Khorasan group was planning ‘major’ attacks in Europe: US

Updated 24 September 2014
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Khorasan group was planning ‘major’ attacks in Europe: US

WASHINGTON: A US-led air attack against jihadists in Syria targeted Al-Qaeda’s Khorasan group because it was on the verge of carrying out “major attacks” against the West, the US military said Tuesday.
The Americans pounded Khorasan targets in Syria with Tomahawk cruise missiles to counter the mounting threat posed by the group, said Lt. Gen. William Mayville, director of operations for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Intelligence reports indicated that the group was in the final stages of plans to execute major attacks against Western targets and potentially the US homeland,” Mayville told reporters.
The strikes against the Khorasan militants early Tuesday were separate from a wave of bombing raids led by the United States and joined by several Arab countries that targeted the Islamic State group.
Earlier, the Pentagon had said that US air strikes killed Khorasan members hatching plots against Western targets.
US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, had announced that American forces carried out eight air strikes against Khorasan group targets west of Aleppo.
Mayville said more than 40 Tomahawk missiles were launched from naval ships in the Gulf and the Red Sea, and that “the majority of the Tomahawk strikes were against Khorasan.”
The Khorasan group was not focused on battling the Syrian regime or aiding the Syrian people but instead is “establishing roots in Syria in order to advance attacks against the West and the homeland,” he said.
Speaking of the broader air campaign that included Arab states, Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said “our initial indication is that these strikes were very successful.”
And he signaled that more bombing raids in Syria were to come.
“I can tell you that last night’s strikes were only the beginning,” Kirby said.
President Barack Obama ordered the bombing raids in Syria last Thursday, a day after conferring with commanders at Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, the White House said.
The US military was “unaware of any civilian casualties” from the strikes and the air attack was planned to minimize the risk to civilians in the area, Mayville said.
The general acknowledged there was evidence IS fighters were already dispersing and moving toward population centers to hide from the sights of US attack aircraft.
But he said there was no need at the moment to bring in tactical air controllers on the ground to direct bombing raids to avoid civilian casualties.
The first wave of strikes Tuesday featured mainly Tomahawk cruise missiles, the second wave had US fighter planes and B-1 bombers hitting targets and then the third wave included Arab warplanes and American F/A-18 jets flying from an aircraft carrier, the George H.W. Bush, in the Gulf, Mayville said.
IS group leaders were not specifically targeted in the raids but US and Arab aircraft aimed at “command and control” centers, he said.
The operation broke new ground with four Arab countries sending in aircraft to take part, which US officials said demonstrated regional states were committed to fighting the IS extremists.
Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates played direct roles in the operation while Qatar played a supporting role, officials said, without providing details.
The “preponderance” of bombs dropped were from US aircraft, Mayville said.
The Damascus regime views the IS group as an adversary, and the White House said President Bashar Assad’s government was told in advance about the plan to attack — but in general terms.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, passed the word to her Syrian counterpart, said Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser.
But he and other officials insisted the air strikes were not coordinated in any way with Assad’s army.
Asked if Syrian regime air defense radar locked onto to US or allied aircraft, Mayville suggested the regime did not target the incoming warplanes.
The general said “radar acquisition on the part of Syria, I would characterize as passive.”
The overnight operation was the first in which the US military’s costly, new F-22 Raptor fighter jet was used in combat.
The general showed reporters aerial photos of targets bombed by the stealthy F-22s, with the planes unleashing precision-guided bombs on an IS command and control site in a building.
“This strike was the first time the F-22 was used in a combat role,” Mayville said. He said the F-22s “destroyed” the intended target.


Israel’s attorney general tells Netanyahu to reexamine extremist security minister’s role

Updated 8 sec ago
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Israel’s attorney general tells Netanyahu to reexamine extremist security minister’s role

  • National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized for interfering in police matters

JERUSALEM, Nov 14 : Israel’s Attorney General told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reevaluate the tenure of his far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, citing his apparent interference in police matters, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Thursday.
The news channel published a copy of a letter written by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara in which she described instances of “illegitimate interventions” in which Ben-Gvir, who is tasked with setting general policy, gave operational instructions that threaten the police’s apolitical status.
“The concern is that the government’s silence will be interpreted as support for the minister’s behavior,” the letter said.
Officials at the Justice Ministry could not be reached for comment and there was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.
Ben-Gvir, who heads a small ultra-nationalist party in Netanyahu’s coalition, wrote on social media after the letter was published: “The attempted coup by (the Attorney General) has begun. The only dismissal that needs to happen is that of the Attorney General.”


Israeli forces demolish Palestinian Al-Bustan community center in Jerusalem

Updated 56 min 41 sec ago
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Israeli forces demolish Palestinian Al-Bustan community center in Jerusalem

  • Al-Bustan Association functioned as a primary community center in which Silwan’s youth and families ran cultural and social activities

LONDON: Israeli forces demolished the office of the Palestinian Al-Bustan Association in occupied East Jerusalem’s neighborhood of Silwan, whose residents are under threat of Israeli eviction orders. 

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Culture condemned on Thursday the demolition of Al-Bustan by Israeli bulldozers and a military police force. 

The ministry said that “(Israeli) occupation’s arrogant practices against cultural and community institutions in Palestine, and specifically in Jerusalem, are targeting the Palestinian identity, in an attempt to obliterate it.” 

Founded in 2004, the Al-Bustan Association functioned as a primary community center in which Silwan’s youth and families ran cultural and social activities alongside hosting meetings for diplomatic delegations and Western journalists who came to learn about controversial Israeli policies in the area. 

Al-Bustan said in a statement that it served 1,500 people in Silwan, most of them children, who enrolled in educational, cultural and artistic workshops. In addition to the Al-Bustan office, Israeli forces also demolished a home in the neighborhood belonging to the Al-Qadi family. 

Located less than a mile from Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem’s southern ancient wall, Silwan has a population of 65,000 Palestinians, some of them under threat of Israeli eviction orders.  

In past years, Israeli authorities have been carrying out archaeological digging under Palestinian homes in Silwan, resulting in damage to these buildings, in search of the three-millennial “City of David.” 


Israeli strike kills 12 after hitting civil defense center in Lebanon’s Baalbek, governor tells Reuters

Updated 14 November 2024
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Israeli strike kills 12 after hitting civil defense center in Lebanon’s Baalbek, governor tells Reuters

  • Eight others, including five women, were also killed and 27 wounded in another Israeli attack

CAIRO: An Israeli strike killed 12 people after it hit a civil defense center in Lebanon’s city of Baalbek on Thursday, the regional governor told Reuters adding that rescue operations were ongoing.
Eight others, including five women, were also killed and 27 wounded in another Israeli attack on the Lebanese city, health ministry reported on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lebanese civil defense official Samir Chakia said: “The Civil Defense Center in Baalbek has been targeted, five Civil Defense rescuers were killed.”
Bachir Khodr the regional governor said more than 20 rescuers had been at the facility at the time of the strike.


‘A symbol of resilience’ — workers in Iraq complete reconstruction of famous Mosul minaret

Updated 14 November 2024
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‘A symbol of resilience’ — workers in Iraq complete reconstruction of famous Mosul minaret

  • Workers complete reconstruction of 12th-century minaret of Al-Nuri Mosque
  • Tower and mosque were blown by Daesh extremists in 2017

High above the narrow streets and low-rise buildings of Mosul’s old city, beaming workers hoist an Iraqi flag into the sky atop one of the nation’s most famous symbols of resilience.

Perched precariously on scaffolding in high-vis jackets and hard hats, the workers celebrate a milestone in Iraq’s recovery from the traumatic destruction and bloodshed that once engulfed the city.

On Wednesday, the workers placed the last brick that marked the completed reconstruction of the 12th-century minaret of Al-Nuri Mosque. The landmark was destroyed by Daesh in June 2017 shortly before Iraqi forces drove the extremist group from the city.

Known as Al-Hadba, or “the hunchback,” the 45-meter-tall minaret, which famously leant to one side, dominated the Mosul skyline for centuries. The tower has been painstakingly rebuilt as part of a UNESCO project, matching the traditional stone and brick masonry and incorporating the famous lean.

“Today UNESCO celebrates a landmark achievement,” the UN cultural agency’s Iraq office said. “The completion of the shaft of the Al-Hadba Minaret marks a new milestone in the revival of the city, with and for the people of Mosul. 

“UNESCO is grateful for the incredible teamwork that made this vision a reality. Together, we’ve created a powerful symbol of resilience, a true testament to international cooperation. Thank you to everyone involved in this journey.”

The restoration of the mosque is part of UNESCO’s Revive the Spirit of Mosul project, which includes the rebuilding of two churches and other historic sites. The UAE donated $50 million to the project and UNESCO said that the overall Al-Nuri Mosque complex restoration will be finished by the end of the year.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay celebrated the completion of the minaret by posting “We did it!” on social media site X.

She thanked donors, national and local authorities in Iraq and the experts and professionals, “many of whom are Moslawis,” who worked to rebuild the minaret.

“Can’t wait to return to Mosul to celebrate the full completion of our work,” she said.

The Al-Nuri mosque was built in the second half of the 12th century by the Seljuk ruler Nur Al-Din. 

After Daesh seized control of large parts of Iraq in 2014, the group’s leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of its so-called caliphate from inside the mosque.

Three years later, the extremists detonated explosives to destroy the mosque and minaret as Iraqi forces battled to expel them from the city. Thousands of civilians were killed in the fighting and much of Mosul was left in ruins.


US hands Lebanon draft truce proposal -two political sources

Updated 14 November 2024
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US hands Lebanon draft truce proposal -two political sources

  • The US has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end hostilities between its ally Israel and Hezbollah

BEIRUT: The US ambassador to Lebanon submitted a draft truce proposal to Lebanon’s speaker of parliament Nabih Berri on Thursday to halt fighting between armed group Hezbollah and Israel, two political sources told Reuters, without revealing details.
The US has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end hostilities between its ally Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, but efforts have yet to yield a result. Israel launched a stepped-up air and ground campaign in late September after cross-border clashes in parallel with the Gaza war.