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Morocco renovates one of the world’s oldest Islamic libraries

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University of Al-Qarawiyyin library

by Cii Broadcasting

The settling dust from renovations and the banging of tools aren’t ideal sights and sounds for a library — but this is no ordinary library.

Founded 12 centuries ago by a pioneering woman and nestled in the old medina of Fez, Morocco’s University of Al-Qarawiyyin library is one of the world’s oldest libraries, home to unique Islamic manuscripts treasured by historians. Yet it’s been largely hidden from the public. The architect leading its restoration, Fez native Aziza Chaouni, didn’t even know it existed until she was asked to work on it.

King Mohammed VI is expected to inaugurate its reopening soon.

Chaouni is hoping it will mark an ideological change, too, and open to the public for the first time in its long history. Until now, the privilege of using the library has been limited to scholars who seek formal permission, and authorities haven’t decided yet whether to change that.

From calligraphic designs on the walls to ceramic patterns on the floors and wooden carvings on the ceilings, the fingerprint of almost every ruling dynasty since the 9th century can be seen in the architecture.

A devout and wealthy Muslim woman from the Tunisian town of Kairaouan, Fatima Al-Fihri, provided the endowment for building Al-Qarawiyyin in the 9th century. Originally a mosque, it expanded in the 10th century to become a university, Abdelmajid El-Marzi, imam and administrator of the mosque, told The Associated Press.

The library houses a collection of manuscripts written by renowned thinkers from the region, including Ibn Khaldun’s “Muqadimmah.”

The 14th-century historical work spent six months on loan to the Louvre Museum in Paris during the renovations, library curator Abdelfattah Bougchouf said.

Other texts include a 9th-century Quran written in Kufic calligraphy, and a manuscript on the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence by Ibn Rochd, also known as Averroes.

The manuscripts are now kept in a secure room, with strict temperature and humidity control. They weren’t always kept like this, however.

“The original manuscript room door had four locks,” Bougchouf told The AP. “Each of those keys was kept with four different people. In order to open the manuscript room, all four of those people had to physically be there to open the door.”

Now, he chuckled, “all of that has been replaced with a four-digit security code.”

A previous renovation and expansion effort in 1940 opened up the library to foreigners and non-Muslims by creating a separate entrance. Before that, the only way to access the library was via the mosque. Non-Muslims aren’t allowed to enter the Qarawiyyin mosque to this day.

“It was a sign of tolerance,” Abdelfattah said.

Since ascending to the throne in 1999, King Mohammed VI has called for restorations at Qarawiyyin.

Architect Chaouni said she was pleasantly surprised when the Culture Ministry approached her in 2012 to work on the project — especially in a field dominated by men.

“I knew about the mosque, but never even knew there was a library there,” she said, despite growing up in the city.

She specializes in restoring old buildings in a sustainable fashion, and is also trained as an engineer, with degrees from Harvard and Columbia universities.

The restoration is fixing a plumbing issue that increasingly threatened to drench the rare manuscripts in sewage water.

Chaouni is also lobbying for opening a public exhibition room for the first time – calling it “the biggest challenge of my soul” during the restoration project.

The Culture Ministry accepted the idea but bureaucratic control over the site shifted to the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs. Chaouni worries that this shift will squash her efforts. Authorities are also concerned about the cost of keeping the previous manuscripts secure.

Another way to improve access to the manuscripts is to digitize them, which the library has been doing, and about 20 percent are now available in electronic form.

Syria death toll: UN envoy estimates 400,000 killed

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Staffan de Mistura’s estimate, which far exceeds those given by UN in the past, is not an official number.

De Mistura appealed to all involved parties to help revamp negotiations between government and opposition [Denis Balibouse/Reuters]

De Mistura appealed to all involved parties to help revamp negotiations between government and opposition [Denis Balibouse/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The UN special envoy for Syria has estimated that 400,000 people have been killed throughout the last five years of civil war, urging major and regional powers to help salvage a crumbling ceasefire.

Explaining that the death toll was based on his own estimate, Staffan de Mistura said on Friday that it was not an official UN statistic.

“We had 250,000 as a figure two years ago,” said de Mistura. “Well, two years ago was two years ago.”

The UN no longer keeps track of the death toll due to the inaccessibility of many areas and the complications of navigating conflicting statistics put forward by the Syrian government and armed opposition groups.

Fighting has flared up in many parts of the country as the fragile ceasefire appears to be falling apart.

Government air strikes killed at least 13 in the eastern countryside of Damascus on Saturday, while air strikes and barrel bombs left several dead and injured in the Bab al-Tariq area of Homs, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

De Mistura also appealed to all involved parties to help revamp negotiations between the government of President Bashar al-Assad and opposition groups.

