Il leader spirituale di un gruppo islamico sunnita nel campo profughi palestinese di Ain al-Hilweh, presso Sidone, ha espresso timori riguardo un possibile ed imminente scontro armato tra Hezbollah e i rifugiati palestinesi in Libano se il partito sciita non dovesse cambiare la propria politica di azione in Libano e in Siria.

One of the most influential preachers in the Palestinian camp near Sidon and the head of the Islamic Jihadist Movement, Sheikh Jamal Khattab, said any fighting between Palestinians and Hezbollah could be worse than the violence between the Amal militia and Fatah forces in the 1980s, known as the “war of the camps.”
Separately, security sources told The Daily Star that Palestinian Islamist groups in Ain al-Hilweh had informed the relevant parties that they would respond with force to any attempt by Hezbollah to attack Future Movement offices in Sidon or take over the city.
Speaking to The Daily Star at his office in Ain al-Hilweh, Khattab explained that, unlike the three-year war of the camps, any new confrontation between Lebanon’s Shiites and Palestinians, who are overwhelmingly Sunni, could have greater sectarian ramifications this time.
“The situation is more dangerous today. When the war of the camps broke out in 1985, it did not pit Sunnis against Shiites,” Khattab said.
“That war was between the Amal Movement and Palestinians only, and the Shiites of Hezbollah stood against it. Iranian Shiite Sheikh Seyyed Issa al-Tabtabaei, the late Lebanese [Sunni] Sheikh Moharram Arifi and others moved to the Rashidieh camp [south of Tyre] to protest its siege by Amal fighters,” he said. “Now, however, the prospects of sectarian strife are much higher. … Now it will be Sunnis against Shiites.”
There are some 400,000 registered Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Ain al-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, also hosts more than 10,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria who have fled the Yarmouk neighborhood on the outskirts of Damascus.
Although Palestinian factions in the camp have officially disassociated themselves from the crisis in Syria, several young men from the camp are fighting in the country alongside rebels, and some Palestinian Islamist factions openly criticize Hezbollah’s participation in the war in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Posters of Ain al-Hilweh men killed while fighting alongside Syrian rebels or against U.S. troops in Iraq are tacked up throughout the camp’s alleyways.
Khattab said that members of the Sidon-based Resistance Brigades were assaulting residents of the city and were generating a feeling of oppression and injustice. He suggested that peace in Ain al-Hilweh could only be restored through an agreement under which Hezbollah would stop its support for the party-affiliated group.
“Just as a suicide bomber from Sidon attacked the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, another person from Sidon could carry out a suicide bombing, this time in Sidon, as this oppression [inflicted by the Resistance Brigades] can lead to unfavorable acts,” Khattab said.
One of the two suicide bombers who attacked the Iranian Embassy in November, Mouin Abu Dahr, hailed from Sidon. His mother was a Shiite and his father a Sunni.
Khattab urged Hezbollah to withdraw its fighters from Syria and stop supporting the Syrian regime:
“I say that Hezbollah will emerge as the greatest loser in the future, and I am certain that Assad’s regime will not survive because it lacks the support of the Syrian people.”
The sheikh said that while some young men from Ain al-Hilweh had left the camp to fight U.S. troops in Iraq on the instructions of various organizations, there were few from the camp fighting alongside Syrian rebels, and they were not following any group’s instructions.
“None of the Palestinian organizations [in Ain al-Hilweh] are sending fighters to Syria,” Khattab said. “Maybe some Palestinians are joining the war out of enthusiasm, but these are in few numbers. … We cannot prevent anyone from joining fighting in Syria. Most young men go there without the knowledge of their parents and organizations.”
Ain al-Hilweh was in the spotlight recently due to the arrest of Majid al-Majid, the leader of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Abdullah Azzam Brigades. Majid is believed to have lived in Ain al-Hilweh since 2012. After being detained by the Army in late December, he died last weekend, reportedly from pre-existing health problems.
Media reports have suggested that Mohammad Toufic Taha, also a resident of the camp, could be Majid’s successor. The group has claimed responsibility for the Nov. 19 Iranian Embassy attack that killed 30 people, including an Iranian diplomat.
Late last month, the Army asked Palestinian factions in Ain al-Hilweh to cooperate in the handover of other suspects residing in the camp implicated in the embassy bombing, as well as others allegedly involved in a rocket attack on the Beirut southern suburbs last May.
Palestinian sources familiar with the issue told The Daily Star that Islamist factions in the camp were dealing cautiously with requests to hand over the suspects because attempting to apprehend them could spark internal fighting in the camp.
“Palestinian groups pursuing and arresting the suspects in Ain al-Hilweh is a complicated and dangerous [task] as it could lead to fighting between Palestinian groups, which would impact the camp’s environs,” one of the sources said.
Khattab stressed that there were no members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), the Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda or the Abdullah Azzam Brigades in Ain al-Hilweh, saying instead: “There are people who support the doctrine of these groups everywhere.”
Separately, security sources said Palestinian Islamist factions in Ain al-Hilweh would not stand by idly in the event that Hezbollah gunmen attack their rivals in Sidon similar to the events of May 2008.
Six years ago, Hezbollah gunmen took over large swathes of west Beirut and attacked Future Movement offices in Sidon after the government of former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora decided to dismantle the party’s private telecoms network.
There are fears that Hezbollah could repeat their actions if President Michel Sleiman forms a neutral Cabinet, a proposal the party strongly opposes.
Lebanese security sources said that Palestinian Islamist groups in Ain al-Hilweh, particularly Usbat al-Ansar, Jund al-Sham, Fatah al-Islam, other Salafist groups and supporters of controversial fugitive Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir have all finalized preparations to defend Sidon against any attack by Hezbollah.
The sources added that members of these groups have enough support in Sidon, where thousands of Palestinians live, to enable them to fight inside the city rather than in Ain al-Hilweh camp.

Combattenti  appartenenti a diverse brigate ribelli siriane hanno circondato ed occupato la sede dello Stato Islamico dell’Iraq e della Grande Siria nella principale città settentrionale di Aleppo.

“Fighters from several Islamist rebel brigades took control of the children’s hospital in the Qadi Askar district, which is the headquarters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria in the city,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Observatory said it was unclear what had happened to “hundreds” of ISIS fighters who had been inside the headquarters.
The rebels freed dozens of people who were being held prisoner in the ISIS headquarters, it added, citing initial reports.
ISIS has been fighting a coalition of moderate and Islamist rebels angered by a spate of abuses by the jihadists, who have been accused of kidnapping and killing civilians and rival rebels.
Late Tuesday, an ISIS spokesman said the group would “crush” opposition fighters and warned that it considered members of the opposition National Coalition and the military command of the Free Syrian Army to be “legitimate targets.”

Source Daily Star

Un generale afgano in pensione,  Atiqullah Amarkhel, ha dichiarato che gli Stati Uniti sono un ostacolo per la pace in Afghanistan.

Atiqullah Amarkhel told IRNA that Afghanistan will not experience peace unless the US interests are not materialized in this country.

The US spares no effort to maintain its interest in other countries including Afghanistan.

The Afghan military analyst further criticized the double-standard policy adopted by the US and Pakistan regarding Afghan peace.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has referred to Washington as a major element of creating insecurity in Afghanistan, he added.

If the US was honest, Afghanistan would witness peace and stability, he quoted President Karzai as saying.

Source IRNA

Una nuova tornata di incontri é stata organizzata questa settimana in diverse aree del Nord del paese, con lo scopo di mediare un accordo di pace tra gli Houthi ei Salafiti, i cui scontri si sono diffusi in tutta la regione da quando sono iniziati nella città di Dammaj a fine ottobre.

One presidential delegation arrived in the Haradh area of Hajja governorate on Sunday amid reports of more fighting between a group of Zaidi Shiites who have controlled parts of northern Yemen since 2011, known as the Houthis, and the the Salafis, who are conservative Sunnis.

A committee headed by Sana’a’s mayor, Abdulqader Hilal, arrived last week in Sa’ada governorate to focus his efforts on Dammaj.

The current commander of the Reserve Forces, Gen. Ali Al-Jayfi, has been tasked with reaching a peace deal in the Arhab district of Sana’a governorate between armed anti-Houthi tribesmen and Houthis. Fighting in Arhab is the most recent evidence that the conflict is spilling over into other parts of the country.

