[AFRICANEWS] Forces in Æthiopia's Amhara region are continuing a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" of part of neighbouring Tigray under their control, despite the end of the conflict in this region of northern Æthiopia, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.
The November agreement that put an end to hostilities in northern Æthiopia "has not put an end to the ethnic cleansing of Tigrayans in the Western Tigray zone", Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director of the human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. organization, accused in a blurb.
Regional paramilitary units and Amhara "Fano" militiamen, who supported the Æthiopian federal army during the brutal two-year war against the rebel regional authorities of Tigray, have taken control of this area, which is administratively attached to Tigray but which the Amhara consider to be their ancestral homeland.
"Amhara forces" there "continue to forcibly evict Tigrayans as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing", HRW accuses in a new report.
"Since the start of the armed conflict in Tigray in November 2020, the Amhara security forces and the interim authorities have carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Tigrayan population in West Tigray, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity", HRW points out, denouncing "arbitrary detentions, torture and forced deportations".
HRW says it interviewed 35 people by telephone between September and April this year - witnesses, victims and members of humanitarian organizations.
"The interviewees said that local authorities and Amhara forces had imprisoned more than a thousand Tigrayans" in official and unofficial prisons in three West Tigray towns "on the basis of their identity, before forcibly deporting them in November 2022 and January 2023", explains HRW.
The precise number of Tigrayans driven out of West Tigray is unknown, but "by 2021, it was estimated that hundreds of thousands of people had been displaced from West Tigray to other parts of Tigray", according to the organization.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] A southern politician has accused the "Leadership Council" and the government loyal to the Saudi-led coalition of standing behind the insecurity, chaos, and deteriorating conditions in the southern and eastern provinces of Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... The academic at the University of Aden, Abdulrahman al-Wali, confirmed in a tweet on Twitter that the deliberate deterioration of security and economic services in those provinces is in accordance with regional and international agreement.
Al-Wali noted that the security deterioration aims to occupy the people of the southern and eastern provinces with daily concerns.
He called on the citizens in the areas under the authority of the coalition to take urgent action to put an end to these conditions.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Southern Transitional Council
[DW] In 2018, media reports alleged decorated SAS veteran Ben Roberts-Smith was involved in the murder of six unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan.
A contentious trial filled with allegations of murder, domestic violence, witness intimidation and war crimes saw one of Australia's most decorated soldiers lose a landmark defamation case against major newspapers on Thursday.
Ben Roberts-Smith, a former member of Australia's elite Special Air Services (SAS) regiment, had sued three newspapers — the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, and the Canberra Times — over reports published in 2018 that alleged his involvement in the unlawful killing of six unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan.
The reports had painted the former special forces corporal as someone who violated the moral and legal rules of military engagement, he claimed.
The Australian court dismissed the case saying the newspapers had substantiated many of their allegations as "substantially true." For varying degrees of "substantially" and "true", including "none"
The Taliban ...Arabic for students... group, the Islamist de facto ruler of Afghanistan before the 2001 US invasion as well as since August 2021, said the incidents investigated by the Australian court were all but a "small part" of the many alleged crimes which took place during the 20-year war.
The group's administration front man Bilal Karimi was cited by the Rooters news agency as saying foreign forces had committed "uncountable crimes" throughout the war. He added that the group did not trust any court globally to follow up all crimes.
AUTHORITIES LOOK INTO ILLEGAL CONDUCT BY SOLDIERS
In March, Australian police charged the first veteran in connection with an alleged killing in Afghanistan, following the Brereton investigation that identified potential illegal conduct by 19 Australian special forces soldiers during the conflict.
Oliver Schulz, a former SAS trooper, faced a murder charge for the death of an Afghan individual shot in the Uruzgan province in 2012.
The Australian police, in collaboration with the Office of the Special Investigator established in 2021, are actively working to build cases against elite SAS and Commando Regiment troops who served in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2016.
Over the course of 20 years, more than 39,000 Australian military personnel served in Afghanistan until the withdrawal in 2021, with 41 casualties suffered during the mission.
US FEAR SAS 'TAINTED'
The United States had previously cautioned that allegations of war crimes against Australian soldiers in Afghanistan could hinder cooperation with Australia's Special Air Service Regiment.
General Angus Campbell, Australia's defense force chief, revealed that he had received a letter in March 2021 from the US defense attaché in Canberra, suggesting that the elite SAS may have been "tainted" by the war crime allegations highlighted in the Brereton report.
The report contained "credible information" indicating that Australian soldiers had unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners and civilians, the letter said.
It also warned that these allegations could trigger a US law that prohibits military collaboration with units associated with grave human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. violations.
[DW] More people have applied for and been granted German nationality than at any time in the past 20 years. This is good news as the government wants to attract qualified professionals to the labor market.