“Yes we do need certainly a new ISSG at ministerial level,” the envoy said, referring to the International Syria Support Group which includes the United States, Russia, the European Union, Iran, Turkey and Arab states.

De Mistura compared the apparently stalled political talks on Syria’s future, the unravelling ceasefire agreement and the still limited humanitarian relief deliveries to the three legs of a table.

“The level of danger to the table made of three legs – and a table of three legs is always fragile by definition – [means that help] is urgently required,” he said.

“When one of them is in difficulty we can make it. When all three of them are finding some difficulty, it’s time to call the ISSG.”

He gave no date or venue for the high-level ISSG.

The envoy said he planned to continue peace talks next week, despite the “worrisome trends on the ground”, adding that he would seek clarity from government negotiators about their interpretation of political transition.

The government, which says the future of President Bashar al-Assad is not up for discussion in Geneva, says that political transition will come in the shape of a national unity government including current officials, opposition and independent figures.

“Is this going to be cosmetic, is this going to be real, and if it is real what does it mean for the opposition and so on?” he said.

Opposition negotiators have rejected any proposal which leaves Assad in power. They have also accused the government of violating a February “cessation of hostilities” agreement, pointing to air strikes on rebel-held areas which have killed dozens of people this week.

Syria: Civilians killed as air strikes pound Aleppo

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At least 10 people reportedly killed in Aleppo bombardment during Friday prayers.

Air strikes hit several areas across the city as locals attended Friday prayers [File: Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters]

Air strikes hit several areas across the city as locals attended Friday prayers [File: Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Air strikes launched by the Syrian government have killed several civilians and injured dozens in the northern city of Aleppo as the ceasefire between the government and opposition groups crumbles.

At least 10 people were killed across Aleppo and several dozen injured in the attacks, according to sources on the ground.

The strikes targeted four different, predominantly civilian areas in the city, said Zouhir Al Shimale, a local journalist.

“These are all civilian areas, and people were near or at the mosques when the strikes hit,” he told Al Jazeera by telephone, estimating that at least 30 civilians were injured in the Bustan al-Qasr area alone.

“The bombardment happened during the Friday prayers. I was on the way prayers when it happened in the al-Mashhad [neighbourhood]. People started going out of the mosque and running.”

Shimale said Aleppo’s streets mostly emptied following the attacks, with people rushing home to avoid being in open spaces.

“People have gotten used to it. They know that at any moment, the regime could strike again.”

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, government air strikes also targeted towns across Syria’s Idlib province, killing at least three civilians.

Negotiations collapse

The Syrian conflict started as a largely unarmed uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, but has since morphed into a full-on civil war that has claimed the lives of more than 260,000 people, according to the United Nations’ statistics.

The opposition cited the dire humanitarian situation and the Syrian army offensive when it walked out of peace talks in Geneva this week, saying it needed a “pause”. The future of Assad also proved a major sticking point.

The already shaky ceasefire between the government and some rebels was severely strained on Tuesday when at least 44 people were killed in air strikes on two markets in the northwest.

The Geneva talks are aimed at ending the five-year war by fashioning a political transition, writing a new constitution, and holding fresh elections by September 2017.

Syria rebels declare new offensive on government

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Ceasefire in doubt as groups announce new “battle” in response to what they say are violations from the Assad side.

The opposition said it was willing to create a transitional body with government members, but not Assad himself [Fabrice Coffrini/Reuters]

The opposition said it was willing to create a transitional body with government members, but not Assad himself [Fabrice Coffrini/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Several Syrian rebel groups have announced a new offensive against the government in a move they said was a response to ceasefire violations from the forces of President Bashar al-Assad.

The groups, which included factions fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army and Ahrar al-Sham, said in a joint statement on Monday that they would respond with force to any army units that fired on civilians in what they called a fresh “battle”.

The statement was sent to the Reuters news agency by Mohamed Rasheed, a spokesman for the Jaish al-Nasr rebel group.

It said the groups would set up a joint operations room and gave no further details about where any fighting might take place.

A ceasefire deal in place since February has been strained to breaking point, particularly around the divided city of Aleppo, with each side blaming the other for an escalation that has underlined the huge challenge facing peace talks that are currently being held in Geneva.

Heavy air strikes were also reported north of Homs on Monday, killing at least four people, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The main opposition bloc in Geneva, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), accused the government of sending a message that it did not want a political solution, but a military solution that the opposition said would destroy the country.

Mohammed Alloush, the chief negotiator for HNC, said on Monday that accepting Assad as part of any transitional government, a longtime sticking point at the talks, was out of the question.

