More than a week has passed since the Houthis escalated their takeover of Yemen by besieging and then forcing their way into the presidential palace in Sanaa. It was a symbolic conquest because the militants had already spread their control over much of the capital during the past four months, in addition to at least 10 governorates in the beleaguered north.

They faced little resistance from the army and one by one the country’s state institutions fell into their hands. Politically weakened, humiliated and now facing death or incarceration President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi had no option but to resign along with his prime minister and Cabinet. There was only one conclusion to what had happened; the Houthis had carried out a coup in Yemen.

It remains a riddle how this relatively small group belonging to the minority Shiite Yazidi sect had managed to expand beyond their territory in the north to overcome the army and march undeterred to Sanaa. Their influence on the political process during the past year had become huge. Their leader, Abdel Malek Al-Houthi, spoke repeatedly of ridding the country of corruption, carrying out political reforms and preserving the integrity of Yemen. But his actions on the ground contradicted that narrative.

Since the ousting of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012, in accordance with a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative that also called for national dialogue, which delivered a partnership and peace agreement overseen by UN envoy Jamal Ben Omar, the role of the Houthis, who had rebelled against the central government in the past, had grown noticeably. During most of last year, they tried to derail the political process and made many demands.

Hadi, who took over from Saleh in 2012, eventually proved to be weak and indecisive. Hailing from the south of Yemen, he had little influence over the northern tribes. More importantly perhaps he was unable to uproot key officials in the security and army who remained loyal to Saleh. With the political process in peril, the Houthis seized the opportunity to challenge Hadi’s leadership.

Last September, they marched toward the capital from their stronghold in Sadda’ and with little or no resistance they occupied the capital. Along the way they successfully took over the strategic port of Al-Hudeida in addition to a number of governorates.

But their leader continued to argue that the group was only interested in the implementation of the partnership and peace agreement. In reality, they were submitting an endless list of demands on Hadi, which gave them unprecedented control over the state and its institutions. In a last ditch compromise, Hadi agreed to amend the draft constitution and suspend an earlier agreement to divide Yemen into six provinces. But it was already too late.

The Houthis appear to have allied themselves with former President Saleh, who last week proposed that his son be appointed as new president. But Hadi’s resignation, which is yet to be accepted by parliament, had complicated the domestic scene even further. The Houthis were pondering a way out by forming a four-member presidential council. But that proposal was rejected by Yemen’s political bodies, some of which remain influential. UN envoy Ben Omar attempted to bring the parties involved in the national dialogue back to the negotiating table. His efforts proved fruitless.

The political vacuum in Yemen and the Houthi control of the state have triggered various reactions. Accused of being agents for Iran and of seeking to establish a Houthi religious state Yemenis, mostly students, have begun to demonstrate in Sanaa. In the past few days the Houthis used force to disperse them. The southern Hirak, parties and groups in the southern governorates that are calling for secession, has cut all contacts with the central government, promised to repel Houthi advance and threatened to declare independence from Yemen.

A country with complex tribal and sectarian structures, the Houthi attempt to force its agenda will trigger additional violent confrontations. The Houthis are well armed; having seized heavy weaponry from the army, but in Yemen there is no shortage of guns. Unless the Houthis back down and give President Hadi and his government a chance to jumpstart the political process the country will be heading toward civil war and disintegration.

US reaction to what is happening in Yemen is perplexing. President Obama and his aides have stressed that their priority in Yemen continues to be the fight against Al-Qaeda. But that is a huge miscalculation. A sectarian confrontation in Yemen will only empower the terrorist group and some Sunni tribes will strike an alliance with Al-Qaeda to face a common enemy. In addition to that chaos in Yemen — and the rising Iranian influence over that part of the Arabian Peninsula —constitutes a major threat to the stability of GCC countries.

The Houthis will not be able to force their agenda on Yemen, but their conspiracy will lead to violence and chaos. Saleh will also find that his alliance with his former enemies will be short-lived and that his attempt to be a power broker will fail. Unless the UN and others succeed in reversing the events of the past week, the country’s future looks gloomy and menacing.

Source:  arabnews

Fleeing residents of Monguno, another Borno State’s town that was seized by Boko Haram terrorists on Saturday have said that the insurgents are planning to attack towns and villages around Maiduguri before launching a major offensive against the capital city.

One of the fleeing residents and an Internally Displaced Person (IDP), Aisha Ba’malum, stated this when she arrived in Maiduguri yesterday. Aisha, mother of three children, managed to arrive in Maiduguri after running in the bush for two days.

Aisha and other IDPs informed LEADERSHIP at the outskirts of Maiduguri along Monguno Road that the Boko Haram terrorists would only spare aged men and women and kill males ranging between ages of 45 and 15 years, while girls that attain the age of puberty would be forcefully taken away.

She said, “When they were shooting and killing people in Monguno, they told us to inform our husbands that they were only fleeing to their big grave called Maiduguri and by the time they forced all of us into the city, they said they would then attack the town en mass.

“They have killed so many men that was why most of our husbands had to flee and leave us behind because in most cases they don’t touch women and our children. Any woman who probably dies may have been killed by stray bullet or exhaustion while running.

“But many men and young men from the ages of 15 were killed in the town while fleeing in the bush. Many soldiers were also killed, we saw them with their uniforms. They took many of our young girls of puberty age as well as some young women who were married too”.

A teacher and local politician in Monguno, Girgiri Muhammed, said some members of the Boko Haram gunmen were heard saying that, “since your President Goodluck Jonathan came to Maiduguri and escaped our attack, we would deal with you his servants before we will finish those in Maiduguri”.

A security official in Maiduguri who sought anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told LEADERSHIP last night that should the Boko Haram take possession of the artillery and other long range arms, Maiduguri and its residents may be attacked.

He said, “There is urgent need for a counter offensive against Boko Haram members now than ever before; because the barracks they have taken in Monguno is a whole brigade where there are various sizes and shapes of weapons including artillery guns which has the capacity of firing for hundreds of kilometres.

If Boko Haram wants to attack Maiduguri, they may not necessarily even enter Maiduguri town before they could do that; that is why some of us who understand this keep saying that the worst that could happen is the fall of Monguno barracks”

Source:  leadership.ng

Even as the Islamic State was in retreat from Kobani in northern Syria this week, the militant group claimed growing influence farther afield. Fighters loyal to IS said they carried out a deadly attack Tuesday on a hotel in Libya’s capital. The day before, an IS spokesman announced the expansion of the self-styled caliphate in South Asia.

Abu Muhammad al-Adnani declared in an online message “we bring the mujahideen the good news of the Islamic State’s expansion to Khorasan,” a reference to the historical region that now encompasses Afghanistan, Pakistan and what Adnani called “nearby lands.”

Adnani’s comments confirmed what Pakistani security analysts view as a growing threat.

In a video released earlier this month, a band of breakaway Pakistani Taliban militants based in the tribal area swore their allegiance to IS. The video showed dozens of fighters riding horses and waving IS flags. Former Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid appears in the video, speaking Arabic and declaring his allegiance to the IS leader and self-styled caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Last week, Pakistani media reported that security forces had arrested an IS leader, Yousaf Al-Salafi, in the eastern city Lahore.

Pakistan’s government has not confirmed an IS presence in the country. But some mainstream political party leaders have expressed concerns in parliament, calling on the government to take action against the Islamic State before it establishes a foothold.

Those warnings appear to be too late and, according to some observers, Adnani’s declaration will only make any anti-IS fight by the government harder. Pakistani defense analyst and retired army general, Talat Masood told VOA Deewa “Taliban breakaway factions who have announced allegiance to IS otherwise faced isolation. But the announcement will bring them into the fore and magnify their presence.”

According to Khadim Hussain, author of The Militant Discourse, local jihadis will gain more than just publicity.  In an interview with VOA Deewa, he said “Pakistan Taliban groups know that allegiance to IS will bring them financial benefits.”

It’s not clear how much material support the Syria- and Iraq-based IS is able to provide to members abroad. Branches of the franchise in Libya appear to be getting some technical training, but reports of money and equipment transfers have not been verified.

What al-Adnani tried to promise in his statement was unity, calling on “all the mujahideen in Khorasan to join the caravan of the caliphate” and abandon factionalism.

But if the internecine battles of jihadis in Syria and Libya are any guide, unity among militants may be a more audacious goal than the establishment of an Islamic State itself.

Turkey has sided with the Islamic State group, to the ire of Washington, but Erdogan may not be immune to terrorist attacks staged by takfiri militants

It had not been expected, that is true. But many, especially among the intelligentsia, were not all that surprised by Cumhuriyet’s decision to publish some images from Charlie Hebdo as a way of expressing solidarity with the French satirical magazine whose staff members were murdered by jihadists.

The government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP) could not let the incident pass without comment. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out against the outspoken opposition newspaper. The Istanbul public prosecutor summoned two of its staff members, Ceyda Karan and her colleague Hikmet Çetinkaya, for questioning after pressing charges of incitement to hatred and animosity via the media and of insulting people’s religious values.

Saturday brought a development of a different order. About 500 demonstrators connected to a group calling itself the Fraternal Platform of the Prophet’s Companions rallied in the forecourt of the Fatih Mosque in the heart of historic Istanbul. Their purpose was to pray for Cherif and Said Kouachi, responsible for the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, and to chant slogans in support of Al-Qaeda.

As for Charlie Hebdo, they proclaimed: “The magazine has not died, but its fate is death!” Police blocked the demonstrators from staging a march around the historic mosque and participants soon disbanded.

The two contrasting scenes reflect the gulf in Turkish society that has expanded into a chasm under JDP rule. On one side of this chasm stands the religious conservatives and fundamentalists whose numbers are steadily growing, with the support and encouragement of JDP elites.

These JDP elites, in turn, have been harsh criticised by Turkey’s friends and allies. Two examples illustrate. The first is Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s objections to the presence of his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, in the solidarity march against terrorism that took place in Paris the Sunday before last. Davutoglu’s participation did not come from the heart, Renzi said.

The second example came from former US ambassador to Ankara, Francis Ricciardone, who said, “Turkey and the US no longer share the same values.” Ricciardone was referring to the JDP government’s repression of freedoms and its cooperation with Daesh (the Islamic State) and other takfiri jihadists.

US State Department spokesperson Mary Harf was asked whether it was the case that Washington and Ankara no longer shared the same values. She refused to answer. Her silence spoke volumes: the US and Turkey are drifting apart.

The trend has its origins in mounting US and Western concerns over Ankara’s clampdowns on civil liberties and press freedoms and its increasing authoritarianism. Erdogan’s boundless thirst for power at home and regionally have driven him to increasing fanaticism in his campaign to bolster fundamentalism and Islamicise Turkish society and government.

According to Alon Ben-Meir, professor of international relations at New York University, Erdogan has promoted religious beliefs as prime criteria for key political and military appointments. At the same time, he has doubled the number of schools for training clergymen.

It could be that the Turkish president’s zealotry is fed, in part, by some wacky historiography. In November last year, Erdogan claimed that Muslims had discovered America in 1178 and that Christopher Columbus had mentioned seeing a mosque on a hill on the Cuban coast.

Be that as it may, there is little doubt that Turkish coffers have been open to radical Islamist fundamentalist groups. Perhaps the most telling evidence in this regard is in the recently leaked documents from the Turkish General Staff indicating that this government body supplied military support to Syrian opposition groups, including Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

It appears that convoys carrying truckloads of weapons and other military equipment rumbled across the Turkish border into northern Syria. The existence of this military supply line lends considerable weight to the belief that the Erdogan regime has close relations with terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, Daesh in particular.

Presumably, this should have immunised Anatolia to jihadist terrorism. But as it turns out, the JDP’s Turkey has come into the terrorists’ crosshairs. Two weeks ago, Turkish security forces forestalled bombing attacks against two shopping centres in Istanbul.

Turkish authorities do not rule out the possibility of attacks similar to those that occurred in France, especially in view of the large number of Turks that have joined the ranks of Daesh. According to some estimates that government sources have not refuted, these are no less than 12,000.

Minister of Customs and Trade Nurettin Canikli stepped forward to reassure citizens. Turkey has the experience and knowhow to stop that kind of terrorism, he said, adding that the government had drawn up policies to confront it.

But then Teref newspaper revealed that security forces have unearthed terrorist plans to attack coastal areas during the summer season. Moreover, the attacks were to have been carried out by homegrown cells. According to the newspaper, a Turkish Daesh recruit who took fought in Syria returned home to Turkey to form a terrorist cell and coordinate with cells in the coastal area.

Why are these terrorist organisations turning against the government that boasts of its piety day and night? The answer could be that Ankara is backing away from them, and once again trying to curry favour with EU and the US. The pro-government Sabah newspaper reported on 6 January that Turkey and the US will sign a memorandum of understanding to train and equip 15,000 fighters from the Syrian opposition.

According to diplomatic sources cited by the newspaper, the programme will begin in March. Some 100 US officers will come to Turkey to support the training. Such a development would obviously incur the wrath of Daesh.

Source:  ahram

A Turkish hospital in Istanbul admitted four ISIL commanders, who were wounded in military operations in Libya, media reports said.

I vertici dell’Is sanno che per rafforzare il neo-califfato le armi non bastano. È indispensabile un’efficiente strategia di comunicazione, di cui Dabiq, la rivista ufficiale del gruppo, è parte integrante.

Taliban have confirmed a visit of their representatives to China but reject China’s mediation in peace talks.