Users in the Arab Gulf region reacted to the reports of Qatari involvement in the recent hostage release of Italian volunteer Silvia Romano after her captivity by al-Shabaab, pointing to Doha’s track record of facilitating finance of terror groups, like reported by alarabiya.net.

Romano, an Italian aid worker kidnapped 18 months ago in East Africa, landed in Rome last Sunday a day after being freed. She was found in Somalia, some 30 km outside the capital, Mogadishu, and was released thanks to efforts by an “external intelligence agency,” Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said at the time.

After her release, Turkish security sources said Romano was rescued after a joint effort by Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency and Italian and Somalian government authorities.

While reports of who between the Italian Qatari government actually paid the ransom for Romano’s release are still unconfirmed, Somalia’s former head of intelligence told Al Arabiya that Doha may be linked directly al-Shabaab in the Italian’s release.

Abdullahi Mohamed Ali, who is the former director of the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), said the allegations of Qatari ties to al-Shabaab were “nothing new.”

“Qatar has strong relations and extensive contacts with the al-Shabaab movement, and it is known that the current head of Somali intelligence is the main man of Qatar in Somalia. No other country in the world has exclusive access and special relationship with the al-Shabaab movement except Qatar,” Ali, commonly also known as Sanbalolshe, told Al Arabiya.

“The Qatari government has a political rapprochement Ideology with the regime currently ruling in Somalia, and the Somali government uses Qatari money to implement Qatar’s plans against its opponents in the region and strike their interests,” he added.

Reactions to Romano’s release
One of the many reactions to Romano’s release was Kuwaiti professor Abdullah al-Shayji’s tweets describing his surprise at the Italian media’s negative response to the released detainee, who had converted to Islam during her captivity.

“In November 2018, the Somali al-Shabaab group kidnapped a #SilviaRomano Italian young woman working as a volunteer for a relief organization in #Kenya. They treated her with respect. She converted to Islam and changed her name to Aisha. The Turkish Intelligence contributed to her release – she arrived in Italy – the press attacked her and questioned her Islam! # Islamophobia and #Racism!” al-Shayji tweeted.

Al-Shayji, who appears regularly on Qatari-owned Al Jazeera Media Network as an on-air analyst, received several criticisms following his tweet.

“First: The Somali al-Shabaab is a terrorist group, which is the branch of al-Qaeda in Somalia, and it appeared in conjunction with the terrorist organization ISIS and bears the same slogan. Second: The phrase ‘they treated her with respect’ is polishing a terrorist group. Third: Turkish mediation is evidence of Turkey’s support and financing for the group and the close link between them,” twitter user @sara369q8 wrote.

“Yesterday, in Somalia, Turkish intelligence freed a hostage from the Somali terrorist movement Al-Shabab … Action film.. !! In Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, Qatar pays hundreds of millions to free “hostages” .. !! Financing terrorism through the guise of hostages is a Qatari and Turkish specialty!” twitter user Abdullah al-Mutairi wrote.

Last summer, allegations of Qatari complicity in an extremist attack in Somalia caused an outcry after an audio recording obtained by the New York Times showed Khalifa Kayed al-Muhanadi – a businessman linked to the Qatari emir – telling Qatari ambassador Hassan bin Hamza Hashem that “our friends were behind the last bombings.” Al-Muhanadi was referring to a suicide bombing in Bosaso in northern Somalia which wounded at least eight people last May.

Qatar’s track-record of playing the mediator role between governments and terrorist groups across the world in countries like Iraq and Syria has landed the country in hot water over the years with accusations that its policy of paying ransom to terrorist groups is an indirect method of terror financing.

American journalist Theo Padnos, an American journalist who was abducted in Syria by al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front militants in 2012, spoke to Al Arabiya in 2018 on how Qatar’s efforts to secure his release in 2014 left him with concerns over the Gulf state’s funding of terrorism.

Padnos said he was left with the impression that the process of hostage-taking and paying ransom money was a way in which Qatar was able to fund Nusra Front indirectly.

“During my imprisonment, I learned that there were negotiations between members of Nusra Front and a Qatari ambassador … I came out with the impression that hostage-taking and paying ransom to release the hostages is a way for Qatar to fund Nusra Front,” Padnos said at the time.

The Yemeni army announced that tens of Houthi militias were killed and injured in clashes in Al-Bayda governorate, like reported by aa.com.tr.

According to the army’s SeptemberNet website, Houthi rebels attacked the northern Qaniyah front, which triggered clashes between the two sides.

No further details were provided on the casualties.

It also said that the rebels attacked army positions on the Nihm front northeast of the capital Sana’a but were repelled. There were no casualties in the attacks, it added.

The Houthis have yet to comment on the incidents.

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including Sana’a. The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

Since then, tens of thousands of Yemenis, including numerous civilians, are believed to have been killed in the conflict, while another 14 million are at risk of starvation, according to the UN.

Kurdish-led and international coalition forces raided Islamic State (IS) positions yesterday in eastern Syria — a site of recent IS activity, like reported by al-monitor.com.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) carried out an operation in Deir ez-Zor on Wednesday night. They were supported by Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, the official name of the US-led international coalition against IS in Syria and Iraq. The raid led to the arrest of an IS fighter, the coalition spokesman Col. Myles Caggins said on Twitter today.

The coalition supports the multiethnic SDF, which is led by the Kurdish group the People’s Protection Units (YPG), but also includes Arab and Syriac Christian divisions. The SDF said the arrested IS fighter was being questioned. The operation took place in a rural area in the east of Deir ez-Zor province, the SDF said on Twitter.

Deir Ezzor 24, a local media outlet covering the province, said the raid by the SDF and the coalition took place late Wednesday evening in the village of Azzir. The coalition used helicopters and soldiers stormed a house; two IS members blew themselves up to avoid arrest and an Iraqi IS fighter was arrested, the outlet reported, citing an unnamed correspondent.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said that a Syrian man was arrested and that the SDF ordered people in the village to stay inside during the raid. The observatory said it could not determine whether he was an IS member.

IS lost its last official territory in Syria in March 2019 when the SDF captured Baghouz in Deir ez-Zor. IS lost its last territory in Iraq in late 2017. It continues to carry out small-scale shootings and bombings in both countries, though.

Recently, IS has increased its activity as the region grapples with the coronavirus. In Iraq, which borders Deir ez-Zor borders, IS launched a series of dayslong assaults on Iraqi security forces this week, including attacks relatively close to Baghdad. In April, as Iraq was under lockdown, IS started attacking security forces directly, in contrast with its previous attacks on small villages.

In Syria, Deir ez-Zor province is one of the centers of IS’ recent activity. The group has increased attacks, executions and bombings in the desert in the east of the province. A military source close to the Syrian government told Al-Monitor last month that the group has heavy weaponry and explosives there.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported today that IS gunmen opened fire on an SDF military vehicle in Baghouz, killing two SDF soldiers. The observatory also reported today that IS attacked government forces’ military vehicles in the southern part of Deir ez-Zor province, killing 11.

Deir ez-Zor has also experienced recent unrest with demonstrations against the SDF. Some in the mostly Arab area feel the Kurdish-led SDF neglects services and steals fuel in the energy-rich area. One journalist told Al-Monitor in March that many residents are frustrated with the regular raids and arrests there.

A fuel tanker bomb has killed at least 46 killed including at least six Turkey-backed opposition fighters on Tuesday in a northern Syrian city controlled by Ankara’s proxies, a war monitor said according to aawsat.com.

“At least 4″ people had been killed and 50 wounded, some critically, when an explosive device inside a fuel truck exploded in a market” in Afrin, said Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

He said the death toll could climb as some of the wounded were in critical condition.

Syrian activists said the blast burned several people to death, including some who were stuck inside their vehicles.

In a hospital yard, 10 charred bodies were covered with blankets next to ambulances. In an ambulance nearby, two charred bodies were inside, according to videos and photos circulated by activists.

The blast set several cars and shops on fire and tanker trucks were used to fight the blaze.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast, one of the largest to rock Afrin since Turkish troops and allied opposition factions seized the region from Kurdish forces in March 2018 after a two-month air and ground offensive.

In January, at least seven people were killed in a car bomb in Azaz, another northern city held by pro-Turkey forces, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

The Syrian conflict has killed more than 380,000 people since 2011 and forced more than half of the country’s pre-war population from their homes.

Seven people were killed in Israeli airstrikes Monday morning on the outskirts of Damascus, a report released Monday claims according to inn.com.

According to the report, which was released by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based organization which monitors military activities in Syria, four pro-Iranian militia members and three civilians were killed in the Israeli airstrikes. No information was provided regarding the nationalities of the pro-Iranian militiamen.

Syria claimed that three people were killed by Israeli missiles fired at southern and southwest Damascus, from the vicinity of Al-Kiswa to Sahnaya, in a predawn operation Monday morning.

Syria’s state media outlet, SANA, confirmed that three civilians were killed and four more wounded by shrapnel from Israeli missiles fired during a predawn airstrike Monday. No mention was made of the four combatants who the SOHR report claimed were also killed.

“Three civilians were martyred and four others wounded, including a child, because shrapnel from Israeli missiles fell on houses,” SANA claimed.

But the SOHR disputed the Syrian government’s claim the civilians were harmed by shrapnel from Israeli missiles, saying it was unclear if the shrapnel had come from the missiles launched by Israeli warplanes or from Syria’s air defense network.

“It is still unknown whether the shrapnel was caused by the Israeli missiles or by the Syrian regime’s air defense missiles.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported Monday morning that the Israeli strikes targeted an Iranian stronghold in the Damascus area used to house Iranian forces stationed in Syria, along with pro-Iranian militias and members of the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, which is aligned with Iran.

“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored before dawn today, Monday, violent explosions that struck the capital Damascus and its surroundings, as a result of a new Israeli air bombardment, targeting areas in south and southwest of Damascus, where there are headquarters and sites for Iranian forces and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, along with Syrian and non-Syrian militias loyal to [Iran].”

Several buildings used as headquarters for Iranian operations in the area were destroyed in the airstrike, the SOHR report added.

“The Israeli air strikes on the countryside of the capital, Damascus, targeted locations and headquarters of the militias loyal to Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah in the area from Kiswa to Sahnaya in the southwestern countryside of Damascus, which led to the death of at least four of those forces, whose identity is not known. In addition, several headquarters [buildings] were destroyed there.”

Earlier on Monday, SANA reported that Israeli aircraft operating out of Lebanese airspace fired missiles at southern Damascus at 4:55 a.m. Monday morning.

The report claimed that Syria’s air defense network managed to down some of the incoming missiles.

The airstrikes came just hours after Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett (Yamina) hinted at possible Israeli actions against Iranian forces in Syria.

“Keep your ears open to what you see and hear,” Bennett said at a press conference Sunday.

“We aren’t just continuing our work preventing Iran from entrenching itself in Syria, we’ve moved decisively from preventative action to forcing [Iranian forces] out.”

Last week, Syrian media reported that Israeli aircraft carried out an air strike near the city of Palmyra in central Syria.

According to the reports, the country’s air defense system was activated, and the Syrian army managed to intercept several missiles with anti-aircraft fire.

That air strike came five days after an air strike attributed to Israel targeted a Hezbollah vehicle traveling on the Beirut-Damascus road and transferring weapons from Lebanon to Syria.

The reports claimed the attack was carried out by a drone near the border between the countries.

Last month, Syrian media claimed that Israeli aircraft fired missiles from Lebanese skies towards an area near the city of Homs in western Syria.

President Donald Trump said on Twitter he has given orders for the US Navy to “shoot down and destroy” any Iranian gunboats found to be harassing US ships, like reported by itv.com.

The directive comes a week after the US Navy reported a group of Iranian boats made “dangerous and harassing approaches” to American vessels in the Persian Gulf.

Mr Trump did not cite a specific Iranian provocation in his tweet or provide details.

Senior Pentagon officials gave no indication that Mr Trump had directed a fundamental change in military policy on Iran.

“The president issued an important warning to the Iranians,” David Norquist, the deputy secretary of defence, said at a Pentagon news conference when asked about the tweet.

“What he was emphasising is, all of our ships retain the right of self-defence.” He called the tweet “a very useful thing.”

Air Force General John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he thinks the Iranians understand what Mr Trump meant.

He said the Navy also understands that if an Iranian on a gunboat “has a gun and you point it at me”, that can be interpreted as an expression of hostile intent that may be answered with US force.

In the tweet, Mr Trump said: “I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.”

Asked whether the tweet means a repeat of last week’s incident in the Gulf would require a lethal US response, Gen Hyten said, “I would have to be the captain of the ship in order to make that determination.”

Gen Hyten said the nature of the response “depends on the situation and what the captain sees”.

Last Wednesday, the US Navy said Revolutionary Guard vessels repeatedly crossed the bows and sterns of several American ships at close range and high speed in the northern Gulf.

The American vessels included the USS Paul Hamilton, a Navy destroyer and the USS Lewis B Puller, a ship that serves as an afloat landing base. The ships were operating with US Army Apache attack helicopters in international waters, the statement said.

General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for Iran’s armed forces, accused Mr Trump of “bullying” and said the American president should focus on taking care of US service members infected with the coronavirus.

The US military had more than 2,600 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of last week, and at least two service members have succumbed to Covid-19, the disease the virus causes.

“Today, Americans must do their best to save those troops who are infected with coronavirus instead of bullying others,” Gen Shekarchi said, according to Iran’s semi-official news agency ISNA.

Shortly before Mr Trump’s tweet, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had put the Islamic Republic’s first military satellite into orbit.

That launch raised concerns among experts about whether the technology could be used to help Iran develop intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Gen Hyten told reporters it was too early to say whether the launch had successfully placed a satellite in orbit. “This is just another example of Iranian malign behaviour,” Gen Hyten said.

US Navy ships and Iranian Guard naval vessels occasionally have encounters in the Gulf that the US calls unprofessional, but they rarely escalate or include an exchange of gunfire.

Tehran views the heavy presence of American forces there as a security threat.

During last Wednesday’s incident in the Gulf, the US Navy said the 11 Iranian gunboats’ “dangerous and provocative actions increased the risk of miscalculation and collision … and were not in accordance with the obligation under international law to act with due regard for the safety of other vessels in the area”.

According to the Navy, the Americans issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio, fired five short blasts from the ships’ horns and long-range acoustic noise maker devices, but received no immediate response, the statement said. After about an hour, the Iranian vessels responded to the bridge-to-bridge radio queries, then manoeuvred away.

Iran claimed the US triggered that episode.

American commanders are trained to make nuanced and careful judgment calls about how to respond to incidents at sea.

Rather than immediately resort to the use of deadly force, commanders are expected to act based on the specific circumstances, including the threat to their own crews and adherence to the international laws of warfare.

Generally, as in the case of last Wednesday’s incident, warships will issue warnings by a variety of means, including via bridge-to-bridge radio, before taking more direct action.

Tensions between the nations escalated after the Trump administration withdrew from the international nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.

Last May the US sent thousands more troops, including long-range bombers and an aircraft carrier, to the Middle East in response to what it called a growing threat of Iranian attacks on US interests in the region.

The tensions spiked when U.S. forces killed Iran’s most powerful general, Qassem Soleimani, in January.

Iran responded with a ballistic missile attack on a base in western Iraq where US troops were present.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps announced Sunday they were increasing their patrols in the Gulf after their naval vessels had come close to US navy and Coast Guard ships, like reported by aawsat.com.

The US military said 11 IRGC vessels had come close to their ships in what it described as “dangerous and provocative” moves.

The Guards’ statement on Sunday, which said Iran will give a decisive response to any mistake by the United States in the Gulf, provided the first confirmation of the incident.

The Guards also said it would secure the passage of Iranian ships and combat fuel smuggling.

“We advise the Americans to follow international regulations and maritime protocols in the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and to refrain from any adventurism and false and fake stories,” the statement said.

“They should be assured that the Revolutionary Guards navy and the powerful armed forces of Iran sees the dangerous actions of foreigners in the region as a threat to national security and its red line and any error in calculation on their part will receive a decisive response.”

The US military statement said the Iranian vessels approached six US military ships conducting integration operations with Army helicopters in international waters.

At one point, the Iranian vessels came within 10 yards of the US Coast Guard cutter Maui, the US military said.

In its statement the Guards navy denied the US military’s account of the incident and said the US had acted unprofessionally.

While such incidents occurred occasionally a few years ago, they had stopped. But tensions between the two states spiked this year after the United States killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, in a drone strike in Iraq.

Iran retaliated on January 8 with a rocket attack on Iraq’s Ain al-Asad base, where US forces were stationed. No US troops were killed or faced immediate bodily injury, but more than 100 were later diagnosed with traumatic brain injury.

The Digital Media Center in Iraq revealed an increase in the number of accounts belonging to the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) and their supporters on social media platforms, especially Facebook, like reported by zerohedge.com.

The center said in a press release that “this return came during the past months that accompanied the coronavirus pandemic and led to a delay in the response of Facebook’s support to delete accounts.”

“The members of ISIS and those who support them took advantage of the opportunity and started creating new accounts or reactivating old accounts, and they published and promoted their terrorist operations through the platform,” Iraqi media monitoring watchdog said.

The Center warned users not to interact with these posts even if it was criticizing them through comments or sharing them, which leads to unintentionally free promotion.

The official government-run Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service also echoed the warning, alerting the public to the “growing number of accounts of ISIS members and supporters on social media platforms, especially Facebook.”

In January of this year, a United Nations warning was issued as follows:

Islamic State has begun to reassert itself in its heartlands in the Middle East and continues to seek opportunities to strike in the west, the United Nations has said.

A report to the UN security council based on recent intelligence from member states describes how the group is mounting increasingly bold insurgent attacks in Iraq and Syria, calling and planning for the breakout of its fighters from detention facilities and exploiting the weaknesses of local security forces.

The report portrays an organisation that has suffered significant setbacks but is tenacious, well-funded and still poses a considerable local and international threat.

Iraq’s counter-terrorism forces further called on users to make “the necessary concerted efforts to counter the terrorist tide through extensive reporting of these accounts so that Facebook closes them.”

Vehicles in a convoy belonging to a Hezbollah Islamic organization commander were attacked on the Syrian side of the Syria-Lebanon border by an Israeli UAV that fired two missiles at it. According to some reports there was damage but no casualties, as the target was able to escape before the blast, like reported by inn.com.

Arab media reported Wednesday a targeted air strike against a Hezbollah vehicle traveling on the Beirut-Damascus road and transferring weapons from Lebanon to Syria. Reports attribute the attack to the Israeli Air Force, claiming it was carried out by a drone near the border between the states. Reports in most Arab media indicate that there are apparently no casualties.

A commander of forces supporting the Assad regime and a security source told Reuters there were no casualties in the incident because the car passengers had managed to escape before the blast. A Hezbollah official who spoke to AP said there were two passengers in the car. He said the first missile exploded near the car while the second missile was launched at the vehicle after the driver fled.

A Syrian human rights organization reported the vehicle attacked was a military jeep belonging to Hezbollah. According to the report, the Israeli UAV fired two missiles at a jeep in the area, and the vehicle sustained heavy damage. The tracking center claimed not to know what happened to the car passengers. It was also reported that it may be a vehicle belonging to Hezbollah. The attack occurred at an unusual time for attacks attributed to Israel that usually occur during the night.

The IDF announced last week on Arabic platforms that even during the coronavirus crisis, the new Syrian Army 1st Brigade commander, Lua Ali Ahmed Assad, continues to help the Hezbollah Islamic organization to entrench on the Golan Heights front. In the video posted, the brigade commander is seen on a front-line tour that included a visit to known Hezbollah sites with Hezbollah’s southern head commander Haj Hashem.

“Hezbollah’s establishment in Syria and the Golan Heights in particular is intended to enable the organization to produce hostile infrastructure against the State of Israel and does so in cooperation and under the auspices of the Syrian regime; we will not allow this establishment,” said IDF Spokesman in Arabic Avihai Edrei.

U.S.-backed forces in Syria arrested members of four Islamic State cells in recent raids, while an Iraqi operation Monday destroyed an ISIS hideout and killed nearly two dozen militants, officials said according to stripes.com.

In two operations supported by coalition aircraft over 72 hours, Syrian Democratic Forces apprehended four “elements of the active cells” in Deir al-Zour province, a hotbed of ISIS activity in the country’s northeast, the Kurdish-led group said on Twitter.

The raids were part of an ongoing effort to “combat and tighten the noose on ISIS activities,” it said.

The operations were a sign of the competence and commitment of the anti-terror commandos, said Col. Myles B. Caggins III, spokesman for the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve.

“The Coalition continues to support the SDF for anti-ISIS operations by sharing intelligence and providing eyes-in-the-sky, while we all face the challenge of preventing the spread of COVID-19,” he said in a text message late Monday.

Though it’s been more than a year since ISIS was ousted from its last territorial stronghold, the group continues to wage an insurgency in both countries, carrying out assassinations, kidnappings and bombings.

In Iraq, security forces fought an ISIS sleeper cell for hours in Kirkuk province, the latest in a series of recent clashes.

Coalition aircraft conducted strikes, helping destroy a “terrorist den” in the rugged al-Shai Valley and kill 23 militants, Iraq’s security media cell said on Facebook. One security forces member was killed and at least four others wounded, it said.

The coalition has continued to support anti-ISIS operations with combat support and intelligence assistance, despite withdrawing hundreds of trainers after the coronavirus outbreak there led the government to pause military training.

Inherent Resolve has also been consolidating its troops on larger bases and building up defenses against the growing threat of attack from Iran or its Shiite militia proxies. Officials have seen a spike in disinformation and threatening messages online, Caggins said last week.

Meanwhile, concerns over the spreading coronavirus pandemic may have distracted forces on both sides of the Syrian battlefield, said Robin Fleming, a researcher with the Rojava Information Center, in a report last week that found anti-ISIS operations had declined sharply in March, with just three confirmed arrests for the whole month, compared to 96 in February.

ISIS attacks also fell, the independent activist group in northeastern Syria reported. Deaths from assassinations were down about two-thirds, but the group was still distributing fliers throughout Deir al-Zour province earlier this month, threatening anyone working with the civil authorities or SDF in northeastern Syria, Fleming said.

The coalition provided hospitals and SDF-run prisons with about $1.2 million in medical equipment and riot gear late last month, citing the need to bolster both the COVID-19 response and the detention of alleged ISIS members, who it said would likely try to exploit any weakness and resurge.

Days after the supply delivery, coalition aircraft aided the SDF in suppressing a riot where alleged ISIS fighters had attempted a prison break.