Asaad Zoubi, also from the HNC, said opposition forces should respond to any government attack.

Zoubi reiterated calls for the release of people from government prisons, particularly children and women.

“We will not accept or negotiate unless we get what we want and our demands are met,” Zoubi said.

The HNC said last week that it was willing to share membership of a transitional governing body with current members of the government, but not with Assad himself.

UN mediator Staffan De Mistura has said a political transition will be the main focus of the current round of talks, which aim to end a five-year war that has killed more than 250,000 people and forced millions to flee the country.

Syria’s civil war: At least 30,000 flee ISIL attacks

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Rights group says residents of temporary camps in Aleppo among those affected by clashes between ISIL and Syrian rebels.

Syrian girls react following a reported Syrian regime air strike in a rebel-controlled area in the northern city of Aleppo on February 8, 2016. (AFP/Ameer al-Halbi)

Syrian girls react following a reported Syrian regime air strike in a rebel-controlled area in the northern city of Aleppo on February 8, 2016. (AFP/Ameer al-Halbi)

by Al Jazeera

At least 30,000 civilians have fled fighting between armed groups and rebel factions in northern Syria in the past 48 hours, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The US-based watchdog group made the announcement on Friday while calling on Turkey to open its border to the civilians.

It also accused Turkish border guards of shooting at some of those displaced in Aleppo province as they approached the frontier.

Turkey has denied the accusation.

HRW said many of those who fled were residents of emergency camps set up along the border and decided to head for other camps or nearby towns and villages even though they were still unsafe because of fighting between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group and opposition rebels.

“Civilians were trying to flee but some were met with gunfire or told they would not be able to enter,” Nadim Houry, deputy director of Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa division, told Al Jazeera from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon.

“Those people need to be allowed with safety. The whole world is talking about fighting ISIS, and yet people who are escaping them are not welcomed anywhere.”

Al Jazeera’s Reza Sayah, reporting from Geneva in Switzerland, said a senior Turkish official had denied the claims.

“Turkey is denying accusations that it’s firing gunshots at refugees,” he said.

“The official said that sometimes smugglers and armed men infiltrate these groups of refugees, so they are firing at them and not refugees.”

The surge in violence comes as representatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime are expected in Geneva on Friday for the latest round of talks aimed at ending the war.

Outlining its bargaining position, the opposition bloc High Negotiating Committee (HNC) said it would be willing to share equally in a transitional council with the government, but repeated its rejection of a role for Assad.

Salim al-Muslet, spokesperson for the HNC, told Al Jazeera there was “no place for Assad” in the new set-up.

“I believe we’re doing the right thing for our people,” Muslet said from Geneva.

“The other side, the government, was forced to come here. They don’t care about our people. We don’t want to see any more fighting and killing. It’s important that we find a solution here in Geneva.

“But there’s no place for Assad or people around him who committed crimes in Syria. For us, it’s important to have people who care about their own people who deserve to see an end to this nightmare.”

The latest violence comes as escalating fighting between Russian-backed regime forces and rebels around the provincial capital, Aleppo city, threatens a nearly seven-week ceasefire that had largely been holding.

ISIL and other armed groups are excluded from the truce.

The five-year conflict in Syria has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced half the population.

Jordan shuts down Muslim Brotherhood headquarters

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The movement has had strained relations with the authorities in recent years. AP

The movement has had strained relations with the authorities in recent years. AP

by BBC

Police in Jordan have shut the headquarters of the main opposition movement, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood (MB), group officials say.

The building in the capital, Amman, was sealed on the city governor’s orders, an MB leader told Reuters news agency.

No reason was given for the closure, the official added.

The MB has a strong support base in urban areas and its political wing, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), is Jordan’s largest opposition party.

The group split in 2014 into the old movement and a new, more moderate, officially licensed branch. The headquarters of the original movement were targeted in Wednesday’s raid.

“We were surprised by this move from the Public Security Department,” spokesman Badi al Rafaiah told Reuters.

“Many policemen and gendarmes came… broke the door down and threw out all the staff with an order to close down the main centre, which they sealed off without giving any explanation.”

The rise in militant Islam in the region has increasingly strained relations between the Brotherhood and the authorities.

The IAF has boycotted parliamentary elections, alleging the system marginalises the party, while authorities have sporadically cracked down on the group.

Last year, a Muslim Brotherhood leader was jailed for criticising Jordan’s ally the UAE, in the first such case involving a top opposition figure in Jordan for years.

Somalia executes al-Shabab journalist

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Hassan Hanafi was accused of being involved in the assassination of five journalists between 2007 and 2011.

