Video: 20 Hezbollah fighters killed in Qusayr as Syrian troops fight rebels

Free Syrian Army fighters run to avoid a sniper in Aleppo’s Salaheddine neighbourhood.

Around 20 Hezbollah fighters have been reportedly killed in the Syrian town of Qusayr late on Sunday, sources told Al Arabiya, following clashes between Syrian rebels and regime forces who attempted to enter the town earlier in the day.

Sources also told Al Arabiya that tens of Hezbollah members were wounded during the fight and had been taken to hospitals in Beirut, Lebanon for treatment.

Meanwhile, sources said that Hezbollah official Fady al-Jazzar was reportedly among those killed. Al-Jazzar is considered to be a high ranking Hezbollah officer and was imprisoned in Israel until he returned to Lebanon in a prisoner-exchange deal.

News on his death came after contact was lost with the group that was under his command, Al Arabiya said.

Hezbollah denies taking part in Syria’s two-year conflict – which has killed at least 80,000 people, according to the U.N. However, the group – an ally of the Syrian regime – has held regular funerals of Hezbollah fighters, who – it said – were killed serving their “jihadi duties.”

Earlier in the day, Syrian State TV reported that Syrian troops had entered the center of the rebel stronghold of Qusayr, seizing the town’s main square and its municipality building.

However, Hadi Abdullah, a Syrian activist speaking from Qusayr, denied to Al Arabiya that the town had fallen into the hands of regime forces. The activist added that with support from Hezbollah militias, the Syrian regime is heavily shelling Qusayr, leveling civilian homes.

Syrian activists told Al Arabiya that regime airstrikes and heavy shelling of the strategic town, near the Lebanese border killed at least 58 people and left hundreds wounded, including opposition fighters.

Qusayr is home to about 20,000 residents and has been besieged for weeks by government troops.

Earlier in May, spokesperson of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) Louay Almokdad told Al Arabiya that Hezbollah was using artillery shells containing fatal Mustard Gas in the area.

The town is strategically important because it links Damascus with the coast, where regime loyalists are concentrated.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, also reported intense bombardment of Qusayr.

(Source / 19.05.2013)

Video: Tunisian police clash with Ansar al-Sharia supporters

Supporters of Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia clash with riot police at Hai al Tadamon in Tunis May 19, 2013.

Supporters of hardline Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia clashed with Tunisian police in two cities on Sunday after the government banned its annual rally and group urged its supporters to stand firm against the authorities.

Violence broke out in the central city of Kairouan, venue of the planned rally, and in a district of Tunis.

Clashes between police forces and Salafists left a 27-year-old Tunisian dead, three protesters and 11 officers wounded, according to media reports.

In Kairouan, around 11,000 police officers and soldiers blocked an annual conference Sunday where tens of thousands of members of Ansar al-Sharia had been expected to gather. The group’s supporters threw stones at police, who fired teargas in response.

Police also prevented the group, which openly supports alQaeda, from holding a smaller religious meeting in the Ettadamen district of the capital Tunis. Clashes broke out with Islamists who chanted: “The rule of the tyrant should fall.”

Police fired teargas and shots into the air to disperse some 500 stone-throwing protesters, some of whom set fire to cars, lowered the Tunisian flag and replaced it with a black al Qaeda banner.

“We call on our brothers to gather in large numbers in the Ettadhamen district of the capital,” the hardline Islamist group said on its Facebook page.

Tunisia has been rocked by attacks blamed on militant Islamists since the uprising that toppled president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and Ansar al-Sharia is considered the most radical of the extremist groups that emerged after the 2011 revolution.

The government has hardened its position towards Islamist extremists in recent months, after the moderate Islamist party Ennahda was strongly criticized for being too lenient and failing to prevent a wave of violence around the country.

(Source / 19.05.2013)

Sinai hostages ‘can no longer stand torture’ call on Mursi for help

A video posted on Sunday by an anonymous account on YouTube appeared to show the seven hostages, blindfolded and with their hands on their heads, identifying themselves.

Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi on Sunday barred negotiations with the kidnappers of three policemen and four soldiers who appeared to plead for their release in an online video.

The abductions on Thursday in the Sinai Peninsula prompted angry police to protest and shut down border crossings with Gaza and Israel, piling the pressure on Mursi to help free their colleagues.

“There are no negotiations with criminals and the awe of the state will be preserved,” Mursi was cited as saying by the official MENA news agency.

A video posted on Sunday by an anonymous account on YouTube appeared to show the seven hostages, blindfolded and with their hands on their heads, identifying themselves.

One of the hostages was prodded by what appears to be a rifle held by an abductor off screen before another hostage says the kidnappers want the release of detained Bedouin “political activists”.

