WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group may increase airstrikes and overhead surveillance support for the fight to retake Raqqa, Syria, now that the militants have been largely defeated in Mosul, Iraq, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq said Tuesday.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend told Pentagon reporters he doesn’t see a significant expansion of the U.S. and coalition effort in Raqqa. But he said he thinks there will probably be « a greater level of resourcing, » including intelligence and reconnaissance assets as well as more strikes.
« It will become more of a priority now that Mosul is concluded, » said Townsend.
The added support would aid the U.S.-backed Syrian forces who have encircled Raqqa, the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed capital, breaching the fortified defenses and moving closer to the heart of the city. Officials are predicting a long, tough battle, estimating that more than 2,000 militants are holed up with their families and tens of thousands of civilians in the city’s center.
Townsend, however, cautioned that the battle in Iraq is not over. He said he believes Iraqi troops still need time to oust any remaining IS fighters from Mosul. And once that is done, he said, they will probably take a break to reset and rest before launching their fight against IS in Tal Afar and other remaining insurgent strongholds in western Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday declared « total victory » over the Islamic State group in Mosul, as his force claimed full control of the country’s second-largest city three years after it was seized by IS extremists intent on building a global caliphate.
The battle to retake the city raged for nine months, killing thousands and displacing nearly 900,000 from their homes.
Despite the Iraqi victory, Townsend said there could be as many as a couple hundred IS members still in the city, and said it will take weeks to clear out the remaining pockets of resistance and hidden explosives. He said a group of IS militants offered to surrender Tuesday, but commanders later determined it was probably just a ploy to try to kill Iraqi forces.
« There’s a lot of mopping up and back-clearing to be done, » Townsend said. « There are holdouts and hideouts that have to be found and run to ground. »
Looking ahead, he said the Iraqis already have a plan in the works to retake Tal Afar, and it will begin to unfold in the coming weeks. The U.S., he said, will probably shift forces to assist the Iraqis in Nineveh and Anbar provinces, so it’s unlikely there will be any reduction in American troops on the ground in Iraq.
In other comments, Townsend said he doesn’t know if Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, is dead or alive. There have been conflicting reports, including a claim by Moscow in late May that there was a « high probability » he was killed in a Russian airstrike in the southern outskirts of Raqqa.
« I suppose it probably doesn’t really matter. If no one knows if he’s alive or dead, someone is guiding ISIS, the organization, » Townsend added. « And what we have seen with all these paramount leaders is you take them out, and someone else steps up. »
Clashes shake west Mosul after victory over IS declared
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Airstrikes, shelling and other heavy clashes shook a small sliver of western Mosul on Tuesday in renewed fighting, a day after the government declared victory over Islamic State militants in Iraq’s second-largest city.
Amnesty International, meanwhile, proclaimed the battle for Mosul to be a « civilian catastrophe, » with more than 5,800 noncombatants killed in the western part of the city. The top U.S. commander in Iraq rejected the group’s allegations, however, that the U.S.-led coalition violated international law.
In a sign that IS militants were still holding out in the shattered Old City, plumes of smoke rose as mortar shells landed near Iraqi troop positions and heavy gunfire rang out. Airstrikes pounded the edge of the neighborhood west of the Tigris River throughout the day.
On Monday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared « total victory » in Mosul, flanked by his senior military leadership at a small base in the city’s west.
The militants overran the northern city in summer 2014, when the extremists seized territory across Iraq and Syria. The campaign by Iraqi forces and the coalition to retake the city began in October 2016. The operation killed thousands of people, left whole neighborhoods in ruins and displaced nearly 900,000 from their homes.
A statement late Monday from IS said its fighters were still attacking Iraqi troops in the al-Maydan area of Mosul’s Old City, purportedly killing and wounding many and seizing weapons and ammunition.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said in a recorded video after al-Abadi’s declaration that the victory in Mosul did not eliminate IS from Iraq and « there’s still a tough fight ahead. »
Townsend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said the coalition will continue to support its Iraqi partners, and he urged Iraqis to unite and prevent a return of the conditions that allowed the rise of the extremists.
In Baghdad, Shiite politician Karim al-Nouri echoed those remarks, urging the government to review its policies in Sunni areas of Iraq to « avoid previous mistakes that led to the emergence » of IS.
The government needs to work on « removing fears of marginalization and terrorism affiliation in Sunni areas, » said al-Nouri, a senior member of the Badr Organization. He said he believes Iraqi forces should stay in Mosul until it is fully secure before handing control to local forces.
Lawmaker Intisar al-Jabouri from Nineveh province, where Mosul is the capital, said uprooting IS’ « extremism ideology » was the key to peace in Mosul, which reeled under the group’s harsh rule for three years.
She urged Baghdad to invest in « good relations » between the residents and the security forces and take all « necessary measures to prevent terrorism groups from returning to Mosul. »
In its report, Amnesty International alleged that all sides in the conflict violated international law in the battle for Mosul. IS fighters carried out forced displacement and summary killings, as well as using civilians as human shields.
Iraqi forces and the coalition failed to protect civilians, the report said.
In all, 5,805 civilians may have been killed in the fight for western Mosul by coalition attacks, Amnesty said, citing data from Airwars, an organization monitoring civilian deaths due to the coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria.
« The scale and gravity of the loss of civilian lives during the military operation to retake Mosul must immediately be publicly acknowledged at the highest levels of government in Iraq and states that are part of the U.S.-led coalition, » said Lynn Maalouf, the research director for the Mideast at Amnesty.
The report, which covered the first five months of 2017, noted how the militants moved civilians with them around Mosul, prevented them from escaping and created battle spaces with dense civilian populations, while Iraqi forces and the coalition « failed to adapt their tactics. »
The Iraqi forces and the coalition « continued to use imprecise, explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated urban environments, » Amnesty said, adding that some violations might constitute war crimes.
At a briefing Tuesday in Washington, Townsend rejected the allegation that international law was violated by the coalition.
« I reject any notion that coalition fires were in any way imprecise, unlawful or excssively targeted civilians, » he said.
« I would challenge the people from Amnesty International or anyone else out there who makes these charges to first research their facts and make sure they’re speaking from a position of authority, » Townsend added.
He said the coalition went to « extraordinary measures to safeguard civilian lives, measuring every single time how many civilians may or may not be in the target area and what munition to employ and how can we strike that building and take out only that room and not the entire floor or the entire building. »
In Geneva, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein urged the Iraqi government to ensure that human rights will be respected in post-IS Mosul.
Zeid described Mosul’s fall as the « turning point » in the conflict against IS, but warned that the group continues to subject people to « daily horrors » in its remaining strongholds of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, and in Hawijah, north of Baghdad.
« Horrific though the crimes of ISIL are, there is no place for vengeance, » said Zeid, using another acronym for the Islamic State group.
He cited allegations of threats of collective punishment and forced evictions in Mosul by Iraqi security forces and their allies. He also cited three years of rights violations during IS’ control of Mosul, including abuses like sexual slavery of women and girls that « have left deep scars on Iraqi society. »
For more than two years before the Mosul operation began, Iraqi forces backed by coalition airstrikes slowly reclaimed territory that IS militants had seized as part of the group’s self-described « caliphate. »
Tens of thousands of Iraqi troops went through a coalition training program.
With global jihadi network, IS is likely here to stay
he Islamic State group’s mix of a local insurgency and digitally connected global jihadis gives the group staying power and the means to relaunch its future, from small cells of extremists escaping the war zone in Iraq and Syria to those who never went there in the first place.
The impending loss of Mosul and Raqqa cuts out the urban heart of its self-proclaimed caliphate, but the extremist organization has built-in plans to endure and has shown a degree of flexibility that will be difficult to counteract.
For more than a year, Islamic State has acknowledged the possibility of losing the territory that propelled it to the forefront of the global jihadi movement — and drew thousands of foreign fighters. Islamic State’s goal since then has been to maintain its local and global support base in the face of overwhelming defeat. Whether it succeeds depends on what happens well after today’s battles are over.