Hanafi said he confessed to the killing of journalists following torture by authorities in Mogadishu [AP]

Hanafi said he confessed to the killing of journalists following torture by authorities in Mogadishu [AP]

by Al Jazeera

Somalia has executed a journalist accused of helping members of al-Shabab kill at least five journalists in the capital.

Hassan Hanafi, who was captured in neighbouring Kenya in 2014, was executed on Monday morning by a firing squad in Mogadishu after his appeal at a military court failed.

Hanafi was accused of helping fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked group identify possible targets in the journalism community between 2007 and 2011.

From 2009 to 2011 he worked for Radio Andalus, al-Shabab’s official mouthpiece.

In an interview aired on Somalia state TV in February, Hanafi admitted ordering the murder of several journalists.

But in an audio recording of a phone call leaked last month Hanafi appeared to claim he made the confessions after being tortured.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists more than 25 journalists have been killed in the Horn of Africa country since 2007.

Al-Shabab, which is seeking to overthrow the country’s Western-backed government, was pushed out of Mogadishu in 2011 by government troops backed by an African Union force.

It continues to carry out suicide attacks and targeted assassinations in south and central parts of the country, and it has also conducted major attacks in Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda, which all contribute troops to the African Union effort.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt agree to build bridge over Red Sea

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King Salman unveils “historic step to connect Africa and Asia” during Cairo visit as allies seal multiple trade deals.

abdel-fattah-al-sisi-and-king-salman

by Al Jazeera

King Salman of Saudi Arabia has said that an agreement has been reached with Egypt to build a bridge over the Red Sea connecting the two countries.

The monarch made the announcement in televised comments on Friday – the second day of his visit to Cairo – after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and before representatives of the two countries began signing investment deals.

“I agreed with my brother, his Excellency President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, to build a bridge connecting the two countries,” Salman said.

“This historic step to connect the two continents, Africa and Asia, is a qualitative transformation that will increase trade between the two continents to unprecedented levels.”

It was not mentioned where the bridge would be built, but at the closest point – Nabq, just north of Sharm el-Sheikh, in Egypt, and Ras Alsheikh Hamid, in Saudi Arabia – the two countries are 16km apart.

The plan to build a joint bridge over the Red Sea at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba has been in the pipeline for several years.

Earlier proposals suggested the causeway would feature a railway line in parallel with the road lanes, integrating both country’s proposed high-speed railway systems. In that plan, the causeway would pass through Saudi’s Tiran Island, which would serve as a connection between the two countries.

Sisi, who minutes before the announcement had presented the king with the ceremonial Nile Collar, suggested the name “King Salman bin Abdel Aziz Bridge”.

“The unique quality of the relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the extent to which they are strong and deep-rooted, will allow us to face mutual challenges,” Sisi said.

“Our cooperation will certainly allow us to resolve all of our regional crises, such as in Palestine, Yemen, Libya and Syria.”

Besides the announcement, Saudi and Egyptian representatives signed 17 investment deals and memorandums of understanding.

A government official said that the deals with Saudi Arabia during Salman’s visit would amount to about $1.7bn.

Saudi Arabia is one of the top foreign investors in Egypt, with more than $8bn pledged late last year in sectors such as tourism, agriculture and information technology.

It has also promised to help the country meet its energy needs.

Riyadh has helped to finance Sisi’s government since the Egyptian leader – then army chief – overthrew President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, giving billions of dollars in aid, grants and cash deposits to help buoy the country’s economy.

Egypt has faced years of political upheaval since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, prompted a foreign-reserves crisis and slowed economic growth.

The country has since grown dependent on aid from abroad, although it says it seeks to wean itself off as soon as possible.

Syria civil war: ISIL kidnaps ‘300 factory workers’

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Staff at cement plant near town of Dumayr abducted by ISIL fighters and moved to unknown location, reports say.

ISIL fighters reportedly moved the abducted workers to an unknown location [File pic: The Associated Press]

ISIL fighters reportedly moved the abducted workers to an unknown location [File pic: The Associated Press]

by Al Jazeera

More than 300 staff at a cement factory east of Damascus have been kidnapped after an attack earlier this week by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), Syrian state TV said on Thursday.

Hundreds of employees at the Al Badia Cement company were taken by ISIL fighters from a factory in the town of Dumayr, 50km east of the Syrian capital, the report quoted the industry ministry as saying.

It added the workers’ employer had lost all contact with them.

However, there were conflicting reports on Thursday about the number of people missing, with local sources telling Al Jazeera that the number was far less than 300.

