The Kurds, against all odds - Prof. Eyal Zisser

by Prof. Eyal Zisser

Kurds do not receive the same support and attention from the international media, nor the same affection that "enlightened circles" across the planet generously grant the Palestinians

Between 30 million and 40 million Kurds live in the Middle East, from Iran in the east to the Syrian coast in the West. It is not a unified tribe; there are many political differences, and cultural ones as well, that divide the Kurdish communities in Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria. And yet, over the past century a national identity has blossomed to unite them, in the name of which they seek the right to self-determination and even the right to live in their own nation state.

The 20th century, however, was a failure for the Kurdish struggle, even when other artificial states with no historical roots were created from nothing, such as Syria or Iraq, which are now shattering to pieces. 

It is fair to say the Kurds played a part in their own failure to secure an independent state, due to their lack of unity around the question of leadership. At the same time, though, one cannot ignore the fact that the Kurds do not receive the same support and attention from the international media, nor the same affection that "enlightened circles" across the planet generously grant the Palestinians. The world does not stand with the Kurds, and that mainly applies to global powers that have used them to advance their own interests but abandoned them in the moment of truth. And we can assume that in the future as well, the Kurds will again be left to their fate. 

Here we have a large ethnic minority which is undeniably unique in both its history and culture, and yet is supported by no one in its struggle to receive its own state. It is quite possible that the Kurdish dream of a state will remain out of reach for the foreseeable future. 

For many years, the Kurds in Iraq fought the dictatorial Saddam Hussein regime, but they were only able to carve autonomy for themselves after the Iraqi state disintegrated. This autonomous framework exists in large part due to the goodwill of Washington, which needs the Kurds because they provide the only trustworthy foundation in the Iraqi sphere, certainly in regards to the war against Islamic state. Ironically, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also supports the Kurds in Iraq, as part of his fight for regional hegemony against Iran, which is supported by the Shiites in Iraq. 

The Kurds in Syria are currently in the eye of the storm. For years, their relationship with the Baathist regime was respectful yet suspicious, and when the revolution erupted they chose a policy of sitting on the fence. After all, from the beginning they never had faith in the Syrian rebels, who just like the President Bashar Assad regime opposed their nationalistic aspirations in Syria.

Aided by the chaos in Syria, the Kurds have tried benefiting from all worlds. They are cautiously venturing to form autonomous institutions, while their militia is fighting to secure territorial continuity in the north, with aim of establishing a true autonomy there similar to the one that exists in Iraq. This endeavor, of course, was a call to arms for Turkey, which is fearful of Kurdish sentiments in Syria spilling over the border, and whose relationship with the Kurdish population at home is already at a boiling point.

Thus the Kurds are maintaining a dialogue with the Syrian regime and with the Russians, who want to use them to hit the Syrian rebels -- Arabs supported by Turkey and Arab states. Meanwhile, Washington has also come to their aid, coldly calculating that the Kurds can be used to fight Islamic State. As usual, however, when it comes to the Obama administration, American policy is shortsighted, merely capitalizing on a tactical and perhaps cynical opportunity that could end in the abandonment of the Kurds when American interests call for appeasing Turkey; or as part of a deal with Russia and the Assad regime to end the war in Syria.

It appears the regional and global game is too big for the Kurds. When they are called to the table once the fighting ends, they are liable to discover they were invited to be part of the menu, not a fellow victor to feast on the spoils of war. But this is the painful reality in our region, and the Kurds are one of the more prominent examples of it.

Prof. Eyal Zisser

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=17085

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Europe Debates the Burkini - Soeren Kern

by Soeren Kern

"We will colonize you with your democratic laws." — Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Egyptian Islamic cleric and chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.

• "Beaches, like any public space, must be protected from religious claims. The burkini is an anti-social political project aimed in particular at subjugating women... It is not compatible with the values ​​of France and the Republic. Faced with such provocations, the Republic must defend itself." — French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
• According to the mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet, the high court's ruling against burkini bans, "far from appeasing [Muslims], will instead increase passions and tensions."
• "Beaches are equated with streets, where the wearing of ostentatious religious symbols is also rejected by two-thirds of the French." — Jérôme Fourquet, director of the French Institute of Public Opinion (Ifop).

The French city of Nice has lifted a controversial ban on Muslim burkinis after a court ruled such prohibitions illegal. Bans on the full-body swimsuits have also been annulled in Cannes, Fréjus, Roquebrune and Villeneuve-Loubet, but they remain in place in at least 25 other French coastal towns.

The row over burkinis — a neologism blending burka and bikini — has reignited a long-running debate over Islamic dress codes in France and other secular European states (see Appendix below).

On August 26, the Council of State, France's highest administrative court, ruled that municipal authorities in Villeneuve-Loubet, a seaside town on the French Riviera, did not have the right to ban burkinis. The court found that the ban — which was issued after the jihadist attack in Nice on July 14, in which 86 people were killed — was "a serious and manifestly illegal attack on fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of movement and the freedom of conscience." The judges ruled that local authorities could only restrict individual liberties if there was a "demonstrated risk" to public order. There was, they said, no evidence of such a risk.

Although the ruling applied only to the ban in Villeneuve-Loubet, observers said the ruling would set a legal precedent for the 30 other cities and towns which have also implemented bans on burkinis.

The high court decision overturned a lower court ruling, issued August 22, which said the burkini ban was "necessary, appropriate, and proportionate" to ensure public order.

The case was brought by the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) and the Human Rights League (LDH). The two groups have vowed to file lawsuits against any municipality with a burkini ban, which they say violates the religious freedom of Muslims in France.

Patrice Spinosi, a lawyer for the LDH, said that in the absence of a demonstrated threat to public order, the high court "has ruled and has shown that mayors do not have the right to set limits on wearing religious signs in public spaces. It is contrary to the freedom of religion, which is a fundamental freedom."

By contrast, the ban's proponents — from across the political spectrum — argue that burkinis are political, not religious, garments.

Writing for Le Figaro, French commentator Yves Thréard warned:

"The worst case scenario would be that the debate drags on and strays into considerations totally foreign to this outrageous outfit. Secularism and religion are irrelevant here. The burkini is not a Koranic prescription, but another manifestation of political Islam, militant, destructive, seeking to question our way of life, our culture, our civilization. Veils in schools, street prayers, halal school menus, sexual apartheid in swimming pools, hospitals, driving schools, niqab, burqa... for thirty years this infiltration has been undermining our society, seeking to destabilize. It's time to slam the door in its face. Youssef al-Qaradawi, the famous Egyptian preacher, formerly a lecturer in France, warned: 'We will colonize you with your democratic laws.' Through our indifference as well as our naïveté, we have long been complicit in this deadly and nasty business."

According to French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, burkinis are "the affirmation of political Islam in the public space." In an interview with La Provence, Valls, a Socialist, said:

"I support those who issued the bans... Beaches, like any public space, must be protected from religious claims. The burkini is an anti-social political project aimed in particular at subjugating women. Behind the burkini lies the idea that women, by nature, are harlots, impure, and that they should be completely covered. It is not compatible with the values ​​of France and the Republic. Faced with such provocations, the Republic must defend itself."

Laurence Rossignol, the Socialist Minister for the Families, Children and Women's Rights, also said she supported bans on burkinis. In an interview with Le Parisien, she said:

"The burkini is not some new line of swimwear. It is the beach version of the burka and it has the same logic: to hide women's bodies in order to better control them. Behind this there is a deeply archaic vision of the place of women in society. There is the idea that, by nature, women are impure and immoral and should therefore hide their body and disappear from the public space.
"The burkini agitates so much because of its collective political dimension. It does not only concern the women who wear it. The burkini is the symbol of a political project that is hostile to diversity and empowerment."

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls recently stated that "the burkini is an anti-social political project aimed in particular at subjugating women... It is not compatible with the values ​​of France and the Republic. Faced with such provocations, the Republic must defend itself." Pictured above: Four policemen in Nice, France, are pictured forcing a woman to remove part of her clothes because her outfit violated the city's burkini ban, on August 23. They also fined her for the violation. (Image source: NBC News video screenshot)

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who recently announced that he will be a candidate in the 2017 presidential elections, said that if elected he would "change the constitution" and press for a nationwide ban on burkinis. At a campaign rally on August 26, Sarkozy, a conservative, said:

"I will be the president who re-establishes the authority of the state. I want to be the president who guarantees the safety of France and of every French person...
"I refuse to let the burkini impose itself in French beaches and swimming pools...there must be a law to ban it throughout the Republic's territory. Our identity is under threat when we accept an immigration policy that makes no sense."

In an interview with Le Figaro, Sarkozy elaborated:

"Wearing the burkini is a militant political act, a provocation. The women who wear them are testing the resistance of the French Republic. If we do not put an end to this, there is a risk that in ten years, young Muslim girls who do not want to wear the burkini or the veil will be stigmatized and pressured into doing so."

Henri Leroy, the mayor of Mandelieu-La-Napoule, one of the first French towns to ban the burkini, said Muslim residents should be reminded that "they are French first and of Muslim confession second." He added: "Our Republic has traditions and customs that need to be respected."

The conservative mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, said the burkini is a "uniform that is the symbol of Islamic extremism." City manager Thierry Migoule said the burkini is an "ostentatious outfit that signals allegiance to terrorist movements that have declared war on us."

The mayor of Fréjus, David Rachline, wrote that the high court's ruling was a "victory for radical Islam, for political Islam, which is advancing in our country."

Lionnel Luca, the conservative mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet, said the burkini ban was needed to "counter the creeping Islamization that is progressing in our country." He added that the high court's ruling, "far from appeasing [Muslims], will instead increase passions and tensions."

Ange-Pierre Vivoni, the Socialist mayor of the Corsican town of Sisco, imposed a ban on burkinis "to protect the population" following a Muslim rampage that occurred on August 14, when a tourist took a photograph of several burkini-clad women swimming in a creek. More than 400 people eventually joined the brawl, in which local Corsicans clashed with migrants from North Africa. The following day, more than 500 Corsicans marched through the town shouting "To arms! This is our home!"

Opinion polls show broad public support for bans on burkinis. According to an Ifop poll published by Le Figaro on August 25, 64% of people in France are opposed to the burkini on beaches; only 6% support it. Ifop director Jérôme Fourquet said: "The results are similar to those we measured in April about the veil and headscarf on public streets (63% opposed). Beaches are equated with streets, where the wearing of ostentatious religious symbols is also rejected by two-thirds of the French."

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.

Appendix

Burka Bans in European Countries

The French row over burkinis — a neologism blending burka and bikini — has reignited a long-running debate over Islamic dress codes in other European countries.

Austria. On August 13, Norbert Hofer, the Austrian Freedom Party's (FPÖ) candidate for president, called for a burka ban. "I think it makes sense," he said. Several days later, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration, Sebastian Kurz of the ruling Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), said a new integration law would include restrictions on the burka. "A full body veil is hindering integration," Kurz said. "The burqa is not a religious symbol, but a symbol for a counter-society."

Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said a blanket ban on burkas would be "constitutionally problematic." He said a partial ban on burkas at border crossings and while driving automobiles is more realistic.
A nationwide poll published on August 25 found that 75% of Austrians favor a burka ban.

The FPÖ had previously called for a burka ban in July 2014. At the time, Kurz rejected the idea, calling it an "artificial debate."

In June 2016, the town of Hainfeld became the first municipality in Austria to ban the burkini in public swimming pools. In Vienna, local media have reported a "notable increase" in the number of women wearing burkinis in public swimming pools in the capital.

Baltics. In April 2016, the Latvian government announced a proposal to ban the burka. The government said the purpose of the law, which it hopes will enter into force in 2017, is to ensure that Muslim immigrants respect the country's values. Burka bans are also being discussed in Estonia and Lithuania.

Belgium. In July 2011, Belgium became the second European country after France to ban the burka. Offenders face a fine of €137 ($150) and up to seven days in jail. In the five years since the ban has been in place, more than 70 women have been ticketed for wearing the garment in public. This number includes 67 women in Brussels and seven in Liege.

In August 2016, Nadia Sminate, a Belgian MP of mixed Moroccan and Flemish origin, called for a complete ban of the burka. In an interview with De Standaard, she said:

"We absolutely must avoid having women walk around Flanders in burkinis. Not in the pool, and not on the beach. I do not think women want to walk on the beach in such a monstrosity in the name of religion. If we allow this, we put the women on the margin of society. We live in Flanders and we make the rules. If we say we need to set limits and enforce our values, we must do that."

Britain. On August 31, a YouGov poll found that a majority of Britons are in favor of banning the burka in public spaces. According to the poll, 57% of Britons support a ban; 25% are opposed. The only age group to oppose a ban was 18-24 year-olds; all others were in favor, with the oldest 65+ group supporting a ban by 78% to 12%. All major political parties also had a plurality of voters in favor of a ban. A separate question asked by YouGov found that 46% of Britons want to ban the burkini; 30% are opposed.

Bulgaria. In June 2016, the Bulgarian Parliament approved a new law that bans the burka. The move makes Bulgaria the third European country to pass such a law after France and Belgium. The ban applies to Bulgarian citizens as well as to anyone in the country on a temporary basis.

The law states that clothing that conceals the face may not be worn in the Bulgaria's central and local administrations, schools, cultural institutions, and places of public recreation, sports and communications.

Covering the head, eyes, ears and mouth will be permitted only when necessary for health reasons, professional necessity and at sporting and cultural events. The ban will also apply to houses of worship.
The law provides for a fine of 200 leva (€100; $115) for a first violation of the ban. For second and further offenses, the fine is 1500 leva (€755; $430) and loss of social benefits.

Anyone who persuades others to cover their faces is subject to a penalty of up to three years in prison and a fine of 5000 leva (€2,500; $2,850). If the person persuaded to cover the face is a minor, the penalty increases to a maximum five years in prison and a fine of up to 10,000 leva (€5,000; $5,700).

Czech Republic. In March 2016, a Muslim student filed a lawsuit against a nursing school in Prague after she was banned from wearing a hijab (Muslim veil covering head and neck) during classes. The school argued that students should not have their heads covered in the classroom.

Denmark. In August 2016, the Danish People's Party said it would present parliament with a proposal for a burka ban. In an interview with Metro Express, party spokesman Kenneth Kristensen Berth said the garment must be outlawed for security reasons:

"There are several examples, primarily in the Middle East, where people dressed in burkas have been suicide bombers. It is only a matter of time before it will happen in Europe. I have just returned from London, where the number of burkas in the streets has increased quite considerably. They can be used to plant bombs without being detected."

France. In April 2011, France became the first European country to ban the burka and niqab. In July 2014, the European Court of Human Rights upheld that ban.

After the July 2016 jihadist attack in Nice, in which 86 people were killed, at least 30 cities and towns banned the burkini on public beaches.

On August 26, the Council of State, France's highest administrative court, ruled that municipal authorities in Villeneuve-Loubet, a seaside town on the French Riviera, did not have the right to ban burkinis. Although the ruling applied only to the ban in Villeneuve-Loubet, observers said the ruling would set a legal precedent for the rest of France.

Opinion polls show broad public support for bans on burkinis. According to an Ifop poll published by Le Figaro on August 25, 64% of people in France are opposed to the burkini on beaches; only 6% support it. Ifop director Jérôme Fourquet said: "The results are similar to those we measured in April about the veil and headscarf on public streets (63% opposed). Beaches are equated with streets, where the wearing of ostentatious religious symbols are also rejected by two-thirds of the French."

Germany. On August 18, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière announced a proposal for a "partial burka ban" that would prohibit the wearing of Muslim face veils in public spaces, including kindergartens, schools, universities, government offices and while driving a vehicle.

"We reject full-face veils," de Maizière said. "Not just the burka, any full-face veils that only show a person's eyes. It does not fit into our society, for our way of communicating, for our societal cohesion. This is why we demand that you show your face."

In an August 12 interview with Bild, Julia Klöckner, the deputy chief of the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU), said:

"The full-face veil greatly hinders the integration of women here. It is not a sign of religious diversity, but represents a degrading image of women. It is banned in France, and the European Court of Human Rights has upheld that ban."

In a July 30 interview with Die Welt, CDU politician Jens Spahn said:

"A ban on full-face veil, of the niqab as well as the burka, is overdue, as a signal to the world. Imagine how this conversation would be if we were fully veiled while we are talking to each other. I do not want to encounter any burka in this country. In this sense I am burkaphobe."

In an opinion article for Bild, Bassam Tibi, a former professor at the University of Göttingen who calls himself a "European Muslim," wrote that he fully supported a burka ban:

"A burka ban would be a smart political measure against certain people sealing themselves off in parallel societies, for an inclusive integration of Muslim migrants and for the security of the Federal Republic of Germany."

A new poll published by Infratest dimap on August 26 found that 81% of Germans are in favor of banning the burka in public spaces. The poll found that 51% support a total burka ban.

On August 22, a court in Osnabrück ruled that a student in the city will not be allowed to wear her veil to class. The Sophie Scholl had originally accepted the student but reversed its decision when she insisted on wearing her niqab in class. School officials said the open communication needed in education would not be possible if only the student's eyes are visible.

In June, the Bavarian town of Neutraubling banned burkinis in public swimming pools after female patrons complained that the garment is unsanitary. Mayor Heinz Kiechle asked: "I don't understand why it is necessary to wear a burkini on evenings when the pool is reserved for ladies-only swimming."
Italy. As of January 1, 2016, the burqa and niqab have been banned from all public offices and hospitals in the northeastern region of Lombardy.

On August 17, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Italy will not ban the burkini because such a move could provoke a backlash in the Muslim community. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, he said:

"The interior minister has a responsibility to ensure public safety and to choose a level of toughness that never becomes a provocation that potentially invites attacks."

Malta. In October 2015, the government debated a ban on burkas in public after a photograph emerged showing a woman driving an automobile while wearing a full-face veil. Article 338 of the Criminal Code states that it is a threat to public order if anyone "in any public place, wears any mask, or disguises himself, except at the time and in the manner allowed by law." Some members of the government said the existing law should be clarified to specifically outlaw burkas.

A local imam, Mohammed Elsadi, said a burka ban would threaten integration and social harmony in Malta. He added: "In a global world where people of different cultures live together and interact in so many ways and in so many spheres of life, it is more beneficial for any country to grant as much individual freedoms as possible." He said Muslims should be allowed "all the freedom to exercise their own cultural norms and way of life."

Equality Minister Helena Dalli countered:

"There are several thousands of Muslims in Malta, and many have been here for a long time, even generations. The burka and the niqab are not garments that one would associate with this community, so a clearer ban on face coverings should have no impact on the vast majority of Muslims in any way."

Netherlands. In May 2015, the Dutch government approved a partial ban on face-covering Islamic veils on public transport and in public areas such as schools and hospitals. Offenders are subject to a fine of €405 ($450). The ban does not apply to wearing the burka or the niqab on the street.

Norway. In August 2016, a cross-party commission on integration proposed banning burkas and niqabs in public institutions and prohibiting hijabs in public schools. In a 50-page report titled "Ten Commandments for Better Integration," the commission called for clear national guidelines on Islamic dress codes to improve integration.

