attack on Thursday.

Al Jazeera has learned that Aziz’s son, Ziad, expressed outrage that Iraqi officials had not informed him of his father’s death, and he had instead found out through local media reports.

Aziz was Iraq’s foreign minister between 1983 and 1991 and deputy prime minister between 1979 and 2003.

Born Mikhail Yuhanna in 1936, Aziz was the highest ranking Christian official under Saddam’s presidency and a member of the former ruling Baath Party’s inner circle.

He was sentenced to death by the Iraqi High Tribunal in 2010 for his role in human rights abuses committed under the former government, which was overthrown in 2003 when Iraq was invaded by a US-led alliance.

Iraq’s public face

Aziz surrendered to US forces shortly after the invasion and had been a prisoner since.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Baghdad, said Aziz was one of the most hated figures from the old regime and Iraqi TV stations had largely ignored his death.

“There will be no eulogies for him, no day of mourning for him. He was hated as a member of the former regime,” he said.

One of the best known faces of Saddam’s Iraq, Aziz travelled globally where he defended his leader against the many accusations of alleged human rights abuses.

When the US prepared for its campaign to end the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait prior to the first Gulf War, Aziz hit out at Arab states, calling them “subservient Arab weaklings”.

Aziz remained loyal to his boss in the aftermath of defeat during that war, and through the 12 years of sanctions that followed.

In the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Aziz was the “eight of spades” on the famous deck of cards of Iraq’s most wanted released by US authorities.

“He was always seen as someone who could try and prevent the impending US invasion. He was always seen as a diplomat,” Al Jazeera’s Khan said.

UN: Over 2,200 Yemenis killed in fighting since late March

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According to the UN, nearly 78 percent of the Yemeni population is in need of humanitarian assistance. (Al Bawaba/File)

According to the UN, nearly 78 percent of the Yemeni population is in need of humanitarian assistance. (Al Bawaba/File)

by Andolu Ajansi

At least 2,288 people have been killed and nearly 10,000 others were injured in Yemen since the beginning of a Saudi-led military campaign against the Shia Houthi militant group in late March, the U.N. said Friday.

“More than one million people have been displaced across all governorates in Yemen between the 26 March and the end of May,” Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press conference at the U.N. in Geneva.

“Half of the new displacement — more than half a million people — has occurred in three governorates alone: Hajjah, Ad Dhale’e and Ibb. The number of displaced is expected to increase further over the coming weeks if the conflict continues,” Laerke said.

Nearly 20 million Yemenis are now in need of humanitarian assistance, which is 78 percent of the entire Yemeni population, the U.N. said.

The number of people who need humanitarian assistance in the country increased by 4 million with the Saudi intervention in March 2015, it added.

Meanwhile, talks are expected to start in June 14 at the U.N. in Geneva, with a view to ending the current fighting and restoring momentum toward a Yemeni-led democratic transition.

Fractious Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when Houthi militants overran Sana’a from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country.

On March 25, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began an extensive air campaign targeting Houthi positions across the country.

Riyadh says its campaign comes in response to appeals by Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi — who is in Saudi Arabia — for military intervention against Houthi militants.

The Houthis, however, denounce the offensive as unwarranted “Saudi-American aggression” against Yemen.

Pakistan rules out sharing nukes with Saudis, anyone else

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Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry

Washington: Pakistan ruled out sharing its nuclear weapons with Saudi Arabia, insisting Thursday that the atomic arsenal would continue serving solely for the country’s national defence even as world powers and Iran near a possible nuclear agreement.

Closing a wide-ranging trip to Washington, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry angrily rejected speculation that his country could sell or transfer nuclear arms or advanced technology as “unfounded and baseless”.

Pakistan has long been among the world’s greatest proliferation threats, having shared weapons technology with Iran, Libya and North Korea. And American and other intelligence services have been taking seriously the threat of Saudi Arabia or other Arab countries potentially seeking the Muslim country’s help in matching Iran’s nuclear capabilities, even if the US says there is no evidence of such action right now.

“Pakistan is not talking to Saudi Arabia on nuclear issues, period,” Chaudhry insisted. The arsenal, believed to be in excess of 100 weapons, is focused only on Pakistan’s threat perception from “the East” Chaudhry said, a clear reference to long-standing rival and fellow nuclear power India.

Chaudhry said his country has significantly cracked down in recent years on proliferation, improving its export controls and providing UN nuclear monitors with all necessary information. Pakistan also won’t allow any weapons to reach terrorists, he said.

Pakistan detonated its first nuclear weapons in 1998, shortly after India did. At the same time, the man regarded as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear program, A Q Khan, was shopping advanced technology to many of the world’s most distrusted governments.

He sold centrifuges for enriching bomb-making material to the Iranians, Libyans and North Koreans, and also shared designs for fitting warheads on ballistic missiles. He was forced into retirement in 2001. Concerns now centre on how the governments of the Middle East will respond if the US and other governments clinch a nuclear deal with Iran by the end of the month.

Such questions inevitably lead to Pakistan, the only Muslim country in the nuclear club and one with historically close ties to Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials, for their part, have repeatedly refused to rule out any steps to protect their country, saying they will not negotiate their faith or their security.

Foreign secretary’s US visit
Aizaz Chaudhry during his visit to Washington DC attended a meeting of the Working Group on Strategic Security, Stability and Non-proliferation (SSS&NP) and held meetings with several senior diplomatic and military officials for US-Pakistan strategic dialogue.

The US State Department said Wednesday the agenda included “international efforts to enhance nuclear security” as well as non-proliferation and export controls.

It described the discussions as “productive” and said the governments would work together to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Speaking to reporters, Chaudhry praised the progress thus far in the Iran nuclear talks.

He told reporters that a diplomatic success would have significant economic benefits for Pakistan, allowing it to complete a long-sought gas pipeline project with its neighbor to the west.

During a meeting at the Pentagon with US Defence Undersecretary Christine Wormuth, both sides discussed a wide range of issues related to bilateral defence cooperation. Continuing high level exchanges and regular dialogues between defence communities of Pakistan and the US was agreed upon and Chaudhry appreciated the United States’ support in assisting Pakistan in its counter-terrorism campaign.

Both sides also reviewed developments in the region and agreed on the need to further strengthen mutually beneficial security cooperation.

Continuing his busy schedule in Washington DC, the foreign secretary met with the US Undersecretary for Treasury Adam J Szubin. Undersecretary Szubin oversees the US policy on economic sanctions and countering terrorist financing.

Chaudhry briefed Undersecretary Szubin on various legislative and administrative steps taken by the government in the domain of anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing. Sharing the key points of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s National Action Plan (NAP), the foreign secretary highlighted the various implementation measures, in particular, the steps taken towards countering financing for terrorism.

Undersecretary Szubin praised Pakistan’s dedication and sacrifices in the fight against terrorism and noted the significant success achieved by the ongoing military operations in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

Undersecretary Szubin also appreciated the positive steps taken by the Pakistani government to meet international financial standards to monitor and interdict suspicious transactions.

Reviewing their collaboration in combating terrorism at the bilateral and multilateral levels, the two sides agreed to further intensify their cooperation.

Chaudhry also met Deputy Secretary of State, Tony Blinken in the Department of State today. The Foreign Secretary and the Deputy Secretary reviewed the state of bilateral relationship and expressed satisfaction over its growing momentum and positive trajectory.

The foreign minister apprised the deputy secretary on Pakistan’s effort to address the threat of terrorism. He underscored that the military operation, Zarb-i-Azb, was progressing well. He thanked the US for the cooperation extended in the post-operation relief and rehabilitation of temporarily dislocated peoples. The foreign secretary reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to a peaceful, stable and united Afghanistan.

