Israeli military court convicts soldier who shot dead Palestinian Fatah al-Sharif as he was wounded and incapacitated.

by Al Jazeera

A military court has found an Israeli soldier guilty of manslaughter over the killing of a wounded Palestinian last year.

The court convened at the defence ministry building in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to issue the verdict in the high-profile case that raised questions over rules of engagement towards perceived threats by Palestinians.

A judge read out the court’s decision for more than two hours before announcing the verdict. The soldier, 20-year-old Elor Azaria, could now face a maximum 20 years in prison.

The March 24 shooting of Fatah al-Sharif, 21, as he lay overpowered on the ground was filmed by activists from the Israeli B’Tselem human rights group.

Al-Sharif and another Palestinian his age were shot as they allegedly lunged at an Israeli soldier guarding a checkpoint in Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

In the video, a combat medic, later identified as Azaria, raises and aims his rifle, then a shot is heard. The Palestinian’s head jolts, and he suddenly has what seems to be a fresh head wound.

Scuffles erupted outside the courtroom between supporters of the Israeli soldier and police officers before the verdict was announced.

Hundreds of demonstrators blocked a major Tel Aviv intersection near the courtroom and clashed with police. Journalists covering the demonstration said they were attacked by demonstrators.

Several people were arrested.

Victim’s family demands life sentence

The defendant has previously said he believed al-Sharif was wearing a bomb belt, but prosecutors cited “contradictions” in his testimony.

They said that an officer had earlier carefully turned over al-Sharif and his companion to check if they were wearing bomb belts.

At their home in Hebron, Sharif’s parents told Al Jazeera before the verdict that they would not accept anything other than a guilty verdict and a life sentence.

“He should be sentenced in this court like they do with Palestinians… life sentences, torture and then ending up dead lying in a refrigerator,” said Yusri al-Sharif, the victim’s father.

But according to a survey in August by the Israel Democracy Institute, 65 percent of the Jewish public supports Azaria and his claim of self-defence.

“Israel’s political leadership has also swayed with the majority,” Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons said.

“Avigdor Lieberman actively campaigned in support of Azaria and he has since been appointed defence minister by Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister.”

Naftali Bennett, education minister and a member of Israel’s far-right Jewish Home party, said before the verdict that the soldier should be pardoned if found guilty.

“That is whipping up a lot of reactions,” Simmons said. “There is a split in the Israeli public opinion on how army should act in [attack] situations. In the majority are those who feel that ‘terrorists’ who attack Israeli soldiers are fair targets.”

Shortly after the shooting, the Palestinian leadership demanded the United Nations investigate what rights groups have called Israel’s “extrajudicial killings”.

There have been previous accusations that Israeli forces killed wounded Palestinian attackers who no longer posed a threat.

In a memorandum sent to the Israeli authorities in September 2016, human rights group Amnesty International highlighted at least 20 cases of apparently unlawful killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces. In at least 15 of these cases those killed were deliberately shot dead, despite posing no imminent threat to life.

Since October 2015, Israeli soldiers and settlers have been responsible for the killing of at least 244 Palestinians, including unarmed demonstrators, bystanders and alleged attackers in an upsurge in violence.

Thirty-six Israelis have also been killed in mostly stabbing and shooting incidents carried out by Palestinians.

Free Syrian Army and other groups pull out of discussions about Kazakhstan peace talks due to assault on Wadi Barada.

by Al Jazeera

Syria’s main rebel groups say they have frozen their participation in preliminary peace talks planned for Kazakhstan later this month due to several “violations” by the regime of a five-day-old truce.

Sources told Al Jazeera the groups were freezing their participation in negotiations being prepared by Russia due to a government-led assault on Wadi Barada, a rebel-held area near Damascus that is key to the capital’s water supply.

The groups suspending their participation included the Free Syrian Army, one of the biggest coalitions fighting against President Bashar al-Assad, and the Army of Conquest, another coalition of anti-government groups.