ESCAPE CELLS
A first group of Islamic State fighters from Syria and Iraq numbering more than 100 arrived in Afghanistan at the beginning of February, followed by a smaller group, around 20, at the end of March, according to a U.N. report released last week. The group is unpopular among average Afghans, but shows traction among the young and, most importantly, receives ample funding from Islamic State’s central command to pay new fighters triple what the Taliban offers — $500 to $600 a month.
The U.N. report said Islamic State has warned its Afghanistan contingent that it will soon need to be self-financing, an ominous sign for the organization that once pulled in millions of dollars in oil money, ransoms and extortion.
Other groups of foreign fighters are feared to be trying to make their way back to Europe or North Africa, to ether plot attacks there or simply await orders.
In Europe, this has fed fears of extremists hiding among the influx of migrants, while North Africa is « really unstable. … It’s awash in weaponry, » said Colin Clarke, an analyst with the RAND think tank.
Islamic State is « a global group but it’s more regionally anchored. I don’t see them taking up and traveling wholesale to another place. They’re going to go where they have roots. They’re going to seek out these weak states. They’re going to insinuate themselves in local conflicts, » he said.
HOSTILE TAKEOVER
Al-Qaida and the Islamic State group split in 2014, driven apart less by ideology than by a dispute over timing and tactics.
Now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in its latest rebranding effort, al-Qaida is on the rise in some parts of Syria and in recent days has begun targeting what it calls « organization cells » of the Islamic State group in Idlib and other Syrian provinces.
The two groups have considerable crossover — and both claim the mantle of Osama bin Laden. The al-Qaida campaign could be a precursor to demands for a merger or hostile takeover, complete with a choice of death or repentance from rank-and-file defectors.
« The differences between these groups are more in style and tone than in substance, » said Bruce Hoffman, the head of Georgetown University’s security studies program and author of « Inside Terrorism. »
Many of Islamic State’s foreign fighters, especially those from Europe, headed to Syria with the expectation of joining al-Qaida’s branch there, then switched to what they believed was the winning side. Changing back will not be very difficult, Hoffman said.
« Al-Qaida has been waiting in the wings and been letting ISIS take all the heat, » Hoffman said, using an alternative acronym for IS.
FIGHTING — OR HIDING — IN PLACE
Iraq and Syria themselves offer plenty of safe havens for local extremist fighters biding their time. At its height, IS held vast stretches of territory by promising not just brutality, but a religious government beyond corruption that would protect against arbitrary punishment, theft and graft in the service of a global movement for Sunni Muslims everywhere. The promises tapped especially into the grievances of Iraqi Sunnis, who felt abandoned by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad and were suspicious of the Kurdish government in Irbil.
Many in the U.S. have called on the Iraqi government to ensure that Sunnis share in the country’s gains going forward — a step that will prove especially complex given that Sunni areas have seen widespread destruction in the fight against the extremists. Block after block of shattered homes line the roads of Mosul, Fallujah and Ramadi.
« It’s almost at a new level of divisiveness and an unrelenting decade of bloodletting has made any sense of rebuilding a civil society unbelievably challenging, » Hoffman said. Islamic State retains a powerful presence in Iraq’s Anbar province and in the city of Tal Afar.
On Tuesday, Shiite politician Karim al-Nouri warned that defeating IS in Mosul doesn’t mean that « terrorism » is finished and urged the government to review its policies toward Sunni areas to « avoid previous mistakes that led to the emergence » of IS.
Islamic State’s leadership still has a core of leaders from Saddam Hussein’s Baathist organization, known for their survival skills and the support networks they built — something the group’s spokesman, Abu Muhammad Adnani, noted in a message before he was killed last summer in a U.S. airstrike: To survive « whether Allah blesses us with consolidation or we move into the bare, open desert, displaced and pursued. »
REVENGE ATTACKS
A major aspect of Islamic State’s propaganda narrative has been to offer a haven to Sunnis worldwide and until recently its videos and photos made a point of tempering extreme brutality with images of abundant harvests, children at play and efficient, free medical care.
Recently, however, its videos have depicted airstrikes destroying the caliphate, providing a powerful new message — vengeance.
Last month’s attack at London Bridge was claimed by Islamic State as revenge against the U.S.-backed coalition, and the group pledged more violence to come. With supporters from around the world linked by social media and thousands of pieces of propaganda, security officials in Europe and the U.S. fear similar attacks are in the offing.
At its height, Islamic State had tens of thousands of fighters at its disposal, though estimates varied widely. Airstrikes killed a vast percentage, the streams of Europeans heading to the war zone have dried up, and new recruits from the region are growing scarce, but its survival may not depend on numbers alone.
« The numbers may never be their 60,000 fighters or whatever, but the attraction of terrorism is the disproportionate effect a few people can have on the enemy societies and that’ll be enough to keep it alive, » Hoffman said. « The most visceral emotion we know is revenge. It is cathartic and self-satisfying and it becomes a duty. »
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U.S., Qatar sign agreement on combating terrorism financing * U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson in Doha to end month-long rift * Four Arab states accuse Qatar of financing extremist groups, allegations Doha denies * Boycotting states welcome accord, say sanctions in place until demands met (Adds U.S. official) By Tom Finn DOHA, July 11 (Reuters) – The United States and Qatar signed an agreement on Tuesday aimed at combating the financing of terrorism, as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Doha to try to end a month-long rift between Western-allied Arab states.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt imposed sanctions on Qatar last month, accusing it of financing extremist groups and allying with the Gulf Arab states’ arch-foe Iran, allegations Doha denies.
Tillerson said the agreement signed with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, had been under discussion for weeks.
« The agreement which we both have signed on behalf of our governments represents weeks of intensive discussions between experts and reinvigorates the spirit of the Riyadh summit, » Tillerson said at a joint news conference with Sheikh Mohammed.
U.S. President Donald Trump met representatives of Arab states during a visit to Saudi Arabia in May.
« The memorandum lays out a series of steps that each country will take in coming months and years to interrupt and disable terror financing flows and intensify counter terrorism activities globally, » Tillerson added.
The four Arab states boycotting Qatar said later on Tuesday that sanctions would remain in place until it met their demands and that they would keep a close eye on the tiny Gulf monarchy’s efforts to fight terrorism funding.
In a joint statement released in their state media, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain said they appreciated U.S. efforts in fighting terrorism but that they would closely monitor Qatar’s behaviour. nL8N1K25FM Sheikh Mohammed said the agreement was not linked to the crisis with the four Arab countries, which the United States fears could impact its military and counter-terrorism operations and increase Iran’s influence in the region.
Tehran has sent food supplies to Qatar and allows the country’s carrier to fly through its airspace.
Qatar denies it supports militant organisations and says the boycott is part of a campaign to rein in its independent foreign policy.
« Today, the state of Qatar was the first to sign the executive programme with the United States to fight terrorism financing, » Sheikh Mohammed told the news conference.
Tillerson said the agreement includes milestones to ensure both countries are accountable through their commitments.
« Together the United States and Qatar will do more to track down funding sources, will do more to collaborate and share information and will do more to keep the region … safe, » Tillerson said.
Egypt later said at a meeting of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Washington that the coalition should not include member states that supported terrorism, like Qatar.
A U.S. official who had knowledge of the deliberations at the meeting later said « the other working group countries dismissed the Egyptian demand ».
« Terrorism is a global problem that requires a global response – and we all have work to do, » the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
DIPLOMACY Accompanied by Kuwaiti mediators, Tillerson flew to Doha on Tuesday for talks with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, over the crisis. He said he was due to travel to Saudi Arabia for talks with officials from the four Arab countries.
On Monday, he and British National Security Advisor Mark Sedwill met with officials from Kuwait in order to patch up the row among the Western-allied countries.
Following those discussions, the United States, Britain and Kuwait urged all parties to resolve their dispute quickly through dialogue, Kuwait state news agency KUNA reported.
