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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Islamic Jihad names 12 members of military wing killed in Gaza flare-up, shot off 1100+ rockets
2022-08-09
The aftermath. Day 4 can be seen here, Day 3 is here, Day 2 here, Day 1 here. See commentary here and here.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®, claims 2 members killed in fighting, while terror group DFLP also says one of its fighters died during 3-day IDF operation

The Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
terror group identified on Monday 12 members of its military wing who were killed in three days of intense fighting with Israel, including two of the terror group’s top commanders in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
.The Israel Defense Forces has said it believes a far higher number of Islamic Jihad bad boyz were potted in the fighting, but stresses that its figures are estimates.

PIJ’s al-Quds Brigades released a graphic with photos of the fighters, among them Tayseer Jabari and Khaled Mansour, the leaders of Islamic Jihad’s northern and southern brigades in Gaza, respectively.

The former was killed in an Israeli strike Friday that kicked off the conflict, while the latter was targeted on Saturday night.

Hamas, the terror group that controls Gaza, said two members of its military wing were killed in the fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad, while the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
... a breakaway faction of the Pöpular Frönt för the Liberation of Paleostine. The are regarded as the most intellectual of Paleostinian fedayeen groups, smoking cheap cigarettes and drawing heavily on Marxist-Leninist theory to explain their crappy lives. They can occasionally be seen strutting through the streets of Paleostine, dressed up like soldiers and lugging firearms, though they seldom manage to hit anything and then usually by accident. This may be because of their habit of wearing black masks that cut off most of their vision. That would also explain their habit of occasionally walking into walls, which is a well-known attribute of those immersed in true understanding of the dialectic...
said one of its fighters was killed.

The IDF made clear it was not interested in an escalation with Gaza’s rulers and avoided targeting the terror group’s operatives and assets.

The Israel Defense Forces embarked on Operation Breaking Dawn after several days of road closures and lockdowns in Israeli communities near the Strip due to what it said was the possibility of an imminent attack, with Islamic Jihad seeking to avenge the August 1 arrest of its West Bank leader, Bassem Saadi.

Israeli leaders and military officials said the operation was started because Islamic Jihad had refused to back down from its plans to attack Israeli targets close to the border.

The IDF announced on Monday it was removing all the safety precautions, including the reopening of roads near the Gaza border and restrictions on gatherings, after a ceasefire came into effect on Sunday at 11:30 p.m. and held.

According to the IDF, Paleostinian snuffies fired over 1,100 rockets toward Israel during the fighting, around 380 of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, with a success rate of 95-97 percent. The military estimated that around 200 projectiles failed to clear the border and landed inside the Strip.

In a briefing to news hounds, an IDF spokesperson said the military believes Israeli strikes killed 35 people in Gaza during the fighting, 11 of them civilians.

According to the military’s estimates, an additional 16 people uninvolved in the hostilities were killed by Gazook rockets that fell short.

The Gaza Health Ministry, run by Hamas, said that at least 44 Paleostinians had been killed, including 15 children, and 360 people had been maimed since Friday. Israel is said to believe that most of the children killed in Gaza died as a result of rocket misfires by Islamic Jihad.

Several Israelis were lightly injured by shrapnel during the fighting, or while running for shelter when the rocket sirens sounded.

Gaza mother tells Israeli TV of her fears, says support for wars with Israel is fading

PIJ leader: If Israel doesn’t free prisoners in a week, we’ll resume fighting
Time for Israel to work up a new set of targets, as this answers the question of how long the hudna will last.
[IsraelTimes] The head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group threatens to resume its attacks if two of its members currently being held by Israel are not released, a day after a ceasefire went into effect, following three days of fighting.

In an interview aired on the Islamic Jihad’s Palestine Today television network, Ziad Nakhaleh said the organization had made the ceasefire contingent upon Israel releasing two members of the group: Bassam al-Saadi, the head of the organization’s activities in the West Bank, and Khalil Awawdeh, who is currently on a hunger strike in protest of his administrative detention by Israel.

“From the very beginning, we insisted that the two leaders be freed — the brother on hunger strike, and Bassam Al-Saadi. The enemy tried to proceed slowly in agreeing to this demand, but in the end it has conceded to these demands, with explicit Egyptian guarantees — that our mujahid brother Khalil Awawdeh will set out for the hospital tomorrow, and then he will go home. As for Bassam Al-Saadi, we received an explicit promise, in writing, that Egypt pledges to follow up on his release in the shortest possible time frame,” Nakhaleh says.