A record 168,545 applicants with 171 different nationalities received German citizenship in 2022. That was 28% more than in the previous year, the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden reported this week.
Syrians topped the list, followed by Ukrainian, Iraqi and Ottoman Turkish nationals. Twenty-nine percent of people who adopted German nationality in 2022 were from Syria, their average age was 24.8 years, and two-thirds of them are male. Many of them had fled their homeland when the civil war broke out in 2014 and have since found a new home in Germany. Before naturalization, they had been in Germany for an average of 6.4 years.
Continued on Page 49
[NPASYRIA] The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal canceled on Wednesday a high-profile ruling, that calling the government to bring home four Canadian men detained in prisons for Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) hard boyz in northeast Syria.
In January, Federal Court Judge Henry Brown misinterpreted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when he directed officials to secure the release of men detained in ISIS prisons in northeast Syria.
However, a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... three appeal court judges argued that the Federal Court made errors in its ruling, and they disagreed with Brown’s decision and overturned it, saying that such a step is "risky" and "dangerous" and help them to "escape the consequences of their actions."
They said the court misinterpreted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when it directed officials to "take extraordinary measures" to secure the release of the men.
Family members of the men, as well as several women and kiddies, detained in Syria argued the Federal and asked it to arrange for their return to Canada, saying that refusing to do so violates the Canadian Charter.
Roj and al-Hawl camps, run by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), house around 57,300 ISIS-linked individuals, including nearly 10,000 foreigners.
Canada has so far only repatriated six women and 13 children from northeastern Syria’s camps.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[18 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[OneIndia] A Special Court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Chandigarh has declared a member of the banned Sikhs for Justice, Jaswinder Singh alias Multan ...Home of the Multan Sultans... as a Proclaimed Offender.
The matter relates to the Model Jail Tiffin Bomb case of April 2022.
Singh who hails from Mansoorpur in Punjab's Hoshiarpur has been declared as a Proclaimed Offender under Section 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Singh is currently based in Germany and has a non-bailable warrant against him. The warrant was issued by the NIA court on January 5. The court also had also declared a reward of Rs 10 lakh as well as a Look Out Circular against him.
He has been identified as the criminal mastermind behind the planting of the IED bomb outside the wall of the Model Jail in Chandigarh, with an intent of spreading terror and causing violence. The tiffin bomb along with a detonator was found in a black bag outside the jail on April 22 last year.
The case was first registered under the Explosives Substances Act of 1908. Subsequently the NIA took over the case and registered the same under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The NIA found that Singh had criminal masterminded the crime from Germany and was in touch with pro-Khalistan elements based in India and Pakistain. He was using them to promote terror and violence.
"He was also sending and raising funds and coordinating the movement of arms and ammunition, as well as explosives from Pakistain into India," an NIA note said.
[The Nation (Pak)] World Bank has granted approval for a substantial amount of $21 million to aid the rehabilitation and recovery of areas that have been severely affected by floods in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... The allocated funds will primarily be utilized to enhance the water drainage infrastructure in Balochistan. By improving the existing infrastructure, the region’s ability to effectively manage water resources and mitigate the risks associated with floods will be significantly enhanced.
The blurb further emphasizes that the improved infrastructure will play a vital role in reducing the vulnerability to flood-related damages.
#5
Do you guys and gals know of IMF's Special Drawing
Rights? It amounts to fiat financial aid. They create financial aid out of thin air. IMF creates "special drawing rights" out of nothing, and countries can exchange those Special Drawing Rights for hard currency. You no longer need donors for financial aid, they just print financial aid like they print dollars/currency.
Let us note, dear Reader, that the reporter carefully does not mention the Jewish state, Israel.
[Shafaq News] Global Firepower, a renowned military-oriented platform, released its 2023 list of the world's most formidable military forces on Thursday, with Iraq securing the 4th spot among Arab nations and 45th place worldwide.
The Global Firepower annual index applies a multifaceted analysis spanning more than 60 individual and collective factors. These variables include the diversity of armaments, available manpower, geographical positioning, and economic strength.
This broad analysis determines the most formidable military powers in the world.
In the latest power projection for 2023, Egypt led the Arab world, securing the 14th position globally. Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and Algeria closely followed, securing 22nd and 26th positions, respectively, on the global stage.
The rankings revealed that Iraq secured the 45th position worldwide and fourth in the Arab world. The United Arab Emirates followed in the fifth spot among Arab countries and the 56th position globally, with Morocco bagging the sixth and 61st spots in the Arab region and worldwide, respectively.
Syria landed the 64th global rank and seventh among Arab countries, while Tunisia, ranked 73rd worldwide and eighth in the Arab region, followed. Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... , with a global rank of 74th and ninth among Arab nations, followed next.
Sudan, with its 75th global position, held the tenth spot among Arab nations, followed by Oman at 76th globally and eleventh in the Arab world. Kuwait came in the twelfth position among Arab countries and the 78th globally.