Freezing all discussions regarding the Astana or any other consultations regarding the ceasefire agreement until it is fully implemented pic.twitter.com/hLugie8yqU

— أسامة أبو زيد (@oabozayd) January 2, 2017

“As these violations are continuing, the rebel factions announce … the freezing of all discussion linked to the Astana negotiations,” they said in a joint statement.

“The regime and its allies have not stopped shooting and have launched major and frequent violations, notably in the regions of Wadi Barada and Eastern Ghouta.

“Any [advance] on the ground goes against the [ceasefire] agreement and if things don’t return to how they were before, the accord will be considered null and void,” the statement added.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the Turkish city of Gaziantep near the Syria border, called the FSA’s announcement a “significant setback”.

“The rebels say they signed the ceasefire in good faith but that the Syrian regime and its ally Russia have failed to live up to their end of the deal,” he said.

“They say fighter jets have continued to pound rebel-held areas across the country with barrel bombs, particularly Wadi Barada.”

For the last two weeks, Syria’s air force, backed by Hezbollah and Shia militias, have launched almost daily bombing raids on Wadi Barada, some 15km from Damascus.

The Assad government is trying to seize control of the region which supplies the main drinking water for roughly four million inhabitants of the capital and surrounding areas.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said supplies had been cut since December 22 because “infrastructure was deliberately targeted and damaged”, without saying who was responsible.

Water is now being rationed in Damascus as the government is relying on reserves.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said about 1,000 civilians – all of them women and children – fled the fighting in Wadi Barada over the weekend, moving to other parts of the province.

Wadi Barada has been surrounded by government forces since mid-2015, but the siege was tightened in late December as the army piled on pressure seeking to secure a “reconciliation” deal.

It has won several of these deals in opposition areas around the capital, offering safe passage to surrendering rebels in return for retaking territory.

The opposition criticises them as a “starve or surrender” tactic.

The violence threatens the delicate ceasefire, which has been in force since midnight Thursday, and is intended to pave the way to new peace talks in Astana later this month.

Turkey and Russia are organising the talks in Astana along with ally Iran, and say they are intended to supplement, not replace, UN-backed negotiations scheduled to resume in February.

Despite backing opposite sides in Syria’s conflict, Ankara and Moscow have worked closely in recent months on the war, brokering a deal to evacuate civilians and surrendering rebels from Aleppo last month before government forces recaptured the northern city in full.

The truce excludes the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS group) and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the group former known as the al-Nusra Front.

At least 27 killed and dozens wounded as blasts triggered by suicide bombers hit crowd during morning rush.

Iraqis look at the aftermath following a double blast in Al Sinak [Sabah Arar/AFP]

by Al Jazeera

At least 27 people were killed and 57 others wounded as two bombs exploded in the centre of Baghdad, according to police officials.

Police said the blasts, triggered by two suicide bombers went off on Saturday near car spare parts shops in Al Sinak during the morning rush. The first blast took place at the market’s entrance and the second was inside the area, police said.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Amaq website.

Baghdad has been on high alert since October 17, the start of Iraq’s largest military operation in years to retake ISIL’s stronghold of Mosul in the country’s north.

ISIL took Mosul in 2014, and has launched several attacks in Baghdad in recent months.

The area that was targeted on Saturday is packed with wholesale markets and usually teeming with daily workers unloading vans and wheeling carts around.

“Many of the victims were people from the spare parts shops in the area, they were gathered near a cart selling breakfast when the explosions went off,” said Ibrahim Mohammed Ali, who owns a nearby shop.

Torn clothes and mangled iron were strewn across the ground in pools of blood at the site of the wreckage near Rasheed street, one of the main thoroughfares in Baghdad, an AFP news agency photographer said.

Russian president says countrywide ceasefire to begin at midnight Thursday, with Moscow and Ankara to act as guarantors.

Russia’s defence minister said the truce would include 62,000 opposition fighters across Syria [Goran Tomasevic/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Russian President Vladimir Putin says an agreement has been reached on a countrywide ceasefire for Syria, with Russia and Turkey to act as guarantors.

