MENA JOURNALIST

Photo collection of Antwerpen terrorist threat

2016-09-09T01:57:00.001+02:00

By: Mahmoud Elsobky
Exclusive Photo collection of Antwerpen terrorist threat,showing the man who was threateing to blow himself and police gathering around Antwerpen train station and Diamnt tram station,

Antwerpen Terrorist threat

2016-09-09T01:40:00.002+02:00

Photo ©Mahmoud Elsobky

Update:
Antwerpen, 8 September
The passengers of Tram 15 didnt expect when they stop at Diamnt station at 21:30 pm that there is a man with a bomb in his hands.
A man with a short beard in his twenties, carried a bomb in his hand threatening that his going to blow himself up,while police coming from everywhere to arrest him.
"Dont move." four policemen asked the man,while he was stable as if there is nothing dangerous in his hands and his action will lead to killing a lot of people.
"I was in the station waiting for the tram and the suspected was shouting next us,"said abo Ahmed,Palestinan refugee living in Antwerpen ."we didnt expect him to be a terroirist,we thought he is a man that has a problem.",he added.
"I got out of the tram to find myself in front of a young man with a bomb in his hands," said Mohamed a young refugee who was following Dutch lessons and going back to his house.
Panic lasted among the people who were in the tram station and ran quickly out of the station,while some women fell on the ground after taking the escalator.
"I saw another man was on the track and police stopped him,but was released minutes later as he was not with the man who was threatening to blow himself.
Abo Ahmed who was waiting the tram to go back to his family ran out the station a long with many others to save their souls from the bomb."I cant beleive that happened next to me.",said he.
Police and army men came from evrywhere to help arresting the suspected and announced closing Diamnt tram station till they end their checking of it.

Early Morning Antwerpen police tweeted that the package with the suspected was not a bomb.
Also,the Antwerpen public prosecutor has given an explanation of the incident Thursday night at the Central Station. There was panic because two men who quoted Koranic verses , were arrested, and DOVO arrived at the scene. The two men were arrested for "attack threat with seemingly dangerous substances"

Its noteworthy that Antwerpen is oneof the Belgian cities that received terrorist threats after Brussels attacks that took place on the morning of 22 March 2016, where three coordinated suicide bombings occurred in Belgium: two at Brussels Airport inZaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station in central Brussels. Thirty-two civilians and three perpetrators were killed, and more than 300 people were injured. Another bomb was found during a search of the airport. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks

ISIL chemical attacks 'expected' as Mosul battle nears

2016-08-31T23:21:00.001+02:00

By:Mohammed A Salih

Jaralla, near Mosul - For a good while, it felt like another tedious guard shift for Chato Saeed, a Peshmerga soldier on the Kurdish frontline against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS). In the blistering afternoon of that mid-August day last year, the flat plains in this part of southern Nineveh resembled a mirage as heat waves simmered above the ground. Suddenly, Saeed, 34, and another fellow guard heard the whistling sound of a mortar attack.

As they ducked behind the sandbags erected to protect them from enemy fire, they heard a shallow explosion. A few seconds later, they peered through gaps between the sandbags and saw "something like a yellowish or whitish smoke" arising from the spot where the rocket had landed.

"My friend shouted, 'It's a chemical attack!' and ran down to take cover in the room below," Saeed told Al Jazeera. Saeed hastily untied the checkered white and black turban he was wearing around his neck and poured some water on it and covered his face hoping to protect himself from the gasses that the wind was sweeping towards him.

Soon, he ran out of breath. "I started feeling dizzy and then fainted," said Saeed.

He and 13 other wounded Peshmerga troops were taken to a small health facility in the nearby town of Makhmour. To this day, Saeed says he still suffers from an infection in his left ear and if exposed to strong sunlight "my face turns red and I feel like my skin thickens and I get rushes".

The gas attack that Saeed endured in Jaralla was just one of a rising number of such attacks launched by ISIL against Kurdish forces.

According to figures gathered from multiple military sources in Iraq's Kurdistan, ISIL used chemical attacks fewer than 10 times in the first year and a half after its dramatic expansionin northern and western Iraq began in June 2014.

But since the start of 2016, the group has staged at least 13 chemical attacks against Kurdish forces, utilising materials such as chlorine and sulfur mustard in these attacks.

Kurdish sources say the attacks have not been lethal but believe the increasing use of chemical attacks is designed to weaken the frontlines.

As Iraqi and Kurdish forces set their eyes on Mosul, where a military offensive is expected to attempt to retake northern Iraq's largest city from ISIL by the end of the year, more chemical attacks by ISIL 'are expected', according to sources in the Peshmerga forces.

"They know about the preparations for retaking Mosul, so they're resorting to chemical attacks more often than before to show their capabilities and power, and prove that they can protect and defend their area," General Mahmoud Ali, head of a Peshmerga engineering unit, told Al Jazeera.

His unit is the first one that arrives at a scene of a chemical attack to remove the shells and do an initial clean up of the site.

Inside Story

Despite the recurring attacks, Kurdish forces were until recently in dire need of gear to protect themselves against gas attacks by ISIL. During a visit in late May to Kurdish-controlled Makhmour, one of the areas most affected by ISIL chemical weapons, the officers and soldiers complained that, two years into the war, they were still ill-equipped and highly vulnerable to chemical assaults.

Major Luqman Abdulaziz said that his battalion of about 500 people had only a few dozen gas masks for protection. The masks were donated by Germany that had earlier in the year provided about 1,000 masks to the Kurdish forces, but Abdulaziz's unit managed to get only a few dozen.

"So far we have been relying on primitive ways of protection, using water tanks, towels or jamadani [traditional Kurdish head turbans] to protect ourselves every time there's a chemical attack," Abdulaziz told Al Jazeera back in May.

The problem is not only about protection, but also treatment of wounded personnel. In the Makhmour area, a barely equipped general-purpose health centre is the only facility to provide first aid to incoming wounded troops.

"We can only provide oxygen and hydrocortisone [a medication to treat skin conditions that reduces swelling, itching, and redness]," said Aso Aziz, administrative head of the Makhmour health centre.

IN PICTURES: Life on the frontline in Iraq

While ISIL's use of the internationally prohibited weapons has been mostly concentrated in the areas in the vicinity of Mosul, it also launched a gas attack in March on the Shia Turkmen-dominated town of Taza in Kirkuk province. As many as 50 civilians were wounded in that attack, according to Iraqi authorities.

Under the former regime of Saddam Hussein, Iraq had an active chemical weapons programme for years. The regime infamously used chemical weapons against its own Kurdish population as well as Iranian troops and civilians during its eight-year war with the neighbouring country.

Some of the veterans of Saddam's chemical weapons programme, such as Abu Malik, are believed to have played an important role in building ISIL's arsenal. Abu Malik, who joined ISIL's chemical weapons programme in the summer of 2014, was killed in an air strike by the US-led coalition near Mosul in January 2015.

General Ali says that ISIL has mostly relied on the chemistry labs at the University of Mosul, once one of Iraq's finest centres of higher education, to develop its chemical weapons programme.

Despite the recurring attacks, the Kurdish forces were until recently in dire need of gear to protect themselves against gas attacks by ISIL [Tommy Trenchard/Oxfam/Al Jazeera]

But recently, ISIL appears to have moved the bulk of their chemical activities from Mosul University to residential areas to avoid attacks, says Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a chemical weapons adviser to NGOs working in Syria and Iraq and former commanding officer of the UK Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Regiment and NATO's Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion.

The US-led coalition has taken serious note of ISIL chemical endeavours and targeted two of its chemical facilities near Mosul in March. According to De Bretton-Gordon, Kurdish security sources said that ISIL was also using the Mishraq chemical factory in southern Mosul as a centre for producing chemicals.

"They [ISIL] have a very high level of expertise but I doubt [that they have] the facilities to make anything but a small amount of chemical weapons," De Bretton-Gordon told Al Jazeera.