The hostage mentioned by name a Bedouin militant who belongs to an Islamist group called Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, a security source told Al Arabiya.

The militant was sentenced to death after a 2011 attack on a police station in the north Sinai town of El-Arish.

“We hope that you, president, quickly release the political activists from Sinai as soon as possible because we can no longer stand the torture,” said one hostage.

The policemen, who worked at border crossings, and soldiers were kidnapped at gunpoint while travelling to their homes.

Since the toppling of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, hardline Islamist groups in North Sinai have exploited the collapse of state authority.

Presidential sources told the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that the Egyptian army has urged Mursi to give them the “green light” to launch an attack operation against the kidnappers.

Mursi originally sought negotiations with the kidnappers to “avoid any bloodshed and further complicate the situation in Sinai,” sources told Asharq al-Awsat.

(Source / 19.05.2013)

Group: Israel to return seized land to Palestinian owners

 

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinian land appropriated over thirty years ago to build an illegal settlement is set to be returned to its owners, an Israeli rights group said Sunday.

The Israeli state informed the High Court of Justice last week that the land near Jenin, formally the site of Homesh settlement, will be returned to its Palestinian owners after Yesh Din submitted a petition on behalf of villagers from Burqa.

“Thirty-five years have passed since the land was usurped from its lawful owners,” Yesh Din lawyer Shlomi Zachary said.

“It is regrettable that it has taken so many years for the state to decide to observe the law and to return the usurped land to its owners. Our main concern now is to ensure that the landowners will actually be able to reach their land.”

The land was seized in 1978 by Israel’s military on the pretext of security needs, with the Homesh settlement subsequently built in the area.

Homesh was evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan, but the land remained a closed military zone and the original seizure orders were not nullified.

Settlers regularly return to the site and try to re-establish the settlement, locals say, with some attacking Palestinian vehicles and homes.

(Source / 19.05.2013)

PA forces arrest 4 Hamas supporters, summon 5 others

OCCUPIED WB, (PIC)– PA Intelligence services re-arrested the liberated prisoner Nidhal Daghlas few moments after his release from Jericho prison on bail. The liberated prisoner Daghlas was detained in Israeli jails for more than 5 years after the IOF demolished his home in 2000. He was also detained more than 10 times in PA prisons where he was subjected to severe torture. In Ramallah, PA security forces summoned the former prisoner Maher Mohamed Yusuf Shritah who declared not to respond to the summon threatening to declare hunger strike in case he is arrested. PA preventive services arrested the student Ibrahim Aruri at Birzeit University, in addition to the liberated prisoner Imran Sulaiman a student at Jerusalem University and summoned three other students. The Islamic bloc at Jerusalem University declared its intention to set up its protests till the release of the students. In Tulkarem, Preventive Security summoned the Engineer Abdullah Rassous for the second time in two days and arrested the dismissed teacher Hamza Karna after summoning him. (Source / 19.05.213)

Facebook activists commemorate the Nakba

GAZA, (PIC)– Facebook activists stressed that they adhere to their right of return and will continue to write about their country; despite the website administration’s ban on the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the Nakba on its pages. The Palestinian activists posted thousands of photos, maps and information about the Palestinian towns and cities from which the residents have been forcibly displaced. Professor of Mathematics at the Islamic University Mohammed Rify said “the Nakba represents an inevitable outcome of splintering of the Arab nation and domination of the rulers.” Cameraman Mohamed Osman says that he has sustained wounds two years ago in marches of commemoration of the Nakba, but he has become more determined to persist. The writer Ahmed Abu Ratima called on his facebook page for taking affirmative action in order to achieve the right of return. (Source / 19.05.2013)

Syrian army attacks rebel stronghold Qusayr

Reports say deadly assault on strategic town is aided by Hezbollah fighters despite denial by Assad of foreign help. http://aje.me/10F8dux