Kuwait’s ruler, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, expressed « bitterness » on Tuesday over what he described as an unprecedented rift in the Gulf, but said he intended to push ahead with mediation efforts.
Foreign ministers from the four Arab states leading the boycott of Qatar will meet with Tillerson in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah on Wednesday.
Coming from some of the most influential powers in the dispute, the plea for a negotiated solution may be aimed at an earlier refusal by Qatar’s adversaries to discuss renewing ties with Doha until it first acquiesced to a list of demands. They include closing the Al Jazeera TV channel, shutting a Turkish military base in Qatar and downgrading ties with Iran.
Qatar hosts Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East, from which U.S.-led coalition aircraft stage sorties against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed support for Saudi Arabia in the dispute. (Writing by Noah Browning and Sami Aboudi; Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Washington, and Ahmed Abouelenein and Mostafa Hashem in Cairo; Editing by Catherine Evans and James Dalgleish
The Latest: US looks to ease Gulf crisis with Qatar deal
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — The Latest on the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and its Arab neighbors (all times local):
10 p.m.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sealed a deal Tuesday to intensify Qatar’s counterterrorism efforts, tackling a central issue in the spat pitting the besieged Gulf nation against four other American allies lined up against it.
Tillerson outlined the agreement at the end of his first visit to Qatar since its neighbors moved to isolate it over grievances, including what they allege is its support for extremist groups.
It was his second stop on a shuttle-diplomacy circuit that will take him next to Saudi Arabia, which has shut Qatar’s only land border and is the most powerful of the countries opposing it.
The centerpiece of the visit was the signing of a memorandum of understanding that lays out steps Qatar can take to bolster its fight against terrorism and address shortfalls in policing terrorism funding.
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7:45 p.m.
The Kuwaiti emir who is mediating the dispute between Qatar and four Arab states says he is « extremely concerned » about the crisis.
Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah was quoted Tuesday by the official Kuwait News Agency, which said he expressed « bitterness » over what he called « unprecedented developments » related to the crisis.
He says only the countries involved can solve the dispute, which pits Qatar against Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.
The emir is a seasoned diplomat who served as minister of foreign affairs to Kuwait during some of the region’s most troubling feuds, including the Gulf War in the 1990s and the Iraq War in 2003.
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5 p.m.
A Qatari envoy says the energy-rich nation will continue development projects in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, despite a rift with its Gulf neighbors stemming in part from its ties with the Islamic militant group.
Mohammed El-Amadi spoke Tuesday as he signed a new agreement with a Palestinian contractor to build eight residential buildings.
Qatar has been the largest single donor to Gaza over the past five years, disbursing about a half billion dollars for housing, reconstruction, infrastructure development, and health projects.
Saudi Arabia and its allies have pressed Qatar to end its support to the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood movement, the historical parent of the militant Hamas group.
Hamas seized control of Gaza from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.
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4:45 p.m.
The United States and Qatar have signed an agreement aimed at shoring up the Gulf nation’s counterterrorism efforts.
The memorandum of understanding was signed Tuesday during a visit to the energy-rich country by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
He is in the Gulf on a mission aimed at ending a rift between Qatar and four Arab states that accuse it of supporting extremists. Qatar denies the allegation.
Senior Tillerson adviser R.C. Hammond says the deal outlines « future efforts Qatar can take to fortify its fight against terrorism and actively address terrorism funding issues. »
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11 a.m.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has departed for Qatar as he tries to mediate a dispute between the energy-rich country and a quartet of Arab nations.
Tillerson left Kuwait City and was due to arrive in the Qatari capital, Doha, before noon on Tuesday.
He has held talks Kuwait’s ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, after arriving in Kuwait on Monday.
Sheikh Sabah has been acting as a mediator between Qatar and four states lined up against it: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
The quartet broke off relations and cut air, sea and land routes to Qatar in early June. They accuse it of supporting extremist groups — something Qatar denies — and meddling in their affairs.
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Qatar says more Turkish troops have arrived at military base DUBAI, July 11 (Reuters) – Qatar said on Tuesday more Turkish troops had arrived at a military base in Doha after Ankara fast-tracked legislation last month for more soldiers to be deployed there.
Training has been ongoing since June 19. The base in Qatar houses Turkish soldiers under an agreement signed in 2014.
Ankara has backed Qatar after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, cut all economic and diplomatic ties this month, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism, a charge it denies.
« This defence cooperation between Doha and Ankara is part of their common defence vision to support anti terrorism efforts and maintain security and stability in the region, » a statement by Qatar’s Armed Forces said.
The statement did not give the number of Turkish troops at the base or how many had just joined to bolster the deployment.
Qatar Petroleum, Total launch new venture for oil field
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Total and Qatar Petroleum have inaugurated a new venture to develop the Gulf country’s expansive offshore Al-Shaheen oil field for the next 25 years.
The joint venture, named the North Oil Company, was formally inaugurated Tuesday in Qatar’s capital, Doha. Total takes over exploration of the field from Maersk Oil. The offshore field produces around 300,000 barrels of oil per day.
Qatar is the world’s largest liquefied gas exporter. It shares a vast underwater gas field with Iran, which last week signed a $5 billion agreement with France’s Total to develop a portion of its side of the field.
Qatar’s gas exports have not been interrupted, despite a blockade by three of its neighbors and Egypt amid a diplomatic row.
Saudi Arabia executes 4 Shiites for role in violent protests
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia on Tuesday executed four Shiites convicted on charges of terrorism for attacks against police and their role in violent protests.
The Interior Ministry said the four were executed for incidents that took place in the eastern region of Qatif, which is heavily populated by the kingdom’s minority Shiites. Qatif is also home to the town of al-Awamiya, where there has been a surge in violence since May between Shiite militants and security forces who are demolishing the town’s historic center.
In the list of offenses broadcast by the Interior Ministry, it did not appear that any of the four executed Tuesday had been found guilty of committing murder. Many of the offenses were related to their participation in protests. All were found guilty of disobeying the country’s ruler, a common charge leveled against dissidents.
The list of charges, however, also includes violent offenses such as opening fire on police, harboring fugitives, throwing firebombs at security forces during protests and being part of a terrorist cell aimed at undermining security.
Rights groups last month expressed concern that 14 Saudi Shiites face execution for protest-related crimes committed in 2011 and 2012. In a joint statement, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said the rise in death sentences against minority Shiites in Saudi Arabia « is alarming and suggests that the authorities are using the death penalty to settle scores and crush dissent under the guise of combating ‘terrorism’. »
Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest rates of execution. In January 2016, the kingdom executed 47 prisoners convicted of terrorism-related offenses, including prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who had led protests in al-Awamiya against the government and its ultraconservative Sunni clerics. He had been charged with inciting violence against security forces and using his sermons to sow sedition — charges he denied and said were politically motivated.
The UK-based Reprieve, which advocates against the death penalty, said Tuesday’s executions appear to be the first of prisoners tried by Saudi Arabia’s counterterrorism court since last year’s mass execution.
Saudis to allow girls to play sports in public schools
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that it will grant girls in public schools access to physical education, a decision that comes after years of calls by women across the kingdom demanding greater rights and access to sports.
The Education Ministry said it will introduce the physical education classes « gradually » and « in accordance with (Islamic) Shariah regulations. »
At least one Saudi activist took to Twitter questioning whether this implied that girls will be required to seek the permission of their male guardians, such as a father, before they can play sports. It was also unclear if the classes would be extracurricular or mandatory.
The decision to allow girls to play sports in public schools is significant in Saudi Arabia because women taking part in exercise is still seen as a taboo. Some of the kingdom’s ultraconservatives shun the concept of women’s exercise as « immodest » and say it blurs gender lines.
It was only four years ago that the kingdom formally approved sports for girls in private schools. Women first participated in Saudi Arabia’s Olympic team during the 2012 London games.