Iraq: Kurds increase pressure on ISIL near Mosul

Kurdish officials also tend to agree that, at least so far, ISIL doesn't have the means to build sophisticated chemical weapons with large scale impact. "They weaponise the chemicals by putting them into mortar shells or in some cases even cooking gas cylinders," says General Ali. "These shells are only effective if they land very close to the target, like a few metres."

However, the Australian Foreign Secretary Julie Bishop warned in June that ISIL might have among its recruits the "technical expertise necessary to further refine precursor materials and build chemical weapons."

With the battle of Mosul looming, the United States has donated more than 10,000 masks since last autumn to two Kurdish brigades trained for the Mosul operation, a coalition spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, told Al Jazeera.

This is the first major provision of such anti-chemical gear to the Kurdish forces, which perhaps indicates serious concerns that ISIL might launch chemical attacks on the forces advancing towards its largest stronghold in Iraq and Syria.

In the Sultan Abdullah hills, a couple of kilometres to the east of Jaralla where Chato Saeed was wounded, a chemically polluted room is a standing testament to ISIL's experimenting with deadly gasses. The area was targeted by ISIL last summer. Since then, only 40 gas masks have been provided to a battalion of 400 members at this outpost.

One fighter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, expressed deep concern that he and many other fellow fighters along the sprawling 1,000km Kurdish-held frontline remain vulnerable to gas attacks.

For its part, ISIL has signalled that it will not have second thoughts about using such weapons. The group's latest chemical attack in northern Iraq occurred on July 22 in Tal Afar area west of Mosul and wounded three Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

Source: Al Jazeera News

Attacks on hospitals: Afghanistan's medics under fire

2016-07-29T23:34:00.000+02:00

by

Karishma Vyas

Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan - A tiny baby fights for breath. His body goes into shock. He's just three days old.

"His oxygen is only 50 percent," says paediatric nurse Samantha Hardeman. "We need another dose of adrenalin."

As medics crowd around the baby, his fragile body jerks with convulsions.

Suddenly, he goes into cardiac arrest and his body stops moving. His dark brown eyes stare unblinking at the ceiling, and he becomes one of the youngest victims of Afghanistan's 30-year war.

In this bitter conflict, soldiers and insurgents may be in the firing line but it's babies like this who are the unwitting casualties.

War still has rules...These are innocent people who are not part of what's going on, and they should never be brought into it.

Samantha Hardeman, nurse

Three decades of fighting have decimated Afghanistan's health facilities, and desperately ill babies are paying the ultimate price.

"We have a relatively high mortality rate because the kids are so sick when they come to us," Hardeman says, as she walks through the neonatal intensive care unit at Boost Hospital in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.

"Sometimes the family can't get their child to the hospital on time because there's fighting around them."

Run by the international medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the dusty provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, Boost Hospital lies just a few kilometres from the frontline separating government forces and the resurgent Taliban.

One of just a handful of health facilities in this part of Afghanistan, Boost Hospital is a vital lifeline for tens of thousands of civilians.

Up to 500 patients come to the hospital every day, the majority of whom are children suffering from acute malnutrition.

It remains one of the main causes of childhood death in the region. In 2015, Boost Hospital admitted almost 2,300 malnourished children - approximately 190 every month.

Baby Hamid* is just six months old, but in his short life he's been admitted to the hospital three times.

On his most recent visit, Hamid bore the tell-tale signs of malnutrition; his translucent skin stretched over his bones, his round head too large for his frail body.

"The first time I brought him here he was about to die," says his mother, Sharifa*, from behind her sky-blue burqa. "I took him to the emergency room and doctors put him in an incubator and started oxygen on him. And then he got better. I took him home for a week but he got worse."

As doctors in the emergency room examine him, Hamid stretches his mouth open to scream, but he is too weak to make a sound. His mother says he is suffering from diarrhoea and a cough, but the staff immediately send him to the hospital's feeding centre.

"All day I'm scared and crying. Maybe I'll lose him," Sharifa says, cradling her baby. "I love my son so much. My heart hurts when he is sick. I can't even eat anything."

At the feeding centre, Sharifa and her son are squeezed in beside dozens of other malnourished infants and their mothers. Many have travelled for days, dodging bullets, landmines and checkpoints to reach the hospital.

Demand for care is so overwhelming that often the staff have to cram two or three patients into each bed.

Here, the babies are put on a strict regime of high-calorie formula every few hours, their diet monitored around the clock by medical staff to ensure they gain weight.

"Mother's milk is the best for a child," an Afghan doctor tells Sharifa. "When they don't get that, they're thin and they have a lot of problems, like a distended stomach and cramps. Breast milk is the only thing that can help the child grow."

Many of the mothers at the centre have never been to school. Some of them are just teenagers who gave birth after marrying at a young age.

"At home I was giving him cow's milk and goat's milk," admits Sharifa. "But he reacted badly to this."

The doctors say Hamid has to stay in the feeding centre for at least a week. Without this urgent medical intervention, Hamid and many of the babies here would die.

But the frontline medics working to save their lives, and others like them around the world, are increasingly under threat.

There have been at least 2,400 strikes against hospitals, health workers and patients in the past three years, according to the International Committee for the Red Cross.

In Afghanistan alone, there is an incident every three days.

One of the most devastating strikes occurred in October 2015, when a MSF hospital in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, was obliterated.

More than 40 people, including medical staff, were killed when the US military dropped more than 200 shells on the facility.

Survivors described scenes of horror: patients in the intensive care unit burnt in their beds, medics dismembered by a hail of bullets as they tried to flee the hovering AC-130 gunship.

"I heard my friends shouting," said Dr Esmatullah Esmat, an Afghan surgeon who was working in the centre at the time of the attack. "They were saying 'Please help us'... But there was no one to help them."

The attack sent shockwaves through the international aid community. Health workers are supposed to be protected by all sides in warzones, but aid workers fear that governments and fighters are no longer respecting international laws.

An internal investigation by the US military found that its aircrew attacked the hospital, believing it was another building that had been overrun by the Taliban. Investigators blamed a series of human, technical and procedural failures for the bombing.

"It was absolutely not a deliberate attack. It was a mistake," Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, a spokesman for the US military in Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera.

The investigation found 16 servicemen culpable. They were given administrative punishments ranging from letters of reprimand to retraining. No one has been charged with a crime.

Frustrated by the lack of criminal charges, MSF has demanded an independent investigation into the incident. The organisation said it repeatedly shared the GPS coordinates of its hospital with the Taliban, the Afghan Army and the US military before the attack.

"War still has rules," says Canadian nurse Samantha Hardeman. "These are innocent people who are not part of what's going on, and they should never be brought into it."

Hardeman says the attack in Kunduz devastated the MSF community and she's worried that these attacks may make medics less willing to work on the frontline.

"There's some people who, because of Kunduz or because these kinds of attacks are happening more, are probably less likely to come to a place where the perception is that it's more high-risk," she says.

For babies like Hamid, the work of these frontline medics means the difference between life and death. After five days in the hospital and a regimented feeding schedule, he is out of danger for now. Nurses say he has gained 200 grammes and will soon be able to go home.

"I'm happy because my baby is getting better," says his mother. "When he gets bigger, I want him to study and be a doctor."

Editor's note: Hamid and his mother's name have been changed to protect their identity.

From the 101 East documentary Afghanistan: Medics Under Fire. Watch the full filmhere.

Source: Al Jazeera

Red Cross: One million could flee Mosul battle in Iraq

2016-07-29T23:29:00.000+02:00

Up to one million Iraqis risk facing displacement in the coming weeks as fighting intensifies ahead of a government offensive to retake the northern city of Mosul from ISIL, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

"The situation is unpredictable but we must prepare for the worst," Robert Mardini, the ICRC's regional director for the Near and Middle East, said in a statement on Friday.

"Hundreds of thousands of people may very well be on the move in the coming weeks and months, seeking shelter and assistance. We need to be ready."

Following the recapture of Fallujah last month, Iraqi forces are currently conducting operations aimed at setting the stage for an assault on Mosul, which has been held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (also known as ISIS) armed group since June 2014.

More than 3,000 displaced from Iraq’s Shirqat

Mosul was once home to some two million people, but the current population has been estimated at around half that figure, with the number of those fleeing their homes increasing.

More than 3,000 people were forced from their homes this week in Shirqat, south of Mosul, as Iraqi forces retook territory near Mosul.

According to the UN, approximately 10 million Iraqis are in need of humanitarian assistance, with 3.3 million already displaced from their homes within the country.

The operation to retake the far smaller city of Fallujah, located much closer to the capital Baghdad, forced tens of thousands of Iraqis to flee, leaving the aid community overwhelmed and many people in challenging humanitarian conditions.

The scale of displacement as Iraqi forces fight to retake Mosul is expected to be much larger.

Overall, some 2.6 million Iraqis have fled the country since the beginning of the crisis in January 2014 when ISIL overran large swaths of the country, according to UN figures.

Additionally, more than one million Iraqis fled the country between 2006 and 2008 due to growing violence following the US-led invasion and occupation in 2003.

Iraqi government forces, backed by US-led coalition air strikes and advisers, have managed to regain some of the territory seized by ISIL. However, the group still controls vast areas of northern and western Iraq.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Al-Nusra Front's Jolani speaks to media

2016-07-29T23:25:00.000+02:00

Syria's al-Nusra Front has said it will post an interview conducted with its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani on the group's ties with al-Qaeda and the Syrian opposition conference that was held in Saudi Arabia.

The Syrian war's propaganda machine

Social media accounts tied to the group said that the press conference given by Jolani to four Arab journalists would be released at some point on Friday.

Mousa al-Omar, one of the journalists who took part, posted a tweet saying Jolani spoke about "the Riyadh conference, the possibility of al-Nusra ending its association with al-Qaeda, and the sources of their funding".

In a previous interview with Al Jazeera in May, Jolani said al-Nusra refuses any funding from governments, organisations or intelligences services. He argued that "funding that comes from governments does not come without conditions".

"We are funding ourselves from war gains and Syria is rich and bountiful, therefore we don't need anyone to give us charity," he said.

Religious scholar Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, whose teachings have inspired al-Qaeda, told Al Jazeera that he did not think al-Nusra would disavow its links with the group.

"If there were a decision on the part of al-Nusra to sever its relations with al-Qaeda, it would have been leaked by now, but nothing has come out to indicate that at this point," Maqdisi said, speaking on the phone from Amman.

OPINION: The rebranding of the Nusra Front

He added that if al-Nusra were to renounce its relations with al-Qaeda, it would not absolve them from the "terrorism" label many in the West and the region had given them.

If they do so, Maqdisi said: "It might help them to appear flexible and as people who care about the interests of the Syrian people, whom Nusra has pledged to defend and support against the regime."

Maqdisi also said that the al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri would instruct al-Nusra to end their affiliation with al-Qaeda, if it was in al-Nusra's best interests to do so.

Sources close to al-Nusra told Al Jazeera that Jolani had indicated previously that his group affiliation with al-Qaeda was not something "holy" and that if Muslim scholars deemed it permissible to end this affiliation, he would do just that.

Jolani declared allegiance to Zawahiri in 2013 and went to war with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group after its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, attempted to reincorporate al-Nusra into his organisation.

Last November Khaled Khouja, the head of the National Coalition of the Syrian Opposition Groups, called on al-Nusra to end its association with al-Qaeda, stressing that his coalition was committed to a political solution to the Syrian war.

Follow Ali Younes on Twitter: @Ali_reports

Syria: Reports of civilian deaths in US-led strikes

2016-07-29T23:22:00.001+02:00

At least 28 civilians have reportedly been killed and several wounded in US-led air strikes on the suburbs of the northern Syrian city of Manbij, according to a monitoring group.

The reports on Friday come a day after the US-led coalition announced it had enough evidence of civilian casualties from its attacks on the same area last week to launch a formal investigation.

Syria: Assad offers pardon to surrendering Aleppo rebels

'Death corridors'

US to investigate coalition strikes on Syrian civilians

A correspondent for the AFP news agency in east Aleppo said streets were empty with residents holed up indoors and shops shuttered.
Ahmad Ramadan, from the opposition Syrian National Coalition, accused Russia and the Syrian regime of forcing civilians to flee through continued bombing raids.
"Aleppo residents are calling the corridors that Russia is talking about 'death corridors'," he told AFP.
The SOHR also said that Syrian government air strikes killed at least eight civilians in two eastern areas of Aleppo, warning the death toll could rise as more were trapped under the rubble.
UN: Leave Aleppo corridors to us

Thursday night's air strikes targeted the town of al-Ghandour, controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) group according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which documents daily human rights abuses in Syria.

The SOHR said the civilian death toll included seven children. Thirteen more people died in the same attack, but their identity remained unclear, the group added.

Al-Ghandour lies 23km northwest of Manbij in the Aleppo governorate, a strategic waypoint between Turkey and the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital for ISIL, also known as ISIS.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said late on Thursday it had "initiated an assessment following internal operational reporting that a strike today near Manbij, Syria may have resulted in civilian casualties," confirming that there had been coalition air strikes there in the past 24 hours.

Last week, a separate coalition attack targeting the Tokhar area of Manbij killed at least 56 Syrian civilians, according to SOHR and local activists, in one of the highest death tolls from coalition air strikes yet.

After examining "internal and external information" following the strikes, the coalition determined that there was sufficient credible evidence of civilian deaths to open a formal inquiry, spokesman Colonel Chris Garver said on Wednesday.

"The US coalition knows that it is very important for it to be seen as trying to respond to these allegations," Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, DC, said.

"This is the third such investigation in the past 11 days."

The reports of further civilian deaths from coalition air strikes emerged amid setbacks to attempts by the US and Russia to cooperate militarily in the fight against ISIL.

Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, supported by Russia, made a strategic advance in recent days by shutting the last remaining supply route into the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo.

Russia, an ally of the Syrian government, also announced a joint plan on Thursday to open up three passages to give rebels willing to surrender, and the more than 300,000 civilians in Aleppo, a way out.

Responding to the plan, however, the US said on Friday that Syria's peace process could be derailed if Russia's motives surrounding humanitarian corridors were not genuine.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the announcement "has the risk, if it is ruse, of completely breaking apart the level of cooperation", but also added it could "open up some possibilities" if an agreement on the way forward was reached in US-Russia talks about Syria in the Swiss city of Geneva on Friday.

According to SOHR, only a dozen of Aleppo residents trickled out through one of the passages on Friday, while others wanting to flee were turned back by opposition fighters.

Also responsing to Russia's plan, UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan De Mistura urged Moscow to let the UN take charge of any humanitarian corridors created in the divided city.

"Our suggestion is to Russia to actually leave the corridors being established at their initiative to us," de Mistura told reporters, at a press conference in Geneva on Friday.

"The UN and humanitarian partners know what to do."

De Mistura also echoed calls by UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien for a 48-hour truce to allow life-saving supplies into the city's rebel-held east, which has been surrounded by pro-government forces since July 17.

"How can you expect people to want to walk through a corridor, thousands of them, while there is shelling, bombing fighting," the UN envoy said.

Reporting from Gaziantep, on the Turkish side of the Syria-Turkey border, Al Jazeera's Mohammed Jamjoom said de Mistura's comments "echoed what we've heard from opposition activists up until this point.

"There are far more concerns at this hour than there are any type of guarantees."

