On Friday, WikiLeaks published the first batch of what they say is a much larger release of Saudi diplomatic documents. So far, 60,000 documents have been published, of which Associated Press only has been able to authenticate a handful. In a statement released late Saturday, the Saudi government acknowledged its diplomatic servers had been penetrated ahead of the mass disclosure. Many of the documents appear aimed at tracking Iranian activity across the region or undermining Tehran’s interests. Saudis also kept a watchful eye on Iran’s friends, real or perceived. One 2012 memo warned that Iran was getting “flirting American messages” suggesting that the United States had no objections to a peaceful Iranian nuclear program so long as it had guarantees, “possibly Russian ones.” Another memo carries the claim that Gulf countries were prepared to pay $10 billion to secure the freedom of deposed Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak. [AP, 6/20/15]
EGYPT | LIBYA & THE MAGHREB | SYRIA AND ITS NEIGHBORS | YEMEN & THE GULF | ECONOMICS
Egypt to issue new laws on terrorism, parliamentary immunity
Egypt’s Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Transitional Justice Ibrahim al-Heneidy said Sunday that the justice ministry has finalized drafting a new law aimed at cracking down on terrorist crimes.
“The new 52-article anti-terrorism law is primarily aimed at stemming the tide of funding [for] terrorist activities and organizations and giving new definitions for terrorist crimes,” said Heneidy in a press conference. Heneidy said the ministries of interior and defense would first review the new draft anti-terror law. The articles revealed by Heneidi feature one outlining a five-year prison sentence for building or using a website with the purpose of promoting terrorist ideas and actions, transmitting delusional content to the official authorities or exchanging messages and orders of terrorist groups. Funding terrorism was also a major focus of the new draft law, as it sets a sentence of life imprisonment on the crime of funding a terrorist. It also sets the death penalty for funding terrorist groups. Meanwhile, informed sources said the cabinet would discuss a new law aimed at making the coming parliament immune to dissolution. The law would save the coming parliament from the threat of dissolution even if the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) decided to invalidate the parliament or its election laws, sources said. “The law will state that if the SCC ruled that any of the parliamentary election laws are unconstitutional, this shall not automatically lead to disbanding parliament… it will complete its five-year term.” [Ahram Online, DNE, 6/21/2015]
Al Jazeera journalist detained by German authorities released
Al Jazeera television said on Monday German authorities had released journalist Ahmed Mansour, who was arrested at a Berlin airport on Saturday. Mansour’s arrest, the result of an Egyptian arrest warrant, came as he was attempting to board a plane to Doha. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry had earlier said that Egypt was working with Germany to hand Mansour over to Egypt where he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison in absentia in 2014 on charges of torturing a lawyer in Tahrir Square in 2011. The Prosecutor General of Egypt also reportedly called on Interpol Sunday to hand over Mansour to Egyptian authorities, while a formal extradition request was submitted to the German authorities as well. On Sunday, a judge in Berlin formally evaluated Mansour’s case and had declared his arrest legal, ordering him kept in detention pending enquiries into his possible extradition to Egypt. Al Jazeera called for Mansour’s immediate release, while a number of protests against Mansour’s potential extradition were staged on Sunday and Monday morning. A group calling itself the German-Egyptian Union for Democracy gathered around 100 protesters outside the Berlin jail where he was being detained. MPs across all of Germany’s main political parties also voiced concern. On Monday, Al Jazeera said Germany’s public prosecutor had decided to release Mansour without charges. No further details were immediately available. [Reuters, AP, Mada Masr, The Guardian, Ahram Online, 6/22/2015]
Muslim Brotherhood leaders referred to military trial
According to judicial sources, Mohamed Wahdan, Mahmoud Ghezlan, Mohamed Saad Elewa, Mahmoud Ezzat and sixteen other fugitive Muslim Brotherhood leaders have been referred to military trial over charges of espionage for terrorist organizations and planning to kill police and military leaders, as well as media personnel. They are also charged with destroying public property, belonging to an illegal group, inciting violence, and rioting. The trial sessions will start Tuesday, in the military area in the Hikestep military camp on the Ismailia-Cairo road. Brotherhood spokesperson Mohamed Montasser said that referring Wahdan and Elewa, among others, to military courts is “a crime against the revolution and the homeland.” [Egypt Independent, DNE, 6/22/2015]
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Airstrikes hit ISIS members in Tripoli
The self-declared government in control of the Libyan capital Tripoli launched airstrikes on Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) fighters in the city of Sirte on Monday. Officials said the late Sunday night attacks were on a building where fighters had gathered. Witnesses reported they were accurate and said wounded militants had been taken to the hospital. One witness in the city said the bombs hit the headquarters of former ruler Muammar Qaddafi’s security forces in Sirte. [Reuters, 6/22/2015]
US government supports UNSMIL Draft No. 4 in Libya
The Deputy US Secretary of State Tony Blinken has told Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni that Washington views Draft No. 4, presented to members of the UN-brokered Dialogue, as the best solution to the present Libyan crisis and, while not perfect, should be supported. According to a US official, Blinken also assured Thinni that the United States would work closely with the Libyan government in the fight against terrorism to ensure the country’s security and safety. Collaboration between the United States and the Thinni government in the fight against terrorism is taking place despite earlier statements from Washington that it would not supply military equipment to Libya until a government of national unity was in place. [Libya Herald, 6/20/2015]
Battle in Derna targets ISIS members
Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) fighters took heavy casualties in a daylong battle with the army outside of Derna. At least fifteen were reported killed and many others injured and captured. ISIS members are understood to have launched a dawn raid on positions held by the 202 Battalion at Fatahia, 20km east of Derna. Fierce fighting went on for much of the day after an attack, which began in the early morning. The army says that none of its men was killed and only one injured. [Libya Herald, 6/20/2015]
Misrata threatens to execute anyone who supplies ISIS
Misrata said that anyone trying to carry goods to Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) areas will be executed. The Misrata Revolutionary Fighters’ Operations Room warned, “Anyone who sends food supplies, mobile prepaid cards or ammunition to ISIS, or gets involved in acts of espionage for this group will be executed.” It has also announced that it is tightening security by extending its curfew and imposing an overnight closure of the three gates around the town. [Libya Herald, 6/21/2015]
Five soldiers killed in Benghazi booby-trap
A booby-trap killed five soldiers in Benghazi on Sunday. The men were entering a building in Suq al-Hoot when a hidden landmine was detonated. An army source said that it appeared that one of the soldiers had stood a device that triggered the mine, which had been concealed against a wall. All five were killed instantly. Later in the evening, residents reported clashes between the army and Ansar al-Sharia positions in Leithi. At least one mortar was seen to hit the army lines. [Libya Herald, 6/21/2015]
United States considers Algeria a “key partner” against terrorism
The United States considers Algeria as a “key partner” in the global fight against terrorism emphasizing the actions undertaken by the Algerian authorities to overcome this challenge. “Algeria remains a key partner in global counterterrorism efforts,” said US Department of State in its world report on the fight against terrorism in 2014. The report noted that the Algerian authorities “continued an aggressive campaign to eliminate all terrorist activity, particularly in the mountainous regions and borders where the organization of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) continues threatening security in the region.” [APS, 6/22/2015]
ISIS militants plant mines and bombs in Palmyra
Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) militants planted mines and bombs among the Roman-era ruins in Syria’s city of Palmyra, though it is not clear whether the group is preparing to destroy the ancient ruins or planted the mines to deter government forces from advancing towards the city. Syria’s army is reportedly advancing west of Palmyra, “making tangible progress in the area of west Biyarat,” and has reopened a key supply route for oil and gas to the capital, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A regime barrel-bomb attack seriously damaged Syria’s best-known mosaic museum in the northern rebel-held town of Maaret al-Numan. Syria’s head of antiquities declined to say who was responsible, but called for the country’s museums to be “neutral zones” in the war.[Reuters, Daily Star, 6/22/2015]
US State Department report finds Iran still bolsters Assad; Russia ready to push Syria for reform
The US State Department’s annual report on terrorism said Friday that Iran continued to provide broad military support, including arms, financing, training, and Shia fighters to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in 2014. The assessment suggests that neither Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s election nor the prospect of a nuclear accord with the United States has had a moderating effect on Iran’s foreign policy in the Middle East. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday at an International Economic Forum that he is ready to “push” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad toward introducing reforms and will encourage Assad to engage in discussion with the moderate opposition. He vowed that Moscow would continue to support its ally, fearing that Syria could follow the steps of Libya or Iraq should Assad leave power. [NYT, 6/19/2015]
Turkey detains four foreign journalists at Syrian border
Turkish security forces detained one French and three Italian journalists as they tried to cross into Turkey from Syria. They were arrested at the Mursitpinar border post near Syria’s Kurdish town of Kobani and now face deportation. Hundreds of refugees crossed back into Syria’s Tal Abyad yesterday after Turkey reopened the Akcakale border crossing. [AFP, 6/20/2015]
United States and allies conduct sixteen air strikes in Iraq, six in Syria
United States and coalition forces targeted ISIS Friday with sixteen air strikes in Iraq and six in Syria. Air strikes near al-Qaim in Iraq hit an ISIS checkpoint and destroyed a storage container, while the majority of the air strikes took place near Mosul where six strikes hit several tactical positions. The bombardment destroying a heavy machine gun and an ISIS building. The strikes in Syria hit targets near Hasaka, Raqqa, and Tal Abyad. [Reuters, 6/20/2015]
Israeli Druze block ambulance with Syrian casualties
Members of Israel’s Druze minority blocked an army ambulance in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that they believed was transporting wounded Syrian rebels. Several residents who demanded to inspect the passengers stopped the ambulance before dawn Monday on the outskirts of Hurfeish, a Druze town in northern Israel. The Druze feared that they were members of extremist groups like ISIS or the Nusra Front. Israeli officials sought to reassure the Druze community that radical fighters would not be admitted and head of Israel’s Druze community Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif condemned the confrontation as harmful to Druze interests region-wide, especially over the border in Syria. [Reuters, 6/22/2015]
Yemeni Foreign Minister describes Houthi delegation as “ghosts” during Geneva talks
In an interview over the weekend, Yemeni Foreign Minister Reyad Yassin slammed the Houthi delegation to the failed UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva. Yassin described the Iranian-backed group as unorganized, saying, “We did not hear anything from the other side [the Houthis], due to their lack of organization, not even having their papers in order, and generally not knowing what they wanted to get out of the Geneva conference—they were not even in agreement amongst themselves.” Diplomatic sources revealed that members of the Houthi delegation had had their passports confiscated on arrival in Geneva by the authorities since they had not arrived using the correct plane—taking a private jet from Djibouti instead—and had not obtained the necessary visas. Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdullatif al-Zayani expressed his deep regret that the talks over the Yemeni crisis ended without a ceasefire deal. [Asharq al-Awsat, al-Arabiya, 6/21/2015]
Saudi coalition airstrikes kill fifteen in Yemen
Saudi-led airstrikes killed fifteen people and wounded dozens across Yemen late Saturday, according to local news sources. The attacks took place in the Saada and Marib provinces. Among the dead are five women and two children. Also on Saturday, the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) claimed responsibility for an attack on the Qiba al-Mahdi mosque in Sana’a. The bombing of the Houthi-used mosque left two dead and many more injured. [Daily Star, Reuters, 6/22/2015]
Religious leader killed in Hadramawt
Two gunman believed to be al-Qaeda members assassinated the Imam of al-Hazm mosque in the Shibam district of Hadramawt on Friday. Hussein Abdulbari al-Aidaroos was killed, while he was on his way to the mosque for Isha prayer, sources said, adding the perpetrators escaped immediately. Al-Aidaroos was known as a moderate religious figure opposed to the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen. [SABA, 6/20/2015]
Saudi diplomatic cables released
On Friday, WikiLeaks published the first batch of what they say is a much larger release of Saudi diplomatic documents. So far, 60,000 documents have been published, of which Associated Press only has been able to authenticate a handful. In a statement released late Saturday, the Saudi government acknowledged its diplomatic servers had been penetrated ahead of the mass disclosure. Many of the documents appear aimed at tracking Iranian activity across the region or undermining Tehran’s interests. Saudis also kept a watchful eye on Iran’s friends, real or perceived. One 2012 memo warned that Iran was getting “flirting American messages” suggesting that the United States had no objections to a peaceful Iranian nuclear program so long as it had guarantees, “possibly Russian ones.” Another memo carries the claim that Gulf countries were prepared to pay $10 billion to secure the freedom of deposed Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak. [AP, 6/20/15]
World Bank’s IFC plans sukuk sale after Gulf summer
The International Finance Corp. (IFC), the World Bank’s lender to the private sector, has started work on a return to the market for Islamic bonds, or sukuk, with plans to issue sharia-compliant debt after summer in the Gulf region. Last year an IFC official said a deal was in the early stages of discussion, which would mark the third time the World Bank’s development division issues sukuk. Details such as currency, tenor, and size were not yet available. The IFC last sold a $100 million five-year sukuk in 2009, listing it on the Dubai and Bahrain bourses. [Reuters, 6/22/2015]
Egypt earmarks $8 billion for fuel subsidies in 2015/2016
Egypt has earmarked 61 billion Egyptian pounds ($8 billion) for fuel product subsidies in its draft 2015/2016 budget, according to Tarek al-Molla, chairman of state-run Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC). Last week, the cabinet approved a draft of the budget for the next fiscal year but did not announce the amount allocated to fuel products subsidies. In the current fiscal year, Egypt will have spent around 70 billion pounds on petrol and natural gas products subsidies, rather than the projected 100 billion pounds. The government said in December its bill for fuel products this fiscal year would be 30 percent less than it had predicted due to sharply lower global oil prices. A switch to coal from natural gas and diesel in the cement industry also helped determine the figure, as did a change in domestic consumption, al-Molla said. [Reuters, 6/20/2015]
Saudis say to jointly invest up to $10 billion with Russian fund
Saudi Arabia’s government and a Russian state fund have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly invest as much as $10 billion, the official Saudi news agency SPA said on Sunday. The deal between Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) was sealed last week when top Saudi officials visited Russia. The governments also agreed to cooperate on developing nuclear energy. SPA did not say where or when the joint investments would be made. [Reuters, 6/21/2015]
Syria fuel shortages due to rebel infighting threaten lives
Disruption of fuel supplies due to fighting between rebel groups in northern Syria is threatening the closure of hospitals and paralyzing the work of ambulances and rescue services, said Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) on Sunday. Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) militants have closed a checkpoint under their control in the countryside north of Aleppo to trucks carrying fuel to areas in northern Syria held by rebel groups. MSF said in a statement that it had received distress calls from health centers in rebel-held areas in Aleppo, Idlib, and Hama provinces to say they were running out of fuel needed to run life-saving equipment. [Reuters, 6/21/2015]