The main propagandist of the Daesh terrorist group in Syria has been killed in an airstrike by the Iraqi Air Force, which led to the demise of the militants’ propaganda network in Syria, Alsumaria broadcaster reported Thursday.

On Monday, the Iraqi command of joint operations against the Daesh in Iraq and Syria reported that fighter jets had attacked and destroyed a Daesh command post in the south of the Dashisha area in Syria.

The militant, known as Abu Baraa Shami, who headed Daesh propaganda in Syria, was killed in the attack, the Alsumaria broadcaster reported, citing a source in Iraqi intelligence.

The terrorist directed the production of video materials, including videos of massacres and torture, and the information structure of the militants collapsed after his demise, the source added.

Iraq carries out strikes against the Daesh in Syria when it receives intelligence about threats to its security. On April 19, Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Tahseen Khafaji told Sputnik that the airstrikes had nothing to do with the international US-led coalition.

Later that month, Fares Shehabi, a member of the Syrian parliament for Aleppo and chairman of the Syrian Federation of Industry, told Sputnik that Iraqi airstrikes on Daesh positions in Syria would be always approved by Damascus as long as there is a mutual agreement between the two countries on the matter.

US forces have in the past three months launched 17 air strikes targeting Al Qaeda in four separate governorates in Yemen, said the US Central Command according to thenational.ae.

Six air strikes against Al Qaeda in Yemen — known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) — were carried out in February, seven in March and four in April, said a statement.

It added that the air strikes targeted a training camp in western Hadramawt governorate and an AQAP checkpoint for asserting regional control and raising illegal revenue in Al Bayda governorate.

Other air strikes took place in Al Bayda, Hadramawt, Zamakh and Shabwah governorates.

“In co-ordination with the government of Yemen, US forces are conducting a series of counter-terrorism operations against AQAP and ISIS-Yemen,” said Lt Col Earl Brown, a US Central Command spokesman.

“We will continue to disrupt and degrade the ability of AQAP to plan attacks, confronting threats before they reach our borders.”

Saudi Arabia state security said Wednesday that it has added 10 Hezbollah militia leaders to its terror list, five of whom are the Lebanese militia’s Shoura Council members, like reported by albawaba.com.

In a statement, Saudi Arabian state security said that its centre dedicated to fighting terror funding will persue Hezbollah leadership, their properties and finances.

The statement added that Gulf countries have listed ten members of the militia, considered a terror group in the region, and four entities on its terror list.

The Saudi Arabian state security statement coincides with the U.S. treasury department adding fresh sanctions against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his deputy earlier Wednesday.

Lebanese Hezbollah militia military and political wing, the statement reiterated, is a terrorist organization, and the militia and its main backer Iran are responsible for suffering in Syria and violence in Iraq and Yemen.

United Nations aid work for Palestinian refugees is a stumbling block to peace in the Middle East, hindering the integration of Palestinians who have lived in Jordan and Lebanon for years, according to Swiss Foreign Affairs Minister Ignazio Cassis, like reported by swissinfo.ch.

So long as Palestinians live in refugee camps, they can dream of returning home, he said in an interviewexternal link published in several Swiss newspapers on Thursday.

Five million Palestinian refugees currently live in such camps, with aid and protection provided by the UNRWAexternal link, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

The arrest of five key members of the Islamic State (IS) points to a steady encroachment on territory still held by the extremist group and a tightening of the noose around its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, like reported by al-monitor.com. Four members were reportedly captured near their home areas straddling the Syrian-Iraqi border. The two Syrians arrested had apparently not been involved with any of IS’ precursors, while at least one of the three Iraqis reportedly had a lengthy history with Jamaat al-Tawhid wal Jihad.

Questions remain regarding exactly how and when the men were detained, with media reports and official statements providing conflicting accounts. Their capture alive is nevertheless a boon for intelligence agencies, as cross-border airstrikes have been stepped up on the few areas still under IS control in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province. The area is roughly divided by the Euphrates River into international coalition-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) territory north and east of the waterway and Syrian regime and allied militias south and west of it, with the most sizable IS enclaves in SDF-held areas.

On May 9, Iraqi television broadcast a video that opened with the seal of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service and went on to showcase the men’s capture. Reminiscent of suspense-provoking film trailers in a style similar to that long used by IS itself to attract viewers and acolytes, the video includes footage of the five men during their time in IS followed by post-capture monologues, with the captives dressed in bright yellow prisoner uniforms.

The video ends with a photograph of Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, noting that he had closely overseen the operation. The video’s release only a few days prior to the May 12 parliamentary elections hinted at an attempt to boost Abadi’s share of the vote.

A statement posted May 11 by the Iraqi Security Media Center on a WhatsApp group with government officials and journalists working in Iraq said that all five men had been arrested on Syrian territory. At least one of them, however, the Iraqi Ismail Alwan Salman al-Ithawi, aka Abu Zaid al-Iraqi, had actually been arrested in February in Turkey. Iraqi intelligence allegedly lured the other four into a trap using Ithawi, according to the New York Times. The Times report included inaccuracies, however, claiming that four Iraqis and one Syrian had been captured in the cross-border operation instead of three Iraqis and two Syrians.

That the men were arrested by Iraqi intelligence — despite reportedly having been captured in SDF territory prior to being brought to Iraq, although some media reports claim they were lured into Iraq — and not by the SDF, which is proving to be much more lenient, means that they will presumably face the death penalty unless some sort of deal is reached on their cooperation.

Al-Monitor had been told a few months prior by a source from Deir ez-Zor that one of the men, Mohammad al-Qadeer, had been arrested by the SDF while trying to escape IS-held Hejin. The source had at that time expressed concern that the SDF might release him in exchange for a large bribe, claiming that this often occurred in the area.

The two Syrians, Saddam al-Jamal and Qadeer, more widely known as Abu Seif al-Shaiti, are from Deir ez-Zor. Jamal is from al-Bukamal, just opposite Iraq’s al-Qaim, where his family is said to have sought refuge for a period. Abu Seif hails from Gharanij, one of the three main towns of the Shaitat tribe’s ancestral land. Both had been with Syrian opposition groups in their area prior to switching sides.

In the Iraqi video, Jamal is the first of the men to appear. According to author and Deir ez-Zor native Hassan Hassan, he is the “highest profile captured alive, after Abu Zaid al-Iraqi.” Jamal had been involved in cross-border smuggling and other illicit activities prior to the Syrian conflict, sources from the region told Al-Monitor. His deputy in the Allahu Akhbar Brigade, which Jamal led, later went on to form a Turkey-based media activists group focusing on getting information out of IS-held eastern Syria.

As this journalist reported in 2015 in Al-Monitor, a “media activists’ group from eastern Syria that requested anonymity due to security reasons includes a man who used to fight with a Free Syrian Army group led by Saddam al-Jamal, who later joined IS. … Members of the group said that it had about 70 people inside Syria that pass on information.”

Al-Monitor has long been told by people close to Jamal that he allegedly joined IS to extract revenge against Jabhat al-Nusra, which opposed IS in their region at the time, after his brothers were killed by the group. Recent media reports have corroborated the account.

This reporter had met Abu Seif in 2012 when interviewing various opposition groups from the restive Deir ez-Zor region. At the time, he was lean, had a trimmed beard and a tattoo on his arm and wore a loose-fitting turtleneck. He kept company with two other men involved in opposition groups from the same area and a Russian prostitute in a rooftop hotel cafe. Less than two years later, he would allegedly become one of the main culprits behind a massacre of his own tribe, the Shaitat, at the hands of IS.

As this journalist reported for Al-Monitor in 2015 on the one-year anniversary of the massacre, “little international coverage was given to the mass killing of his fellow tribesmen at the hands of the Islamic State a year ago, in which as many as a thousand were slaughtered following an insurrection.

“A US Delta Force raid that killed Abu Sayyaf — a senior figure in IS’s illicit oil and gas activities, key financier and Tunisian national — in mid-May 2015 in eastern Syria briefly spotlighted the area near the valuable al-Omar oil fields, but little attention has been given to the tribes therein. … Between 800 and 1,000 mostly men are thought to have been killed in early August 2014 in retaliation for an anti-IS uprising. The revolt was conducted mainly by civilians after various rebel groups, including local Jabhat al-Nusra fighters, had withdrawn the month before.”

In the video, Abu Seif is obese and seems slow-witted, reeling off names of the various groups he took part in prior to joining IS.

As for Omar al-Karbouly, “[He worked] closely with Abu Moussa al-Zarqawi as a top-level leader starting in 2003,” Col. Moussa al-Karbouly, who now leads a local Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) in al-Qaim, told Al-Monitor. The PMU officer recounted having in 2008 arrested the man now in the hands of the Iraqi intelligence services.

He said he had spotted Omar in a market in Fallujah and “grabbed him and put a gun to his head, handing him over to the police there. But he bribed them to get out and then bombed my home.” Col. Karbouly had previously worked in police intelligence in al-Qaim, the border town native to both him and Omar.

The Iraqi Essam al-Zawbai was also among the captured. It is widely assumed that the men will be used to track down IS’ top leader — the Iraqi-born Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai, aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/05/iraq-syria-isis-leaders-security-baghdadi.html#ixzz5FelFAJyi

Three Al Qaeda militants who were driving in a vehicle in Yemen’s south were killed by a suspected US drone, Yemeni officials said according to thenational.ae.

The operatives were killed when an unmanned aircraft targeted their car late on Monday in the province of Shabwa, the Associated Press quoted the officials as saying. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press.

Al Qaeda’s strongest arm, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is present in Yemen and has carried out a series of deadly bomb and shooting attacks in recent years, particularly in the country’s southern regions and against the military that operates in support of President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi — who leads the internationally-recognised government.

The United States is assisting Yemen in its battle to defeat the militant groups, tripling its number of air strikes in the country last year against Al Qaeda. But, while the US and its allies have managed to somewhat defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the threat from the group and its extremist rival remains in Yemen.

The county was plunged into civil war more than three years ago. Al waeda and an ISIS-affiliate have exploited the chaos to expand their presence.

SDF fighters continue to advance towards the Hajin town as part of the Operation Cizire Storm, while ISIS gangs try to take advantage of the bad weather and lay down landmines to prevent the civilians they use as human shields from leaving the region, like reported by anfenglish.com

Having suffered heavy blows from the SDF, ISIS gangs are preventing civilians from leaving the region and using them as shields, as well as laying landmines across the region in an attempt to stop the advance of the Operation Cizire Storm to the east of the Euphrates River and along the Syrian-Iraqi border.

The final phase in the Operation Cizire Storm to the east of the Euphrates River and along the Syrian-Iraqi border against ISIS continues at full speed.

SDF fighters continue to advance towards the Hajin town as part of the Operation Cizire Storm, while ISIS gangs try to take advantage of the bad weather and lay down landmines to prevent the civilians they use as human shields from leaving the region.

On closer inspection, the landmines the gangs lay are seen to be TNT made. Expert reports say the landmines have been fortified to cause great damage to the environment if detonated.

ISIS USES CIVILIANS AS HUMAN SHIELDS

ISIS gangs are preventing civilians from leaving the clash zones to use them as human shields to stop the advance of the SDF. A source from the Susa village to the east of the Euphrates River stated that ISIS gangs prevent civilians from leaving the area.

SDF SPECIAL UNITS PROTECT CIVILIANS

SDF has formed special units to ensure the safety of civilians in clash zones, and continue with care so civilians are not hurt by landmines. Civilians are taken to safe zones. There were similar special units to ensure safety for civilians in the operation to liberate Raqqa as well.

Beşar Hemid Hisen from the special SDF unit for civilian safety said: “ISIS gangs laid down landmines to prevent the civilians from leaving and use civilians as human shields to stop the Operation Cizire Storm.”

Hisen said the special units he is part of work in the frontlines and form security corridors to rescue civilians and take them to safe zones.

Iraq captured five Islamic State commanders after its intelligence services lured them into crossing from neighboring Syria

Iraq captured five Islamic State commanders after its intelligence services lured them into crossing from neighboring Syria, Iraqi state TV reported Wednesday.

It described the five as “some of the most wanted” leaders of ISIS. They were named as Saddam al-Jammel, Mohamed al-Qadeer, Ismail al-Eithawi, Omar al-Karbouli and Essam al-Zawbai and were shown in yellow prisoner uniforms.

The New York Times reported that the group were captured as part of a sting operation carried out in coordination with U.S. intelligence. NBC News was note immediately able to verify that report.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said last month he would “take all necessary measures” against militants based in Syria. The Iraqi air force has carried out several airstrikes since last year against ISIS positions in Syrian territory.

Abadi declared final victory last December over the group, which overran a third of Iraq in 2014. But the militants still pose a threat along the border with Syria and have continued to carry out ambushes, killings and bombings across Iraq.

There are some 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq training the country’s military.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said Israeli jets hit “almost all” Iranian sites in Syria after 20 projectiles were aimed at Israeli territory.

Speaking at the annual Herzliya Conference, Lieberman said Israel had no interest in all-out-war but warned it would respond forcefully to any direct Iranian aggression on its borders, which he called “the new reality”.

“Iranian missiles did not reach Israeli territory but either fell in Syria or were intercepted by the Iron Dome,” said Lieberman. “No building, person or infrastructure was hit. We have hit almost all the Iranian infrastructure in Syria. They must remember that if it rains here (in Israel) it will pour there.”

Commentators suggested that the significance of the flare-up between the region’s two arch enemies came in its timing – hours after Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal his predecessor helped draw up.

Referring to Israel’s immediate military priorities, and offering clues as to what Israeli jets have been aiming at, Lieberman said: “We will not allow Iran to bring anti-aircraft warfare (to Syria) and close Israeli air space.”

IDF officials say Iran’s elite Quds Force is active across the border and that the Iranian Special Forces soldiers operate from Syrian military garrisons.

Lieberman said: “We have no interest in escalation but we must be prepared for any scenario… We are facing a new reality where Iran is attacking Israel directly and trying to harm Israel’s sovereignty and territories.”

Trump is far more likely than Barack Obama to give US military support to any Israeli action against Iran, and while Russian forces fought alongside Iranians in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad, Russia also has good relations with Israel.

But Lieberman said Israel would not be complacent about its relations with the US and Russia, saying: “It cannot be taken for granted that we have the ability to talk and consult with the two biggest powers at a moment’s notice.”

Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal, and his re-imposition of sanctions, will add further pressure to an already-struggling Iranian economy, which Lieberman said was “on the verge of collapse”.

Saudi Arabia’s air defenses intercepted two ballistic missiles over the capital Riyadh, state television said, the latest in a series of attacks claimed by rebels in neighboring Yemen.

Two explosions were heard in the city, according to an AFP photographer.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said Saudi air defences hours earlier had also intercepted a ballistic missile originating from Yemen and targeting Saudi Arabia’s southern city of Jizan.

Yemen’s Huthi rebels quickly claimed responsibility for attacking “Riyadh Dry Port and other economic targets” in the Saudi capital with Burkan 2H ballistic missiles.

The rebels also claimed the Jizan attack, via their Al-Masirah TV.

Riyadh has long accused its regional rival Tehran of supplying the Huthis with ballistic missiles.

Saudi Arabia launched a military coalition in Yemen in 2015, aimed at rolling back the Huthis and restoring the internationally recognised government to power.

The Huthis have in recent months intensified missile attacks against Saudi Arabia.

The latest salvo came a day after US President Donald Trump exited the Iran nuclear agreement, which he criticised for not including measures to curb Tehran’s ballistic missile programme.