Putin said the truce would begin at midnight on Thursday (22:00 GMT) and be followed by peace talks between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and the opposition in the Kazakh capital Astana.

“The agreements reached are, no doubt, very fragile and they demand special attention and follow-up in order to keep them and develop them. Nevertheless, this is a notable result of our joint work, efforts by the defence and foreign ministries, our partners in the regions,” he said.

“Now we need to do everything for these agreements to work, so that negotiators would come to Astana and would begin to work on real peace process. I call on the Syrian government, armed opposition, all countries involved to support these agreements.”

Putin’s announcement followed a statement carried by Syrian state news agency SANA, which said the agreement excluded the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the group formerly known as al-Nusra Front.

Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, said the truce would include 62,000 opposition fighters across Syria, and that the Russian military has established a hotline with its Turkish counterpart to monitor compliance.

The Turkish foreign ministry confirmed the agreement and called on countries with influence on groups fighting in the country to provide the necessary support for the ceasefire to last.

“Russia and Turkey strongly support the truce and will monitor it together,” the ministry said.

Al Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from the Russian capital Moscow, said three different documents had been signed in a trilateral agreement involving Russia, Turkey and Iran.

“The first document lays out an agreement between the Syrian government and opposition groups on the ground. The second document includes measures designed to control the ceasefire and the third lays out what needs to happen next in order for there to be peace talks.”

Details about the agreement remained hazy, our correspondent said, and it was unclear which opposition groups had been involved in the negotiating process.

“Just a day ago the negotiating arm of the largest group of rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army said they had yet to be in contact with anyone and had not been invited to participate in talks,” our correspondent said.

Russia to ‘scale down presence’

Putin also said that the Russian military had been ordered to scale down its presence in Syria, where it has been providing crucial support to Assad’s forces.

He did not say how many troops and weapons would be withdrawn but said Russia would continue “fighting international terrorism in Syria” and would maintain its presence at both an air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia and the naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus.

The Syrian conflict started as a largely unarmed uprising against Assad in March 2011, but quickly developed into a full-on armed conflict.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy to Syria, estimated in April that more than 400,000 Syrians had been killed since 2011.

Calculating a precise death toll is difficult, partially owing to the forced disappearances of tens of thousands of Syrians whose fates remain unknown.

Almost 11 million Syrians – half the country’s prewar population – have been displaced from their homes.

Activists say Syrian government forces target rebel-held areas in Wadi Barada northwest of the capital.

The Syrian regime has repeatedly used barrel bombs on civilian areas [YouTube]

by Al Jazeera

At least 14 civilians have been killed and several others wounded in a series of barrel-bomb attacks on rebel-held areas near Damascus, activists have told Al Jazeera.

Syrian government air strikes targeted the town of Wadi Barada, northwest of the capital on Monday, injuring dozens of people, including several children, activists said.

According to videos posted on social media by opposition groups, the Syrian regime intensified its assault on the town.

النظام يحشد في #وادي_بردى ويكثف القصف المدفعي عليها #ريف_دمشق #أورينت pic.twitter.com/f7KtdnEaJm

— Orient أورينت (@OrientNews) December 26, 2016

The White Helmets, a team rescuing people from bombed-out houses, said a number of people were trapped under the rubble following the heavy bombardment.

Barrel bombs are typically constructed from large oil drums and filled with explosives, nails and scrap metal.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Gaziantep on the Turkish side of the Turkey-Syria border, said the Syrian regime was in the third day of an offensive against Jaish al-Islam, which controls Wadi Barada and is one of the most powerful groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

On Friday, the Syrian army and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, launched an operation to retake Wadi Barada, after accusing the rebels of contaminating drinking water at a spring with diesel.

The Wadi Barada valley, a mountainous area near the Lebanese border, has been under siege since 2014 with food, water and electricity all in short supply.

According to a report published earlier this year, more than one million Syrians are believed to be trapped in 46 communities across the country.