Israeli officials have denied this arrangement, saying they did not intend to release either man early.

In his speech, Nakhaleh says his organization told the Egyptians that Israel has one week to release the prisoners or it will call off the ceasefire.

“I want to make it clear that if Israel, the enemy, does not abide by these demands that it agreed to, then we would treat this as if there was no [ceasefire] at all, the [ceasefire] agreement was void, and we will resume the fighting, inshallah. If the enemy does not carry out its obligations according to the agreement, we will not hesitate for a moment to resume the fighting, and then Allah can do with us as He wills,” he says.

Elkin: We won’t free thousands of prisoners in any exchange

[IsraelTimes] Housing Minister Zeev Elkin says the government is not prepared to free thousands of Palestinian prisoners to get back Israeli captives held in Gaza.

“There won’t be a release of thousands of prisoners in return for the captives and the missing,” Elkin tells the Kan public broadcaster, amid reports that there was a chance to forge a deal in the wake of the ceasefire agreement.

The Hamas terror group holds two living Israelis — Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed — as well as the bodies of two Israeli soldiers: Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin.

Israel and Hamas have held indirect talks in an attempt to reach a prisoner exchange deal. A similar deal in 2011 to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from Hamas’s clutches saw 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners released, many of them convicted terrorists.

However, Elkin says that “there are constant efforts to move the negotiations forward.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Iran's malign hand behind the scenes
2022-08-09
[Jpost] Palestinian Islamic Jihad's leader Ziad al-Nakhaleh had a series of meetings last week and a picture was released on Saturday of him with Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps head Hossein Salami.

Under Nakhalah’s leadership, Islamic Jihad – whose founder Fathi Shikaki took his inspiration for establishing the organization in 1981 from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the 1979 Iranian Revolution – has turned into a fully owned and operated subsidiary of Iran.

While Iran and Islamic Jihad had a brief falling out in 2015-2016 over the Saudi campaign against the Houthis in Yemen, today Islamic Jihad is to Iran in Gaza what Hezbollah is to the Islamic Republic in Lebanon, and the Houthis are to the Iranians in Yemen.

Iran supports Hamas but it controls Islamic Jihad. There is a difference. To understand the latter terrorist group’s behavior over the past week, it is important to understand Iran’s interests. One need not be a brilliant Mideast strategist to understand them: cause Israel as much hurt as possible.

“We are with you on this path until the end – and let Palestine and the Palestinians know that they are not alone,” Salami told Nakhalah during a meeting in Tehran.

Salami said Islamic Jihad’s actions have ushered in a “new era,” that Israel “will pay a heavy price once again for the recent crime,” and that “Palestinian resistance groups” today have “the ability to manage major wars.”

Be that as it may, after three days of Operation Breaking Dawn, Israel can point to several significant achievements in this “minor war.”

First, it surprised Islamic Jihad on Friday with its pinpoint strike on the safe house in Gaza City of its Northern Command head Tayseer al-Jabari, as well as the killing at the same time of Abdullah Kadoum, head of the group‘s anti-tank guided-missile section. It scored another success late Saturday night by killing Khaled Mansour, the group’s Southern Command chief. Those actions highlighted both Israel’s technical and intelligence capabilities.

Israel also sent an unequivocal message to Islamic Jihad, and all others watching, that it will continue to fight terrorism originating in the West Bank by going on the offensive, by taking the battle to the enemy, and by not waiting until a terrorist attack “succeeds” before going after terrorists and terror supporters throughout the volatile region.

Jerusalem will not be deterred from acting in Judea and Samaria by an Iranian-backed terrorist group issuing threats from Gaza. Israel sent a strong message that Islamic Jihad’s attempts to establish new rules – to set a new equation whereby any IDF action in the West Bank would lead to an automatic response or the threat of one, that in and of itself could paralyze the South – would not be tolerated.

But Jerusalem was surprised as well.

It was surprised by the intelligence information regarding Islamic Jihad’s intent after the arrest last week of Bassam Saadi in Jenin to fire anti-tank missiles at Israeli targets near the Gaza border. The conventional wisdom, based on experience, was that Islamic Jihad would issue some threats, maybe even fire some rockets toward Israel that would either be intercepted or land harmlessly in fields, but then – after a few hours – life would return to normal.

That didn’t happen this time.