"To improve integration, we must encourage greater participation in public life," Labor Party politician Jette Christensen said. "Therefore, we cannot allow covered faces."

Progress Party politician Maryan Keshvari added: "We cannot allow the premier Islamist uniform in Norwegian schools."

In 2013, the Norwegian parliament rejected a burka ban on the argument that Norway risked being censured by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Ever since the ECHR upheld the ban in France in July 2014, Norwegian supporters of a ban have tried but failed to get parliament to approve a similar ban in Norway.

Slovenia. In November 2015, the opposition Democratic Party (SDS) submitted a draft law to ban burkas and niqabs in public and to tighten conditions to obtain asylum in Slovenia.

"When in Slovenia, people should respect Slovenian culture and Slovenian customs," SDS head Janez Janša said. "That is why we drafted a bill that seeks to ban the burka in public."

SDS MP Vinko Gorenak added: "We must adapt to their customs when going to their places. There is no reason why we shouldn't demand the same of them when they are in our cultural environment."

Spain. In December 2010, the Catalan city of Lérida enacted a ban on burkas in public spaces. In February 2013, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that the ban was unconstitutional. The court said the ban "constitutes a limitation to the fundamental right to the exercise of the freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by the Spanish Constitution." The court said that the limitation of a fundamental right can only be achieved through laws at the national level, not through local ordinances.

In September 2014, during a parliamentary debate over the Law on Public Security (Ley de Seguridad Ciudadana), Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz called for banning the burka in public spaces. He said the issue has two dimensions: security and the dignity of women.

"In my opinion, the burka is a garment that violates the dignity of women," Fernández Díaz said. "But this is not within the scope of responsibility of the Interior Ministry." In terms of security, he said the burka "makes it difficult to identify individuals who commit crimes."

In August 2016, a water park in the Catalan city of Girona banned the burkini "for security reasons." In June 2014, the Basque city of Vitoria banned the burkini in public swimming pools. In November 2014, a driver in Vitoria stopped a burka-clad woman from boarding his bus.

Switzerland. On July 1, 2016, a burka ban entered into force in Ticino, the first Swiss canton to do so. Offenders are subject to a fine of 10,000 Swiss francs (€9,100; $10,000). The move followed a September 2013 referendum in which 65% of voters in the Italian-speaking canton voted in favor of the ban.

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8855/europe-burkini

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Turkey says IS has lost all territory along its Syria border - Bassem Mroue and Zeynep Bilginsoy

by Bassem Mroue and Zeynep Bilginsoy

Islamic group now surrounded by hostile forces; supply lines used to bring in recruits and supplies severed

BEIRUT (AP) — Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels expelled the Islamic State group from the last strip of territory it controlled along the Syrian-Turkish border on Sunday, effectively sealing the extremists’ self-styled caliphate off from the outside world, Turkey’s prime minister and a Syrian opposition group reported.

Also on Sunday, Syrian pro-government forces backed by airstrikes launched a wide offensive in the northern city of Aleppo, capturing areas they lost last month and besieging rebel-held neighborhoods, state media and opposition activists said. 

Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army rebels have cleared the area between the northern Syrian border towns of Azaz and Jarablus, Turkey’s prime minister, Binali Yildirim, said.

“From Azaz to Jarablus, 91 kilometers (57 miles) of our border has been completely secured. All the terrorist organizations are pushed back, they are gone,” Yildirim said, speaking at a dinner with non-government organizations in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

The FSA’s advance shut down key supply lines used by IS to bring in foreign fighters, weapons and ammunition.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said IS “has lost its link with the outside world after losing all border areas” with Turkey. It said the last two border villages that IS held were Mizab and Qadi Jarablus, which were taken Sunday afternoon.

IS had occupied the border area even before it declared its self-styled caliphate in June 2014, and it used the Turkish border to bring in fighters from around the world. The extremist group, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq, is now surrounded from all sides by hostile forces.

The loss of its territory along the Turkish border follows a series of recent defeats for IS, including its expulsion from the central Iraqi city of Fallujah and its defeat in the former stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria. Airstrikes by the US-led coalition have killed a number of the group’s most prominent founding members and leaders.

In a statement, Turkey’s armed forces said the Jarablus-Azaz line has been connected. Turkey has long pushed for a safe zone in Syria between these two towns, with a plan to house Syrian refugees there. Turkey hosts an estimated 3 million Syrian refugees, the highest number in the world.

Meanwhile, the recapture and return to siege of rebel-held parts of Aleppo dealt a major blow to insurgent groups. They have lost scores of fighters in recent weeks in the battle to open a corridor into the city and lift the government’s blockade.

After the government laid siege on Aleppo for the first time in July, the United Nations said that nearly 300,000 residents were trapped in rebel-held neighborhoods, making it the largest besieged area in war-torn Syria. The city has been contested since the summer of 2012.