The Syrian civil war started as a largely unarmed uprising against Assad in March 2011, but quickly developed into a full-on armed conflict.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy to Syria, estimated in April that more than 400,000 Syrians had been killed since 2011.

Calculating a precise death toll is impossible, partially owing to the forced disappearances of tens of thousands of Syrians whose fates remain unknown.

Almost 11 million Syrians – half the country’s pre-war population – have been displaced from their homes.

Malta prime minister tweets of ‘potential hijack situation’ involving an internal Libyan flight diverted to Malta.

The Airbus A320 was flying from Sebha in southwest Libya to capital Tripoli [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

A Libyan aircraft with 118 people on board has landed in Malta after being hijacked, officials in Malta and Libya confirmed.

The Airbus A320 was flying from Sebha in southwest Libya to Tripoli for state-owned airline Afriqiyah Airways, Libyan media reports said.

The tiny Mediterranean island of Malta is about 500km north of the Libyan coast.

The island’s prime minister said in a tweet on Friday that had been alerted to the “potential hijack” of the plane.

Informed of potential hijack situation of a #Libya internal flight diverted to #Malta. Security and emergency operations standing by -JM

— Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) December 23, 2016

Officials at Malta’s airport told Associated Press news agency that there appeared to be two hijackers on board.

The Times of Malta newspaper reported, however, that there was one hijacker who was armed with a hand grenade.

The plane was parked on the tarmac at Malta airport and was surrounded by several army vehicles and dozens of security personnel.

Ahmad al-Kharoubi, 19, killed during protest against home demolition by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem.

Palestinian rights groups say Israeli forces operate with impunity in the occupied territories [File: Alaa Badarneh/EPA]

by Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera

Israeli forces have shot dead a Palestinian teen during clashes that erupted when soldiers arrived to demolish the home of an alleged attacker.

Soldiers opened fire on a crowd and fatally hit Ahmad al-Kharoubi, a 19-year-old Palestinian, during clashes with youth before dawn on Thursday in occupied East Jerusalem’s Kafr Aqab neighbourhood.

Including Kharoubi, the Al-Haq human rights organisation has documented the killing of at least 107 Palestinians by Israeli security forces or settlers.

“Perpetrators include soldiers (regular and so-called border police), settlers, police, settlement guards, settler escorts, private security company personnel, light train guards, undercover units and municipality guards,” Al-Haq’s Tahseen Elayyan told Al Jazeera.

An Israeli army spokesperson said the soldiers were sent to raze the home of Misbah Abu Sbeih, a 39-year-old Palestinian who was killed by Israeli security forces after he carried out a drive-by shooting on a police station in East Jerusalem, leaving an Israeli woman and a police officer dead.

“During the activity, suspects shot and hurled improvised explosive devices at Israeli forces,” the spokesperson told Al Jazeera.

“In response to the threat, forces fired toward the suspect throwing an IED, resulting in his death.”

At least nine Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinian assailants between January and October of this year, according to United Nations statistics.

‘Impunity is continuing’

Al-Haq’s Elayyan argued Israeli soldiers and settlers who kill Palestinians are rarely held accountable.

“Impunity is continuing,” he said, pointing to the case of Israel Shomer, an Israeli soldier who was acquitted after he shot dead 17-year Muhammad al-Kusbeh near a military checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah in 2015.

According to the Israeli rights group Yesh Din’s most recent statistics, only 3.5 percent of legal complaints about Israeli soldiers harming or killing Palestinians led to an indictment in 2014.

“We believe that the Israeli judicial system is not impartial when it comes to the rights of the Palestinians,” Elayyan added.

“This system is part of the occupation enterprise in general. The goal of these so-called investigations is to shield perpetrators.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented the destruction of at least 986 Palestinian-owned structures between January and October of this year. At least 1,501 people were displaced during that period.

In addition to Syrian and Lebanese land, Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the besieged Gaza Strip since the 1967 Middle East war.

More than half-a-million Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements – considered illegal under international law – throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem.

