PRESIDENT ASSAD IN HOMS

Syrian President Assad visits crisis-hit city of Homs

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/233488.html

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has visited the Baba Amr neighborhood in the city of Homs, the epicenter of confrontations between government forces and armed gangs in the nearly one-year-old unrest in the country,Press TV reports.

During the visit to the neighborhood in the western Syrian city, Assad spoke with soldiers and the residents of the area. 

“Your government wants to help you. You should also help it,” said the Syrian president. “Of course the state hesitated a bit but we were trying to find ways to end the crisis by talking to rational people [in the opposition,” he added. 

Baba Amr was the main stronghold of the Syrian armed groups fighting the government, before the Syrian army regained control of the district and restored security and stability. 

“But as long as the terrorists are around, there is no other way except this. Every citizen and I myself know how you go to battle with no fear but your safety is also important to me. So if one has to fall as a martyr, it’s best to do it for a cause,” Assad went on to say. 

“Your safety is important to us, as are your achievements,” he further said. 

Areas such as al-Zahra, Ashireh, al-Naziheen and places close to Jub al-Jandali are still considered to be the hideouts of armed groups. 

Damascus has accepted a peace plan proposed by the joint United Nations (UN) and the Arab League special envoy, Kofi Annan, , aiming to bring an end to the unrest in the country. 

In a Tuesday statement, Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi confirmed that Damascus has written the envoy, accepting his six-point plan, endorsed by the United Nations Security Council. 

Syria’s foreign-backed opposition has, however, rejected the international plan and is struggling to establish an interim government in case the ongoing regime change ploys against the Syrian government bear fruits. 

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including security forces, have been killed in the unrest. 

Major Western states, their Arab allies, the Israeli regime as well as Turkey and some factions of the Syrian opposition have accused the government of killing dissidents and anti-regime protesters. 

Damascus, however, blames what it has described as outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups for the unrest, insisting that the violence has been orchestrated from abroad. 








Armed groups receiving weapons from Lebanon: Syria

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/233381.html

Syria says armed terrorist groups in the country have been receiving weapons from supporters in Lebanon and other states along the Syrian border.

"Experts, officials and observers believe weapons are being smuggled into Syrian territory from bordering States, including Lebanon," Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said. 

He made the complaint in a letter sent last week to the UN Security Council and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. 

Ja'afari also said there had been multiple "confiscations of weapons, explosives and explosive devices smuggled from Lebanon to Syria by certain Lebanese political forces linked to terrorist groups funded and armed from abroad." 

He gave no details about which countries or "Lebanese political forces" were arming and funding the terrorist groups. 

Qatar and Saudi Arabia are reportedly arming the terrorist groups in Syria, but they do not share a border with the country. 

Syria's northern neighbor Turkey has hosted the Syrian Free Army forces but denies arming it. 

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011 and many people, including security forces, have lost their lives in the violence. 

The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters. But Damascus blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad






Syria rebels form death squad, behead army soldiers: Report


http://www.presstv.ir/detail/233454.html

Syrian rebels have formed their own laws, courts and death squads in Baba Amr neighborhood in the restive city of Homs and beheaded the captured army soldiers, a report has revealed.

The report, published by Spiegel Online on Monday, discloses violent measures by the anti-government armed groups, laying bare the other side of the unrest in the Middle Eastern country. 

Hussein, one of the rebels fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad, is quoted in the report as saying that he himself decapitated four army soldiers who had been detained by gunmen. 

Hussein said that he beheaded the first victim, a Shia soldier who had confessed to using violent tactics, in mid-October, 2011, in a cemetery. 

Hussein did not care whether the soldier’s confessions were real or he had made them under duress. He had simply grabbed a knife and beheaded the soldier who had knelt down in front of him. 

The soldier had been captured out of sheer “bad luck”, said Hussein. 

While he is a member of a rebel death squad killing government forces in the name of the “Syrian revolution,” there are others who are responsible for torturing captured soldiers. 

