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Iraq: Italy to build military hospital for Peshmerga in Erbil

14 Aprile 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Peshmerga and the Italian Consulate in Erbil are to cooperate on the construction of a hospital for wounded Peshmerga, wrote BasNews.

The Ministry of Peshmerga has released a statement announcing that Peshmerga Minister Mustafa Said Qadir met with the Italian Consul Carmelo Ficarra and two Italian companies on 12^th April, and discussed the project.

According to the statement, the proposal has been delivered to the Ministry of Health for further consideration.

Said Qadir said that a military hospital is now essential to provide medical treatment for Peshmerga.

It comes after that more than 5,000 Peshmerga have been wounded during clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants since last June. Those in a critical condition have been sent abroad for treatment as there is no hospital in the Kurdistan Region capable of treating their injuries.

Italy FM: Turkey reaction to Pope’s genocide remarks is unjustified

14 Aprile 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

The reaction of the Turkish authorities to the remarks of Pope Francis who dedicated a homily to the victims of the Armenian Genocide is not justified, Italy’s Foreign Minister said.

Paolo Gentiloni said the strength of the tone used by Turkey against the Vatican “doesn’t seem justified to me, bearing in mind that John Paul II said something similar 15 years ago.”

He added that Italy had always called for friendly states of Armenia and Turkey to start dialogue to avoid such situations which may become an obstacle for restoration of ties.

Terrorism: French Prime Minister Manuel Valls calls for new emergency surveillance powers

14 Aprile 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Monday called for authorization of new emergency surveillance powers that would provide sweeping authority to the government to counter exceptional security threats.

In a speech in Parliament, Valls said the proposed intelligence bill would allow intelligence services to use special surveillance powers without going through an independent panel, as is currently required. He stressed that such powers would only be used “in case of major crisis affecting the citizens’ security,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The move comes as French lawmakers are debating the bill that would legalize heavier surveillance of terror suspects.

The bill had been in a draft stage since July, but the government accelerated its passage after the January attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine’s office in Paris. Valls told the Parliament that French intelligence had determined that seven jihadists from the country, who were either citizens or residents, died in suicide attacks in Syria and Iraq, and six of those were new converts to Islam. “This is a global threat that we must face,” he reportedly said.

Jean-Jacques Urvoas, a socialist lawmaker who drafted the bill, said France is the only country in the West that lacks a law defining a framework for intelligence gathering, forcing agencies to work in legal “grey zones,” according to Radio France Internationale (RFI). The draft bill reportedly enjoys the support of both major parties in France.

However, the bill has been strongly condemned by rights groups, the Paris Bar Association and a magistrates’ union. On Monday, a group of 10 organizations slammed the new law in a statement, saying the government was “legalizing highly intrusive surveillance methods” without any assurance of “individual freedom and privacy protection,” the AP reported.

Jérémie Zimmermann from the civil liberties group La Quadrature du Net, told RFI that the new law would, in fact, enshrine practices which were already in use, making them legal and acceptable. “Today, the secret services are working illegally. Is the only solution to legalize what they are doing? Of course not. What they are doing should be forbidden. There is a need for a law, but there is also a need to ban practices that are by essence incompatible with democracy, such as the mass surveillance that is to be imposed by this law.”

The proposed law would allow the use of technology to capture and analyze metadata sent over all telecommunications networks, which the government reportedly claims it can analyze for specific behavioral patterns displayed by terrorists. However, the data collected would reportedly be anonymous, and authorities would require authorization from the independent panel before they can perform deeper surveillance to determine the identity of users.

It would also allow surveillance agents to install cameras and keyloggers in suspects’ homes in order to track their every action and keystroke.

The proposed law would also force internet service providers to set up metadata monitoring systems. This has prompted a group of web providers to threaten to relocate outside of France. “The draft bill destroys freedoms, but it is also anti-economic and essentially inefficient for the objective it sets out,” the group of Internet firms said in a column published last week, according to Reuters.