Israel had hoped it would, and it was not alone. Even Hamas had hoped life would return to normal since a significant conflagration at this time does not serve its purpose of trying to reconstruct Gaza with Egyptian and Qatari help. Hamas also benefits from some 14,000 workers who have received permits to work in Israel – permits temporarily rescinded last week.

Hamas, not Islamic Jihad, has overall authority for the life of the citizens in Gaza. It wants to be the one to decide when to launch a campaign against Israel. It does not want its hand forced by an organization that lacks the day-to-day responsibility for the citizens of Gaza, and whose considerations are not necessarily in sync with its own.

Islamic Jihad did not respond as expected because it was not in Iran’s interest for it to do so. Tehran has an interest in keeping the situation in the South at a fever pitch; it has no interest in calming the situation. And the considerations foremost in the mind of the jihadist group’s leaders are what suits the Islamic Republic, to whom it is tied ideologically and financially. Last year, Nakhalah said Islamic Jihad took “direct orders” from the IRGC and that Iran delivered missiles to the Gaza Strip that were used to attack Tel Aviv.

After its initial successes against Islamic Jihad on Friday and Saturday, Israel’s interest was to end the fighting sooner rather than later. The longer the fighting would continue, the greater the likelihood of something going wrong that would fundamentally change the picture – such as an errant Israeli rocket that would kill Palestinian civilians – and lead to pressure on Hamas to join the fray.

Iran, on the other hand, would like to see the fighting continue. If it doesn’t continue, then that is a sign of the sway of other actors in the region able to convince Islamic Jihad that to continue firing rockets now would be inimical to their interests.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Grass mown: Gaza ceasefire takes effect, per agreement by Israel, Islamic Jihad
2022-08-08
And so this round ends — this year’s short, victorious war... unless Palestinian Islamic Jihad has another unexpected outburst because peace with Israel is against their principles. Day 3 is here, Day 2 here, Day 1 here.
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Egypt-brokered ceasefire in Gaza comes into effect after 3-day conflict: Reports
Gaza


[AlAhram] A Cairo-brokered ceasefire between the Israeli and Paleostinian sides in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip has come into effect on 11:30 local time (8:30 GMT) as previously announced, according to media reports.

The ceasefire agreement is set to end three days of renewed conflict between Israel and Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
in the enclave with Israeli Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s claiming the lives of 43 Paleostinians, including children.
How many died from PIJ rockets landing on their heads? How many more were PIJ hard boys dying when Israel destroyed their launch sites while they were launching? How many were in the PIJ tunnel the IDF destroyed?
Israel affirmed in an official statement today that it will stop fighting with the Islamic Jihad in Gaza at 11:30 pm local time. However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
it threatened to strike back "forcefully" in response to any breach of the ceasefire.

Israel also thanked Egypt for its efforts in securing an end to the escalation.

Egypt has intensified contacts with both sides in the enclave to contain the current escalation, an official source said earlier.

Moreover, Egypt is also working to ensure the release of Paleostinian captive Khalil Awawdeh and transport him for treatment as well as captive Bassam al-Saadi, the source added.

Awawdeh, 40, has been arrested by the Israeli authorities in December last year and detained since then without a trial. Awawdeh has been reportedly on a hunger strike for around a month as he remained in jail without charges. Saadi, a senior figure in Islamic Jihad's political wing, was recently arrested in the occupied West Bank.

Fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad started in Gaza on Friday when Israel assassinated prominent Islamic Jihad leader Taysir al-Jaabari in Gaza through airstrikes, ending a year of calm in the enclave. The Islamic Jihad reportedly launched hundreds of rockets against Israeli cities from Gaza in retaliation.

On Sunday, Israeli officials also claimed to kill Khaled Mansour, a big shot of the Islamic Jihad in an airstrike in Gaza yesterday.

Both Israel and the Islamic Jihad said that they had agreed to the Cairo-brokered ceasefire proposal.

"A short while ago the wording of the Egyptian truce agreement was reached, which contains Egypt's commitment to work towards the release of two prisoners, al-Saadi and Awawdeh," senior Islamic Jihad member Mohammad al-Hindi said in a statement.

According to earlier reports, the deal will include Israeli concessions to alleviate the Gaza Strip's fuel shortage. Within this context, Israel said that it will ease the blockade and allow the passage of fuel trucks to the strip’s power station on Monday.