Many rebels can torture, but not everyone can kill, admits Hussein, who is now receiving treatment in a hospital in the Lebanese city of Tripoli where he and his fellow companions are openly talking about torturing and killing Syrian army soldiers. 

“But I do not know why killing is not difficult for me,” he added. 

Hussein’s life story demonstrates the course of actions rebels have taken during more than a year in the Arab state. 

The report further divulges that Syrian rebels in Homs have since August, 2011 begun regular execution of Syrian soldiers. 

“As of last summer, we have executed 150 men, which constitutes only 20 percent of our prisoners,” claimed another hospitalized rebel identified as Abu Rami. 

“Moreover, when we realize that a Sunni is spying against us we then hold a brief trial for him,” Abu Rami said, adding that they have executed between 200 and 250 people in such cases. 

Revealing the shocking incidents in which rebels even kill Sunnis, he went on to say that “Syria is not a place for the squeamish. “ 

The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters. 

Damascus, however, blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad. 

Libya’s ‘non state’: Tribal war claims 50 lives

http://rt.com/news/libya-ntc-tribal-wars-621/

50 have been killed and dozens injured in Libya as tribal groups are fighting in the country’s south. After the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is left in a condition which some residents call a ‘non state’.

The fighting between rival armed militias, ongoing since Sunday, has spilled into the center of Libya’s third largest city of Sabha on Tuesday. The country’s National Transitional Council initially sent out 300 of its troops to calm the situation but the contingent had to be reinforced two-fold, Reuters said. 

However, there are reports that the national army may have retreated from the city.  "We know that they are here to try to solve the problem and not fight," Sabha fighter Oweidat al-Hifnawi told the agency. "There are unconfirmed reports that they have retreated out of the city."

The fighting resulted in the resignation of an NTC representative to Sabha, Abdulmajid Saif al-Nasser. He said that he was leaving his post as the council proved unable, or unwilling, to curb the violence.

"I have not seen any reaction from the Council to what is happening now in Sabha. The air force has not been sent out, there was only a plane from the health ministry carrying medicine," he said. "The state is supposed to intervene in these cases but there is no state."

The ongoing fighting started after a man from the Tibu tribe allegedly killed a member of the Sabha tribe. The country’s Health Ministry confirmed that most of the 50 dead, already killed in the clashes, perished from gunshot and shrapnel wounds. 160 more have been left injured. 

The National Transitional Council, which came to power after the ouster of the country’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi, is struggling to establish its control over the whole of Libya. The council is trying to persuade tribal militias, busy with fighting over power and resources in the uncontrolled country, to lay down their arms and join national army and police. 

Arc of instability in Africa may turn into battlefield – Moscow’s envoy

http://rt.com/politics/mali-africa-arab-spring-538/

Last week’s coup in Mali has further destabilized the situation in the African region, says Mikhail Margelov, the Kremlin’s special envoy to Africa.

Following the so-called Arab Spring – the series of protests that swept through the Middle East and North Africa – the situation in the region is “extremely complicated,” Margelov told Interfax on Tuesday.

“A ‘green arc of instability’ is being formed from the Sahel (the region bordering the Sahara Desert) to the Horn of Africa. Therefore careful monitoring of events in the region is necessary not to allow the transformation of this arc into a battlefield,” the official stressed.

Last week soldiers loyal to US-trained Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo stormed the presidential palace in the capital Bamako and overthrew Mali’s President Amadou Toumani Toure. The coup leader vowed that he would not stay in power for long and promised new elections will be called as soon as the army manages to contain a Tuareg insurgency in the northern part of the country.

According to the Russian diplomat, currently there is no constitutional power in the African republic. The military are now facing two opponents at the same time – civic opposition and Tuareg rebels. If protest rallies begin, they might be violently dispersed, Margelov warned.

The Russian expert also noted that after the death of Libya’s former leader, Muammar Gaddafi, there is no external force capable of pacifying the north of Mali.