The central government has made repeated attempts to secure a peace deal between the two warring groups.  A presidential delegation returned to Sana’a in December after being unable to get both sides to follow through with a compromise they had originally agreed to implement.

“If the government really wants to end the conflict between the Houthis and the Salafis, it will succeed,” said Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi representative at the National Dialogue Conference. “Otherwise, the [newest] committee will be as ineffective as the previous ones.”

On Sunday, demonstrators are planning to march from the city of Sa’ada to Dammaj after being bused from Sana’a in order to call for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

“There is coordination with the security authorities to secure the road the participants will travel on,” said Mohammed Al-Bashiri, the secretary general of the newly-established Al-Salam Party, a group known for its peaceful advocacy work.

Yahia Abu Asbo, the head of the original presidential committee that failed to secure peace in Dammaj, said President Hadi has ordered that those injured in the ongoing fighting receive medical treatment at the expense of the state.

Source Yemen Times

I governi del Sudan e del Sud Sudan hanno smentito che i presidenti Omer al-Bashir e Salva Kiir abbiano raggiunto un accordo di sicurezza per dispiegare forze congiunte per proteggere le zone petrolifere in Sud Sudan.

Sudanese foreign minister, Ali Karti, after a solidarity visit that Bashir paid to Juba on Monday to support Kiir told reporters that both countries had agreed to deploy a joint force on the border to protect oil fields, as the rebels say they are targeting oil fields in the Upper Nile state.
Sudanese foreign ministry spokesperson, Abu Bakr Mohamed Al-Amin denied reports about the security deal, stressing that there had been a misunderstanding or miscommunication that led to attribute the alleged statements of the minister Karti.
Al-Amin in a press conference held at the premises of the foreign ministry pointed out that Karti spoke about two matters the first an agreement to send 900 oil workers when Juba give the green light and the second is to implement the cooperation agreements between the two courtiers.
“There is a joint keenness to implement those agreements, including the demarcation of the border, and completion of the zero line which determines the baseline for the demilitarised security zone between the countries”, added the spokesperson.
He went further to say that Bashir in his meeting with Kiir and during the joint press conference in Juba spoke about Sudan’s good experience to secure the common border with a number of neighbouring countries like, Chad, Eritrea and Ethiopia through joint patrols.
Bashir also pointed out that similar forces can be formed to secure the border with South Sudan at the end of the current exceptional circumstances, Al-Amin said.
“However there was no talk of sending joint troops to guard, protect or secure the oil fields within the borders of the State of South Sudan”, he emphasised.
The joint security committee during its fifth meeting held in Khartoum on 25-26 November did not reach an agreement over the identification of the zero line as the two sides failed to determine the surface of a disputed area called 14 Mile located between Northern Bahr el Ghazal and East Darfur states.
In Juba, South Sudanese oil minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau, told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that he was “not aware” of any security deal with Khartoum to protect oil fields.
“There was no such agreement that I know”, Dau said on Tuesday.
President Kiir’s spokesperson, Ateny Wek Ateny, also told Sudan Tribune that “there was no agreement on joint forces” to protect South Sudan’s oil fields, most of which lie in Upper Nile states near the northern border with Sudan.
The current crisis in South Sudan began when fighting between members of SPLA broke out in Juba on December 15, 2013 following weeks of political tension within South Sudan’s ruling party. The conflict in the capital lasted only a few days but led to large scale rebellions in Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile.
Former vice-president and rebel leader Riek Machar whose partisans control Unity state and shutdown oil facilities there threatened also to stop oil production in the Upper Nile where the South Sudanese army control and protect oil facilities.
In a press conference after their meeting in Juba both Bashir and Kiir both reaffirmed their commitment to not support rebel groups from both sides.
“The two presidents had only reiterated their commitments not support rebels”, Ateny reiterated on Tuesday.
The South Sudanese foreign minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin is expected to arrive in Khartoum on Wednesday to finalise some issues agreed by the two presidents.
Since last September the foreign ministers in the two Sudans are tasked with the follow-up of implementation process of the cooperation agreements.
Commenting on Benjamin’s visit to Khartoum, the Sudanese foreign ministry spokesperson said the visiting minister will discuss a report on the implementation of cooperation agreements to be submitted soon to a joint committee headed by the Sudanese and South Sudanese vice-presidents.

