A delegation of negotiators representing the Ansarullah movement has refused to return to Yemen from Oman in a UN plane after the international organization absolved itself of the responsibility for their flight’s safety, said a source in the delegation on Sunday.

The delegation of Ansarullah and their allies loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been stuck in Oman, where it arrived following the failed peace talks with the Saudi-backed delegation loyal to Yemen’s resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi hosted by Kuwait, since August, when the Saudi-led coalition, which carries out airstrikes against the Houthis at the request of the fugitive former president Mansur Hadi, blocked the aircraft with the Houthi delegation trying to return to Yemen.

“The flight on board of a UN private aircraft has been canceled due to the refusal by [president Saleh’s] General People’s Congress party and Ansarullah to sign the document stating that the United Nations does not bear responsibility [for the flight’s safety],” the source said.

According to the source, the United Nations offered the delegation to sign the document, according to which the organization does not take responsibility for the security of passengers as the plane will fly over the territory of an armed conflict.

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Ansarullah fighters, the country’s main opposition force since 2014.

The UN-brokered talks to end the Yemeni conflict started in Kuwait in April and ended in early August, with the Hadi and Ansarullah fighters failing to come to an agreement.

Leader of Houthi fighters previously stated that “Our national delegation in Kuwait has presented all possible concessions and what they want from us is to surrender and this is impossible.We are ready for a resolution based on justice but we will not surrender.”

Ansarullah and its allies said both the Hadi loyalists and the regime in Riyadh lack the political will to promote a diplomatic process aimed at settling the conflict in Yemen.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Houthi held the United States responsible for the deadly Saudi aggression against Yemen, describing Riyadh as a tool in the hands of Washington. He reiterated that the Yemeni nation was determined to confront the campaign.

Houthi also stated that the US has returned al-Qaeda to southern Yemen after the militants were expelled by the Yemeni army and popular committees, adding that the militants fight alongside the Saudi forces.

Houthi said the United States uses the pretext of fighting terrorism to interfere in the internal affairs of the regional countries.

Saudi Arabia launched the deadly military aggression against Yemen on March 26, 2015, in a bid to bring Hadi back to power and crush Ansarullah.

abna24.com

As U.S. Special Forces joined Turkish troops and Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters along the Turkish border near Jarablus and al-Rai in Syria, Turkey-backed forces have continued advancing to the southern areas of northern Syria.

Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis told reporters that U.S. commandos had joined the Turkish military and “vetted Syrian opposition forces” fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) near Jarablus and al-Rai.

The move came “at the request of the government of Turkey,” Davis said.

A Turkish General Staff statement also confirmed that U.S. special operations forces accompanied Turkish troops in al-Rai.

“U.S. personnel operating with Turkish forces and Syrian opposition forces will provide the same train, advise and assist support they have been providing to other local partners in Syria fighting ISIL,” Davis wrote in an email to state-run Anadolu Agency on Sept. 16.

The new development comes as the FSA, backed by Turkish artillery earlier in the day, began to move toward ISIL stronghold al-Bab, nearly 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of al-Rai as a part of Operation Euphrates Shield, which was launched Aug. 24 by Ankara. It aims at improving security, supporting coalition forces and eliminating the terror threat along Turkey’s border using FSA fighters backed by Turkish armor, artillery and jets.

The Syrian town of al-Rai and Jarablus were recently cleared of ISIL militants as part of the operation.
Davis said the U.S. would continue to support the counter-ISIL fight in northern Syria because “access to the Syria-Turkey border region is strategically important to ISIL’s operations in Syria and Iraq as well as the group’s attempts to export terror to Turkey, the wider region, Europe and the United States.”

“Denying ISIL access to this critical border cuts off critical supply routes in and out of Iraq and Syria and further isolates ISIL’s so-called ‘capital’ in Raqqa,” he added.

Footage widely shared online by Syrian groups and experts appears to show U.S. commandos in al-Rai insulted by FSA fighters, who call them “pigs” and “infidels” in Arabic, demanding they leave Syria, according to AFP.

A U.S. defense official admitted there had been a “misunderstanding,” but insisted the troops were still deployed and that the matter had been cleared up.

“There’s been no violence, no one is hurt and we are still there,” the official said. “I have no report of a hostile or violent action.”

The Special Forces contingent includes several dozen troops, he added.

Five ISIL militants killed

Meanwhile, the Turkish General Staff released a statement about Operation Euphrates Shield, saying artillery had hit 26 ISIL targets.

The statement also said an improvised explosive device hit the Tatimus area in northern Syria, killing five Syrian opposition fighters and injuring six others.

According to Turkey’s military, four air operations were conducted in the Kunaytirah, Tatimus, Caqqa and Baragidah areas, killing five ISIL militants.

Operations in al-Rai continued with exploration, observation and target acquisition, the military added.

The U.S.’ top general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen.Joseph Dunford, met with Turkish counterpart Gen. Hulusi Akar on the sidelines of a NATO chiefs of staff meeting in Croatia on Sept. 16 to discuss the anti-ISIL group fight.

His assistant, Cpt. Gregory Hicks, said the generals met “to advance discussions on the way forward in the fight against ISIL and recommitted to the close military-to-military and strategic relationship the U.S. has with Turkey,” AFP reported.

hurriyetdailynews.com

A senior ISIS operative was killed in an airstrike by the US-led coalition in Syria, the Pentagon said.

Wa’il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad, the Information Minister of the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group, was reported dead after an airsitrke hit his house in Raqqa– the de facto capital of ISIS in Syria.

“Wa’il oversaw ISIL’s production of terrorist propaganda videos showing torture and executions,” Cook said, using another acronym for ISIS.

He was one of ISIS most senior leaders and a close associate of Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, the ISIS spokesman who was killed on Aug. 30.

“We will continue to work with our coalition partners to build momentum in the campaign to deal ISIL a lasting defeat,” Cook said.

This comes just one week after the ISIS military spokesman in Mosul, Abu Isaac, was killed in an ambush by a group of anonymous gunmen in Iraq’s northwestern Nineveh province.

Also, the Chief of Media Operations in the Islamic State, Abu Muhammad Furqan, was killed last Sunday in an attack by Iraqi army forces. Iraqi security officer Ali Daqqa told ARA News that Iraqi Special Operation Forces raided a building in the Baaj District where Furqan and other ISIS-affiliated media workers had been hiding. “At least 20 ISIS media workers and officials were hiding in that building. They were all killed in the operation,” the official confirmed.

aranews.ne

At least 12 rebels and three pro-government fighters were killed in fierce battles in southwestern Yemen on Wednesday, military sources said.

Loyalist forces attacked rebel positions in Kirsh area in Lahj province, killing seven insurgents, said General Fadhl Hasan, who is leading pro-government troops in the area.

“We will continue our advance towards Taiz (city) to break the siege” imposed for more than a year by the Houthi rebels on Yemen’s third city, Hasan said.

In Taiz province, five Houthis and their allies were killed when loyalists backed by coalition airstrikes and artillery fought off a rebel assault in Kahbub area, a loyalist military leader said.

Three pro-government fighters were also killed in the fighting, Colonel Abdul Ghani al-Subaihi said, in a mountainous area overlooking the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait at the entrance of the Red Sea.

Guarding the area are forces from the Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in Yemen in March last year to support President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government after the Iran-backed rebels seized the capital Sanaa.

Coalition airstrikes also hit an intelligence building north of Sanaa on Wednesday, causing casualties, military sources said, without providing a toll.

Meanwhile, a suspected US drone struck on Wednesday a car traveling in the southern Bayda province, killing five suspected al-Qaeda fighters, security officials said.

The car appeared to be headed to the province of Marib, they added.

The US, which rarely acknowledges its years-long unmanned drone campaign in Yemen, is thought to have carried out dozens of strikes against what it says are members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

AQAP and the Islamic State group have exploited a power vacuum created by the conflict between the government and Iran-backed rebels to expand their presence in the Arabian Peninsula country.

The US has vowed to continue its campaign against AQAP, which it considers to be the al-Qaeda network’s deadliest franchise.

The Saudi-led Arab military coalition that backs the Yemeni government has also turned its sights on AQAP, targeting it with airstrikes.

Yemen’s conflict has killed more than 6,600 people, most of them civilians, and displaced at least three million others, according to the United Nations.

Fighting has intensified since the collapse of UN-backed peace talks in Kuwait on 6 August.

alaraby.co.uk

When operation begins ‘we’ll be prepared to support that and the airfield will be ready,’ coalition spokesman says

An Iraqi airbase the U.S. plans to fly missions out of will be ready for the Iraqi-led mission to oust Daesh from Mosul, the U.S.-led coalition said Tuesday.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian told reporters that progress toward making the base ready is being made “every day”.

“When the ISF is ready to move on in their operations to get after Mosul, we’ll be prepared to support that and the airfield will be ready,” the spokesman said referring to the Qayyarah Airfield located just 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Mosul.

If made battle ready it could serve as a pivotal hub for U.S. aircraft to carry out strikes on Daesh targets in Mosul, Iraq’s second city.

The terror group has occupied the city since June 2014, and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said he wants to retake it by year’s end.

The U.S. is currently conducting what it calls “shaping operations” to set the stage for the Iraqi-led operation. That has included targeting Daesh’s vehicle borne improvised explosive factories, as well as its command and control centers and factories, said Harrigian.

“The intent there is really to shape the environment so that as the ISF prepares to liberate Mosul, we’ve softened up the enemy for them,” Harrigian said, noting that ongoing Iraqi operations are “closely coordinated” with the U.S.

Meanwhile, the U.S. successfully destroyed a pharmaceutical facility it said Daesh was “most probably” using to manufacture mustard and chlorine gas.

Harrigian said the strike included a variety of U.S. aircraft including A-10s, F-15s, and B-52s that destroyed more than 50 targets “removing a significant chemical threat to innocent Iraqis.

“This represents just another example of Daesh’s blatant disregard for international law and norms,” he said.

aa.com.tr/

The Pentagon is in the preliminary stages of discussing whether to send more Special Operations forces to advise and assist Iraqi forces as the two countries get ready for the assault to retake Mosul from ISIS, CNN has learned.

The deliberations are a reflection of how difficult the fight for Iraq’s second-largest city may be, and the need to defeat ISIS there for the credibility of the Iraqi government.

At this point, there are no formal proposals for how many troops might be needed for such an advise-and-assist role, and, if they are dispatched, when that would be, defense officials emphasized.

The fight to retake Mosul could begin as soon as next month, one official told CNN, though others have said the Iraqis may not be fully ready to move until early November.

But US officials are not hiding that preparations are well underway for Mosul, as well as efforts to retake Raqqa, ISIS’ self-declared capital in Syria.

“We are saturating the battle space (with intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance) particularly in the areas of Mosul and Raqqa, getting real-time visibility and awareness to the right people,” said Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, the senior air commander for the coalition.

Harrigian noted that, “There is still a tough fight ahead against an adaptive enemy that will try to challenge us as we home in on Mosul and Raqqa.”

Mosul may be ready for action sooner than Raqqa. Improvements at a nearby Iraqi airbase at Qayyarah are wrapping up. When completed, the base will provide a logistics and supply hub for Iraqi forces moving on Mosul, as well as a possible key location for US troop operations.

There are currently 4,480 US troops in Iraq. About 550 are performing a wide variety of training, advising and assisting roles for Iraqi and Kurdish forces. The discussion centers around whether more advise-and-assist troops are needed, jobs filled mainly by Special Operations Forces.

They are likely to be out in the field and closer to the front lines in the fight for Mosul, although they are not expected to deliberately expose themselves to fire, go on patrols or undertake combat missions.

They could also be called upon to help local forces identify targets from their positions in the field. The idea, one official said, is they are not in buildings several miles to the rear but are closer to the action in order to provide assistance.

Several senior US military officials are saying the fights for Mosul and Raqqa are going to expose US troops more directly to risk on the battlefield.

If more Special Operations troops are sent, it might not require additional notification to Congress. There are about 160 unfilled military billets in Iraq under the current ceiling of the allowed number of troops. In Syria, the current ceiling is 300 forces, though only about 150 troops are there right now, according to defense officials.

One argument against sending more Special Operations Forces to Iraq is the effort to keep the number of US troops down so that Shiite-backed militias don’t feel threatened by the growing American presence, one official said.

Part of the challenge is retaking Raqqa will be the role of Kurdish forces as well as Arab forces. Turkish authorities are not anxious to see the Kurds take on a bigger role in northern Syria, but there may not be sufficient Arab forces to deal with Raqqa, officials said.

ekurd.net

Strike against former Mosul pharmaceuticals factory eliminates ‘significant chemical threat’ from jihadist group

merican warplanes eliminated a “significant chemical threat” to Iraqi civilians by bombing a complex of buildings near the northern city of Mosul that Islamic State militants had converted from pharmaceutical manufacturing to chemical weapons production, the three-star general in charge of US air operations in the Middle East said Tuesday.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian told reporters at the Pentagon that the target was an Islamic State headquarters also used to produce lethal chemicals, possibly including chlorine and mustard gas.

He provided no details on the chemical production.

Harrigian described the airstrike as a large, well-planned operation, which destroyed more than 50 targets at the site with a variety of US warplanes, including Air Force B-52 bombers and Marine Corps F-18D attack planes.

Other US officials said later that a total of 12 US planes were used.

Harrigian said the mission was part of a broader effort to cut off the Islamic State’s main sources of revenue, kill their leaders and create “organizational dysfunction” in ways that will eliminate the group as a military threat in Iraq and Syria.

timesofisrael.com

U.S. Navy says Iran threatened two American maritime patrol aircraft flying over the Strait of Hormuz, the latest in a series of encounters

The U.S. Navy on Tuesday said Iran has threatened two American maritime patrol aircraft flying over the Strait of Hormuz, The Associated Press reported.

The incident is the latest in a series of encounters between Iranian and American forces raising tensions in and around the Persian Gulf.

U.S. 5th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Bill Urban said in a statement Tuesday the aircraft were flying in international airspace on Saturday when Iranian air defense stations warned them that they were nearing Iranian airspace.

He says the Iranians said “we will fire Iranian missile” if they did not change course, and that the Americans replied they were conducting routine operations in international airspace.

He added the planes then continued on their mission.

Urban called the interaction “unprofessional,” but not “unsafe,” because the planes were out of known surface-to-air weapons range.

Last week, a U.S. Navy patrol ship was forced to change course after a fast attack craft from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came within 91 meters of it in the central Persian Gulf.

In late August it was revealed that a U.S. Navy coastal patrol ship fired three warning shotsat an Iranian ship that sailed within 200 yards in the Northern Persian Gulf.

That incident was one of four close calls in one week involving U.S. and Iranian vessels.

In January, Washington said Iran launched rockets near an American aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. While Iran initially denied doing so, footage was later released that proved it had indeed fired on the American carrier.

inn.com

Five operatives of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch were killed when a U.S. drone strike targeted their vehicle in Yemen’s central province of al-Bayda on Tuesday, a military official told Xinhua.

The military source confirmed that missiles fired from the unmanned U.S. aircraft destroyed a vehicle carrying al-Qaida operatives in the mountains of Radaa area in central al-Bayda province.

The military source said that “the slain al-Qaida men were apparently traveling from Marib province and heading to meet their comrades in the al-Bayda province.”

Scores of the al-Qaida gunmen launched numerous armed attacks against positions of army troops loyal to the Shiite Houthi group in al-Bayda province in the past few days, according to the Yemeni source.

On Tuesday, the United States announced that its military killed 13 al-Qaida militants in three separate strikes in Yemen in recent weeks, but it did not specify how the strikes were conducted or reveal the identities of the militants targeted.

The U.S. drones have been active over skies of Yemeni cities since years ago, launching hundreds of air strikes that killed scores of al-Qaida leaders and many other extremists.

Yemen has recently seen a growing number of al-Qaida activities in eastern and southern provinces, due to the prolonged security vacuum resulting from the 19-month civil war between the exiled government and Houthi rebels who seized much of the country’s north, including capital Sanaa since 2014.

xinhuanet.com

The UK Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon on Monday said in the House of Commons that the United Kingdom backs the Kurdish Peshmerga forces with heavy weapons to fight militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) in northern Iraq.

UK MP Jack Lopresti asked the Secretary of State why it took a year for the UK to supply ammunition and heavy weapons to the Peshmerga forces in Iraqi Kurdistan.

“Can he assure the House that such delays will never happen again, and that we are doing everything that we possibly can to help the Peshmerga in their fight against Daesh?” he asked, using another acronym for ISIS.

“We have supplied… not only heavy machine guns to the Peshmerga but ammunition for those heavy machine guns,” UK Defence Minister Fallon said.

“I announced earlier in the summer a fresh gift from us of ammunition for those heavy machine guns, and that ammunition has now arrived and is being used,” he added.

Moreover, the UK Defence Secretary said the fight against ISIS is making progress in both Syria and Iraq.

“With coalition support, Iraqi forces have freed Fallujah and, as part of preparatory operations for retaking Mosul, have liberated Qayyarah town,” he said.

“The Syrian Democratic Forces have taken Manbij and Turkish-backed opposition forces have taken Jarabulus and al-Rai, effectively denying Daesh its last border crossings into Turkey,” Fallon added.

The UK minister further said that Russia is “not a partner” in the fight against ISIS.

“The Russian military activity in Syria has supported the Assad regime, a regime that bombs, tortures and starves its own people,” Fallon said.

“While we welcome the latest ceasefire from tonight, it is Russia that must make it work by stopping Assad attacking Syrian civilians and moderate opposition groups, and by helping to get humanitarian aid into Aleppo and other cities that have been starved of food,” he concluded.

aranews.net/