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Hell Gate " Rafah Crossing "

2016-05-23T03:07:00.001+02:00

Photo:Zouheir alNajjar

Citizens of Gaza strip suffer from the siege imposed over them by the Egyptian and Israeli authorities years ago.2016 marks ten years of Israeli siege.
Ali,42 years old man from Gaza ,left to Europe."I reached Belgium in 2014 after a long journey of death through the sea,escaping from the illegal blockade of Gaza",said Ali.
Ali is a father for six children waiting a long their mother to cross from Rafah border towards Egypt to fly to their father in Belgium to be united again.
"Its unbelievable ,I booked my family flight tickets as they were supposed to cross the second day to Egypt,but the Egyptian authorities broke their agreement with the authorities in Gaza and didn't allow any bus to cross the following day,where I lost the tickets money too", said Ali.
Its noteworthy that the Egyptian authorities was supposed to open the Rafah border on both sides for 2 days on 11 and 12 May.On the first day ,the Egyptian authorities allowed 7 buses to cross after a continues humiliation for the Palestinian side as usual.
I was in touch with Ali before the border opening announcement. He gave me a call and was happy that his is coming with his children." I booked their flight tickets as they are going to cross the second day,their names on the list,I am happy that will meet and reunite again",said Ali while he was full of happiness and did not realize that this happiness will turn to sadness.
"Help me ! the Egyptian authorities didnt allow any bus in till now",asked Ali.The Egyptian authorities kept the crossing gate closed till late hours the second day ,claiming that there was a problem with the computers system while in fact there was a dispute between the Palestinian and Egyptian parts.The Egyptian part was keen to let the coordination bus to pass first and the other buses afterwards.
The coordination bus is a bus contains 100 passengers where they pay at least 3 thousand USD to some certain people who are in touch with the Egyptian authorities (intelligence) and crossing officials ,This money distributed afterwards among them,where the crossing officials get each opening more than 600 thousand USD from those poor passengers in order to cross.

The Israeli occupation closed all crossings into the territory, keeping only the Erez Crossing open for occasional pedestrian traffic and Kerem Shalom for a few classified and highly-regulated goods. Erez has been used a trap for people trying to cross.

Egypt has been keeping the Rafah Crossing closed for most of the time. In 2015, the crossing was only open for 21 days; just 10,000 Palestinians were allowed through, among them pilgrims, patients and students.Since the beginning of 2016,its only 2 days on last 11 and 12 May where the crossing opened.Its noteworthy that there are more than 100 thousand persons including patients,students and families waiting for joining their families

Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza has since been reporting chronic shortages of medicines and hospital disposables. “Shelves are empty due to the restrictions imposed by the Israelis on people and goods going in and out of the coastal enclave,” MOH spokesman says.

" I paid thousands of Dollars to let my family cross from Gaza to Egypt through the coordination bus in the next opening of the crossing",said Abo Ahmed,a Palestinian refugee living in Belgium waiting for his to reunite again.

Abo Ahmed,tried to bring his family through the normal procedures and list but in vain,as there thousands of people registered their names to cross from Rafah crossing but its a long list ,but the only way now is to pay thousands for Dollars through the brokers to register his family in the coordination bus.

Attempt to break the siege

The plight of the Palestinians in Gaza has aroused widespread popular support across the world and many attempts have been made to break the siege by sea.

Although a few small boats made the trip in the first few years, later and more ambitious attempts were stopped in international waters by the Israeli navy, often violently.

In May, 2010, for example, the Israeli commandos intercepted the Freedom Flotilla. Nine Turkish citizens were killed in the assault and a number of others were wounded; one died in 2014 as a direct result of his wounds. The ships were towed into and Israeli port and everyone on board was arrested.

During the siege, the Israeli occupation has launched four major military offensives against the people of Gaza, in 2006, 2008/9, 2012 and 2014; the latter was the most destructive. It lasted for 51 days and whole areas of Gaza were flattened by Israeli bombs; tens of thousands of people were displaced.

The strict siege and wars have shattered the Palestinian economy in Gaza, economic commentator Maher al-Tabaa told Quds Press. “The unemployment rate in Gaza stands at 42 per cent, with the blockade deepening the economic crisis,” he explained.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the unemployment rate in Gaza is the highest in the world and there are more than 200,000 unemployed people in Gaza.

Many international organisations have issued similar warnings due to the effects of the oppressive Israeli measures, which are regarded as collective punishment and are illegal in international law.

Thousands of Palestinians waiting for the next opening of the crossing with hope to join families abroad,students to get back to their universities.patients to get their cure in the hospitals.They are full of hope that the crossing will open by the holy month of Ramadan.

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Some of the information in the article from Days of Palestine

Yemen's children: Between psychological trauma and physical starvation

2016-03-31T01:23:00.000+02:00

As she has every night for many weeks past, six-year-old Fatima al-Khadi wakes up in the middle of the night calling for her parents.

And as in every one of those nights, the ever-present backdrop to her cries are sounds of explosions and the rumbles of firing guns, their shrieks engulfing Yemen's capital and Fatima's home.

The psychological effects of war on Fatima have been severe, her father tells The New Arab.

"We live by the city's international airport, which has come under severe and continuous bombardment since the Saudi-led coalition started targeting it," he said.

With airstrikes now a consistent feature of life both day and night in the capital, nightmares now puncture every one of Fatima's attempts to sleep at night.

Accounts of the physical and psychological trauma of children are flooding out of Yemen's regions as the now one-year-old war shows no real signs of abating.

Yemeni families find themselves unable to hide their children away from the violence that has taken over the country since the Saudi-led coalition began heavy aerial bombardments of Yemen in an attempt to drive away Houthi rebels from the capital city.

The impoverished nation of Yemen, a country of 26 million, which imports 90 percent of its food, had one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world before the war.

Meanwhile, in another Yemeni home, the skeletal body of a clearly malnourished five-month-old baby lay completely still.

Udai Faisal's limbs are as thin and delicate as twigs, his cheeks sunken in and his eyes dry.

At least six million children in Yemen are in danger [Getty]

"He didn't cry and there were no tears," his mother said, the baby just "turned stiff."

"I screamed and fainted." Intissar Hezzam said about the final momemts of her childs life.

The impoverished nation of Yemen, a country of 26 million, which imports 90 percent of its food, had one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world before the war.

But in the past year cases of malnutrition and starvation have leaped.

Ten of the country's 22 provinces are classified as one step away from famine.

The conflict is deepening poverty and deprivation, keeping children locked in a vicious cycle of violence, loss and uncertainty.
- UNICEF

Where before the war around 690,000 children under five suffered moderate malnutrition, now the number is 1.3 million.

Even more alarming are the rates of severe acute malnutrition among children - the worst cases where the body starts to waste away - doubling from around 160,000 a year ago to 320,000 now, according to UNICEF estimates.

"The scale of suffering in the country is staggering," UNICEF said in its recent report released on Tuesday.

The violence "will have an impact for generations to come" it adds.

The report also found that if children survive the bombs and bullets, the impact of the violence remains detrimental.

"The conflict is deepening poverty and deprivation, keeping children locked in a vicious cycle of violence, loss and uncertainty," the UNICEF found.

With 50 percent of Yemen's population under 18-years of age, at least six million children are in danger.

"Living in violent environments, children experience what no child should witness. The destruction of their homes or the death of their parents, siblings or friends," UNICEF warned.

The fighting in Yemen has killed more than 900 children and wounded over 1,300, 61 percent of them in airstrikes, according to UNICEF.

Coalition airstrikes appear to be "responsible for twice as many casualties as all other forces put together."
- Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein

Eight-year-old Asma al-Safyani used to play outside everyday with her friends from the neighbourhood. But since the start of the war, her mother does not let her leave the house.

"Two of the children she played with were killed in an airstrike," Asma's mother told The New Arab. "She has been very sad and she hardly smiles, but I just cannot take the risk."

Coalition airstrikes appear to be "responsible for twice as many casualties as all other forces put together," Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, UN's high commissioner for human rights said.

The Saudi-led coalition argues that Houthi rebels often use civilians and civilian locations as shields for their fighters.

It also disputes the UN figures on how many deaths are caused by strikes, saying they are based on statistics from the Houthis.

Yet, many of Yemen's children will carry these emotional burdens into adulthood - if they live to make it that far.

Agencies contributed to this report.

Syrian opposition rejects Assad's call for unity government

2016-03-31T01:19:00.002+02:00

New Alarab

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday reiterated his call for a national unity government, amid rejection by the opposition and the White House saying his inclusion would make any such proposal a "non-starter".

In an interview published Wednesday, Assad told Russia's RIA Novosti state news agency it would be "logical for there to be independent forces, opposition forces and forces loyal to the government represented" in the new authorities.

But he pushed back against opposition demands that it should be put in place without his participation, insisting that the transitional body they are calling for is "illogical and unconstitutional".

"Neither in the Syrian constitution nor in the constitution of any other country in the world is there anything that could be called a transitional body of power," Assad said.

"It is the national unity government that will prepare a new constitution," Assad said.

Talks led by the UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura paused last week with the warring sides deadlocked over the fate of Assad, whom the opposition insists must leave power before a transitional government is agreed.

Syria's main opposition High Negotiations Committee flatly rejected the demand from Assad for any transitional government to include his regime.

"International resolutions speak of... the formation of a transitional body with full powers, including presidential powers," HNC senior member Asaad al-Zoabi said, adding "Assad should not remain for even one hour after the formation" of this body.

The form of the executive body that would lead Syria until its elections the UN says should be held in 18 months is the main bone of contention between the two sides.

UN Security Council Resolution 2254 vaguely suggests the establishment of a body to head the political transition.

For the regime, this amounts to a government reshuffle in which the opposition is included, but for the opposition it would be a tranitional body with presidential powers in which Assad has no role.

Assad has been buoyed after his forces recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from Islamic State (IS) militants over the weekend, in an advanced backed by Russian air strikes and special forces on the ground.

A ceasefire between Damascus and non-jihadist opposition forces has broadly held since February 27, prompting a glimmer of hope that a political solution might be on the horizon in the conflict that has claimed over 270,000 lives.

Agencies contributed to this report

Turkey detains 16 suspected Nusra Front militants

2016-03-31T01:07:00.002+02:00

Turkey on Wednesday detained 16 members of al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate al-Nusra Front in a major police operation in the east of the country, reports said.

The suspects were detained in raids on 20 addresses in the eastern region of Adiyaman north of the Syrian border, the state-run Anadolunews agency reported.

It said the raids targeted people believed to be connected to fighting in Syria, without giving further details. Their nationalities were not disclosed.

The police failed to find four more suspects at their homes. At least two of those detained at previously been to Syria, it said.

The al-Nusra Front shares some of the aims of the Islamic State (IS) militant group but has also on occasion fought against it.

This was one of the first times there has been a report of a major operation against suspected members of the group in Turkey.

Turkey has been accused in the past by its Western allies of not doing enough in the fight against IS and al-Nusra, although it has noticeably tightened border security in recent months and detained dozens of IS suspects.

Ankara has also been charged by some commentors on occasion of even collaborating with al-Nusra Front as a useful ally in its drive to oust President Bashar al-Assad from power.

Turkey bitterly rejects the claims, saying it categorises the al-Nusra Front - like IS - as a terror outfit.

Abadi to present new cabinet lineup by Thursday deadline

2016-03-31T01:03:00.000+02:00

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he would present his new cabinet lineup to the parliament on Thursday, meeting a deadline set by the legislature earlier in the week.

"Parliament must make up its mind and proceed with reforms including the cabinet reshuffle which it and citizens have been calling for," he said in a statement posted on his website on Wednesday.

It was unclear whether the parliament would approve the new cabinet lineup.

On Tuesday, Abadi appealed to lawmakers for guidance on whether to appoint party politicians or independent technocrats to the cabinet, but parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri said on Wednesday it was for Abadi to decide.

Influential Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, who started a sit-in near parliament on Sunday and leads a bloc with three ministers in the current government, is pushing Abadi to appoint nominees unaffiliated with political parties.

A separate sit-in staged by his supporters has locked down central Baghdad for most of the past week.

On Sunday, Sadr entered Baghdad's Green Zone to continue the sit-in as his 24-hour deadline to the government came to an end.

"Today we are at the entrance of the Green Zone and tomorrow we will be within it," the cleric warned, as he entered the gates.

More than six weeks ago, Abadi announced his intention to replace current ministers with independent technocrats, but his announcement was faced with resistance from rivals who fear it could weaken the political patronage networks that have sustained their wealth and influence for more than a decade.

Failing to deliver on long-promised anti-corruption measures could weaken Abadi's government just as Iraqi forces are gearing up to try and recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State militants.

EgyptAir hostages home safe as Russia delays resuming flights

2016-03-31T01:00:00.000+02:00

The new Arab

The drama of Tuesday's EgyptAir hijacking has continued with Egyptian hostages returning back to Egypt after their ordeal and with the "unstable" hijacker due in a Cypriot court.

Meanwhile, security at Egypt's airports has received further scrutiny from Russian officials, who have announced a delay of resumption of flights to Egypt suspended since a Russian jetliner was blown up over Sinai in October.

The hijacking saga came to a peaceful end on Tuesday afternoon, after an Egyptian hijacker diverted a plane, originally travelling from Alexandria to Cairo, to Cyprus demanding to see his ex-wife, sparking a dramatic six-hour standoff.

He had claimed to have explosives strapped to his waist but none were discovered. He then gave himself up at Larnaca airport and was arrested.

On Tuesday evening, all the Egyptian hostages and air cabin crewreturned safely to Egypt, where they were greeted at Cairo airport by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail.

"There was panic at the beginning, but the crew told us to be quiet. They did a good job to keep us all quiet so the hijacker wouldn't do anything rash," passenger Farah al-Dabani told the Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV in a telephone interview.


	The hijacker gave the victory sign to journalists [Getty]

She added that the hijacker was seated in the back of the aircraft and that it was the crew who told passengers that the plane was being hijacked.

Meanwhile, the hijacker was remanded into police custody for eight days during his first court appearance on Wednesday.

Police told the court in Larnaca that 58-year-old Egyptian Seif al-Din Mostafa faces possible charges of hijacking, kidnapping people with the aim of taking them to an unknown destination, reckless and threatening behaviour and offences that breach the anti-terror law.

As Mostafa left in a police car, he gave the victory sign to journalists attending the hearing at the courthouse, which is less than a kilometre away from Larnaca airport where the hijacking unfolded.

Cyprus authorities have described Mostafa as "psychologically unstable" and said the case was not "terrorism-related".

The incident has brought back to the fore questions of security at Egyptian airports, five months after a Russian aircraft was blown up over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula

Egypt's airport security questioned

The incident has brought back to the fore questions of security at Egyptian airports, five months after a Russian aircraft was blown up over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula minutes after it took off from Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.

All 224 people on board were killed in the crash. Islamic state group militants have claimed they smuggled a bomb on board.

Russian authorities have ruled out an early resumption of flights to Egyptian tourist destinations in light of the hijacking, after links were cut following the downing of the plane.

The Kremlin's spokesperson Dimitry Peskov said that a full investigation into the events must be made before determining whether to restore or hold-off flights.

"This is a very sensitive and serious case. Guaranteeing the safety of Russians is our priority," Peskov added.

Oleg Safonov, head of the Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation, said the hijacking must be taken into account when determining whether to restore flights.

Russian parliamentarian Franz Klintsevich echoed Russian concerns, saying talks must be put on hold in light of the hijacking, as Egyptians are not ready to ensure the security of Russian tourists.

Egyptian tourism authorities, however, have denied "media reports" that Moscow was backing out of resuming flights as a result of the incident.

Palestinians strike to mark 40th Land Day anniversary

2016-03-31T00:51:00.000+02:00

by New Al Araby

Palestinians held wide-ranging strikes on Wednesday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Palestine's Land Day, when six protesters were shot dead by Israeli fire for demonstrating against the occupation's illegal land seizures in 1976.

The general strike was called by the Palestinian Higher Monitoring Committee, which includes Palestinian members of the Knesset and local council heads.

It is set to take place in towns and villages that fall inside the boundaries of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 and later declared as the State of Israel.

Many business and local services inside Palestinian towns and villages are closed, although schools were not included in the general strike.
"We reaffirm our support of Palestinians in the face of Israel's appropriation of their land," Hassan Baryajeya, member of the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission told The New Arab.

"Jewish settlers pose a real threat to Palestinian land as they quietly work to come closer and confiscate it," Baryajeya said.

"It is a national duty to help the Palestinian families to keep hold of their lands and prevent Israeli authorities from taking them," he added.
Protesters planted olive trees in commemoration of the 1976 demonstrations against Israel's appropriation of Palestinian land in the Galilee.

Wednesday's rallies kicked off in Negev, southern Palestine, with further protests planned to take place across the Galilee.

A number of events will be held in the northern town of Arraba, one of the largest Palestinian local councisl in the State of Israel, as well as in Deir Hanna and Kafr Kanna.

Demonstrations were also planned in Umm al-Hiran, where Israeli planning authorities were reported earlier this month to be planning to build a "new town for Jewish residents," according to Israeli daily Ha'aretz.

Despite wide-spread international condemnation of land seizures further confiscations continue to be tabled by Israeli authorities.

"The Israeli civil administration is planning to confiscate some 1,200 dunams [296.5 acres] of land from Palestinian villages in northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus," Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported last week.

Once confiscated, Palestinian lands are often then used as locations to establish illegal Jewish settlements.

"Israeli authorities over the decades have seized land near Qaryut to establish the settlements of Eli, Shilo and Mizpe Rahel, at least ten settlement outposts, as well as two military bases," Ma'an reported.

"This systematic land grab constitutes a flagrant violation of international law," Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah said last week.

Land Day in Palestine marks the events of 1976, when Palestinians took to the streets to protest against Israel's illegal confiscation of land as authorities announced plans to take land from a number of Palestinian territories in Galilee.

Clashes in the protests of 1976 broke out between the Israeli forces and the Palestinian protesters and six Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli fire as dozens more were injured.

The day remains symbolic as the first mass protest action by Palestinians living inside Israel and continues to be remembered until today as Palestinians struggle to hold onto their lands.

Libya's unity government told to leave Tripoli after arrival

2016-03-31T00:42:00.000+02:00

Libya's unrecognised authorities in control of Tripoli on Wednesday demanded that the head of a UN-backed unity government Fayez al-Sarraj leave just hours after he arrived in the capital.

In a televised address, the head of the Tripoli government Khalifa Ghweil said Sarraj's government was "illegal", asking him to leave the capital or to "hand himself in".

Sarraj, who was named prime minister-designate in December under a UN-brokered power-sharing deal, arrived at a naval base in Tripoli Wednesday following growing international calls for Libya's rival political camps to unite behind his administration.

"Those who entered illegally and secretly must surrender or turn back," Ghweil said. "We won't leave Tripoli as long as we are not sure of the fate of our homeland."

Sources within the Libyan army controlled by the Tripoli authorities toldThe New Arab that a state of emergency had been declared since the arrival of Sarraj on Wednesday.

Even before Ghweil's news conference had ended, forces loyal to his government began deploying in the capital and closing major roads.

Libya has had two rival administrations since mid-2014 when a militia alliance overran the capital, setting up its own authority and forcing the internationally recognised parliament to flee to the country's remote east.

Yemeni official: Houthis recruiting African fighters

2016-02-29T20:40:00.000+02:00

Staff writer, Al Arabiya News Channel
Monday, 29 February 2016

A top military Yemeni official said the Iran-backed Houthi militias and their ally’s forces have started recruiting “mercenaries,” coming mostly from African countries, Al Arabiya News Channel reported Monday.

Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Nasir al-Tahiri said the move by the Houthis and forces allied to to the toppled Ali Abdullah Saleh was to buttress their weakening fronts at the capital Sanaa and the northwestern governorate of Saada.

Meanwhile, military sources said Saleh has ordered Republican Guards forces to withdraw from central al-Baydha, southwestern Ibb and Dhammar (west of al-Baydaha) to be consolidated in Sanaa as battles heat up.

It is not the first time that an abroad force is helping with the militias in Yemen.

Last week, the internationally recognized Yemeni government said it has evidence that the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah is backing the Houthi militia group.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s internationally recognized government has declared Aden the country’s provisional capital after the Houthis and their allies drove it out of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen since September 2014.

The rebels controlled Aden for months before government loyalists pushed them out in July.

Because of the unrest gripping Aden, Hadi himself and many senior officials in his government spend most of their time in Riyadh, which has led an anti-rebel coalition since March 26 last year.

Palestinians protest against UNRWA cuts in Lebanon

2016-02-29T20:27:00.000+02:00

Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, Lebanon - Friday prayers had just ended inside Ain al-Hilweh, and about 200 residents congregated near one of the entrances to this Palestinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon.

Chants protesting at recent changes introduced by UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, to its hospital system rang out from the assembled crowd. In the middle of the protest stood Saleh al-Youssef, a representative of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) political faction in southern Lebanon.

"These changes must be reversed. Life in the camps such as Ain al-Hilweh is already a grave humanitarian issue. Healthcare, like education, is a fundamental right," Youssef said, as the crowd nodded in agreement.

In January, UNRWA started requiring Palestinian refugees to pay between five and 20 percent of their hospital bills. Previously, the refugees had secondary healthcare fully covered by the organisation.

Secondary healthcare refers to treatments requiring a short period in hospital, such as childbirth, intensive care and medical imaging.

The cost of healthcare in Lebanon ranks among the highest in the Middle East and North Africa region, and many Palestinians - whose access to formal job markets in Lebanon is limited by state-imposed restrictions - fear they will no longer be able to afford treatment.

Established in 1949 as a temporary refugee agency to assist the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by Israel's 1948 establishment, UNRWA recorded a budget deficit of more than $100m last year - the largest in its history.

The deficit pushed the organisation to slash its educational budget and suspend $100 monthly domestic aid subsidies which had previously been offered to each family. Those changes have caused resentment among the approximately 450,000 Palestinians in Lebanon. Residents of Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, have been hit particularly hard.

Built to accommodate 10,000 Palestinians forced into exile in 1948, mostly from the Galilee region of present-day Israel, Ain al-Hilweh is an impoverished, 1sq km compound of narrow avenues and electrical wires, surrounded by concrete breeze blocks and Lebanese Army checkpoints.

Since 2011, the camp's population has grown from around 70,000 to more than 90,000 owing to the arrival of mainly Syrian-Palestinians displaced by the war in Syria. The influx has boosted competition for jobs, pushing down wages and raising unemployment, and created an endemic housing crisis.

Protests against the health cuts held outside UNRWA facilities in Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps have become common, and some have even blamed the cuts for the deaths of a small number of Palestinians earlier this year.

People have labelled these adjustments an 'intifada against UNRWA', because the health programme is one of our core services.

Zizette Darkazally, UNRWA's public information officer for Lebanon

Zizette Darkazally, UNRWA's public information officer for Lebanon, told Al Jazeera that the organisation was not responsible for those deaths. She pointed out that UNRWA's annual hospital budget in Lebanon for 2016 remained the same ($10m) as in 2015, and subsidies for tertiary healthcare actually increased.

"People have labelled these adjustments an 'intifada against UNRWA', because the health programme is one of our core services," Darkazally said.

"Because tertiary is very expensive and people often struggle to afford it, we raised the ceiling on this cover to 60 percent from 50 percent, and the ceiling of the intervention from $4,200 to $5,000. In order to cover the difference, we reduced secondary coverage," she said. "There were no budget cuts; we just readjusted the services to cover those with very expensive-to-treat, life-threatening conditions."

Despite such assurances, Youssef and others at the demonstration in Ain al-Hilweh said they were committed to keep demonstrating until the cuts were revoked.

"We will continue protesting in Ain al-Hilweh, but we are also discussing initiatives to hold a sit-in at the headquarters of the European Union, among other things," he said.

Palestinian factions in Ain al-Hilweh, including the PLF, Fatah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihadist Movement, have all expressed support for the current demonstrations. That unity is uncommon in a camp that is home to many armed Palestinian groups, and where outbreaks of violence between rivals are frequent.

The 1969 Cairo Accord prohibits the Lebanese Army from entering Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Last summer, a spree of political assassinations and gun battles pitted Fatah and its supporters against fighters from the al-Qaeda-affiliated group Jund al-Sham. The clashes left many dead, and buildings throughout the camp remain pockmarked with bullets.

"The situation now is calm. There is coordination between all the factions to maintain the peace," said Sheikh Jamal Khattab, the head of the Islamic Jihadist Movement, who has played the role of arbitrator during previous clashes.

But many in the camp remain concerned about potential future cuts by UNRWA.

"The health issue is an important issue. But I am also worried that at the start of the new year, [UNRWA] schools will not open," Abd Abu Saleh, who heads a committee that manages affairs inside the Ain al-Hilweh camp, told Al Jazeera.

"If more UNRWA services are cut, I think it is inevitable that more people will seek alternative solutions, and leave."

In the second half of 2015, following the UNRWA cuts to domestic assistance and the outbreak of violence in Ain al-Hilweh, many primarily younger residents of the camp joined hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees leaving Lebanon for Europe.

From a small, second-floor office in a school and social centre run by the NGO Nabaa in Ain al-Hilweh, camp resident Nidal told Al Jazeera: "There is no work; there is no stability. With these cuts, how are we meant to live?"

The 47-year-old widow, who spoke under a pseudonym, said she paid around $100 a month for medication to treat hypertension and rheumatism. She fears that if her condition deteriorates, the cuts will render her unable to afford hospital care.

"Even people not directly affected by the cuts now have no security. They are scared that if they become sick, they will be turned away at the hospital doors," said Nida.

Last year, one of Nidal's daughters left Ain al-Hilweh with her husband for Germany.

"It has become common to hear of people leaving," explained Ibtisam Mosri, 39, whose cousin also travelled from Ain al-Hilweh to Europe last year.

With unemployment high in the camp and UNRWA assistance across sectors being scaled down - and with the threat of a return to violence never far away - both Nidal and Mosri said they understood why leaving Ain al-Hilweh had become an increasingly attractive option for some.

"I support the demonstrations," Nidal said. "This is about the rights of the Palestinian community. But members of my own family have left. What could I say to stop them? People here are suffering."

Source: Al Jazeera

Macedonian police fire tear gas at refugees

2016-02-29T20:19:00.004+02:00

After first sending welcoming messages, European politicians are now struggling to handle the situation [AP]

Police in the FYR of Macedonia have fired tear gas and stun grenades after hundreds of frustrated Iraqi and Syrian refugees tried to force their way through a razor-wire barrier across the border into the southeastern European country from Greece.

Tensions flared on Monday, with thousands of desperate refugees stuck for days on the Greek side of the border, overflowing from a packed refugee camp at Idomeni.

"The situation is very hectic; people just want a safe passage," Vicky Markolefa, of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity, told Al Jazeera from Idomeni.

"We denounce violence against innocent refugees."

MSF treated many refugees for respiratory problems after they had tear gas fired on them, she said. Women and children were among those caught up in the crowds.

Markolefa said people were forming 400-metre long lines just for food.

"We are overwhelmed. NGOs [non-governmental organisations] are doing their best to respond, but we are calling for European governments to act now."

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Idomeni, said a rumour that the border crossing with Macedonia was opening brought hundreds to the razor-wire barrier.

"There was a state of panic and hope that finally those gates towards Western Europe would open. It's an emotional roller-coaster for these refugees and migrants who are here," she said.

Athens square becomes temporary camp as refugees are stranded

About 50 refugees were allowed into Macedonia on Monday.

"The refugees are saying, 'What we've seen here is going to divide opinion in Europe'," our correspondent said.

"It's a completely different atmosphere at the moment from last year and they are aware of it. People are saying, 'This is not going to help us. They will see this and we will not be welcome'."

Refugees in limbo

Nearly 8,000 refugees are in limbo at the Idomeni border camp which has a capacity of 2,000, according to Greek officials.

Many are spread out into the surrounding fields as they wait for Macedonian authorities to let them continue their trek through the Balkans.

Only a tiny trickle of people from specific countries have been allowed to cross every day.

Later in the day, Macedonia sent special police reinforcements by helicopter to its border with Greece.

More than one million refugees and migrants have passed through the camp in the previous 12 months, travelling from Turkey to Germany and other Western European countries, where they hoped to secure asylum.

Known as the jungle, the camp in Calais was used by refugees who wanted to migrate to Britain [Pascal Rossignol/Reuters]

Elsewhere on the continent, French authorities began dismantling on Monday part of a refugee camp known as the "jungle" near Calais, after an expulsion order issued by the local administration was upheld last week by a judge.

Workers in bright construction vests and helmets took down tarps and sheets of material that had been cobbled together to create shelters at the camp, which was home to those seeking a future in nearby Britain.

Scores of riot police stood guard, keeping journalists and volunteers out as helmeted workers tackled the shelters one by one.

Fabienne Buccio, a police prefect who had ordered the camp evacuated and dismantled earlier this month, showed up as the operation began.

Her office decried "intimidation" tactics by some activists who she said were manipulating migrants into refusing to accept government offers of shelter.

"Really three houses out of four - I mean three huts out of four, or three tents out of four - were already totally abandoned with a lot of garbage inside," she said.

Migrants, she said, "had the time necessary to gather their belongings. The rest was good enough to throw away."

Europe struggling

After first sending welcoming messages, European authorities are now struggling to handle the situation.

Hungary has fenced off its borders, refusing to accept any migrants, and other Eastern European countries say they will not take in anyone under an EU refugee-sharing deal.

In recent weeks Austria - at the north end of the Balkan corridor - has severely restricted the inflow of refugees, causing a domino effect through the Balkans.

Many of those countries are now refusing to let Afghan refugees in, although UN authorities say no one has explained to them who made this decision or why.

Diplomatic tensions are rising too, with criticism mounting against Austria. Greece has threatened to block decisions at an upcoming EU-Turkey summit unless the bloc forces members to shoulder more of the refugee burden.

For her part, German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued on Sunday another robust defence of her quest for a European solution to the crisis.

She is resisting calls at home and elsewhere in Europe for limits on refugees as such as those imposed by Austria.

"We can't do this in such a way that we simply abandon Greece," she said on ARD television.

"This is exactly what I fear: When one country defines its limit, another must suffer. That is not my Europe."

At next Monday's summit, EU leaders "will discuss how we can restore the [passport-free] Schengen system step by step with Greece," Merkel said.

However, Reinhold Mitterlehner, Austria's deputy chancellor, said on Monday the refugee restrictions "are necessary [and] we're going to maintain them".

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

2016-01-08T02:02:00.001+02:00

Reuters,

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen denied an accusation by Iran that coalition jets targeted the Islamic republic's embassy in Sanaa on Wednesday night, coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said.

An investigation found that "the allegations are false and that no operations were carried out around the embassy or near to it," a coalition statement said.

Iran said on Thursday that Saudi warplanes had attacked its embassy in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

Coalition jets carried out heavy strikes in Sanaa on Wednesday night to target missile launchers used by the Houthi militia to fire at Saudi Arabia, Asseri said, adding that the group has used civilian facilities including abandoned embassies.

Asseri said the coalition had requested all countries to supply it with coordinates of the location of their diplomatic missions and that accusations made on the basis of information provided by the Houthis "have no credibility".

Tunisia PM reshuffles cabinet amid challenges

2016-01-08T01:08:00.001+02:00

Reuters, Tunis,

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid named 12 new ministers on Wednesday in a cabinet reshuffle he hopes will boost the effectiveness of his government as it battles jihadist violence and tries to revive the economy.

Tunisia has been under a state of emergency since an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) suicide bomber attacked presidential guards in November in the capital Tunis following two previous militant attacks on foreign tourists that have damaged the country’s economy.

Essid named new ministers of the interior, justice and foreign affairs, among others. He gave no reason for the changes but late last year he said he would replace ministers to increase the efficiency of his government.

Tunisia, praised as a model for democratic transition since its 2011 revolt ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, has mostly avoided the violent turmoil of other “Arab Spring” countries which also toppled long-standing rulers.

But an attack by jihadist gunmen on the Bardo museum in Tunis in March, and a gun attack on foreign tourists at a beach hotel in Sousse resort in June, have left the government struggling to find the best strategy to counter militants.

In a statement Essid’s office named Hedi Majdoub as the new interior minister and a former presidential adviser, Khemais Jinaou, as foreign minister.

More than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight for ISIS and other groups in Iraq and Syria and increasingly in neighboring Libya. The government has cracked down on militants at home but has faced criticism about how security forces are protecting human rights.

Ocalan's isolation an 'invitation to war' in Turkey: pro-Kurdish MP

2016-01-08T00:47:00.000+02:00

Reuters | Ankara

Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan’s isolation in his island jail near Istanbul amounts to an “invitation to war”, a prominent pro-Kurdish lawmaker said on Thursday, as conflict flares between security forces and rebels in southeast Turkey.

Ocalan, jailed in 1999, has not been allowed visits by a delegation of pro-Kurdish lawmakers since April. The 67-year-old leader of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has also not seen any family members since 2014 or his lawyers since 2011.

Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast is currently experiencing its worst violence since the 1990s after a two-year ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state collapsed in July, wrecking a peace process launched by Ankara and Ocalan.

“Isolating Ocalan, sowing worries among the people about his life, safety and health conditions, is issuing an invitation to war,” said Sirri Sureyya Onder, spokesman for the delegation that often visited Ocalan before the peace process fell apart.

“The path to prevent this is clear ... They must enable Ocalan to speak with his lawyers, us and his family,” he told a news conference in the capital Ankara.

Two inmates sent to join Ocalan in jail on the island of Imrali to end his isolation were transferred to another prison two weeks ago, Onder added. Ocalan’s family have voiced concerns about his well-being.

Peace process “on ice”
Onder stressed that his comments should not be understood as a “call to war”. His Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) says it is opposed to violence and wants a peaceful solution for Turkey’s large Kurdish minority.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan initiated the peace talks with Ocalan in 2012 with the aim of ending a three-decade conflict with the PKK which has killed around 40,000 people.

Erdogan, who says the peace process is now “on ice”, said on Wednesday some lawmakers and mayors from the HDP were behaving like members of a terrorist group and he called for legal action against them.

He views the HDP as an extension of the PKK, a group deemed terrorist by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

Clashes have intensified in recent days as a major military campaign entered its fourth week. Residents complain that the operations are indiscriminate and that round-the-clock curfews have even left the sick unable to get to hospital.

In the town of Cizre, near the Syrian border, tanks pounded apartment blocks on Thursday, Reuters television footage showed. Helicopters circled and gunfire echoed through the town.

The authorities say the military campaign is targeting PKK militants, not civilians, and that it was launched in response to attacks on the security forces.

Car bomb in Libyan oil port kills 7, wounds 11: guards spokesman

2016-01-08T00:40:00.000+02:00

Reuters | Benghazi (Libya)

A car bombing at a checkpoint in the Libyan oil port of Ras Lanuf left seven people dead and 11 wounded on Thursday, a Petroleum Facilities Guard spokesman said.

Ali al-Hassi said the car had been in a queue at the checkpoint and exploded when it reached the front. The casualties included guards and civilians, he said

No war with Iran, says Saudi deputy crown prince

2016-01-08T00:36:00.000+02:00

Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said a war between his country and Iran would be the beginning of a catastrophe, and Riyadh will not allow it, British magazine The Economist reported on Thursday.

"It is something that we do not foresee at all, and whoever is pushing towards that is somebody who is not in their right mind," it quoted him as saying in an interview. “It will reflect very strongly on the rest of the world. For sure we will not allow any such thing.”

Salman’s comments were made during a five-hour conversation with The Economist, marking his first on-the-record interview.

Love Story Ended with Joining ISIS

2016-01-07T03:47:00.000+02:00

Mahmoud Aladdin ,an Egyptian man got married to a Swiss woman ,called Francesca Astadelman.They lived a happy life.They met in France while he was studying at the American University there, for nearly 7 years.She converted to Islam three months after their return to Cairo where they lived in Rehab city and put birth to a baby boy, "Adam”. She used to travel to Switzerland every year to visit her family. After fights between them, they got divorce.

Mahmoud used to see his son from time to time till he was surprised of their disappear.”I knew that my ex-wife joined ISIS and abducted my son with her”,said Mahmoud.

“I went to New Cairo police station and filed a complaint accused my ex-wife of joining Daesh, and heading to Iraq” ,he added.He accused her of adopting jihadist ideas, where she began to be more extremist and following terrorist organizations websites , especially al-Qaeda .”She started reading jihad books for "Anwar al-Awlaki," a Yemeni-American, prominent leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen” he said. She began to prohibit watching television ,listening to the songs and wore the niqab.

“She considered me and my family as disbelievers and stopped visiting us” ,said he.Problems erupted between her and the family after her call for them to adopt jihadist ideas and join ISIS, that led Mahmoud to report to the security services to carry out the necessary investigations.

He pointed out that, following their separation, he kept visiting his son weekly in her apartment. “December 26,was my son’s birthday and the last day to see him” said he.

“The following day I called her to check on my son, but her phone was off that lasted for two days that worried me” said Mahmoud.He went to the her house to check on them and was surprised of her absence. the neighbors assured him that she sold the contents of the house that continued for more than two months, which led him to file a complaint number 8524 at New Cairo police station.

Its noteworthy that a lot of European flee from families to join ISIS and other jihadi groups that led a lot of these countries to monitor citizens traveling to countries like Turkey and other countries in the Middle East .

The number of Europeans joining Islamist fighters in Syria and Iraq has risen to more than 3,000, the EU's anti-terrorism chief has said in an interview with BBC.

Mr de Kerchove said the number of 3,000 included all those who have been to the region, including those who have returned and those who have been killed there.

The CIA estimates that IS may have up to 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria - three times as many as previously feared.

Mahmoud is in Greece now ,where he got information that his wife and son was arrested there while trying to leave from Greece to Turkey to be able to travel to join ISIS.

Gulf leaders decry ‘racist’ rhetoric against Muslims

2015-12-11T02:37:00.003+02:00

Reuters, Riyadh

Gulf Arab leaders condemned “hostile, racist” remarks against Muslims and Syrian refugees in a statement issued on Thursday, days after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a ban on the entry of Muslims into the United States.

“The supreme council expressed its deep concern at the increase of hostile, racist and inhumane rhetoric against refugees in general and Muslims in particular,” the Gulf Cooperation Council said, referring to a GCC heads of state meeting in Riyadh.

Gulf Arab states also called for an international reconstruction conference for Yemen after any peace deal to end the country’s civil war.

The call came in a statement by Gulf Cooperation Council leaders at the conclusion of their summit meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh, which was read out by GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.

"The council (GCC) members called for an international conference for Yemen reconstruction after the parties reach the aspired political solution," Zayani said in the statement broadcast on Saudi state television.

He said such a programme would be done in accordance with a "practical programme to rehabilitate the Yemeni economy and to ease its merger into the Gulf economies".

Yemeni warring parties are due to gather in Switzerland next week for U.N.-sponsored peace talks to end a civil war that had killed nearly 6,000 people.

The two-day summit in Riyadh brought together Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain. Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz said it was imperative for the GCC states to stand united and work together to fortify themselves against foreign threats at a time when the region is passing through tough times.

King Salman reiterated the keenness of the coalition states to achieve security and stability of Yemen under the leadership of its Yemeni President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi’s government.

“We, the GCC states, will support a peaceful solution so as to enable Yemen overcome the crisis and restore its march toward development,” he said.

At the conclusion of the summit, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa announced that Manama would host next year's GCC summit.