The US views the YPG as a highly effective fighting force in the fight against ISIL [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the US was working to form a “terror army” on his country’s southern border by training a new force in Syria that includes Kurdish fighters.

“What we are supposed to do is to drown this terror army before in comes into being,” he said in an address in the capital Ankara on Monday, calling the Kurdish fighters “backstabbers” who will point their weapons to the US in the future.

His comments came after reports revealed US’ plan to establish a 30,000-strong new border security force with the involvement of Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.

According to media reports quoting US officials, the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL also known as ISIS) will recruit around half of the new force from the Syrian Defence Forces (SDF), an umbrella group of fighters dominated by the People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Ankara considers Kurdish YPG fighters as a “terrorist” organisation with links to the Kurdish fighters within Turkey that seek more autonomy. The US views the YPG as a highly effective fighting force against ISIL.

Erdogan said that Turkey’s armed forces had completed preparations for an operation against the Kurdish-controlled region of Afrin in northwest Syria and the town of Manbij.

He warned Turkey’s allies against helping “terrorists” in Syria and said: “We won’t be responsible for consequences.”

Turkish foreign ministry made a statement in the same line late on Sunday, saying that it was “wrong and objectionable” to cooperate with the YPG.

“The establishment of the so-called Syria Border Protection Force was not consulted with Turkey, which is a member of the coalition,” the Turkish foreign ministry said.

“To attribute such a unilateral step to the whole coalition is an extremely wrong move that could harm the fight against Daesh,” it added, using an alternative acronym for ISIL.

Turkish forces pounded US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria with artillery fire on Sunday, after the intention to establish a new force was announced.

Turkey carried out a military campaign called 2016 Euphrates Shield Operation, which targeted ISIL and the YPG. That eight-month battle officially ended in March 2017.

US’ YPG move
US President Donald Trump decided to arm YPG fighters, despite Turkey’s objections and a direct appeal from Erdogan at a White House meeting last May.

American arms shipments began before the offensive to recapture the city of Raqqa from ISIL. YPG played a prominent role in defeating the group in its former de facto capital in northern Syria late last year.

Tensions between the NATO allies remain high, despite Trump saying last November that Washington would no longer supply weapons to the YPG.

A senior Syrian Kurdish official said on Sunday that fighting between the YPG and Turkish forces was already under way.

“There are attacks and clashes on the border between Turkey and the People’s Protection Units YPG,” Hediye Yusuf said on Twitter.

She called Turkey’s operation against Afrin a “violation” that “undermines international efforts to reach a political solution in Syria”.

Ankara has been reinforcing its southern border by sending armoured vehicles, tanks, and heavy machine guns, according to local media.

Turkey has been working closely with Russia and Iran to end the nearly seven-year Syrian war, despite Moscow and Tehran supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – and Ankara backing the anti-Assad opposition.

YPG is considered by Turkey to be a “terrorist group” with ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long fight inside the country.

PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies. More than 40,000 people in Turkey have been killed since the 1980s after the PKK launched its rebellion.

by Naveed Siddiqui, Dawn

Pakistan has suspended military and intelligence cooperation with the United States in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s allegation that Pakistan has given the US “nothing but lies and deceit” and suspension of security aid for Pakistan, Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said while addressing a gathering at Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Speaking during a seminar titled ‘Contours of Security Environment of Pakistan’, Khan said the US is facing defeat in Afghanistan despite spending billions of dollars. He alleged that the US is using Pakistan as a ‘scapegoat’ for its failures in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan does not want to put a price on its sacrifices but wants them to be recognised,” the defence minister said, adding that Pakistan will not allow Afghanistan’s war to be fought on Pakistani territory.

Khan also said that the US is busy in a blame game against Pakistan rather than providing it with assistance to secure the Pak-Afghan border.

The US Embassy in Islamabad said it had not been informed about the suspension of military cooperation by Pakistan.

“We have not received any formal communication regarding a suspension,” Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire said, according to VOA news.

Answering a question during the seminar, the defence minister said that Pakistan took the right steps by blocking Nato supplies to Afghanistan in the aftermath of 2011 attack at Salala check post.

