Excerpts: Gaza reconstruction.ISIS shoots down Syrian regime jet. Turkey
welcomes Muslim Brotherhood. US ISIS campaign no "shock and awe". Turkish
'buffer zone against Iraq,Syria threats.Egypt security force attacked in
Sinai September 16, 2014

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 16 Sept.’14:”U.N.: Israel, Palestinians reach
deal on Gaza reconstruction”,Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Gaza reconstruction

FULL TEXT:The United Nations has brokered an Israeli-Palestinian deal on
imports of construction materials to Gaza to ensure they will not be
diverted by Hamas militants, a U.N. envoy said Tuesday.[16 Sept.]

The agreement on monitoring the supply of materials "must get up and running
without delay," said Robert Serry, the U.N. envoy for the Middle East.

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 16 Sept.’14:”ISIS shoots down Syrian regime
fighter jet” , Staff Writer,Agence France Presse, Reuters

SUBJECT: ISIS shoots down Syrian regime fighter jet

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) shot down a Syrian regime fighter
jet conducting airstrikes on the group’s stronghold of Raqqa on Tuesday, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The Britain-based monitor said: “It is the first aircraft shot down since
the regime launched air strikes against the jihadists in July following
their declaration of a caliphate in late June.”

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the plane was carrying
out strikes on the ISIS stronghold of Raqa when it was hit.

It crashed into a house in the Euphrates Valley city, the sole provincial
capital entirely out of Syrian government control, causing deaths and
injuries on the ground, he added.

A photograph posted on a jihadist Twitter account purported to show the
burnt-out wreckage of the plane.

"Allahu Akbar (God is greater), thanks to God we can confirm that a military
aircraft has been shot down over Raqa," another account said, congratulating
the "lions of the Islamic State."

The plane is far from the first Syrian government aircraft downed by
opposition forces, but it comes after President Bashar al-Assad's regime
stepped up its air campaign against ISIS in eastern Syria.

In recent weeks it has repeatedly targeted the group's Euphrates valley
strongholds in Raqa and Deir Ezzor provinces and jihadist-held areas of the
northeastern province of Hasakeh.

An air strike on an ISIS training camp in the Deir Ezzor town of Tibni
killed 17 militants and a child on Saturday[13 Sept.].

U.S. President Barack Obama said last week he would not hesitate to hit ISIS
in Syria.

Senior U.S. officials have said that the Syrian military's air defenses
would face retaliation if Syria attempted to respond to U.S. airstrikes that
are expected against ISIS targets in Syria.

One official said if the Assad military were to demonstrate that it was a
threat to the U.S. ability to operate in the area, it would put Syrian air
defenses in the region at risk.

The United States has stressed it will not coordinate with the Assad
government in any way in its fight against ISIS. Obama's position has long
been that he would like to see Assad leave power, particularly after using
chemical weapons against his own people last year.

But airstrikes against ISIS in Syria could have the indirect effect of
benefiting Assad because the extremists have been fighting the Syrian
government during what is now a three-year civil war.

Washington wants to train and equip Syrian rebels who are deemed to be
moderate to hold territory cleared by U.S. airstrikes.

The president will meet on Tuesday[16 Sept.] at the White House with retired
Marine General John Allen, who is in charge of coordinating the activities
of a coalition expected to include some Western allies and a number of Arab
states.

A senior U.S. official said some Arab states have agreed to join the United
States in launching airstrikes, but declined to identify them.


+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya 16 Sept.’14:”Turkey ‘welcomes’ Egypt Muslim
Brotherhood figures who leave Qatar”, By Reuters

SUBJECT: Turkey welcomes Muslim Brotherhood

QUOTE:”President Tayyip Erdogan said senior Brotherhood figures would be
welcome to come to Turkey if they wished. (Reuters) “

FULL TEXT:Turkey would welcome senior figures from Egypt's outlawed Muslim
Brotherhood after they were asked to leave Qatar under pressure from other
Gulf Arab states, Turkish media quoted President Tayyip Erdogan as saying
late on Monday [15 Sept.].

A senior Brotherhood official based in London said on Saturday[13 Sept.]
that Qatar had asked seven senior figures from the movement to leave the
country after its neighbors pressed it to stop backing the Islamists.

Senior Brotherhood figures would be welcome to come to Turkey if they wished
to do so, Turkish television stations quoted Erdogan as telling reporters on
his plane back from an official visit to Qatar on Monday[15 Sept.].

Qatar and Turkey were the only regional countries to back the Brotherhood
after Egypt's army toppled Islamist President Mohammad Mursi last year
following mass protests against him.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf Arab states, in
contrast, have showered Egypt's new rulers with billions of dollars. They
see the Muslim Brotherhood as an existential threat to their monarchies.

Egypt has declared the Brotherhood a terrorist movement. The Brotherhood
says it is a peaceful group.



