Gazette 082714

Wednesday August 27th 2014

Ceasefire deal ends 50 days of bloodshed in Gaza

After more than 2,000 deaths, Israel and Hamas agree an indefinite truce

Israel and Hamas brought 50 days of bloodshed and destruction over Gaza to an end on Tuesday when they agreed an indefinite ceasefire after the deaths of over 2,000 people.

The announcement of the Egyptian-brokered truce caused celebratory scenes in Gaza City and declarations of victory from leaders of Hamas, the radical Islamist movement. Guns were fired into the air while mosque loudspeakers blared out chants of “Allah-u akbar” (God is great).

Yet the violence that had consumed Gaza and much of the Israeli border areas over the summer continued right up to the last moment. A mortar shell killed one Israeli man and injured six others in the Eshkol region just minutes before the ceasefire took effect at 7pm local time. That incident brought the total number of Israelis killed to 69, including 64 soldiers and one four-year-old boy, Daniel Tregerman.

ISIS reportedly demands $6.6M for release of 26-year-old American woman

Islamic State militants are reportedly demanding $6.6 million and the release of a U.S. prisoner before they will free a third American hostage held by the group, an unidentified aid worker.
A source confirmed to Fox News that the aid worker is a 26-year-old woman from the West Coast. They did not provide further details, but ABC News reported that the woman, whose relatives have requested she not be identified, is the third of at least four Americans known to be held by the extremist Muslim organization. American journalist James Foley was executed by the group in a video that circulated online last week. Steven Sotloff, formerly of Miami, Florida, was also seen alive in the same footage and purportedly remains in Islamic State custody.

The terror organization also has demanded that U.S. authorities release Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted in 2010 of trying to kill U.S. officials two years earlier. Siddiqui, 42, who reportedly married a nephew of Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in 2003, was later sentenced to 86 years in prison. The Karachi native, who was educated in the United States and earned degrees from M.I.T. and Brandeis University, remains in federal custody in Texas.
Siddiqui’s relatives, meanwhile, sought to distance themselves from the militants, saying they were “very distraught” to be linked in any way with Islamic State, ABC News reports.

Obama: 'Justice Will Be Done' for Islamic State Killers

President Barack Obama vowed "justice will be done" against the Islamic State killers of American journalist James Foley on Tuesday as the United States sought to identify targets for potential airstrikes in Syria.

Obama's tough talk followed his decision to approve U.S. surveillance flights to gather intelligence on Islamic State units in Syria should he decide to order airstrikes in the country, which has been embroiled in a three-year civil war.

"America does not forget. Our reach is long. We are patient. Justice will be done," Obama told veterans gathered at a convention of the American Legion in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Obama, who ordered air strikes against the militant group's fighters in Iraq and is considering extending them across the border into Syria, said he would do whatever was necessary to go after those who harm Americans.

"Rooting out a cancer like ISIL won't be easy and it won't be quick," he said. ISIL is the acronym the United States uses for Islamic State, an offshoot of al Qaeda which has declared a caliphate in a large swath of territory in Syria and Iraq.

Obama returned to the White House later and met Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden. Islamic State was on the agenda for their talks.

US sends spy planes over Syria as Obama considers strikes on Isil

Surveillance flights have begun as Washington decides whether to expand the air campaign against Isil from Iraq to Syria

The United States began surveillance flights over Syria on Tuesday, suggesting that President Barack Obama is preparing to expand America’s air campaign from striking targets in Iraq to bombing Islamic State bases across the border.

Foreign drones, presumed to be American, were reported over Syria’s eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Monday, according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group. The US Air Force is believed to have sent reconnaissance aircraft, including U2 spyplanes, over Syria.

This expansion of US air operations comes as Mr Obama considers his military options. He must decide whether to strike the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in Syria - and, if so, how to accomplish this without bolstering President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus, which has offered to co-operate with the US against Isil.

After months of ignoring Isil’s advance, the Syrian air force bombed areas held by the extremists in Deir al-Zour province on Tuesday. Sources in the region, quoted by the AFP news agency, claimed that America had provided intelligence for the strikes - but this was denied by White House officials. “There are no plans to coordinate with the Assad regime as we consider this terror threat,” said Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman.

Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, also warned this week of the dangers of the US being seen to support Mr Assad against Isil. This would only alienate the moderate Sunni populations of both Syria and Iraq, which the US believes are essential to defeating Isil.

Israeli officer moderately wounded by errant fire from civil war in neighboring Syria

JERUSALEM –  The Israeli military says an officer in the Golan Heights has been moderately wounded by errant fire from neighboring Syria.
The army said the fire appeared to be spillover from heavy fighting between government and rebel forces inside Syria. From the Israeli side of the de facto border, large clouds of smoke could be seen, as gunfire and explosions sounded in the distance. Israeli soldiers observed the fighting.

More than 190,000 people have been killed in Syria's three-year civil war.
Israel has avoided taking sides in the war, but has responded when the violence has spilled across the border. The military did not say whether it responded to Wednesday's fire.
Israel says it holds the Syrian government responsible for any violence that emanates from its territory.