But Pakistan is not taking the same route after Trump’s recent tirade as it is a “leverage we want to use at the appropriate time”, he clarified.

The defence minister said Iran, China and Russia are as important to the region as the US and reaffirmed Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif’s statement signalling that the alliance between Pakistan and the US is over.

“This is not how allies behave,” Asif had said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal earlier this week. He maintained that Washington has turned Islamabad into a “whipping boy” for its failures in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon on Monday said that the US has told Pakistan what it must do if it wants Washington to resume paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in security aid.

“Our expectations are straightforward,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning told reporters.

“Taliban and Haqqani leadership and attack planners should no longer be able to find safe haven or conduct operations from Pakistani soil.”

Worsening relations
In the new year, Washington has increased pressure on Islamabad to “do more” in the fight against terrorism.

Washington has stated that the suspension of military aid, which came after Trump accused Pakistan of “lies and deceit”, is part of America’s South Asia strategy.

The development has followed in the aftermath of an increasingly terse back-and-forth between Washington and Islamabad since Trump announced the policy.

In Pakistan, the move has been seen as the first step to implementing Trump’s pledge to tighten economic restrictions on Islamabad.

Despite the tension, however, US and Pakistani officials remain in contact with each other. US Defence Secretary James Mattis on Friday said that the Pentagon was maintaining its communication with the Pakistani military establishment even after the suspension of military assistance.

Foreign Se­cre­tary Tehmina Janjua has said that Pakistan will continue to engage with Washington as far as possible, because America is not only a global power but also has a regional presence, and “for us it’s almost our neighbour”.

Trump has been openly supportive of Mohammed bin Salman during his anti-corruption crackdown in Saudi Arabia [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

US President Donald Trump took credit for Saudi Arabia’s political shakeup which resulted in the elevation of Mohammed bin Salman to the position of crown prince last year, according to a startling account of his administration’s first year in the White House.

The suggested claim is included in Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, a controversial new book by Michael Wolff which reveals, among others, the US president’s close connections to Saudi Arabia.

“We’ve put our man on top,” Trump is said to have claimed to friends, according to the book, after Saudi King Salman removed his nephew Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as next-in-line to the throne and replaced him with his son, Mohammed bin Salman, in June 2017.

The move marked a departure from Saudi Arabia’s line of succession, breaking with decades of custom maintained by the Kingdom’s royal family.

The veracity of the book’s claims has been contested by Trump, who said on Friday Wolff’s book is “full of lies”.

Trump visited Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, in May 2017 at the beginning of his first overseas tour as US president, having hosted Mohammed bin Salman in Washington, DC, two months earlier.

Mohammed Cherkaoui, a professor of conflict resolution at George Mason University, told Al Jazeera the account provided by Wolff in his book was “well-researched”.

“This is based on scores of interviews with people inside the White House and around Trump,” he said.

“It explains to some extent how Trump managed to influence the decision of King Salman … [and] goes back to the period when Mohammed bin Salman visited the US in March and the Riyadh summit which Trump attended in May [when] apparently he was lobbying … [for] a powerful man,” added Cherkaoui.

“[Trump] was basically grooming Mohammed bin Salman.”

The US president has been openly supportive of the Saudi crown prince in recent months, notably praising him after the dismissals and arrests of a number of senior ministers, businessmen and princes as part of an alleged anti-graft campaign.

“I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing,” Trump said on Twitter two days after the anti-corruption crackdown began on November 4.

Cherkaoui said Trump’s backing of the Saudi crown prince is a reflection of the US president’s “political philosophy”.

“He wants to deal with individuals, not institutions and not governments, so it’s a one-to-one,” he said.

“Trump saw in Mohammed bin Salman somebody who has the right influence, and also someone who would put the Saudi-US relationship into a higher dimension, both in an economic and strategic way [and help] combat terrorism which has become the new currency of Trumpism.”

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have fired dozens of missiles into Saudi Arabia in response to coalition air attacks [File image, courtesy of Al Masirah]

by Al Jazeera

Saudi Arabia says it has intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards the country by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The Saudi statement came just hours after the Yemeni group claimed to have launched the attack.