The Syrian army has pounded the rebel-held central town of Qusayr, killing at least 51 people in an apparent preparation for a ground assault, watchdog and activists said. The attack on Sunday came a day after a rare interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was released, in which he said that his government was not using “fighters from outside of Syria, of other nationalities, and needs no support from any Arab or foreign state”. There are now conflicting reports as to whether or not government forces have entered the town centre, with state TV reporting the army is inside the walls, but the opposition fighters telling Al Jazeera that this is not the case. Reports coming out of Qusayr, which is in Homs province, said fighters of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement assisted the military. Spotlight In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria Al Jazeera’s Nisreen el-Shamayleh, reporting from Amman, said that regaining control of the town was essential to pro-Assad forces. “We’re hearing that the military is getting help from Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon, which is a staunch ally of Damascus,” she said.   “The rebels are calling for more help and weapons to try to face the Syrian government [forces]. It seems like a very heavy offensive, that could turn into a ground assault, according to activists. If the military overpowers the rebels in Qusayr, “it’s a very strategic win, because the town connects Assad’s seat of power, Damascus, with the towns on the coast, many of which support him,” she said. Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut said that Assad would want control of Qusayr before the conference being planned for June to discuss a resolution to the conflict. “There are several different strategic, diplomatic, and political factors that makes Qusayr particularly important,” he said. “It is the heartland of the Alawite community, it has been used as a conduit for supplies, men and guns going in to Syria, and it is close to Lebanon. “Assad wants to make sure he is in the strongest position possible if this conference takes place.” Assad interview Our correspondent said that the death toll was likely to rise, as many people were critically injured in the onslaught, and that opposition fighters were reporting that most of the dead were civilians. The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, also reported an intense bombardment of Qusayr, which the Syrian regime has been trying to recapture. “A rain of shells on the city, at the same time as artillery fire and mortar fire from dawn. Homes were destroyed and burnt down,” the group said. The Qusayr district of Homs province has been the focus of fierce fighting between government forces and the rebels in recent weeks. Assad spoke to the Argentine newspaper Clarin and the Argentine state news agency Telam in a frank and lengthy interview in Damascus, released on Saturday, in which he insisted that he will not resign before elections in 2014.  http://bcove.me/i626ixlt Assad insists he will not step down He also denied that his government has used chemical weapons against the civilian population, and blamed foreign intervention for the crisis. His comments come amid a rare joint push by the US and Russia to convene the peace conference in Geneva, which he cautiously welcomed. “We have received the Russian-US approach well and we hope that there will be an international conference to help Syrians overcome the crisis,” Clarin quoted Assad as saying. “We must be clear … there is confusion in the world over a political solution and terrorism. “They think that a political conference will stop terrorism on the ground. This is unrealistic.” (Source / 19.05.2013)

Assad says he won’t step down

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview Saturday he won’t step down and will instead “face the storm,” raising new doubts about a U.S-Russian effort to get Assad and his opponents to negotiate an end to the country’s civil war.

In the Syrian capital Damascus, meanwhile, a powerful explosion went off in the Ruken al-Deen neighborhood, killing three people and wounding five, Syrian state TV reported. It said the blast was caused by a car bomb and that experts are dismantling other explosives in the area.

On the diplomatic front, Syria’s political opposition has said any transition talks must lead to Assad’s ouster. However, the Syrian leader told the Argentine newspaper Clarin in comments published Saturday that he won’t leave before elections are held in his country, and suggested he might seek another term.

Assad’s comments were the first about his political future since the U.S. and Russia agreed earlier this month to try to bring the Syrian regime and the opposition to an international conference for talks aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Such a gathering is envisioned for next month, but no date has been set, and neither the Assad regime nor the Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed coalition group, has made a firm commitment to attend.

The Syrian president’s remarks highlighted the difficulties the U.S. and Russia face in getting the two sides to agree on the terms of negotiations.

More than 70,000 people have been killed and several million displaced since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011 and escalated into a civil war.

Assad has dismissed those trying to topple him as foreign-backed terrorists. Many in the political opposition say the Syrian president and his inner circle cannot be expected to negotiate in good faith after they brutally suppressed peaceful protests.

In his comments Saturday, Assad appeared to play down the importance of any international conference, saying Syria’s future will be determined by its people and dismissing any possible role the U.S. and others might play.

“We have said from the very beginning that any decision about reforms in Syria or any other political action are local decisions and it is not permissible that the U.S. or any other state interfere in them,” he said.

Assad compared himself to the skipper of a ship riding Syria’s turbulent seas, saying “the country is in a crisis and when a ship faces a storm, the captain does not flee.”

“The first thing he does is face the storm and guide the ship back to safety,” Assad was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “I am not someone who flees from my responsibilities.”

An audio clip from the interview was posted on the Clarin website, with his Arabic comments dubbed into Spanish and translated into English by The Associated Press.

(Source / 18.05.2013)

Foreign Ministry clarifies stance on Syria

Syria stance not changed, Al-Assad has no place in Syria’s future says Foreign Ministry

 

 

A Free Syrian Army soldier from a Kurdish brigade with a flower at the end of his AK-47 in Aleppo

Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Kamel Amr has “expressed surprise” in response to media reports that the Egyptian stance on Syria had changed.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement on Friday clearly outlining the Egyptian position on the Syrian crisis, stressing that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his inner circle have no place in the future of Syria.

The statement asserted that Egypt has stood with the Syrian people since the start of the revolution and called for a response to “the legitimate aspirations for change and democracy through a political process leading to the transfer of power”. The ministry also pointed out that President Mohamed Morsi has repeatedly expressed his support for the Syrian people, most recently on a visit to Brazil.

