Excerpts: Impact of Mosul dam collapse.Turkey-Israel talks. ISIS re chemical
weapons. Saudi troops to Syria decision 'final'. Canada re
Hizbullah.Questions remain in ending Syria hostilities. Russia raises
spectre of world war.Israel arrests Jordanian engineer. U.S.refugee
processing center in Jordan February 12, 2016
+++SOURCE:Al Arabiya 12 Feb.’16:”Impact of Mosul dam collapse ‘would be
1,000 times’ worse than Katrina”
SUBJECT: Impact of Mosul dam collapse
FULL TEXT:The Iraqi government once again warned of the increasing threat of
the collapse of the Mosul dam. A source from the Iraqi Prime Minister's
office said that if the dam was to collapse, then it will cause a disaster
1000 times worse than Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in the USA in
2005.
+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya 12 Feb.’16:”Turkey-Israel talks to restore ties ‘going
well’,by
Reutershttps://english.alarabiya.net/dms/docroot/aa-templating/en/gfx/print-logo.png
SUBJECT: Turkey-Israel talks
QUOTE:”Israel Defense Minister ‘Turkey is supporting Hamas,generally
speaking. It should be ,of course, discussed’”
Talk “s between Turkey and Israel to mend fences are going well but a deal
has not yet been reached in efforts to improve relations and increase energy
cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkey’s ruling AK Party spokesman
said.
“We have information that the talks are going well but unless we see
practical implications of the talks, we cannot say it’s a done deal,” Omer
Celik told reporters in Ankara.
Turkey was once Israel’s closest regional ally but ties collapsed in 2010
over the killing by Israeli marines of 10 Turkish pro-Palestinian activists
who tried to breach the Gaza blockade.
Though Israel accused the Islamist-rooted AK Party of siding with
Palestinian Hamas militants, Israeli and Turkish leaders reconciled in a
2013 phone conversation arranged by U.S. President Barack Obama.
A formal restoration of relations has proven elusive, however. Diplomats say
Turkey wants an end to the Gaza blockade that Israel deems necessary for
preventing Palestinian arms-smuggling, while Israel wants Ankara to
disengage from Hamas.
“Turkey is supporting Hamas, generally speaking. It should be, of course,
discussed,” Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told reporters during a
visit to Switzerland.
“I’m not sure that we are going to reach settlement. It may be, but they
have to address our conditions for any political settlement in order to
overcome this obstacle.”
+++SUBJECT: ISIS re chemical weapons
QUOTE:”ISIS fighters have used chemical weapons and have the capability to
make small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas “
FULL TEXT:CIA director John Brennan has said that ISIS fighters have used
chemical weapons and have the capability to make small quantities of
chlorine and mustard gas, CBS News reported Thursday[11 Feb.].
“We have a number of instances where ISIS has used chemical munitions on the
battlefield,” Brennan told CBS News which released excerpts of an interview
to air in full on the “60 Minutes” news program on Sunday.
The network added that he told “60 Minutes” the CIA believes that the ISIS
group has the ability to make small amounts of mustard or chlorine gas for
weapons.
“There are reports that ISIS has access to chemical precursors and munitions
that they can use,” Brennan said.
Brennan also warned of the possibility that ISIS could seek to export the
weapons to the West for financial gain.
“I think there’s always the potential for that. This is why it’s so
important to cut off the various transportation routes and smuggling routes
that they have used,” he said.
When asked if there were “American assets on the ground” searching for
possible chemical weapons caches or labs, Brennan replied: “U.S.
intelligence is actively involved in being a part of the efforts to destroy
ISIS and to get as much insight into what they have on the ground inside of
Syria and Iraq.”
The release of the excerpts of Brennan’s interview comes two days after
similar comments from spy chief James Clapper before a congressional
committee.
“ISIS has also used toxic chemicals in Iraq and Syria, including the blister
agent sulfur mustard,” Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told
lawmakers on Tuesday.
He said it was the first time an extremist group had produced and used a
chemical warfare agent in an attack since Japan’s Aum Supreme Truth cult
carried out a deadly sarin attack during rush hour in the Tokyo subway in
1995.
