Showing posts with label Arabs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arabs. Show all posts

Friday, March 21, 2014

DTN News - IRAQ UNREST: Dozens Killed Across Iraq As Militants Seize Village

DTN News - IRAQ UNREST: Dozens Killed Across Iraq As Militants Seize Village
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources AFP
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 21, 2014: Kirkuk — Militants controlled a northern Iraqi village for several hours Friday as attacks nationwide killed 27 people, including at least 10 policemen, amid a surge in bloodshed ahead of parliamentary elections.
The latest unrest comes barely a week before campaigning begins for the April 30 election due to take place as Iraq grapples with its worst protracted bloodletting since a brutal 2006-2007 Sunni-Shiite sectarian war in which tens of thousands of people were killed.
The unrest has been primarily driven by anger among the minority Sunni Arab community, which alleges discrimination at the hands of the Shiite-led government and security forces, as well as by the civil war in neighbouring Syria.
Shootings and bombings on Friday mostly took place in Sunni-majority parts of northern and western Iraq, killing 27 people and wounding more than 50, security and medical officials said.
In Sarha, militants mounted a coordinated pre-dawn assault on the village involving gunmen and a suicide truck bomb, and held it for several hours before Iraqi soldiers managed to re-take control, said a military source and Shallal Abdul, mayor of the nearby town of Tuz Khurmatu.
Sarha is near the town of Sulaiman Bek, which has been repeatedly targeted over the past year by militants who have sought to take control of the area.
The latest move is a small-scale version of the ongoing, months-long crisis being played out in Iraq's western Anbar province, where militants hold major territory.
Clashes first erupted early Friday in the Sarha region of Salaheddin province, between anti-government fighters and police manning checkpoints.
There was also an explosion at a bridge in the area, Abdul said.
Shortly afterwards, a suicide bomber set off a fuel tanker rigged with explosives near an army base where senior police and military officers were meeting, killing 11 people and wounding five others.
Among those killed were police Brigadier General Ragheb al-Timimi, his deputy Colonel Jawad Mohammed, and two other army officers.
- Suicide bomber hits funeral -
Elsewhere in Salaheddin, gunmen killed five policemen and wounded five in an attack on a checkpoint outside Samarra, while three other policemen were killed by a roadside bomb in Siniyah.
In the ethnically mixed northern province of Kirkuk, twin car bombs killed two people and wounded 26.
And in Anbar province, where militants have held key territory for more than two months, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral inside a mosque in provincial capital Ramadi, killing six people.
In early January, anti-government fighters took control of parts of Ramadi and all of nearby Fallujah, just a short drive from Baghdad.
Security forces have since managed to wrest back control of most of Ramadi, but a stalemate has persisted in Fallujah, with soldiers staying on the outskirts and periodically shelling what they say are militant strongholds.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Friday's bloodshed, but Sunni militants including those linked to the powerful Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant jihadist group are typically blamed for attacking security forces and carrying out suicide bombings.
More than 300 people have been killed so far this month and upwards of 2,000 since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures based on reports from security and medical sources.
Analysts and diplomats have called for the Shiite-led authorities to do more to reach out to the disaffected Sunni minority in a bid to reduce support for militancy, but with the election looming, political leaders have been loath to be seen to compromise.

 *Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources AFP
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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Wednesday, September 11, 2013

DTN News - 9/11 ANNIVERSARY: Obama Observes Moment of Silence on 9/11 Anniversary (Video)

DTN News - 9/11 ANNIVERSARY: Obama Observes Moment of Silence on 9/11 Anniversary (Video)
Source: K. V. Seth - DTN News & Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 11, 2013:  US President Barack Obama temporarily set aside his Syrian agenda to lead the US in a moment of silence to observe the 12th anniversary of 9/11, the worst terrorist attack on American soil.

 Families and friends of victims are also gathering near Ground Zero to remember those who died .

 The US has heightened security of facilities abroad for the anniversary, the White House said citing the attack that killed four US government employees in Benghazi, Libya, last year.

 Mr Obama, joined by first lady Michelle Obama and vice president Joe Biden and his wife Jill gathered on the South Lawn of the White House, where flags were at half-staff.

 They stood silent at 8.45am (1.45pm Irish time), the time on September 11th 2001, when a hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 smashed into the north Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Almost 3,000 people died in the terrorist attacks.

 “On September 11, 2001, no matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family,” Mr Obama said in a proclamation issued yesterday. “May the same be said of us today, and always.”

 The proclamation declared today as Patriot Day and a National Day of Service. US flags were to be lowered to half- staff, and the president called on the nation to observe a moment of silence at 8.46am and mark the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
The president was scheduled to participate in a separate ceremony later today at the Pentagon, which was hit by American Airlines Flight 77, the jet hijacked and turned into a weapon killing 59 passengers and crew and 125 people on the ground.

 Mr Obama also planned to participate in a service project in the afternoon in the Washington DC area.

 The Obama administration said in a statement that it has taken several steps to prevent another 9/11-style attack in the US.