‘No attention on their actions’

Ibrahim Abrash, a writer and political analyst, said the wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen resulted in the international community paying little attention Israel’s killing of Palestinians and settlement expansions in 2016.

“Israel has it easy now with no attention on their actions,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The Palestinian Authority’s attempts to hold Israel accountable in the International Criminal Court have not produced results,” he explained.

“There’s no Palestinian strategy to face Israel, and they are focused on internal problems within and between Hamas and Fatah,” he said, referring the the two largest Palestinian political parties.

Abrash, who is based in Gaza, said he expects the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States to usher in a new period of relations between Israel and the US.

“The Trump stage will be very hard on Palestinians,” he said, citing president-elect’s decision to appoint right-wing lawyer and pro-settlement figure David Friedman as ambassador to the US.

“All of this says that Washington is not a neutral broker between the two sides in peace talks.”

In September, US President Barack Obama signed an agreement to give Israel $38bn in military aid despite public spats between Obama and right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Between 2009 and 2014, settlements were expanded by at least 23 percent.

Andrey Karlov was speaking at a photo exhibition in the capital when he was gunned down by a Turkish off-duty policeman.

The assailant is seen in this photo at the rear on the left [Burhan Ozbilici/AP]

by Al Jazeera

Turkish authorities detained six people after the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey as Moscow dispatched more than a dozen investigators to join the probe into the killing.

Ambassador Andrey Karlov, 62, died from gunshot wounds after a 22-year-old off-duty Turkish policeman shot him in the back as he gave a speech at an Ankara art gallery on Monday night.

“The group will act in Turkey within the framework of the investigation into the murder,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

“Eighteen people will work in the group,” said Peskov, adding Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan had agreed to the move in a phone call.

Karlov was several minutes into a speech at an embassy-sponsored photography exhibition when a man who stood directly behind him in a dark suit shot the diplomat in the back from close range multiple times.

Shouting angrily while pacing around the body in front of a shocked crowd, the assailant – identified as Mevlut Mert Altintas – said all those responsible for what has happened in Syria and Aleppo would be held accountable. “We die in Aleppo, you die here,” he screamed.

Police later killed the gunman in a firefight that lasted 15 minutes.

An unprecedented three-way meeting between the foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia, and Iran in Moscow over the Syria crisis began on Tuesday where the Russian foreign minister said “no quarter should be given to terrorists in Syria” after the murder of the envoy.

Earlier Putin declared “we have to know who directed the hand of the killer”.

The state-run Anadolu agency said the attacker’s mother, father, sister and two other relatives were held in the western province of Aydin, while his flatmate in Ankara was also detained.

After the initial shot, the attacker approached Karlov as he lay on the ground and shot him at least one more time at close range, according to an AP photographer at the scene.

He also smashed several of the framed photos on exhibition, but later let the stunned guests out of the venue.

The spectacle of Karlov’s assassination by a member of the Turkish security forces at a photography exhibition meant to highlight Russian culture reinforced the sense of unease over the region’s conflict and complex web of alliances and relationships.

“On behalf of my country and my people I once again extend my condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the friendly Russian people,” said Erdogan.

Putin promised a response to the assassination.

“The crime that has been committed is undoubtedly a provocation aimed at derailing the ties between Russia and Turkey, as well as the peace process in Syria,” said Putin from Moscow. “There is only one possible response to this – the strengthening of the fight against terror, and the bandits will feel it themselves.”

Relations between Russia and Turkey were badly strained by the downing of a Russian warplane at the Syrian border in November 2015, but Turkey’s apology earlier this year helped to overcome the rift.

‘Don’t forget Aleppo’

The assailant highlighted the situation in Aleppo after he shot the ambassador in the back.

“Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria,” the attacker said.

“Whoever took part in this cruelty will pay the price, one by one … Only death will take me from here,” the man said while holding a pistol.

He then continued in Arabic, saying: “We are the descendants of those who supported the Prophet Muhammad, for jihad.”