Sunday’s push follows a month after insurgents captured several military academies south of Aleppo and opened a corridor into opposition-held parts of Syria’s largest city and onetime commercial center. Since then, government forces and their allies have been trying to recapture the area.

Turkish tanks stationed near the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. (Ismail Coskun, IHA via AP)

State TV quoted an unnamed military official as saying that troops are now in full control of the military academies south of Aleppo and are “chasing the remnant of terrorists.” It added that all roads linking rebel-held eastern Aleppo with opposition areas outside the city “have been cut.”

The Observatory confirmed these gains. “The (rebel-held) neighborhoods are under siege again,” said the Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, by telephone. “The whole areas are under complete siege.”

Turkey has launched two incursions into Syria since Aug. 24 in an operation designed to drive IS away from the border and prevent the advance of US-backed Kurdish forces, which are also battling the extremist group.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Sunday defended his country’s intervention in Syria, pointing to their long shared border. “We are there to protect our borders, ensure the safety of our citizens’ lives and property, and to protect the territorial integrity of Syria,” Yildirim said in Diyarbakir.

Turkey has also said it will not allow Syrian Kurds to unite their “cantons,” the regions under their control in northern Syria, which have emerged as autonomous zones during the civil war. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a joint press conference with US President Barack Obama in China that “our wish is that a terror corridor does not form on our southern border.”

Turkey views the Kurds as a threat and the Turkey-backed forces have clashed with them outside Jarablus.

In an emailed press statement, Turkey’s military said the FSA have taken 20 villages from IS, adding that the Turkish army struck 83 Islamic State group targets. Since the Turkish operation began on Aug. 24, the army says it has hit 383 targets with 1,599 rounds.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.

Bassem Mroue and Zeynep Bilginsoy

Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com/turkey-says-is-has-lost-all-territory-along-its-syria-border/

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Was Israel’s satellite sabotaged on US rocket pad? - debkaFile

by debkaFile

A day after Israel’s Amos-6 communications satellite was lost in a highly unusual explosion/fast fire of the SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and its Amos 6 satellite payload at Cape Canaveral, some Israel aerospace industry experts are beginning to suspect sabotage.

A day after Israel’s Amos-6 communications satellite was lost in a highly unusual explosion/fast fire of the SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and its Amos 6 satellite payload at Cape Canaveral, some Israel aerospace industry experts are beginning to suspect sabotage. They are keeping their suspicions to themselves pending an investigation in which NASA ad the US Air Force will be taking part.

An explosion or fire occurring during a standard pre-launch static test prior to the engine igniting may be unique. These Israeli experts can’t recall any space satellite disasters happening at that particular stage.

Immediately after the event, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said an “anomaly happened around the upper-stage oxygen tank wile propellant was being loaded into the vehicle.”

Two days later, Saturday, Sept. 3, Musk attributed the loss to a “fast fire” rather than an explosion.

Representatives of Spacecom owned by Israeli Eurocom and Israeli Aerospace Industry, which manufactured Amos 6, their largest satellite to date, don’t expect to be invited to take part in the investigation.

Those circles resent Elon Musk’s reference to an “anomaly,” which they see as a euphemism to disguise the cause of the mishap. 

American experts are speculating about a large, black. unidentified object picked up by video footage hovering in the sky at the moment the fireball rose over the Cape Canaveral launching pad.

Some are suggesting it was a large bird which happened to be flying past; others say the object is much too big and too fast for any known bird. 

In Israel, some informed sources suggest that the reason for the Amos 6 satellites destruction is far from technical and may never come to light.

They cite the only previous SpaceX failure, which occurred in June, 2015, when a Falcon 9 rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station exploded just a few minutes after launch. The company set up an inquiry team composed of 11 staff members and one FAA official, but never released details of its findings.

Three causes for the Amos 6 loss are postulated by Israeli sources:

1. The stiff competition among the companies of the eight nations that manufacture satellites. The last in the Amos series of communications satellites, produced at a cost of $200 million, was the most sophisticated produced so far. Some international competitor may have decided to push Israel out of the contest by destroying its newest product. This has indeed set Israel’s satellite industry back for years.

2. The other motive may be connected with the fact that Amos 6 was to have been Facebook’s first satellite. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced that Amos 6, scheduled for launch into geostationary orbit on Sept. 3, would have opened large parts of sub-Saharan Africa to direct internet.

Its loss has forced Zuckerberg to put his plan on hold.

This plan went well with the largely covert Israel drive in the last three years to expand its ties across the Africa. The Facebook project fitted in well this policy an added dimension and spurt.  

3.  Spacom had just signed a $285 sale contract with Beijing Xinwei Technology that was contingent on its successful launch into orbit of Amos 6 Saturday. One of Israel’s competitors may have been after the Chinese contract.


debkaFile

Source: http://debka.com/article/25649/Was-Israel%E2%80%99s-satellite-sabotaged-on-US-rocket-pad-

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ISIS' call continues to be heard - Dr. Efraim Herrera

by Dr. Efraim Herrera

Adnani's assassination is a testament to the likelihood that moles penetrated the organization's leadership, since without real-time access to very detailed intelligence, it would have been impossible to take out such a senior Islamic State member.

Russia and the U.S. each took responsibility and credit for the assassination of Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani last week. At only 39, Adnani succeeded in encouraging young Muslims in Western European countries to commit terrorist attacks against their fellow citizens. Evidence of this can be found in the recorded testimony of Larossi Abballa, the French Muslim terrorist who murdered two policemen in June. Following the murder, and before he was shot and killed by police, Abballa uploaded a video to Facebook in which he stated that he was answering Adnani's call to kill "non-believers."

And this was Adnani's call: "If you can kill an American or European non-believer, the evil and dirty French in particular ... trust in Allah, and kill them by any means ... whether they are soldiers or civilians." Adnani did not just enthuse about the importance of murdering Crusaders and Jews, he was also responsible for acts of terrorism outside the Islamic State's borders. Experts view him as the mastermind behind the vicious attacks that took place in France in 2015, in which 130 were killed and over 400 people were injured.

Adnani's assassination is a testament to the likelihood that moles penetrated the organization's leadership, since without real-time access to very detailed intelligence, it would have been impossible to take out such a senior Islamic State member. But, as one expert on the Islamic State put it, the replacement of leaders is in the DNA of Islamic terrorist organizations: The assassination of a few leaders of the Abu Sayyaf organization in the Philippines did not bring the Islamist war in the country to an end. Just last week, in a daring operation on Mindanao Island, an Islamic stronghold in the Philippines, jihadis broke into a local prison and freed dozens of terrorists. The assassination of Osama bin Laden likewise did not lead to the dissolution of al-Qaida; its Syrian branch now rules a substantial portion of the Golan Heights border with Israel.

To die fighting for Allah is thought to be a great privilege, and Adnani will hitherto be called Sheikh al-Adnani. This is not to say that efforts at taking out the leaders of terror organizations are irrelevant: These blows weaken them, force them to reorganize, make them increasingly suspicious and prone to infighting, and kill those with the experience necessary to execute effective terror attacks. But this obstinate war must also be fought by uprooting the ideology motivating these terrorists. 

Last week, French security forces raided a mosque in a suburb outside of Paris and discovered what many had already known to be operating there: an underground Islamic school teaching French Muslim children Salafi thought, awash in hatred for the Crusaders, the Jews and all the values of the West. And strangely enough, 12 of those who regularly prayed at the mosque were connected to a jihadi network that sent young men to fight for the Islamic State in Syria. 

Dr. Ephraim Herrera is the author of "Jihad -- Fundamentals and Fundamentalism."

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=17087

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FBI holiday weekend document drop is devastating to Hillary - Thomas Lifson

by Thomas Lifson

In a sure sign of how devastating this issue is, a female Democrat senator has already played the sexism card.

The decision to wait for late Friday on Labor Day weekend to release the FBI’s investigation notes of Hillary Clinton’s email practices offers further evidence of the politicization of the agency.  As the United States slides into a banana republic, we now know that a political thumb is on the scale at the two most feared federal agencies: the IRS and the FBI.

Still, one can understand why the Hillary faction wanted to obscure the documents, for they contain toxic revelations that disqualify Hillary Clinton from the presidency.

Normally, a holiday weekend ensures that few people analyze or even hear about the content of the documents.  But this is a presidential campaign, and the emails are a gift that keeps on giving to her opponents, with hackers and the slow-walk investigation dripping out further revelations.  Although her camp is already declaring, “Nothing to see here; move along,” the Trump campaign and the dissident media will not let this drop, and the facts are so disturbing (and consistent with Trump campaign themes) that when the Labor Day haze lifts, the issues will still be hot.

First and foremost: Hillary has blamed her head injuries for startling memory lapses.

Julia Edwards of Reuters reported that "Hillary Clinton told federal investigators she did not recall all the briefings she received on handling government records while U.S. secretary of state because of a concussion suffered in 2012."

A moment’s reflection reveals that Hillary Clinton has admitted that she was unable to adequately perform job functions directly related to national security because of a brain injury.  Donald Trump is already pushing this issue, but it is also critically important that a major campaign against the NFL – which is opening its pre-season now – stressing the seriousness of concussions’ effects on mental functions has been underway.  The American public, especially males, is on notice to take concussions very seriously.

Hillary Clinton has admitted to a disability due to her brain injury.

It is time for a discussion of Woodrow Wilson, the disastrous progressive segregationist who was disabled through much of his second term, and whose wife was de facto president of the United States, because his disability was hidden from the American public.