Blinken lauded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to reach out to Pakistan’s neighbours and hoped that his initiatives would help bring prosperity to the people of the region. He also noted the improved mutual trust and positive relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Separately, Chaudhry also held meeting with Dan Feldman, Special Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP). Both sides took stock of the recent developments in the region in wake of the visit of the SRAP to Pakistan last month.

(AP)

Sunni sheikhs pledge allegiance to ISIL in Iraq's Anbar

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Several sheikhs and tribal heads say only way to achieve peace in province is to join ISIL after meeting in Fallujah.

ISIL-Anbar

by Al Jazeera

A number of Sunni tribal sheikhs and tribes in Iraq’s Anbar province have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

The sheikhs and tribal leaders made the pledge in a statement read out by influential Sheikh Ahmed Dara al-Jumaili, after meeting in Fallujah on Wednesday.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Baghdad, said it was not yet clear if the tribes had been forced to pledge allegiance by ISIL fighters, who control Fallujah and most of Anbar province.

“If this is a willing move then that is very worrying for the Iraqi government,” Khan said.

“The statement they issued was very strong – it condemned the government.

“It said the only way that peace would come to Anbar province is if the tribes joined ISIL.”

Influential tribe 

Khan said the inclusion of the al-Jumaili tribe in the pledge was of particular concern for Iraqi authorities, given the tribe’s influence in Anbar province.

“The al-Jumailis command a number of fighters and they have a large amount of influence over other tribes [in Anbar],” he said.

The pledge comes after a number of Sunni leaders in Anbar province publicly criticised the involvement of Shia militias in the fight to retake areas of the province from ISIL, including the provincial capital Ramadi which fell last month.

While a number of Sunni tribes have joined with government forces and Shia militias, Khan reported that a number of tribal leaders have asked for government support to fight the armed group.

“They said ‘if you arm us, if you allow us to fight as Sunnis, we will be able to get rid of ISIL quite quickly’,” he said.

“The fact that a number of these tribes have come together … and pledged allegiance to ISIL shows the level of anger the Sunni tribes feel towards the government in Baghdad.”

Freedom Flotilla III begins journey to Gaza

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The Freedom Flotilla III has begun its journey to Gaza’s port and will be in Mediterranean waters by the middle of June

Photo of the Marianne, the fishing trawler that is part of the third flotilla that will attempt to break the siege on the Gaza Strip (Ship to Gaza website)

Photo of the Marianne, the fishing trawler that is part of the third flotilla that will attempt to break the siege on the Gaza Strip (Ship to Gaza website)

by Linah Alsaafin, Middle East Eye

Activists have organised a flotilla to Gaza in an ongoing bid to break the siege on the Strip, which will enter its ninth year next month.

The Freedom Flotilla III, which will be made up of at least three ships, has planned its course to be in the Mediterranean waters in the second half of June.

The Ship to Gaza organisation in Europe has teamed up with the international Freedom Flotilla and is calling for an immediate end to the naval blockade of Gaza, the opening of the Gaza Port, and for a secure passage for Palestinians between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

This is the third time a flotilla will embark on a journey to break the siege of Gaza.

The first flotilla, formed of six ships carrying humanitarian aid, set sail in May 2010 and was attacked by Israeli navy commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara cargo ship in international waters. Nine Turkish activists were killed. The rest of the activists were detained and deported, and some were given a 10-year ban from entering Israel.

A second attempt was turned back in October 2012.

The Free Gaza Movement was the first organisation to sail into Gaza’s port in August 2008 on two small wooden boats, marking the first time foreign vessels arrived to Gaza since Israel occupied the coastal enclave in 1967.

One of the ships taking part in Freedom Flotilla III, the Marianne, set off on 10 May from Sweden’s Gothenburg Harbour to begin the almost 5,000-nautical-mile journey to Gaza. The Marianne will stop at a number of European ports to demonstrate and draw attention to the naval, air and land blockade on Gaza, which began to be enforced by Israel and Egypt in the summer of 2007 after Hamas took over the Strip.

