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Showing posts from November 5, 2017

What's next for ISIL's child soldiers?

Kasswara* joined  ISIL  when he was 14. "We were the 'cleaners' group. Cleaning means slitting the throats of those who belong to the other side and are hiding," the teenager from Raqqa,  Syria , said. "A guy from my area was decapitated by [ISIL] because of me. People had their hands chopped off because of me." Since the start of the  Syrian civil war , armed groups have been using child soldiers in combat. ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, is thought to have recruited around 2,000 children. They are called "ashbal al khilafa", the "lion cubs of the caliphate". Kasswara, who is now 16, fled ISIL, also known as ISIS, after being sexually assaulted and is currently living in Greece. He tells his story in  Witness: Lion cubs of ISIL . Like Kasswara, a number of former cubs have fled to Europe where they live in anonymity. And with ISIL swiftly losing ground in  Iraq  and Syria, more child soldiers are b

Western criticism of Suu Kyi won’t help Myanmar – will China’s UN intervention?

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As Beijing steps in to block resolution regarding plight of Rohingya in Rakhine, mindless Aung San Suu Kyi bashing is only serving to undermine Myanmar’s fledgling democracy Subir Bhaumik 11 Nov 2017 By  People hold a portrait of Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi at a prayer gathering in Yangon. Photo: EPA J ust weeks  after accusing the Myanmar military of perpetrating a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” on the country’s Muslims, the United Nations Security Council has dropped plans to adopt a legally binding resolution calling for an end to violence in Rakhine state. The toning down of UN condemnation over an ongoing humanitarian crisis which has forced 600,000  Rohingya  – more than half the Muslim population of Myanmar – to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh, came after China made it clear it would use its veto power as a permanent member of the council to block a resolution, according to diplomats. Global criticism of Aung San Suu Kyi’s handl

Spain concerned over Russian social media activity on Catalonia

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MADRID: Spain said Friday it had noted news manipulation about the Catalan crisis on social media originating "from Russian territory," adding the issue would be raised at an upcoming EU ministers meeting. Spanish media have already accused Moscow-backed outlets such as Russia Today and Sputnik -- which have Spanish language services -- of playing a destabilising role in the crisis triggered by Catalonia's banned October 1 independence referendum. Defence Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal told reporters the government had established that "many messages and interventions via social networks come from Russian territory." But she insisted that authorities had not established whether the Russian government was behind them or not. Cospedal was responding to a journalist who asked about "Russia's interference in preparing messages that could alter the internal workings of some countries," pointing specifically to the Catalan crisis in Spain.

In numbers: French jihadist fighters and their families in Iraq and Syria

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© France 24 - Francetvinfo screengrab  Video by  Haxie MEYERS-BELKIN Text by  FRANCE 24 Latest update : 2017-11-10 In an interview with French radio broadcaster FranceInfo on Friday, the country’s top counter-terrorism Prosecutor François Molins discussed the French nationals who have left France to wage jihad in Iraq and Syria, including many women and the children being raised in these jihadist families. Molins warned against having any “naivety” towards the French nationals who may be returning to France from the jihadist zones where Islamist groups are losing ground, saying they are "people who are disappointed, rather than repentant”. Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the returnees would be carefully reviewed on a “case by case” basis.  According to French intelligence services, 690 French nationals are currently fighting in Iraq and Syria Of those, 295 are women Some 28 French jihadist fighters are minors under the age of 15

How can the crisis on Manus Island be resolved?

Ten days after Australia withdrew support for its prison camp in Papua New Guinea, detainees refuse to leave. Inside Story 10 Nov 2017 19:09 GMT Ten days ago Australia officially withdrew support for the prison camp it has maintained on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island since 2012. The camp is located on the site of a former PNG naval facility. For the last five years, Australia has maintained a policy of detaining refugees intercepted at sea there and at a similar camp on Nauru, rather than allowing them to reach Australian soil. But after Australia withdrew its support for the camp, control is going back to the PNG government. Citing safety concerns, however, the approximately 600 people living there have refused to leave, despite the rapidly deteriorating conditions. The refugees have been left without fresh water, food or power. Human rights activists are demanding Australia immediately address the worsening conditions. With the situation worsening by the day, the