Ukraine crisis: Novoazovsk targeted by rebels

Pro-Russian separatist rebels have been battling Ukrainian government troops in an arc cutting across Donetsk region, as far south as the Sea of Azov.

The government-held coastal town of Novoazovsk came under shellfire, forcing people to shelter in basements.
A huge column of unidentified armour was reportedly sighted while rebels spoke of soldiers surrendering.
The fighting comes after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised a "roadmap" for peace in the east.
He was speaking in Belarus after holding his first direct talks on the crisis since June with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Putin said Russia, which denies supplying the rebels with weapons and covert forces, would assist a dialogue, but he insisted that stopping the fighting was a matter for Ukraine alone.
In other developments

• Mr Putin said agreement had been reached with Ukraine on further Russian humanitarian aid deliveries to east Ukraine

• Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had received Polish intelligence reports that regular units of the Russian army were operating inside Ukraine

• Ukrainian helicopter pilot Nadiya Savchenko appeared in court in the Russian city of Voronezh for a hearing on her continued detention in custody on charges of complicity in the killing of two Russian TV journalists

'One hundred vehicles' Heavy weapons are routinely used by both sides in the fighting which has raged since mid-April, when Kiev sent in security forces to put down the rebellions in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Capture of Russian paratroopers in Ukraine overshadows talks with Russia 

Summit meeting between Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko falters over first admission that Russian troops had entered Ukraine's territory

Russia's government was forced to admit for the first time that regular troops had entered neighbouring Ukraine on Tuesday, in a dramatic incident that appeared to confirm Kiev's accusations of direct Russian involvement in the civil war in the east of the country.

Ten Russian paratroopers who were captured in Ukraine on Monday crossed the border "accidentally" during a routine frontier patrol, Russia's Ministry of Defence claimed.

The admission came hours before Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, held their first ever one-to-one meeting as they met face-to-face for the first time since June, and overshadowed talks which some had hoped would hasten an end to the conflict.

The negotiations, described as "very tough and complex" by the Ukrainian president, went on late into the night.

Afterwards, Mr Putin said the two leaders had agreed there was a need for a swift end to the bloodshed. 

General Sir Richard Shirreff in Russia warning to West

Western Europe would struggle to defend itself against Russia, a former Nato supreme commander has warned.

General Sir Richard Shirreff told BBC Newsnight members of the alliance must re-arm to face the Russian threat.
He also said the prime minister made a mistake by ruling out sending troops into Iraq to fight Islamic State (IS).
David Cameron has said the UK would not get involved in another war in the country after IS jihadists advanced in northern Iraq over the summer.
Unpopular The general - until March the UK's most senior officer at Nato - accepted that calling on western Europe to re-arm was not a popular thing to say in the current economic climate but said Nato had to "rebuild capability".
In the interview, the general said: "I've no doubt it's an unpopular message but it's a message that our political leadership need to take home and listen to and act on if they're serious about ensuring that Nato has the means to defend itself in future."

Pakistani minister urges opposition leaders to back off their demand for PM's resignation

ISLAMABAD –  A Cabinet minister has urged Pakistan's two key opposition figures leading mass rallies outside parliament to back off their demand for the prime minister's resignation in ongoing talks with the government.
Railways Minister Saad Rafiq says the two opposition leaders — cricket-star-turned-politician Imran Khan and fiery cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri — should not insist on Nawaz Sharif stepping down.

Rafiq says authorities want a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
Tens of thousands of Khan and Qadri supporters have been rallying for nearly two weeks in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, demanding Sharif resign over alleged election fraud.
Government negotiators are trying to convince the two to end their protest.
Rafiq on Wednesday also urged Qadri to withdraw his 48-hour "deadline," which expires later in the day and which the cleric set for Sharif's resignation.

Iran Supplied Weapons To Iraqi Kurdish Forces

ARBIL, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Iran has supplied weapons and ammunition to Iraqi Kurdish forces, Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani said Tuesday at a joint press conference with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Arbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdish region.

The direct arming of Kurdish forces is a contentious issue because some Iraqi politicians have said they suspect Kurdish leaders have aspirations to break away from the central government completely. The move could also be seen by some as a prelude to Iran taking a more direct role in broader Iraqi conflict.

"We asked for weapons and Iran was the first country to provide us with weapons and ammunition," Barzani said.

Militants from the Islamic State have clashed with Kurdish peshmerga fighters in recent weeks and taken control of some areas on the periphery of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Earlier in the day a car bomb was detonated in a mainly Shi'ite district of eastern Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 28, police and medical sources said.

The bombing in the New Baghdad neighborhood followed a series of blasts in the Iraqi capital on Monday which killed more than 20 people.

The Islamic State, which controls large swathes of northern and western Iraq, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the New Baghdad neighborhood on Monday and said in a statement that the attack was carried out as revenge for an attack against a Sunni mosque in Diyala on Friday which killed 68 and wounded dozens.

The Iranian foreign minister held talks with Barzani on Tuesday, one day after visiting senior Shi'ite clerics in southern Iraq. Zarif acknowledged giving military assistance to Iraqi security forces but said the cooperation did not include deploying ground troops in the country.

