Ukraine has drawn up plans for a potential military contribution to the fight against ISIS in Syria in a move that could also pit its troops against Russian forces in the Middle East, according to The Independent.

An options paper drawn up by Ukraine’s defense ministry is to be discussed this week during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who has been touring the world gathering support for the war against the extremist jihadist group, The Independent reported.

According to those who have read it, the paper – produced at the behest of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko – highlights the possibility of Ukrainian forces coming up against Russian forces in Syria, and details potential contributions.

A Ukrainian government source said: “We have prepared a range of options for our support against ISIS including in Syria, which could include troops. It could result in potential clashes with Russians.”

Ukraine’s battle-hardened armed forces would relish such an opportunity. Ukraine has four special forces regiments and a further unit of its Defense Intelligence Department – a total of 7,000 troops. It also has highly capable airborne troops, part of a mobilized army numbering 200,000, of which 40,000 are always on the country’s eastern front facing pro-Russian rebels.

In terms of Russian language skills and combating Russian tactics, Ukrainians are world leaders.

However, the article mentions that any troop deployment into Syria would be controversial in Kyiv, and require a parliamentary vote, with some arguing that Ukraine needs to focus on the rebels who pose a continuing threat in its east, despite the current military deadlock. It might also prove controversial in Europe.

A senior military source in Ukraine’s capital said: “I would see a lot of hand wringing at NATO in Brussels.”

unian.info

Houthi rebels struck the Al Anad air base with a ballistic missile, killing dozens of people and inflicting damage.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels carried out a rocket attack on Saudi-led coalition forces stationed at the Al Anad air base in the Lahij governorate, killing and injuring dozens of service personnel, a Yemeni military source told Sputnik on Sunday.

“Ambulances took those killed and injured to Al Houta and Aden. Most of those killed were Yemenis newly conscripted into the government’s army and Sudanese servicemen belonging to coalition forces, their positions were hit directly,” the source said.

The Al Anad air base, which contains an airport and Yemen’s largest training camp, is currently controlled by forces loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi after being captured from Houthi fighters in August 2015.

The Islamic State (IS) has recently executed a number of civilians across its territories in Northern Iraq, including a young Kurdish man in Mosul for allegedly cooperating with Kurdish Peshmerga forces against the jihadist group.

According to the Iraqi news agencies, IS militants executed a 17-years-old Kurdish man in a military base in their Northern Iraqi stronghold of Mosul.

Sources revealed that the victim was from the predominantly Shabak village of Bajrbog near Bashiq district, and he was abducted by IS some 20 days ago.

Since the northern province of Nineveh has fallen into the hands of IS in June 2014, the extremist group is conducting mass killings and arbitrary punishments against locals to spread fear in the area and, as a result, leave the civilians with no choice but obedience.

Elsewhere in Salahaddin province, nearly 17 youths received the death penalty by IS as they had allegedly killed an IS member, raised an Iraqi flag on a telecommunication tower in Shirqat district and cooperated with the Iraqi government against IS.

Local sources told to the Iraqi media that the insurgents hung the corpses from lamp posts after the executions.

basnews.com

Nine Americans have been arrested on terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia, part of a group of 33 suspects charged over the past week.

According to an unnamed source cited by the Saudi Gazette, four of the Americans were arrested on Monday while another five were arrested later in the week.

Fourteen Saudis, three Yemenis, two Syrians, an Indonesian, a Filipino, an Emirati, a Palestinian and a citizen of Kazakhstan were all also arrested last week.

About 62 Americans have been identified as having travelled or attempted to travel to join IS in Syria and Iraq.

Saudi Arabia has been increasingly clamping down on militant groups’ activities within the kingdom, particularly following a series of bomb attacks primarily targeting the country’s Shia minority.

An attack on a Shia mosque in the al-Ahsa district in the country’s Eastern Province killed four people on Friday and injured 18.

The suspect was listed by the Interior Ministry as 22-year-old Abdulrahman al-Tuwaijri, a Saudi citizen.

The Islamic State group consider Shia to be non-Muslims and have frequently targeted them across the Middle East.

Despite the kingdom’s Wahhabist underpinnings often being cited as the source of IS ideology, the group has sworn to overthrow the country’s rulers.

In response to the execution early in January of 43 IS and al-Qaeda suspects, IS released a statement threatening the House of Saud with “eradication”.

“The Islamic State always seeks to free prisoners, but we calculate that the ending of the issues of prisoners will not happen except with the eradication of the rule of tyrants, and then destroying their prisons and razing them to the ground,” IS reportedly said.

middleeasteye.net

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei awarded medals to IRGC naval commanders, following the recent arrest of US marines who trespassed into Iran’s territorial waters.

Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, the commander of the IRGC Navy, as well as four other IRGC navy commanders received Medals of “Fath” (Conquer) from Khamenei on Jan. 31, the leader’s official website reported.

Khamenei further agreed on rank promotion of the IRGC staff, involved in the operation over the request of the Armed Forces General Command Headquarters.

On January 13, the IRGC announced that ten US Marines, who had drifted into the country’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf and had been taken into Iranian custody, had been released after Americans apologized for the incident.

On Jan. 24 Khamenei received the IRGC naval forces who arrested 10 US sailors. He commended as timely and praiseworthy the “brave” move by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces in arresting the sailors.

The leader stated that the praiseworthy measure by the IRGC forces stemmed from their faith and courage and was taken in the right time.

trend.az

The People’s Protection Units (YPG) has warned the Turkish government not to violate its border strip with the Syrian Kurdistan or “the act won’t be without a response.”

In a recently released statement, the YPG claimed that the Turkish army regularly attacks the Syrian Kurdish forces with showing no respect to the borders between Turkey and Syrian Kurdistan.

The YPG warns the Turkish army not to violate the territories held by the Syrian Kurdish forces. It promised to protect their controlled areas against any offensive.

In case of any confrontation, reads the statement, the Turkish government must take responsibility over the issue.

After the Islamic State (IS) took control of a vast area stretched from north-western Syria to the south-east of the country, Syrian Kurdish forces maintained their authority in the Kurdish areas of north-eastern Syria.

The Turkish government, on the other side of the border, is apparently not pleased with the increasing influence of Syrian Kurds on its southern border strip because they are accused of having direct links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which is in military conflict with the Ankara government since 1980s.

basnews.com

ISIS has reportedly beheaded over 20 of its fighters in full public view for trying to flee a war zone in Iraq’s Mosul city, sending out a chilling warning to others in the terror group against desertion.

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) captured a group of its own militants who tried to escape the battlefront in Mosul city of Nineveh province, and executed them in public, Ara News reported.

“The dissidents were arrested at a checkpoint in the vicinity of Mosul on Friday evening. After being identified as fighters who have left their positions at the fighting front in western Mosul, they were transferred to the Sharia Court for prosecution,” a local source cited an ISIS “official” as saying.

“Subsequent to a brief interrogation, the Sharia Court decided to behead the dissidents on charges of treason,” the source was quoted as saying.

Observers said the beheadings were made in a bid to terrorise ISIS members who may leave their posts in the war-torn region.

The jihadis were beheaded in central Mosul in front of hundreds of people, mostly ISIS members and commanders, the report said.

“Witnessing the brutal punishment has caused a state of panic among the members of the group,” the source said.

ISIS considers jihadis who leave their posts without permission as traitors and enemies of its so-called Caliphate.

This is not the first time that ISIS has executed its own militants on charges of treason.

Earlier, it was reported this month that ISIS militants who lost a key town to Iraqi forces were burned alive in full public view by their own men after they fled to the group’s stronghold of Mosul.

Several Mosul residents claimed that when the black clad jihadists made it to Mosul, over 400 km north of Ramadi city retaken by Iraqi forces, they were set on fire in the town’s main square. They were reportedly made to stand in a circle and set on fire.

In December, the extremist group had beheaded ten militant fighters “convicted of high treason” for evacuating their post at the battlefront without the group’s permission.

In November, ISIS executed 73 militant fighters for escaping battles with the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Shingal (Sinjar) district in northern Iraq, the report said.
ARA News is an independent press agency reporting on local developments across Rojava, Kurdistan Region, Syria, Iraq and Turkey.

deccanherald.com

At least 12 people were killed and 40 others wounded when two explosions rocked a Shiite district protected by members of the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group south of the capital Damascus on Sunday, a security source told Xinhua.

The twin bombings rocked the sprawling Sayyidah Zaynab district in the southern countryside of Damascus, where a key Shiite shrine with a tomb of Zaynab, the granddaughter of Islam Prophet Muhammad, is located.

The source told Xinhua that the death toll could likely rise due to the number of critically wounded people.

The Sayyidah Zaynab tomb became a center of religious studies of the adherents of the Shiite sect of Islam and a destination of mass pilgrimage by Shiite Muslims from across the Muslim world.

On June 14, 2012, a suicide car bomb tore through that district, wounding around 14 people.

In mid-summer 2012, the district has become under frequent attacks and shelling by the ultra-radical rebels, who aim to attack the Shiite people due to their supportive stance on the Syrian government and their religious background about the Shiite-Sunni conflict.

As the district holds religious significance to the Shiite people, Hezbollah sent fighters to protect the shrine and manned checkpoints sounding it.

xinhuanet.com

The US-led coalition against Daesh has assessed that at least ten brigades of Iraqi security forces are needed to retake the city of Mosul from the terror group,

Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters.

“What we’re doing now is, in the process of building the force that will go to Mosul eventually,” Warren said. “We think it will be roughly ten brigades with anywhere from about 2,000 sometimes 3,000, it depends on the brigade how many people are in the brigade.”

Warren noted the coalition has trained about 20,000 Iraqi security forces, including police and Sunni tribal fighters, but wanted to provide additional training even to those they had already been trained.

“This is going to be many months before we see actual operations for Mosul begin,” Warren explained, adding that the main focus now is on training and building combat power.

Last June, Daesh took hold of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, and also managed to seize the largest dam in Iraq, which is now at risk of collapsing and causing a major humanitarian catastrophe.

Daesh is a designated terrorist group that is outlawed in the United States and Russia, among many other countries. The US-led international coalition against Daesh has been launching airstrikes against the terror group’s positions in Iraq since August 2014.

shafaaq.com

A fresh wave of energy has boosted Iranian foreign policy since Tehran has been freed of all economic sanctions as a result of its nuclear deal with the P5+1 group of world powers. The doors of Europe are now open to President Hassan Rouhani; he hasn’t hesitated to take advantage of this with his current European tour.

Rouhani was greeted warmly in France and Italy; business deals worth €17 billion were signed in Rome and his hosts even covered up nude statues that were in his line of sight, in case they would offend the Iranian leader. Pope Francis has referred to the deals as “a definitive step towards a more secure and fraternal world” and French officials, who had a significantly harsher approach in the EU3+3 negotiations, have now softened and are more open. “Trust needs to be built,” said an unnamed senior French diplomat shortly before Rouhani’s visit. “It’s like love. It is only the proof of love that counts.”

Plans were made for French President Francois Hollande and Rouhani to have lunch at a high end restaurant in Paris on Thursday afternoon, but they were cancelled after the visitor requested a halal and alcohol-free meal; the French officials refused, as it would have gone against their famously upheld secular Republican values. Rouhani was also met with a flood of protestors when he arrived in Paris, many of whom were of Iranian descent, after a worldwide campaign — #No2Rouhani — was launched, showing that the debate about whether Rouhani really is the “partner of stability” is live in most parts of Europe.

Under the watchful eyes of the international community, the EU3+3 discussion with Iran was a daunting process. Hawkish sentiments within each participating country’s domestic politics meant that the agreement was under a lot of scrutiny, and the balance between diplomacy and national security seemed almost non-existent at some points. Throughout the negotiations, Barack Obama was accused of only looking out for his legacy rather than his country’s security. The other criticism was that by only focusing on Iran’s nuclear capabilities, it will be harder to assess more immediate concerns that may lie under other aspects of Iran’s foreign and defence policies.

Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, the essence of pan-Islamism, which is a core value of Ayatollah Khomeini’s doctrine, has been the basis of Iranian expansionism in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The means by which Iran is doing this is by arming and supporting non-state political and military actors in the region, irrespective of sect. Generally, though, Shia groups have more of an ideological than tactical reason to accept Iranian support in return for their loyalty. In many ways, this has fed the current instability across the MENA region.

One only needs to look to Syria for the most obvious example of this strategy playing out. Being one of the most vital of countries as far as Iran is concerned, Tehran has a vested interest in ensuring that its ally Bashar Al-Assad does not lose power. Thus Iran supports Assad diplomatically, financially and militarily, both directly and via proxies; elements of the Republican Guards Corps are deployed in Syria, for example. Tehran is showing no signs of giving up its support for Assad, and is unlikely to do so in the near future, unless there is a replacement who can guarantee that Iran’s interests are secured.

In the context of the Iranian nuclear deal, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said that if any country imposes sanctions on Iran for funding terrorism, or for human rights abuses, the deal will be considered null and void. This has backed the world powers who want to sustain the deal into a corner; they must not only be cautious in the way that they address the defence policy of the Islamic Republic but also

refrain from speaking openly about Iran funding and supporting Hezbollah and pro-Syrian Army militants in the context of “funding terrorism”.

It’s important to remember that in Iranian politics, the president only has the power that the Supreme Leader allows. Above the president in the hierarchy is the Guardian Council and then the Supreme Leader; either or both have the power to veto policies that do not suit them, and to hold the president to account.

Iranian rhetoric changes when it changes president. Before the much-reviled Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the post-holder was Mohammad Khatami who, like Rouhani, believed in diplomacy and aimed to take Iran out of the isolationism that his predecessor had imposed on Iran. Iran’s presidential speeches and actions have an impact on the international community, but the West needs to keep in mind that Rouhani has not revolutionised Iranian policy in any way, nor has he made the international community a more “fraternal world”. Curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions does not mean that its military capabilities are less able to flirt with the power dynamics of the region. The doors have been opened for diplomacy and economic cooperation on the grounds of clipping Iran’s wings in only one aspect of its potential; this means that the international community must prepare for the consequences of the growth of Iran’s nonconventional and increasingly overt military capabilities. There may be nuclear agreements and business deals with Iran now, but what’s going to happen when the honeymoon period comes to an end?

middleeastmonitor.com