Daesh chief Baghdadi buried at sea by US military

The US Army reportedly targeted Daesh group leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. (AFP)
Updated 29 October 2019
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Daesh chief Baghdadi buried at sea by US military

  • His death marks a devastating blow to the Daesh, says US Defense Secretary
  • Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman offered US President Donald Trump his congratulations on the raid 

WASHINGTON: US officials have said the body of Daesh chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was buried at sea, as fresh details surfaced about the US special forces operation that led to his death over the weekend.
Syrian Kurds claimed to be a key source of the intelligence that led Americans to Baghdadi after years of tracking the man behind a five-year reign of terror across much of Iraq and Syria.
And an unnamed US military dog became an unlikely hero of the raid, incurring injuries as it chased Baghdadi down a dead-end tunnel underneath his northwestern Syria hideout, where the jihadist blew himself and three children up with a suicide vest.
The US military basked in success Monday after eliminating the founder and spiritual guide of the Islamic State (IS) group, capping a years-long campaign to crush the Sunni Muslim extremist organization that had at one point created a “caliphate” the size of England.
“His death marks a devastating blow to the remnants of (IS),” said Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

He praised the nearly hundred-strong force that helicoptered to the rural compound in the Idlib region of Syria in a complex mission that required coordination with Russians, Kurds, Turks and President Bashar Assad’s regime to prevent US aircraft from being fired upon.
“They executed the raid in all of its facets brilliantly,” Esper said.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley said no one was injured in the operation, despite the US team taking fire when they arrived.
They took two men prisoner, and Baghdadi’s body was taken to a secure facility for a DNA test that would confirm his identity, Milley said.
“The disposal of his remains has been done, is complete and was handled appropriately,” he added, saying it was handled “in accordance with the law of armed conflict.”
Another Pentagon official confirmed that Baghdadi’s body was put into the sea at an unnamed location, similar to the 2011 sea burial of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after his death in a US special forces raid in Pakistan.

A Kurdish official said an inside source the group oversaw was responsible for leading US forces to Baghdadi’s hideout, helping to map out the interior of the compound, its staffing, as well as making it possible for them to identify Baghdadi.
“Since 15 May, we have been working together with the CIA to track Al-Baghdadi and monitor him closely,” said Polat Can, a senior adviser to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
The group had an informant who was able to infiltrate Baghdadi’s house.
“Al-Baghdadi changed his places of residence very often,” he said on Twitter.
“Our intelligence source was involved in sending co-ordinates, directing the airdrop, participating in and making the operation a success until the last minute,” Polat Can said.
The source also “brought Al-Baghdadi’s underwear to conduct a DNA test and make sure (100%) that the person in question was Al-Baghdadi himself,” he said.

Attention focused as well on the unnamed dog — likely a Belgian Malinois, a breed favored by the military, which chased Baghdadi into a tunnel under the complex and cornered him before he detonated his suicide vest.
Trump praised the dog on Sunday as “beautiful,” but military officials said any information about it, including its name, was secret.
“It’s classified, we’re protecting the dog’s identity,” said Milley.
The dog had been “slightly wounded and is fully recovering,” he said.

On Monday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman offered US President Donald Trump his congratulations on the raid.
“The Crown Prince congratulated the President on the United States successful mission to bring Daesh founder and leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi to justice,” the White House said in a statement.
US officials said Baghdadi’s death would not end the conflict in Syria, but warned Washington could not be relied on to bring peace to the region.
“Baghdadi’s death will not rid the world of terrorism or end the ongoing conflict in Syria,” said Esper.
“The security situation in Syria remains complex,” he said, adding: “Acting as a police force out to solve every dispute is not our mission.”
But he said the death of Baghdadi “will certainly send a message to those who would question America’s resolve and provide a warning to terrorists who think they can hide.”