Valls denied allegations that the bill would open the door to widespread mass surveillance similar to that conducted by the U.S. National Security Agency, claiming that the data gathering would be stringently restricted by law and monitored by the panel. “It has nothing to do with the practices revealed by Edward Snowden,” he reportedly said.

Europe Union urges more Mediterranean cooperation to tackle terrorism

14 Aprile 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called for stepped up cooperation and dialogue between Europe and its Mediterranean neighbours in North Africa and the Middle East to fight terrorism, wrote Daily Star.

Mogherini made the appeal at a meeting of foreign ministers and representatives from the 28 European Union member states and delegations from eight North Africa and Middle East nations of the southern rim of the Mediterranean.

“It is important to hear from you that your everyday greeting is ‘salam alaikum’, peace be with you, and this is the main message we Europeans need to know first of all, to restart intercultural learning that is important for prevention,” she told a news conference Monday.

“If we want to end jihadist terrorism, we have to go to the root of the question and favour intercultural and interreligious dialogue,” she added.

“All nations in the region are confronted with a fragile security situation which has worsened due to several armed conflicts, mainly in Syria and Libya.”

Foreign ministers and representatives from the 28 European Union member states took part in the gathering along delegations from Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority and Tunisia.

The EU’s other two southern partners, Libya and Syria, both torn by conflict, stayed away.

It was the first high-level meeting of the 43-nation Mediterranean Union since the body was launched in 2008 with the aim of creating a more equal dialogue between the wealthy EU and the poorer states that line the Mediterranean.

Mogherini said she would like to have such a minister-level meeting on a yearly basis.

“We must listen more,” she said.

Her views were echoed by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

“We should speak clearly and freely about delicate subjects,” he said.

The EU has a budget of around 16 billion euros ($17 billion) for 2014-2020 for regional development projects and roughly two-thirds had been earmarked for its southern neighbours to curb the conditions that give rise to jihadism, a diplomatic source said.

“The best way to work together for the security of our region is to boost cooperation in all areas: security of course but also economic, cultural, political,” said Mogherini.

“We are watching a rise in radicalism on the part of our youths, who are following in greater numbers the call to jihadism in the north and south of the Mediterranean,” she added.

Between 5,000-6,000 Europeans are fighting with jihadist groups in Syria could exceed 6,000, EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jouriva told Le Figaro in an interview published Monday.

Around 1,500 Moroccans and 3,000 Turkish nationals have also departed for Syria.

Government officials worry that people who spent time fighting with jihadist groups will carry out attacks when they return to their home nations.

“We need to see how he can provide opportunities to youths so that they are not easy to be recruited by terrorism,” said Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.

The gathering came a day after two bomb attacks claimed by Egyptian jihadists loyal to the Islamic State group killed at least 14 people in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

Another bomb exploded at the gates of the Moroccan embassy in Tripoli in the early hours of Monday.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy warned that “terrorism is a challenge for all of us.”

“The Muslim world is a victim of it like the rest. No one should believe the lie of those who speak of a fight between Islam and the West,” he added.

Membership in the Mediterranean Union is open to all states that border the Mediterranean as well as all members of the EU.

Russian intelligence warns of Islamic State’s influence in Russia

12 Aprile 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

A senior Russian intelligence official warned of the potential influence of the Islamic State group inside Russia, primarily among the Muslims in the North Caucasus provinces, wrote AP.

Russian federal forces have fought two separatist wars in Chechnya, which has become more stable under the watch of Kremlin-backed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov. The Islamist insurgency, now largely dormant in Chechnya, has since spread to other North Caucasus provinces where bombings and killings of law enforcement officers have become almost a mundane occurrence.

Gen. Sergei Smirnov, deputy chief of the KGB’s main successor agency, the Federal Security Service, was quoted by Russian wires as saying that the group is “beginning to infiltrate” terrorist organizations focused on operating in the North Caucasus. Several warlords of the banned Imarat of Caucasus have pledged allegiance to the IS, “a very dangerous trend,” according to Smirnov.

