Hundreds of people gather in Dhaka calling for police action, day after Avijit Roy, a US national, was hacked to death.
Dhaka - Hundreds of protesters have rallied in the
Bangladeshi capital to denounce the murder of a prominent
Bangladesh-born American blogger, who was hacked to death outside a
university in Dhaka.
Students, activists and journalists gathered at Dhaka University on
Friday to demand quick police action, a day after the attack on Avijit
Roy and his wife Rafida Ahmed, who remains in critical condition.
The protesters said the killing raised questions about the
government's ability to protect its citizens from crimes, and uphold
democracy and freedom of speech.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, human rights activist Khushi Kabir questioned police inaction during the attack.
Witnesses have told Al Jazeera that police and onlookers were present
during the attacks, but no one came to help the victims. Police were
not immediately available to comment on the accusation.
The couple were coming from a book fair at the university, when a
group of men ambushed them, with at least two of the attackers hitting
them with meat cleavers, police Chief Sirajul Islam told the Associate
Press news agency.
The attackers then ran away, disappearing into the crowds. Two blood-stained cleavers were found after the attack, he said.
On Friday, Al Jazeera learned from the family of the slain victim
that his body will be donated to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital
(DMCH) for medical research.
Avijit's younger brother Arijit Roy told journalists that family
members have taken the decision to donate the body, according to the
wishes of the victim.
Roy and his wife were coming from a book fair at the university when the attack happened [Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera]
'Shocked and heartbroken'
Protesters said the attack on Roy and his wife
happened partly because of the government's failure to prosecute
previous deadly attacks.
"The government cannot avoid its responsibility as it has failed to
try similar crimes before," University professor Anwar Hossain told Al
Jazeera.
In 2013, another blogger, Ahmed Rajib Haider, who also spoke out against religious fanatics, was killed by unidentified assailants near his home in Dhaka.
Activisit Jonayed Saki demanded that police immediately arrest the suspects.
"How can such attacks ensue amid tight security," he asked.
The Centre for Inquiry, a US-based nonprofit group Roy wrote for, said it was "shocked and heartbroken" by the murder.
"Dr Roy was a true ally, a courageous and eloquent defender of
reason, science and free expression, in a country where those values
have been under heavy attack," it said in a statement.
As night fell in Dhaka on Friday, student and activists held a torch procession to protest Roy's death.
Protesters said the deadly attack on Roy happened partly because of the government's failure to prosecute previous attacks [Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera]
Activisits are demanding that police immediately arrest the suspects [Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera]
Washington Post and BBC say ISIL beheading video suspect is Mohammed Emwazi from London.
In ISIL videos, the masked man appears to have carried out the beheadings of three Americans and two Britons [AP]A
British-accented man who has appeared in beheading videos released by
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria bears
"striking similarities" to a man who grew up in London, according to a
London-based nongovernmental organisation.
Mohammed Emwazi has been identified by news organisations as the masked fighter more commonly known as "Jihadi John."
London-based CAGE, which works with Muslims in conflict with British
intelligence services, said on Thursday that Asim Qureshi, its research
director, saw strong similarities, but because of the hood worn by the
militant, "there was no way he could be 100 percent certain".
Qureshi painted a picture of a kind and thoughtful young man who
faced harassment from MI5, which apparently suspected he wanted to join
the Somali armed group al-Shabab.
He said British spies had tried to recruit Emwazi.
"There's one character that I remember, one kind person that I
remember and then I see that image and there doesn't seem to be a
correlation between the two," Qureshi said. No official comment
The Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at
King's College London, which closely tracks fighters in Syria, also said
it believed the identification was correct.
British counterterrorism officials would not confirm the man's identity.
"Jihadi John" appeared in a video released in August showing the slaying of American journalist James Foley.
A man with similar stature and voice also featured in videos of the
killings of American journalist Steven Sotloff, Britons David Haines and
Alan Hemming and US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig.
"If these allegations are true, we are shocked and sickened by the news," the university said in a statement.
The news outlets said Emwazi had been known to Britain's intelligence services before he travelled to Syria in 2012.
According to the Washington Post and the BBC,Emwazi was born
in Kuwait but came to Britain aged six and graduated with a computer
programming degree from the University of Westminster before coming to
the attention of Britain's main domestic intelligence service, MI5.
The university confirmed that a student of that name graduated in 2009. Recruitment attempt
An associate of Emwazi, who was a fluent Arabic speaker, said MI5
tried to recruit him and then prevented him from travelling abroad,
forcing him to flee abroad without telling his family.
He travelled to Syria around 2012.
CAGE said it has been in contact with Emwazi for more than two years
after he accused British intelligence services of harassing him.
It said that in 2010 he alleged British spies were preventing him
from travelling to the country of his birth, Kuwait, where he planned to
marry.
MI5 does not publicly comment on such claims. The British government
and police refused to confirm or deny his identity, citing an ongoing
security investigation.
"We don't confirm or deny matters relating to intelligence," said a
spokeswoman for Cameron, who has ordered spy agencies and soldiers to
track down the killer. Brick-row house
No one answered the door at the brick row house in west London where the Emwazi family is alleged to have lived.
Neighbours in the surrounding area of public housing projects either declined comment or said they did not know the family.
Shiraz Maher of the King's College radicalisation centre said he was
investigating whether Emwazi was among a group of young West Londoners
who travelled to Syria in about 2012.
Many of them are now dead, including Mohammad el-Araj, Ibrahim al-Mazwagi and Choukri Ellekhlifi, all killed in 2013.
He said Emwazi's background was similar to that of other British
fighters, and disproved the idea "that these guys are all impoverished,
that they're coming from deprived backgrounds.
"They are by and large upwardly mobile people, well educated," Maher said.
Capture of bridge linking Haditha to besieged city of Baghdadi leaves 20 Iraqi soldiers dead, reports say.
The fight for al-Baghdadi has led to an exodus of residents from Anbar to the capital Baghdad [Reuters]Reports
say fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group
have seized a strategic bridge between the cities of Baghdadi and
Haditha in the western Anbar province, killing more than 20 Iraqi
soldiers.
Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad on Thursday, said the
"major development is an indication that there is very fierce fighting
ongoing in Anbar.
This was ISIL taking a bridge across the Euphrates between the small city of Baghdadi and the larger city of Haditha".
Baghdadi, whose siege by ISIL has trapped residents, is not far from
Ayn al-Asad airbase, which houses American forces and their coalition
partners.
It is the second largest US military airbase in Iraq.
Earlier on Thursday, ISIL sent a military vehicle with suicide
bombers to try to get to one of the gates and detonate the explosives,
our correspondent said.
"While the truck did not reach the gate, it did come to a few
kilometres of one of the main gates of that base where they were
repulsed by Iraqi forces," she said. Release reported
In another development, ISIL has released 30 men it had captured near
Tikrit, according to Anwar Assi al-Obeidi, an influential local sheikh.
ISIL fighters reportedly captured 118 men and nine boys on Sunday
from Rubaidha village, east of Tikrit, and then released 21 of the men -
leaving 97 men and nine boys still in captivity.
Most of those captured have relatives fighting against ISIL, Obeidi
told Al Jazeera on Thursday, adding that 600 members of his al-Obeid
tribe have been killed by ISIL fighters since June.
A new UN report released this week documents widespread human rights
violations committed by ISIL in Iraq between September and December last
year.
"Members of Iraq's diverse ethnic and religious communities,
including Turkmen, Shabaks, Christians, Yazidi, Sabaeans, Kakae, Faili
Kurds, Arab Shia and others have been intentionally and systematically
targeted by ISIL and associated armed groups and subjected to gross
human rights abuses," the report says.
Meanwhile, the number of Christians abducted by ISIL in neighbouring
Syria has risen to 220 in the past three days, as the group rounded up
more hostages from a chain of villages along a strategic river,
activists said on Thursday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the
fighters picked up dozens more Christian Assyrians from 11 communities
near the town of Tal Tamr in the northeastern Hassakeh province.
The province, which borders Turkey and Iraq, has become the latest battleground in the fight against ISIL in Syria.
It is predominantly Kurdish but also has populations of Arabs and predominantly Christian Assyrians and Armenians.
Five-minute clip shows group of bearded men in a museum using hammers and drills to smash several large statues.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has released a video purportedly showing its fighters using sledgehammers to smash ancient artefacts in Iraq's northern city of Mosul.
The five-minute video shows a group of bearded men in a museum using
hammers and drills to destroy several large statues, including one
depicting a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity that dates back to 9th
century BC.
"Oh Muslims, these artefacts that are behind me were idols and gods
worshipped by people who lived centuries ago instead of Allah," a
bearded man tells the camera as he stands in front of the partially
demolished winged-bull.
