A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives has killed seven people and injured eight others in Aden’s Crater district.

ISIL claimed the bombing in a statement posted online.

The attack, which took place on Friday night, was the second ISIL-claimed suicide bombing to hit the southern Yemeni city in as many days.

The explosion struck the main checkpoint at the western entrance to Crater district, a source in the Aden security office told The National. The district is home to the presidential palace of Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, along with several government buildings and banks.

“Seven people have been killed and eight others injured in a car bombing that struck at 10pm (local time),” the source said.

The attacker exploded the car after stopping at the checkpoint for soldiers to inspect the car, which they suspected of carrying explosive devices, the source said.

The security office source said on Saturday morning that security had been stepped up across Aden province following Friday night’s attack.

thenational.ae

The Iraqi Army is all set to liberate the city of Mosul, which has been controlled by Daesh terrorists since June 2014, Iraqi Media News agency reported, citing a senior military commander.

As the country’s second largest city in the northern Nineveh province, Mosul is the main concentration center of jihadist militants.

“Our well trained and armed units are currently deployed in Mahmur [southeast of  Mosul] and are ready to launch an operation to liberate Mosul,” Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jubouri, the top military commander in Nineveh province, told the agency on Friday.

He added that the region’s military authorities were acting in close coordination with the popular forces and appreciated their help in the ongoing fight against the terrorists.

Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi earlier promised to liberate the strategic city in 2016 in what he said would be a game-changer in the war on terror.

The offensive will deprive IS militants of a pivotal logistical route for supplies and foreign recruits.

The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its allies in Syria are understood to have made plans to seize a stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border currently held by Islamic State militants.

The offensive will deprive IS militants of a pivotal logistical route for supplies and foreign recruits, but may also have the potential to offend Turkish authorities.

An unnamed YPG source confirmed to Reuters that although there was no fixed date, it may be close to 29 January.

The attack includes crossing the Euphrates to attack the IS-held towns of Jarablus and Manbij, in addition to Azaz, which is occupied by other insurgent groups.

Turkey, however, has said it will not allow the Syrian Kurds to move west of the Euphrates.

Ankara has always feared that further expansion by the YPG, which along with the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union party (PYD), the parent party of the YPG, as a terrorist group due to its affiliation with Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK).

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Iran has sent thousands of Shia Afghans to Syria to fight for support of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

According to a report published by the Voice of America (VOA), these Afghans are the illegal immigrants of Iran. The report citing western media shows the number of these fighters between 10,000 to 12,000.

It also cites Human Rights Watch (HRW) as saying that these Afghans have been sent to Syria for fighting against their willing. Meanwhile, it mentions Iran as saying that the Afghan citizens have willingly accepted to fight.

The report adds that Iran has promised citizenship to these fighters and improving the living conditions of their families.

Peter Bouckaer who is the HRW’s emergencies director and an expert in humanitarian crises is quoted in the report as saying that besides offering attractive packages to Afghans, Iran threatens them by expulsion if they do not accept to fight in Syria.

The report quotes smith, a researcher at the University of Maryland, as saying that each of these fighters are paid from $400 to $600 monthly wages.

Smith has further said that Afghan refugees who are not accepting the offer are being threatened with imprisonment.

According to Smith, Afghans imprisoned in Iran are also sent to Syria for fighting after they are released.

khaama.com

The Dutch government says it plans to join the US-led coalition targeting the so-called Islamic State group in Syria with airstrikes.

The Dutch government says it plans to join the US-led coalition targeting the so-called Islamic State group in Syria with airstrikes.

The Dutch have for months been carrying out air raids in neighboring Iraq using four F-16 jets, but have balked at extending the mission to Syria.

Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaer said the decision means the coalition will “make more progress” against IS.

The Cabinet will outline Friday’s’ decision in Parliament where it will likely be discussed in coming days. A majority of Dutch legislators supports airstrikes in Syria.

The Dutch change of course comes after both France and the United States asked the government to join the campaign.

indiatoday.intoday.in

An Islamic State suicide bombing in Yemen that killed six people is believed to have been carried out by a Dutch fighter.