An estimated 1,700 Russian nationals have joined the Islamic State group to fight in Syria and Iraq, Smirnov said, adding that the actual figure is likely to be even higher.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy to the North Caucasus said last month that at least five militants who came back after fighting in Syria were killed in security sweeps last year. In a speech to senior officials of the Federal Security Service, Putin said last month that one of its top priorities should be tracking Russian citizens who have left to fight alongside IS.

British Muslims urged to do more to dismantle Islamic State’s appeal

11 Aprile 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

The boxer Amir Khan has urged Britain’s Muslim community to do more to confront the propaganda of Daesh, which has persuaded hundreds of young Britons to travel to Syria and Iraq, wrote GulfNews.

The Bolton-born boxer said there was a need for more public denunciations of Daesh, and warned that otherwise Muslims throughout the UK risked being tarred with the same brush.

“It’s a very sensitive thing to talk about,” said Khan, “but I think we have to be brave about this. What’s happening gives us all a bad name. It’s why it’s so important to stand up and be counted.”

The former two-times world light welterweight champion also attacked Daesh for “brainwashing” the young and vulnerable. Details emerged last week of more Britons who have travelled to Syria to fight for Daesh or other Islamist groups, bringing the estimated total so far to 600. Hassan Munshi and Talha Asmal, both 17 years old and described as two “ordinary Yorkshire lads”, are thought to have entered northern Syria to join Daesh after boarding a holiday flight to Turkey on March 31.

Khan knows of no one from Bolton who has gone to fight in Iraq or Syria, although nine people from Rochdale, 20km away, were recently arrested on the Turkish-Syrian border, prompting a Lancashire imam to warn that the “tentacles of [Daesh]” were spreading through the area’s Muslim community.

Khan, 28, a proud and devout Muslim, said: “People are brainwashing them. Kids don’t grow up thinking about going out and killing innocent people. It’s why I go to schools and tell them: ‘Look, you want to follow the right path. You want to represent your country in a good way’. Obviously innocent people shouldn’t be killed. Obviously this is wrong.”

His stance against extremism prompted him to travel to Pakistan last December and visit a school where the country’s Taliban killed 132 children.

“People said it wasn’t safe to go, but kids are being killed and we wanted to show support. What sick people could do that? You could see the bullet holes in the floor and you could still see bloodstains everywhere,” said Khan.

On the rise of Ukip, the boxer describes himself as “more British” than Nigel Farage’s party. He also denies ever experiencing racism in Bolton, despite Ukip garnering considerable support in the town which, during last May’s local elections, saw the party secure its first councillors in Greater Manchester.

“I’ve got nothing but a lot of love here from a lot of people. But maybe it’s because I’m probably more British than Ukip are because I represented the country in the Olympic games. I also fight for the country and I’ve won medals and titles for the UK. So I’m more British than them. So maybe when they see me they recognise that.”

His international fame has not meant that Khan has managed to sidestep the global security checks that have developed in response to extremism. He describes how he was taken aside by immigration officials “for hours at a time” every time he visited America.

He eventually raised it with the former US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton at an event in Washington. Since then, he has never been stopped when entering the US. He also talks about how his US visa was once revoked at Heathrow airport. “I had a fight in two days’ time and I had to get there, so I rang David Cameron and he said: ‘Look, leave it with me.’ And he sorted it out.”

UN condemns escalation of hostilities in Western Libya

11 Aprile 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Saturday condemned an upsurge of armed conflict in western Libya, especially in Warshafana region, expressing concern for the locals who have been kidnapped and tortured.

UNSMIL said in the statement that it is concerned “over the hardship endured by the inhabitants of Warshafana, many of whom have been displaced, abducted and tortured, and they are in dire need of humanitarian aid.“

The mission called on all parties to the conflict to immediately cease the hostilities and ensure the right of all those displaced from the area to return home.