State-owned TV channel Al Ekhbariya reported on Friday that Saudi defence forces intercepted the missile over Najran, a region straddling the kingdom’s southern border with Yemen, before it could hit its intended target.

Al Masirah, a TV network run by the Houthi rebels, said the group claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter, saying it had a “successful launch of a short range ballistic missile at a military target in Saudi Arabia”.

It said the the rebels fired a Qaher-2M missile of Soviet origin towards a military installation in Najran. The missile has a range of up to 400km.

Saudi retaliation
Al Masirah also said that within hours of the missile attack, the Saudi coalition bombing Yemen retaliated with several air raids on Saada, an impoverished Houthi stronghold.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the network’s claims.

Saudi Arabia, supported by the US and other countries, have launched more than 15,000 air attacks against Houthi targets since March 2015, while dozens of missiles have been fired into the kingdom from Yemen.

Last month, the Houthis said that one of their missiles hit a military target inside Saudi Arabia, without specifying the location.

Saudi officials, however, said they intercepted the missile.

The Saudi-led coalition has previously accused Iran of helping arm the Houthis, accusing Iran of “flagrant military aggression” and “manufacturing and smuggling [missiles] to the Houthi militias in Yemen for the purpose of attacking the Kingdom, its people, and vital interests”.

Iran has repeatedly rejected allegations of arming the Houthis, calling them “malicious, irresponsible, destructive and provocative”.

The war in Yemen, the region’s poorest country, started in 2014 after Houthi rebels seized control of the capital Sanaa and began pushing south towards the country’s third-biggest city, Aden.

Concerned by the rise of the Houthi rebels, believed to be backed by Saudi Arabia’s regional rival Iran, the kingdom and a coalition of Sunni Arab states launched an intervention in 2015 in the form of a massive air campaign aimed at reinstalling President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government.

Since then, more than 10,000 people have been killed and at least 40,000 wounded, mostly from Saudi-led air attacks.

Khoshroo accused Washington of inciting Iranians to ‘engage in disruptive acts’ [Mike Segar/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Iran has accused the US of “inciting” anti-government protests that have gripped the country, and said the Trump administration had “flouted” international law and the principles of the UN charter by supporting the unrest in a series of “absurd tweets”.

In a letter sent to Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general, on Wednesday, Gholamali Khoshroo, the Iranian ambassador to the UN, said the US had “crossed every limit” by “inciting Iranians to engage in disruptive acts”.

“[The US] has stepped up its acts of intervention in a grotesque way in Iran’s internal affairs under the pretext of providing support for sporadic protests, which in several instances were hijacked by infiltrators,” Press TV quoted Khoshroo as saying.

He criticised US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence directly for their “numerous absurd tweets”, that called on Iranians to “change their government”.

“The US Department of State went so far as admitting that the US government wants to encourage protesters in Iran to change their government, admitting that the US is engaged in interfering with the internal affairs of Iran through Facebook and Twitter,” Khoshroo said.

The Trump administration is yet to respond to the letter.

At least 22 people have died and more than 450 arrested since anti-government demonstrations erupted across Iran on December 28.

The protests, which have focused on economic and political grievances, have been the largest display of public dissent since pro-reform rallies swept the country in 2009.

Trump, who has banned Iranians from travelling to the US, praised the demonstrators for “finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime” in a tweet earlier this week, and warned that “the world is watching”.

The Trump administration is yet to respond to the letter.

At least 22 people have died and more than 450 arrested since anti-government demonstrations erupted across Iran on December 28.

The protests, which have focused on economic and political grievances, have been the largest display of public dissent since pro-reform rallies swept the country in 2009.

Trump, who has banned Iranians from travelling to the US, praised the demonstrators for “finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime” in a tweet earlier this week, and warned that “the world is watching”.

Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, said on Tuesday that the US would seek an emergency session of the Security Council and the Human Rights Council to discuss the situation in Iran.

“The people of Iran are crying out for freedom,” she said. “All freedom-loving people must stand with their cause.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has blamed external “enemies” for heightening unrest in the country.