According to the Ship to Gaza website, the Marianne will stop at ports in Helsingborg, Sweden; Malmo, Sweden; and Copenhagen, Denmark. Other ports will be announced by the website later.

Dror Feiler, the spokesperson of Ship to Gaza, told Middle East Eye that in the case that the flotilla does arrive at Gaza’s port, the Marianne, which is carrying solar cell panels and medical equipment, will be left there for Palestinian fishermen to use. The solar cells will provide the Palestinians in Gaza a locally produced source of efficient energy.

“The boats are not so big but they have a symbolic due,” said Feiler. “Our boat is a fishing trawler and it is meant to be left for the fishermen in Gaza to use, as one of the things Israel is applying is a non-fishing zone after three nautical miles, which is killing all possibility of fishing.”

Around 50 people from 20 different countries will be on board the Freedom Flotilla.

During the World Social Forum held in Tunisia in March this year, the former caretaker president of the country Dr Moncef Marzouki met with a delegation of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and confirmed that he would be on board one of the ships in Freedom Flotilla III.

Israel has announced it will not allow unauthorised ships to enter its territorial waters, but Feiler has hope that this time, the flotilla would make it to Gaza’s port.

Feiler said that in the previous attempts, those on board the flotilla were “kidnapped by Israeli state piracy”.

“We’d be detained and then expelled,” he said. “This will not deter us. I hope that this time we will succeed to come through.”

Nusra leader: Our mission is to defeat Syrian regime

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Abu Mohammed al-Golani in exclusive interview to Al Jazeera says his group has no specific agenda to target West.

Abu Mohammad al-Golani

by Al Jazeera

The leader of the Nusra Front, one of Syria’s most powerful rebel groups, has said that his group’s main mission is to dislodge the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and that it has no agenda to target the West unless provoked.

“We are only here to accomplish one mission, to fight the regime and its agents on the ground, including Hezbollah and others,” Abu Mohammed al-Golani said in an exclusive interview aired on Al Jazeera on Wednesday.

“Nusra Front doesn’t have any plans or directives to target the West. We received clear orders not to use Syria as a launching pad to attack the US or Europe in order to not sabotage the true mission against the regime. Maybe al-Qaeda does that but not here in Syria,” he said.

But his statements did include a warning against the US over its attacks on the armed group, which has been blacklisted a “terrorist organisation” by the US.

“Our options are open when it comes to targeting the Americans if they will continue their attacks against us in Syria. Everyone has the right to defend themselves,” he said in an interview with the Doha-based network.

‘Khorasan fabricated’

Golani not only accused Western nations of backing the government of President Assad against the rebels, but of also fabricating the “Khorasan” group – which Washington says is a covert faction in Syria that aspires to attack the US.

“The West is targeting Nusra because they know we are the real threat to the Assad regime. This is why they came out and said they are only targeting this group that they called Khorasan,” the leader of al-Qaeda’s Syria branch said.

“There is nothing called Khorasan group.The Americans came up with it to deceive the public. They claim that this secret group was set up to target the Americans but this is not right.”

He also noted that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL), which has been accused of rampant atrocities and controls large parts of the country, was a main threat to the Nusra Front.

“Assad forces are fighting us on one end, Hezbollah on another and ISIL on a third front. It is all about their mutual interests.”

Alawites will not be targeted

When questioned whether the Nusra Front planned to establish Islamic state in Syria, Golani said that after the whole war is over, all factions and groups in the country will be consulted before considering
“establishing an Islamic state”.

Golani also said that his group will not target the country’s Alawite minority despite their support for Bashar al-Assad’s government.

“The battle does not end in Qardaha, the Alawite village and the birthplace of the Assad clan,” he said.

“Our war is not a matter of revenge against the Alawites despite the fact that in Islam, they are considered to be heretics.

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