28 Sep 2015 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy

Articles

Russia seizes initiative in Syria crisis; France bombs Islamic State
By Reuters, 28 Sep 2015

 Russia appeared to seize the initiative in international efforts to end the conflict in Syria on Sunday as Washington scrambled to devise a new strategy for the war-ravaged country and France sent warplanes to bomb Islamic State targets. As leaders gathered in New York at the United Nations General Assembly, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed Syria with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He said that while it was vital to coordinate efforts against Islamic State militants this was not yet happening. "I think we have concerns about how we are going to go forward," Kerry told reporters. U.S. officials said Kerry was working on a new political initiative in New York that would include Russia and key regional powers. Kerry also discussed Syria with Iran's foreign minister during a meeting at the United Nations on Saturday. It was announced in Baghdad that Russian military officials were working with counterparts from Iran, Syria and Iraq on intelligence and security cooperation to counter Islamic State, which has captured large areas of both Syria and Iraq. The move was seen in the region as potentially giving Moscow more sway in the Middle East.

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Taliban fighters raid Kunduz in Afghanistan
By Al Jazeera, 28 Sep 2015

Taliban fighters have carried out an early-morning raid on the city of Kunduz in Afghanistan, entering the northern city from three different directions, sources tell Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera's Abdullah Shahood, reporting from the capital Kabul, said Kunduz city was in lockdown on Monday as security forces attempted to fight back. He said roads to the city had been blocked and some police stations within the city were surrounded by Taliban fighters. The armed fighters have also reportedly taken control of a 200-bed hospital in the city following the raid on Monday, a Taliban spokesman and a police source told Reuters.  There have been reports of casualties, but Al Jazeera could not independently verify the claims. Additional government troops have been deployed to the area, but they have not reached the city, the government told Al Jazeera. The attack is the second time this year that the Taliban's threatened to seize Kunduz, which is the main city of Kunduz province. The province is one the most volatile provinces in the northern region of the country, with three districts reportedly under Taliban control.

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Americans imprisoned in Iran a topic for Kerry, Iranian officials at U.N.
By the Washington Post, 26 Sep 2015

NEW YORK — Secretary of State John F. Kerry and the Iranian foreign minister on Saturday discussed steps each country is taking to implement the nuclear deal as Kerry again pressed for the release of three Americans imprisoned in Tehran. In a meeting with Mohammad Javad Zarif at the United Nations General Assembly underway in New York, Kerry “conveyed the urgency of seeing our detained and missing U.S. citizens come home to be reunited with their families,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. Iranian officials recently have signaled a willingness to discuss a prisoner exchange for the three detained Americans. Among them is Jason Rezaian, The Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent who has been imprisoned for more than 14 months and is awaiting a verdict following the apparent conclusion of his secret trial on espionage and related charges. Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Idaho, and Amir Hekmati, a former Marine from Flint, Mich., are serving lengthy prison sentences. Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent, has been missing since he was last seen in Iran in 2007. Iran claims that 19 Iranians are being held in U.S. prisons, largely on convictions for sanctions violations. Although Iranian President Hassan Rouhani shunned the word “exchange,” he told reporters Friday in an invitation-only meeting in New York that he could explore ways to “move the legal files forward” in Iran, aiming for a prisoner release in both countries.

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Hajj stampede: Iran's Khamenei calls for Saudi apology
By the BBC, 26 Sep 2015

 Iran's supreme leader has called on Saudi Arabia to apologise for Thursday's deadly stampede during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's remarks came after a speech by President Hassan Rouhani at the UN in which he called for an investigation. Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of playing politics with a tragedy. At least 769 people died in the crush, more than 140 of them from Iran. It was the deadliest incident to hit the Hajj in 25 years. The crush occurred on Thursday morning as two large groups of pilgrims converged at right angles as they took part in the Hajj's last major rite - stone-throwing at pillars called Jamarat, where Satan is believed to have tempted the Prophet Abraham.

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Ceasefire deal is testimony of Iranian power
By the Guardian, 26 Sep 2015

 Syrian Islamist rebels linked to al-Qaida have struck a wide-ranging ceasefire deal with Bashar al-Assad’s regime. If it holds, the agreement will in effect cede sovereignty of the city of Idlib, create a de facto no-fly zone, and freeze the conflict in several hotspots. The 25-point deal was brokered by Iran, acting for Damascus, and by Turkey, representing the rebel coalition Jaish al-Fateh, which includes the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra. The deal, which urges UN monitoring and implementation, covers 14 towns in the north and south of the country, where intense fighting along sectarian lines had devastated the ranks of all those fighting, taken a bloody toll on civilians left in the area and ravaged towns and infrastructure. The accord may not hold, especially now that Russia is scouting targets in the ceasefire zone and after reports that renewed clashes erupted between the two sides when pro-regime forces fired into Taftanaz, a town north of Idlib specified in the deal. But the deal itself and the circumstances that led to it are worth pondering. Most important, the agreement prohibits the regime from flying helicopters or planes in certain areas controlled by Jaish al-Fateh in Idlib, even to drop aid and ammunition to fighters on the ground. That deprives Damascus of the air power that has been perhaps its biggest advantage over rebel forces, sowing both death and fear around the country.

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