Tag: InternationalNews

{Families and friends mourn Zabihullah Tamanna and David Gilkey killed in a Taliban ambush in southern Helmand province.}

Tributes have pourned in for Afghan journalist Zabihullah Tamanna and veteran US reporter David Gilkey killed in southern Afghanistan when their vehicle came under Taliban fire.

Gilkey, a veteran news photographer and video editor for National Public Radio (NPR) and 38-year-old Tamanna were traveling on Sunday with an Afghan army unit near Marjah in Helmand province when the convoy came under fire and their vehicle was struck, the US network spokeswoman Isabel Lara said in a statement.

The 38-year-old Tamanna is survived by his wife and three children.

Two other National Public Radio (NPR) journalists travelling with Gilkey in a separate vehicle, reporter Tom Bowman and producer Monika Evstatieva, were unharmed.

Najib Sharifi, who is on the Afghan Safety Committee, told Al Jazeera that what has happened is an extremely heartbreaking situation for the media community in Afghanistan.

“These were two great journalists. Zabihullah Tamanna has been involved in the media since 2001 and David Gilkey has been coming to Afghanistan since 2001.

“He (Gilkey) was a great friend of Afghanistan and has a lot of friends here, as he has once said – he has more friends in Afghanistan than he does in the US,” Sharifi said.

“I was earlier with the family of Zabihullah Tamanna and everybody was shocked, the children did not even known their dad had died.”

Gilkey’s colleagues responded with shock at the news of his sudden death, the first time in NPR’s 46-year history that it has lost a journalist on a reporting assignment.

“David has been covering war and conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11. He was devoted to helping the public see these wars and the people caught up in them. He died pursuing that commitment,” said Michael Oreskes, NPR’s senior vice president of news and editorial director.

“Even though much of the world’s attention has shifted away, let no one doubt that Afghanistan remains a dangerous place for journalists – local and foreign – working to cover that protracted conflict,” said Bob Dietz, the Asia program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“There are too many journalists who have given their lives to tell the Afghan story.”

Prior to the deaths of Gilkey and Tamanna, 24 journalists and one media worker have been killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion, said the CPJ.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack and called it cowardly and “completely against all the principles and values of Islam and humanity, and against all international laws”.

In a statement, Ghani said the Taliban do not distinguish among the military, civilians and journalists, and that they killed Gilkey and Tamanna as the two were reporting on the war. He offered condolences to their families.

Ghani went to Helmand later on Monday to assess the security situation in the poppy growing region, which gives the world most of its heroin, controlled by the Taliban.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called the killings “a grim reminder of the danger that continues to face the Afghan people, the dedication of Afghan national defense and security forces to securing their country, and of the courage of intrepid journalists – and their interpreters – who are trying to convey that important story to the rest of the world.”

{Suspect held for attack on security office near Al Baqa’a refugee camp in which five intelligence officers were killed.}

A suspect has been arrested in the killing of five Jordanian intelligence officers at a security office outside a Palestinian refugee camp close to Amman, a government official told national media.

Government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani on Monday said the assault on the office near the Al Baqa’a refugee camp on the outskirts of the Jordanian capital was a “terrorist attack”.

Jordanian media named the suspect as Mahmoud Masharqah, who reportedly has been arrested and interrogated in the past at the same office where he allegedly committed the shooting.

He was arrested on Monday in al-Sleihi on the outskirts of the town of Ain el-Basha, not far from scene of the crime.

Prior to his arrest Masharqah was said to have drawn attention to himself when he entered the al-Anwar mosque and acted erratically. He eventually got into a fight with worshippers, who apprehend him. Pictures showed the man was bleeding and badly beaten.

As well as the three officers, a guard and a telephone exchange operator at the office were killed in the attack.

Baqa’a camp is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, where a large percentage of the country’s seven million-plus population are descendants of refugees who fled in the aftermath of the creation of Israel in 1948.

Husam Abdallat, a former senior government official, told Al Jazeera that the intelligence office is located on the main street leading up to the camp.

He added that its proximity to the Palestinian refugee camp might trigger discontent between Jordanians and Jordanians of Palestinian origin.

“We hope this is not the case, because Jordanians must stay united, especially in times like this,” Abdallat said.

Fight against ISIL

Earlier this year a large security operation was mounted in the northern city of Irbid in which several Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) sympathisers were killed.

Jordan has been carrying out air strikes against ISIL in both Iraq and Syria.

One of its pilots was captured by fighters when his plane went down in Syria in December 2014. ISIL later released gruesome footage of him being burned alive.

Jordan has also opened up the Prince Hassan airbase, northeast of the capital, to other members of the United States-led coalition taking part in the war against ISIL.

In March, Jordanian authorities announced that they had foiled an ISIL plot to carry out attacks in the kingdom in an operation that led to the deaths of seven fighters.

{Several people wounded in bomb attack on police bus in the central district of Beyazit, local broadcasters say.
}
A bomb attack targeted a police vehicle in a central Istanbul district, leaving several people wounded, the state television reported.

The remote-controlled bomb exploded as a service shuttle carrying police officers was passing in the Beyazit district of Istanbul, the TRT news channel reported.

Ambulances and fire engines were dispatched to the scene. Five people were injured according to initial findings, the Dogan news agency reported.

Turkey is on high security alert after two deadly attacks in Istanbul this year blamed on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, and a pair of attacks in Ankara that were claimed by Kurdish separatists and killed dozens.

The two attacks in Ankara were claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) – a splinter group of the better-known outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

{Israeli police deployed in Jerusalem to secure a march marking the seizure of the eastern half of the city.}

Israeli police deployed in large numbers in Jerusalem to secure an annual march marking Israel’s 1967 invasion and subsequent occupation of the Palestinian-dominated eastern half of the city, which Arabs call the “Naksa” (setback).

This year’s march comes as Muslims prepare to begin observing the fasting month of Ramadan, when many Palestinians visit al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City.

The Israeli march for “Jerusalem Day” on Sunday also plans to pass through the Muslim quarter of the Old City before arriving at the Western Wall, which is directly below the al-Aqsa compound, leading to fears of tensions.

On June 5, 1967, Israel invaded Palestinian, Egyptian, and Syrian territories at once.

Six days later, it had occupied the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights.

Since that day, the West Bank and Golan Heights remain illegally occupied, while the Gaza Strip has been crippled under a nine-year blockade that has denied 1.8 million Palestinians their rights to access medical equipment, clean water, food and materials necessary to rebuild homes, schools and hospitals destroyed in repeated Israeli bombardments.

Israel’s occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967 was never recognised by the international community.

Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from the Occupied East Jerusalem, said there is a large police presence around the Damascus gate.

“Not all Israelis actually celebrate this day but certainly the Jewish settlers and the far right supporters mark this day.

“There is a large police presence and that gives you a large indication that no one here is taking any chance. Shop owners have been asked to close their shops.

“What happened this year is that one of the non profit organisations has petitioned to the high court asking them to ban this march to go through the Muslim quarters, the high court refused, but they put a time limit so by 7pm Jeruslaem time everyone should have evacuated here,” Abdel-Hamid said.

Some 30,000 demonstrators were expected at the march.

“We shall be there in very large numbers,” Israeli police spokesman Asi Aharoni said. “We have more than 2,000 police just for the Jerusalem Day events.”

Israeli rights group Ir Amim had asked Israel’s supreme court to bar the march from entering the Old City through the Damascus Gate, the main entry used by Palestinians.

The court rejected the appeal, but required the marchers to complete their passage through the Damascus Gate by 6:15 pm and through the Muslim quarter by 7:00 pm.

The time restrictions were in place in case Ramadan began on Sunday night. The start of Ramadan coincides with the sight of new moon.

Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state. Israelis see all of Jerusalem as their capital.

The future status of Jerusalem is among the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

{The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins on Monday for most of the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims.}

Millions of Muslims around the world will mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan on Monday, a time marked by intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and good deeds.

Religious authorities in most Middle Eastern countries announced the new moon of Ramadan was spotted on Sunday evening.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, also said Muslims there would begin fasting on Monday, as will Muslims in Singapore, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, among others.

Following these announcements, a mosque in Tampa, Florida announced to its followers that they too would celebrate the first day’s fasting on Monday.

The sighting of the new moon marks the beginning of the Muslim lunar month that varies between 29 and 30 days.

Some countries use astronomical calculations and observatories, while others rely on the naked eye alone, leading sometimes to different starting times in the Middle East.

Ramadan begins around 11 days earlier each year.

Muslims believe Ramadan to be the month in which the first verses of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad more than 1,400 years ago.

Fasting and praying

The faithful spend the month of Ramadan in mosques for evening prayers known as “taraweeh”, while free time during the day is often spent reading the Quran and listening to religious lectures.

Each day for the month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from sunrise to sunset to focus on spirituality, good deeds and charity.

There are exceptions to fasting for children, the elderly, the sick, women who are pregnant, nursing or menstruating, and people travelling.

Many break their fast as the Prophet Muhammad did around 1,400 years ago, with a sip of water and some dates at sunset followed by prayer.

It is common for Muslims to break their fast with family and friends and charities organise free meals for the public at mosques and other public spaces.

Families and friends get up early for suhoor, the last meal eaten before the sun rises, and at the end of a day of fasting, gather for iftar, the breaking of the fast at sunset.

The fast is intended to bring the faithful closer to God and to remind them of the suffering of those less fortunate.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with the Muslim declaration of faith, daily prayer, charity and performing the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.

In many Muslim countries, offices are required by law to reduce working hours and most restaurants are closed during daylight hours.

Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan with a few days holiday called Eid al-Fitr.

{At a time when Muslims in the US are facing scorn and bigotry, the boxing legend is remembered as the face of Islam.}

At a time when Muslims in America are facing scorn and bigotry, the late boxing legend Muhammad Ali should be remembered as the true, peaceful face of Islam, residents of his home town say.

Hundreds of people filed past his childhood home in Louisville on Sunday, now a museum dedicated to his remarkable life, to honour the three-time heavyweight champion known simply as “The Greatest”.

Mourners left flowers and other mementos remembered his sporting prowess and his activism, but also spoke of Ali and his Muslim faith and how his example can help dispel stereotypes about Islam.

“With the stuff going on these days, most of the time, you see in the media there’s a bad image of Muslims,” said Hamza Shah, a doctor in Louisville, where Ali grew up and first started boxing.

“The one person we can definitely get a good image of was Muhammad Ali, and he portrayed what the real Islam is.”

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump in December sparked outrage when he suggested a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States.

“We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda,” Ali said in a sharp rebuke to the Trump proposal.

“I believe that our political leaders should use their position to bring understanding about the religion of Islam, and clarify that these misguided murderers have perverted people’s views on what Islam really is.”

‘Man of truth’

“He stood up as a man of truth, and Muslim countries look to people who not only are truthful but also compassionate and merciful,” Chicago-based imam Syed Hussein Shaheed said.

Ali was respected throughout the Muslim world – from Pakistan to Indonesia, from Saudi Arabia to Malaysia and across Africa – for the values he espoused and promoted, the imam added.

That message of tolerance and compassion was celebrated Sunday at an interfaith prayer service in Ali’s honour at the Islamic Center in Louisville.

“At a time when a candidate for the most powerful position in the world encourages us to fear those who are different from us, we need the voice, we need the presence of Muhammad Ali,” said Derek Penwell, who leads a Christian church in the city.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, Ali sharply cautioned Americans against categorising all Muslims as “extremists”.

“Islam is a religion of peace. It does not promote terrorism or killing people,” he said.

“I am angry that the world sees a certain group of Islam followers who caused this destruction, but they are not real Muslims. They are racist fanatics who call themselves Muslims, permitting the murder of thousands.”

He repeated the message in his December response to Trump, saying: “True Muslims know that the ruthless violence of so-called Islamic jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion.”

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, who is fighting Hillary Clinton for the right to face Trump in November, said on Saturday that Ali was not only an elite athlete but a champion of civil rights, and a true believer in Islam.

“To all of Donald Trump’s supporters who think it is appropriate to tell us that they love Muhammad Ali but they hate Muslims, understand that Muhammad Ali was a devout Muslim who took his religion very seriously,” Sanders said.

Ali’s funeral will be held on Friday in Louisville, and will be preceded by a public procession.

The interfaith service will be led by Imam Zaid Shakir, a close friend of Ali and co-founder of Zaytuna College, the first Muslim liberal arts college in the US, who will lead the Muslim funeral prayer.

