10 Jul 2017 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy

Articles

Heavy clashes break out east of Libya's capital
By Reuters, 09 Jul 2017

Heavy clashes erupted on Sunday between rival factions on the coastal road east of the Libyan capital Tripoli, according to a witness and local reports. The clashes broke out when an armed group opposed to the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli tried to approach the capital and were confronted by forces that have aligned themselves with the GNA, the witness said. The fighting exposes the GNA's vulnerability to militias that gained influence during and after Libya's 2011 uprising.

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Iraqi PM Declares 'Big Victory' Over ISIS in Mosul
By TIME, 09 Jul 2017

Iraq's prime minister celebrated with troops on Sunday after they drove Islamic State militants from some of their last strongholds in Mosul, even as heavy fighting continued in a small portion of the Old City neighborhood. Iraqi state TV reported that Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul to declare victory over IS in the more than eight-month old operation to drive the militants out.

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Turkey braces for grand finale of daring 'Justice March'
By France 24, 09 Jul 2017

 The head of Turkey’s main opposition party defied the odds and beat expectations when he launched a 450-kilometer protest march. But as the march reaches its destination Sunday, all eyes are on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s response. On Saturday, the penultimate day of the protest, the march entered Istanbul’s Pendik district on the Asian side of Istanbul. The march is set to end on Sunday in a massive rally -- crowd estimates range from over 200,000 to 1.5 million -- in the city's Maltepe district, where an opposition lawmaker is currently in jail.

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US-Russia ceasefire holding in southwest Syria, say rebel sources
By The Guardian, 09 Jul 2017

A US-Russia-brokered ceasefire for southwest Syria is still in place hours after it took effect on Sunday, according to a monitor and two rebel officials. The US, Russia and Jordan reached a ceasefire and “de-escalation agreement” this week with the aim of paving the way for a broader, more robust truce to end the six-year war. The announcement came after a meeting between the US president, Donald Trump, and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit of major economies in Germany.

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Algerian journalist jailed pending trial for 'espionage'
By Committee to Protect Journalists, 07 Jul 2017

 Prosecutors charged Chitour--who has worked as a fixer and a journalist for the BBC, France 24, and the Washington Post, among others--with espionage for "leaking classified documents" to foreign diplomats, according to news reports. Police arrested him at Algiers International Airport on June 5 as he returned from Spain, according to media reports, but his arrest was not made public until after July 3, when diplomats from an unspecified country told journalists about it at a dinner organized by the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, according to the same media reports.

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Israel reduces UN funding after Hebron shrine declared Palestinian
By CNN, 07 Jul 2017

Israel has slammed a vote by UNESCO declaring the Old City of Hebron an endangered Palestinian World Heritage site, pledging to reduce its funding to the UN. Hebron's Old City is home to one of the region's most contested places: the Cave of the Patriarchs, also known as the Ibrahimi Mosque. It is regarded as sacred by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

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