Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) fighters launched simultaneous attacks against the Syrian government in Hasaka and Kurdish militias in Kobani overnight. A Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) spokesman said ISIS entered Kobani from the west in five cars, deceptively flying the flag of the Free Syrian Army and then opened fire. Multiple car bombs killed at least twelve people and ISIS militants reportedly killed at least twenty Kurdish civilians. Leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Figen Yuksekdag said the “massacre” in Kobani Thursday was the result of the Turkish government’s support for ISIS militants. In Hasaka, ISIS seized two neighborhoods from government forces in heavy clashes. Government forces withdrew towards the city center and ISIS fighters expelled residents from their homes in al-Nashwa, executing or detaining those who resisted. The leader of the Kurdish YPG militia said Thursday that the YPG has no plans to extend its assault to ISIS’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa, insisting that Syrian rebels should lead such an advance. [Daily Star, Reuters, AP, 6/25/2015]
EGYPT | LIBYA & THE MAGHREB | SYRIA & ITS NEIGHBORS | YEMEN & THE GULF | ECONOMICS
UK’s Cameron hopes to welcome Sisi in Britain, strengthen ties
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a phone call from British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday afternoon, during which Cameron repeated his hope to welcome Sisi on a visit to his country. The presidential office said in a statement that Britain hoped the visit would strengthen ties between the countries, as well provide an opportunity to discuss regional and international issues. Presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef said the call also discussed the current Libyan crisis, and ways to find balanced political solutions to it. Meanwhile, Britain’s Ambassador to Egypt John Casson met with Minister of Interior Magdy Abdel Ghaffar on Tuesday to discuss “a number of security issues of common concern.” Casson said on Wednesday, “I share the Minister’s commitment to strengthening the UK-Egypt partnership. Security is a vital foundation for the more secure, prosperous, and democratic Egypt we all want to see. That means tough security measures, countering extremist ideology, and progress on the economy, democracy and human rights, which are essential for long-term security.” [Ahram Online, Cairo Post, 6/25/2015]
Business tycoon Hussein Salem pays government back, embezzlement charge dropped
Egyptian-Spanish fugitive business tycoon Hussein Salem has reached a final agreement with the Egyptian government in a profiteering case, Youm7 reported. Authorities reportedly agreed to drop Salem’s charges of embezzling $41 million in exchange for a payment from his frozen funds, as well as an agreement that he and his son would cede their frozen profits, an anonymous judicial source said Wednesday. The amount of money Salem paid has yet to be disclosed. [Cairo Post, 6/25/2015]
Borhamy demands release of 3,000 Nour Party members
Vice President of the Salafi Call Yasser Borhamy has demanded the release of 3,000 young members of the group’s political wing, the Nour Party. He says they have been imprisoned without clear charges. Borhamy called on security services to distinguish between people involved in violent acts and those who were not. He said the young Salafis, like many others, were sympathizers of the Muslim Brotherhood in the beginning, but later changed their minds. “The government should protect them from falling for extremism,” he said. Party sources said Borhamy is sending the names of the imprisoned members to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to include in a pardon. [Egypt Independent, 6/25/2015]
ISIS-inspired video shows man killed for alleged cooperation with police
A Cairo-based terrorist group, called Revolutionary Punishment published on Wednesday a video depicting the killing of a man in Helwan, who was murdered for cooperating with the security services against protesters. The man, Walid Ahmed Ali, allegedly worked for the Helwan police and reported the organizers and leaders of protests in Helwan to authorities. According to the video, he was responsible for the arrest of forty members of the group. The victim was killed with an automatic rifle against the backdrop of a song often used in ISIS propaganda videos (Saleel al-Sawarem) played in the background. The group added that other similar attacks against policemen would be carried out. [Egypt Independent, 6/25/2015]
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Fourth UNSMIL draft approved, but with changes
The House of Representatives (House) ended its discussions on the fourth draft presented by the UN-brokered Dialogue process, agreeing to approve it but with significant changes. The report was delayed earlier without a decision. Much of the debate focused on the High Council of State, which under the draft would in effect be the upper house of the Libyan parliament. Parliamentarian Amaal Bayo said the House was working to reach an agreement but without compromising on certain principles. Many House members were opposed to the proposal granting 90 of 120 seats in the High Council to the General National Congress. The House wants the figure reduced to 45. It has also said that its name should be changed to the State Consultative Council and that it would be based in in the south of Libya. [Libya Herald, 6/24/2015]
Jets target ISIS positions at Harawa and Sirte
Jet fighters hit Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) positions in Harawa and west of Sirte on Wednesday afternoon. Harawa, on the coastal road, was taken over by ISIS forces nearly three weeks ago after prolonged negotiations with local elders. It is not known if there were casualties in Harawa or Sirte. ISIS claims that its anti-aircraft fire in Harawa prevented any losses. [Libya Herald, 6/24/2015]
Tunisia charges Egyptians with murder of missing journalists