South Korea holds missile drill after North Korea launches

Updated 2 sec ago
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South Korea holds missile drill after North Korea launches

SEOUL: South Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea in a show of force after North Korea’s recent salvo of missile launches, Seoul said Friday.
The nuclear-armed North had test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as well as a number of short-range ballistic missiles in separate drills over the last two weeks.
South Korea’s military command said its live-fire exercise was aimed at demonstrating its “strong resolve to firmly respond to any North Korean provocation.”
It also underlined its “capability and readiness for precision strikes against the enemy’s origin of provocation,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff added.
A Hyunmoo surface-to-surface short-range missile was sent into the West Sea in the exercise, the military command said.
South Korea started domestic production of short-range ballistic missiles in the 1970s to counter the threats posed by North Korea.
Hyunmoo are a series of missiles which are key to the country’s so-called ‘Kill Chain’ preemptive strike system, which allows Seoul to launch a preemptive attack if there are signs of imminent North Korean attack.
In early October, the country displayed for the first time its largest ballistic missile, the Hyunmoo-5, which is capable of destroying underground bunkers.
Last Sunday, South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted a joint air drill involving a US B-1B bomber, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, and Japanese F-2 jets, in response to the North’s ICBM launch.
Such joint drills infuriate Pyongyang, which views them as rehearsals for invasion.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of the country’s leader and a key spokesperson, called the US-South Korea-Japan exercises an “action-based explanation of the most hostile and dangerous aggressive nature of the enemy toward our Republic.”
The drill was an “absolute proof of the validity and urgency of the line of building up the nuclear forces we have opted for and put into practice,” she added.

Taiwan coast guard offers rewards for spotting foreign ships

Updated 12 min 47 sec ago
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Taiwan coast guard offers rewards for spotting foreign ships

  • Taiwan’s coast guard said Friday it will reward people who report the presence of foreign military ships, including those from China

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s coast guard said Friday it will reward people who report the presence of foreign military ships, including those from China, in waters around the island, as it seeks the public’s help with monitoring “abnormal” activity.
China regularly deploys fighter jets, navy ships and coast guard vessels around Taiwan to press its claims of sovereignty over the island, which Taipei’s government rejects.
Taiwan is massively outgunned by China, which has refused to renounce the use of force to bring the island under its control.
“The Coast Guard’s manpower is limited but the people power at sea is unlimited,” Taiwan’s coast guard said in a statement announcing the rewards.
The coast guard called on people, including fishers, to “stay vigilant to abnormal maritime activities” to help counter the growing “threats from the sea” and “all kinds of grey zone harassment tactics” — actions that fall short of an act of war.
People who reported homicide, piracy, arson and kidnapping to the coast guard could receive up to NT$200,000 ($6,200), while reports of Chinese “stowaways” would be rewarded with NT$50,000, and NT$10,000 for other foreign stowaways.
Verified reports to the coast guard about foreign and Chinese military ships and other vessels would be rewarded with NT$3,000.
China maintains a near-daily presence of naval vessels and warplanes around the island.
Chinese coast guard ships have also been spotted around Taiwan’s outlying islands, at times briefly entering its restricted waters.
A series of incidents involving boats from both sides have fueled tensions across the narrow waterway separating Taiwan and China.
A Taiwanese court in September sentenced a former Chinese naval captain to eight months in prison for illegally entering the island by boat.


Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ can be imported in India as court told 1988 ban order untraceable

Updated 53 min 57 sec ago
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Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ can be imported in India as court told 1988 ban order untraceable

  • India-born British author’s novel was banned by India in 1988 after some Muslims viewed it as blasphemous
  • Salman Rushdie’s fourth fictional novel ran into a global controversy shortly after its publication in September 1988

