Deadly air strikes continue to target Raqqa city, monitoring group says, as thousands continue to flee the fighting.

The UN says at least 23,544 people have been displaced from May 18-22 due to the fighting in Raqqa [Rodi Said/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

At least 13 people have been killed in suspected US-led coalition air strikes on the ISIL-held city of Raqqa and suspected rocket attacks fired by a Kurdish group fighting ISIL, a monitoring group has said.

Some of the deaths in the northern city on Sunday evening resulted from air strikes blamed on the US-led coalition, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday.

The death toll also included civilians killed in rocket attacks by the Ghadab al-Furat group (dubbed Wrath of the Euphrates) on Sunday, the Observatory said.

Ghadab al-Furat is a Kurdish group fighting under the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). They launched a campaign in October 2016 to retake Raqqa, the de facto capital of the ISIL in northern Syria.

The SDF, which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG armed group, said last week it plans to launch the final assault on Raqqa city in early summer.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a press release on Sunday that it conducted 17 air strikes targeting ISIL in Syria, destroying two ISIL bases in Deir Az Zor and three ISIL headquarters near Raqqa.

It did not mention civilian casualties in its report.

Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, an activist group in Raqqa, said on Sunday that a school was targeted by the US-led coalition in Mansoura west of Raqqa city.

The school was destroyed in the attack, the group said.

The activists said on Thursday that Raqqa city was targeted with at least 30 coalition air strikes, and 80 rocket attacks by the SDF killing at least 35 civilians in the past 24 hours.

The SDF has been encircling Raqqa since November.

Earlier this month, its fighters captured Tabqa, a previously ISIL-held town some 50km west of Raqqa, and a strategic dam nearby.

The UN said in a report that on May 14, at least 23 farm workers, including 17 women, were reportedly killed when air strikes hit al-Akershi village in a rural area of eastern Raqqa province.

Other air strikes on two residential areas of the ISIL-controlled city of Abo Kamal in eastern Deir Az Zor province the following day (May 15), reportedly killed at least 59 civilians (including 16 children and 12 women) and injured another 70.

The day after that, ISIL fighters are said to have cut the throats of eight men at the sites of the air strikes, after accusing them of providing coordinates for the strikes.

Earlier in May, the Observatory reported the highest monthly civilian death toll for the coalition’s campaign in Syria.

Between April 23 and May 23 2017, coalition air strikes killed at least 225 civilians in Syria, including dozens of children.

The US military had said coalition air strikes in Iraq and Syria had “unintentionally” killed a total of 352 civilians since 2014.

At least 23,544 civilians have been displaced between May 18-22, the UN said in a press release last week.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al- Hussein last week urged all states’ air forces operating in the country to take much greater care to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilians.

“The same civilians who are suffering indiscriminate shelling and summary executions by ISIL, are also falling victim to the escalating air strikes, particularly in the northeastern governorates of Raqqa and Deir Az Zor,” Zeid said.

Aid agencies say some 17 million people do not have enough to eat [Al Jazeera]

by Al Jazeera

While Muslims worldwide celebrate Ramadan with special meals and tasty treats, millions of Yemenis are suffering from an acute lack of food as the country’s two-year war rages on.

According to aid agencies, 17 million people do not have enough to eat, in what the UN calls the “largest humanitarian crisis in the world”.

Typically, people shop throughout Ramadan, but Yemeni storekeepers have nothing to celebrate.

“Sales are the lowest from years past. Every year is worse than before,” Yahya Hubar, a shopkeeper in Hodeidah, a coastal city in western Yemen, told Al Jazeera.

More than two million children are acutely malnourished in Yemen, where a child under five dies every 10 minutes of preventable diseases, according a report by UNICEF published in December.

In addition, the country is facing a cholera outbreak, which so far has infected more than 29,000 people.

As many are scrambling to get their hands on food necessities, no longer are people talking about the special foods prepared and enjoyed during the festive Ramadan month.