The ministry’s statement said that Egypt has repeatedly expressed its support for Arab League efforts to pursue negotiations between the opposition and “representatives of the regime who have not stained their hands with the blood of the Syrian people”.

The statement also pointed out that Egypt has “actively participated” in international and regional meetings and initiatives to find a solution to the crisis, the most recent being Amr’s participation in a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Abu Dhabi last Monday. The ministry stressed that Egypt has “communicated intensively with all spectrums of the Syrian opposition, urging them to unite their vision and agree on a common negotiating position”. Egypt will intensify these efforts further in the coming days, said the ministry.

The ministry also highlighted that Egypt has proposed an initiative itself to help solve the crisis. Morsi proposed the formation of a quartet comprising of Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia in August 2012. In the last few weeks Morsi’s assistant on foreign relations and international cooperation Essam El-Haddad has travelled to both Iran and Turkey to discuss the initiative. El-Haddad said at the beginning of May that there would be a ministerial quartet meeting “soon”.

The statement from the ministry comes before a Friends of Syria meeting, which will be held in Amman on 22 May. Amr will participate in the meeting along with his counterparts from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

(Source / 18.05.2013) 

Tunisia heightens security as Salafists vow to defy ban

A police officer checks in the back of a van at a checkpoint near the police headquarters on a road to the city of Kairouan May 18, 2013.

Tunisian security forces deployed in strength on Saturday after Salafist movement Ansar al-Sharia called on its hardline Islamist supporters to defy a government ban on its annual congress.

There was a heavy police presence at tollbooths along the main highway from the capital to the central city of Kairouan where the Salafists have vowed to hold Sunday’s gathering, AFP correspondents reported.

Police were singling out for checks the private minibuses that ply between Tunisian towns, with special attention paid to men with beards, as sported by Salafists.

Inside the city, helicopters hovered overhead and police checkpoints were set up, while special units were deployed in the square facing the mosque which is the venue for the congress.

A local police officer, declining to be named, said: “We have taken all measures to ensure the meeting does not go ahead… We will not allow those coming for this congress to enter the city.”

Meanwhile, maps were posted on Facebook pages close to the Salafist movement locating the checkpoints and possible routes to avoid them.

Ansar al-Sharia had urged its supporters to travel to the venue in groups in a bid to get past police.

“We advise our brothers coming to Kairouan to travel in groups and not to be separated because the agents of the tyrant are blocking most intersections and provoking our brothers by showing their weapons,” it said on its Facebook page.

In Tunis, large numbers of police vans and army trucks were visible both in the city center and in neighborhoods regarded as Salafist strongholds.

As tensions mounted, a U.S. embassy travel advisory warned Americans against travelling to Kairouan, saying “large rallies and demonstrations are possible” if the congress goes ahead.

“There is the potential for disruption to traffic in the area of Kairouan and possible confrontations with security forces. The embassy recommends against all travel to Kairouan during this period.”

The Salafists have been blamed for a wave of violence across Tunisia, including an attack on the U.S. embassy in September that left four assailants dead.

Ansar al-Sharia is considered the most radical of the extremist groups that emerged after the 2011 revolution that ousted veteran strongman Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

The group’s fugitive leader, Saif Allah Bin Hussein, a former al-Qaeda fighter in Afghanistan, warned last week he would wage war against the government led by moderate Islamist party Ennahda, accusing it of policies in breach of Islam.

The interior ministry on Friday said Ansar al-Sharia posed a threat to public order as it confirmed the ban on the planned congress.

“We have decided to prohibit this gathering, which would be in violation of the law and because of the threat it represents to public order,” it announced.

Ahead of the ministry’s announcement, Ansar al-Sharia, which does not recognize the authority of the state, warned that it would hold the government responsible for any violence.

“We are not asking permission from the government to preach the word of God and we warn against any police intervention to prevent the congress from taking place,” spokesman Seifeddine Rais said.

Rais said more than 40,000 people were expected to attend.

The interior ministry retorted that “all those who defy the authority of the state and its institutions, who try to sow chaos, who incite violence and hatred will bear all the responsibility”.

It promised a tough response to “anyone who tries to attack the forces of order” and said the police and army are on “high alert to protect the security of citizens and their property”.

Radical Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir condemned the interior ministry ban but also appealed to Ansar al-Sharia to postpone the congress to avoid bloodshed.

“We say to Ansar al-Sharia that we consider it wise and a priority to announce the postponement of the congress, placing the whole responsibility for it on the government,” the group said in a statement.

Otherwise, “Sunday will be a day of bloody confrontation.”

The Salafists, who advocate an ultra-conservative brand of Sunni Islam, have been blamed for a spate of attacks on police in recent months.

(Source / 18.05.2013)