‘Russia is Public Enemy No. 1’ – Mitt Romney

http://rt.com/news/romney-russia-enemy-obama-532/    video at link.

US presidential candidate Mitt Romney has branded Russia as America’s number one geopolitical enemy. He slammed President Obama’s comments to Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev over flexibility concerning US missile defense as alarming and worrying.

"This is without question our number one geopolitical foe; they fight for every cause for the world's worst actors. The idea that he has more flexibility in mind for Russia is very, very troubling indeed," he said

The presidential hopeful cited this case, along with the new START treaty and the decision to reduce missile defense sites in Poland and Alaska, as “unfortunate developments.”

While saying that the greatest current threat to the world is a “nuclear Iran,” he lambasted Russia for consistently“standing up for the world’s worst actors,” referencing the Russian veto of the Security Council resolutions on Syria.

“The idea that our president is planning to do something with them [Russia] that he’s not willing to tell the American people is something I find very alarming,” Romney stressed.

Russia’s outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev responded to the Republican frontrunner, saying Romney’s remarks had a “Hollywood” flavor and pressed the American hopeful to check his watch: “It's 2012 now, not the mid-1970s."

Romney appeared on CNN to comment on President Obama’s off-the-record moment with Medvedev during the international nuclear summit in South Korea. Obama was caught on camera saying that he would have more“flexibility” on thorny issues such as missile defense following the November elections.

Medvedev said he would pass the message on to President elect Vladimir Putin.

Obama addressed the wave of republican criticism following his statements on Monday, saying that he had no secret agenda with Russia and he was not trying “to hide the ball.”

Washington released a statement in an effort to underplay Obama’s words. The Whitehouse said the fact that both countries were going through elections this year meant a “breakthrough” in negotiations on the matter was not going to happen.

The US president then echoed this statement to the press during a break in the summit in Seoul on Tuesday, describing the current political climate as “not conducive” to these kinds of negotiations.

The planned US missile defense shield for Europe has been a major stumbling block for Russian-NATO relations. The US maintain that the shield will only be used for targets outside of Europe, while Russia says there is no guarantee the facility could not be turned against them.

Following his meeting with his US counterpart, President Medvedev described the last three years of US-Russian relations as the most productive ever.

Playing the Cold War card

Romney’s harsh statement is really a remnant of the Cold War – and much of the Republican elite has expressed a negative attitude towards Russia before, said Aleksey Pushkov, the head of the Russian State Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee.

“Mr. Romney is not the only person to say such things. We have witnessed the same ideology proclaimed by Mr. Cheney when he was vice-president of the United States. Mr. Rumsfeld, the former US Defense Secretary, disliked Russia very much too,” Pushkov told RT. “Also, Mr. McCain, when he was running for the presidency four years ago, he was basically saying the same things – that Russia is one of America`s adversaries.”

However, Pushkov pointed out, Romney is considered to be a moderate Republican, and if a moderate Republican says that Russia is enemy number one, it is hard to imagine what a real conservative Republican might say.

Chris Lapetina, an analyst for the journal Democratic Strategist, also says the Cold War legacy is the engine behind Romney`s remark. 

“There is some sentiment left over from the Soviet Union, there is an element of Americans both on the liberal side and the conservative side that almost suffer from paranoia about enemies seen and unseen,” he said, adding that“Republican candidates are trying to tap into some of these people.”

Police discovers firearms in US embassy van in Bolivia

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/233500.html

Bolivian police officers have discovered firearms in a van belonging to the US embassy during a routine search in the country's northeast.

Bolivia's Interior Minister Carlos Romero said that the firearms, including three shotguns, a revolver and more than two-thousand cartridges, were found in the northeastern city of Trinidad on Tuesday, AFP reported. 

Police stopped the vehicle for inspection following a tip from intelligence services, the minister said, calling the incident a matter of “national security.” 

“We're talking about actions that put the security of the nation in danger, about actions that call into question the respect for state institutions and the laws of the Bolivian state,” he said. 

Bolivian President Evo Morales has recently stated that he would shut down the American embassy in La Paz if Washington continues to interfere in Bolivia’s internal affairs. 

"If the US embassy continues bothering Bolivia, as it is doing now, then it is best we close the United States embassy in Bolivia because we are anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist and anti-neoliberals," Morales said. 

Morales has been publicly critical of US policies towards his nation, charging that a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been engaged in spying against the country on behalf of the US. 

The American embassy in Bolivia has issued a statement, claiming that Washington often provides weapons and ammunition to local police officers in many other countries to protect US diplomatic installations.

Resurgent Maoist rebels kill 15 in bus bomb attack

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0328/1224314009467.html

India : Maoist rebels killed 15 paramilitaries in western India’s Maharashtra province yesterday by detonating an improvised explosion device under their bus, writes RAHUL BEDI in New Delhi .

The strike on the Central Police Reserve Force in remote Gadchiroli district, some 1,000km (620 miles) from the state capital Mumbai, also injured 25 security personnel, many of them seriously, and officials feared the death toll could rise.

The attack was the deadliest by the left-wing rebels, who claim inspiration from Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

Yesterday’s attack follows the kidnapping of two Italians and a local legislator in eastern Orissa state in separate incidents earlier this month. One of the abducted Italians was released over the weekend, but the other two remain in Maoist custody.

Before the kidnappings – the first by the Maoists which have targeted foreigners – security officials assumed that because of police and paramilitary pressure they were on the run.

But senior federal security officials said yesterday’s attack only reinforced their belief that they were merely regrouping before continuing to perpetuate their “red terror” across central, eastern and western India.

Since the late 1960s the Maoists have tapped successfully into growing resentment among India’s rural poor and vast tribal population over exploitation by a corrupt administration.

IRGC dismantles Western-backed terror group in SE Iran

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/233493.html

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) has dismantled a terrorist group that recently infiltrated the Iranian territory, intending to carry out acts of terror.

The terror ring infiltrated into southeast Iran over the past few days with guidance from foreign intelligence agencies as well as terrorist groups backed by the global arrogance, IRNA reported, quoting an IRGC statement. 

The IRGC forces succeeded in identifying and dismantling the gang in an intelligence taskforce operation. They killed one and captured two members of the terrorist group. 

A large number of weapons, explosive devices and communication equipment were also confiscated from the terror elements. 

However, the IRGC statement did not elaborate on the identity of the terror group. 

Iran insists that it has been the main target and victim of Western-sponsored terrorist efforts since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in the country in 1979. 

Most recently, Iranian nuclear scientists have become the key target of Western-backed terror attacks with a number current and former US and Israeli lawmakers openly urging the assassination of Iran's nuclear experts as part of their efforts to halt the country's nuclear energy program. 

The IRGC Ground Forces has vowed to proceed with all-out efforts to maintain sustainable security in southeastern parts of the country and confront any move that would pose a threat to the nation. 

TWO CHILDREN MURDERED BY TERRIOISTS

Armed men kill two Syrian children in Homs

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232781.html

Two children have been killed in an attack carried out by an armed group on a bus in the western Syrian city of Homs, the country’s SANA news agency reports.

An armed terrorist group attacked the vehicle transporting passengers in the Qusur neighborhood of Homs on Wednesday, the news agency said. 

Medical sources in Homs said three other civilians were also injured during the Wednesday attack. 

In addition to attacks in the restive city of Homs, armed groups have also made abductions in the city over the past weeks, and the whereabouts of many abductees, including children, are still unknown, SANA said. 

The Wednesday attack comes a couple of days after the news agency said Syrian authorities intercepted a car loaded with various weaponry made largely in the United States and Israel on a highway in Homs on March 15. 

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. 