Last year, officials in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan said blood
tests had shown that ISIS fighters used mustard agent in an attack on
Kurdish Peshmerga forces in August.
Thirty-five Peshmerga fighters were exposed and some taken abroad for
treatment, officials said.
At the time of the attack, The Wall Street Journal cited U.S. officials as
saying they believed ISIS had used mustard agent.
+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 12 Feb.’16:”Saudi decision to send troops in Syria
‘final’ “, by Al Arabiya
SUBJECT:Saudi decision troops to Syria’final’
FULL TEXT:Saudi’s decision to send troops to Syria in an attempt to bolster
and toughen efforts against militants is “final,” the spokesman of the
Saudi-led coalition force in Yemen announced on Thursday[11 Feb].
Brig. Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri, said that Riyadh is “ready” and will fight with
its U.S.-led coalition allies to defeat Daesh militants in Syria, however,
he said Washington is more suitable to answer questions on further details
about any future ground operations.
“We are representing Saudi’s [decision] only” in sending troops, he said.
He also sent a message to Iran, saying that if Tehran is serious in fighting
Daesh, then it must stop supporting “terrorism” in Syria or Yemen.
Riyadh has long accused Tehran of supporting the Houthi militia in Yemen
against the internationally-recognized government there. Iran is also a key
ally to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The military spokesman also said that the Islamic Military Alliance will
take effect within two months.
Thirty-five Muslim countries released a joint statement announcing the
formation of the alliance against terrorism in December last year.
The alliance’s joint command center is located in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon)12 Feb.’16:” Canada Defense Minister Says no
Cooperation with Hizbullah”, by Naharnet Newsdesk
SUBJECT: Canada re Hizbullah
QUOTE: “ We will only deal with the legitimate government of Lebanon and
will not deal with Hizbullah’ “
FULL TEXT:Canadian authorities will not deal with Hizbullah officials as
they prepare to deploy military advisers to Lebanon as part of Ottawa’s new
strategy to fight the Islamic State extremist group, Canada’s Defense
Minister Harjit Sajjan has said.
“We will only deal with the legitimate government of Lebanon and will not
deal with Hizbullah,” Radio Canada International (RCI) quoted Sajjan as
saying on Thursday[11 Feb].
Sajjan’s comment in Brussels, where he attended a high-level NATO meeting,
came in response to questions about Canada’s plans to deploy up to 100
soldiers to Lebanon and Jordan to help their respective militaries to
counter the threat posed by the IS.
According to RCI, the minister said Canadian Armed Forces will work with
Jordanian and Lebanese authorities on capacity building to help them counter
the threats they face on their borders with Syria.
Canada considers Hizbullah a terrorist organization.
Last week, Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion and International
Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said Ottawa will provide about
Can$1.6 billion (US$1.2 billion) in development and humanitarian aid and
other efforts over three years to respond to the crisis in Iraq and Syria
and to address the impact on Jordan, Lebanon and the wider region.
Those funds will include help for Jordan and Lebanon to bolster security as
well as to feed and house refugees displaced by the conflict from
neighboring countries
+++SOURCE: Naharnet(Lebanon) 12 Feb.’16:”World Powers Agree to End Syria
Hostilities but Questions Remain”, by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Questions remain in ending Syria hostilities
QUOTE:”the Munich deal left out the Islamic State group and Al-Qaida’s local
branch, leaving analysts to doubt its viability”
FULL TEXT:World powers Friday[12 Feb. agreed an ambitious plan to cease
hostilities in war-racked Syria, but the Munich deal left out the Islamic
State group and Al-Qaida's local branch, leaving analysts to doubt its
viability.
The 17 countries agreed "to implement a nationwide cessation of hostilities
to begin in a target of one week's time," said U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry after extended talks co-hosted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov.
The International Syria Support Group also agreed that "sustained delivery"
of aid will begin this week, with a new U.N. task force meeting later
Friday[12 Feb] in Geneva to start pushing for much greater access to
"besieged and hard-to-reach areas".