Source Sudan Tribune

Ieri pomeriggio i lavori del Congresso Nazionale Libico sono stati bloccati da un centinaio di manifestanti che chiedevano un voto di sfiducia contro il primo ministro Ali Zeidan.

The situation was chaotic. Some members who had left the building after the morning session were called back. Others were prevented from returning, ensuring that there were insufficient numbers to vote on any withdrawal motion. For one to succeed, 120 members must vote in favour.
In any event, the evening session, at which Zeidan’s tenure had been due to be discussed, was cancelled. Instead, members in the building were left negotiating an end to the standoff with the protestors, who were unarmed. 
No one was hurt in the incident.
Independent Congressman Sulaiman Mabrouk Al-Haj who represents Al-Jmail told the Libya Herald that the protestors had moved into the building after he and other members had left for a meeting at the Prime Ministers’ office. 
“We had finished the first sitting and then went out for a meeting at the Prime Ministry but then we were shocked to hear that a group of protesters – they were almost 100 – had seized the headquarters of Congress.” He said that he and others returned but then the protestors would not allow him to take his car from the Congress car park.
It has been reported by some elements in the Libyan media that the protesters are linked to the movement that supported the Political Isolation Law which Congress voted for last May. Similar direct action to pressurise it into passing the law was used at the time.
However, a member of the group that coordinated support for the Isolation Law, Jamal Zubia, told the Libya Herald that the claims were untrue.
Today’s protesters, he said, were from towns and cities from across Libya “who had enough of the poor performance of the government and the Congress”.
The action was not wholly unexpected. The Libyan Revolutionaries Operations Room had given Congress an ultimatum about sacking Zeidan and last week, in a carbon copy of the tactics used to force the Political Isolation Law vote, a group calling itself the “Honourable People of Libya” seized the Foreign Ministry building demanding that Congress remove Zeidan.
There has also been a growing head of steam among Congress members to remove him. Last month, 72 of them tabled a motion to withdraw confidence in the government and to form a crisis administration.

There was wide public expectation, in fact, that there would be a vote on Sunday. In the event it did not happen. Instead, Congress asked its various committees to discuss the matter and report back today. 
At this morning’s sitting, the various political groups and the independents were given time to discuss a withdrawal of confidence, the plan being that at the evening session there would be a fuller debate on the performance of the Prime Minister and government, with suggestions as to who might replace him.
One much-respected Benghazi Congressman who did not want to be named told this paper today that that there was agreement among sufficient Congress members to make a confidence vote effective that Zeidan should go. However, he added, it was also accepted that this should only be done when there was agreement on who would replace him. Congress, he said, knew it had to avoid the chaos that would occur if there were no prime minister.
The problem, he said, was that there was no obvious replacement waiting in the wings. 
The Prime Minister has constantly said that he will go if Congress decides to withdraw confidence in him, but not before.

Source Libya Herald

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon said Monday the trial chamber would hold later this week a third pretrial conference in preparation for the Jan. 16-17 trial of the four suspects involved in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The conference will be public and begin at 10:30 a.m. (Central European Time), the court said in a statement on its website.
“The Trial Chamber may decide to go into closed session if confidential matters need to be discussed,” the statement added.
The hearing can be followed on the STL website with a 30-minute delay in Arabic, English and French.

Il Gran Muftì del Libano, Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani, ha ricevuto ieri una delegazione di Hezbollah al Dar al-Fatwa.

The delegation, headed by Sheikh Abd al-Majeed Ammar, said the visit aimed at voicing support with the mufti who was accosted last month while attending the funeral of teenager who died as a result of the bombing in Downtown Beirut that targeted former Minister Mohammad Shatah.
On Dec. 29 Several mourners attending the funeral of 16-year-old Mohammad Shaar furiously objected to Qabbani’s presence at the Khashuqji Mosque in Beirut. Qabbani, who is seen by many supporters of the Future Movement as pro-Hezbollah, was trapped inside the mosque for around two hours.
“The purpose of this visit was to reassure his eminence the mufti [of our support] and to condemn the incident that he was subjected to at the Khashuqji mosque,” Ammar said at a news conference.
“We also conveyed the greetings of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” Ammar said.