Despite incremental openings for Saudi women, tight restrictions remain in place. Women are banned from driving and must seek the permission of a male guardian to travel abroad or obtain a passport. Restrictive male guardianship rules give men, usually the father or husband, huge sway over a woman’s life in Saudi Arabia.
The move to grant girls access to sports comes after years of campaigning by women’s rights activists, who have led calls to end male guardianship rules and lift the ban on women driving.
Outside of a few upscale gated compounds where foreigners live and select neighborhoods, women do not jog or exercise in public spaces, and they are banned from attending sporting matches in the country’s male-only stadiums.
Women in Saudi Arabia must wear loose flowing robes known as « abayas » in public, and most also cover their hair and face with black veils.
Access to sports has largely been a luxury for those women who can afford it and whose families permit it. A handful of private sports clubs have emerged over the years, allowing some women to join in female basketball leagues. In recent years Saudi Arabia has approved some licenses for female-only gyms, but membership costs are beyond the reach of many.
A new, sprawling female-only university in the capital, Riyadh, has a large gym, outdoor soccer pitches, running tracks and indoor swimming pools. Despite such facilities, the country’s top consultative body, the Shura Council, rejected a proposal earlier this year to establish sports education colleges that would train women in how to teach fitness and well-being, such as physical education courses in schools.
Saudi Arabia implements strict gender segregation rules that often require women to sit in « family only » sections of restaurants and cafes, or to be banned entirely from establishments where segregated seating is unavailable. Boys and girls are segregated in schools and university to prevent unrelated males and females from mixing.
The Education Ministry said the decision to introduce sports for girls was in line with the country’s sweeping Vision 2030 plan , a wide-reaching government plan to overhaul society and the economy. It is being spearheaded by the kingdom’s young heir to the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The plan specifically calls for encouraging the participation of all citizens in sports and athletic activities. It says 13 percent of the Saudi population exercises once a week. The government aims to bump that up to 40 percent and raise life expectancy from 74 years to 80 years.
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U.S. to review remaining Middle East airlines under laptop ban By David Shepardson WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday it planned to review requests by three Middle Eastern airlines still under a laptop ban to have the restrictions lifted.
The agency will assess airlines from Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Egypt in coming weeks to see if they have introduced security measures to allow the ban to be removed at four airports, DHS spokesman David Lapan said.
Saudi Arabian Airlines, also known as Saudia, said it expected the ban to be lifted on flights from Jeddah and Riyadh by July 19, while Royal Air Maroc believed it could get off the ban for flights out of Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport by July 19.
State-owned EgyptAir, which has also been covered by the ban, said Tuesday the restrictions would be lifted on Wednesday. Lapan said DHS would confirm the removal of the measures for EgyptAir after they verified the airline’s security procedures.
The measures were imposed in March on nine airlines to address the potential threat of hidden explosives in laptops and other devices. The restrictions, coupled with the Trump administration’s travel ban on six majority-Muslim countries, hurt the predominantly Middle Eastern carriers.
Over the past 10 days, DHS has lifted restrictions on in-cabin large electronics on six of the airlines after they adopted stricter screening for explosives and other enhanced measures.
They include Royal Jordanian Airways, Kuwait Airways, which saw the ban removed on Sunday. Restrictions on Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines were dropped last week.
On June 28, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly unveiled enhanced security measures for all foreign flights arriving in the United States in what officials said was a move to end a limited in-cabin ban on laptops and prevent its expansion to additional airports.
The new security measures could prompt additional screening time for the 325,000 airline passengers arriving in the United States daily.
European and U.S. officials told Reuters airlines had 21 days to put in place increased explosive trace detection screening and 120 days to comply with other security measures, including enhanced screening of airline passengers.
Lapan on Tuesday declined to discuss the timetable for enhanced security procedures, but emphasized that the U.S. government would work with airlines.
« Some airports, airlines will be able to get there more quickly, » Lapan said.
DHS is « looking for progress, » he added. The United States could still impose penalties on airlines that are not moving fast enough, he said. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Andrew Hay)
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Electronics ban on Egypt-U.S. flights to be lifted Wednesday (Updates date of ban lifting, sourcing, adds quotes) CAIRO, July 11 (Reuters) – A three-month-old ban on taking electronic devices such as laptops into aircraft cabins on flights from Egypt to the United States will be lifted on Wednesday, EgyptAir Chairman Safwat Musallam said on Tuesday.
On March 25, the United States banned electronic devices larger than a mobile phone from cabins on direct flights to the United States from 10 airports in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.
« The ban on taking laptops and other electronic devices aboard aircraft cabins on EgyptAir flights to New York will be lifted as of tomorrow and for a year or until another emergency amendment is introduced, » Musallam said in a statement.
A similar ban on flights to London was still in effect, he added.
The ban was imposed at 10 airports in Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey to address fears that bombs could be concealed in electronic devices.
It was not immediately clear why the ban was lifted but other airlines in Turkey, the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Morocco all announced in recent days that bans on their flights were lifted or in the process of being lifted.
Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy welcomed the lifting of the ban and said it came as a result of close cooperation between Cairo International Airport and EgyptAir employees, which put U.S. authorities at ease.
Flag carrier EgyptAir is the only Egyptian airline that flies to the United States. It only operates flights between Cairo and New York. (Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Eric Knecht and Alison Williams)
Expansion plan highlights crowded West Bank city’s plight
QALQILIYA, West Bank (AP) — Last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government quietly passed one of its most significant concessions to the Palestinians: a plan to alter the West Bank map and turn over a small chunk of Israeli-controlled territory.
But after an uproar by Israeli settler leaders, the government appears poised to cancel the move — a decision that could upset nascent U.S. efforts to restart peace talks and take away a rare piece of relief for the residents of this overcrowded city.
As the West Bank’s most densely populated Palestinian city, Qalqiliya has been eagerly awaiting implementation of the Israeli plan that would allow it to double its size by expanding into land that has until now been off-limits.
« We desperately need this plan because of the density, » said Mayor Hashem al-Masri. « It will be a catastrophe if we can’t expand. It will feel like someone is trying to drive us out of our city. »
The fate of Qalqiliya, which lies along the de facto Israeli border and is surrounded on three sides by Israel’s separation barrier, touches on one of the conflict’s thorniest issues: the battle over the 60 percent of the West Bank known as Area C.
Under interim peace accords reached two decades ago, Area C remained under full Israeli control, and Israel has repeatedly rejected calls to allow large-scale Palestinian development there.
These restrictions have made life difficult for Qalqiliya’s 53,000 residents, who live on just over 1.5 square miles (4 square kilometers) of land. Because of the separation barrier, the only way it can expand is east — into privately owned Palestinian lands in Area C where Israel has barred construction. The plan calls for building more than 14,000 new housing units, an industrial park, playgrounds, a waste management plant and a cemetery.
Qalqiliya has been among the quietest cities in the West Bank, and has even been singled out by Israel’s nationalist defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, as a model. Its planned expansion is one of the flagships of Lieberman’s « carrot and stick » policy toward the Palestinians.
Qalqiliya was once a regular shopping destination for Israelis. Palestinians would cross into Israel freely for jobs, and some locals can still fondly recall leisurely riding their bikes to Israeli beaches on the Mediterranean. But all that changed after the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, when a campaign of suicide bombings in Israel prompted tougher security measures and eventually a barrier that cut the West Bank off with walls and sophisticated fences.
It’s now a sleepy city that produces agriculture and not much else. It’s mostly known for housing a popular West Bank zoo, a decrepit menagerie by Western standards that is famous for the taxidermy of its deceased animals. Earlier this year, a caged bear bit off the arm of a Palestinian child who apparently tried to feed it.
With the backing of the Israeli military, Israel’s Cabinet approved the expansion plan last year. But once settlers, angry that their own housing construction permits had been limited under U.S. pressure, got wind of it they launched an angry campaign against Lieberman and Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, who heads the Israeli defense body for Palestinian civilian affairs, accusing them of being soft on Palestinian violence and overstepping their authority.