“Our situation is very hard. We haven’t been paid for several months. Essential needs are hard to get and the prices are high. We’re looking at goods we can’t buy,” Nabil Ibrahim, another Hodeidah resident, told Al Jazeera.

‘Unprecedented tragedy’

This is the third Ramadan Yemen faces in a state of war. A majority of the population has only limited access to food and medicine.

The UN needs $2.1bn to provide aid to Yemen. So far, only half the amount has been raised to help address what is calls a “tragedy of unprecedented proportion”.

“People from Hodeidah are living in a tragic situation. Ramadan arrives as people are suffering greatly from unpaid salaries, no electricity, no water with the hot weather and the blockade due to the ongoing war in Yemen,” Sadeq Al Saeedi, a charity worker, told Al Jazeera.

Yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the region.

The ongoing conflict between Houthi fighters and an Arab coalition has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people and pushed the country to a brink of famine, according to the UN.

It has also taken a toll on the country’s health facilities. A number of hospitals and clinics have been bombed, while others have had to close their doors because of the fighting.

Earlier this month, a state of emergency was declared in Yemen’s opposition-held capital, Sanaa, after the cholera outbreak killed scores of people.

Ramadan Mubarak! Saudi Arabia officially declares May 27 as the first day of Ramadan. Pakistan, India start on Sunday.

by Al Jazeera

Saudi Arabia’s High Judicial Court has announced that, based on confirmed sightings of Ramadan’s new moon crescent, the first day of Ramadan 1438 fasting will be Saturday, May 27.

Saturday was confirmed the first day of Ramadan in 33 other countries also, whereas Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Shia Muslims in Iraq declared Sunday May 28 to be their first day of Ramadan.

As per tradition, the sighting of the new moon marks the beginning of the Muslim lunar month of Ramadan.

Turkey and Muslim communities in America, Europe and Australia previously announced they would observe Ramadan fasting from May 27, based on astronomic calculations.

In Muslim-majority countries, offices are required by law to reduce working hours, and many restaurants are closed during daylight hours in Ramadan.

“Ramadan Mubarak” and “Ramadan Kareem” are common greetings exchanged in this occasion, wishing the recipient a blessed and generous Ramadan.

Moon sighting

Muslim lunar months last between 29 and 30 days, and depending on sighting of the moon on the 29th night of each month. If the moon is not visible, the month will last 30 days.

Astronomic predictions indicate that the new moon crescent should be visible either with the naked eye, or with a telescope from around the world on Friday evening.

Moon sighters in the UAE posted a photo showing the new moon crescent during the day on Friday.

Last year in May, member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, at the International Hijri Calendar Unity Congress held in Istanbul, voted in favour of adopting a single unified lunar calendar.

However, local sighting continues to be the default policy in each country.

End of Ramadan

Ramadan lasts either 29 or 30 days, depending on sighting of the moon on the 29th night of Ramadan, on Saturday June 24.

At the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate breaking their fast with the three-day festival of Eid al-Fitr, but holidays differ by country.

This year, Saudi Arabia announced holidays from the 25th of Ramadan until the 7th of Shawal, the lunar month after Ramadan.

As per astronomic calculations, Turkey and Muslim communities in the US and Europe expect the first day of Eid al-Fitr on Sunday, June 25.

Masked attackers open fire on vehicles travelling to Minya monastery, killing and wounding dozens, before fleeing scene.

An image grab taken from Egypt’s state-run Nile News TV shows the remains of the bus that was attacked while carrying Coptic Christians in Minya province [AFP/Nile News]

by Al Jazeera

Masked gunmen on Friday attacked two buses and a truck carrying Coptic Christians in Egypt, killing more than 20 people and wounding dozens, according to officials.

The attackers arrived in three pick-up trucks and opened fire on the vehicles carrying visitors to the Saint Samuel Monastery in the Minya province, about 220km south of the capital, Cairo, before fleeing the scene.

The interior ministry said at least 26 people were killed and 25 wounded in the attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Pictures of a bus at the scene aired by state TV showed its windows shot out.

“They used automatic weapons,” Essam el-Bedawi, Minya governor, told state media.

Security forces launched a hunt for the attackers, setting up dozens of checkpoints and patrols on the desert road.

Following the attack, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called for a meeting with security officials.

Egypt’s Christian minority, which makes up about 10 percent of the country’s population, has repeatedly been targeted by armed groups.

In April, at least 45 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in two separate suicide bomb attacks on churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria during Palm Sunday ceremonies.

The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group.

Following the Palm Sunday bombings, Sisi declared a nationwide three-month state of emergency.

A bombing at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49 in December 2016, including many women and children.

Terrorism is fought on the frontlines in Syria and Iraq, Rouhani said at a press conference. “That’s where the real fight is, not in Riyadh.” (AFP)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has scoffed at joint efforts by the United States and Iran’s regional rivals to combat Islamist terrorism, dismissing President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia as “show.”

Speaking after Trump’s two-day visit to Riyadh, Rouhani said, “This summit was a show and had no political value. It is not possible to fight terrorism with precisely these kinds of shows.”

The Iranian leader, who was recently re-elected to serve a second term, also slammed a multibillion-dollar arms deal signed between the US and Saudi Arabia during the visit, arguing that this would not solve the problem either.

Terrorism is fought on the frontlines in Syria and Iraq, Rouhani said at a press conference. “That’s where the real fight is, not in Riyadh.”

On the arms deal, Rouhani added, “We don’t need that. We produce our own weapons.”

He also slammed Washington’s decision to side with the Saudis, arguing that the Islamic kingdom was undemocratic: “The Saudis have never seen a ballot box in their life and don’t know what elections are.”

Iran and Saudi Arabia are fighting multiple proxy wars in the Middle East, most notably in Yemen and Syria. In both cases, the US sides with Saudi Arabia. At the same time, US and Iranian forces are both backing the government in Iraq against Islamic State militants.

Saudi forces have been accused of using excessive force during the fight to oust rebel forces in Yemen.

Trump gave a much-anticipated speech on combatting Islamist terrorism before Arab leaders in Riyadh on Sunday.

Walking back on the Islamophobic rhetoric of his previous speeches on home soil, Trump stressed that his administration was looking to strengthen partnerships across the region, and said the war on terrorism is not a fight between faiths but “a battle between good and evil.”

He struck a confrontational tone towards Tehran – one which had been avoided by his White House predecessor, Barack Obama – accusing Iran of funding and arming extremist militants in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

“All nations of conscience must work together to isolate Iran,” Trump said.

Rowhani retaliated by criticizing Trump’s leadership. “We still do not know what the new US government plans and wants,” he said.

The Iranian president, however, did not rule out a meeting with his US counterpart.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also hit out at the US in a series of sarcastic tweets on Monday.

“Of all places, the US president uses this bastion of democracy and moderation to attack Iran shortly after its democratic election,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Iran, which held presidential elections Friday, is a sharp contrast, Zarif noted, to the inherited monarchy that rules in Saudi Arabia.

He also used his series of tweets to accuse Trump of “milking” the Saudis with the new weapons deal.

PM Theresa May says authorities believe they know identity of suicide bomber who killed 22 people in Manchester.

A bomb disposal robot is unloaded outside the Manchester Arena [Nigel Roddis/EPA]

by Al Jazeera

UK police say they have arrested a 23-year old man in connection with a suicide bomb attack in Manchester which killed 23 people, including the attacker, and wounded dozens at a concert by US pop singer Ariana Grande.

An improvised explosive device went off late on Monday as thousands of – mostly young – fans streamed out of Manchester Arena in the northern English city at the end of Grande’s performance, police said.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group through its social media channels, saying “one of the caliphate’s soldiers placed bombs among the crowds”.