The Tunisian Court of First Instance charged two Egyptians held in Libya with the kidnapping and murder of Tunisian journalists Sofiane Chourabi and Nadhir Gtari who disappeared in Libya in September last year. So far, Tunisian authorities have refused to accept that the two are dead despite a judge’s statement that he believed they had been killed. Judicial sources meanwhile say that DNA samples have been taken from two bodies recently found in Libya for comparison with those of members of the journalists’ families. [Libya Herald, 6/24/2015]
US government spying on Tunisians
The Tunisian government is passing secretive information about Tunisian citizens to the United States, according to a report. The study by Amnesty International found that the Essebsi government is passing third party surveillance information to the National Security Agency (NSA). The exact nature of the information is unknown but the NSA has previously spied on emails, private text messages, phone calls, and web traffic. Neighboring Algeria was also implicated in the report. A spokesperson for the Tunisian Office of the Presidency denied any knowledge of the matter. [Tunisia Live, 6/24/2015]
ISIS storms Kobani and Hasaka in new offensive
Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) fighters launched simultaneous attacks against the Syrian government in Hasaka and Kurdish militias in Kobani overnight. A Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) spokesman said ISIS entered Kobani from the west in five cars, deceptively flying the flag of the Free Syrian Army and then opened fire. Multiple car bombs killed at least twelve people and ISIS militants reportedly killed at least twenty Kurdish civilians. Leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Figen Yuksekdag said the “massacre” in Kobani Thursday was the result of the Turkish government’s support for ISIS militants. In Hasaka, ISIS seized two neighborhoods from government forces in heavy clashes. Government forces withdrew towards the city center and ISIS fighters expelled residents from their homes in al-Nashwa, executing or detaining those who resisted. The leader of the Kurdish YPG militia said Thursday that the YPG has no plans to extend its assault to ISIS’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa, insisting that Syrian rebels should lead such an advance. [Daily Star, Reuters, AP, 6/25/2015]
Rebels attack regime-held parts of Deraa
A rebel alliance including the Nusra Front attacked government-held parts of Deraa in southern Syria Thursday. The alliance bombarded regime positions with mortar and artillery fire. Syria’s official SANA news agency said its army units “foiled attempts by terrorist groups to attack several military positions,” destroyed armored vehicles, and killed dozens of terrorists, but made no mention of fighting inside Deraa city. A rocket fired from Syria hit a city in northern Jordan Thursday, killing one person and wounding four. [AFP, 6/25/2015]
ISIS fighters dead in failed attack on Alawite town
The Syrian regime repelled an ISIS attack on the Alawite village of Jub al-Jarah in Homs Wednesday. Violent clashes broke out after extremists tried to storm the area and Syria’s National Defense Force (NDF), supported by other militias, fought against the ISIS militants. The clashes left at least nineteen ISIS militants and three NDF fighters dead and wounded six others, including civilians. [AFP, 6/25/2015]
Aid groups say funds for Syrian refugees dangerously low
More than 200 groups helping 3.9 million Syrian war refugees called on international donors Thursday to send promised aid, saying they are quickly running out of funds to deliver basic services and that just $1 billion out of $4.5 billion pledged for 2015 has been received. UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres said the “massive crisis” requires far more international solidarity and that “dangerously low” funding levels mean basic needs of millions of refugees will likely go unmet. [AP, 6/25/2015]
Fourteen killed in Iraq suicide bombing claimed by ISIS
A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb Tuesday night at a gathering of Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders in Baladruz, an area in the Diyala province north of Baghdad. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed fourteen and wounded at least twenty individuals. Those killed were notable figures from the Sunni al-Nida tribe, which has supported the Iraqi government’s fight against ISIS. [AFP, 6/24/2015]
US drone strike kills four al-Qaeda militants in Yemen
A drone strike has killed four suspected al-Qaeda militants in southeast Yemen, a provincial official said Thursday. The attack late Wednesday hit a car in a military camp in al-Qaeda controlled Mukalla, capital of the Hadramawt province. The official, who did not want to be named, said a local al-Qaeda chief was among those killed. The United States has repeatedly targeted militants from the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda in a series of drone strikes in Yemen. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said earlier this month that its leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi, number two in the global jihadi organization, was killed in one such raid and named its military chief as his successor. AQAP has exploited months of fighting between loyalists of Yemen’s exiled government and Houthi rebels to consolidate their grip on Hadramawt and its capital Mukalla, a city of more than 200,000. [Al Arabiya, Daily Star, 6/25/2015]
Houthis and pro-Hadi forces complete prisoner swap