Settler leaders have derided the plan as a « reward for terror. » They also noted that Qalqiliya sits next to a major Israeli highway at the country’s narrowest point, just 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the Mediterranean Sea, and could prove a launching ground toward Israel’s heartland.
Several Cabinet ministers have since claimed they didn’t know what they voted for, and Netanyahu has said he couldn’t recall the details. He has ordered a new vote on the plan, which is expected soon. His office would not comment.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the pro-settler Jewish Home Party, said the Palestinians can build « unconstrained » in areas under their authority. But he said the plan involves Israeli-controlled land in a strategic location.
« I think it’s a profound mistake, » he said in an interview. « It just doesn’t make sense. » Bennett, a key power broker in Israeli politics, said he expects the plan to be rejected when it comes up again for a vote.
Under the interim Oslo Peace Accords, areas of the West Bank, which Israel conquered in the 1967 Mideast war, were divided into various categories. The vast majority of Palestinians live in areas A and B, which are under partial or full Palestinian control, but make up just 40 percent of the land.
All Israeli settlements are in Area C, and Israel has been reluctant to give Palestinians construction permits there, often demolishing what it calls illegally built structures. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers have been pushing to expand the settlements.
The Palestinians seek the West Bank as part of a future state and consider all settlements illegal, a view that is shared by most of the world.
As Qalqiliya officials await Israeli approval, antsy residents have already begun illegally building concrete structures in outlying farmlands overlooking Israeli communities, even at the risk of being demolished.
Nimmer Arif, 70, said he had already purchased a plot of land in Area C to build homes for his four sons and four daughters but could not begin construction because it remained under Israeli administration. « I have been waiting for a year and a half to document it and I don’t know when this can happen, » he said, sitting in a mobile phone shop.
Rassem Khamaisi, a professor of urban planning at Haifa University who drew up the planned expansion, says Israel must allow the city to breathe, with or without a peace deal.
« The years of occupation have not allowed for natural growth and it’s an injustice to leave people locked in like this, » he said. « Qalqiliya will not disappear. »
Abdel-Momen Afaneh, a senior city administrator, said the city had a natural interest in maintaining calm since 4,000 residents have permits to work in Israel But if strangled, he said, the tough conditions could breed violence.
He said the proposed expansion, already scaled back to address Israeli security concerns, is the absolute minimum needed for a city projected to reach 80,000 residents within 20 years. « If this is rejected, the city will not rise again, » he said.
At City Hall, the mayor rejected any warnings that its expansion would harm Israel.
« Who is threatening whom? » al-Masri asked. « We just want our rights, our natural right to grow. »
UN says life in Gaza getting ‘more and more wretched’
JERUSALEM (AP) — Life in Gaza is getting « more and more wretched » after a decade of Hamas rule and a crippling Israeli and Egyptian blockade, a U.N. report said Tuesday.
The report was highly critical of the Islamic militant group, accusing it of « substantial human rights violations. »
« Gaza has continued on its trajectory of de-development, in many cases even faster than we had originally projected. » Robert Piper, the U.N. coordinator for aid in the Palestinian territories, said in the report. In 2012, the U.N. said Gaza could be « unlivable » by 2020.
Hamas seized Gaza from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Israel and Egypt have since maintained a system of closures that has sharply limited travel and trade, saying the measures are needed to prevent Hamas, which seeks Israel’s destruction, from arming.
The report said access has been further hindered by the « military buildup in Gaza by Hamas and other militant groups, which continued and intensified over the past decade, » including the stockpiling of rockets with ever greater range and the construction of « sophisticated tunnels used for kidnappings and terrorist attacks in Israel. »
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
Hamas has fought three wars with Israel since it seized power, most recently in the summer of 2014. Parts of Gaza are still devastated from the fighting.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said the report proves that Hamas has « brought nothing but pain and destruction to the residents of Gaza. »
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Lebanese army kills Islamic State-linked militant – sources (Adds Hezbollah chief) BEIRUT, July 11 (Reuters) – The Lebanese army has killed a man suspected of links to Islamic State and of carrying out bomb attacks in the town of Ras Baalbek near the Syrian border, a security source and a military source said on Tuesday.
The Syrian national was shot dead during an operation launched after the army received intelligence that an Islamic State-linked cell was meeting, the security source said.
A Lebanese national suspected of weapons smuggling was also arrested in the raid, and the army discovered several bombs, an explosive belt, and nearly 50 kg (110 pounds) of explosives, the source said.
The operation took place in the Arsal area, where the army says it has been carrying out a major security operation against suspected militants. In late June, authorities arrested several hundred people in raids on refugee camps in Arsal.
Some attacks in Lebanon have been linked to the six-year-old war in neighbouring Syria, where Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah is fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
In a televised speech, Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah praised the security campaign waged by the army and warned that time was running out for Syrian militants along the border area in Arsal to reach reconciliation deals with the Syrian authorities.
« It’s high time to end the threat of militant groups in Arsal and little time is left to reach certain reconciliation deals, » he added.
« There are terrorists and planners of attacks in Arsal and this needs a solution. » Hezbollah fights alongside Syrian government forces on most of the major front lines in the country’s civil war.
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EU naval force ‘Sophia’ fails to stop migrant smuggling – report By Lin Taylor LONDON, July 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The European Union’s Mediterranean naval force has failed to stop migrants from making the perilous sea journey to Europe and should not continue operating in its current form, British lawmakers said on Wednesday.
The EU force, known as Operation Sophia, was set up in 2015 to fight people smuggling in the south-central Mediterranean, but it cannot enter Libyan waters without an invitation from the government, of which there are two vying for power in Tripoli and Benghazi.
Libya is a major departure point for mainly sub-Saharan African migrants trying to reach Europe through crossings arranged by people smugglers, often in flimsy boats.
The flow of migrants has increased amid the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.
Lawmakers from a parliamentary committee focused on EU affairs, which released the report after an inquiry into the naval operation, said Sophia was costly and has not deterred migrants from risking their lives at sea.
« People smuggling begins onshore, so a naval mission is the wrong tool for tackling this dangerous, inhumane and unscrupulous business. Once the boats have set sail, it is too late, » said Conservative lawmaker Sandip Verma, chair of the committee that scrutinises EU documents and policies.
« The key is to look at the economic difficulties of these countries and why (migrants) are leaving in the first instance, and how we can prevent people from wanting to make that treacherous journey, » Verma said at a briefing.
The report said the European Union should continue its humanitarian sea rescues with non-military vessels, but it would not be able to disrupt the migrant smuggling business without a stable Libyan government to cooperate with.
Since its deployment, the EU naval force said it has arrested 110 suspected smugglers, prevented 463 boats from being re-used by traffickers, and rescued over 38,000 people at sea.
Last October, Operation Sophia also began training Libyan navy coastguards to « improve security of Libyan territorial waters » and to help with search-and-rescue efforts.
« As a consequence, the training packages will enhance Libyan Navy Coast Guard and Libyan Navy capability to disrupt smuggling and trafficking, » a spokesman for the EU’s Operation Sophia said in an email.
As the Mediterranean experiences calm summer weather, Europe’s governments are keen to avoid migrant drownings and to deter smugglers finding new routes after a deal between the EU and Turkey in 2016 cut trafficking across the Aegean Sea.
Some 100,000 people have arrived in Europe in unseaworthy boats so far this year, says the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration.
As of July 6, almost 2,300 died or disappeared during the crossing, making the Central Mediterranean the world’s most dangerous border for migrants.
Trump delays decision on whether to end Sudan sanctions
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration delayed its decision Tuesday on whether to permanently lift sanctions on Sudan, giving itself three more months to determine whether the African country’s government has made enough progress after decades of isolation, war and abuses.
Just before leaving office in January, former President Barack Obama issued an executive order lifting decades-old Sudan sanctions on a probationary basis. Temporary sanctions relief took effect immediately, and was to become permanent on Wednesday unless the Trump administration acted to stop it.