The ceasefire plans come a day after President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said Egypt is exerting "big efforts," alongside partners, to restore stability and calm in the Gaza Strip and is contacting the Paleostinians and Israelis to ensure that things do not get out of control.

Egypt also announced in a brief statement by the foreign ministry on Friday that it has intensified contact round the clock in an effort to contain the situation in Gaza, achieve calm, and protect lives and properties.
Hear ye! Hear ye! Everyone will now notice how important Egypt is!
The last major Israeli assault on Gaza was in May 2021, which killed around 250 Paleostinians, including women and kiddies, before an Egypt-brokered ceasefire ended hostilities.

The Israeli aggression last year has left the enclave in dire need of reconstruction work after destroying and damaging thousands of housing units and vital facilities and leaving scores of Gazooks homeless after 11 days of airstrikes.
And now the need is even more dire, which it would not have been had Islamic Jihad been able to keep it in their pants, as it were.
Over the past year, Egypt has maintained diplomatic and security contacts with both the Israeli and Paleostinian sides to consolidate the ceasefire and pave the way for the resumption of the Paleostinian-Israeli peace talks.

Egypt has also been carrying out the reconstruction work in the enclave, including building towns that are planned to accommodate hundreds of thousands of Paleostinians, as El-Sisi pledged $500 million to rebuild Gaza in May 2021.

Islamic Jihad's southern command chief martyred in Zionist strike on Gaza

[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
resistance movement pronounced martyrdom of one of its senior commanders in an Israeli strike on Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
’s Rafah.

In a statement early on Sunday, al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad said commander Khaled Mansour was martyred along with other 3 fighters of the resistance group in a strike that killed 4 other civilians.

The deaders included a child and two women, the statement said, adding that other civilians were maimed in the strike which hit a residential area in Rafah, south of the besieged enclave.

Mansour was member of al-Quds Brigades’ Military Council, and the Southern Command Chief in Gaza, according to the statement.

"The blood of commander Mansour will set fire to the battle to defend al-Quds and al-Aqsa which will be violated by Zionist settlers today," the statement said, referring to plans by Zionist MK Itamar Ben Gvir to storm the holy site along with hundreds of Israeli settlers.

"The blood of our Mujahedeen won’t go in vain, and the Israeli enemy will regret he strike."

Earlier on Friday, the Israeli occupation assassinated the Islamic Jihad’s Northern Command Chief Tayseer al-Jaabari in a strike in Gaza, as it announced it has started an aggression on the coastal enclave.

The strike since then went ahead, killing so far at least 32 deaders, including women and kiddies, and wounding more than 200 others.

The Times of Israel is livebliogging here today under the headline
As Gaza ceasefire holds throughout night, Israel gradually lifts safety restrictions
IDF begins to allow Gaza-area towns to return to normal; military says 26 civilians killed in Gaza fighting, 15 by terror group rocket misfires; over 1,000 rockets fired at Israel
Related:
Islamic Jihad: 2022-08-06 Leaked photo of the discussions going on in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's high command
Islamic Jihad: 2022-08-06 Islamic Jihad rejects Egypt's calls for truce, as Israel strikes and the rockets attack continue
Islamic Jihad: 2022-08-06 Day 2: Gaza: Palestinian militant Tayseer Jabari 'Tango Uniform' as Israel strikes after threats
Related:
Rafah: 2022-07-31 Hamas urges PA police officers to carry out terrorist attacks
Rafah: 2022-05-15 Islamic State claims Sinai attack that killed 5 Egyptian troops
Rafah: 2022-05-02 Islamic State accuses Israel of slaying jihadist leader in Sinai airstrike
Related:
Al-Quds Brigades: 2021-06-10 Palestinian security forces, PIJ terrorist killed by Israeli forces
Al-Quds Brigades: 2021-05-17 Al-Quds Brigades statement
Al-Quds Brigades: 2021-05-14 Good Morning
Related:
Khaled Mansour: 2013-05-03 Egyptian prosecutors question comedian over jokes on El-Bernameg
Khaled Mansour: 2012-01-26 Egypt's revolutionaries set sights on military
Khaled Mansour: 2006-07-27 Aid convoy reaches southern port city
Related:
Itamar Ben Gvir: 2022-05-30 Suspect charged for leading Hamas cell that planned to kill far-right MK
Itamar Ben Gvir: 2022-05-30 In record, more than 2,600 Jews visit Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day
Itamar Ben Gvir: 2022-03-08 Four Palestinians indicted for firebombing Jewish home in Sheikh Jarrah
Related:
Bassam al-Saadi: 2016-06-18 Firebombs damage home in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv
Bassam al-Saadi: 2011-09-03 Israeli army detain son of Islamic Jihad leader
Bassam al-Saadi: 2006-05-25 Palestinians referendum text
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Day 3: IDF: All senior Islamic Jihad officials in Gaza eliminated, 350+ Gaza rockets went up
2022-08-07
Day 2 here (links to all the day’s posts), Day 1 here. Today’s posts: here, here, here, here, and here.
[JPost] IDF states that children in Jabaliya refugee camp killed by failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch, not by IDF airstrikes.