"Our prophet ordered us to remove all these statues as his followers did when they conquered nations."
ISIL has destroyed a number of shrines, including Muslim holy sites, in order to eliminate what it views as heresy.
The group is also believed to have sold ancient artefacts on the
black market in order to finance their bloody campaign across the
region.
The video, which bore the logo of ISIL's media arm, was posted on social media accounts affiliated with ISIL.
It appeared authentic, based on the Associate Press news agency's knowledge of the Mosul Museum.
Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, and the surrounding Nineveh
province fell to ISIL last June, after Iraqi security forces melted
away.
Drones sighted this week close to sensitive sites in the capital such as the presidential palace and the US embassy.
Drones have been sighted before in France, the last sighting was in November 2014 [Getty Images]French
authorities have launched an investigation into sightings of drones
this week close to sensitive sites in Paris such as the presidential
palace and the US embassy, the government has said.
Local media reported five sightings of drones overnight on Tuesday
and on Wednesday. There have been no claims of responsibility.
The French capital remains on high security after last month's deadly
attacks by gunmen at a satirical magazine and a Jewish food store.
However, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll ruled out a security
risk and said drones were not solely a French phenomenon. "There is
nothing to worry about," he told a regular news briefing.
"Drones have been spotted and investigations launched. We are mobilised on a matter which is and should be taken seriously."
The five sightings follow a similar mystery last November involving
overflights by drones over five nuclear power sites in the country.
Last month, an employee of a US spy agency said he had been operating
a small drone that crashed on the grounds of the White House.
Revolutionary Guard attack vessel with missiles and fast boats during navy and air defence drills near Strait of Hormuz.
The drill, named Great Prophet 9, was held near the Strait of Hormuz [AP]Iran's
Revolutionary Guard has launched large-scale naval and air defence
drills near a strategic Gulf waterway in which dozens of speedboats
attacked a replica of a US aircraft carrier.
The drill, named Great Prophet 9, was held near the Strait of
Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world's oil passes. Iran's
regular army carried out naval drills near the strait in December.
State TV showed footage of missiles fired from the coast and the fast boats striking the mock aircraft carrier.
The drills, which also included shooting down a drone and planting
undersea mines, were the first to involve a replica of such a vessel.
"American aircraft carriers are very big ammunition depots housing a
lot of missiles, rockets, torpedoes and everything else," the Guard's
navy chief, Admiral Ali Fadavi, said on state TV, adding that a direct
hit by a missile could set off a large secondary explosion.
Last month, Fadavi said his force is capable of sinking US aircraft carriers in the event of war.
General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Guard's chief commander, said the
drills send a "message of [Iran's] might'' to "extraterritorial powers,"
a reference to the US.
Commander Kevin Stephens, the spokesman for the US Navy's 5th Fleet
in Bahrain, said the Iranian naval exercises began a few days ago and
have had no effect on maritime traffic.
Stephens said the Americans were monitoring the drills, but
downplayed the simulated attack on the carrier, saying the US military
was "not concerned about this exercise".
"We're quite confident of our naval forces' ability to
defend themselves," he said. "It seems they've attempted to destroy the
equivalent of a Hollywood movie set."
Iran is currently negotiating an agreement over its disputed
nuclear programme with the US and five other world powers. The two
sides hope to reach a framework agreement next month and a final deal in
June.
Western nations have long suspected Iran is covertly seeking a nuclear weapons capability, charges denied by Tehran.
Victims originally captured three days ago from Rubaidha village, east of Tikrit, sheikh tells Al Jazeera.
More than 100 Iraqi men, including nine boys, have been kidnapped by
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters near Tikrit, an
influential sheikh says.
Sheikh Anwar Assi al-Obeidi told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that 118 men
and nine boys were originally captured three days ago from Rubaidha
village, east of Tikrit, but that 21 men have since been released.
The boys, aged nine and 10, are still being held along with the remaining men at an unknown location, Sheikh Anwar said.
He said that most of those captured have relatives fighting against
ISIL and that 600 members of the al-Obeid tribe, where he is the
paramount sheikh, have been killed by ISIL fighters since June.
"ISIL have taken our men in retaliation for their support to the
security forces and being part of the Sunni tribes that oppose ISIL’s
ideology," the sheik said.
"This is an attempt by ISIL to mount pressure on their relatives and family members whom have took up arms against ISIL."
He said news of the kidnapping had not been reported earlier because phone services had been cut off in the area.
The news came a day after ISIL fighters reportedly captured at least 70 Assyrian Christians in Hassakeh province in northeast Syria.
A new UN report released this week documented widespread human rights violations committed by ISIL in Iraq between September and December last year.
“Members of Iraq’s diverse ethnic and religious communities,
including Turkmen, Shabaks, Christians, Yezidi, Sabaeans, Kaka’e, Faili
Kurds, Arab Shia, and others have been intentionally and systematically
targeted by ISIL and associated armed groups and subjected to gross
human rights abuses," the report said.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Iraqi security forces evacuated 300 families from the town of al-Baghdadi.
French police search for operators of aircraft which flew over Eiffel Tower, US Embassy and other buildings in capital.
More sophisticated drone models can be pre-programmed and are widely available for as little as $440 [AP]At
least five unidentified drones have flown over the Eiffel Tower, the US
Embassy and other Paris landmarks overnight, authorities have said.
The first sighting was near the US embassy in the French capital just
after midnight on Tuesday morning, prompting police to follow the
unmanned aircraft which continued on towards the Invalides military
museum.
Police lost sight of the drone but later in the night, four other
pilotless aircraft were spotted at several landmarks including the
Eiffel Tower, the Place de la Concorde and the Montparnasse tower, the
tallest skyscraper in the city.
"It could be a co-ordinated action but we don't know for now," a police source told the AFP news agency.
"We did everything to try and catch the operators but they were not found," another source close to the case said.
Frqance has seen a series of mysterious drone overflights at nuclear
plants, and more recently over the presidential palace, with the fresh
sightings coming at a time of heightened security following last month's
attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead. Flights over nuclear plants
In October and November, about 20 of the unidentified aircraft flew
over French nuclear plants and their operators were never found.
French authorities have said the drones currently present no threat,
but the government is trying to find ways to counteract the devices.
Drones come in all shapes and sizes, and have a variety of uses, from
widely reported military applications to surveillance, filmmaking,
sports, disaster relief and scientific research.
The most basic unmanned aircraft are radio-controlled by someone
nearby, but other more sophisticated models can be pre-programmed, and
these are widely available for as little as $440.
Local man opens fire in a restaurant near southeastern town of Uhersky Brod, before shooting himself dead.
Police officer patrol the area near the restaurant where a gunman opened fire in Uhersky Brod [AP]Eight
people have been shot dead in a restaurant near a southeastern Czech
town, in the worst shooting attack in the country's history.
Patrik Kuncar, the mayor of Uhersky Brod, said the gunman, a local
man aged 60, was among the dead after killing himself on Tuesday. A
waitress from the restaurant was hospitalised, he said.
"My information is that there are several injured and about eight
dead after the shooter's rampage," Kuncar said in a live television
broadcast.
The shooting took place at around lunchtime in the Druzba restaurant located in a residential area south of Uhersky Brod.
"I have been conveyed information that it was a 60-year-old local man, probably mentally unstable," said Kuncar.
Interior Minister Milan Chovanec had earlier told news agency CTK he had been informed there were eight victims.
Czech Television said the attacker fired about 25 rounds. A witness
told the channel he had seen about 10 police cars arrive and police
putting on bulletproof vests.
Such shooting incidents are very rare in the central European country of 10.5 million.
Uhersky Brod is a town of 17,000 in the Moravia region, near the
border with Slovakia, about 300km southeast of the capital Prague.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says abductions took place after ISIL seized Assyrian villages from Kurdish forces.
The kidnapping appears to be in direct response to recent gains made by Kurdish forces in Syria's northeast [AP}Fighters
of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group have kidnapped
at least 90 Assyrian Christians in northeast Syria, the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights reported on Wednesday.
The Observatory said the abductions took place on Tuesday after ISIL
fighters seized two Assyrian villages from Kurdish forces in the
province of Hassakeh, the Reuters news agency reported.
The villages are inhabited by the ancient Christian minority near the
town of Tel Tamr, a mainly Assyrian town, in the western countryside of
the city of Hasaka - a city mainly held by the Kurds.
Al Jazeera's Nisreen el-Shamayleh, reporting from Amman, said the
kidnapping appeared to be in direct response to recent gains made by
Kurdish forces in Syria's northeast.
Our correspondent said there were few details about the fate of the
hostages and that the Observatory was the only group who had been able
to confirm the incidents.