President Donald Trump, in a new executive order issued Tuesday, moved that deadline back by three months, while keeping the temporary sanctions relief in place in the meantime. That means that the Sudan sanctions will permanently expire on October 13 unless the administration acts to snap them back into place.
The Obama administration justifying lifting the sanctions by citing improved counterterrorism efforts and other progress in Sudan. But human rights activists have said the sanctions should stay in place. And several dozen U.S. lawmakers had urged Trump to delay a final decision by a full year, arguing that the Trump administration didn’t yet have sufficient staff in place to fully evaluate whether the sanctions merited being removed.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert credited Sudan with making progress in improving humanitarian access, cooperating with the U.S. on counter-terrorism and preserving a cease-fire in conflict areas. But she said the administration needed more time to review the situation and determine whether it was appropriate to lift the sanctions.
« We remain deeply committed to engagement with the GOS and working toward further progress, » Nauert said, using an acronym for the Government of Sudan.
Sudan has been under U.S. financial sanctions since the 1990s, when it was briefly home to Osama Bin Laden and accused of sponsoring terrorism.
Rights advocates and opposition groups have said lifting the sanctions would strengthen President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide charges linked to the Darfur conflict, and do much to bring his government back into the international despite its past abuses.
The U.S. has worked to isolate Sudan since the military coup that brought al-Bashir to power in 1989, and even if Trump lets the sanctions expire in October, other sanctions targeting him and some of his inner circle will remain in place regardless.
Ahead of the decision, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said that lifting the sanctions permanently is « a right of Sudan, which has fulfilled all its commitments. »
US judge halts Iraqis’ deportation until court review
DETROIT (AP) — A federal judge Tuesday halted the deportation of 1,400 Iraqi nationals, including many Christians fearing persecution, while courts review the orders to remove them from the U.S.
Judge Mark Goldsmith issued a 24-page opinion asserting jurisdiction in the case over the objection of the Justice Department, which argued U.S. district judges do not have jurisdiction.
« This Court concludes that to enforce the Congressional mandate that district courts lack jurisdiction — despite the compelling context of this case — would expose Petitioners to the substantiated risk of death, torture, or other grave persecution before their legal claims can be tested in a court, » Goldsmith wrote in a 24-page opinion.
Goldsmith earlier blocked the deportations while he considered whether he had jurisdiction over the case.
Many of the Iraqis, including 114 rounded up in the Detroit area last month who are mostly Christians, fear attacks over their religion if returned to Iraq. The government says they face deportation because they committed crimes in the U.S.
Goldsmith earlier extended a ruling suspending the deportation of the 114 while he considered jurisdiction to all Iraqi nationals in the U.S.
The U.S. government said 1,400 Iraqis are under deportation orders nationwide, though most are not in custody. Some have been under orders for years because they committed crimes in the U.S. But legal action over deportations took on new urgency because Iraq has agreed to accept them.
The American Civil Liberties Union said a suspension is necessary so Iraqi nationals can go to immigration court and argue that their lives would be in jeopardy if returned to their native country. Without some intervention, the ACLU contends that people could be deported before their case is called.
Goldsmith scheduled a Wednesday hearing to discuss several matters in the case, including a request from the Iraqis for a preliminary injunction barring the deportations.
Iranian researcher traveling to Boston detained at airport
BOSTON (AP) — An Iranian cancer researcher arriving in the U.S. to start work at a prominent Boston hospital has been detained at Logan International Airport.
Boston Children’s Hospital said in a statement Tuesday that Dr. Mohsen Dehnavi was prevented from entering the country with his wife and three young children despite holding a J-1 visa for visiting scholars. They arrived at the airport Monday.
The hospital said the reasons for the detention were unclear, and the family remained at the airport and could be sent back to Iran later Tuesday.
« Boston Children’s hopes that this situation will be quickly resolved and Dr. Dehnavi and his family will be released and allowed to enter the U.S., » hospital spokesman Rob Graham said in the statement. « The hospital is committed to doing its utmost to support Dr. Dehnavi and his family. »
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol spokeswoman Stephanie Malin said the Dehnavis family’s detention was for « reasons unrelated » to President Donald Trump’s executive order on travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries. She said the stop was based on information discovered during the agency’s review. She didn’t elaborate.
But Malin noted that visa applicants « bear the burden of proof » to meet all requirements and can be denied entry for a range of reasons, including health-related issues, criminality or security concerns.
The Supreme Court recently ruled the Trump administration could largely enforce its temporary ban on travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. But the court said the ban can’t block people with a « credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. »
Some advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Iranian American Council, suggested the detention might be a violation of the Supreme Court order.
« The family is very worried, » said Shayan Modarres, a lawyer for the D.C.-based council, which has been in contact with the family. « If it is a minor paperwork issue, then something needs to be told to the family so they can resolve it. »
At the very least, the incident shows how the administration’s political priorities are leading to « overzealous enforcement » of immigration laws, said Gregory Romanovsky, chair of the New England chapter of the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association.
« Exercising discretion is not what they’re comfortable doing anymore, especially if they’re dealing with someone from one of the six banned countries, » he said of local customs officials. « The travel ban and the whole anti-immigrant mood coming from the very top of this administration certainly affects their ability. »
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a Democrat, told reporters he was waiting to hear more about the Dehnavis’ circumstances, but also suggested the case was an example of concerns with the travel ban.
« Many people, doctors and nurses and people who are students working in the world-class institutions that we have are going to be boxed out or left out of the country, » he said.
Soldier supported Islamic State but remained in military
HONOLULU (AP) — A U.S. soldier who was recently arrested on terrorism charges expressed support for the Islamic State group as early as 2011, but remained in the Army for years while the military and the FBI investigated to determine whether he posed a threat, authorities said.
Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang was taken into custody over the weekend after the 34-year-old veteran of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan declared his loyalty to the terrorist group and exclaimed that he wanted to « kill a bunch of people, » according to authorities.
The case highlights the challenges investigators face with protecting the public from a potentially dangerous actor on one hand and gathering sufficient evidence to enable prosecution on the other.
Kang is on record making pro-Islamic State comments and threatening to hurt or kill other service members back in 2011, according to an FBI affidavit filed Monday in federal court.
The Army revoked his security clearance in 2012, but gave it back to him the following year. Last year, the Army called the FBI when it « appeared that Kang was becoming radicalized, » the affidavit said.
Retired Army judge and prosecutor Col. Gregory A. Gross said he was perplexed that the Army allowed Kang to remain a soldier even after his favorable comments toward the Islamic State group.
But Gross said the Army may have decided Kang was just mouthing off and was not a threat.
Gross served as the initial judge in the court martial of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. He said Tuesday he was concerned by the similarities between Kang and Hasan’s case.
« He was making all these statements, and giving these presentations, » said Gross, who is currently a civilian defense attorney for military service members.
Lt. Col. Curtis J. Kellogg, a spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division, declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
Kang’s court-appointed lawyer, Birney Bervar, said his client may suffer from service-related mental health issues of which the government was aware but neglected to treat. He declined to elaborate.
Noel Tipon, an attorney in military and civilian courts, said there’s nothing in the Army manual on removing soldiers from the service that would address allegations like speaking favorably about a group like Islamic State.
He suspects the FBI wanted Kang to stay in the Army while they investigated whether he had collaborators.
« They probably said ‘let’s monitor it and see if we can get a real terrorist cell,’ » said Tipon, who served in the Marine Corps.
The FBI said its investigation showed Kang was acting on his own.
Spokesman Arnold Laanui said the probe took nearly a year given the evidence that needed to be collected and the constitutional rights that needed to be protected.
« These tend to be very meticulous and time-consuming matters, » Laanui said. Public safety, he said, was at the forefront of the case, he said.
The FBI outlined its evidence against Kang in a 26-page affidavit filed Monday. It includes allegations Kang filmed a combat training video for Islamic State and bought a drone he believed would be sent to the Middle East to help the group’s fighters.