The terrorist group claims that the explosion, which happened on 28 January outside the presidential palace in Aden, was carried out by a Dutchman called Abu al-Hunaifa, The Post reported.

IS (Isis/Daesh) also released a picture of the man it claims is Al-Hunaifa, adding that it has proof that he was responsible for the bombing.

Among those killed by the attack were soldiers, Al Jazeera Arabic reported, while there are also believed to be 15 people injured following the blast.

The bombing comes just hours after three Al Jazeera journalists were released after being taken hostage in Taiz in Yemen and held for 10 days by a group they claim tortured them and chanted “death to America”, although no organisations have yet claimed responsibility for the abductions.

IS has become more prevalent in Yemen over the past year, with the group and its affiliates claiming responsibility for a number of attacks in the republic, including two bomb attacks in September 2015 in which a total of 45 people were killed.

It also released a video in April 2015 showing the murder of 15 government soldiers, and carried out a series of car bombings in June 2015, in which at least 30 people were killed.

ibtimes.co.uk

The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its allies in Syria are understood to have made plans to seize a stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border currently held by Islamic State (Isis) fighters. The offensive will deprive Daesh (IS) of a pivotal logistical route for supplies and foreign recruits, but may also have the potential to offend Turkish authorities.

An unnamed YPG source confirmed to Kurdish news website Xeber24 that although there was no fixed date, it may be close to 29 January. The plan, according to a Reuters report, includes crossing the Euphrates to attack the IS-held towns of Jarablus and Manbij, in addition to Azaz, which is occupied by other insurgent groups.

Turkey, however, has said it will not allow the Syrian Kurds to move west of the Euphrates. Ankara has always feared that further expansion by the YPG can fuel separatist sentiments among its own Kurdish minority. It also views the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union party (PYD), the parent party of the YPG, as a terrorist group due to its affiliation with Turkish Kurdish militants.

The Kurds and their allies who already control Syria’s north east Turkish frontier have been a vital partner in the US-led air campaign against IS. They are also a major component of an alliance — Syria Democratic Forces — that includes Arab and other armed groups.

Geneva stand-off

The development comes at a time when the third round of Geneva talks on Syria is facing difficulty in getting Syria’s warring factions together for a UN-brokered peace deal. Many of the parties involved consider the presence of others to be a stumbling block. Turkey announced that it strongly opposes participation by Kurdish groups.

“We are categorically against the YPG and PYD sitting at the table,” declared Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also described the PYD as a “terrorist group” with no place at in negotiations.

Ankara accuses the PYD/YPG of being offshoots of the Kurdish rebel group PKK, which Turkish forces are currently battling both domestically and by air in Iraq. The Turkish government also resents growing US and Russian support for the PYD.

Organisers of the talks confirmed this week the Kurds were not invited, a move that has upset many Kurds around the world. Peace negotiations as a whole over Syria have been undermined by disputes over who should represent the opposition.

ibtimes.co.uk

The US military has once again raised concerns over the possibility of a collapse of the Mosul dam, in Northern Iraq.

U.S. Army Lieutenant, General Sean MacFarland, said on Thursday that they have been working with the Iraqi government on a plan to protect the civilians from the impact of a collapse, which would send a surge of water down the heavily populated Tigris river valley.

“The likelihood of the dam collapsing is something we are trying to determine right now … all we know is when it goes, it’s going to go fast and that’s bad,” MacFarland, head of the U.S.-led coalition forces bombing the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, told reporters in Baghdad.

He warned that the potential collapse of the dam would be “catastrophic” as a huge number of people may be affected.

After the fall of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city in North of the country, the Islamic State (IS) jihadists took control of the dam; but Kurdish Peshmerga forces later managed to recapture the strategic dam and they are now in control of the area.

According to Reuters, An Italian Company, the Trevi Group, is finalising a contract with Baghdad to upgrade the 3.6-km (2.2-mile) long dam, which has suffered from structural flaws since it was built in the 1980s.

basnews.com

Iran flew a surveillance drone over a U.S. aircraft carrier and took “precise” photographs of it as part of an ongoing naval drill, state television reported Friday. The U.S. Navy said an unarmed Iranian drone flew near a French and American carrier on Jan. 12, but couldn’t confirm it was the same incident.