Volunteer forces loyal to Yemen’s President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi have completed a prisoner swap with the Houthi movement, an informant revealed on Tuesday. Ali al-Ahmadi, the spokesman for the Popular Resistance forces, said around forty hostages from the southern city of Aden were returned as part of the prisoner swap. The hostages include officials, dignitaries, and civilians from the city. The Houthis had imprisoned some for more than eighty days. Sources said many of the hostages had been kept in bad conditions. A number had been tortured during questioning by the Houthis’ militias. They said negotiations for the prisoner swap lasted about forty days, with delays due to Houthi demands insisting on only releasing twenty of the prisoners in exchange for a larger number kept by the Popular Resistance. [Asharq al-Awsat, 6/24/2015]
Negotiations in Muscat and Moscow continue as over 100 die in Yemeni clashes
Ground fighting and Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels killed nearly 100 people Wednesday, as negotiators in neighboring Oman tried to reach a truce, Yemeni security officials said. They said representatives of the southern separatist movement were meeting with the Houthi rebels in the Omani capital Muscat. A delegation from the party of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key ally of the rebels, was also headed to Moscow to meet Russian officials. Also on Wednesday, an International Committee of the Red Cross ship carrying 1,000 tons of food and three large generators from Oman docked in Yemen’s Hudayda port. [Daily Star, 6/25/2015]
Saudi and Emirati soldiers killed in clashes on Yemen border
Three Saudi soldiers and an Emirati have been killed on Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen, Saudi state media said Thursday. Two Saudi troops were killed on Wednesday by a Houthi-launched rocket in the Jizan region and another Saudi soldier was killed at the Alab border crossing. An Emirati soldier died in a border clash on Monday, the statement added. At least forty-three people, civilians, and troops have now lost their lives in shelling and skirmishes along the border since the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthis began in late March. At least 2,600 people have been killed in Yemen since the campaign began.[Al Arabiya, AP, 6/25/2015]
Saudi Arabia, France sign billions in ship, plane deals
Saudi Arabia and France agreed Wednesday to sign $12 billion of deals, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubair said during a landmark visit by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Paris. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that the ten contracts include twenty-three Airbus H145 helicopters worth $500 million. Another $8 billion deal to supply the Kingdom with fifty Airbus passenger jets has also been confirmed. Fabius also reporters that France would begin a feasibility study to assess building two nuclear reactors in the Kingdom. The Saudi Defense Ministry also discussed the price of a contract for French naval patrol boats to enhance the capabilities of the Saudi coast guard. “Our ties [with France] are excellent, historic, and strategic,” al-Jubair said. “We are trying to take them even higher.” [AP, Reuters, Al Arabiya, Asharq al-Awsat, 6/24/2015]
Egypt’s EGAS to conduct Mediterranean’s largest seismic exploration project
Egypt’s state-owned gas company EGAS announced that it will carry out the largest seismic oil and gas exploration project in the Mediterranean, as it seeks data that could attract global exploration companies. EGAS said it has signed a deal with Norwegian seismic surveyor PGS to conduct two and three-dimensional scans in the western zone of Egypt’s territorial Mediterranean waters. It did not mention the value of the deal. According to EGAS, the deal is part of a plan to increase Egypt’s domestic production of natural gas by intensifying search and exploration operations and conducting international auctions in areas that have not previously been explored. [Reuters, 6/25/2015]
New Egypt loans reportedly conditional on using $5 billion in loans for intended purpose
Egypt has been denied fresh loans by international lenders for failing to use past loans for their intended purpose, according to a source from Egypt’s presidency. The source said donor countries, funds and international banks, including the African Development Bank, have made new loans conditional on the government’s use of previous loans, worth more than $5 billion, toward the improvement of housing, health, and infrastructure services. The source claimed that, of that amount, only $1.8 billion had been used for those projects. The presidency had asked several government ministries, including the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, to provide an explanation about the alleged failure to use the loans for their intended purpose. [Egypt Independent, 6/25/2015]
Oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan slump again, BP cancels cargo shipments
British petroleum (BP) and Spain’s Cepsa have had to cancel loadings of Iraqi oil from the Turkish port of Ceyhan in yet another sign of problems affecting shipments as Kurdish and Iraqi arguments continue over exports and budget payments. Data showed on Wednesday that Kurdish and Iraqi crude was not flowing into Iraq’s state oil firm SOMO’s tanks for a tenth day running. Trading sources said that insufficient oil in SOMO’s tanks had led BP to cancel two cargo shipments and Cepsa to cancel one cargo shipment the companies had scheduled to receive at the end of this month. [Reuters, 6/24/2015]
Tripoli oil minister says key pipeline to reopen
Oil Minister in Libya’s Tripoli-based government Mashallah al-Zwai said an agreement was reached with local residents to reopen a blocked pipeline in western Libya that could help boost exports to 750,000 barrels per day (bpd). According to the Tripoli-based Libyan news agency LANA, the agreement aims to tackle fuel smuggling across Libya’s western borders by monitoring border crossings and petrol stations. Zwai said the agreement includes the reopening of a pipeline at Rayyaniya, a small town near Zintan in the Nafusa Mountains region. The reopening of the pipeline, which extends southwards to the Sharara and El Feel fields, could help increase crude production by 300,000 bpd, al-Zwai said. [Libya Monitor (subscription), 6/25/2015]