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22 Aug 2016 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy
Articles
Erdoğan blames Isis for suspected suicide attack at wedding in Turkey
by The Guardian, 22 Aug 2016
Hundreds of mourners gathered in the south-eastern Turkish city of Gaziantep on Sunday to bury victims of a suspected suicide bombing that struck a wedding celebration. At least 51 people were killed, and nearly 70 injured in the blast, which Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, blamed on Islamic State and said had been carried out by a child of between 12 and 14 years old. At least 22 of the victims were under the age of 14, a government official said. Condemning the attack, which was the deadliest to hit Turkey this year, Erdoğan said any strategy “meant to incite the citizens against each other along ethnic and religious lines will not work”. Mahmut Toğrul, a local MP, said the wedding guests were largely supporters of his pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP). “This was not a random target and not just any wedding,” he told the Guardian. “Most of the people celebrating at the wedding were HDP supporters. People came together to celebrate, they were defenceless. [Isis] has always targeted civilians, but we need to see this attack as a revenge attack on Kurds.”
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Syria: YPG launches assault take all of Hasaka
by Al Jazeera, 22 Aug 2016
Soldiers from the Kurdish YPG have launched a major assault to seize the last government-controlled areas of the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka, after a Russian mediation team failed to mend the rift between the two sides. The YPG began the offensive after midnight to take the southeastern district of Nashwa, close to where a security compound is located near the governor's office close to the heart of the city, according to YPG sources and residents. The YPG, or the People's Protection Units, has ties to Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). It had earlier captured Ghwairan, the only major Arab neighbourhood in Hasaka still in government hands. Monday's offensive comes just hours after Syrian state media said a truce had been reached between Kurdish and government forces to evacuate the wounded from Hasaka. Kurdish sources said on Sunday that no deal had been finalised.
Al-Shabab claims double suicide bombing in Somalia
by Al Jazeera, 22 Aug 2016
At least 20 people have been killed and several others wounded in twin suicide blasts in the central Somali town of Galkayo, according to a Somali health official. The first vehicle explosion on Sunday targeted the local government headquarters; the second targeted emergency services at the scene of the first blast. "There were two huge bombs. The first one was a truck bomb, followed a minute or so [later] by another car bomb. My brother was injured at the scene," Halima Ismail, a local resident, dold Reuters news agency. Authorities initially put the death toll at 13, including civilians and security forces personnel, but a medical official said that number had risen. "Death toll is over 20 and it may rise further," said Ahmed Sugule, a doctor at Galkayo hospital. He said another 30 people were wounded in the attack. Al-Shabab, the armed group fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu, claimed responsibility for the blasts. The UN mission in Somalia condemned Sunday's explosions. "Terrorist attacks will not stop 2016 electoral process," UNSOM said via its Twitter account.
Israel Hits Dozens of Hamas Targets in Response to Rocket Fire, Senior IDF Official Says
by Haarezt, 22 Aug 2016
Dozens of Israeli air and artillery strikes hit the Gaza Strip overnight on Monday, reporedly wounding five Palestinians, after a rocket fired from the coastal territory struck between two houses in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. A senior IDF officila said the army largely targeted what they described as HAmas "infrastructure", in an attack they called "rare" in comparison to IDF actions since a Gaza war of two year ago. "The attacks were out of the ordinary, but there is no intention to escalate the situation," the army official told Haarezt. Reuters reported that multiple air strikes hit at least 30 sites in Gaza belonging to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said though that "Israel's escalation in an attempt to create a new equation in the Gaza Strip. Israel's aggression won't break the will of the Palestinian people".
Iraq hangs 36 men convicted over Speicher massacre
by The Guardian, 21 Aug 2016
Iraq has hanged 36 men convicted over the massacre of hundreds of military recruits by Sunni jihadis and allied militants in 2014. The men had been found guilty of involvement in the Speicher massacre, named after a base near Tikrit where up to 1,700 recruits were kidnapped before being killed. Islamic State claimed responsibility. Abdelhassan Dawood, a spokesman for the governor's office in Dhiqar priovince, said on Sunday: "The executions of 36 convicted over the Speicher crime were carried out this morning in Nasiriyah prison. The governor of Dhiqar, Yahya al-Nasseri, and the justice minister, HAidar al-Zamili, were present to oversee the executions". After the deaths last month of more than 300 people in the worst ever single bomb attack to strike Baghdad, the prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, said he wanted to expedite the execution of inmates sentenced to death in terrorism cases.
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Of war and coffee in Lebanon
by Al Jazeera, 18 Aug 2016
Beirut - A bored soldier, with his machinegun hanging from his shoulder, feeds bread to fat pigeons in Nejmeh Square in downtown Beirut, the Lebanese capital. Not far from here, the Chabaro and Saab families, Beirut's oldest working coffee roasters, once had a busy store - but today, few in the area can even remember their names. Beirut's downtown has morphed into something of a ghost town, with flashy, high-priced shops and posh restaurants that often sit empty. "But downtown was not always like this," said Rajab Chabaro. From 1922 to 1975, his father and grandfather - with whom he shares a name - ran the downtown shop, which "was always packed with customers". In 1922, when Beirut's central district still was the beating heart of the city, three ambitious Lebanese businessmen - the elder Rajab Chabaro, Abdul Qader Saab and Jamil Davoud - opened a small shop to sell freshly roasted coffee and spices. However, for reasons that the family cannot recall today, the three partners eventually split. While it is unclear what became of Davoud, Chabaro and Saab moved into two separate shops located near each other in the central quarter.
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