Lebanon: Al-Qaeda-linked suspect dies in military chase
Un uomo, che sosteneva di essere un membro di Al-Qaeda legato alle Brigate Abdullah Azzam è stato ucciso durante un inseguimento da militari nella zona est del Libano. Ibrahim Abdul-Moti, un palestinese noto come Abu Jaafar, è morto Mercoledì per le ferite riportate durante una sparatoria con i militari ad un posto di blocco dell’esercito nella Bekaa.
The statement said the Army, who has recently been on a manhunt for members of Abdullah Azzam Brigades, erected a temporary checkpoint in the area to detain the wanted man.
Abdul-Moti failed to stop at the checkpoint and opened fire at soldiers, wounding an officer, the statement said.
The Army fired back and wounded Abdul-Moti who later died from his wounds in a local hospital while a second man who accompanied the suspect was able to escape, the Army said.
Abdul-Moti was also linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), a radical Syrian rebel group which claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Jan. 2.
The group said the bombing was in retaliation to Hezbollah’s military involvement in Syria.
Abdul-Moti coordinated with the emir (head) of ISIS to transport suicide bombers from Syria’s Qalamoun into Lebanon and carry out terrorist attacks, the Army said.
The suspect’s car was confiscated and an identity card in the name of Ahmad Omar Solh was found in the vehicle.
Lebanon has been subject to several car bombings targeting residential and commercial areas in the country, mainly pro-Hezbollah neighborhoods.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades has claimed responsibility for a twin suicide attack against the Iranian Embassy in Beirut last year. The head of the Al-Qaeda offshoot was arrested in December but later died of natural causes at a military hospital.
Source Daily Star
Spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry announced Monday that the Islamic Iran is planned to take part in the upcoming conference on Syria to be held in the Swiss city
S. Sudanese army pursuing rebel forces in Warrap state
L’esercito sudanese del Sud (SPLA) ha dichiarato di aver schierato truppe nello stato di Warrap, dopo che le forze dissidenti che si oppongono all’attuale governo hanno ucciso diverse persone a Tonj Nord e in altre contee orientali durante la scorsa settimana.
Those who carried out the attack, in which two others were wounded, reportedly possessed heavy weapons. Survivors of the attack said several herds of cattle were driven away while a number of women and children went missing.
Local residents and government officials have expressed fears that those at large since the Thursday attack may have eventually been killed.
Over the years, the lack of a border control mechanisms coupled with the army’s ineffectiveness have largely turned the region straddling three states of Lakes, Warrap and unity over the past years into a hub for cattle raiding activities between communities and successive rebel groups.
Recently, however, the SPLA third division covering Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Warrap states responded to pleas from the local population and deployed a battalion to provide protection, pursue and flush out rebel elements allegedly using swampy areas as their hiding grounds.
“I learned today that comrade Santino Deng Wol, who commands our forces in division three, has responded positively to the pleas by our people, especially those in the areas bordering unity state to be accorded maximum security attention. He deployed a battalion to the effect”, Kuot Deng Kuot, a Member of Parliament representing Gogrial East county in Warrap said Sunday.
Kuot gave no details of the military operation, but blamed forces loyal to South Sudan’s former vice president, Riek Machar for the violence.
Police spokesman, Colonel James Monday said they had increased the number of police forces in the area so as to provide security and protect lives of civilians as well as their properties.
“The current security situation in that area has opened a chance for some criminals. Some of the activities are carried out by the armed civilians and others are carried out by rebel forces to exploit this and to attack the area”, Monday told Sudan Tribune.
The SPLA and police have now deployed joint force to provide protection to the civil population living in that triangle region, he added.
The senior police officer, however, acknowledged that there have been some hostile movement and activities destabilising civilian life over the past years, despite the numerous peace conference organised by authorities in these regions.
Source Sudan Tribune
Eleven killed in west Tripoli criminal roundup fighting
Undici persone sono state uccise in scontri tra presunti criminali e forze di sicurezza; queste ultime stavano effettuando una operazione di rastrellamento in un’area a sud e sud-ovest del sobborgo di Tripoli di Janzour.
