Archive for Mid-East News

| September 22, 2014
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Watch: Hezbollah uses drones for missile attack on Syrian rebels

 

Iranian news agency reports this attack as the 1st operation Hezbollah has used drones.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

With the three-and-a-half-year civil war in Syria spilling over into Lebanon, Hezbollah has upped its military capabilities in its fight against al-Qaida-affiliated Syrian rebels.

boom

Alleged Syrian rebel target – YouTube screenshot

According to the Iranian Fars News Agency, the organization is now using drones – which until recently were used mainly for surveillance missions – to fight off Al-Nusra Front rebels

The newly-released one-minute video shows a small structure, believed to be the Al-Nusra Front headquarters in Lebanon, being directly hit from the sky. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| September 22, 2014
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Palestinian infiltrating Sinai through Gaza smuggling tunnel killed by Egyptian army

 

One shot to death, 2 others arrested after the the 3 ignored Egyptian border guards’ orders to stop, then tried to return via the Gaza tunnel instead.

By Ynetnews

 

 

A Palestinian man trying to infiltrate Sinai through a smuggling tunnel was shot dead and two others arrested by the Egyptian army on Saturday, Palestinian media reported.

Egyptian soldiers on Gaza border – Photo: AP

The three were spotted exiting a tunnel near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the Egyptian side of Rafah.

The Egyptian border guards ordered them to stop, but instead the three Palestinians tried to return into the tunnel. Continue Reading »

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| September 21, 2014
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Iran Judiciary orders Rouhani to block immoral Jewish/Western Viber, Tango & WhatsApp

After Rouhani says internet ‘an opportunity, not a threat’, Iran’s Judiciary has given the ministry of communications a month to block instant messaging services like Viber & Tango that deal with ‘derogatory and un-Islamic content‘.

Reuters

 

Iran’s hardline judiciary has given the government one month to block WhatsApp and other popular instant messaging services, as pressure mounts on reformist President Hassan Rouhani to scale back his social and political liberalization.

Viber, founded and co-owned by four Israeli partners: Talmon Marco, Igor Megzinik, Sani Maroli and Ofer Smocha.

In the severest warning yet to Rouhani’s one-year-old administration, chief prosecutor Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei accused Communications Minister Mahmoud Vaezi of failing to unplug social networking sites and apps “with immoral and criminal content.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News |
| September 21, 2014
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The Islamic State Wants More: Next Confrontation – Jordan, then Israel?

It’s only a matter of time before ISIS, reaches Israel. Their goal is clear: topple Jordan’s monarch & annex the territory of the Hashemite Kingdom in a march that inevitably leads to Jerusalem. Will Israel confront this threat in time?

By Elizabeth Blade

 

The Middle East has a serious problem, and it isn’t the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Though one wouldn’t know it by the skewed focus of international media and diplomatic attention, the crisis of the Islamic State dwarfs even the most serious bouts of Israeli-Arab violence.

Isis fighters parade through Raqqa is Syria. – Photo: AP

Over the past several months, the Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS), a Sunni Muslim group rejected by Al Qaeda as being too extreme, has not only managed to gain control over much of Iraq and Syria, but has fulfilled the long-held dream of many Sunnis by establishing a “caliphate” that demands the allegiance of all faithful Muslims.

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| September 20, 2014
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2 untrained Hamas operatives killed when disassembling unexploded Israeli ordnance

Hamas police explosives teams working to detect & disarm unexploded Israeli bombs are hamstrung by lack of training & experience.

By

Two Palestinians were killed and three wounded on Friday when unexploded ordnance from the recent Gaza conflict blew up in the eastern Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, Palestinian medical authorities said.

Witnesses said that a huge explosion was heard in the Shujaiya area and ambulances rushed to the area immediately.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, identified the two fatalities as Ayman Ziad Abu Jibba, 23, and Abdullah Jibril Abu Aser, 23, and said that their bodies were taken to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

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| September 20, 2014
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France to Turn to UNSC with Imposed Solution to Israel-Palestinian Conflict

 

French President Hollande says a “solution to the conflict” between the Palestinian Arabs & Israelis will be put to the UN Security Council.

By Ben Ariel, Canada

 

French President Francois Hollande said on Friday that a “solution to the conflict” between the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs will be put to the United Nations (UN) Security Council.

French President Francois Hollande and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Paris – Reuters

Hollande made the comments after meeting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Paris, reported AFP.

“We will have a resolution, to be presented to the Security Council, that will say very clearly what we expect from the (peace) process and what the solution to the conflict must be,” Hollande told reporters in a joint news conference with Abbas. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| September 19, 2014
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As Philippine peacekeepers enter Israel from Syria’s danger, UN investigates Israel as criminals

The UN Filipino ‘peacekeepers’ abandon Syria one month earlier due to the deteriorating security situation in Golan Heights.

AP, AFP

 

The Philippine military said Friday the bulk of Filipino peacekeepers of more than 240 soldiers have pulled out two weeks early from the UN mission in the Golan Heights due to escalating fighting in the region.

Filipino UN peacekeepers crossing the border from Syria to Israel (Photo: AFP)

Filipino UN peacekeepers crossing the border from Syria to Israel – Photo: AFP

The 244 Filipino soldiers and support staff will arrive in Manila on a UN-chartered plane on Friday, Military spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said.

A smaller batch of 85 soldiers will arrive Sunday from the Golan, ending a five-year Philippine peacekeeping role that has been marred by Syrian rebel kidnappings and attacks. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| September 19, 2014
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UN rights chief seeks investigation of migrant-ship ramming, may be mass murder

Deaths of up to 500 Palestinians, Sudanese, Egyptians and Syrian migrants & refugees in what may have been an intentional boat-ramming last week, must be investigated, says Zeid Raad al-Hussein Zeid.

 

The deaths of up to 500 migrants and refugees in an intentional boat-ramming in the Mediterranean Sea last week could be an act of mass murder, the U.N. rights chief said Friday, calling for nations to properly investigate the incident.

Off the coasts of Sicily on September 15, 2014.

Child disembarks from a boat at the Brindisi harbor, southern Italy, following rescue operations of immigrants off the coasts of Sicily on September 15, 2014.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| September 19, 2014
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NY Law Firm Lists Hamas’ Violations of Int’l Law Since Gaza War Crimes Ignored by UN

New York based legal rights group publishes detailed compilation of blatant Hamas violations, siting examples & verification ahead of UN bias investigation of Israeli “war crimes.”

By Hillel Fendel

 

In advance of the UN Human Rights Council investigation of Israeli “war crimes” in Gaza this summer, the Lawfare Project has compiled a detailed list of “Hamas’s Violations of International Law.”

The UNHRC has appointed a three-member committee to investigate “all violations of international humanitarian law” during the recent war in Gaza. It explained its one-sided intentions by “condemn[ing] in the strongest terms the widespread, systematic and gross violations of international human rights and fundamental freedoms arising from the Israeli military operations…”

The New York-based Lawfare Project attempts to safeguard against the abuse of the law as a weapon of war. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| September 18, 2014
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Karma: German family smuggled into Gaza is denied entry to Egypt

Egypt border officials say mother & children, who are German citizens, did not have Rafah-crossing entry stamps in their passports.

 

A mother from the Gaza Strip and her children were denied entry to Egypt because they had previously used smuggling tunnels to enter Gaza, a media report says.

Rafah crossing, August 27, 2014.

Palestinians at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip on August 27, 2014. – Photo: AFP

Egyptian authorities told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency that the family members, who have German citizenship, were stopped at the border when they tried to enter Egypt.

Their passports did not have entry stamps to Gaza, indicating that they had entered through the tunnels instead of through the Rafah crossing, Ma’an reported.

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| September 18, 2014
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Former Jordanian MP: Jews Use Christian Blood in Matzos When Muslim Not Found For Slaughter

Watch Imbecilic Statement: Former Jordanian Parliament Member perpetuates the centuries old “matzah blood libel” in Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV interview.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

A former Jordanian member of parliament recently used the centuries old “matzah blood libel”, which claims that Jews use the blood of non-Jews to make matzah for Passover.

former Jordanian MP, Sheik Abd Al-Mun'im Abu Zant - Photo MEMRI

Former Jordanian MP, Sheik Abd Al-Mun’im Abu Zant – Photo: MEMRI/YouTube

The former Jordanian MP, Sheik Abd Al-Mun’im Abu Zant, made the comments in an interview which aired on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV on September 7 and in which he accused Jews of “cannibalism”.

The interview was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| September 18, 2014
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Pope Says Mid-East Christians Suffering ‘Just Like the Jews’ Had

“First the Jews suffered savage attacks, & the world remained in silence. Now it is the Christians who are being annihilated, & once more the world says little.” Pope Francis reportedly told World Jewish Congress head.

By AFP

 

Pope Francis has warned that Christians in Iraq and Syria face persecution just as Jews have in the past, a prominent American Jewish leader said Thursday.

“You have suffered, now it’s our turn,” World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder said the pope told him in a private audience.

Francis also repeated his recent warning that the global rash of religious extremism may have sparked “a third world war”, said Lauder, who met with the Roman Catholic leader late Wednesday at the Vatican. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| September 17, 2014
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Analysis: The United States No Longer ‘Needs’ Israel

Study concludes the American administration didn’t do everything possible to advance the peace process because Israel has lost much of its significance.

By Yossi Aloni

 

A new Israeli study into the historical role of the United States in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has concluded that America no longer has “need” of the Jewish state, and that the ongoing “special relationship” between the two allies is a relic of the past maintained today by political dynamics in Congress.

Conducted by Dan Rotem of the Center for Middle East Peace in Washington, the study was presented on Tuesday at Netanya Academic College. In it, Rotem suggested that American involvement in the Middle East in the 20th century was driven by energy-related interests and regional rivalries resulting from the global confrontation of the Cold War.

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Category: Mid-East News |
| September 17, 2014
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Hundreds of Palestinians drown at sea attempting to flee Hamas’ Gaza

After Gaza regime’s war against Israel, more & more Gazans are attempting to flee Hamas’ authority through Egypt, where a recent boat sinking near Malta saw over 500 people go missing or die en route to Europe.

Elior Levy

 

 

With Gaza under an Egyptian-Israeli blockade, scores of Gazans are forces to find original ways of fleeing the coastal enclave – usually through underground tunnels into Egypt and then on boats to Europe where they hope to attain refugee status. Palestinian media publishes firsthand accounts of the periling and dangerous journey.

En route to Europe (Photo: AFP/ MOAS ? HO)

En route to Europe – Photo: AFP/ MOAS ?

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| September 17, 2014
Comments Off on NBC Reports: 4 Million tons of rubble left in Gaza after Operation Protective Edge

NBC Reports: 4 Million tons of rubble left in Gaza after Operation Protective Edge

Environmental group claims it will take $30 million, 6-8 months to clear what turned out to be 5-times more rubble than the last conflict between Israel & Gaza.

 

Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge have left four million tons of rubble, five times more than in the last conflict between Israel and the Hamas-controlled enclave in 2012, an environmental advocacy group in the West Bank said on Tuesday.

Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Aug. 5, 2014.

Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Aug. 5, 2014. – Photo: AP

Meanwhile, UN Middle East envoy Robert Serry said Tuesday that the United Nations, Israel and the Palestinian Authority have reached a deal to allow reconstruction work to begin in the Gaza Strip. Continue Reading »

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