Money, weapons, politics and intelligence services have been used by these “enemies” to undermine stability, he said on Tuesday.

Pro-government rallies
Tens of thousands of Iranians took part in nationwide pro-government demonstrations on Wednesday.

The rallies took place in at least 10 cities, including the Iranian capital of Tehran.

TV pictures showed people carrying banners in support of the government and shouting slogans against the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The footage, carried by state media, was in broad contrast to the coverage of the past week’s demonstrations against Iran’s leadership.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Tehran, said, a “few small and short-lived anti-government rallies have taken place overnight Wednesday in a few cities around the country.

“[But] what really is at play today are the pro-government, pro-establishment demonstrations and marches being held in major cities across Iran. This really is an effort by the government to bookend this whole episode.

“It illustrates to a domestic audience, but also to anyone watching from outside, that the government does enjoy support and that there are tens of thousands of people willing to rally on behalf of the government.”

Following the demonstrations, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), declared unrest in the country as over.

“Today, we can announce the end of the sedition,” Jafari said, quoted on the Guards’ website.

“A large number of the troublemakers at the centre of the sedition, who received training from counter-revolutionaries … have been arrested and there will be firm action against them,” he added.

The UN’s human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, has urged Iran to handle the situation “with great care” in order to prevent further violence and unrest.

“It is incumbent on the authorities that their actions do not provoke a downward spiral of violence, as occurred in 2009,” he said on Wednesday in a statement.

“The authorities must take all steps to ensure that this does not happen again.”

Singapore authorities have banned Radiance of Resistance, a U.S.-made documentary about the Palestinian-Israel conflict depicted through the eyes of two Palestinian girls, 16-year old Ahed Tamimi and another young female activist. The film was scheduled to be screened on Thursday at the Singapore Palestinian Film Festival being held at independent cinema The Projector, agencies have reported.

The island nation’s film certification body, Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) gave the film a Not Allowed for All Ratings (NAR) classification, meaning it is not cleard for showing in any circumstances in Singapore. The IMDA said that the film had a “skewed narrative” and could “cause disharmony among races and religions in Singapore.”

NAR ratings are considered quite rare, and three were issued in November. “Radiance” was directed by Jesse Roberts and has played on the international festival circuit since 2016. The Festival spokesmen said that the NAR decision came too late to make an appeal or to find alternative programming. It cancelled the screening, and refunded.

Singapore’s censors objected to three titles in the government-backed showcase Singapore International Film Festival. They included Barbet Schroeder’s The Venerable W, Singaporean director Chew Tzr Chuan ‘s Shadows of Fiendish Ancestress and Occasionally Parajanov on Durian Cialis, and the Nameless Boy, by Indonesian director Diego Batara Mahameru. The three had been announced in the festival’s lineup, but had to be removed before screenings took place.

The film was screened at several festivals in 207 and won Best Documentary at the Respect Human Rights Film Festival in Belfast, but got into further limelight with the arrest of Ms Tamimi, featured in the film. Thanks to her arrest, she became a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli military occupation in the West Bank. She was charged with aggravated assault and is to be tried in an Israeli military court. The law prescribed jail for up to 10 years if the assailant is an adult, but the 16-year old Tamimi being a minor such a sentence is unlikely.

By and large, Singapore’s media and film monitoring is tight, and more so when they touch on race and religion. But blanket ban is not that common. Adela Foo, the organizer of the Singapore Palestinian Festival, called the ban “understandable” with obvious avoidance of sensitivities.

As for the Palestinian problem, the Singapore government position on the Middle East is in favour of a two-state solution. Singapore has a sizeable Muslim minority and is surrounded by Muslim-majority countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, and the prevailing attitude to the Palestinian cause is of overall sympathy. All the same Singapore maintains friendly diplomatic ad military ties with Israel. In the most recent voting on the Palestinian issue in the UN, Singapore voted against the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

(Agencies)

by Al Jazeera

A number of Iranians have died amid ongoing nationwide anti-government protests that began last week in various cities across Iran.

Nine Iranians were killed in Isfahan province alone during anti-government protests on Monday night.