The deadly explosion, which caused scenes of chaos and panic, sending screaming families and children fleeing, also wounded at least 59 concert-goers, many of whom are in critical condition.

“With regards to last night’s incident at the Manchester Arena, we can confirm we have arrested a 23-year-old man in South Manchester,” Greater Manchester Police said on Twitter on Tuesday.

The news of the arrest came minutes after British Prime Minister Theresa May said police knew the identity of the suspected suicide bomber – but could not yet announce the attacker’s name.

Speaking after an emergency meeting of the country’s top security committee, May condemned what she called a “callous terrorist attack”, calling it “among the worst terrorism we have experienced in the United Kingdom”.

She also repeated an earlier police statement which said that the attacker had carried out the attack alone. Yet, it was not yet clear if others had helped in the preparation.

The attack has been described as the deadliest on Britain since four men killed 52 people in suicide bombings on London’s transport system in July 2005.

Ian Hopkins,chief constable for Great Manchester, said children were among those confirmed dead. The explosion was caused by one man “carrying an improvised explosive device, which he detonated”, Hopkins told reporters on Tuesday morning.

The attack came ahead of a June 8 general election.

Earlier on Tuesday, UK politicians said they were suspending election campaigning until further notice following the events in Manchester.

Police responded to reports of an explosion shortly after 10:35pm (21:35 GMT) at the arena, which has the capacity to hold 21,000 people, where Grande had been performing to an audience that included many children.

Police responded to reports of an explosion shortly after 10:35pm (21:35 GMT) at the arena, which has the capacity to hold 21,000 people, where Grande had been performing to an audience that included many children.

“A huge bomb-like bang went off that hugely panicked everyone and we were all trying to flee the arena,” concert-goer Majid Khan, 22, told Britain’s Press Association.

Catherine Macfarlane told the Reuters news agency the blast hit after the concert was over.

“We were making our way out and when we were right by the door there was a massive explosion and everybody was screaming,” Macfarlane said.

“It was a huge explosion – you could feel it in your chest. It was chaotic. Everybody was running and screaming and just trying to get out.”
Greater Manchester Police tweeted asking people to stay away.

“The incident took place outside the venue in a public space,” police said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims.”

The local ambulance service said on Twitter it had taken 59 casualties from the incident and treated “a number of walking wounded on scene”.

A “precautionary controlled explosion” was carried out near the venue on a package that was believed to be a suspect device, but turned out to be “abandoned clothing, not a suspicious item”.

Manchester Arena, which opened in 1995, is the largest indoor arena in Europe, according to its website.

A spokesman for Ariana Grande’s record label said the singer was “okay”. The concert was part of Grande’s The Dangerous Woman Tour.

Grande tweeted that she was “broken” after the incident.

Paula Robinson, 48, was at the train station next to the arena with her husband when she felt the explosion and saw dozens of teenage girls screaming and running away from the arena.

Robinson took several of them to the nearby Holiday Inn Express hotel and tweeted out her phone number to worried parents telling them to meet her there. She said her phone has not stopped ringing since her tweet.

“Parents were frantic running about trying to get to their children,” she said.

Corbyn said Tuesday he is “horrified” by the events in Manchester and that his thoughts are with the families and friends of those who have died and been injured.

Corbyn also said that his party had also put campaign events on hold. The leaders of the Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party and UK Independence Party also suspended their election campaigning.

Trump’s comments linking Hamas to ‘terrorism’ show his ‘complete bias’ towards Israel, says the group’s spokesman.

Hamas says its battle is against Israeli occupation, not the West [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Hamas Movement has rejected US President Donald Trump’s comments linking it to “terrorism” in his speech in Saudi Arabia, saying it shows his “complete bias” towards Israel.