The deal went further than expected, with Lavrov talking about "direct
contacts between the Russian and U.S. military" on the ground.
But Kerry said they were under "no illusions" about the difficulty of
implementing the agreement.
- 'Huge question marks' -
Analysts were skeptical the deal would stop the bloodshed.
"It is ambitious and yet very tenuous... there are huge question marks,"
said Julien Barnes-Dacey, of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
He highlighted the fact that the Islamic State group (IS) and Al-Qaida
affiliate Al-Nusra would not be covered by the "cessation of hostilities".
The failure to include Al-Nusra was particularly important, Barnes-Dacey
said, since the group is active in Aleppo and surrounding regions, and many
of the more "moderate" rebels have links with it.
"In many ways this Munich meeting was thrust to the fore by the situation in
Aleppo, and yet the conditions of the agreement do not seem to apply to
Aleppo," said Barnes-Dacey.
"Talking about Nusra works in the Russians' favor since so many rebel groups
have ties to Nusra. This effectively gives the green light for the Syrian
government and its allies to carry on military action while paying lip
service to the agreement."
A senior Russian foreign affairs official appeared to support the doubts,
saying he was "not very optimistic" about a ceasefire.
"Despite the agreement, Russia will continue its anti-terrorist military
operation," Vladimir Djabarov, vice-president of Russia's foreign affairs
commission told the TASS news agency.
"There are too many groups that claim they are anti-government or anti-Assad
when many are clearly terrorist groups," he said.
- 'Words on paper' -
Peace talks collapsed earlier this month after troops loyal to Syrian
President Bashar Assad, backed by Russian bombers and Iranian fighters,
launched a major offensive on the key rebel stronghold of Aleppo.
The bombardments have forced at least 50,000 people to flee, left the
opposition virtually encircled and killed an estimated 500 people since they
began on February 1 -- the latest hellish twist in a war that has claimed
more than a quarter-million lives.
Kerry said talks between rebels and the regime would resume as soon as
possible, but warned that "what we have here are words on paper -- what we
need to see in the next few days are actions on the ground."
A U.N. task force, co-chaired by Russia and the U.S., will work over the
coming week "to develop the modalities for a long-term, comprehensive and
durable cessation of violence," Kerry said.
The separate aid task force will pressure the Syrian government to open
routes, since only around a dozen of 116 U.N. access requests have been
granted.
Russia and the U.S. remain starkly at odds on several issues, particularly
the fate of Assad.
Syria is a crucial ally and military staging post for Russia and Iran, while
observers say Moscow has gained from the chaos created by the war,
particularly the refugee crisis in Europe.
Washington, reluctant to involve itself in another complex war after the
quagmires of Afghanistan and Iraq, has also faced criticism for not doing
enough to help the rebels.
It has sought to focus more on combating IS jihadists, which have taken over
swathes of Syria and Iraq, than getting involved in the civil war between
the regime and opposition forces.
The conflict has also strained relations between Turkey and its Western
allies.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed Washington's increasingly
close alliance with the Kurdish militias in the fight against IS, saying it
was turning the region into "a pool of blood".
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 12 Feb,’16:”Russia raises spectre of permanent or
‘world war’ if Syria talks fail”,By Reuters
SUBJECT:Russia raises spectre of world war
QUOTE:”Russian Prime Minister DmitryMedvedev raised the spectre of a
permanent or world war if powers failed to negotiate an end to the conflict
in Syria and warned against any ground operations by U.S. and Arab forces:
FULL TEXT:MUNICH — Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev raised the spectre
of a permanent or a world war if powers failed to negotiate an end to the
conflict in Syria and warned against any ground operations by US and Arab
forces.
Medvedev, speaking to Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper on the eve of a
security conference in Munich, said the United States and Russia must exert
pressure on all sides in the conflict to secure a ceasefire.
Asked about Saudi Arabia's offer last week to supply ground troops if a
US-led operation were mounted against Daesh, he said: "This is bad as a
ground offensive usually turns the war into a permanent one. Just look at
what happened in Afghanistan and many other countries. I don't need to
remind you what happened in poor Libya."