State TV said on Tuesday that six people were killed in Isfahan’s central town Qahderijan – during a raid on a police station – and one more in Khomeinishahr.

According to state media, the rioters were attempting to break into the station to obtain weapons.

An 11-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man were among those killed in Khomeinishahr.

In addition, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency said a member of Basij militia and a police officer were killed in Najafabad, 350km south of the capital Tehran, on Monday.

According to reports, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) soldier was shot by an assailant using a hunting rifle in Najafabad.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify whether the IRGC member was the same police officer who was reported as being shot.

Overall, at least 21 people have died in Iran during six days of protests, according to state media.

In the same period, at least 20 people have been killed and about 450 people n arrested, with the Tehran governor’s deputy giving the following breakdown: 200 on Saturday; 150 on Sunday; and 100 on Monday.

The detention figures for other Iranian cities were not available.

On Tuesday, Iran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused “enemies” of the state of stirring unrest in the country.

He said that “enemies” of Iran have allied and used the various means they have available including “money, weapons, politics, and intelligence services” to stir unrest as nationwide anti-government rallies continue.

“The dignity, security, and progress of the Iranian nation is owed to the self-sacrifice of the martyrs. What prevents enemies from exerting their atrocities is the spirit of courage, sacrifice, and faith within the nation,” he said in a statement posted on his official website.

“I have something to say on these events, and I will speak to the dear people when the time is right.

“The Iranian nation will forever owe the dear martyrs, who left behind their homes and families, to stand against the wicked enemies.”

Despite threats by the IRGC to put down the demonstrations, protesters have continued taking to the streets in various parts of Iran, in what has been described as the biggest show of dissent in the country since huge rallies took place in 2009.

The rallies began on December 28 in the second-largest city of Mashhad, prompted by anger over rising cost of living and the state of the economy.

“We cannot predict a time when the protests will come to an end,” said Sadegh Zibakalam, an author and academic.

“But the protests will shake the people in power who must give priority to the people’s demands and needs.”

On Sunday, President Hassan Rouhani said Iranians have the right to protest but not violently.

“People are free to express their criticism and to protest,” he said in televised remarks, his first since the rallies began.

“However, we need to pay attention to the manner of that criticism and protest. It should be in such a way that it will lead to the improvement of the people and state,” he added.

“People have the right to protest, but those demonstrations should not make the public feel concerned about their lives and security.”

In May 2017, Rouhani, who belongs to the reformist bloc of Iran’s political spectrum, decisively won re-election after garnering 57 percent of the vote in the country’s presidential election.

That poll was the first since Rouhani negotiated a historic deal with world powers in 2015 to curb Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

Many in Iran hoped that the deal, by lifting many international sanctions, would ease the country’s financial struggles. Yet, the benefits do not seem to have trickled down.

Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group who worked with all sides during the negotiations for the nuclear deal, said the fact that the nuclear deal did not quite deliver the results people expected played a key part in what is happening currently in Iran.

“The government inflated public expectations a lot,” Vaez told Al Jazeera, noting that factors such as falling oil prices and doubts over the US commitment to the deal were also adversely affecting the Iranian economy.

“The reality is, however, that President Rouhani failed to pave the ground for the potential the nuclear deal created, and that has led to a lot of frustration in Iran,” he said.

“President Rouhani over-promised and under-delivered.”

Mohammad Ali Shabani, an Iranian political analyst and scholar, agreed.

“The issue is elevated expectations, that’s where the danger comes in,” he told Al Jazeera.

“People have been expecting better lives, partly as a result of Rouhani’s promises in connection with the nuclear deal.

“It’s not a matter of absolute poverty driving people into the streets.

“It’s mostly about people thinking that ‘We need more than this, we were actually promised more than what’s happening, and we don’t have the jobs that we were anticipating’.”

With additional reporting by Saeed Jalili

by Al Jazeera

Tensions are high in Iran as hundreds of people protest in multiple cities against the government’s economic policies.

About 300 people protested in Kermanshah, a city in western Iran, on Friday, according to the semi-state news agency Fars. Police there used water cannon and tear gas to disperse demonstrators.