The IDF confirmed on Saturday night that senior Islamic Jihad operative Khaled Mansour had been eliminated by an IDF airstrike and that to the best of their knowledge, all senior Islamic Jihad officials in Gaza had been taken down as well.

Sirens blared in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening as the IDF continues Operation Breaking Dawn against Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip as more than 350 rockets were launched toward Israel in the first full day of fighting between the two groups.

The IDF confirmed that it was striking unspecified targets in Gaza on Saturday night, with blasts heard in Rafah.

Head of the Operations Directorate Maj.-Gen. Oded Basiuk confirmed late Saturday night that senior Islamic Jihad operative Khaled Mansour was the target of the strikes and had been eliminated. Further, he added that "according to our intelligence...all of the senior security operatives of Gaza's Islamic Jihad have been eliminated."

The IDF continued to strike cells that had been planning to fire mortar shells as well as rocket launching sites after they fired toward Israeli communities near the border. Several Palestinian operatives belonging to Islamic Jihad were killed and injured in the strikes.

According to reports in Gaza, several civilians were killed including a 5-year-old girl and a 25-year-old woman, and at least 125 more were injured.

An explosion in Jabaliya on Saturday night killed at least nine people, including at least four children.

Despite initial reports stating that the deaths had been caused by an IDF strike, IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ran Kohav said that the civilians including the children who were killed seem to be because of a failed rocket launch that came shortly before a rocket barrage. "We did not launch strikes at that time," he said.

Related: The Times of Israel liveblogged yesterday’s events here.
Update at noon EDT: today’s Times of Israel liveblog is here.



Related:
Khaled Mansour: 2013-05-03 Egyptian prosecutors question comedian over jokes on El-Bernameg
Khaled Mansour: 2012-01-26 Egypt's revolutionaries set sights on military
Khaled Mansour: 2006-07-27 Aid convoy reaches southern port city
Link


Africa North
Egyptian prosecutors question comedian over jokes on El-Bernameg
2013-05-03
[Al Ahram] Khaled Mansour, a standup comedian on Bassem Youssef's El-Bernameg show, was questioned by prosecutors on Thursday morning.

Mansour, who is accused of insulting the president and insulting religion, was released on LE5,000 bail.

Bassem Youssef, Egypt's most prominent satirist, said on Wednesday via Twitter that Mansour would be questioned over a segment in the sixth episode of El-Bernameg that mocked President Morsi's allegedly ostentatious appearances at mosques for Friday prayers.

The Morsi government is "a failure and pathetic. It cannot handle a comedy show except through legal investigations," Youssef added in a separate tweet on Thursday.

In late March 2013, Youssef was interrogated by prosecutors for allegedly insulting the president and religion. He was released on bail of LE15,000.

Mansour is the second standup comedian to be questioned after appearing on El-Bernameg.

Ali Qandil was questioned by prosecutors in early April for allegedly insulting religion during an appearance on the show.
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Africa North
Egypt's revolutionaries set sights on military
2012-01-26
(CBS/AP) One year ago, the Arab Spring arrived in Egypt. In just 18 days, protesters forced out the president of 30 years, Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...

The military now rules Egypt, but promises a transition to civilian rule. Religious and secular groups are now vying for power.

On the revolution's anniversary, they were back on the streets of Cairo for the biggest rally since the uprising. CBS News correspondent Clarissa Ward reports they streamed into Tahrir Square by the tens of thousands, with an endless sea of Egyptian flags.

Supporters of the Moslem Brüderbund dominated the square. Banned under Mubarak, the Islamist party won a majority in recent parliamentary elections. Still intoxicated by the hard-won freedom to speak their minds, many held banners ridiculing the former president.

