The Syndicate Coordination Committee staged a rally on Tuesday near the Ministry of Education in Beirut’s UNESCO area over the ongoing procrastination by officials to resolve the wage hike dispute. “We have been protesting over the years and we are convinced that our demands are righteous but politicians only aimed at undermining our endeavors,” […]
BEIRUT: State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud Tuesday advised the bureau in charge of combating gambling to crack down on outlets providing online gaming, a judicial source told the Daily Star. The source said Hammoud also asked the department that oversees the protection of copyrights and information technology to track down websites that provide gambling games and […]
Gunmen kidnapped two residents of the northeastern border town of Arsal on Tuesday, in retaliation to the abduction Monday of one of their relatives. “Armed men from the Seifeddine family abducted two members of the Kranbi family from the square of the northern Bekaa town of al-Labweh,” state-run National News Agency reported. It identified […]
The Emir of Kuwait has stressed the need for Lebanon to end the vacuum in the presidency, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Sunday. Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah had urged Prime Minister Tammam Salam to end the presidential impasse and elect a new president, sources accompanying the premier to the Arab League summit at […]
ARSAL, Lebanon: A Lebanese national from the northeastern town of Arsal has allegedly been executed by ISIS and another resident of the town was killed in his home, security sources said Sunday. The murder of Younis Hujeiri, reportedly abducted by Syrian gunmen in January, was claimed by ISIS Sunday. Photographs purporting to show his […]
IPOLI, Lebanon: Three people were wounded overnight when an unknown assailant tossed a hand grenade in the northern city of Tripoli, a security source said Monday. The source said the Lebanese Army sealed off the neighborhood – known as the Hariri Project in Qibbeh – in pursuit of the attacker. The wounded in the […]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a U.S. television interview that Islamic State, which has seized swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, has been gaining recruits since the start of U.S.-led air strikes against the militant group.
Asked how much benefit he was getting from the strikes in Syria that began last September, Assad told CBS’ "60 Minutes: "Sometimes you could have local benefit but in general if you want to talk in terms of ISIS, actually ISIS has expanded since the beginning of the strikes."
Assad, who has been fighting Islamist and other rebels since 2011, said in the interview aired on Sunday there were some estimates that Islamic State was attracting 1,000 recruits a month in Syria.
"And Iraq – they are expanding in – Libya and – many other – al Qaeda affiliate organizations have announced their allegiance to ISIS. So that’s the situation," Assad said, using another acronym for the militant group.
Sami Aboudi and Mohammed Mukhashaf, Reuters
An arms depot explodes at the Jabal Hadeed military compound in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden March 28, 2015.
Saudi Arabia’s navy evacuated dozens of diplomats from Yemen on Saturday and the United Nations pulled out international staff after a third night of Saudi-led air strikes trying to stem advances by Iranian-allied Houthi fighters.
Residents reported heavy clashes between the Houthis and mainly Sunni tribal fighters in the south of the country, while the air campaign sought to stall a fresh offensive by the Shi’ite Muslim group on Aden from the east.
Riyadh’s intervention, a surprise move from a conservative monarchy better known for flexing its muscle in oil markets than through military might, is planned to last a month but could extend for five or six, a Gulf diplomatic source said.
On March 26, Egypt announced that it would join the Saudi-led military campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi takeover of Yemen.
While the extent of Egypt’s involvement is still to be determined, Cairo’s decision reflects two considerations: addressing the theoretical threat that the Houthis pose to maritime security in the Red Sea, and helping its Persian Gulf allies resist Iran’s hegemonic ambitions.
Egypt was not eager to enter the conflict because its prior military intervention in Yemen was extremely costly. Approximately 26,000 Egyptian soldiers died fighting Saudi-backed royalists during the 1962-1970 Yemeni civil war. Moreover, by entering the current conflict, Egypt risks stretching its military thin, since it is already fighting ISIS-affiliated jihadists in Libya and the Sinai — without much success on either front.
The Houthi seizure of Aden on March 25, however, seemingly forced Cairo’s hand. From Egypt’s perspective, Houthi control of the southwestern coastal city threatens maritime traffic in Bab al-Mandab, the strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Cairo worries that the Houthis might threaten Suez Canal traffic, which has been one of the Egyptian government’s most reliable revenue streams. Over $5.4 billion in canal tolls were collected in 2014 alone, and Egypt is currently digging a second canal that it anticipates will increase revenues to $13.5 billion in 2023.
On Mar. 26, a US F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet deployed in the Gulf region conducted an unusual mission, dropping some 60,000 leaflets over Raqqa region, the ISIS stronghold and de-facto capital in Syria.The leaflet includes a gruesome cartoon drawing, showing 7 men being lined up for a meat grinder (labeled “Daesh”) by a “Daesh Recruiting Office.” Daesh is the Arabic acronym for ISIS that members of the jihadist group find offensive.
The leaflets were released by means of a PDU-5B leaflet canister.
The purpose of the leaflet is to support Psychological Operations or PSYOPS against ISIS in Syria. The message of the leaflet is clear: those recruited by ISIS will find themselves in a figurative meat grinder and could actually turn into the group’s next victims. The aim is to both dissuade individuals from joining ISIS while highlighting the group’s paranoia and disunity.