NEW DELHI: India’s three-decade ban on importing author Salman Rushdie’s controversial ‘The Satanic Verses’ book has effectively been lifted after a court said the government was unable to produce the original notification that imposed the ban.
The India-born British author’s novel was banned by India in 1988 after some Muslims viewed it as blasphemous. The Delhi High Court was hearing a 2019 case challenging the import ban of the book in India.
According to a Nov. 5 court order, India’s government told the Delhi High Court that the import ban order “was untraceable and, therefore could not be produced.”
As a result, the court said it had “no other option except to presume that no such notification exists.”
“The ban has been lifted as of Nov. 5 because there is no notification,” Uddyam Mukherjee, lawyer for petitioner Sandipan Khan, said.
India’s interior and finance ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Khan’s plea said he approached the court after being told at bookstores that the novel could not be sold or imported in India and then when he searched, he could not find the official import ban order on the government websites.
Even in court the government has been unable to produce the order, he said.
“None of the respondents could produce the said notification ... in fact the purported author of the said notification has also shown his helplessness in producing a copy,” the Nov. 5 order noted, referring to the customs department official who drafted the order.
Rushdie’s fourth fictional novel ran into a global controversy shortly after its publication in September 1988, as some Muslims saw passages about Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous.
It sparked violent demonstrations and book burnings across the Muslim world, including in India, which has the world’s third largest Muslim population.
In 1989, Iran’s then supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie, sending the Booker Prize-winning author into hiding for six years.
In August 2022, about 33 years after the fatwa, Rushdie was stabbed on stage during a lecture in New York, which left him blind in one eye and affected the use of one of his hands.


Maccabi Tel Aviv fans clash with reported pro-Palestinian protesters at Ajax Europa League match

Updated 7 min 16 sec ago
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Maccabi Tel Aviv fans clash with reported pro-Palestinian protesters at Ajax Europa League match

  • Israel’s PM aware of ‘very violent incident’ against Israelis in Amsterdam
  • Netanyahu directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist citizens there

AMSTERDAM: Supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after a Europa League soccer match between their team and Ajax outside the Dutch team’s home stadium in Amsterdam on Thursday night, media and officials said.
The clashes reportedly erupted despite a ban on a pro-Palestinian demonstration imposed by Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who had feared that clashes would break out between protesters and supporters of the Israeli soccer club.
Details of the incidents remained unclear, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed of the details of “a very violent incident” targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam, his office said on Friday.
He directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist citizens there, it added in a statement.
Israel’s national security ministry has also urged its citizens in Amsterdam to stay in their hotel rooms following the attacks, the prime minister’s office said in a second statement.
“Fans who went to see a football game, encountered anti-Semitism and were attacked with unimaginable cruelty just because of their Jewishness and Israeliness,” Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a post on X.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu also called his Dutch counterpart about them.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has asked the Dutch government to help Israeli citizens arrive safely at the airport, Saar told his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp in a phone call on Friday.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, also condemned the violence in a post on the social media platform X.
There were no immediate reports of arrests or injuries from the clashes outside the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, the city’s main arena and Ajax’s home stadium. Ajax won the Europa League match 5-0 after leading 3-0 at halftime.

 


Indonesia’s Prabowo heads to China at start of multi-country trip

Updated 08 November 2024
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Indonesia’s Prabowo heads to China at start of multi-country trip

  • Prabowo Subianto has signaled he is keen to play an active role on the international stage
  • Prabowo’s agenda for China is unclear, but he is expected to meet President Xi Jinping

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s new leader Prabowo Subianto set off for China on Friday for his first international trip as president, kicking off a tour that will include stops in the United States, Britain, and South America for the APEC and G20 summits.
Prabowo, who won the presidency in February at his third attempt, has signaled he is keen to play an active role on the international stage, demonstrated by his visits to 21 countries during the time he was president-elect.
“It shows that Indonesia is well respected and its presence is needed in bilateral and multilateral meetings to discuss important issues, not only the economy but also the current rising geopolitical tensions,” he told a press conference before flying to China.
“I think all parties are waiting to hear about Indonesia’s stance and role.”
The former defense minister and special forces commander has said that under his presidency, Indonesia would continue its long-held foreign policy of non-alignment.
Prabowo’s agenda for China is unclear, but he is expected to meet President Xi Jinping. He is due to meet US counterpart Joe Biden in Washington and Prabowo’s office has said it was possible he could meet president-elect Donald Trump.
He will go to Britain to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and may also visit several countries in the Middle East, he said. His office has not provided dates for any of the visits.
The trip will include stops in Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and to Brazil for the summit of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies.
Prabowo is expected to strengthen ties with both the United States and China as Indonesia’s main partners, said Prasetyo Hadi, the state secretariat minister, adding he would discuss potential partnerships in trade, energy, housing and marine sectors.