The mission noted that amid “significant progress” which is being made in the UNSMIL-facilitated Libyan political dialogue process, the sides to the Libyan conflict should resist “from taking any military actions or decisions that could constitute a provocation.”Libya has been in crisis since the 2011 overthrow of long-term leader Muammar Gaddafi and the subsequent civil war. There are currently two rival governments in the country, one in Tripoli and one in Tobruk. The forces of the internationally-recognized Libyan government in Tobruk are fighting numerous rebel groups, including Islamic State-affiliated militants.

Islamic State: ‘Marginalised European jihadists use extreme violence to prove loyalty’

11 Aprile 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

Westerners fighting for the Islamic State (Isis) engage in extreme violence to climb up the jihadi hierarchy that sees them languishing at the bottom, it has been claimed, wrote Ibtimes.

A former IS prisoner described the extremist group’s structure as divided with national rivalries, explaining that European militants are marginalised and have to go to extreme length to prove their loyalty to the jihadi cause.

“They [the foreign fighters] come expecting a heaven and when they see the reality they are shocked,” the Syrian man who was detained for six months inside an IS jailed in Al Bab 30km north east of Aleppo, told The Times.

“There is a hierarchy in Isis and the foreign fighters and the Syrians are at the bottom of it.”

The former inmate, who regained his freedom through a daring jail-break three months ago and now lives in Turkey, said he suffered the worst beatings and torture sessions from European and fellow Syrian captors attempting to gain respect among the jihadi ranks.

“There are two ways to prove your allegiance to IS: either by getting married or by carrying out the punishments,” the man who did not give his real name for fear of reprisals told The Times. “They were merciless — the foreign fighters and the Syrians treated us the worst because they are the lowest in Isis.”

He said was sentenced to death for his involvement with rival moderate rebel groups in Syria and was briefly imprisoned with late Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, who was later transferred to another detention facility in Raqqa.

Goto was eventually beheaded before camera by an infamous masked executioner with a London accent known as Jihadi John, who was recently identified by media as Kuwaiti-born British national Mohammed Emwazi.

Turkey deports 1200 foreigners, including Europeans, planning to join ISIS

11 Aprile 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

Turkish authorities have turned away 1,200 people who were traveling through Turkey in an attempt to join the ranks of the Islamic State, local media reported, citing country’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Turkey regularly detains foreign nationals, including Europeans, preventing them from traveling to Syria and Iraq to join extremist groups, such as the Islamic State. In March, Turkey urged the European Union to share more intelligence to contain foreign fighters trying to cross the Turkish border.

Speaking at a training program for foreign diplomats, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu pointed out that Turkey had imposed travel bans on over 12,500 foreign fighters in an attempt to contain the flow of extremists to Syria, according to Hurriyet Daily News. The minister stressed that the majority of the fighters were caught due to the efforts of the country’s own intelligence.

In early April, it was reported that Turkey had arrested nine British nationals attempting to illegally cross the Syrian border. The group detained near Hatay province included three men, two women and four children. The detainees, who were the largest single group of Britons captured on the way to jihadi-controlled areas were sent back to the United Kingdom.

Lebanon: italians improve access to citadel in south

11 Aprile 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

The Italian contingent unveiled work completed earlier this week to improve access to the renovated south Lebanon Shamaa citadel in Tyre, wrote DailyStar.

The Civil and Military Cooperation Unit at UNIFIL’s Italian contingent concluded a project Wednesday for the rehabilitation of two squares in front of the Shamaa castle, as well as the construction of a staircase that allows access to the archaeological site.

The citadel, which dates back to the 12th century, is located on a hill in Shamaa and overlooks Tyre and Israel’s coastal area.

A ceremony to unveil the restoration was attended by Italian UNIFIL contingent commander Gen. Stefano Del Col, First Secretary at the Italian Embassy in Lebanon Federica Mazzotta and Shamaa’s Mayor Abdel-Kader Safieddine.

More work on the archaeological site will continue as part of a project titled “Preservation of Shamaa Castle in South Lebanon,” funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and implemented in collaboration with the Council for Reconstruction and Development.