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said rebels belonging to a rival group managed to secure the release of most of those kidnapped.

“Sources said ISIL initially killed or beheaded 10 of those who were taken, accusing them of espionage, and that less than 100 of them remained in captivity. The conflicting reports show the lack of clarity on the ground,” Elshayyal said.

Residents in the nearby area of Giraud, however, said they saw ISIL vehicles carrying nearly 125 workers and heading to the town of Tel Dkoh that is controlled by the group, local official Nadeem Krizan told Syria’s official news agency SANA. He did not account for the other workers reportedly seized.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “dozens” of staff had disappeared, while a plant administrator put the figure at 250.

The Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria for information, added the ISIL attack on Dumayr killed at least 20 Syrian soldiers and allied paramilitary fighters.

A resident of Dumeir, 50km east of the Syrian capital, told the AFP news agency that contact with family members had been lost “since noon on Monday”.

“There is information that the workers might have been kidnapped by Islamic State (ISIL) and taken to an unknown destination,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the Observatory’s head, told the DPA news agency.

The cement factory lies outside Dumayr, which has seen fierce battles between government forces and ISIL fighters inside the town.

A Syrian security source told AFP that ISIL also tried to seize a nearby airbase and power plant from the government, without succeeding.

ISIL’s latest attacks near Damascus are seen as retaliation for military setbacks suffered by the group elsewhere in Syria.

Last month, Syrian regime forces – backed by Russian warplanes – drove ISIL from the strategic and ancient city of Palmyra, which the fighters had controlled for 10 months.

 

Iraq halts ISIS offensive as more ground troops needed

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Build-up operation to retake Mosul paused until police and tribal reinforcements arrive to hold captured ground.

Iraqi soldiers with new US-made weapons take positions at the front line against ISIL in August 2015 [AP]

Iraqi soldiers with new US-made weapons take positions at the front line against ISIL in August 2015 [AP]

by Al Jazeera

An Iraqi army offensive touted as the first phase of a campaign to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has been paused until more forces arrive to hold ground, the commander in charge said on Wednesday.

Almost three weeks into the operation, Iraqi forces have retaken just three villages from ISIL, also known as ISIS, in the Makhmour area, which is set to be a key staging ground for a future assault on Mosul, about 60km further north.

The faltering start has cast renewed doubt on the capabilities of the Iraqi army, which partially collapsed when ISIL took about one-third of the country in 2014.

The news came as eight Iraqi forces were killed in an attack launched by ISIL on a military barracks in al-Ma’amel village, east of Fallujah, sources told Al Jazeera.

Major General Najm Abdullah al-Jubbouri, who is in charge of the Makhmour offensive, said Iraqi forces were now waiting for the arrival of federal police units and additional local tribal fighters to hold territory after it is retaken.

That would free up his forces to go on the offensive against the rebels, Jubbouri said in a statement, dismissing what he described as efforts to disparage the army.

“We do not want to use all our units to hold territory,” he said.

The initial target of the latest offensive was Qayara – an ISIL hub on the western bank of the Tigris river – but Iraqi forces have so far failed to recapture the hilltop village of Nasr on the eastern side.

In the statement, Jubbouri said fighters had dug a network of tunnels beneath Nasr and prepared suicide bombers and a fleet of vehicles rigged with explosives, some of which contain weaponised chlorine, a chemical weapon ISIL has used before in northern Iraq.

US Army Major Jon-Paul Depreo, operations officer for the international coalition fighting ISIL in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, said at the weekend the insurgents were determined not to lose Nasr because of its strategic position on high ground.

Depreo also said difficult terrain meant it was not possible to deploy a large number of forces there against fighters, who are more familiar with the area.

“These [Iraqi army] forces aren’t from that area necessarily, so they’re learning the area,” Depreo told reporters in Baghdad.

The coalition, led by the United States, has trained thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers in preparation for the operation to retake Mosul – by far the largest city in ISIL’s self-proclaimed caliphate.

Depreo said the fighting was only one part of the challenge. “There’s going to be a lot of fighting but there’s also going to be a lot of logistical infrastructure that needs to follow and be established.”

Shia militias and Kurdish Peshmerga have played a major role in the fight, but with Mosul the plan is for the army to take the lead to avoid inflaming ethnic and sectarian sensitivities in the mainly Sunni Arab city.

The army won its first major victory over the fighters last December in Ramadi and aims to retake Mosul this year, but Iraqi officials privately question whether that is possible.

“It’s a tough fight,” Depreo said of the offensive in Makhmour, describing it as a “shaping operation” for the bigger battle ahead. “We have a lot of work to do before we take control of Mosul again.”

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