 Mr Obama’s counterterrorism aide Lisa Monaco has been in charge of reviewing security measures in place for the anniversary, the White House said.

 Four Americans including the US ambassador to Libya were killed in an attack on a compound in Benghazi a year ago. The administration initially said the assault grew out of anti-Western protests. Later, however, it turned out that Islamist extremists launched the attack on the September 11th anniversary.
The administration was forced for months to defend its handling of the events at Benghazi, with critics charging officials deliberately played down the nature of the attack to protect the president’s re-election bid. The White House said its first reports were based on incomplete information. “The events of last year, losing four brave Americans - Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods - brought home the reality of the challenges we face in the world,” the White House said.

 *Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth - DTN News & Reuters 
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: Tanks Shell Syrian Town, West Piles On Pressure

DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: Tanks Shell Syrian Town, West Piles On Pressure
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada / AMMAN, Jordan - May 18, 2011: Tanks bombarded a Syrian border town for the fourth day on Wednesday in a military campaign to crush protests against President Bashar al-Assad, under mounting Western pressure to stop his violent repression of demonstrators.
Syrian residents wait for their relatives in Wadi Khaled as the Lebanese army secures the area near the Lebanese-Syrian border May 16, 2011. Credit: REUTERS/ Omar Ibrahim
Troops went into Tel Kelakh on Saturday, a day after a demonstration there demanded "the overthrow of the regime," the slogan of revolutions that toppled Arab leaders in Egypt and Tunisia and challenged others across the Middle East.
Assad had been partly rehabilitated in the West over the last three years but the United States and European Union condemned his use of force to quell unrest and warned they plan further steps after imposing sanctions on top Syrian officials.
Human rights groups say Assad's crackdown has killed at least 700 civilians. Authorities blame most of the violence on armed groups backed by Islamists and outside powers, saying they have also killed more than 120 soldiers and police.
"We're still without water, electricity or communications," a resident of Tel Kelakh said, speaking by satellite phone.
He said the army was storming houses and making arrests, but withdrawing from neighborhoods after the raids. In a sign that the army was coming under fire in the town, he said some families "are resisting, preferring death to humiliation."
Syria has barred most international media organizations from operating in Syria, making it hard to verify reports from activists and officials.
Prominent human rights lawyer Razan Zaitouna said the army and security forces have killed at least 27 civilians since the army moved into Tel Kelakh.
The state news agency SANA quoted a military source saying eight soldiers had been killed on Tuesday in Tel Kelakh and in the southern rural Deraa province where protests first broke out exactly two months ago.
It said five of the dead were killed when an "armed terrorist group" fired on a security forces patrol near Tel Kelakh, which is close to Lebanon's northern border.
The Tel Kelakh resident said artillery and heavy machinegun fire hit the main road leading to Lebanon overnight, as well as the Abraj neighborhood inhabited by minority Turkmen and Kurds.
"Most residents of Tel Kelakh have fled. Some remaining people tried to escape to Lebanon yesterday but the shelling has been too heavy," the resident said.
"Abraj residents have issued a call to (Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip) Erdogan to help them. But it is like the drowning hanging on to a straw," he said. Erdogan said last week 1,000 people have been killed in Syria's unrest, and has become increasingly critical of Assad.
TANKS MOVE INTO SOUTHERN CITY
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Tuesday France and Britain were close to getting nine votes for a resolution on Syria at the U.N. Security Council, but Russia and China were threatening to use their veto.
Syrian tanks also moved into a southern city on the Hauran Plain on Tuesday after encircling it for three weeks. Soldiers fired machineguns as tanks and armoured personnel carriers entered Nawa, a city of 80,000 people 60 km (40 miles) north of the city of Deraa, according to activists from the region.
"The governor (of the province) had announced that the troops have the names of 180 wanted men in Nawa, but the arrests are arbitrary," one rights campaigner said.
In a possible indication of the ferocity of the crackdown, villagers near Deraa have found two separate graves containing up to 26 bodies, residents said on Tuesday. Syrian authorities dismissed such reports as part of "campaign of incitement."
Deraa residents said tanks were still on the streets of their city and rights campaigners said the southern towns of Inkhil and Jassem also remained besieged. Mass arrests continued in the Hauran Plain and other regions of Syria, they added.
Protests erupted in the Damascus suburb of Douma, Syria's second city Aleppo, the town of Zabadani in the foothills of mountains separating Syria and Lebanon, the central town of Rastan, Hama and the Deir al-Zor region near Iraq's border.
Most were not large but rights campaigners said they were significant given the severe security clampdown.
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*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