Agents said none of the military documents — classified and unclassified — Kang gave to people he believed were affiliated with Islamic State ever got to the group.
Kang’s father told Honolulu television station KHON and the Star-Advertiser newspaper his son may have had post-traumatic stress disorder. Kang told the newspaper he became concerned after his son’s return from Afghanistan. He said his son was withdrawn.
Kang enlisted in the Army in December 2001, just months after the Sept. 11 attacks. He served in South Korea from 2002 to 2003. He deployed to Iraq from March 2010 to February 2011 and Afghanistan from July 2013 to April 2014.
Kang was scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a detention hearing.
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INTERVIEW-Cleric Gulen says he would not flee U.S. to avoid extradition to Turkey By Matt Spetalnick and Julia Harte SAYLORSBURG, Pa., July 11 (Reuters) – Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based Muslim cleric accused by Turkey of instigating last year’s failed coup, says he has no plans to flee the United States and would accept extradition if Washington agrees to a request by Ankara to hand him over.
In an interview in his gated compound in Pennsylvania?s Pocono Mountains, Gulen, 79, denied a Turkish government allegation from February that he was preparing to leave for Canada to avoid extradition.
« The rumors aren’t true at all, » he told Reuters.
« If the United States sees it appropriate to extradite me, I would leave (for Turkey), » he said, sitting in an ornate meeting room, its walls lined with Islamic scripture.
President Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish government accuse Gulen of orchestrating last July’s attempted coup, in which rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and fighter jets, bombing parliament and trying to abduct or kill Erdogan. More than 240 people were killed in the violence.
The Turkish Embassy in Washington declined to comment on Gulen’s latest remarks. The White House did not respond immediately to requests for comment. Officials in Ankara could also not immediately be reached for comment.
Erdogan said in May he would pursue « to the end » Turkey’s demand for the extradition of Gulen, who denies any involvement in the coup attempt. But there has been little or no concrete progress on the Turkish request.
U.S. officials have said privately that even though Erdogan has appealed directly to U.S. President Donald Trump on the matter, Turkey has yet to provide enough evidence for the Justice Department to act.
The issue has been a major sticking point in the relationship between the two NATO allies.
Gulen said he hoped that the Trump administration would not allow his extradition to move forward, especially after the resignation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a White House aide who quit just weeks after Trump’s inauguration.
Flynn, who resigned over his failure to disclose the extent of his contacts with Russia, had performed paid lobbying work that « could be construed to have principally benefited » the Turkish government, according to his lobbying registration filings, and was outspoken in favor of Gulen?s extradition.
Gulen said he felt « pity » for Flynn but acknowledged that the former Trump aide’s departure might have helped his case.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the status of Turkey’s extradition request. There was no immediate response from Flynn’s lawyer to a request for comment.
FRAIL EXILE Gulen, a former Erdogan ally, has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999, presiding over what he says is a humanitarian religious movement. His followers operate a global network of schools and businesses that has been linked to the Gulenist movement.
His network was declared a terrorist group by Turkey’s national security council two months before the failed coup. Since then, Gulen himself has become an increasingly marginalized figure across the political spectrum.
Following the putsch, a wide crackdown, which the government says is targeting Gulen’s followers, has seen 50,000 people arrested and 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers suspended under emergency rule.
Gulen denounced Erdogan’s consolidation of power and the seizure of media outlets, comparing him to a « dictator. » He urged the Trump administration and European governments to do more to encourage the restoration of political freedoms in Turkey.
« (If Erdogan hears) a strong voice from the United States or European Union, European Parliament, Brussels, saying: ‘What you are doing is wrong … your judicial system is not working,’ then maybe he will change his mind, » the cleric said.
European leaders have been critical of Erdogan’s crackdown, but Washington has been more muted in its response. In a meeting in Washington in May, Trump made no mention of Erdogan’s record on dissent and free speech.
The Turkish government has repeatedly said its actions are justified by the gravity of the threat posed to the state by last year’s coup, and rejected suggestions that it is clamping down on dissent.
« The rule of law is upheld in Turkey, and it is not just about gaining more power or punishing the opposition, » Revza Kavakci Kan, deputy chair of Erdogan?s ruling AK Party, told a conference in Washington on Monday.
Gulen praised the political opposition in Turkey and stressed that any fresh effort to remove Erdogan should be through peaceful protest and elections, not non-democratic means.
His followers say his global movement – known as « Hizmet, » which means « service » in Turkish – seeks to spread a moderate brand of Islam, which promotes Western-style education, free markets and interfaith communication.
« I have never supported a coup or an ouster, » he said.
Today, Gulen is an isolated figure in Turkey, reviled by Erdogan’s supporters but also shunned by much of the opposition, who see his network as having conspired over decades to undermine the secular foundations of the modern republic.
Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of Istanbul on Sunday to protest against Erdogan’s crackdown, but there was no sign of sympathy for Gulen.
Gulen appeared frail in the interview, walking with a shuffle, and keeping his longtime doctor close at hand. (Additional reporting by Nick Tattersall in London and Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney//)
China sends forces to 1st military base abroad, in Djibouti
BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday dispatched members of its People’s Liberation Army to the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti to man the rising Asian giant’s first overseas military base, a key part of a wide-ranging expansion of the role of China’s armed forces.
The defense ministry said on its website that a ceremony was held at a naval pier in the southern Chinese port of Zhanjiang presided over by navy commander Vice Adm. Shen Jinlong.
It said the personnel would travel by navy ship but gave no details on numbers or units. Photos on the website showed naval officers and marines in battle dress lining the rails of the support ships Jingangshan and Donghaidao.
China says the logistics center will support anti-piracy, U.N. peacekeeping and humanitarian relief missions in Africa and western Asia. It says it will also facilitate military cooperation and joint exercises as the PLA navy and other services seek to expand their global reach in step with China’s growing economic and political footprint.
Djibouti is already home to the center of American operations in Africa, Camp Lemonnier, while France, Britain, Japan and other nations also maintain a military presence in the small but strategically located nation.
Multinational anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden that China joined in 2008 have also given its navy ready access to the Mediterranean, and, in 2011, it took the unprecedented step of sending one of its most sophisticated warships together with military transport aircraft to help in the evacuation of about 35,000 Chinese citizens from Libya.
In 2015, China detached three navy ships from the anti-piracy patrols to rescue Chinese citizens and other foreign nationals from fighting in Yemen. The same year, it took part in its first Mediterranean joint naval exercises with Russia.
Trump storms Paris for Bastille Day
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and France’s Emmanuel Macron may be the world’s oddest of political odd couples. Far apart on climate change and immigration, the two leaders will look for common ground on terrorism and defense policy when they meet this week in Paris.
The visit will gauge whether Trump and France’s new leader can find consensus on critical issues including terrorism and security.
The overseas trip comes as Trump is dogged by fresh controversy over his campaign’s potential connections to Russia.
Macron, for his part, has come out strongly against Russia’s purported efforts to interfere in elections in the U.S. and across Europe. He has accused Moscow of working against his own campaign in support of his opponent, far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
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Amid divisions with Macron, Trump to travel to Paris to discuss Syria, terrorism By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to Paris on Wednesday to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron where the two leaders will seek to work together on Syria and countering terrorism, while avoiding the thorny issues that have divided them.
Trump and Macron — both political newcomers who scored upset victories in their presidential elections — have taken very different positions in areas such as climate change and trade.
U.S. and French officials have said Trump’s visit to Paris will allow the leaders to focus on those places where their interests overlap, including resolving the conflict in Syria and combating global terrorism.
Macron invited Trump to France to celebrate July 14 Bastille Day festivities and to commemorate the 100 years since U.S. troops entered into World War One.
« It’s for France a unique opportunity to show French military power … and that’s very important for Trump, » said Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, director of the Paris office of think-tank the German Marshall Fund.
Trump has repeatedly hammered away at European allies in NATO for not paying their fair share on military spending.