On March 20, Human Rights Watch said armed groups in Syria have carried out “serious human rights abuses” over the past months. 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on February 20 that “some foreign countries” are fueling the turmoil in Syria by supporting and funding “armed terrorist groups fighting against the government.”



Syrian officials seize arms, ammunition in Hama

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232734.html

Syrian authorities have confiscated a large cache of weapons and ammunition and have raided an explosive manufacturing workshop in the western city of Hama.

The Syrian officials intercepted the weapons, some of which made by Israel, while chasing armed terrorist groups in the al-Hamidiyah neighborhood in the city on Wednesday, the official SANA news agency reported. 

The weapons confiscated included assault rifles, pump-action shotguns, machineguns, RPG launchers, as well as offensive and defensive grenades. 

The authorities also recovered private and state-owned vehicles, which the terrorists had stolen towards criminal purposes. 

In the same neighborhood, the Syrian forces raided a house, which was used by terrorists as a workshop to manufacture explosives. 

Also on Wednesday, the Syrian Army cleared the eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr of armed groups after heavy clashes with terrorists operating in the area near the Iraqi border. 

In recent days, terrorist groups fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have repeatedly called on the countries supporting chaos in Syria, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to send in more weapons, saying that they are losing the battle to government over lack of guns and ammunition. 

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. The violence has claimed the lives of hundreds of people, including many security forces. 

Damascus blames ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups’ for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad. 

The West and the Syrian opposition, however, accuse the government of killing protesters. 



Syria drives armed rebels out of Dayr al-Zawr

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232661.html

The Syrian army has cleared the eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr of armed groups after heavy clashes with terrorists operating in the area near the Iraqi border.

The rebel Free Syrian Army has also confirmed that the army has taken full control of Dayr al-Zawr and that rebel fighters were forced to flee the city. 

Some reports, however, suggest that the terrorists are now taking shelter in homes and apartments, using civilians as human shields. 

Dayr al-Zawr is the third rebel stronghold to fall to government control. Syrian troops had earlier defeated Free Syrian Army in Homs and Idlib. 

In recent days, terrorist groups fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have repeatedly called on the countries supporting chaos in Syria, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to send in more weapons, saying that they are losing the battle to government over lack of guns and ammunition. 

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have said that they support the idea of sending weapons to anti-government groups, who have been fighting against the Syrian government since last year. 

Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi has also said that arming the Syrian rebels might be a possible alternative if the international community fails to end the violence in the country. 

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March and many people, including security forces, have lost their lives in the violence. 

The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters. But Damascus blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad. 

Syrian troops shell Damascus suburbs after attacks

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0322/1224313701925.html 

MICHAEL JANSEN

SYRIAN TROOPS reportedly shelled the Damascus suburbs of Harasta and Irbin yesterday in response to a rebel attack on an intelligence compound. Opposition activists said artillery and anti-aircraft guns had been firing into these districts, retaken by government forces in January.

Beirut-based Hadi Abdullah, of the opposition Syrian Revolution General Commission, said the army also bombarded the Homs districts of Khaldiyeh, Qosour and Bayada, where civilians had taken refuge during the month-long siege of Bab Amr which ended when rebels pulled out on March 1st.

Since these three districts constitute the “last front left” in Homs, government forces are likely to press their attack until rebels are routed.

In the northeastern Idbib province troops are said to be mopping up rebels who held the small town of Taftanaz, the site of the most important helicopter base in northern Syria. The town also sits astride the main highway from the Turkish border to Syria’s commercial hub, Aleppo.

Opposition activists reported 52 deaths, most in Homs.

Ousted from their strongholds in northern Syria, the rebels are said to be regrouping in northern Lebanon to review tactics. If this is true, Lebanon’s army, which has stepped up efforts to seal the county’s border with Syria, could be compelled to prevent cross-border raids.

Turkey, which hosts refugees and fighters, has so far refused calls to establish a buffer zone on the Syrian side of its frontier, enabling rebels to mount attacks on government targets from safe bases.