DTN News: Gulf States In $123 Billion US Arms Spree

DTN News: Gulf States In $123 Billion US Arms Spree
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources including FT.com By Roula Khalaf in London and James Drummond in Abu Dhabi
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 21, 2010: The Arab states of the Gulf have embarked on one of the largest re-armament exercises in peacetime history, ordering US weapons worth some $123bn as they seek to counter Iran’s military power. A package of US arms worth more than $67bn for Saudi Arabia accounts for the largest single component of this military build-up, providing a huge boost to the American defence industry. The first phase of this agreement – soon to go before the US Congress for approval – is estimated at about $30bn. Anthony Cordesman, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that the US was aiming to achieve a “new post-Iraq war security structure that can secure the flow of energy exports to the global economy”. The arms sales would “reinforce the level of regional deterrence and help reduce the size of forces the US must deploy in the region”. The purchase of new weaponry comes at a time when many countries in the Middle East, home to two-thirds of the world’s proven oil reserves, are alarmed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions. They also fear that any Israeli or US military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities could provoke retaliation against them, or disrupt the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia will receive 85 new F-15 jet fighters and another 70 will be upgraded. Boeing will be the principal supplier, allowing the US company to strengthen its ability to manufacture advanced military jets, an area where it has been slipping under competitive pressure. A successor agreement is expected to provide for the upgrade of radar and missile defence systems and an ambitious modernisation of the Saudi Navy’s eastern fleet. “The Saudi aim is to send a message especially to the Iranians – that we have complete aerial superiority over them,” said a Saudi defence analyst. Other US allies in the Gulf are also involved. Theodore Karasik, from the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai, said that the United Arab Emirates had signed contracts to buy military equipment worth $35bn-$40bn. The UAE has received clearance to buy Thaad, a high altitude missile defence system being developed by Lockheed Martin. The UAE and Kuwait have each signed contracts for upgrades to their Patriot missile defence systems, developed by Raytheon, which cover lower levels of an air defence “curtain”. Elsewhere, Oman is expected to spend $12bn and Kuwait $7bn in the period until the end of 2014 on replacing and upgrading warplanes and new command and control systems, according to Blenheim Capital Partners, a consultancy that arranges offset deals. Oman’s package will include 18 new F-16 jet fighters and upgrades for another 12. This will benefit Lockheed Martin, reinforcing its position as the leading US manufacturer of warplanes. The total value of all US arms deals with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Kuwait is estimated at $122.88bn over the next four years. Grant Rogan, Blenheim’s chief executive, said that Middle Eastern and south-east Asian countries had traditionally bought arms on a one-off basis. But now they were replacing western Europeans as some of the biggest regular arms purchasers. “They are the big buyers,” he said.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
*In depth: Iran - Jul-22
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Thursday, July 29, 2010

DTN News: Arabs Meet On Palestinian Peace Talks With Israel

DTN News: Arabs Meet On Palestinian Peace Talks With Israel Source: DTN News / AFP
(NSI News Source Info) CAIRO, Egypt - July 29, 2010: Arab officials began crucial talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Thursday to decide whether he will begin direct negotiations with Israel amid pressure from the United States.
Abbas was expected to present the results of the US-brokered indirect talks the Arab League approved in May for a four-month period to the meeting of foreign ministers and representatives. Abbas has so far accepted holding only indirect talks with Israel, which has rejected his conditions for face-to-face negotiations. Thursday's meeting is expected to back Abbas's condition that Israel guarantee a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 war borders between the Jewish state and east Jerusalem and the West Bank. "The issue is not US pressure, the issue is what is in the Palestinians' interests," Arab League official Hisham Yussef, who heads Secretary General Amr Mussa's office, told AFP. "Their interest from their perspective is clear -- they want to see progress in the proximity talks and we support them." Abbas also wants an end to settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel acceded to US pressure to limit settlement building in the West Bank until September, when a moratorium ends. The Palestinian leader repeated his conditions on the eve of the meeting in an interview with Egyptian newspaper editors, the official Egyptian MENA news agency reported on Thursday. Abbas said he would tell the meeting that if there was "no serious vision relating to the 1967 borders and an end to settlements then I cannot enter direct negotiations. "When I receive the demanded guarantees which are the acceptance of the 1967 borders and an end to settlements... I will immediately enter negotiations," MENA quoted Abbas as saying. He said he was facing "pressures I have never faced before in my life from the American administration and the European Union and the secretary general of the United Nations," and added he would step down if he saw "matters are not going well." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is willing to meet Abbas to discuss all the core issues of the decades-old conflict, and has accused the Palestinians of avoiding engaging in direct talks. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told an Arab newspaper this week that US President Barack Obama told the Palestinians in a letter that he will help found a Palestinian state only if they begin direct talks with Israel. Abbas suspended direct negotiations with Israel after its offensive on the Islamist Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December 2008 in response to rocket fire. He has demanded that the talks pick up from where he left off with then prime minister Ehud Olmert, a condition rejected by Netanyahu's government.
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AFP News Headlines
Arabs agree to Israel-Palestinian talks

Arabs agree to Israel-Palestinian talks

AFP - 18 mins ago

CAIRO (AFP) - Arab officials agreed on Thursday to the holding of direct Middle East peace negotiations and left it up to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to decide when to start talks with Israel, the Qatari prime minister and foreign minister said. More »

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