American 'fighter' dies in Syria battle

An American man, believed to be fighting alongside Islamist militants in Syria, has been killed, the White House has confirmed.

A cousin of Douglas McAuthur McCain told the BBC the US government had called his mother to confirm his death.
McCain was found dead by Free Syrian Army fighters after a battle at the weekend, according to NBC.
The US government believes a small number of Americans have travelled to Syria to fight for extremist groups.
Senior US officials told broadcaster CNN McCain was fighting for Islamic State (IS), which now controls large areas of Iraq and Syria.
"My family is accepting the confirmation that was given to us by the government," his cousin Jocelyn Smith told the BBC. "I am really shocked."

US reportedly turning to allies to support expanded airstrikes, Syria opposition

The Obama administration is pressing U.S. allies to increase their support for moderate rebel groups in Syria, as well as possible military operations, according to a published report. 
The New York Times reported late Tuesday that White House officials believe that Great Britain and Australia would be willing to join the United States in a campaign of airstrikes in Syria, while the administration hoped that Turkey would give it access to key military bases. 

The Times also reported that the U.S. has asked Turkish government to help seal that country's border with Syria, which has proven to be an easy crossing point for foreign militants looking to join up with the Islamic State, the militant group formerly known as ISIS, in northern Syria. The paper reported that the White House is also seeking intelligence help from Jordan, as well as financial support for groups like the moderate Free Syrian Army from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. 
The political calculus of such maneuvering among America's Western allies is unclear. Last year, British Prime Minister David Cameron experienced one of the most humiliating defeats of his premiership when a motion to join potential airstrikes against Bashar al-Assad's government was rejected by Parliament. However, the atrocities committed by ISIS since its overrunning of broad swathes of Syria and Iraq, have seemingly galvanized Cameron to press for action. In a recent opinion piece in the Sunday Telegraph, Cameron said that Britain was "in the middle of a generational struggle against a poisonous and extremist ideology."

Navy Discharges Black Sailor Who Won't Change Her Natural Hair

The natural hair nightmare for US female soldiers is far from over.
Navy Times reports that Jessica Sims, ex-Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class and sailor of twelve years got the boot from the Navy when she refused to cut off her natural hair or wear a wig.
After almost a decade of wearing her natural hair in the same style, Sims received several calls that her hairstyle violated set military standards and interfered her ability to wear gas masks and safety helmets -- a claim she says is untrue.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered a revision of US military hair restrictions this month -- after a wave of backlash to new "racially biased" grooming regulations announced in April -- none of which prevented repeated calls from the Navy for Sims to change her hair.
"I don’t think I should be told that I have to straighten my hair in order to be within what they think the regulations are, and I don’t think I should have to cover it up with a wig.”
Sims harbors no regret in choosing her natural hair over her position with the US Navy.
“I still stand by it. I would do it again if I had to." 

Will Al Sharpton become a thorn in Hillary Clinton’s side?

When prominent African Americans activists and intellectuals criticized President Obama on what they viewed as his slow-footed and passionless response to the shooting of an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Mo. and the unrest that followed, the Rev. Al Sharpton was not among them.
In fact, Sharpton had a different question: What Hillary Clinton’s response to Ferguson?
So far, Clinton, on a book tour centered on foreign policy, hasn’t said anything about Ferguson, but Sharpton said that she, along with other possible 2016ers, should weigh in.
“I’m in the smoking-out business.  That’s what King did with Kennedy,” he said.  “That’s what civil rights leaders do. And I’m doing what I do.”
It was a clever political pivot that deflected attention from Obama and spawned additional segments on MSNBC, several articles and tweet after tweet, with Clinton characterized as MIA on race and police brutality, topics du jour among progressives and potential presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Missing women inquiry tops agenda for premiers, aboriginal leaders

The country's premiers and aboriginal leaders are expected to repeat their call for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women following talks in Charlottetown today.
That call is seen as likely even though there's no sign the federal government has budged from its opposition to holding such an inquiry.

• Harper rebuffs renewed calls for murdered, missing women inquiry
• Tina Fontaine's death can't be ignored, Brad Wall says
• Trade a hot topic ahead of premiers' meeting in Charlottetown

Pressure from premiers and aboriginal leaders for an inquiry has intensified in recent days after 15-year-old Tina Fontaine's body was found in a river in Winnipeg.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the teen's apparent homicide a "terrible crime," but said it should not be seen as a "sociological phenomenon" that can be solved by an inquiry.
Many premiers disagree, however.
Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger told CBC Radio's The House recently that a national inquiry would not interfere with the police investigation, but would rather look at the deeper causes.
"A national inquiry could focus on prevention. It could focus on where the resources need to go. It could focus on understanding the underlying causes and it could focus on partnerships with aboriginal communities, aboriginal organizations, provincial governments, municipal governments, and all those service providers that are looking for ways to make sure nobody goes missing, nobody gets murdered, and nobody gets forgotten when they’re out on the street," Selinger said.
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