Protests also broke out in the capital Tehran, according to social media.

The demonstrations are said to be the biggest display of public dissent since pro-reform rallies swept the country in 2009.

US President Donald Trump has warned Iran’s government to respect the people’s right to protest.

Relations between Washington and Tehran have been particularly tense since Trump decertified the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)- agreed to by the US, China, Russia, Germany, France, and the UK – imposes restrictions on Iran’s stockpiles of uranium and the capacity to enrich it in exchange for sanctions relief.

Al Jazeera spoke to Mohammad Marandi, professor at Tehran University, about the reasons behind the recent anti-government rallies.

Al Jazeera: Why have people been protesting over the past few days?

Mohammad Marandi: There are economic difficulties in the country.

After the JCPOA, many of the Iranian people had expectations that the economic situation would improve, but as we saw both [former President Barack] Obama and Trump repeatedly violated the JCPOA by passing new laws such as the Iran sanctions act and the visa restriction laws.

The treasury and other arms of the government, both under Obama and Trump, have basically weakened the JCPOA extensively, which has kept a lot of the sanctions regime intact.

Al Jazeera: There have been small protests over economic conditions in Iran. But what’s special about these ones is that they have spread to numerous cities and have been picked up on social media. Is some sort of movement emerging?

Marandi: It’s difficult to say, because on the one hand, the economic situation is something that exists across the board.

Iranians, I think, while they are upset with mismanagement, they also recognise that the administration is being prevented from doing a lot of what it’s trying to do because of the United States and its allies, and the sanctions that I mentioned.

And of course social media makes things easier, so people have information.

But also, there is a fact that has to be kept in mind that while some people have been protesting economic problems.

We do see a very distinct effort on behalf of foreign governments.

For example, BBC Persian which belongs to the British government, VOA which is owned by the US government and media outlets that are directly or indirectly funded by the West – they are showing an effort to expand the protests.

They are trying to intensify them in order to politicise them.

Al Jazeera: The government recognises that these protests are about more than the economics of the country. We’re hearing anti-government slogans – “Death to Rouhani”, “Forget Palestine”, “No to Gaza”, “No to Lebanon” – deriding Iran’s foreign policies. How concerned is the government about this?

Marandi: Well the protesters … are not large in number. You have to keep in mind that these protesters are not all chanting the same slogans.

Some of them have been chanting anti-government slogans or slogans against Iranian foreign policy.

But when you look at the clips, you see that in some cases there is unity in the slogans and in other cases, when there are radical voices, then you see a lot of the crowd not repeating the slogans. So it’s not so simple.

But there is a concerted effort, I think, on behalf of the Western media outlets.

In Iran, whenever there is any sign of discontent you will always have the think tanks and Western media saying that the regime is about to implode and the regime is unpopular. We have been hearing that for 39 years now, and I don’t expect anything like to happen in the future.

Al Jazeera: It is quite interesting to see how quickly the Trump administration jumped on these protests, warning the government not to react with a heavy hand…

Marandi: Yes, it is ironic, especially with Trump being such a divisive figure inside the United States with the protests and counter-protests.

In Charlottesville, we had a person killed. On the other hand, we see that the US is supporting Saudi Arabia in the destruction of Yemen in mass genocide through starvation.

We see the United States, both under Obama and Trump, supporting extremist groups in Syria, so it’s not really for the US to talk about human rights when it comes to Iran.

A military spokesman said that Pakistan would continue to fight armed groups in the region in Pakistan’s self-interest, rather than at the behest of other countries [File: Naseer Ahmed/Reuters]

by Asad Hashim, Al Jazeera

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan’s military has warned the United States against the possibility of taking unilateral action against armed groups on its soil, in its strongest response yet to tensions between the two allies.

Speaking to journalists in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Asif Ghafoor rejected the notion that Pakistan is not doing enough to fight armed groups.

“We have sacrificed a lot. We have paid a huge price both in blood and treasure,” Ghafoor said. “We have done enough and we cannot do any more for anyone.”

He said Pakistan would continue to fight armed groups in the region in Pakistan’s self-interest, rather than at the behest of other countries.