Bahrain was positioned at 79th globally, thirteenth in the Arab world, followed by Libya (80th globally, fourteenth in the Arab world), Jordan (81st globally, fifteenth in the Arab world), and Leb ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... (111th globally, sixteenth in the Arab world).
The Global Firepower index bases its annual military strength ranking on various factors, such as military, financial, and logistical capabilities, geographical positioning, and the level of technological advancement of each country.
On the global front, the top three positions were captured by the US, Russia, and China, in that order.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/02/2023 00:10 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
What’s the big deal? They’re just transnational Arab National Socialists, a party modelled on the original German Nazi Party, the Jordanian branch of what once temporarily united Iraq and Syria before they went their own ways.
/sarcasm
[Shafaq News] A heated debate has been unfolding in Iraq for several days after the Election Commission in Jordan announced that it had granted the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party a license to legally engage in political activities within the kingdom.
While Amman asserts that the party is an indigenous Jordanian political organization operating solely within the borders of the kingdom, Iraqi political factions express their strong opposition to granting a license to the party, particularly following the chants by its supporters calling for its return to Iraq and a change in the current political system.
[AnNahar] A military judge has accused five Hezbollah members, only one of whom is in jug, of killing an Irish United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... peacekeeper in December last year, a judicial official told AFP Thursday.
Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others were maimed on December 14 when their U.N. Interim Force in Leb ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... (UNIFIL) vehicle was attacked near the southern coastal village of al-Aqbiyeh.
Fadi Sawan, the investigating judge in the military tribunal for the case, issued a 30-page indictment accusing five Hezbollah members of "forming a group of malefactors to commit a crime," the official said, requesting anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
Mohammad Ayyad, in jug after Hezbollah handed him over to the army in December, is accused along with four other members of the group of "intentional homicide," the official said.
Under Lebanese law, such crimes are punishable by death, he said, adding that Sawan had referred them to military court and shared the indictment with the UNIFIL.
Footage from surveillance cameras near the scene of the incident "clearly shows the patrol being attacked by gunnies from all sides," the document read.
"Some of them could be heard saying 'we are Hezbollah' and using walkie-talkies to communicate," the indictment added.
Hezbollah has repeatedly denied involvement in the incident, and its security chief Wafiq Safa has described the killing as "unintentional."
In January, Lebanon had charged seven people, including Ayyad, for participating in the attack.
Ayyad was charged at the time "with killing the Irish soldier and attempting to kill his three comrades by shooting them with a machine gun," an official had told AFP.
Lebanon had also charged six runaways "for uttering threats with an illegal weapon, destroying the UNIFIL vehicle and intimidating its passengers."
UNIFIL, made up of some 10,000 peacekeepers, has been deployed since 1978 to act as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel, which remain technically in a state of war.
There have been incidents in the past between Hezbollah supporters and UNIFIL patrols, but they have rarely escalated.
#Iran orchestrates new plans to attack the US forces in #Syria, while also coordinating with Russia to oust the US from the country, leaked documents obtained by the @washingtonpost show.https://t.co/oO2VubBzeu
— NORTH PRESS AGENCY - ENGLISH (@NPA_English) June 1, 2023
Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... is planning to launch a new set of attacks against US troops in Syria, while also coordinating with Russia to oust the US from the region, said the Washington Post in a report on Thursday.
"Iran and its allies are building and training forces to use more powerful armor-piercing roadside kabooms intended specifically to target U.S. military vehicles and kill U.S. personnel," said the newspaper, citing classified intelligence reports. "Such attacks would constitute an escalation of Iran’s long-running campaign of using proxy militias to launch rocket and dronezaps on U.S. forces in Syria."
Iranian drones maimed six US troops and killed a Defense Department contractor while ago. The new bombs could increase US casualties," risking a wider military confrontation with Iran," said the Washington Post, citing intelligence analysts and weapons experts as saying.
In late February, the US-backed Kurdish fighters thwarted an apparent attempt to use such weapon against US forces by seizing three bombs, a second document states.
Iran hid weapons among earthquake aid provided to Syria to strike US forces, leak says.
Another leaked document showcases focused efforts by Moscow, Damascus and Tehran to drive out the US from Syria, "a long-sought goal that could allow Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... to reclaim eastern provinces now controlled by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces."
The past three US administrations have maintained a small contingent of U.S. troops in Syria — about 900 at any given time, augmented by hundreds more contractors — to prevent a resurgence by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... bandidosbully boyz in the country, thwart Iranian and Russian ambitions, and provide leverage for other strategic objectives.
The Pentagon has declined the newspaper’s requests to comment on the leaked documents and the Iranian plans against the US in Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[23 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Hope it includes the wooden aircraft carriers...
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Arabic for 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...Home of the Multan Sultans...
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
