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23 Nov 2015 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy
Articles
Russian air strikes 'killed over 400 Syrian civilians'
by Al Jazeera, 23 Nov 2015
Russian air strikes in Syria have killed over 400 civilians since September this year, monitoring groups say. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the death toll from September 30 - when the strikes were launched - until November 20 stood at 403 civilians, a figure that includes 97 children. Meanwhile, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), another monitoring group, said at least 526 were killed, including 137 children, since Russia launched its first air strikes. Since last October, at least 42,234 air strikes have been documented. Over 22,370 'barrel bombs' have also been dropped in that period resulting in the death of 6,889 civilians, including 1,436 children, and injuring another 35,000 civilians. At least 100,000 people have fled from Aleppo, while another 1,000 fled an Atma displaced camp in Idlib's suburbs. Russia says the goal of its military operation in Syria is in response to a request by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and on the basis of a decision granted by its parliament. Assad also said that following the Russian intervention, the situation in Syria had improved in a "very good way".
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Syrian Christian town becomes new frontline against IS
By Your Middle East , 22 Nov 2015
On the outskirts of the Syrian Christian town of Sadad, children play in front of a cannon fired just hours ago in an ongoing battle against the Islamic State group. Soldiers and pro-regime militiamen nearby look on with amusement at the children, who appear oblivious to the fact that their ancient town is now in the sights of the jihadist group. Its ancient churches have been caught in the crossfire before, with regime and rebel forces battling for control of the town in October 2013. Regime forces eventually secured the town, but IS is not far away and many residents have fled. IS already controls several towns and villages in Homs province, including the famed city of Palmyra, home to ancient ruins that the group has systematically destroyed. Preparing for battle alongside residents are two militias, including a contingent from the so-called Sotoro force (Syriac for protection). The Sotoro is a Syriac Christian militia based in the northeastern province of Hasakeh, which has dispatched some 250 fighters to held defend Sadad. The Sotoro forces fight alongside villagers as well as gunmen from the "Eagles of the Storm," an armed wing of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a pro-regime political group.
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Critics of Europe's open borders are 'exploiting the suffering of Paris', says Juncker in vow to save Schengen Zone
by The Daily Mail, 22 Nov 2015
French investigators have exposed how the terrorists were able to sneak into Europe posing as refugees before being allowed to roam freely through the continent. But in an extraordinary intervention, the European Commission president said he would fight to stop countries putting back up the walls of Europe. The travel zone, where 26 European countries have removed all checkpoints between each other, has been blamed for exacerbating the migrant crisis. French prosecutors have also said that at least three of those involved in the Paris attacks had made their way to the country on a route through the Balkans used by refugees. Two of the suicide bombers are thought to have got into Europe on Greek islands by pretending to be Syrian refugees. Mr Juncker refused to admit how the Schengen Zone had helped the terrorists as he insisted it must stay in place.‘The cynics who exploit the suffering of Paris have not understood that those who perpetrated the attacks are precisely those whom the refugees are trying to flee.’
Palestinian campus: 'A wall of fear has come down'
by Al Jazeera, 22 Nov 2015
Abu Dis, occupied West Bank - Debris and broken glass were strewn across the Al-Quds University campus in Abu Dis on a recent afternoon, evidence of one of many recent incursions by Israeli forces since October. Nearby, a group of students carrying Palestinian flags marched off campus towards Israel's separation wall. This has become a weekly ritual. So far, the students have managed to carve a deep hole in the concrete, each time picking up where the last demonstration left off. Local schoolchildren joined in, throwing stones over the wall. It was not long before the Israeli army dispersed them with tear gas. These sorts of clashes have become commonplace at a number of educational institutions throughout the occupied West Bank, amid a wave of unrest that has gripped Israel and the Palestinian territories over the past two months. Since October 1, protests across the West Bank have left more Palestinians injured than in all of 2014, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which has recorded 7,040 injuries up until November 9. In the same period, across the West Bank, Israel and Gaza, at least 85 Palestinians and 16 Israelis were killed. At least 128 Israelis were injured during the same period.
Putin to meet Ayatollah Khamenei during Iran visit
by The Tribune, 20 Nov 2015
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a visit to Tehran Monday, the Kremlin said, as Moscow goes on a diplomatic push over the Syria conflict. Talks with Iran’s leadership will focus on “issues in bilateral relations, including atomic energy, oil and gas and military-technical cooperation”, Putin’s top foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said Friday, with the Russian president also set to meet his counterpart Hassan Rouhani. Russia and Iran are both militarily backing forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with Moscow flying a bombing campaign and Iran believed to command thousands of troops on the ground. French leader Hollande — whose country is part of a separate US-led coalition bombing IS — has also called for international powers to join forces to battle the militants in the wake of the Paris attacks. But divisions remain over what if any role Assad would play in the fight against IS, with Moscow and Tehran seeing his forces as central to defeating IS while the US and its allies want him gone.
Group arrested in Kuwait for allegedly supplying Isis
by The Guardian, 20 Nov 2015
A group has been arrested in Kuwait, accused of being members of an extremist network that supplied funds and weapons, including rockets, to Islamic State militants, the state news agency Kuna quoted the interior ministry as saying on Thursday. The group included a Lebanese, an Egyptian, three Syriansand a Kuwaiti national, Kuna said. Two Australian-Lebanese joint nationals and two Syrians accused of being part of the group are said to be outside the country. The Gulf country suffered its worst militant attack at the hands of Islamic State in June, when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the Imam al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City, killing 27 people. Kuwait cracked down on Islamist militants after the bombing. Officials say the bombing was aimed at stoking strife between Sunnis and Shi’ites in the majority Sunni Muslim state, where the two sects have usually coexisted in peace. The United States and other Western countries have criticised Kuwait for what they have described as a permissive approach to militant financing.
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