Although France has not met NATO’s target of spending 2 percent of GDP on the military, Trump is satisfied that the country is very close to meeting that goal, a White House official said on Tuesday.
Trump will arrive in Paris early Thursday morning. He will participate in a welcoming ceremony at Les Invalides, where he will tour a French war museum and visit the tomb of Napoleon. Then Trump and Macron will hold a bilateral meeting followed by a news conference, the White House said.
Macron and Trump, along with their wives, plan to dine at a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower Thursday night.
Trump’s brief trip to France follows his attendance of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany last week. The United States was left relatively isolated during the summit, when it reaffirmed Trump’s decision to pull out of a landmark international accord reached in Paris in 2015 to fight climate change.
In hard-fought negotiations in Germany, Macron tried to soften U.S. language on climate policy.
« They have completely contrasting messages, where Trump has argued for ‘America first,’ Emmanuel Macron is arguing for a kind of cosmopolitan globalist vision of France and of Europe, » said Erik Jones, director of European and Eurasian Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
« That is going to create very sharp contrast when the two meet in France, » Jones said. (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
High-level talks between US and Russia set to resume
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Russia are set to resume a series of high-level talks that Moscow scrapped after the Trump administration announced new sanctions.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert says that Undersecretary of State Tom Shannon and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will meet on Monday in Washington. The dialogue had been set up to address irritants between the two countries and to try to restore enough trust so that bigger issues like Syria and Ukraine could eventually be addressed.
Russia canceled the last scheduled meeting last month in response to new Ukraine-related sanctions. But the U.S. and Russia have been discussing getting them back on track.
Ryabkov says President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Germany paved the way for relations to improve.
Long his father’s attack dog, Trump Jr. now in eye of storm
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump Jr. has long been his father’s id, the brawler who has helped fuel the president’s pugilistic instincts and stood firm as one of his fiercest defenders. Now the president’s eldest son is at the center of the firestorm over Russian connections swirling around his father’s administration and trying to fight off charges that he was open to colluding with Moscow to defeat Hillary Clinton.
Offered Russian help in defeating Hillary Clinton last year, Don Jr. jumped at the offer: « I love it, » he emailed.
That was in an email chain the younger Trump released Tuesday in which an associate arranging a June 2016 meeting between the president’s son and a Kremlin-linked lawyer promised damaging information about Clinton.
Earlier this week, when news about the meeting first surfaced, Trump Jr. tweeted that he just « had to listen » when he was offered information about his father’s Democratic opponent.
Trump Jr., 39, was one of his father’s loudest defenders throughout the campaign, his role ascendant at the time of the meeting last summer.
But when his father was elected, Trump Jr. stayed in New York to run the family’s sprawling business along with his brother, Eric. And from that vantage point, he has been a loud and constant defender of his father, firing off broadsides on Twitter and never shying away from a fight against the « fake news » media. Just Monday, he retweeted a video of a doctored clip in which the president’s face is superimposed over a character shooting a Russian jet bearing a CNN logo.
« One of the best I’ve seen, » Trump Jr. tweeted of the video.
In the email chain released Tuesday, Trump Jr. seemed receptive to receiving damaging information from a foreign government. He released a statement in which he denied any wrongdoing.
His father, conspicuously quiet as details of the meeting have rolled out over the last few days, issued a terse a statement Tuesday in which he said: « My son is a high quality person and I applaud his transparency. » Deputy White Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she did not know when the president last spoke to his eldest son.
Trump Jr. has vowed to push back against the charges of collusion, believing that an anti-Trump media is trumping up accusations against him as a way to damage his father and is willfully ignoring his claim that he did not receive any information from the Russian lawyer, according to several of the real estate heir’s confidants.
He has settled on a strategy out of his father’s playbook: a strong counter-attack. He released the emails himself — although just minutes before they were set to be published by The New York Times — and appeared on Sean Hannity’s program late Tuesday to defend himself in a typically Trump-friendly space.
Trump Jr. and his father were not always close: The younger Trump, who admits to a wild post-college period before he cut back on his drinking, didn’t speak to his father for a year after Trump divorced his mother, Ivana. But he grew into an executive role at the Trump Organization, was a co-star on « The Apprentice » and during his father’s campaign was an active campaign presence, criss-crossing the country to speak in small towns and delivering a well-received speech at the national convention in Cleveland.
An avid big game hunter, he also was seen as the campaign’s emissary to Trump’s most conservative followers, particularly those online, due to his aggressive pushbacks against Democrats and the media, as well as an embrace of the conservative fringe ethos of the alt-right.
Last fall, Trump Jr. tweeted images of Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character whose image has been used by white supremacists, as well as imagery which likened Syrian refugees to poisonous Skittles candy.
And while he and his brother say they have instituted a firewall that separates his father’s business from the White House, Trump Jr. has eagerly defended his father’s presidency, live-tweeting attacks on ex-FBI Director James Comey’s Senate testimony and amplifying his father’s war on unfavorable news coverage.
« Don was an asset to the campaign, a sportsman, an entrepreneur, a guy’s guy, » said Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign adviser. « And Don is a true conservative who really understood the movement his father started and its messages. »
The sprawling Russia investigation can only be a distraction to Trump Jr. as the Trump Organization is rolling out two new hotel chains in the U.S. that are a break from the opulent high-priced hotels the company now owns. With both new chains, the Trump Organization is neither building nor financing the hotels and so will need to partner with real estate developers and investors. That has drawn criticism from government ethics experts who worry these partners may be hoping to gain favor with the new administration on policy or regulation in cutting deals with the president’s company.
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Trump seen replacing Yellen at Fed with NEC’s Cohn -Politico (Adds comment from asset manager, Fed no comment, background) WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump is increasingly unlikely to nominate Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen next year for a second term, and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn is the leading candidate to succeed her, Politico reported on Tuesday, citing four people close to the process.
Politico said sources in the White House, the Treasury Department and on Capitol Hill said that if Cohn decides he wants the job, he is likely to get it.
« It’s Gary’s if he wants it, and I think he wants it, » Politico quoted one Republican whom it said was close to the selection process as saying.
A few Senate Republicans may express reservations about Cohn but he would probably receive widespread support, a senior congressional Republican aide said, according to Politico.
In response to a query from Reuters, White House spokeswoman Natalie Strom said: « Gary is focused on his responsibilities at the NEC. » Cohn, a Democrat and former Goldman Sachs president, did not work on Trump’s campaign and only got to know him after the November election.
Yellen took over from Ben Bernanke as Fed chair in February 2014 with the U.S. economic recovery from the 2008 financial crisis still on shaky ground. She has made no secret she puts a priority on growth in jobs and wages and a broad recovery in U.S. household wealth.
Yellen begins two days of congressional testimony on Wednesday on the Fed’s semi-annual report on the state of the U.S. economy. Under her leadership the Fed has pared the massive stimulus it put in place to counteract the 2007-2009 financial crisis and begun raising interest rates. Later this year Yellen expects to begin trimming the Fed’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet in a gradual and predictable manner.
« I do think the Fed’s trying to set a course toward normalization that won’t be knocked out by a new Fed chair, » said Eric Stein, co-director of global income at Eaton Vance. Still, Cohn would be a very different kind of leader than Yellen or her immediate predecessor, Ben Bernanke, both of whom hold doctorates in economics.
Cohn began his career at Goldman as a commodities trader in 1990.
« He has more knowledge of financial markets than almost any Fed chair would have and less of a monetary policy background, » Stein said.
During last year’s election campaign, Trump accused Yellen of accepting orders from then-President Barack Obama to keep interest rates low for political reasons, and he said he would replace her as Fed chair because she is not a Republican Party member.
But in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in April, Trump said Yellen was « not toast » and that he respected her.
A Fed spokeswoman had no comment on the Politico story.
Yellen has said she plans to serve out her full four-year term as chair, which runs through Feb. 3.
Cohn would join several other Goldman alumni around the Fed policymaking table, including New York Fed President William Dudley, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan.