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Tag: Syria

  • Protesters Condemn International Inaction In Aleppo

    Protesters Condemn International Inaction In Aleppo

    BERLIN (AFP) – Protesters rallied in Berlin on Saturday (Dec 17) against the war in Syria denouncing the international community for failing to help civilians, especially children, in the besieged city of Aleppo.

    Holding banners saying “The children of Aleppo are calling you!”, or “Aleppo is bleeding and the world is watching”, around 900 people braved plunging temperatures to gather in front to the Reichstag, the German parliament building, according to police estimates.

    At the same time, another 1,800 people joined a second demonstration elsewhere in the German capital, police said.

    “What is happening there amounts to what is the worst in the world,” said Mahmoud Almizeh, a 19-year-old Syrian refugee who comes from Raqa, now the bastion of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militant group.

    Germany has opened its doors to some 600,000 Syrian refugees since the conflict began in 2011.

    Having arrived in Germany a year ago, Almizeh lamented that European leaders were “unfortunately doing nothing”.

    In Aleppo on Saturday, trapped Syrian civilians and rebels waited desperately for evacuations to resume from an opposition-held enclave of the city which has fallen to the brutal onslaught by Syrian government forces.

    Aleppo has been ravaged by some of the worst violence of the nearly six-year war that has killed more than 310,000 people.

    “We feel so powerless” about the tragedy facing the Syrians, said Anna Bone, a Berlin resident at the demonstration where another banner declared: “Stop murdering! Peace talks NOW.”

    “This powerlessness… this grief, it’s what brought me here today,” she added.

    Hundreds of protestors also joined demonstrations in France on Saturday in the cities of Paris, Lille, Strasbourg and Marseille.

    “It’s crazy that the world powers cannot intervene,” commented two protesters of Turkish origin, Hilal, 25, and Gulsan, 26, in Paris.

    Thousands of trapped civilians and the last remaining opposition fighters in Aleppo were waiting for evacuations to resume on Saturday, a day after the operation was suspended by the Syrian government.

    Meanwhile, in New York, the UN Security Council could vote as early as this weekend on a French-drafted proposal to allow international observers into Aleppo and ensure urgent aid deliveries.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Indonesia Police Chief Warns Of Growing Role Of Women In Terrorism

    Indonesia Police Chief Warns Of Growing Role Of Women In Terrorism

    National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said Friday that terrorist groups have developed a new trend of recruiting women to launch attacks in the country.

    “Using women to carry out acts of terror is becoming increasingly more popular with terror groups because women are seen as less suspicious,” Tito told the press on the sidelines of a ceremony at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta, adding that recruiting women for terrorism was not new in other parts of the world.

    The National Police have arrested three women that have been implicated in a foiled plot to bomb the State Palace. The women include Dian Yulia Novi, Tutin, alias Ummu Abza, and Arinda Putri. They are suspects for their roles in planning and preparing for the thwarted attack.

    The three women are affiliated with the Surakarta terrorist cell, which was reportedly planning to attack the State Palace under the guidance of Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian jihadist who is currently fighting for the Islamic State in Syria.

    National Police Spokesperson Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said that the police had anticipated involvement of women in terrorist groups in the the country but did not expect that women would take on direct and core roles in planning attacks.

    “Terrorist groups here are recruiting women to avoid suspicion when carrying out attacks. It’s a new strategy to deceive the targets,” Boy said.

     

    Source:www.thejakartapost.com

  • Walid J. Abdullah: Do Not Forget About The Concept Of ‘Justice’ In Islam

    Walid J. Abdullah: Do Not Forget About The Concept Of ‘Justice’ In Islam

    Lately, people have been emphasising the importance of the concept of mercy in Islam. Personally, i feel this is a great thing. I do wish at times that some Muslims would follow the example of our Christian brethren in underscoring love and mercy in their faith. Gentleness would undoubtedly be a better ambassador than harshness in most cases.

    Yet, one must be cognizant of certain realities. One who constantly talks about love and mercy, but chooses to remain silent when there is a need to speak of justice and condemn oppression, has very little credibility then when he/she champions the former qualities as essential aspects of Islam. It is only natural that people would question what his/her motives are when he reiterates love and mercy, but neglects justice or fairness.

    What, or perhaps whose, agenda is one serving when one engages in such cherrypicking?

    To paraphrase Professor Tariq Ramadan, when people with religious authority condemn acts of violence by the lay people, but are silent when dictators commit oppression, that is a sure way to drive more young people toward the path of extremism.

    It is indeed strange that some people harp on mercy, but ignore justice. Worse still are those who are quick to display harshness when Muslims are aggressors, but somehow suddenly find their merciful side when Muslims are victims, or when powerful people are doing the oppressing.

     

    Source: Walid J. Abdullah

  • Aleppo Residents Celebrates Liberation From Militants

    Aleppo Residents Celebrates Liberation From Militants

    The residents of Aleppo have taken to the Syrian city’s streets to celebrate the imminent official announcement of the city’s full liberation from militants.

    According to Syrian army officials on Monday, 99 percent of the formerly occupied regions of the city have been recovered by government forces, adding that the army is in the “last moments before declaring victory.”   

    “The battle in eastern Aleppo should end quickly. They (militants) don’t have much time. They either have to surrender or die,” said Lieutenant General Zaid al-Saleh, the director of the government’s Aleppo security committee.

    Press TV’s correspondent in the city says that there are reports of the complete liberation of Aleppo.

    Earlier, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the battle to liberate the city had reached its end and that government forces were making their final advances into the militant-held parts of the city. “The battle of Aleppo has reached its end. It is just a matter of a small period of time, no more, no less…,” said the group’s director, Rami Abdulrahman.

    He noted that the militants have now withdrawn from the last six neighborhoods they were using as hideouts in the city.

    Less than a month ago, the Syrian army started a wholesale push to drive the militants out of their stronghold in the city’s eastern side, making great strides in the process.

    Aleppo’s complete liberation from the foreign-backed militants would mark a significant victory for Syria in its nearly six-year-long campaign against foreign-backed militants. The liberation of Aleppo would deny the militants their main supply routes across the Turkish border while it would hugely undermine the morale of the militant groups.

    Daesh Palmyra offensive Aleppo diversion’

    Also on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Daesh’s latest attack on Palmyra was “apparently” launched from Iraq’s Mosul from “territories patrolled by the aircraft of the US-led coalition.” He added this “makes one think that – and I really hope to be wrong here — that it was orchestrated and coordinated to give a respite to those thugs, who are entrenched in eastern Aleppo.”

    He noted that the US had been using a conflicting policy towards the terrorists in Syria since the beginning of the conflict some six years ago, by battling Daesh but openly avoiding conflict with other terrorists groups.

    “There is a significant number of reasons to believe that [Al-Nusra] is being spared as the most effective combat-capable force, which opposes the governmental [forces] of the ground in order to be used for overthrowing the legitimate Syrian government when the time comes,” he added.

    While admitting that talks between Moscow and Washington over Syria are difficult, Lavrov voiced hopes that the US would stop exonerating the militants and commit to a “fundamental agreement” based on the “uncompromising struggle against terrorism.”

    In recent days, Daesh, the most brutal of the terror groups operating in Syria since 2014, has resurfaced in the ancient city of Palmyra in the west-central province of Homs.

    The group was driven out of the city back in March after holding it for some 10 months.

    Recently, it mobilized more than 4,000 terrorists, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency, re-entering the city of Palmyra amid fierce clashes with the army.

    Reports on Sunday morning indicated that Daesh’s attempts to re-enter Palmyra had been reversed, but various sources said later in the day that they had managed to force their way back into the city.

    Assad receives letter from Pope

    Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has received a letter from Pope Francis in which the pontiff voiced his sympathies for the people of Syria over the difficulties they had endured during the country’s years of conflict.

    The Vatican’s top diplomat in Syria, Cardinal Mario Zenari, delivered the letter personally to Assad on Monday.

    In his letter, the Pope condemned all manners of extremism and terrorism across the globe and especially in Syria. He also called for uniting all efforts to end the conflict in the country and to restore peace.

    Since March 2011, Syria has been hit by militancy it blames on some Western states and their regional allies. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and UN have put the death toll from the Syria conflict at more than 300,000 and 400,000, respectively. This is while the UN has stopped its official casualty count in Syria, citing its inability to verify the figures it receives from various sources.

     

    Source: www.presstv.com

  • Study: Indonesian Jails Are Breeding Grounds For Terrorists

    Study: Indonesian Jails Are Breeding Grounds For Terrorists

    Prisons in Indonesia, notorious for being overpopulated and under- staffed, remain a fertile breeding ground for pro-ISIS militants, according to a new study.

    These structural problems within the prison system will continue to defeat efforts in deradicalisation, disengagement and rehabilitation, say analysts from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (Ipac) in a report released yesterday.

    As a result, inmates loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are able to recruit and radicalise fellow prisoners with impunity, as well as direct attacks from behind bars, says the study by the Jakarta-based think-tank.

    “Prisons are overcrowded and understaffed, corruption is rife, and inadequate budgets make it easier for well-funded extremists to recruit inmates when they can offer extra food,” Ipac director Sidney Jones said yesterday.

    “No deradicalisation programme is going to be effective unless some of these issues are addressed.”

    There are more than 200,000 inmates in 477 correctional facilities across Indonesia, of which some 300 or more prisons and detention centres are overcrowded.

    The worst is a facility in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, which has more than six times its capacity, leading the warden to turn toilet areas into holding cells.

    Indonesia has about 16,500 prison officers, most of whom have not been adequately trained in areas including the handling of high-risk inmates. With these officers on different shifts in a day, only some 3,650 staff are on duty at any one time.

    This represents a ratio of about one officer to 55 inmates, making it almost impossible to closely monitor all prisoners, including 220 terrorist convicts.

    While the number of inmates in jail for terrorism-related activities is low relative to the total prison population, the stakes are far higher with these “high-risk” offenders.

    The risk is exacerbated with the rising number of terrorist convicts, with more than 120 jailed this year.

    The radicalisation of common criminals by pro-ISIS inmates in prison continues to be a nightmare for both the police and prison officials, according to Ipac.

    At least 18 former criminal offenders have been involved in terrorism cases in Indonesia since 2010, and most were radicalised in prison.

    In one case, an inmate was recruited after he was involved in fights. Two others were recruited because they wanted better food, or had found the tight-knit community of terrorist inmates appealing.

    Another factor in the radicalisation of inmates is the presence of jailed ideologues such as Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of the old Jemaah Islamiah terror network, and Aman Abdurrahman, who is said to have ordered the Jan 14 attack in Jakarta which killed eight people, including the four perpetrators.

    Both Bashir and Aman are known to have followers in and out of prison, and have played active roles in the radicalisation of inmates.

    Efforts have since been made to isolate the militant leaders to prevent the spread of violent ideology.

    The Ipac report also says there is “probably no alternative to isolating the most hardline extremist prisoners in one or two facilities with specially trained staff so that controls on visitors, communications and outside donations can be strictly enforced”.

    Meanwhile, lawmakers on Tuesday asked Parliament for more time to deliberate on proposed legislative changes to beef up the country’s anti-terrorism laws.

    These include allowing the police to hold suspects involved in terror attack plots for up to six months, instead of a week, as well as making it an offence for citizens to join militant groups such as ISIS overseas.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com