Iraq has urged the United Nations to look at allegations that Islamic State (IS) extremists are using organ harvesting as a way to finance its activities.

Ambassador to the UN Mohamed Alhakim told reporters that in the past few weeks, bodies with surgical incisions and missing kidneys or other body parts have been found in shallow mass graves.

“We have bodies. Come and examine them,” he said. “It is clear they are missing certain parts.”

He also said a dozen doctors have been “executed” in Mosul for refusing to participate in organ harvesting.

Mr Alhakim briefed the UN Security Council on the overall situation in Iraq and accused the Islamic State group of “crimes of genocide” in targeting certain ethnic groups.

The outgoing UN envoy to Iraq, Nikolay Mladenov, told the council that 790 people were killed in January alone by terrorism and armed conflict.

He noted the increasing number of reports and allegations that IS is using organ harvesting as a financing method, but he said only that “it’s very clear that the tactics ISIL is using expand by the day”. He used an acronym for the group.

He said Iraq’s most pressing goal is to win back the vast territory that IS has seized in the past year.
The Sunni militants seized a third of both Iraq and neighbouring Syria and imposed strict Sharia law.

“Especially worrying is the increasing number of reports of revenge attacks committed particularly against members of the Sunni community in areas liberated from ISIL control,” Mr Mladenov said.

All parties straddling the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon must work to maintain the region’s delicate peace, the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Sigrid Kaag, said today as she made her first official visit to south Lebanon since assuming her current role.

“We hope all parties continue to exercise maximum calm and restraint, refrain from any action that could undermine the stability of the area and act responsibility to prevent any escalation in line with their commitment to resolution 1701,” Sigrid Kaag declared in a press release issued by her office earlier this morning.

The so-called “Blue Line,” or Line of Withdrawal, was established in the year 2000 to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon in conformity with Security Council resolution 425, according to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) website.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently expressed his concern over the serious deterioration in the situation in southern Lebanon and the violations of the cessation of hostilities agreements and resolution 1701, which ended the month-long 2006 war between Israel and Hizbollah in Lebanon.

During her visit to south Lebanon, Ms. Kaag met with Members of Parliament in the city of Tyre, stating that the meeting was “very useful” as it covered the political, security and socio-economic situation in the area. In addition, she engaged in consultations with UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major-General Luciano Portolano.

“As with each region of Lebanon, the south has particular needs and challenges,” she continued. “Working closely with local and national authorities, the UN is committed to helping meet those needs. Strong and effective institutions of the State are an essential element in the delivery of assistance and support.”

Underlying tensions and unresolved issues continue to beleaguer the Blue Line area. A recent cross-border exchange of fire between Hizbollah and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) resulted in the deaths of two IDF soldiers and Israel’s immediate retaliation. A UN peacekeeper was also killed in the ensuing violence.

Source: UN

The British newspaper “The Independent” highlights some of the horrific crimes committed by ISIS terrorist organization against innocent children in Syria and Iraq that it has intentionally recruited into its ranks and brainwashed to become them as one of its terrorist tools to make more victims.

In a new article based on the testimony of one of teens that ISIS terrorist organization succeeded in attracting them to its ranks after misleading by delusions and lies where the teenager who at is 17 years old said that the terrorist organization is recruiting children from about 14 years old to launch terrorist attacks and implementation of suicide attacks.

A teenage would-be suicide bomber with ISIS has spoken of his regret in a tearful interview after his arrest in Iraq.

He told the BBC, Isis militants showed him how to wear an explosive vest and promised him he would “go straight to heaven” after detonating his.

When asked why he was crying, the boy replied: “Because I am so sorry for this.”

He said most new recruits are younger than him – “14, 15, or 16”.

Isis’s use of children has been well documented since the group began its insurgency across Iraq and Syria. A recent UN report found militants were using young children, including those who are mentally challenged, as suicide bombers.

The group regularly features images of children and toddlers brandishing weapons, with one of the most shocking showing a child holding the severed head of a man.

Isis supporters also circulated images of a child in September they said had become the youngest foreign fighter to be killed in battle for the jihadist group. The boy was believed to be no older than 10-years-old.

The UN said that ISIS terrorist organization in Syria and Iraq expands operations by children recruitment dramatically as it elements make the children from 12 years old to go through military training and use them as informants and guards in checkpoints and strategic locations and are sometimes forced to be suicide bombers and carry out executions.

On the other hand, according to the British newspaper the Daily Mail , a number of ISIS terrorists who defected from the organization have recently leaked terrifying messages containing orders from the terrorist’s leaders to carry out suicide bombings and terrorist attacks such as those that occurred in the French capital Paris recently.

The Newspaper noted that the leaked messages is singed in purple color indicates the region issued from it and addressed to ISIS terrorists organization who concentrated their mission to comply with the orders written in it.

The Independent British newspaper revealed late last month that ISIS terrorist organization threatened to launch new terrorist attacks in the United States and Europe as this new Western fueled fears of the risk of the organization and stressed the threat of terrorism to happen in their own home.

The terrorist organization recently published threats in social networking sites to target American soldiers on American territory and also praised the recent attacks on the French capital Paris, which killed 17 people and threatened to launch more attacks across Europe.

Source:  shafaaq

The Shi’ite Houthi militia which is loyal to Iran and receives support from the Islamic regime has moved its conquest of Yemen into a new stage, opening its battle for the southern port city of Aden which controls access to the Red Sea and ultimately to Eilat and Israel.

Earlier this month the Houthis established their temporary government, the Supreme Revolutionary Council, in the presidential castle in the capital city of Sana’a after besieging the previous government in the castle until it disbanded.

On Monday, the new government led by acting president Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi ratified a decision to take over control of the country and called on the UN Security Council to “honor the will of the Yemenite people,” framing their coup as a locally supported event despite the fierce opposition the Houthi minority militia is facing having taken control.

After being forced to resign, former President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi remains under house arrest enforced by members of the Houthi militia “Ansar Allah.”

The Houthi militia is concentrating its efforts on establishing a base of power in central Yemen, dispersing protests against it with live fire.

In addition, special forces loyal to the Houthis have begun operations to try and capture governmental buildings in the Aden district of southern Yemen, with reports surfacing of battles breaking out between the Houthis and local forces near the Aden airport.

Aden has become the central goal of the Houthis, as control of the port city allows domination over entry to the Red Sea through which commerce transverses to Israel and Europe.

Foreign ministers of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council nations responded to the developments by expressing their concerns over the Iranian-backed conquest of Yemen, pressuring the UN Security Council to take action on the matter including issuing permission to conduct military operations in Yemen.

Source: Arutzsheva

Two suicide attacks in northeast Nigeria have killed at least 38 people, less than six weeks from elections, as the leader of Boko Haram vowed to disrupt the vote.

The Islamist insurgency has already forced a delay in the polls, initially scheduled for February 14, and officials had voiced hope that a regional military offensive could contain the bloodshed before the new election day, March 28.

But the latest wave of attacks blamed on the rebels underscored the challenge facing Nigeria and its neighbours – Cameroon, Chad and Niger – despite claims of successes in the joint operation launched this month.

“This election will not be held even if we are dead,” Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a new video, in what appeared to the first from the group released on Twitter. Speaking before Shekau’s threat, Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou vowed that his country would herald the end for the rebels, whose six-year insurgency has killed more than 13,000 people.

“Niger will be the death of Boko Haram,” he told a cheering crowd after a protest against the insurgents in the capital Niamey. But Boko Haram has proved resilient an experts question whether the group can be overpowered in the short-term.

In Nigeria’s Borno state, three assailants in a motorised rickshaw detonated explosives at a checkpoint at Yamarkumi village, near the town of Biu, at about 1:00 pm (1730 IST).

The suicide attack killed 36 people and injured 20, a source at the Biu General Hospital told AFP, requesting anonymity. “Most of the victims were child vendors and beggars that usually crowd the checkpoint,” the source added.

Boko Haram has repeatedly tried to seize Biu, 180 kilometres from the state capital Maiduguri, but has been repelled by troops and local vigilantes.

Some four hours later, in Potiskum, the economic capital of neighbouring Yobe state, a bomber blew himself up inside Al-Amir restaurant, a popular chain in northern Nigeria.

The restaurant manager and a steward were killed, while 13 staff and customers were seriously injured, a police officer and nurse the Potiskum General Hospital said.

Source:  dnaindia

Cairo has a diplomatic role to play in helping arrest Libya’s continuing slide into chaos and civil war, the country’s former foreign minister told Asharq Al-Awsat this week, as news emerged that the Egyptian Air Force had bombed several targets in Libya in retribution for the massacre of 21 Coptic Egyptian guest workers by jihadist militants.