Much of Hassakeh is divided between Kurdish and ISIL control. Kurdish offensive
Fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have been on the offensive in the province in recent days.
They have taken 24 villages and hamlets as part of an operation to
try to recapture the town of Tal Hamis and surrounding areas, the AFP
news agency reported.
Tal Hamis lies to the east of the villages taken by ISIL on Tuesday.
YPG forces have also been on the offensive in Raqa province, which
neighbours Hassakeh, seizing 19 villages as they advance following their
recapture of the strategic border town of Kobane last month.
The Kurdish forces have been backed by US-led air strikes launched by the international coalition fighting ISIL.
The Observatory said the coalition carried out a series of strikes around Tal Hamis on Tuesday that killed 14 ISIL fighters.
This part of Syria is strategically important in the fight against
ISIL because it borders territory controlled by the group in Iraq, where
last year the armed group committed attacked the Yazidi community.
ISIL has destroyed churches and Christian shrines in Syria, and
demanded that Christians living under its rule pay a tax known as jizya.
Staffan de Mistura says he has received assurances that government will stop aerial bombardment of Aleppo for six weeks.
The UN special envoy to Syria is travelling to Damascus to try to
reduce the fighting which has intensified in Aleppo, where rebels claim
to have killed 300 government soldiers in the past week.
Staffan de Mistura, who is on his fourth trip to the country since
July and is expected to arrive in the capital on Monday, says he has
received some assurances from the government that it will stop its
aerial bombardment of Aleppo for six weeks.
Mistura has not yet received agreement from opposition groups and in a recent interview with Al Jazeera's Diplomatic Editor James Bays said he knew many believed the odds were against the success of his initiative.
He is expected to travel to Istanbul following his visit to Syria to talk to opposition groups.
"My chances, I hope are not super slim, because that would in a way
would also reflect the chances of the Syrian people to see hope at the
end of this tunnel," Mistura said.
UN's Syria envoy sees hope in Aleppo fighting freeze
"The one thing I can tell them is that the UN will never give up."
Mistura's plans involve a halt to the aerial bombardment and attacks
using heavy weapons across the city of Aleppo, our correspondent
reported.
He also aims to completely freeze all fighting on the ground in one
district of Aleppo - Salaheddine in the southwest of the city.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said she was hoping Mistura's plan would allow access for humanitarian aid workers in Aleppo.
"We are working very closely together because of course if he's able
to do what he'd like to do which is to deescalate the violence, that's
good for us, because it means that there are more places that we can get
to," Amos said.
"He's trying to, once that violence is deescalated, to focus on
trying to bring some normalcy to Aleppo, trying to get people to restart
their livelihoods."
The overall conflict in Syria has killed at least 220,000 people and sent more than 3.8 million people fleeing the country.
Two bombs exploded at the gate of the Iranian ambassador's home in Tripoli, but there were no reports of casualties.
ISIL has been gaining ground in Libya since dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed in 2011 [Reuters]Fighters
loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have claimed
responsibility for an attack on the Iranian embassy in the Libyan
capital Tripoli.
Two bombs exploded at the gate of the Iranian diplomatic complex on
Sunday, although nobody was hurt in the blast, Libyan security officials
said.
"Two devices were laid, one exploded first and then the other. The
point of the second bomb was to create confusion," Colonel Jumaa
al-Mashri from the National Security Agency told Tripoli-based al-Nabaa
television.
The Associated Press news agency reported that the Iranian ambassador was not in the residence during the attack.
Iran's official IRNA news agency also confirmed the blasts, adding
that Iran had previously suspended operations at its embassy. The
building had been vacant since 2012.
The building complex lies in a central district of Tripoli, where several diplomatic missions are located.
Witnesses told AFP news agency that windows at the nearby Ukrainian embassy were shattered by the impact of the blasts.
The attack on Sunday was the latest to target a diplomatic mission in
Tripoli, where most embassies have been shut since summer 2014 as rival
armed militias battled for control of the city.
Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, who is reporting from Djerba in
neighbouring Tunisia, said that while damage to the attack was minimal,
it carried a "symbolic message."
"The message here is that ISIL is on the ground and it is spreading across the country."
In January, ISIL also claimed responsibility for an attack with
explosives that targeted the empty Algerian embassy in Tripoli, wounding
a security guard and two passers-by.
ISIL has been gaining ground in Libya, feeding on chaos that has
engulfed the country since dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and
killed in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising.
The country is awash with weapons and has two rival governments and
two rival parliaments, with authorities unable to rein in powerful armed
groups battling for power and to control the nation's oil wealth.
The footage comes after Kurdish president warns ISIL of having to pay "a heavy price" if captured Kurds are hurt.
The video released over the past week is the second installment of ISIL footage to feature the captured Kurdish fighters [AP]The
21 Kurdish fighters captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) group have been featured in a new video released by the
group.
The video, seen by Al Jazeera and released over the past
week, is the second installment of ISIL footage to feature the captured
Kurdish fighters.
In the new video, the Kurds, dressed in orange jumpsuits, their heads
bowed, are paraded through an enclosed area and then seen in individual
steel cages.
It comes just days after a first video showed 17 Kurdish fighters
been taken on a procession through the streets of Iraqi town of Kirkuk. ISIL
fighters spoke to the camera in Kurdish, reiterating "our war is not
with the Kurdish Muslim people but with the infidels and their
treacherous agents".
On Tuesday, Kurdish President Masoud Barzan visited Kirkuk for the first time since ISIL's assault on the town.
Barzan said the Kurdistan Regional Government will spare no effort to free Peshmerga hostages from ISIL.
"If ISIL decides to kill them, they will pay a heavy price," Barzani said.
Turkish forces carry out incursion into Syria to evacuate Turkish soldiers from Suleyman Shah tomb, Turkish PM confirms.
The
body of Suleyman Shah was taken from the tomb in order to be buried in
another location closer to the Turkish border [Al Jazeera]Turkish soldiers guarding the tomb of Suleyman Shah in Syria have
been successfully evacuated to Turkey in a military operation overnight,
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.
Davutoglu said the remains of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the
founder of the Ottoman Empire, would be moved to a different area of
Syria which has been brought under Turkish military control.
The military said in a statement that there had been no clashes
during the operation but that one soldier had been killed in an
accident.
"Unfortunately we had one casualty and this was not as a result of a
clash but due to an accident that happened at the beginning of the
operation," Davutoglu said at a news conference in Ankara on Sunday.
The soldiers brought the remains of Suleyman Shah and some relics back to Turkey.
The new planned site for the tomb, which is closer to the border, is
under control of Turkish army. The replacement of the tomb will take
place later, Davutoglu said. "These relics will temporarily be preserved in Turkey for
the next couple of days and God willing, will be sent to Eshme, the area
of the new tomb secured by our soldiers, as is our right by
international law" the prime minister said.
Unilateral action
Davutoglu said the Turkish soldiers were not supported by local Kurdish fighters in the operation.
"The decision was solely taken in Ankara, within the framework of
international law, without asking any permission or help from any party.
The Turkish military would overcome any obstacle, whoever comes their
way, risking clashes."
The Turkish government said late last year that Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant (ISIL) fighters were advancing on the mausoleum, which
is guarded by several dozen Turkish soldiers.
At a news conference in Ankara on Saturday, Davutoglu said the
incursion into Syria involved 100 military vehicles including 39 tanks.
The tanks and armoured vehicles, supported by drones, rolled into
Syria near the border town of Kobane and left Syria via the same route
early on Sunday, witnesses told Al Jazeera.
The Suleyman Shah tomb was made Turkish territory under a treaty
signed with France in 1921, when France ruled Syria and the government
had repeatedly vowed to defend it from any attack by the Syrian rebels.
Activists confirm Jabhat al-Nusra take strategic towns after fierce five days of fighting with government troops.
The SOHR said at least 245 fighters had been killed from both sides since the fighting started on Tuesday [Youtube]Syrian
rebels have recaptured key towns in the northern Aleppo countryside
after intense battles with government forces, rebels and activists have
told Al Jazeera.
Al-Qaeda-affiliated group Jabhat al-Nusra
said on Saturday they had recaptured Hardatnin town in the northern
Aleppo countryside after five days of fighting with government forces.
The group said government forces had been supported by Hezbollah and Iranian fighters.
Meanwhile, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR),
said government forces had withdrawn to the town of Bashakuy further
south in Aleppo province.
At least 248 combatants, including 129 government soldiers and 119
rebel fighters have been killed since the fighting started on Tuesday,
according to SOHR.
The fighting started when government forces launched a sudden
offensive and captured three rebel held towns of
Rityan-Hardatnin-Bashkuy that hold a strategic position and cut rebel
final route to the city.