The dead included Mohamed Kara, brother the former SSC commander Abdul Raouf Kara. One other member of the security forces was also killed in the fighting. The other nine are said to have been members of criminal gangs operating from farms in the area between Zahira, south east of Zawia, and Najila, some five kilometres south of Janzour.
Another former member of the SSC who was involved in the operation told the Libya Herald that half the target area had been swept today and that 30 people had been arrested, nine of whom had been injured in the fighting. They had been taken to Abu Sleem Hospital.
Mohamed Kara’s death was confirmed to this newspaper by Hashim Bishr, head of the now disbanded SSC.
The dragnet was undertaken by the capital’s Joint Operations Room and the Libyan Revolutionaries Operation Room. They were looking for a number of alleged criminals wanted by the public prosecutor who were believed to be operating from the area. The operation started early this afternoon near Zahra but there was fierce resistance from gang members, particularly around Najila. Heavy weapons, including RPGs, were used and the sound could be heard in much of west Tripoli as well as near the international airport, some 15 kilometres away.
Fighting was reported to be still taking place this evening in Najila as well as at two other nearby locations.
As a result of the fighting the streets in nearby Janzour were almost deserted, with most people staying indoors.
Source Libya Herald
A draft resolution within 3 weeks to support Egyptian government: Congressman
Syria’s Assad: Hariri trial tool to ‘pressure Hezbollah’
Il presidente siriano Bashar Assad ha accusato la Corte di essere “politicizzata” e che la sua natura é finalizzata ad effettuare pressioni sul suo alleato Hezbollah.
“Nine years have passed since the beginning of this trial. Has justice been served? Every accusation was made for political reasons,” he said on Sunday, days after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon began hearing evidence in the 2005 killing of Rafiq Hariri.
“We have not seen any tangible proof put forward against the parties involved in the case,” added Assad, whose regime came under suspicion in the killing, along with Lebanon’s powerful Shiite group.
“The real question should be: why the timing? Why now? This court was set up nine years ago,” he added.
“I believe that the whole thing is politicized and is intended to put pressure on Hezbollah in Lebanon in the same way that it aimed at putting pressure on Syria in the beginning, immediately after al-Hariri’s assassination,” he said.
Hariri was killed in a massive car bombing in Beirut in February 2005.
His supporters accused both Syria and Hezbollah of carrying out the attack, which also killed 21 others.
Four members of the group are on trial in absentia for the killing before the special UN-backed court in The Hague, which has taken years to gather evidence and begin hearing the case.
Anger over Syria’s alleged involvement in Hariri’s death erupted into popular demonstrations in Lebanon that forced Damascus to withdraw its troops from the country after nearly 30 years.
Hezbollah has dismissed the court as a political tool for the United States and Israel, and refused to turn over its members for trial.
The group is a key ally of the Damascus regime and has dispatched fighters to battle alongside Syrian troops against a rebel uprising.
Source Daily Star
Ex-ambassador: Iran can potentially play stronger role in Lebanon’s national solidarity
L’ex ambasciatore iraniano a Beirut, Mohammad Ali Sobhani, ha dichiarato che l’Iran potrebbe svolgere un ruolo più attivo nel rafforzare la solidarietà nazionale in Libano, relazionandosi maggiormente con i diversi gruppi politici libanesi. Intervistato dall’agenzia IRNA in merito alla visita in corso in Libano del ministro degli Esteri iraniano, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Sobhani ha sottolineato che i due paesi possono fare molto per aumentare lo stato attuale delle relazioni bilaterali.
Referring to the harsh political and security situations in Lebanon and Syria, he described Zarif’s visit to Beirut as important saying that the foreign minister has to offer new plans and schemes to promote iran’s role to stop growing disputes and violence in Lebanon.
Iran’s foreign minister arrived in Beirut late Sunday at the top of a political and parliamentary delegation on the first leg of his regional tour of four countries. He is in Beirut upon an invitation by his Lebanese counterpart Adnan Mansour.
Zarif is also to visit Iraq, Jordan and Syria after his visit to Lebanon.
Sobhani said he believed the deteriorating security situation in Lebanon and deepening political gap among Lebanese groups have rooted from the critical conditions in Syria.
He said Iran should play stronger role in dealing with the existing crisis in Lebanon through dialogue with regional countries as well as various Lebanese groups.
The former ambassador further expressed his opinion that Iran should try expand relations with all Lebanese groups.
Commenting on the arrest and suspicious death of Majid Al-Majid the terrorist behind the fatal blasts near the Iranian embassy in Beirut on November 19, 2013, Sobhani said the incident proved how serious is the danger of extremism in the region.
He said that extremism and terrorism could be fought and beaten by cooperation among governments and their firm intention.
Some 25 people including Iranˈs Cultural Attaché to Lebanon Ebrahim Ansari were killed by the fatal bombings and over 150 others were injured.
Majid al-Majid who had claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack was captured and then died in Lebanon.
While in Beirut, Zarif is to hold separate meeting with President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Tamam Salam and also confer with the Parliament Speaker Nabih Berry and a number of other Lebanese officials and personalities.
Bilateral relations, regional and international cooperation, the Syrian crisis and the Geneva II International Peace Conference are among the topics to be discussed during the meetings.
Source IRNA
Top S. Sudan army commander escapes assassination attempt: sources
Più fonti militari hanno dichiarato che un progetto per assassinare un comandante dell’esercito del Sud Sudan (SPLA), rimasto fedele al governo centrale, è stato sventato ieri (domenica).
Gunmen reportedly attacked Lt. Gen. Johnson Gony Biliu’s convoy while he was conducting an assessment of the general security situation in areas around Upper Nile state capital. Malakal. Biliu is the commander of the SPLA’s sector II in Malakal.
According to sources, the incident occurred in an area between Anakdiar and Baliet county, some 54 kilometres east of Malakal town.
It remains unclear who masterminded the attack, and Sudan Tribune was unable to independently verify the claims as no official statement has been released from the office of the army spokesperson.
Calls by Sudan Tribune to the cell phone of the army’s spokesperson on Sunday were not returned.
Meanwhile, local officials claimed fighting had occurred in Doleib Hill, a former a mission station established by the American Inland Mission, located about 16kms south of Malakal town, on the northern bank of the Sobat River.
“Doleib Hill had fallen to the rebel control. The fighting between the two groups of soldiers divided over tribal allegiances and personal interests and connection broke out yesterday (Saturday) evening. It started at 9pm (local time) and stopped at around 10pm. It did not take long before it fell”, a government official told Sudan Tribune on Sunday from Malakal, adding that police and security forces had fled the area.
He also confirmed another attempt to take Baliet county by armed elements loyal to the former vice-president, Riek Machar.
“Our forces fought them today (Sunday) in Baliet. They attempted to advance but they were repulsed. Their intention is to overrun the area so that it becomes the opportunity for them to close the oil. This is where they are heading now, but I don’t think they will succeed. We have a huge force there and we are getting reinforcement tomorrow”, the official said.
In a separate interview with Sudan Tribune, Baliet county commissioner James Tor Monybuny confirmed that there have been several attempts by armed civilians from neighbouring counties – predominantly inhabited by the Nuer ethnic group – to take control of the area since Friday.
“There have been several attacks to create chaos in the area and harming the stability and national security of the country. There are people who do not value peace”, Monybuny said.
He claimed the group currently attempting to take control of the area has come from Nasir and the surrounding areas. Nasir is a known stronghold for hardline supporters of Machar and was the former deputy’s headquarters during the 1991 split.
Conflict erupted in South Sudan on 15 December after rival members of the Nuer and Dinka tribes in the presidential guards clashed in the capital, Juba.
President Salva Kiir, who hails from the Dinka tribe, has accused Machar, a Nuer, of orchestrating a coup attempt to overthow the government.
The violence has since spread throughout the country, including Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile states.
Source Sudan Tribune