Bill Clinton’s role as first spouse is already problematic, especially considering the manner in which he defiled the Oval Office.  The possibility that he could end up exercising de facto presidential power in an unconstitutional third term is not anything that will comfort the Sanders faction.  Bill Clinton’s actual policies as president are far more conservative than Hillary’s proposals.

In a sure sign of how devastating this issue is, a female Democrat senator has already played the sexism card.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) took to MSNBC:

Second, the documents reveal that Hillary, who justified her private server on the grounds that she wanted to carry only one handheld device, actually had 13 of them in a four-year period.  What on Earth is the story there?  Almost everyone who votes carries a cell phone, and I daresay the percentage who have needed to have 13 different devices in the space of four years is well below a tenth of one percent.

There is a story here.  The media usually love a mystery, but it will up to us in the dissident media to keep this question open.

As with virtually every other aspect of the FBI interrogation notes, there was no follow-up to this revelation, no probing by the FBI.  As would be the case in any banana republic investigating a member of one of its ruling families.

Third, if we believe the story offered by Hillary, a laptop computer full of classified documents – her email archive disappeared when mailed with the USPS:

A laptop containing a copy, or “archive,” of the emails on Hillary Clinton’s private server was apparently lost—in the postal mail—according to an FBI report released Friday. Along with it, a thumb drive that also contained an archive of Clinton’s emails has been lost and is not in the FBI’s possession.

This is stunning negligence, and absolutely striking news: that some of the nation’s highest secrets were made available to any foreign power monitoring the secretary of state and willing to snatch mail from the capable hands of the Post Office.  Who on Earth would subject national security to the tender mercies of the USPS?

Where was the nationwide alert to recapture the missing archive?  Did the Clinton campaign notify security agencies?

This is disqualifying negligence.

We also have the first evidence that Hillary’s server was indeed hacked:

The FBI said it uncovered multiple instances of phishing or spear-phishing emails sent to Clinton’s account, including one that appeared to be sent from another State official’s account. Clinton responded to the email by trying to confirm that the person actually sent it, adding, “I was worried about opening it!”
But in another incident, the FBI noted that Abedin emailed someone (whose name is redacted) conveying Clinton’s concern that “someone [was] hacking into her email” after receiving an email from a “known [redacted] associate containing a link to a website with pornographic material.”
“There is no additional information as to why Clinton was concerned about someone hacking into her e-mail account, or if the specific link referenced by Abedin was used as a vector to infect Clinton’s device,” the FBI’s report states, and after roughly two lines of redacted text goes on to note that “open source information indicated, if opened, the targeted user’s device may have been infected, and information would have been sent to at least three computers overseas, including one in Russia.”

There is actually a lot more, and we will have time to sort it out.  But perhaps the most damning of the damning evidence that the FBI has been compromised is the entirely improper presence of Hillary’s consigliere Cheryl Mills at the interview.

Andrew McCarthy at NRO:

I suggested back in May that “the fix” was in in the investigation of the Clinton emails. The reason was that the Justice Department was allowing Cheryl Mills – a witness, if not a subject, of the investigation – to invoke attorney-client privilege on behalf of Mrs. Clinton in order to thwart the FBI’s attempt to inquire into the procedure used to produce Clinton’s emails to the State Department. Mills was a participant in that procedure – and it is the procedure in which, we now know, well over 30,000 emails were attempted to be destroyed, including several thousand that contained government-related business. When she worked for Clinton at State, Mills was not acting in the capacity of a lawyer – not for then-Secretary Clinton and not for the State Department. Moreover, as Clinton’s chief-of-staff, Mills was intimately involved in issues related to Clinton’s private email set up, the discussions about getting her a secure BlackBerry similar to President Obama’s, and questions that were raised (including in FOIA requests) about Clinton’s communications. That is to say, Mills was an actor in the facts that were under criminal investigation by the FBI. Put aside that she was not Mrs. Clinton’s lawyer while working for the State Department; as I explained in the May column, Mills, after leaving the State Department, was barred by ethical rules from acting as Mrs. Clinton’s lawyer “in connection with a matter in which the lawyer participated personally and substantially as a public officer or employee.” There is no way Mills should have been permitted to participate as a lawyer in the process of producing Clinton’s emails to the State Department nearly two years after they’d both left. I thought it was astonishing that the Justice Department indulged her attorney-client privilege claim, which frustrated the FBI’s ability to question her on a key aspect of the investigation. But it is simply unbelievable to find her turning up at Mrs. Clinton’s interview – participating in the capacity of a lawyer under circumstances where Clinton was being investigated over matters in which Mills participated as a non-lawyer government official.

Polls consistently tell us that around two thirds of Americans believe that the political establishment is not working for them.  We now can fully appreciate the extent of the politicization of our most sensitive federal agencies.  This may be our last chance to prevent a banana republic from solidifying and destroying the noble experiment of our founders.

Thomas Lifson

Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/09/fbi_holiday_weekend_document_drop_is_devastating_to_hillary.html

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