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Showing posts from June 27, 2021

Why PKK & Peshmerga Locking Horns

The military clash that took place at the start of this month between the Peshmerga mainly belonging to Iraqi Kurdistan biggest political party Kurdistan Development Party (KDP) and the fighters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Is sparking debate on whether these two Kurdish giants are about to get into a full-fledged confrontation. The Defence Ministry of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) stated that five Peshmerga were ambushed and killed by PKK guerrillas, while another four were injured. The PKK, for its part, said it does not want the Peshmerga to enter the area of confrontation between them and the Turkish military and that this was the reason for the incident.  This incident happened in Amedi, a small town in the Duhok province of Kurdistan. Both these organizations are flag bearers of the Kurdish cause in their respective territories. The PKK is a Kurdish separatist organization founded in Turkey by Abdullah Ocalan in 1974. Initially, it took ins

Caraga police chief warns cops vs. NPA assassins

  BUTUAN CITY   – The Police Regional Office in Caraga (PRO-13) has warned its personnel to be on alert in the wake of a new threat by the communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in the area. The warning came after PRO-13 received information from individuals on the NPA plan to attack police personnel even in their residences. In a statement Saturday, PRO-13 Director Brig. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr. told the police personnel to take precautionary measures and intensify intelligence gathering to monitor the movements of the NPA insurgents in their respective areas of responsibility. “The NPA movement is now affected by the series of surrenders of their members and supporters. They attacked and destroyed equipment and businesses due to their failure to extract money extortions,” Caramat said. He added that the recent attacks made by the NPA were to show the public that they are still intact and powerful. “These are all for the shows because, in reality, the NPA rebels are now slowing down d

Turkey Is Targeting the PKK’s Popularity in Iraq

  Turkey has failed to contain the PKK despite having the second most powerful military in NATO. This, in turn, has had Ankara adopt a three-phased strategy of building a narrative that can facilitate Turkish objectives through nonmilitary means. After four decades of fighting, almost  40,000  casualties, and billions of dollars spent, Turkey has failed to contain Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Despite many cross-border operations, the group seems as resilient as ever. Now, Turkey is employing a new strategy: seeking to achieve military victory by conducting military operations that create anti-PKK narratives. Iraqi Kurds are now on the brink of a civil war with the PKK due to a nebulous incident, which stands to only damage the PKK’s struggle for Kurdish freedom. As an insurgency, the group breeds via its popularity; its strength and success depend on it. Consequently, Turkey’s new strategy is designed to contain the PKK by attacking its popularity, striking at the group’s main sourc

American Promises Put Kurds into Corner

Over a period of the Syrian conflict the U.S. used all possible methods to overthrow the unwanted Assad’s government. At the very beginning Washington provided financial and military support to the moderate opposition. But when a number of US-backed armed groups hadn’t live up the expectations, the White house paid its attention to the Syrian Kurds, who pose consolidated and much more reliable force. After gaining the support of Washington Kurdish groups have completely refused negotiations with Assad, and began to coordinate their actions only with the U.S. authorities which used them as the main force in fight against the ISIS. In exchange for their allegiance the Syrian democratic forces hoped to live out their dream under U.S. protection – to create their own state in northern Syrian regions. As a result with Kurds achieved a progress in fight against Daesh, took a solid part of the Arab country, created the Autonomous administration of the North and East of Syria and began to coop

South Korea holds drill in Seoul to prepare for drone attacks

  SEOUL: A drone spraying red and yellow chemicals was taken down by South Korea special forces on Tuesday (Jun 29) as they conducted a drill in Seoul to prepare for any attack as growing numbers of the remotely controlled devices take to the skies above the city. The 45-minute exercise, which took place in the Seoul Sports Complex, in Songpa district, showcased three attack scenarios - drones delivering explosives or chemicals and also hostages being taken. "There are terror attacks using drones happening periodically (around the world) and we have seen appearances of unauthorised drones gradually increasing in Seoul," Shin Dong-il, a superintendent at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, said. "Therefore, we planned this drill as there are growing threats of a new type of terrorism against the city of Seoul, such as terrorism with explosives or chemicals using drones." As part of the exercise, one self-destruct drone simulated an explosives attack, while another

Star report on chemical weapons attack on Kurds leads to calls for Turkish parliamentary commission

  A MORNING Star report on the use of chemical weapons by Turkey in Iraqi Kurdistan led to calls for the establishment of a special commission of inquiry in the Turkish Parliament today. Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP Nuran Imir called for independent investigations into the alleged use of chemicals in Turkey’s military offensive —Operation Claw Lightning — which was launched on April 23. He raised a motion citing the Morning Star report which alleged that chemicals had been used against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerilla fighters on at least three occasions during bombing of the Amedi district, in the mountainous region of Duhok, which borders Turkey.  Today the Morning Star was sent what is claimed to be photographic evidence of chemicals used by Turkish forces in the “Small Cilo” region in the Zagros mountains in a separate incident in May. Canisters marked in Turkish as ammonium nitrate, a common fertiliser which can be combined with other chemicals to form explosives, wer

We might have AI-powered murder drones to worry about now, a U.N. report suggests