“Had we not supported [the US], al-Qaeda would not have been defeated,” he said.

Since 2007, Pakistan has been battling armed groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), al-Qaeda and their allies, who have been seeking to impose a strict version of Islam on the country. The military has launched multiple military operations to regain territory where the groups’ fighters once held sway.

Violence has dropped since the launch of the latest operation in 2014, but sporadic, high-casualty attacks continue to occur. Earlier this month, at least nine people were killed in a suicide bombing on a church in the southwestern city of Quetta.

The US has often called on Pakistan to “do more” in its fight against armed groups, accusing it of selectively targeting armed groups and not taking action against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network, both of whom target US and Afghan forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.

US criticism
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson repeated the call for Pakistan to take on groups allegedly offered safe haven on its soil.

“We are prepared to partner with Pakistan to defeat terrorist organisations seeking safe havens, but Pakistan must demonstrate its desire to partner with us,” he wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times.

Tillerson’s message echoed US President Donald Trump’s words when he announced a new South Asia strategy in August, singling out Pakistan for criticism. Since then, a series of high-level contacts between the two governments have taken place, although no breakthrough achievements have been announced.

During his press conference on Thursday, Ghafoor linked the difficulty of acting against armed groups such as the Haqqani Network to the number of Afghan refugees resident in Pakistan.

The country is home to more than 2.7 million Afghan refugees, by the military’s figures, many of whom have lived in Pakistan for more than three decades.

Haniya says the US offered Abu Dis to the PA as the capital of a future Palestinian state [Said Khatib/AFP]

by Al Jazeera

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya has said that the US had offered the Palestinian Authority a Jerusalem suburb, Abu Dis, as an alternative to East Jerusalem for the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Speaking at a meeting with Palestinian clan leaders in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Haniya labelled President Donald Trump’s recent decision, to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a ploy to demolish the Palestinian cause in line with the so-called deal of the century.

“The US is still offering deals and continues to be on the side of the Palestinian Authority (PA) one way or another, in order to give them a capital or entity in the Abu Dis area, away from Jerusalem, with a bridge linking to al-Aqsa Mosque allowing for the freedom of prayer,” he said.

Haniya said certain regional forces are seeking to divide the West Bank into three sections, in addition to creating a political entity in the Gaza Strip with its own controlling powers.

Al Jazeera’s Wael al-Dahdouh, reporting from Gaza City, said Haniya cautioned local, regional and international players against working to implement the US plan for the Middle East, which is yet to be published.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a White House adviser, has been spearheading efforts to gauge the possibility of resuming the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

“Haniya sent a warning to all the parties that are involved in this ‘deal of the century’, whether they are Palestinian, Arab or Muslim, or international,” Dahdouh said.

“There are also signs that the Israelis will take advantage of this deal to impose their version of facts on the ground, such as the Judaization of Jerusalem bill that will be voted on tomorrow.”

Haniya said the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel introduces new risks that could affect the nature of the relationship between Palestine and Jordan.

He cited reports of discussions regarding an alternative homeland for Palestinians and a confederation between Jordan and Palestine.

Haniya said he has spoken to King Abdullah of Jordan about what he saw as the dangers arising from the Jerusalem decision, the resettlement project and alternative homeland.

He also asked Palestinians to continue their “uprising” against Trump’s decision, and for popular movements in the Arab and Muslim capitals to carry on their protests.

Addressing the ongoing reconciliation process between the two, main Palestinian groups, Fatah and Hamas, Haniya said internal, political issues need to be addressed quickly in order for a unified government to devote itself to major, national ones.

He also sounded a warning regarding the potential “grave” consequences of the slow implementation of the Egypt-brokered reconciliation agreement, which was signed in October in Cairo by Fatah and Hamas representatives.

For his part, Yahya Sinwar, the prime minister of the Hamas government, speaking at Tuesday’s meeting in Gaza, called for efforts to support reconciliation efforts aimed at “uniting in the battle of Jerusalem”.

He also demanded that the Palestinian leadership “convene the unified leadership framework of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in the presence of all Palestinians”.