France unveils experimental deradicalisation programme

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© Loic Venance, AFP | French justice minister Nicole Belloubet in Nantes on October 6, 2017.  Text by  FRANCE 24 Latest update : 2017-11-10 The programme (Research and Intervention in extremist violence) targets people already sentenced or awaiting sentencing for a terrorism-related offence or reported for being radicalised who will, at a judge’s request, undergo mentoring. An association called  Apcars  (Association of Applied Criminal Policy and Social Reinsertion), which specialises in social and judicial supervision, is in charge of the programme. A total of 14 people – eight men and six women – are currently being mentored for at least a year by a team of coaches, a psychologist, a religious adviser and a psychiatrist. The mentoring is done on an individual basis with at least six hours per week the first few months. Contact is established with the person’s family and the individual receives help to become independent administratively. The programme is the exact opposit

Saudi-led strikes hit defence ministry in Yemen capital

Warplanes continued to circle in the skies above Sanaa after the  strikes , the witnesses added. The Huthi rebel media outlet Al-Masirah also reported the two air strikes. The coalition has targeted the defence ministry in the past, leaving it heavily damaged, but the fresh strikes come amid a ratcheting up of tensions between  Saudi Arabia  and its rival  Iran , which backs the Huthi rebels. The coalition shut down Yemen's borders earlier this week after Saudi forces on Saturday intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Huthis near the Riyadh airport. The rebels have threatened additional attacks on Saudi Arabia and its coalition partner the United Arab Emirates in response to the blockade. The United Nations said on Friday that the coalition is still blocking desperately needed UN aid deliveries to Yemen despite the re-opening of the Yemeni port of Aden and of a land border crossing. This week, UN aid chief Mark Lowcock warned the Security Council that, unless th

Civil War: Sri Lanka govt faces pressure over torture, rape allegations

Sri Lanka's government faced increasing pressure on Saturday to answer for alleged human rights violations following a recent war crimes lawsuit and allegations from over 50 men who said they were raped, branded or tortured as recently as this year. The men's anguished descriptions of their abuses come nearly a decade after Sri Lanka's civil war ended and days ahead of a review of the Indian Ocean nation by the UN's top human rights body. Doctors, psychologists, lawmakers and rights groups have appealed to the United Nations to investigate new allegations published by The Associated Press on Wednesday. The AP reviewed 32 medical and psychological evaluations and interviewed 20 men who said they were accused of trying to revive a rebel group on the losing side of Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war. Although combat ended in 2009, they say the torture and abuse occurred from early 2016 to as recently as July this year. "Someone has to do something about thi

Lebanon crisis: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah accuses Saudi Arabia of detaining Saad Hariri

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Beirut, Lebanon:  Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday accused Saudi Arabia of detaining Prime Minister Saad Hariri and of asking the Shiite movement's arch-foe Israel to launch strikes. Hariri's sudden resignation on 4 November in a statement made from Riyadh took the Lebanese political class by surprise and has sparked international concern. The United States warned against using the tiny country as a "venue for proxy conflicts" and the United Nations said it was "essential no new conflict erupt in the region". France called for Hariri to have "all his freedom of movement" amid rumours he was being held against his will. "The head of the Lebanese government is detained in Saudi Arabia, he is banned from returning to Lebanon until now," Nasrallah said in a televised address. Hariri's situation was not completely clear but calls, including from his Lebanese political rivals, mounted for Saudi A

Terrorist attacks make the humdrum rhythm of the city feel like an act of resistance

Cities like New York and London and Mumbai are inevitable targets for extremists. They defy zealots and purists. They are diverse, complicated, and contradictory. Kanishk Tharoor   I grew up in Manhattan and lived in the heart of New York City through my 20s. I would go regularly for long runs through the island to the Hudson River. What was once a quasi-industrial line of warehouses and docks has been spruced up recently into a congenial waterfront park. With the lazy river on one side, I’d jog south past the stumps of old wooden piers towards the skyscrapers of New York’s financial district. I’d take a break by the water and watch ferries cross back and forth to New Jersey as I caught my breath.  It was along this same path that a man drove his rented truck mercilessly over cyclists on 31 October. The Uzbek driver, who was a legal resident of the United States, copied similar ISIS-aligned attacks on civilians. This was the most significant Islamist terrorist incident in New

Turkey detains at least 100 Islamic State suspects

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The operations are part of Turkey’s ramped up effort to clamp down on Islamic State. Associated Press, Istanbul Turkish police have detained at least 100 people suspected of links to the Islamic State group, Turkey’s official news agency said Friday. Istanbul police conducted simultaneous operations at multiple districts to detain 82 foreigners, Anadolu Agency reported. The suspects had allegedly been active in conflict zones with IS and planned on going to Syria. Separately, Anadolu said 11 Syrian nationals were detained in the southern province of Adana for alleged links to IS. Seven others, whose nationalities weren’t revealed, were detained in western Izmir province. The nationalities of the 82 foreigners detained in Istanbul also weren’t disclosed. The operations are part of Turkey’s ramped up effort to clamp down on IS. Police detained more than 170 IS suspects in a sweep in the capital, Ankara, on Thursday. The Istanbul detentions were part of operations to pro

At least three injured in vehicle Terror attack near Toulouse, police say

A man deliberately ran his car into a group of Chinese students outside a high school near Toulouse in southern France on Friday, police sources said, injuring at least three people, two of them seriously. The driver of the vehicle, a 28-year-old man who was known to police for minor offences, was arrested at the scene, the sources said. The driver, who was arrested in the city's Blagnac suburb, acted "deliberately" but was not on a list of known extremists, one source said, asking not to be named. France has been the target of a series of vehicle attacks by extremists inspired by the Islamic State group, but there was no immediate confirmation of the driver's identity nor motive. The BFM news channel said officers were checking reports that the perpetrator suffered from psychological problems. All three of Friday's victims were in their twenties, with a 23-year-old woman the most seriously injured and two men aged 22 and 23 also hurt.  Vehicle attac

Myanmar jails two journalists for filming with a drone near parliament

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The case has further strained diplomatic ties in the wake of Turkey president Tayyip Erdogan accusing Myanmar’s military of carrying out a “genocide” against Rohingya Muslims. A Myanmar court jailed two journalists on assignment for Turkey’s state broadcaster, along with their interpreter and driver, for two months on Friday for violating an aircraft law by filming with a drone. Cameraman Lau Hon Meng from Singapore and reporter Mok Choy Lin from Malaysia, were detained on Oct. 27 along with their Myanmar interpreter, Aung Naing Soe, and driver, Hla Tin. The four had been working on a documentary for TRT World, the English-language subsidiary of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, when they were detained for attempting to fly a drone near parliament in the capital, Naypyitaw. Aung Naing Soe, Burmese freelance journalist and interpreter, stands with three other co-workers for their first court appearance after being accused for allegedly flying drones illegally ov

Islamist militants kill six soldiers in southern Philippines

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Pro-Islamic State militants killed six soldiers and wounded four others on a southern Philippine island, the military spokesman said on Friday, as the army focused on the remaining rebel groups after regaining control of Marawi City. The army shifted its operations on Basilan island after ending the five-month combat operations in Marawi last month after killing the militants’ top leaders, including Isnilon Hapilon, the emir of pro-Islamic State groups in Southeast Asia. “We were going after the Abu Sayyaf elements who continue to exist in Basilan and up to this time, there have been skirmishes reported to us, specifically this morning,” military spokesman Major-General Restituto Padilla told news channel ANC. Ten soldiers were wounded, but six died on the way to a medical facility on Wednesday evening after troops, searching for Abu Sayyaf sub-commander Furiji Indama, clashed with militant groups in Sumisip town, he added. Militants from the Abu Sayyaf, notorious for bombi

Hezbollah MPs urge Riyadh to stop meddling in Lebanon

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This handout picture provided by the Saudi Royal Palace on November 6, 2017 shows King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (R) meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Riyadh. (Via AFP) The parliamentary bloc of Hezbollah has called on Saudi Arabia to stop interfering in Lebanon's domestic affairs after Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation while on a trip to Riyadh.  In a televised statement on Thursday, Hezbollah lawmaker, Hassan Fadlallah, said the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc supported President Michel Aoun’s refusal to accept the resignation as long as it was not "voluntary." Fadlallah further underlined the need to preserve security and stability in Lebanon. Hariri’s announcement in a televised speech from Saudi Arabia on Saturday has rattled Lebanon. Unidentified Lebanese authorities told Reuters on Thursday that Saudi authorities had ordered him to quit and were holding him in detention.  "When he went (to Saudi Arabia) he was

Yemen could face ‘the largest famine’ in decades

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Amid warnings by the United Nations that Yemen could face “the largest famine the world has seen for many decades with millions of victims,” aid agencies have called for food, fuel and medicines to be allowed into the country immediately. The Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen said on Monday it had closed all air, land and sea ports to the Arabian Peninsula country to stem the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. A woman holds her malnourished boy after he was weighed at a hospital malnutrition intensive care unit in Sanaa, Yemen September 27, 2016 |   Reuters Here are some facts: * The World Food Programme estimates the number of Yemenis needing aid has risen to 20 million this year, or more than two-thirds of the population, compared with 17 million in 2016. * 7 million people in Yemen are facing famine-like conditions and rely completely on food aid to survive. In six weeks, the food supplies to feed them will be exhausted. * Mor