'Freeze hostilities'
Earlier
on Saturday, SOHR said government forces had also bombarded places in
the town of Hayyan, leaving several people wounded, some of them in
critical condition.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon has called for an immediate de-escalation of the conflict in
Syria to give civilians some relief and allow a step towards a political
solution to the four-year conflict, a spokesman for the UN chief said
on Friday.
Stephane Dujarric said Ban is calling on all rival parties in Syria
to freeze hostilities in the largest city of Aleppo to make way for the
UN to experiment with delivering humanitarian aid to a densely-populated
and contested area in the city.
"The Secretary General appeals all parties to de-escalate the
conflict in order to provide a reprieve for the long-suffering civilians
of Syria.
An immediate de-escalation is a much needed step towards a political
solution to the conflict," he said at a news briefing at the UN
headquarters on Friday.
The UN chief also urges the Syrian government to honor its commitment
of a six-week suspension of airstrikes and artillery shelling in
Aleppo, as proposed by the UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura,
said Dujarric.
The overall conflict in Syria has killed at least 220,000 people and sent more than 3.8 million people fleeing the country.
Pro-government protesters vow to prevent Ukraine-style uprising in Russia, as Moscow clamps down on opposition groups.
Thousands
of pro-Kremlin activists have taken to the streets of central Moscow
vowing to prevent a Ukraine-style uprising in Russia.
The rally on Saturday by the Anti-Maidan movement marked one year
since scores of demonstrators were gunned down in Ukraine's pro-Western
uprising that came to be known as the Maidan protests.
"Ukraine's example has taught us a lot, and we won't allow a Maidan
in our country!" organisers said ahead of the rally in support of
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Putinism forever," said a hand-made banner held by an elderly woman,
while a column of Cossacks brandished a placard reading "The Maidan is a
disease. We will treat it".
After the Kiev uprising ousted Kremlin-backed president Viktor
Yanukovych last February, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and has
since backed a separatist rebellion in the east of the country.
Moscow police said some 35,000 turned up for Saturday's event.
The marchers, some dressed in fatigues, waved Russian flags and many
sported the black and orange St George ribbon, a symbol of victory over
Nazi Germany that Ukrainian separatists have adopted as their badge of
honour.
"Yankee go home and take the Maidan with you," read a massive banner carried by several people.
Established early this year, the umbrella movement includes several
groups representing bikers, Cossacks, athletes and Russian veterans of
the Afghan and Chechen wars, some of whom have fought alongside rebels
in eastern Ukraine. Warning against coup attempts
One of the movement's leaders, Nikolai Starikov, said the march was
their first major rally aimed at discouraging the pro-Western opposition
from plotting a coup in Russia.
"Don't even try. Don't make any attempts to rock the boat in Russia," he said in televised remarks.
State-controlled television gave ample coverage to Saturday's event and said similar rallies had been held across the country.
The opposition plans a protest on March 1 against the Ukraine
conflict as well as Russia's economic crisis, which has been exacerbated
by Western sanctions over Moscow's support for the separatists.
Earlier this week a Moscow court jailed top opposition activist
Alexei Navalny for two weeks in a move that will most likely prevent him
from leading next weekend's rally.
The protest is set to take place in southeastern Moscow, after
authorities denied permission for the activists to march through the
city centre.
Putin remains Russia's most popular politician despite hardships
brought on by the economic crisis and several rounds of Western
sanctions.
Group affiliated with ISIL claims responsibility for attacks that killed at least 45 people in city of al-Qubbah.
Al-Qubbah is controlled by a paramilitary force loyal to Libya's internationally-recognised governmentAt
least 45 people were killed and several others wounded in a triple
bombing in an eastern Libyan town near the city of Derna, medical and
security sources said.
Reuters reported on Friday that armed groups affiliated with the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have claimed responsiblity
for the simultaneous attacks in al-Qubbah.
Al-Qubbah, Libya
The attacks targeted the city's police headquarters, as well as the
home of the speaker of Libya's internationally recognised parliament and
a petrol station, the sources said.
Medics said parliament speaker Aguila Salah Issa was not at home at
the time of the bombings. Salah also blamed groups loyal to ISIL for the
attacks.
Earlier, ISIL-affiliated groups vowed to carry out revenge attacks following the Egyptian air strikes.
Al-Qubbah is controlled by the paramilitary force of former General
Khalifa Haftar, who is now backed by Libya's beleaguered internationally
recognised government.
It lies just 30 kilometres west of Derna, where Egypt launched air
strikes against what it said were Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL) targets on Monday in retaliation for a gruesome video showing the
beheading of 21 Christians.
They said the majority of the casualties were at the petrol station where a long queue of motorists had been waiting to fill up.
Libya's recognised parliament has been based in the town of Tobruk,
farther east along the coast close to the Egyptian border, since an
Islamist-backed militia alliance seized the capital last August and
installed a rival parliament and government.
Clashes erupt across country's east a day after rebels force thousands of troops to withdraw from strategic town.
Renewed
fighting has occured in eastern Ukraine despite European efforts to
revive a fresh ceasefire, a day after pro-Russian separatists who
spurned the truce forced thousands of government troops to withdraw from
the strategic town of Debaltseve.
Artillery was still raining down near Debaltseve, a railway hub, on
Thursday, and the Ukrainian military said its troops had come under fire
elsewhere from rebels.
Western nations have refused to give up on a peace deal negotiated
last week even though rebels disavowed it to seize Debaltseve.
Thousands of besieged Ukrainian troops pulled out of the town on
Wednesday in one of the worst defeats for the Kiev government of a
10-month war that has killed more than 5,000 people.
European and US officials have expressed the hope that the ceasefire
can now take effect, with rebels that are fighting for territory the
Kremlin calls "New Russia" halting their advance having achieved their
main objective in Debaltseve.
But Reuters journalists in Vuhlehirsk, a rebel held town near
Debaltseve, said artillery was still thundering down in the area,
although with less intensity than the previous day. 'No words to describe it'
In Artemivsk, a government-held town north of Debaltseve where
Ukrainian troops arrived after evacuating the besieged town, soldiers
spoke of their flight under gunfire as they withdrew on Wednesday.
"There are no words to describe it. Along the entire way we were
blanketed with shots, wherever there were trees they fired at us from
machine guns and grenade launchers. They used everything," said Vadim, a
soldier from Ukraine's 30th brigade.
At least 13 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and dozens more went
missing in the fighting in Debaltseve since the ceasefire earlier this
week.
Local military officials said rebels had launched mortar attacks on
government-held positions further south, near the coastal city of
Mariupol, and were building up forces there.
"Right now there are mortar attacks on Shyrokine," a local military
spokesman said by phone, referring to a village about 30 km (19 miles)
east of Mariupol, along the coast of the Sea of Azov. 'Bringing up rebel reserves'
"There is no attempt to seize our positions up to now. The rebels are bringing up reserves," the spokesman said.
Mariupol, a port of 500,000 people, is the biggest government-held
city in the two rebellious provinces, and Kiev's biggest fear is that
rebels will try to capture it.
Western countries say Russia is behind the rebel advance, having
deployed thousands of troops with advanced weaponry into eastern Ukraine
to fight on the separatists' behalf.
Moscow denies it is behind the fighting. It sponsored a UN Security
Council resolution calling for all sides to stop firing but never
criticized the rebels for advancing on Debaltseve. President Vladimir
Putin told Ukraine hours before the town fell that it should allow its
troops there to surrender.
The rebels have said Debaltseve is the only place where the ceasefire
does not apply, and have suggested they now intend to implement the
truce. They have announced that they are pulling back some heavy
weapons, which is required under the peace deal.
The deal was agreed at all night talks last week in the Belarus
capital Minsk, with the leaders of France and Germany mediating between
Putin and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko.
White House says no meetings with Taliban scheduled in Qatari capital but backs Afghan-led reconciliation process.
The
Taliban opened a political office in Doha in 2013 but it was closed
after the Afghan government objected to fanfare surrounding office
[File/Reuters]
The White House has denied media reports that US
officials planned to meet with the Afghan Taliban in the Qatari capital,
Doha, on Thursday, a spokeswoman has said.
"The United States currently has no meetings with the Taliban
scheduled in Doha," Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White
House's National Security Council, said on Thursday.
"We remain supportive of an Afghan-led reconciliation process whereby
the Taliban and the Afghans engage in talks toward a settlement to
resolve the conflict in Afghanistan."
Taliban central spokesman also denied the proposed talks, AFP news agency reported on Wednesday.
"We do not have any plans for negotiations with anyone in Qatar.
Regarding the negotiations, there is no new changes in the policy of
Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan," Zabihullah Mujahid said in a
statement.
Earlier, Reuters news agency quoting Taliban officials reported that
the armed group planned to hold a first round of talks with US officials
on Thursday.
Bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table would be a major
breakthrough in Afghan efforts to find a diplomatic solution to more
than a decade of war following the withdrawal of most US-led troops last
year.
Reuters quoted three senior diplomats in the region who confirmed the
account of imminent talks based on briefings from people who were at
the meeting between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistan army
chief Raheel Sharif on Tuesday.
Ghani's office did not directly refer to any talks in a statement it issued but promised transparency.
"I will not conduct any negotiation in secret from my people and they
will be informed of any development," he was quoted as saying.
Previous efforts to negotiate an end to a war that began in late 2001 proved fruitless.
Attempts to get talks going in Qatar in 2013 came to nothing after
the Afghan government objected to fanfare surrounding the opening of a
Taliban office in the Gulf state, complete with a flag and official
plaques. Better ties
Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which has historically
close links with the Taliban, have been marred by mistrust and suspicion
but Ghani, who came to power last year, has reached out to Pakistan and
sought to improve ties.
Pakistan, for its part, is pushing for the Taliban to agree to talk
in exchange for an Afghan promise to capture and hand over the leader of
the Pakistani Taliban, Mullah Fazlullah, who is believed to be hiding
in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Taliban are different from the Afghan Taliban although
they share the same goal of toppling regional governments and
establishing an Islamist theocracy.
Ambassador recalled "for consultation" after row over Egypt's strikes on ISIL targets in Libya, Qatari media reports.
Qatar
has recalled its ambassador to Egypt "for consultation" after a row
over Cairo's air strikes on targets of the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) in Libya, Qatari state media said.
A foreign ministry official on Thursday said Doha was recalling its
envoy over a statement made by Egypt's delegate to the Arab League,
Tariq Adel, according to Qatar News Agency.
Adel accused Qatar of supporting terrorism, according to Egyptian
media, after Doha's representative expressed reservations over a clause
in a communique welcoming Cairo's air strikes on ISIL targets.
The communique was released at the end of an ambassador-level Arab League meeting in Cairo on Wednesday.
Egypt said its F-16s bombed ISIL targets in the eastern city of Derna
on Tuesday, after the armed group in Libya released a gruesome video
showing the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians who were in the
North African country to seek work when they were captured.
Sources told Al Jazeera on Monday that at least seven people were killed
in the air strikes that started after Egypt's President Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi vowed to "punish" those responsible for the beheadings.
Qatar's foreign ministry said Doha had expressed reservations over
the raids, stressing the need for "consultations before any unilateral
military action against another member state".
It denounced the "tense" statement by Egypt's representative to the
Arab League, saying it "confuses the need to combat terrorism [with] ...
the brutal killing and burning of civilians".
The reservations "reveal Qatar's position in supporting terrorism," Egyptian state-run news agency MENA quoted Adel as saying.
There was no immediate response from Egypt. Gulf nations' support
Other Gulf Arab states threw their support behind Qatar in the row on Thursday.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) secretary general Abdullatif al-Zayani
said in a statement he "rejects accusations by Egypt's permanent envoy
at the Arab League that Qatar supports terrorism".
Zayani said the accusations were "unfounded, contradict reality, and
ignore the sincere efforts by Qatar as well as the Gulf Cooperation
Council and Arab states in combatting terrorism and extremism at all
levels".
The row comes against a backdrop of difficult relations between Qatar
and Egypt. Ties reached a low point when Mohamed Morsi was toppled by
the army in July 2013.
Qatar has repeatedly denounced Morsi's removal and still provides shelter for many leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood.
However,
in December there was an apparent thaw in relations after Qatar gave
its full support to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the army chief who
overthrew Morsi and was then elected to office.
US president says those fighting for ISIL and al-Qaeda are not religious leaders, but "terrorists".
US President Barack Obama has said his country is not at war with
Islam, but with people who have perverted the religion, calling for a
focus on preventing "terrorists" from recruiting and inspiring others.
Obama, speaking at a White House conference on countering violent
extremism, said "we should not grant them [the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant and al-Qaeda-linked groups] the religious legitimacy that
they seek".
No religion is responsible for violence and terrorism. People are responsible.
Barack Obama
"They propagate the notion that America, and the West generally, is
at war with Islam. That is how they recruit, that's how they radicalise
young people," the president said on Wednesday.
"It is a lie... We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam."
Obama also said he wanted to make sure Muslim communities were not
punished or marginalised for crimes that extremists were committing in
the name of Islam.
"No religion is responsible for violence and terrorism. People are
responsible," he said. "We have to make sure... that we do not
stigmatise entire communities."
The White House has gathered law enforcement officials,
Muslim leaders and lawmakers for a three-day meeting named "Countering
Violent Extremism".
Adding that he wants to lift up voices of tolerance in the US and
beyond, Obama mentioned a letter he received from a Muslim American
girl. The 11-year-old, called Sabrina, said she was worried about people
hating Muslims and asked Obama to tell everyone that Muslims were just
like everyone else.
"Everybody needs to remember that during the course of this debate as we move forward with these challenges," Obama said.
However, he also said that Muslim communities had a responsibility to
reject "the terrorist narrative" that Islam and the modern
civilisations were in conflict.
"The terrorists do not speak for a billion Muslims," Obama said.
Ministerial-level meetings will take place on the final day of the
conference, with 60 countries attending. UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon is also scheduled to speak during a panel discussion.
Aiding its allies in Baghdad and protecting its borders are key reasons why Iran joined the war against ISIL.
Protecting its province of Khuzestan, home to much of Iran's oil production, is a key motivator for Tehran's Iraq policy [EPA]
Story highlights
Tehran
has much at stake in the tumult afflicting Iraq, expending substantial
military and financial aid to shore up its strategic ally in Baghdad,
while fortifying its own borders against fighters of the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Iranian and Iraqi analysts say.
Until the fall of Iraq's second largest city of Mosul to ISIL last
June, Iranian officials, according to analysts, remained largely quiet
about the extent of that aid, even as Tehran rapidly intervened to
provide arms, training and aerial support to Iraqi security forces,
militias and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.
It wasn't until fall 2014, amid reports of US overtures to Iran
for open cooperation in battling ISIL if a deal is struck over
Tehran's contested nuclear programme, that Iran began publicly touting
its heightened role in Iraq on a much larger scale.
Now, despite recent reports of a "noncommittal" response from Iran's Supreme Leader
to Washington's suggestion of cooperation against ISIL, Iraqi and
Iranian analysts say Iran's public face of hesitation belies the reality
of its activities on the ground. Indeed, Iran's willingness to absorb -
and publicly account for - the recent deaths of senior Iranian
military commanders inside Iraq, signifies its shift from a
traditionally quiet - but pervasive - presence to one of outright public
intervention in Iraq's internal security, analysts say.
Iraqi officials find themselves wavering between feelings of
gratitude for Tehran's immediate provision of arms and support, and
anxiety that Iran's increased involvement in Iraq will be difficult to
retrench once the fighters of ISIL are gone.
"The Iraqi government is very weak. The hesitation on the Arab side,
the US and western side has allowed Iran to … take advantage of the ISIL
crisis to strengthen its grip on Iraq," said Mustafa Alani, director of
security and defence studies at the Gulf Research Centre in Dubai.
"Iranian intervention could be seen [by Iraq] as a necessity in the
beginning, but this sort of influence will be hard to exit from again.
According to Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Iraq's former national security
adviser, Iran has taken a lead in arming, advising and leading Iraqi
Shia militias, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces, and has
given crucial support to the Iraqi Security Forces and Iraqi Kurdish
Peshmerga soldiers in the resurgent battle against ISIL.
Tehran has also provided aerial support, returning eight refurbished
Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes to Iraq, co-piloted with Iraqi airmen for
training, just weeks after Mosul's fall, Rubaie said.
"The Iranians were the first to step in and physically save Baghdad
from falling. We're talking within 24 to 48 hours … advising, equipping
and training Iraqis, and also providing analysis and intelligence," said
Rubaie.
"Even those Iraqis who are not pro-Iran, and might be opposed to
asking for help from Iran, won't reject help," if it's offered, he said.
Last November, Iranian fighter jets carried out strikes against ISIL
fighters in Iraq's eastern Diyala province. Later that month, the
commander of Iran's Quds Force, Qassem Suleimani, helped lead Iraqi Kurdish fighters, Shia militias and Iraqi Security Forces as they fought to take back towns from ISIL fighters in Diyala.
The reinforcement of a strong ally in Baghdad and the fortification
of its own borders are at stake for Iran. Protecting its southwestern
province of Khuzestan, which is home to much of Iran's oil production,
and securing Iraq's eastern Diyala province, which lies along the route
from Iran's Kurdish province of Kermanshah to Baghdad, are key.
Other priorities include rolling back ISIL fighters from Baghdad's
suburbs and securing the route from the Iraqi capital to Samarra (home
to the al-Askari Shrine revered by Shia Muslims worldwide) in Salahuddin
governorate.
Tehran has recently seen two senior military commanders assassinated
in Iraq, during what Iran-based analysts say were targeted attacks by
ISIL fighters.
General Mehdi Norouzi, who according to Iranian media reports was
killed on January 10 amid clashes with ISIL in Samarra, is the second
senior commander from Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps to die in Iraq
in the last two months.
In December, Iranian Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi,
who analysts say was helping train Iraqi security forces as well as
militia fighters, was killed by sniper fire in Samarra, 121km north of
Baghdad.
They're keeping the fight outside Iran … protecting their borders.
Iraq is a buffer zone against military attack. For any attack on Iran,
you'd have to go through Iraq or Afghanistan, which is why it has been
imperative for Iran to maintain a presence in both countries.
Veteran Tehran-based analyst who wished to remain anonymous
"They're keeping the fight outside Iran … protecting their borders,"
said a veteran Tehran-based analyst. "Iraq is a buffer zone against
military attack. For any attack on Iran, you'd have to go through Iraq
or Afghanistan, which is why it has been imperative for Iran to maintain
a presence in both countries."
Extensive US-led coalition air strikes against ISIL positions are
also credited with helping turn the tide in favour of Iraqi forces.
The "non-kinetic" price Iraq will have to pay in the long run for
such massive dependence on external aerial and military support is
becoming increasingly worrisome for Iraqi officials.
"Iran will be in charge of the ground and land, the US will be in
charge of the sky, and [Iraq's] commander in chief will be the
interlocutor," said a Baghdad-based analyst who is close to the Iraqi
government. "Iraq's sovereignty will be in jeopardy. If you don't
command the ground or the sky, then what are you commanding?"
The strength of Iran's influence in Iraq once ISIL is rooted out will
depend on how directly involved Washington and other Arab states
ultimately decide to be, the Baghdad-based analyst said.
Though regional Arab countries have been keen to limit Iranian
influence in a post-ISIL Iraq, their support has remained largely
limited to participating in the US-led coalition air strikes.
As Iran gains traction on the ground, the adherence of many militias, who had a hand in thousands of deaths during
Iraq's 2006-2007 sectarian civil war, to Baghdad's central authority
once ISIL is routed out, could largely be up to Tehran.
"Arab involvement would help within an international framework … to strengthen the central state authority," Alani said.
Iraqi officials recently hailed an announcement that the UAE may provide 10 Mirage fighter planes
to the Iraqi Air Force by March, along with an unspecified number of
light strike aircraft for border patrol and anti-insurgency operations.
Iraqi officials told Al Jazeera that the UAE is slated to also provide
training to Iraqi pilots.
"This is a very positive move [which] will cement a very strong bond
on the security side between Iraq and the UAE," said Rubaie, who is now a
member of Iraq's Parliament.
Iran-based analysts admit Tehran will vie to maintain extensive ties
within Iraq's security apparatus and look to expand its economic
involvement in a post-ISIL Iraq.
However, an outright military presence within Iraq's borders is
something Tehran doesn't want long-term, said political scientist
Hermidas Bavand.
Iran's decision to abandon former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last
year in favour of a new premiership for Haidar al-Abbadi could reflect
the start of a more pragmatic approach towards power sharing with Iraq's
Sunnis, at least for now.
"We understand the bitter message from American involvement in
Afghanistan and Iraq; it was successful in the beginning, but … deep
involvement means we are going to absorb great difficulties financially,
socially and politically," said Bavand, speaking by phone from Iran.
"We should be involved in a more marginal way. Otherwise, it's going to become a quagmire."
Foreign Minister tells Al Jazeera options should not exclude any form of support to Libya's UN-recognised government.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has said all measures -
including international troops on the ground - should be considered to
deal with the threat of fighters pledging allegiance to the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Libya.
Ahead of an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council
in New York on Wednesday, Shoukry told Al Jazeera's Diplomatic Editor
James Bays that Egypt's proposals to the UN were initially limited to
expanded support for the UN-recognised government in Tobruk.
Asked whether the prospect of international "boots on the ground"
should be under consideration, Shoukry told our correspondent: "I think
all measures should be under consideration and it is up to the
international community to define what is the best course of action to
deal with this threat."
"I will not prejudge or jump to any conclusions. It is up to us to forge a collective understanding and commitment," he added.
"That should not exclude any form of support to the legitimate government in Tobruk."
On Tuesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said "there is no
choice" but to create a global coalition to confront Libya's rival
militias, in an interview with France's Europe 1 radio.
The European Union has said it would meet with Egyptian and US
governments officials this week, but said it saw no role in any military
intervention for now.
Egypt's calls for military interventions came after fighters pledging
allegiance to ISIL released a video on Sunday purporting to show the
beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.
Egypt's military responded on Monday when it carried out air raids
against what is claimed were ISIL camps, training sites and weapons
storage areas in Libya's northeast.
At least seven civilians were reported killed in the strikes. Widespread chaos
Libya has been gripped by chaos since longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed more than three years ago.
The North African country has failed to build up a national army and
efficient state institutions since the end of Gaddafi's one-man rule,
and is now effectively dominated by former rebel brigades who disagree
over how to govern Libya and share its oil wealth.
The country has two rival governments and parliaments since a group
called Libya Dawn seized the capital in August, and set up its own
government and parliament.
The country's three main cities, Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata, are
largely controlled by militias aligned with Libya Dawn, and supportive
of Omar al-Hassi, the head of Libya's legally installed government.
Amid the chaos, fighters pledging allegiance to ISIL have emerged in the cities of Derna and Sirte.
According to the UN at least 400,000 people have been displaced by
fighting across Libya, with as many as 83,000 people living in
settlements, schools and abandoned buildings.
Key eastern railway town now under control of rebel fighters after government troops forced out by separatist assault.7
Debaltseve is a key transport hub for which Ukraine's forces and separatists have waged a lengthy battle to control [Reuters]Ukrainian
troops have pulled out of the key eastern transport hub of
Debaltseve after it was stormed by pro-Russian rebels, who now control
the town.
Ukrainian troops began to withdraw from the town early on Wednesday,
ending days of fighting for control over the strategic railway town
which has been surrounded by the rebel fighters for weeks.
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday that government
troops had withdrawn in an "organised and coordinated" manner.
"This morning the Ukrainian armed forces together with the National
Guard completed an operation for a planned and organised withdrawal from
Debaltseve," Poroshenko said in an audio message released by his press
service.
Al Jazeera's Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said that the
main objective was to humiliate Ukraine and create political instability
in the country.
"The question is to see if Debaltseve is enough of a prize for the rebels or are they going to push for more ground," he said. 'Status quo'
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday called on all sides in the conflict to cease hostilities.
"We share concerns on the situation in Debaltseve," Lavrov said in a
joint news briefing with his counterpart from Georgia's breakaway region
of South Ossetia.
"But we believe that in order to calm this
situation down it is necessary to stop using weapons trying to change
the status quo which was at midnight on February 15," referring to the
time the latest ceasefire came into operation.
Rebels say the truce, negotiated by Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and
France at the summit in Belarus last week, does not apply to Debaltseve,
which links the two rebel-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine -
Donetsk and Luhansk.
"The actions by the Russia-backed separatists in Debaltseve are a
clear violation of the ceasefire," European Union foreign policy chief
Federica Mogherini said in Brussels, stepping up Western criticism of
the rebel offensive against Debaltseve.
The leaders were due to convene for a high-level conference call later on Wednesday to discuss the latest developments.
The war in eastern Ukraine has already killed more than 5,600 people
and displaced more than a million, the UN said on Monday. It has also
left the country's industrial heartland in ruins.
Emirates' state news agency says F-16s currently deployed in Jordan were used, but does not specify location of attacks.
Emirati pilots at an air base in Jordan in a photo released by the WAM state news agency earlier this month [AP]Fighter
jets based in Jordan belonging to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have
struck oil refineries under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant (ISIL) armed group, the UAE's state news agency has claimed.
F-16s based in Jordan "targeted oil refineries controled by the Daesh
(ISIL) organisation, with the aim of drying up its sources of finance,"
WAM said on Monday, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.
The agency reported that the strike was a "fresh attack" and that
similar strikes had occured on February 10 and February 12, but did not
specify the location of the targets.
WAM said on Monday that the F-16 fighter jets had returned safely to
Jordan where they were deployed earlier this month under orders from Abu
Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan.
Meanwhile, Jordan's information minister said on Monday that Bahrain
had also deployed fighter jets to Jordan to support its fight against
the armed group.
"This move highlights the brotherly ties between Jordan and Bahrain,
and comes in line with our belief in the importance of the war against
terrorism," Information Minister Mohammad al-Momani told the AFP news
agency.
"Jordan appreciates the support provided by Bahrain, as we also appreciate UAE support too."
Bahraini state media did not specify the number of aircraft that had
been sent to Jordan on Sunday but said the deployment was to assist in
"international efforts to eliminate terrorism".
The latest air strikes come just hours after Egypt announced that its air force had undertaken strikes in Libya, earlier in the day.
The Egyptian bombings took place a day after Libyan fighters claiming
a link to ISIL released a video on Sunday purporting to show the
killing of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians kidnapped there. 'Complete solidarity'
The UAE's Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said
the killings underlined the need for greater support for Libya's UN
recognised parliament in Tobruk, which was ousted from the capital
Tripoli last August.
The UAE "supports, with all its capabilities, Egypt's efforts in
eradicating terrorism and violence directed at its nationals and affirms
its position in standing alongside and its complete solidarity with
it," Sheikh Abdullah told WAM.
The UAE is reported to have carried out air strikes from Egyptian
bases last year in an abortive attempt to prevent Tripoli's fall to
armed militias.
The Gulf state is also a member of the US-led coalition waging a campaign of air raids targeting ISIL in Syria.
Danish police say men gave advice to 22-year-old attacker killed following deadly attacks on synagogue and cafe.
Danish police have charged two people with aiding the man suspected
of shooting dead two people in attacks in Copenhagen at the weekend.
The two men were charged after being arrested on Sunday following
attacks on a synagogue in Krystalgade and a free-speech event in
Krudttoenden.
"The two men are charged with helping through advice and deeds the
perpetrator in relation to the shootings at Krudttoenden and in
Krystalgade," the police said in a statement on Monday, referring to the
attacker who was shot dead by the police hours after the twin attacks.
The police had no further comment.
Earlier, police said the man they shot dead on Sunday was a
Danish-born 22-year-old with a background in criminal gangs.
Investigators said the suspect had a history of assault and weapons
offences.
In the two Copenhagen attacks, one man was killed and two police
officers wounded at the synagogue, while one man was killed and three
police officers were wounded in an attack on a cafe in the north of the
capital.
Denmark's Jewish Community identified the victim at the synagogue as
37-year-old Jewish man Dan Uzan, who was guarding a building during a
bar mitzvah when he was shot dead at about 1am local time on Sunday
morning.
The earlier shooting occurred before 4pm local time on Saturday when
police said a gunman used an automatic weapon to shoot through the
windows of the Krudttoenden Cafe during a panel discussion on freedom of
expression.
The debate on freedom of speech was attended by Lars Vilks, a Swedish
artist who had been threatened with death for his cartoons of Prophet
Muhammad.
Vilks was whisked away unharmed by his bodyguards.
At least seven civilians killed in eastern Libya as Cairo vows to "punish" ISIL for beheading 21 Egyptian Christians.
At least seven civilians, including three children, have been killed in Egygtian air strikes in northeast Libya.
The bombings came as Cairo vowed to find those responsible for the
beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians kidnapped by fighters
pledging allegiance the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in
Libya's Sirte.
Sources told Al Jazeera on Monday that at least seven people were
killed in air strikes in the coastal city of Derna after Egypt's
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi vowed to "punish" those responsible for
the beheadings.
Egypt's military said it carried out the raids early on Monday against ISIL camps, training sites and weapons storage areas.
In a statement aired on state television, the military said "the air
strikes hit their [ISIL] targets precisely, and the falcons of our air
forces returned safely to their bases."
However, photos published on social media purpotedly showed several damaged residential areas in Derna.
Omar Al-Hassi, the head of Libya's legally-installed government in
Tripoli, called the Egyptian raids "terrorism" and denounced them as a
"sinful aggression."
"This horrible assault and this terrorism that's been conducted by
the Egyptian military represents a violation of sovereignty in Libya and
is a clear breach of international law and the UN charter," Hassi said.
Following the raids, Sisi deployed the armed forces to protect key installations and buildings in Egypt.
Fighters pledging allegiance to ISIL released a video on Sunday purporting to show the killing the Egyptians kidnapped in Libya.
The Egyptian government and the Coptic Church confirmed the
authenticity of the footage, which showed the workers, all wearing
orange jump suits, being beheaded near a waterfront said to be located
in the Libyan province of Tripoli.
The men were seized in two attacks in December and January from Sirte in eastern Libya. Combating ISIL
In the wake of the video release, France and Egypt urged the UN
Security Council to meet and consider fresh measures against ISIL.
French President Francois Hollande and Sisi spoke by telephone,
highlighting "the importance that the Security Council meet and that the
international community take new measures" against the spread of ISIL
in Libya.
Egypt later confirmed it had signed a $5.8bn deal to buy French
weaponry, including 24 Rafale combat jets, a multi-mission naval frigate
and air-to-air missiles.
Libya has slid into chaos after Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and
killed three years ago, as interim authorities failed to confront
powerful militias which fought to oust the longtime leader.
Taking advantage of the chaos, ISIL has carried out a string of deadly attacks.
The group has released several propaganda videos showing vows of allegiance from fighters in the country.
In October, Ansar al-Sharia in Derna pledged allegiance to ISIL.
Sunday's video comes less than two weeks after ISIL released a video
showing the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot it captured after his
plane went down in Syria in December.
PM Shinzo Abe was criticised over the timing of an earlier $200m pledge to help refugees fleeing ISIL-controlled areas [AP]Japan will offer an extra $15m in aid to fight armed groups in the Middle East and Africa.
Still reeling from the murder of two nationals by members of the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, Japan hopes to
demonstrate its resolve not to cave in to attacks with the fresh
assistance, a report said on Sunday.
The funding will be announced at a global conference starting on Wednesday in Washington, the Sankei Shimbun said, according to the AFP news agency.
The report said the money would be distributed through international
organisations to affected regions, including countries bordering Syria
and Iraq. Large parts of those countries are controlled by ISIL
fighters.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been criticised over the timing of an
earlier $200m Japanese pledge to help refugees fleeing ISIL-controlled
areas.
Abe announced the $200m aid in Egypt on January 17, saying Japan
would "help curb the threat" of ISIL and give the money "for those
countries contending with" the group's fighters.
The announcement was followed by the hostage drama, with ISIL
demanding the same sum in exchange for a captured Japanese contractor
and a journalist.
The group's fighters later changed their demand to the release of a death row inmate from a Jordanian prison.
Tokyo pressed Jordan for its help, but ISIL eventually announced the killing of the pair as well as a Jordanian airman.
Danish police say video shows man was behind gun attacks on synagogue and free-speech event that left two dead.
Danish police have shot and killed a man they believe carried out two gun attacks which left two people dead in the capital.
At a press conference, police said video surveillance indicated the
man was behind attacks on a free-speech event on Saturday and
Copenhagen's main synagogue early on Sunday.
The man was shot dead early on Sunday after opening fire on police, officials said, adding that no officers were wounded.
The exchange of fire took place in the multicultural inner-city
neighbourhood of Norrebro where police had been keeping an address under
observation earlier in the day.
"We believe the same man was behind both shootings and we also
believe that the perpetrator who was shot by the police action force at
Norrebro station is the person behind the two attacks," police
official Torben Moelgaard Jensen said.
Police said there was no evidence to indicate that any more suspects were involved in the incidents. Twin attacks
One man was killed and two police officers wounded at the synagogue,
while one man was killed and three police officers were wounded in a
shooting attack on a cafe in northern Copenhagen.
Denmark's Jewish Community identified the victim at the synagogue as
37-year-old Jewish man Dan Uzan, who was guarding a building during a
bar mitzvah when he was shot dead at about 1am local time on Sunday
morning.
The earlier shooting occurred before 4pm local time on Saturday when
police said a gunman used an automatic weapon to shoot through the
windows of the Krudttoenden Cafe during a panel discussion on freedom of
expression.
The debate on freedom of speech was attended by Lars Vilks, a Swedish
artist who had been threatened with death for his cartoons of Prophet
Muhammad.
Vilks was whisked away unharmed by his bodyguards but a 55-year-old
man attending the event was killed, while three police officers were
wounded, authorities said.
Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt described the two incidents as "terrorist attacks".
"We don't know the motive for the attacks but we know that there are
forces that want to harm Denmark, that want to crush our freedom of
expression, our belief in liberty," she said in a nationwide address.
"We are not facing a fight between Islam and the West, it is not a fight between Muslims and non-Muslims."