The reported drone overflight comes after a series of naval incidents between Iran and the U.S. in the greater Persian Gulf, including test rocket fire by the Islamic Republic and its brief capture of American sailors who strayed into its territorial waters.

The report by state television said the drone flight occurred on the third day of the naval exercise, suggesting it happened Friday. Later, its website and the semi-official Fars news agency, which is close to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, published footage it said was of the drone’s flight.

The footage showed the drone launch and later hover above what appeared to be an aircraft carrier underway in a body of water. The footage zoomed into a row of fighter jets on the carrier’s deck. There were no identifying marks visible on the carrier.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the footage. Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet based in Bahrain, said an unarmed Iranian drone flew near the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and “directly over” the USS Harry S. Truman on Jan. 12 as the vessels were in international waters in the Persian Gulf.

He said the drone “posed no danger to the ship” as the unmanned aircraft was unarmed and the carrier wasn’t conducting flight operations at the time.

“It was, however, abnormal and unprofessional,” Stephens said. He added that the U.S. Navy was “not in a position to verify the authenticity of the video as there are countless examples of similar footage to be found on the Internet.”

Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, the commander of Iran’s navy, called the drone overflight “a sign of bravery.”

It “allowed our men to go so close to the warship and shoot such a beautiful and accurate footage of the combat units of the foreign forces,” he told state television.

State television and the state-run IRNA news agency said an Iranian light submarine also participated in the surveillance operation. When asked about the submarine report, Stephens said “Iran has several submarines underway for its current exercise,” but declined to discuss specifics.

The Iranian report did not name the U.S. vessel filmed by the drone. The nuclear-powered USS Harry S. Truman, based out of Norfolk, Virginia, is in the Persian Gulf region launching airstrikes and supporting operations against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

Stephens said the drone report would not affect its operations.

“I can say that we are confident in the ability of U.S. naval forces operating in the region to respond appropriately as the situation dictates, and will exercise our right to defend our forces against any threat,” he said.

Separately, state television said Iran’s navy successfully fired surface-to-surface Noor cruise missiles during the drill at mock targets. Iran has announced other military exercises in the past to demonstrate the capabilities of its armed forces.

Iran’s navy began the naval drill this week over a 3-million-square-kilometer (1.16-million-square-mile) area including parts of the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. Iran said Wednesday its navy warned a U.S. warship to leave an area of the naval drill. The U.S. Navy later denied its operations were affected by the Iranian drill.

While Iran recently struck a nuclear deal with world powers including the U.S., its naval forces have continued its maneuvers. Iran has more than 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) of shoreline facing the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

The U.S. has criticized some of those maneuvers, including what it called a “highly provocative” Iranian rocket test fire in December near its warships and commercial traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran denied launching rockets, though the U.S. later released footage showing the rocket fire.

The Strait of Hormuz, which sees nearly a third of all oil traded by sea pass through it, has been the scene of past confrontations between America and Iran, including a one-day naval battle in 1988.

In January, Iranian forces captured 10 U.S. Navy sailors who entered Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island, an outpost in the middle of the Persian Gulf that has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats since the 1980s. The sailors were released within a day, though Iranian state media aired footage of the sailors’ capture, angering U.S. politicians.

theindychannel.com

Russian air forces and the Syrian army have started a hunt for Turkmen militant Alparslan Çelik.

Çelik had stated that he was the one who had killed the pilot of the Russian warplane which Turkey had shot down, Lenta.ru, a Moscow-based online newspaper, reported citing The Independent.

As per the source, finding and detaining Çelik was one of the objectives of the Syrian army attacks in the Latakia Governorate of Syria.

As a result, several key settlements were liberated, including Rabia town where this militant presumably could have gone hiding.

On November 24, 2015, the Turkish air force shot down a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft/interdictor nearby the Turkish-Syrian border. The warplane was taking part in the antiterrorism operations in Syria. This incident has led to the ongoing strain in Turkey-Russia relations.

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