Former President Bill Clinton, TV journalist Bryant Gumbel and actor Billy Crystal will be among those giving a eulogy for Ali at the service.

{Dozens killed in Aleppo air strikes as regime forces cross into Raqqa province for the first time since August 2014.}

At least 53 people, including children, have been killed in government air strikes in Syria’s Aleppo city, activists have said.

Dozens of barrel bombs – oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel – were dropped by military helicopters on the heavily populated al-Qatriji neighbourhood, the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said on Sunday.

Activists told Al Jazeera that at least 53 people were killed in the air strikers, while the Observatory gave a death toll of 32, including three children.

Eight others were killed in shelling attacks by rebels on regime-controlled areas in the city, it added.

At least 40 air strikes hit the rebel-held areas on Sunday in some of the heaviest recent raids by Russian and Syrian government warplanes, the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as volunteer rescuing group White Helmets, have said.

Rebels also hit government-held parts of Aleppo in what Syrian media said was an escalation in mortar attacks on the western parts of the country’s largest city before the war.

State media said missiles fired on Hamadaniyah and the Midan areas by rebels left scores injured and several casualties in a second day of intense shelling of government-held areas.

According to the Observatory, at least 74 people in Aleppo have been killed in air strikes since May 31.

Zouhir al-Shimale, a local journalist, told Al Jazeera that Aleppo has been hit by intensive raids over the last few days.

“Every morning for the past few days over 50 air strikes and barrel bombs have targeted Aleppo. A local journalist was among those killed, while another journalist was injured.

“A rescue worker was also killed while he was saving an injured person, it happened within two minutes,” Shimale said.

Government advance in Raqqa

In another development, the Syrian army crossed the boundary of Raqqa province after advancing in a major Russian-backed offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, the Observatory said on Saturday.

Heavy Russian air strikes hit ISIL-held territory in eastern areas of Hama province, near the boundary of Raqqa, on Friday to facilitate the Syrian army’s advance, the Observatory reported.

The Observatory said at least 26 ISIL fighters and nine Syrian government and allied troops were killed in the fighting.

It was the first time that government troops had entered Raqqa province since they were ousted by ISIL fighters in August 2014.

The Syrian army was making its advances from the Athriya area of eastern Hama province, close to the provincial border with Raqqa.

The offensive brought troops to within less than 40km of Tabqa, which is the site of an airbase and a big reservoir, SOHR said.

ISIL, which controls large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, is fighting Syrian troops, US-backed fighters and other rebel groups in northern Syria and is facing an offensive by Iraqi government forces in their stronghold of Fallujah.

Russia’s military intervention in support of Damascus in September has helped bolster President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

{Two weeks after launching an operation to recapture Fallujah from ISIL, the army secures the southern edge of the city.}

Fighters battling to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group say they have secured its southern edge and have almost completely encircled the whole Iraqi city.

A leader of the Iran-backed Shia coalition taking part in the offensive said on Sunday the only side of Fallujah that remained to be secured by pro-Baghdad forces was part of the western bank of the Euphrates.

“We are now at the gates of Fallujah,” Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy leader of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, told a news conference broadcast on state TV.

People fleeing Fallujah have been using anything that floats to help them get across the river, which is about 250 to 300 metres wide at the crossing point in farmland just south of the city, provincial council head Shakir al-Essawi said.

About 50,000 civilians live in Fallujah, 50km from Baghdad, with limited access to water, food and healthcare, according to a UN estimate.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on June 1 the offensive on Fallujah had been slowed down in order to protect civilians.

Sunni politicians have voiced concern that the presence of Shia militias alongside the army in the battle could lead to an increase in sectarian violence.

The Popular Mobilisation Forces have since the start of the operation confined their action to Fallujah’s outskirts and left elite federal forces to conduct breaching operations.

But the Popular Mobilisation Forces’ military commander, who goes by the name Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, said that could change if the fighting drags on.

“We’re partners in the liberation, our mission is not yet done,” he told reporters in Baghdad.

“We have accomplished the task given to us, which was to surround (Fallujah) while the liberation was assigned to other forces.

“We are still in the area and we’ll continue to support (them) if the liberation happens quickly. If they are not able, we’ll enter with them.”

Fallujah is a historic bastion of the fight against the US occupation of Iraq and the Shia-led authorities who took over after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003.