+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 16 Sept.’14:”U.S. campaign on ISIS won’t be
‘shock and awe’ “,by Staff Writer

SUBJECT: US ISIS campaign no ‘shock and awe’

QUOTE: “ ‘it will be a persistent and sustainable campaign’ “

FULL TEXT:The U.S. military campaign against the Islamist of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS) will not be "shock and awe" where overwhelming power is used to
paralyze the enemy, the top U.S. military officer told the Senate Armed
Services Committee on Tuesday[16 Sept.].

“We will be prepared to strike ISIL targets in Syria that degrade ISIL's
capabilities," General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff said, using an acronym for the militant group.

“This won't look like a ‘shock and awe’ campaign because that's simply not
how ISIL is organized. But it will be a persistent and sustainable
campaign.”

Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel told the Senate committee hearing that the
planned U.S. air strikes will target extremist sanctuaries, command centers
and logistic networks, Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel told lawmakers Tuesday.

“This plan includes targeted actions against ISIL safe havens in Syria --
including its command and control, logistics capabilities, and
infrastructure,” Hagel said.

General Dempsey raised the possibility that American troops serving as
advisers to Iraqi forces eventually could be sent on combat missions if it
became necessary.

“To be clear, if we reach the point where I believe our advisors should
accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I will
recommend that to the president,” he said.


+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 16 Sept.’14:”Turkish military weighs “buffer zone”
against Iraq, Syria threats – media”, Reuters

SUBJECT:Turkish ‘buffer zone against Iraq,Syria threats

QUOTE: “Turkey does not want a front line role in a military coalition”

FULLL TEXT:ANKARA — Turkey's military is drawing up plans for a possible
"buffer zone" on the country's southern border, where it faces a threat from
Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, Turkish media quoted President
Tayyip Erdogan as saying on Monday[15 Sept.].

The government will evaluate the plans and decide whether such a move is
necessary, Turkish television stations quoted Erdogan as telling reporters
on his plane as he returned from an official visit to Qatar.

A presidency official confirmed that Erdogan had made such remarks but did
not specify where along the border the zone might be established and gave no
further details.

Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance, has made clear it does not
want a frontline role in a military coalition which the United States is
trying to assemble to fight Islamic State militants in both Iraq and Syria.

Government officials have said Turkey is hamstrung by 46 hostages, including
diplomats, soldiers and children, being held by Islamic State after they
were seized from the Turkish consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul
in June.

But Ankara is under pressure to stem the flow of foreign fighters crossing
its territory to join the extremists and to prevent the group from profiting
from a trade in smuggled oil, some of which analysts say comes through
Turkish territory. — Reuters


+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 16 Sept.’14:”Sinai Bomb Kills Six Egypt
Policemen”, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Egypt security force attacked in Sinai

QUOTE:”A bomb hit an Egyptian security force convoy in the Sinai Peninsula .
. .killing 6 policemen”

A bomb hit an Egyptian security force convoy in the Sinai Peninsula on
Tuesday[16 Sept.], killing six policemen in the restive region where
jihadists launch regular attacks.

Two policemen were also wounded in the attack on the road between North
Sinai provincial capital El-Arish and the town of Rafah on the Gaza border,
the interior ministry said.

"An explosive device went off near one of the APCs (armored personnel
carriers) of a joint police and army security convoy on the road between
El-Arish and Rafah, killing six policemen including an officer and wounding
two others," the ministry said in a statement.

It said security forces had cordoned off the area and an investigation was
being carried out.

The attack has not been claimed but the Sinai Peninsula is a hotbed of
jihadist groups who regularly attack security forces in retaliation for a
government crackdown against Islamist supporters of ousted president Mohamed
Morsi.

The crackdown targeting Morsi's supporters has left at least 1,400 people
dead since his ouster on July 3, 2013.

Then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Morsi, Egypt's first
democratically elected president, after millions protested against the
Islamist's one-year rule.

More than 15,000 Morsi backers and members of his Muslim Brotherhood
movement have also been jailed since his ouster.

The authorities say hundreds of police and army personnel have also been
killed by jihadists since Morsi's ouster.

Sisi was later elected president, riding a wave of popularity following the
crackdown.

Most attacks against security forces have been spearheaded by Ansar Beit
al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem), an Al-Qaeda-inspired jihadist group
based in Sinai which launched rockets into neighbouring Israel.

It says its attacks against security forces are to avenge the killing of
hundreds of pro-Morsi protesters.

The group claimed a bombing earlier this month in Sinai that killed 11
policemen. It also recently expressed support to the extremist Islamic State
group that has seized territories in Iraq and Syria.

The police and army have launched a massive operation in the region to crush
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, killing scores of militants including several of its
leaders.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis is believed to be led by Bedouin militants, and several
of its members who have been killed or arrested had fought alongside
Islamist rebels in Syria.

The group adheres to an austere and militant version of Islam shared by
Al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups.

The security campaign has inflamed tensions in the historically marginalized
Sinai, where Bedouin have long complained of discrimination by the central
government in Cairo.

Despite the military and police operation, the militants have persisted in
launching sporadic assaults and sometimes even set up impromptu checkpoints
to target security personnel.

=======
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA