Egyptian security forces shot dead nine Muslim Brotherhood members south of Cairo, according to a local security source.

The nine Brotherhood members, the source said, “were killed in a shootout with security forces during a raid on a house in the town of Aussem”.

According to the source, a cache of weapons and explosives were seized during the raid.

The Muslim Brotherhood, for its part, has yet to issue a statement on the source’s assertions, while the Egyptian authorities have yet to confirm the report.

Last week, the London-based Human Rights Monitor noted that 79 civilians had been killed in Egypt last month in extrajudicial killings.

Egypt has been dogged by turmoil since the military ousted Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president and a Brotherhood leader, in mid-2013.

Since Morsi’s ouster, the security forces have waged a harsh crackdown on his supporters and members of his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, killing hundreds and detaining thousands.

Seven individuals suspected of belonging to a terrorist movement were arrested in Tunisia, the Interior Ministry announced Saturday according to a report on state news agency TAP.

Leaflets inciting terrorism were seized during the operation that was carried out by security units in coordination with the public prosecutor.

Earlier this week, Chinese naval vessels have traveled through Egypt’s Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean Sea. According to a senior officer in the Syrian Arab Army, and confirmed by a Russian Senator, the naval vessels are headed for Syria’s Port of Tartus, and that “China has joined [Russia’s] military operation in Syria.” The reports indicate that the Chinese vessels will reach Tartus within six weeks. No explanation is given for the long time frame.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, Chinese military cooperation with Russia in the Mideast is strongly counter to the predicted trends. As long-time readers are aware, the prediction is that the US and China would be the principal enemies in the approaching Clash of Civilizations world war, and that the US would be allied with India, Russia and Iran, while China would be allied with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim countries.

Voting on a resolution for action in Libyan waters at the United Nations Security Council is likely to be postponed due to the position of African countries, a diplomat of a Western member country of the UN Security Council told on Thursday.

The diplomat said the draft resolution that had been squared by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (Russia, China, Great Britain, the United States, and France) was blocked by African members of the Security Council, namely Angola, Nigeria and Chad. The Security Council, according to the diplomat, has taken a break to hold additional consultations with delegations of these countries. He refrained from guessing when the voting could take place.

Another diplomat did not rule out the document could be considered after the general political discussion at the United Nations General Assembly due on September 28 through October 3.

On September 22, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told journalists the resolution has been practically agreed and could be put for voting by Friday. He said Russia would support it as “it takes into account all of our concerns, primarily, linked with possible use of force against vessels which transport migrants.”

“Our key task was to ensure security and to prevent any force actions that might cause the death of these poor people,” he stressed.

On September 16, Britain’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations Matthew Rycroft said a resolution allowing the European Union and its single members to intervene in Libyan waters against boats smuggling migrants and refugees into Europe. The original text of the resolution, based on chapter 7 of the United Nations, authorized the EU and member state to “employ all necessary means to contrast human traffickers and migrant smugglers”. The resolution condemned “repeated tragedies resulting in the loss of hundreds of lives”. It stressed the need for “an international response to address the issue at the heart and prevent” exploitation of human beings by traffickers.

The resolution was necessitated by the fact that different laws applied in Europe. Thus, Italy already can seize vessels, but other countries, including Great Britain and Germany, which also take part in European operations, will first need approval by the United Nations Security Council.

The Russian defense ministry says a guided missile cruiser will be involved in drills in the eastern Mediterranean – which could be near the Syrian coast.

Russia recently has ferried weapons, troops and supplies to an airport near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia in what the U.S. sees as preparations for setting up an air base there.

The defense ministry on Thursday announced drills “in the eastern section of the Mediterranean” later this month and in October involving a guided missile cruiser, a guided missile destroyer, a landing ship and other ships. The ministry said Russia always holds an array of military drills at this time of the year and that the government approved the Mediterranean maneuvers a year ago.

Morocco’s security services arrested on September 18 and 19 six new terrorists in relation to the Islamic State-affiliated terrorist cell that was dismantled on Sep. 12, the Interior ministry said Monday.

The arrested people, whose involvement in this terrorist plan was established, were active in Beni Mellal, the commune of Beni Zrantal (Khouribga province), the communes of Tagzirt and Foum Laânsar (Province of Beni Mellal), Sidi Allal El Bahraoui and Tetouan, the ministry pointed out in a statement.

Investigations revealed that these terrorist elements, who called their cell “Jund Al Khilafa in Morocco”, like the group carrying the same name in Algeria, which pledged allegiance to the “Islamic State”, were preparing to carry out terrorist operations in the Kingdom in order to sow panic among citizens, the same source noted.

These criminal elements, who attempted to prepare a remote detonation system though mobile phones, were planning a suicide attack against one of the prisons of the Kingdom in order to release ISIS prisoners, the ministry said.

The terrorist cell was dismantled on September 12 with the arrest of five members, who were active in the cities of Beni Mellal, Sidi Allal Bahraoui and Tinzouline (Province of Zagora), according to the same source.

Three members of the cell were arrested in one of the “safe” houses in Essaouira, the statement said, adding that authorities seized four automatic pistols, a machine gun, seven tear gas, three electric batons, a large quantity of ammunition, material that can be used in the manufacture of explosives and knives.

The members of this terrorist cell had planned to commit acts of targeted sabotage on the Moroccan soil before joining ISIS camps in the Syrian-Iraqi area.

moroccoworldnews.com

Egyptian armed forces have completed the first stage of a large-scale military operation in northern Sinai codenamed The Martyr’s Right, a respective announcement was made on state television Tuesday.

The Libya Dialogue has “finished its work” according to the man chairing it, UN Special Envoy Bernadino Leon. The final text, including all the annexes, apart from Annex No. 1 with the names of the prime minister, two deputy prime ministers and the two other ministers who together constitute the Presidency Council, will be produced in the next few days, he says, and presented to the Dialogue members after Eid. They will then choose the names to go into Annex No. 1 and the entire package will be presented to the House of Representatives and the General National Congress to approve or disapprove.

If they approve, he said, the Dialogue members would go to New York to the UN General Assembly to initial the entire agreement and there the international community would endorse it. Then there would be a second approval ceremony, probably back in the Moroccan resort of Skhirat where most of the negotiations have taken place, and then a final signing somewhere in Libya. This had to be done before 20 October, “the only real deadline we have”, Leon said, referring to the expiry of the House of Representatives’ mandate the following day.

There could be no more changes to the text, he explained It was final. “We will not have any further negotiations.” Now it was up to the two sides to react to the agreement “but not in terms of adding more comments or getting back with something to negotiate”.

Calling on both sides to be “flexible, generous and . . to put the interest of their country above any other consideration” , he admitted that were “many people” who did not like what the Dialogue was doing. But there was no other solution, he said.

Referring clearly to Khalifa Hafter’s widely reported plans for a military council to run Libya (although not mentioning it by name), he dismissed it out of hand. It would not get any recognition or support from the international community and would “just multiply the chaos that Libya is facing”.

Also, in a clear bid to counter resurgent accusations that he is biased in favour of the country’s Islamists following his condemnation on Sunday of Hafter’s new military operation against Islamist forces in Benghazi, Leon also referred to the suffering in the city, this time specifically speaking of attacks by terrorist groups there.

There has been fresh resentment against him and the West following subsequent but unsubstantiated claims by western ambassadors that Hafter had bombed civilians there. There have been anti-Leon and anti-western protests in the city as a result of the allegations.

Although Leon has indicated that the agreement has the support of all the delegates to the Dialogue, it is far from clear that it has the backing of the General National Congress (GNC) or the House of Representatives (HoR). Two GNC delegates, Abdurrahman Sewehli and Mohammad Al-Amari, said yesterday they accepted it, but Ashraf Al-Shah, who this week resigned as political adviser to the GNC delegation, has claimed that the majority of GNC members remain opposed to the Dialogue.

Meanwhile, although some of the HoR boycotters are reported by UNSMIL to have approved the Dialogue draft, only two of the four HoR official delegates were involved in the final negotiations and the HoR is known to be deeply unhappy with the most recent changes. Its approval cannot be taken for granted. Nor are all boycotters backing the Draft.  In a joint statement this week, five of them – Abdurrauf Al-Manaie, Ammar Al-Ablaq, Mohamed Al-Darrat, Hanan Shalluf and Rabia Buras – rejected any political agreement that did not respect the Supreme Court ruling that they claim abolished the HoR.

In a statement of support for Leon, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has said that the text had to be agreed “as soon as possible”.   The European Union, she stated, was at the Libyans’ side. “We continue to actively support the negotiations and we stand ready to provide immediate support to the new government, notably with a substantial €100-million package to support Libya on its new course.”

libyaherald.com