“The statement describing Hamas as a terror group is rejected and is a distortion of our image and shows a complete bias to the Zionist occupation,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement on Sunday.

Barhoum dubbed the speech a “confirmation” that Trump is following the policy of previous US administrations.

Trump addressed the leaders of 55 Muslim countries in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and said they must take the lead in combating “radicalisation”.

“The true toll of ISIS [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant], al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and so many others, must be counted not only in the number of dead. It must also be counted in generations of vanished dreams,” said Trump in the speech.

Hamas says its battle is against Israeli occupation, not the West.

The movement presented a new political charter earlier this month that accepts the formation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, without recognising the statehood of Israel, and says that the conflict in Palestine is not a religious one.

Trump’s speech came on the second day of a visit to Saudi Arabia, part of Trump’s first foreign tour that will take him next to Israel and occupied Palestinian Territories and then to Europe.

Palestinian activists call for protests against Trump

Meanwhile, Palestinian activists have called for a “Day of Rage” when Trump visits the West Bank on Tuesday.

The call for mobilisation was put out by a group calling itself the Supreme National Leadership Committee, which includes various Palestinian political factions, including Abbas’s Fatah movement.

The committee was set up in support of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons.

The demonstrations are meant to draw attention to a month-long hunger strike by hundreds of prisoners being held by Israel and to protest what many Palestinians say is unfair US support for Israel.

In a statement, the group said on Sunday the Palestinian factions “affirm their rejection of the American position, which is biased in favour of the occupation”.

Trump’s visit to Israel and occupied Palestinian territories on Monday and Tuesday will be closely scrutinised as he seeks ways to restart peace efforts.

Protests and vigils in occupied West Bank, Gaza and Israel as Palestinians mark forced displacement from lands in 1948.

Palestinian scouts hold keys during a rally marking the 69th anniversary in the northern West Bank city of [Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP]

by Al Jazeera

Palestinians are commemorating the 69th anniversary of the “Nakba”, the “day of catastrophe” in which Israel was officially declared a state following the forced removal of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and the destruction of over 500 villages and towns.

People across historic Palestine – including Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip – are holding rallies, marches and candlelight vigils on Monday, as well as sounding sirens.

Israel has made publicly commemorating the Nakba increasingly difficult for Palestinians, with a “Nakba Law” that authorises Israel’s finance minister to revoke funding from institutions that reject Israel’s character as a “Jewish state” or mark the country’s “Independence Day” as a day of mourning.

Monday also marks the 29th day of a hunger strike launched by 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. Prisoners’ children are expected to deliver speeches following the march in the West Bank.

Marwan Barghouti, a hunger striker and jailed Palestinian leader, urged Palestinians to engage in civil disobedience on Nakba day.

Barghouti, who has reportedly lost 13 kilograms so far in the course of his hunger strike, vowed to continue until the prisoners’ demands were met.

Prisoners are calling for better medical services, installation of a public telephone in all prisons to allow communication with relatives, more visitation rights with family members as well as other improved conditions.

At a Nakba protest in Ramallah, Mahmoud Ziadeh, father of political prisoner and hunger striker Majd Ziadeh, told Al Jazeera: “My son and the other political prisoners are only fighting for freedom. We are people like everyone else; we have mothers, we have colour in our eyes, we love. But unlike other people, we don’t have a homeland.”

Meanwhile, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who participated in the failed Oslo Accords to bring about a two-state solution to the Israeli occupation, has demanded an Israeli apology over the expulsion of Palestinians in 1948.

“Our nation marking 69 years of the Nakba, our national catastrophe, is symbolised in our exile and the systematic denial of our rights,” said Erekat in a statement.

Palestinian survivors of the Nakba and their descendants have lived outside of Palestine since 1948, with millions of them still stateless or languishing in surrounding refugee camps.

Israel has prevented them from returning to their homes. Palestinians have cited UN Resolution 194 that they say preserves their “Right to Return” to Palestine.