But not everyone in Cairo was celebrating. In one of the many marches out protesting Wednesday, you could hear the people chanting over and over, "Down with the military regime," as they marched to Tahrir Square.

Activists claim that nearly 100 protestors have been killed by security forces since the military took power when Mubarak's regime fell.

While the military says it will step down after presidential elections in June, many here, including activist Khaled Mansour, are not so sure.

While Egyptians may be better off now than they were with Mubarak, Mansour said that's not the point.

"This is a revolution," Mansour said. "We don't want to compromise. We have demands and we have and we dream of a big, a free country, a democratic country."
Wait until your country runs out of bread...
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Aid convoy reaches southern port city
2006-07-27
BEIRUT: A large UN aid convoy arrived in the southern Lebanese port of Tyre yesterday and aid workers said they planned to step up deliveries to an area devastated by Israeli bombardment. The convoy of 10 trucks carrying 90 tonnes of food and basic medical supplies travelled from the capital Beirut down a so-called humanitarian corridor, a route cleared with Israel beforehand to ensure the vehicles were not bombed. "We hope this is the tip of the iceberg," said Khaled Mansour, UN spokesman in Lebanon, after the gruelling six-hour drive to Tyre. "We got here so it means the system is working, the humanitarian corridor is working."

Young men unloaded the trucks, lugging sacks of wheat flour on their backs and stashing them in the underground parking lot of a bank. Meanwhile, a Jordanian plane landed at Beirut international airport yesterday in the first airlift of urgently needed aid for blockaded Lebanon as deliveries of assistance started to reach thousands of displaced people in the besieged south.
Link


Axis of Evil
refugee camps are being established in north Iraq
2003-01-29
Turkey and the US have agreed upon the stationing of refugee camps inside northern Iraq, note that the US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Migration and Refugees, Mr. Richard Green and the foreign ministry of Turkey have agreed with being prepared for up to 1 mln refugees (in 1991 450.000 kurdish refugees fled to Turkey).



The plan does contain three lines of refugee camps:
Line 1: between the 36th and 37th parallel, between Erbil, Selahaddin, ªaklava, Dohuk, Atruº and Mosul 6 refugee camps with a capacity of 3000 each

Line 2: Between the 37th parallel and the Turkish border, between Zaho, Kanimasi, Amadiya, Bamerni and Sersing 6 refugee camps with a capacity of 3000 each

Line 3: Turkish border region 6 refugee camps with a capacity of 3000 each

A total capacity of 54.000 people will be provided by Turkey, up to 30.000 soldiers will form a barrier inside north Iraq to stop the wafe of refugees.

Iran:
A senior Iranian official responsible for refugees, Ahmad Hussaini, said the country's interior ministry had set up a national crisis centre to cope with a possible influx of refugees.
Mr Hussaini says his country has already put in place relief facilities to deal with up to 50,000 Iraqi refugees.
He added that Iran could provide accommodation and other facilities for up to 900,000 people.
United Nations:
UNICEF spokesman Alfred Ironside said the organization, which boasts a staff of around 300 inside Iraq, is in good shape ahead of any conflict. “We have topped up our supplies even in neighboring countries,” he said.
While declining to go into details, Khaled Mansour of the U.N.-mandated World Food Program said that contingency plan for Iraq have been drawn up, “as we do for many other countries.”
Red Cross spokeswoman Marie-Francois Borel said the charity has speeded up emergency preparedness in Iraq. This has included stockpiling emergency relief items, such as tents, blankets and first aid kits as well as improving its telecommunications equipment.
According to the Red Cross, the immediate objective is to cater for the essential needs of 100,000 people during a period of 10 days.

I wonder where the rest of the refugees will go when Turkey, Iran and the UN are only prepared for a total of 200.000 refugees
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Afghanistan
Talibs shut down UN comms network
2001-09-24
  • (Reuters)
    The Taliban have shut down the U.N. Afghan communications network, taken over its office in Kandahar and seized 1,400 tons of U.N. food aid, crippling the world body's aid operations in the country, U.N. officials said Monday.

    ``We condemn this serious violation and call on the Taliban to ensure the safety of our staff and to allow aid workers to continue their humanitarian work,'' World Food Program (WFP) spokesman Khaled Mansour told Reuters. ``This is a serious development which could disrupt, if not completely stop, our food distribution,'' said Mansour, adding that the WFP office and warehouse had also been taken over by the Taliban.
  • Link



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