In March 2020, as a civil war raged in Libya between the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord and the insurgent Libyan National Army, a drone known as a lethal autonomous weapons system (LAWS) was introduced to the battlefield. While drone warfare is anything but new, a  report from the United Nations  suggests that something different happened in this attack: The drone is believed to have selected a target and pursued members of the Libyan National Army without human control, raising the possibility of an autonomous killing carried out by machines. First, it's important to know what the report actually said. The 548-page document that was commissioned by the U.N. and written by a panel of experts said that the drone, a Turkish-made  Kargu-2 , was deployed by the Government of National Accord as members of the Libyan National Army were in retreat. What happened next, per the report, is that the drone "hunted down and remotely engaged" the militia members as

Syria Kurds seek help in rehabilitating Daesh-linked minors

  BEIRUT: Syria’s Kurds Friday urged international help to set up rehabilitation centers for minors linked to the Daesh group, after charges they were holding “hundreds of children” in adult prisons. Acknowledging that some extremist-linked minors were being held in adult prisons, separate to the many more in camps, senior Kurdish foreign affairs official Abdelkarim Omar told AFP around 30 teenagers have lately been transferred out of one overcrowded camp. He spoke just days after the International Committee of the Red Cross said “hundreds of children — mostly boys, some as young as 12 — are detained in adult prisons” in northeast Syria. Kurdish authorities hold thousands of suspected extremist fighters in their jails, as well as tens of thousands of their relatives in camps for the displaced, after spearheading a US-backed battle against Daesh that formally ended in victory in early 2019. Omar told AFP an unspecified number of Deash-linked minors who are held in jails are kept in sepa

Al-Shabab suicide attack on Mogadishu tea shop kills 10

  Death toll from the attack significantly higher than the four previously reported Al-Shabab regularly attacks government and civilian targets in Mogadishu MOGADISHU: A suicide bombing attack by the Al-Shabab militant group on a crowded tea shop in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu killed 10 people and wounded dozens, the government said Saturday. The death toll from the attack, which targeted a tea shop near heavily guarded government institutions on Friday evening, was significantly higher than the four previously reported. “On the evening of July 2, a suicide bomber wearing a vest detonated the device near the Juba Hotel, killing at least 10 people with dozens injured,” the ministry of information, culture and tourism said in a statement. “The attack occurred during a busy hour where the victims were enjoying a local tea shop,” it added, saying the “malicious” attack was by Al-Shabab. The Al-Qaeda-linked group swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement saying “15 elemen

Your View: Israel needs a willing partner to produce peace

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  I read the first half of a June 15 op-ed concerning the Mideast peace process in complete agreement   (”Your View: Don’t let Mideast peace slip from our grasp again”) . Like many across the world, I shared the author’s joy and hope when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met Yasser Arafat at the White House after signing the Oslo Accord in 1993. The second half of the piece, unfortunately, places undue blame on the Israeli government for the current plight of the Palestinian people. Moreover, Master puts too much weight in the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas when he concludes that this could be the launching pad for a peace process. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is one of the most complicated disputes in history. Palestinians and Israelis alike hold legitimate claims to land. Unfortunately, the Palestinians have never chosen peace when it was presented, and that is the fatal flaw in the op-ed. A peace process can never truly begin without a willing partner with whom t

Ethiopia denies blocking humanitarian aid to Tigray

The Ethiopian government declared a unilateral cease-fire which the TPLF dismissed as a joke ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia has denied blocking humanitarian aid to its northern Tigray region where hundreds of thousands face starvation, and said it was rebuilding infrastructure amid accusations it is using hunger as a weapon. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front, provincial authorities which Ethiopian forces and troops from neighboring Eritrea had driven out last year, returned to regional capital Mekelle this week to cheering crowds, in a dramatic reversal of eight months of war. The Ethiopian government declared a unilateral cease-fire which the TPLF dismissed as a joke. There are reports of continued clashes in some places as pressure builds internationally for all sides to pull back. “The allegation that we are trying to suffocate the Tigrayan people by denying humanitarian access and using hunger as weapon of war is beyond the pale,” Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen told diplomats in A

70 former NPA rebels in NoCot ready for reintegration

  KIDAPAWAN CITY   – North Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco on Friday lauded 70 former communist rebels who are now ready for reintegration into mainstream society after completing their 15-day deradicalization program. “I am happy that you have survived. May you live normal and productive lives hence,” Catamco said in a statement released to media. After completing the 15-day program on June 28, they stayed for several days at the headquarters of the Army's 72nd Infantry Battalion (72IB) for the processing of their certificates and benefits before returning to their respective families. The former rebels once operated in the areas covered by the 72IB, the maneuver unit of the 10th Infantry Division. These areas include Magpet, President Roxas, Antipas, and Kidapawan City in the province. “Now, your mission is primarily to facilitate sustainable peace in your communities,” Catamco told the former NPA fighters in the same statement. She said she was emotional after learning from mili

Israeli entity’s unending nightmare: Hezbollah’s SG-led information warfare

As every loved leader, Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s source of power comes from his supporters, this time the confession is made by Zionist media. AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA):  As every loved leader, Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s source of power comes from his supporters, this time the confession is made by Zionist media. Noting that Sayyed Nasrallah makes sure he portrays the truth and “stretches it as much as possible without letting it snap,” the source of an article entitled “Nasrallah – Leading Hezbollah’s Information Warfare” admitted that Sayyed Nasrallah’s speeches and interviews are not broadcasted in the ‘Israeli’-occupied territories but are occasionally cited in the ‘Israeli’ media. However, security officials and research centers like Alma’s, the publisher of the article, which is an education and research center, dedicated to researching the security challenges on the Zionist entity’s occupied nort