Ali Treki, a senior Libyan diplomat who served twice as Libya’s foreign minister under Gaddafi, said the Egyptian government should push for Libya’s warring factions to settle their differences peacefully, despite the airstrikes against militants claiming to be members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Speaking exclusively to Asharq Al-Awsat, Treki acknowledged the presence of extremist forces in Libya, but argued this was due to the country’s deteriorating political and security situation, and called for Libya’s rival political forces to continue to meet to reach a political solution to the crisis.

Libya has been split between two rival governments and parliaments since 2014, after an internationally recognized government and parliament led by Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thani was forced to flee to the eastern city of Tobruk after Islamist political forces took over the capital.

UN mediators, working under special envoy Bernardino León, have sought to bring together representatives of the two rival governments to reach a political solution to the crisis. The latest round of talks is scheduled to take place this week, though progress has reportedly been slow so far.

“The most important thing [now] is for dialogue to take place under the auspices of the Arab League with Egypt playing a leading role in this, as Cairo is committed to the safety and security of every Arab state,” Treki said.

“We need real dialogue like the dialogue that managed to bring the Lebanese together. This dialogue must take place within the Arab League to continue the work of UN envoy Bernardino León,” he added.

Treki praised León as a diligent and hard-working envoy who has helped push the Libyan negotiations forward, stressing that he must remain involved if any future dialogue is to reach a solution.

“I see a desire from all Libyans for a political solution, and I hope they can agree the formation of a unified central government and national union. And for all institutions to be formed on a new constitution that is based on national consensus,” he said.

Commenting on ISIS’s execution of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, which prompted Egypt to launch immediate airstrikes on ISIS positions in Libya, Treki said: “The problem of extremism is not solely a Libyan issue; this is an international problem, and Libya is one of its victims.”

“ISIS is an extremist gang that has nothing to do with religion or religious values,” he added.

The Gaddafi-era minister described the group as having a “very strong” presence on Libyan territory, confirming that it has a strong base in the port city of Sirte, one of the targets of this week’s airstrikes by the Egyptian jets.

“They [even] took control of local TV and radio stations . . . and they have control and influence [in Sirte],” he said.

“ISIS is also present in Derna. The majority of their members are fighters who previously fought in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. They are largely non-Libyans, and come from a number of different countries including Yemen, Turkey, as well as some from Algeria and Sudan.”

As for those who killed the 21 Egyptian Copts last week, Treki said they were “foreign nationals.”
Despite his backing for inter-Libyan dialogue to reach a political solution in the North African country, Treki stressed that there can be no dialogue with ISIS, or the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Al-Shari’a group. “Groups such as this do not believe in dialogue. They dialogue only in murder and death,” he said.

Although the headlines continue to focus on the death of the 21 Egyptian Copts killed by ISIS in Libya, another group of Egyptians—fishermen detained in Misrata after allegedly being caught illegally fishing in Libyan waters—were released following Treki’s intervention.

“I spoke with some of our brothers in Libya, and in particular the Attorney General in Misrata. We agreed that any of the Egyptians who wanted to return [to Egypt] could to so, and so we coordinated with Cairo to ensure that this was done safely,” he said.

The Islamist Libyan Dawn group, which is in control of a number of Libyan cities, including Misrata and the capital Tripoli, issued a statement on Monday calling on all Egyptian workers to leave Libya. The group said this was in order to protect Egyptian nationals from any “revenge attacks” after Egyptian airstrikes against ISIS targets.

However, Treki denied that Egyptians in Libya are in any danger. “The Egyptians are close to the hearts of the Libyan people, and it is as if they are in their own country . . . The extremists are targeting both Libya and Egypt,” he said.

Source:  aawsat.net

Four Tunisian police were killed on Tuesday in what the government labelled a “terrorist attack” in a region known as the base for the country’s most dangerous Islamist group.

“On February 18, following a terrorist attack in Boulaaba in the governorate of Kasserine, four heroes of the National Guard were martyred,” the interior ministry said in statement, without giving further details.

Boulaaba is part of a mountain range on the Algerian border which is home to Tunisia’s main jihadist group, the Al-Qaeda linked Phalange Okba Ibn Nafaa.

The group is blamed for an attack which killed 15 Tunisian soldiers in July while dozens of soldiers and police have been killed or wounded in ambushes by the Islamist fighters and landmines.

Tunisia’s armed forces have carried out ground and air campaigns against the group since 2012 without success.

The north African country has seen an uptick in attacks by armed Islamist groups since the overthrow of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.