Al Jazeera's Christina Marker, reporting from Copenhagen, said the
two attacks led to an unprecedented police operation in the centre of
the capital. Numerous threats
Krudttoenden Cafe, where the first attack took place, is known for
its jazz concerts and was hosting an event titled Art, Blasphemy and the
Freedom of Expression when the shots were fired.
The event was organised by Lars Vilks, 68, a Swedish artist who has
faced numerous threats for caricaturing Prophet Muhammad in 2007. Police
confirmed that he was the target of the attack.
Francois Zimeray, the French ambassador to Denmark, was also in
attendance when the event came under attack, but was not injured.
Helle Merete Brix, one of the organisers of the free-speech event,
told the Associated Press news agency that Vilks was present at the
event but not injured.
When Vilks is in Denmark, he receives police protection.
A woman in the US state of Pennsylvania got a 10-year prison term last year for a plot to kill him.
In 2010, two brothers tried to burn down Vilks' house in southern Sweden and were imprisoned for attempted arson.
Just over a month ago, 17 people were killed in France in three days
of violence that began when two attackers burst into the Paris offices
of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo , opening fire in revenge for its publication of images of Prophet Muhammad.
Group takes control of parts of al-Baghdadi in the country's west, near base where US troops are training Iraqi forces.
ISIL fighters took control of large parts of the western Iraqi town
of al-Baghdadi, threatening an airbase where US Marines are training
Iraqi troops, officials said.
Al-Baghdadi, about 85km northwest of Ramadi in Anbar province, has
been besieged for months by the group, which captured vast swaths of
northern and western Iraq last year.
ISIL attacked al-Baghdadi from two directions on Thursday and then
advanced on the town, intelligence sources and officials in the Jazeera
and Badiya operations commands said.
The officials said another group of fighters then attacked the
heavily-guarded Ain al-Asad airbase 5km southwest of the town, but were
unable to break into it, the Reuters news agency reported.
Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from Baghdad, said: "We've seen
this tactic by ISIL time and time again. Every time they want to attack
an Iraqi army base - this would be the first coalition base - they first
take the towns surrounding it."
"ISIL know the area very well and this will be a considerable
challenge for the Americans, although they will be aided by their
ability to call in air strikes quickly." Control of al-Baghdadi
About 320 US Marines are training members of the Iraqi 7th Division
at the base, which has been struck by mortar fire on at least one
previous occasion since December.
Pentagon spokeswoman Navy Commander Elissa Smith confirmed there was "heavy fighting" in al-Baghdadi.
She said there had been no direct attack on the airbase, but added:
"There were reports of ineffective indirect fire in the vicinity of the
base."
District manager Naji Arak confirmed that ISIL fighters had entered al-Baghdadi and attacked some government buildings.
He initially estimated the fighters had taken 90 percent of the town
but later said he could not confirm the extent of the group's control as
intermittent clashes continued into the early morning.
The death toll from the fighting was not immediately clear.
Most of the surrounding towns in Anbar were taken by ISIL during the group's rapid advance across the Syrian border last summer.
Elsewhere in Iraq, five civilians were killed when bombs went off in
two towns south of Baghdad, police and medical sources said.
Draft resolution calls for limiting operations to three years and barring use of US troops in "enduring ground combat".
The US aided by Western and Arab states launched air raids in August against the groupUS President Barack Obama has asked Congress formally to authorise
military force against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL)
group, arguing that the fighters could pose a threat to the US homeland.
A proposed draft resolution sent to Congress on Wednesday calls for
limiting operations against the ISIL to three years and barring use of
US troops in "enduring offensive ground combat".
In a five-paragraph letter to legislators accompanying the three-page
draft resolution provided to the Associated Press news agency, Obama
said ISIL "poses a threat to the people and stability of Iraq, Syria and
the broader Middle East and to US national security”.
The US aided by Western and Arab states launched air raids in August
against the group, which captured large tracts of Syrian and Iraqi
territories in June.
Obama, elected on a promise to end America's wars, has asked
legislators for war authorisation over the rise of ISIL, which has
seized large expanses of Iraq and Syria and killed American and allied
hostages after making online propaganda videos.
"It threatens American personnel and facilities located in the region
and is responsible for the deaths of US citizens James Foley, Steven
Sotloff, Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller," Obama said,
listing the American hostages who died in IS custody.
"If left unchecked, ISIL will pose a threat beyond the Middle East, including to the United States homeland."
Obama planned to speak on his request from the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
No geographic limitations
Confirmation of the death of Mueller, a 26-year-old humanitarian
worker, on the eve of Obama's proposal added new urgency, while the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan were a caution to some legislators against yet
another protracted military campaign.
Obama is offering to limit authorisation to three years, extending to
the next president the powers and the debate over renewal for what he
envisions as a long-range battle.
He is proposing no geographic limitations where US forces could pursue the fighters.
The authorisation covers the ISIL and "associated persons or forces,"
defined as those fighting on behalf of or alongside ISIL "or any
closely-related successor entity in hostilities against the United
States or its coalition partners".
The latest proposal bans "enduring offensive combat operations", a novel term in military force authorisations.
Its ambiguity is designed to bridge the divide between legislators
opposed to ground troops and those who say the commander in chief should
maintain the option.
Obama said his draft would not authorise long-term, large-scale
ground combat operations like those deployed in the past to Iraq and
Afghanistan, arguing that those battles should be left to local forces
instead of the US military.
![The fight for al-Baghdadi has led to an exodus of residents from Anbar to the capital Baghdad [Reuters]](https://lh3-testonly.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_umsOr0PpwI7SGdoJyXuVp0GiX2r6SP7fr4Um1f_nlr7pHo0Vq8JRQ1OUc5y4H1ydfR2nAggqtJbQFRMpuO4MlkeL5f9opjP02m6EHhnZCw04z16F3botX8Sk9YOP_6nDb5nr7ofaAEnF2xm5InVsmU36t2hNZpU-hK4BCDAWrcMTm9DUeRiMfgYTfpX-BmaJ7LGzFVEoj0YW4=s0-d "ISIL seizes strategic bridge in Iraq's Anbar")
![Drones have been sighted before in France, the last sighting was in November 2014 [Getty Images]](https://lh3-testonly.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t1TpDRBbhNP3g90E0sU0owx1XW7x5349Mhd1I6SqN3FK8d8yff62F-JxlWOGJ7M1S-mgA8gWATzhhsfis4eHhWK8eCLeM_BJ6jZ6w2pLTRqF3ApmIHTx-vUyo1_V-XK9hVdqmov2ICXuJ5ETERNg4XMmtZHGE5edQ4dLrmlheEhjNMBSSHZNYZgGyISVCTM7OyNfKCqOS6rgqy=s0-d "France to investigate multiple drone sightings in Paris")
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![ISIL has been gaining ground in Libya since dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed in 2011 [Reuters]](https://lh3-testonly.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vDod766Pemh_Xnl_qagio9ekOgKGdWOqhtvGBI2DoMgmux7FmtITGxEdDRhBCvOouiAH8fxnZspJnEG2qa06SVbWkyKmYEtrof4F6x7yrAmXorjYE6F1eaHkUIb6B-q5N0prSs_d9bSqKB6TcJ2sbNs2M4oYC0cSmIdEWST4qWuJ_1NdlNNvO0DPcaeJ1J2eh4741bYPARLGA=s0-d "ISIL-linked group claims Iran embassy attack in Libya")
![The body of Suleyman Shah was taken from the tomb in order to be buried in another location closer to the Turkish border [Al Jazeera]](https://lh3-testonly.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tlfhJIzvOO1Yu1TRc8o4Yx7WgV7WlDrc4Sn0nJb65dRC_xipUtFVkZ1tmyOapxI_kBZWxZwHLhKBRajmdvfbBKgIiqjGMN77RjwRJHx9uZCOGOFogABRpASiq1pesa0RHLZlurKjbpiszVFZNs2vvvbMUsLBuOTH8zWhDeHrhaZEVZnvDoa9r-Ng7vwuF57DrmJ2uhC5qx1Mxe=s0-d "Turkey launches rescue operation inside Syria")
![PM Shinzo Abe was criticised over the timing of an earlier $200m pledge to help refugees fleeing ISIL-controlled areas [AP]](https://lh3-testonly.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sJmwT2pZVDM5SBh7mHEnm5ezQXtEDbFejIwxOeIgy8vaxkvKzCyE-_sY6FvzKzoWSNQNMP_FLi7MAcrhucyC0rmEZjNc-QjxA1_jWe1CergB-frv-4rUx_z0HYSJlJSEROm-iJGdLL7V1rG58HEAzcx0L_0kC4bu87G-cd7zapJinOLZ9OhE8m1zQuKh5J4Pp89FPvXyIl9Aw=s0-d "Japan 'pledges $15m to fight armed groups'")