"The Americans and our Arab partners must think well: do they want a
permanent war?" It would be impossible to win such a war quickly, he said
according to a German translation of his words, "especially in the Arab
world, where everybody is fighting against everybody".
"All sides must be compelled to sit at the negotiating table instead of
unleashing a new world war."
Russia is carrying out bombing sorties around the key city of Aleppo, in
support of advances by troops loyal to President Bashar Assad. US and other
Western air forces are also involved in air strikes in northern Syria.
The ‘prize’ of Aleppo
Capturing Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war but now divided
between rebel- and government-held sectors, would represent a major military
victory for Assad and a symbolic prize for Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday[11 Feb] that Moscow
had submitted proposals for implementing a ceasefire in Syria and was
waiting for a reaction from international powers.
Lavrov was speaking ahead of a meeting in Munich with US Secretary of State
John Kerry to discuss Syria.
Members of the United Nations Security Council pressed Russia on
Wednesday[10 Feb] to stop bombing Aleppo in support of the Syrian military
offensive and allow humanitarian access ahead of a meeting of major powers
in Germany on the conflict.
"You have no one power that can act alone," Medvedev said. "You have Assad
and his troops on one side and some grouping, which is fighting against the
government on the other side. It is all very complicated. It could last
years or even decades. What's the point of this?"
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 12 Feb.’16:” Israeli court jails Jordanian engineer
for eight years”,by Merza Noghi
SUBJECT:Israel arrests Jordanian engineer
QUOTE:”Jabara was convicted of planning to carry out resistance operations
against the occupation authorities”
AMMAN — An Israeli court on Wednesday[10 Feb.] sentenced Jordanian engineer
Manaf Jbara to eight years in prison and a fine of 6,000 shekels (some
JD1,092), a member of the Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) said on
Thursday.
“Jbara was convicted of planning to carry out resistance operations against
the occupation authorities,” Anas Abu Khdeir, JEA media coordinator, told
The Jordan Times.
He added that an Israeli court also sentenced Jbara to a 30-month suspended
prison term, in case he “plots” any operations after he is released.
A statement from the media team supporting Jordanian prisoners in Israel
(Fedaa) said he was accused of belonging to a militia affiliated with Hamas
in the West Bank.
The sentenced engineer was visiting his relatives in the West Bank’s Tulkarm
city, the media coordinator said, noting that Jbara was arrested two weeks
after he arrived in September 2014.
The 25-year-old engineer joins other Jordanian engineers detained in Israeli
prisons, including Abdullah Barghouthi, Abdullah Zeitawi and Thaer Hwaiti.
Around 25 Jordanians are serving sentences in Israeli prisons, Shireen Nafe,
a member of Fedaa, said in previous remarks to The Jordan Times.
Akram Abu Zahrah is the most recent freed Jordanian prisoner in Israel. He
was released on February 4 after serving a 14-year prison term, while Hwaiti
is the latest prisoner in Israel who was arrested on December 24, while
trying to cross the King Hussein Bridge on his way to the West Bank.
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 12 Feb.’16:”U.S. opens center to process refugee
applications”,by JT
SUBJECT:U.S. refugee processing center in Jordan
FU L L TEXT:AMMAN — The US has established a temporary refugee processing
center near Amman as part of its efforts to reach the goal of admitting at
least 10,000 Syrian refugees to the US by September 30.
According to a statement by the US embassy in Amman, operations are now
under way.
“Access to the site is restricted by invitation to potential resettlement
candidates. We are grateful to our Jordanian partners in making this
possible and for their generosity in hosting Syrian refugees.”
“We have worked with the government of Jordan to identify a temporary site
to conduct these additional interviews.”
“While the US government has maintained a refugee resettlement processing
site in Amman for many years, it does not have the capacity to host the
number of interviews we will be conducting in the coming months,” said the
statement received by The Jordan Times on Thursday[11 Feb.]
====================
Sue Lerner -Associate, IMRA
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