06 March 2017 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy

Articles

Suspected U.S. drones hit al Qaeda targets in Yemen - residents
By Reuters, 06 Mar 2017

Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles at al Qaeda targets in two separate attacks in Yemen on Monday, residents said, extending several days of U.S. strikes against the militants. Residents said an air strike hit the home of an al Qaeda suspect in the village of Noufan in central al-Bayda province, and another struck a mountainous area believed to house a training camp in al-Saeed in southern Shabwa province.There were no immediate reports on casualties in the raids, which took place in areas controlled by al Qaeda fighters.Previous air operations over the weekend using manned and unmanned aircraft highlight rising U.S. concern over the al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) group, which has gained ground amid the chaos of the country's two-year-old civil war.

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Bahrain advances military trials for suspected militants
By Middle East Monitor, 06 Mar 2017

Bahrain’s top government advisory body passed a constitutional amendment allowing suspected militants to be tried in military courts on Sunday, state news agency BNA reported, in a move criticized by activists. Bahrain’s Shura Council approved the amendment on the grounds that it would protect the Gulf island kingdom from militant attacks, and the justice minister said that those perpetrating attacks had forfeited access to civilian courts. “Civilians cannot be tried militarily, but attackers who carry out acts of terrorism and armed violence will have their crimes face military justice,” Sheikh Khaled bin Ali al-Khalifa was quoted as saying by BNA. “Their combat deeds and armed egression put them in a place far removed from being civilians,” he added. Bahrain accuses mainly Shi’ite Iran of stoking militancy in the kingdom, a strategic island that is home the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, a charge Tehran denies.
 

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Battle for Mosul: ISIL's human shields
By Al Jazeera, 06 Mar 2017

Mosul, Iraq - Tarik Hassan and his family became human shields 18 months ago. Fighters with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) came to their village home near the town of Hammam al-Alil and ordered the 30-year-old, his wife and five children to pack and leave. From then on, they would live in Mosul, the Iraqi capital of ISIL's self-proclaimed caliphate. The Hassans say that they were targeted because ISIL, also known as ISIS, knew that Tarik's cousin was a member of Iraq's national intelligence service. They joined kidnapped relatives of police and army officers held near ISIL fighters' bases and facilities as insurance against widespread use of heavy weapons or air strikes by the Iraqi army. The more rattled the group's leaders became, the more they made use of this gambit, and when the operation to recapture Mosul began in October, fighters forced tens of thousands more civilians into the city and executed those who refused to comply, the United Nations said.

 

 
 
 
 
 

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Iraqi troops face heaviest clashes with Isis in Mosul as thousands continue to flee
By The Independent, 06 Mar 2017

Iraqi troops have encountered the heaviest clashes yet with Isis fighters in western Mosul since the start of the new push more than two weeks ago. Major General Haider al-Maturi of the Federal Police Commandos Division said that Isis fighters dispatched at least six suicide car bombs, which were all destroyed before reaching the troops. The militants, he said, are moving from house to house and deploying snipers. The wave of heavy resistance comes as Iraqi forces launched attacks against Isis-held neighbourhoods in western Mosul from three points. The Federal Police are closing in on the city's main government complex in the Dawasa neighborhood and Iraq's special forces are attempting to push into the Shuhada and Mansour neighbourhoods. More than 40,000 people have been displaced in the last week from Mosul. The pace of displacement has accelerated in recent days as fighting approaches the most densely populated parts of western Mosul, and aid agencies have expressed concern that camps to accommodate people fleeing the city are almost full. The International Organisation for Migration's Mosul Displacement Tracking Matrix showed the number of people uprooted since the start of the offensive in October exceeded 206,000 on Sunday, up from 164,000 on 26 February.
 

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