The Turkish Hurriyet Daily News has pointed out that Ankara could be constrained by anti-US feeling and concern among Turkey’s Alevis for Alawite co-religionists in Syria if Ankara backs the Sunni revolt against the Alawite-led regime in Syria.

Already alienated by Sunni fundamentalism, Alevis are believed to number 10 to 20 million out of a population of 75 million.

The fighting took place as UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon announced that UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan would return to Damascus “very soon” to pursue his plan to end the conflict.

Russia and China, which vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions on the Syrian situation, have supported a presidential statement expressing “gravest concern” over the “deteriorating situation in Syria”, without apportioning blame.

The statement supports Mr Annan’s plan, which calls for all sides to engage in dialogue, halt fighting, withdraw troops and rebel gunmen from urban areas, ensure delivery of humanitarian relief to contested locations, release prisoners, grant freedom to journalists, and guarantee the right to demonstrate peacefully.

The statement “will consider further steps” if Mr Annan reports implementation of his plan is obstructed. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that the text “reflects the reality in Syria and supports Annan’s aims”.

UN Security Council backs Annan peace plan

http://www.rt.com/news/human-rights-syria-rebels-156/   video at link.

After months of deadlock, the UN Security Council has adopted a non-binding statement on Syria. The move endorses special envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan, calling on both sides to agree to a ceasefire and to secure humanitarian access to the country.

However, the US is still backing the opposition despite human rights groups saying there is evidence the rebels are guilty of “gross abuses”.

In their public letter Human Rights Watch have reinforced the position that Moscow has been holding since the middle of 2011; namely that there are elements within the Syrian opposition who are not peaceful at all. According to the organization, they are guilty of such human rights abuses as detention, intimidation and torture all committed not only against the security forces but to those Syrian people who support the government.

Human Rights Watch say they have reviewed at least 25 videos on YouTube, where members of Syrian security forces are allegedly confessing – apparently under duress – to crimes they had committed.

In addition to this, they had video footage showing the opposition executing people in its custody. The group is calling on the opposition in Syria to forbid its members from doing this. However, this raises the question of who exactly is in charge of the country’s opposition. On top of that, it is believed that Al-Qaeda is operating in the country against President Bashar Assad.

On the one hand, Washington and its Western allies recognize the Syrian National Council. On the other, there are numerous elements who do not belong to this body. They are acting of their own accord, with no organized command structure, and they are commonly characterized by anti-Shia sentiments.

With all this in mind, the calls from the West for President Bashar Assad to step down appear to be unclear in terms of who or what will replace the Syrian regime.

US-based journalist and author Susan Lindauer believes that the United States, far from helping to resolve the Syria crisis, is actually fueling it by training the armed opposition.

“One of the reasons the violence has continued is that the United States is covertly financing the opposition to Bashar Assad’s government,” she told RT. “The United States is providing tactical assistance for training military operations. It’s being done outside of the country, just across the border.”

Lindauer added that as long as Washington continues to feed this conflict, it will go on.

“What’s good for Bashar Assad is also good for Hillary Clinton. The United States must announce that it will stop supporting the rebels in Syria,” she said.

Mali renegade soldiers claim control of government

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232776.html 

 

Renegade Malian soldiers say they have toppled the government of President Amadou Toumani Toure and seized power in the West African state.

"We are in control of the presidential palace," AFP quoted one of the rebels as saying on Thursday. 

The rebellion ignited Wednesday afternoon over criticism against the government’s handling of a Tuareg insurrection in the north and turned into an apparent coup. 

Following an armed conflict, the rebels seized the presidential palace and arrested several ministers, including Foreign Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga and Interior Minister Kafouhouna Kone, the report said. 

Toure, however, has managed to escape from the premises, an independent source said. 

Lieutenant Amadou Konare, the spokesman of the soldiers, calling themselves National Committee for the Establishment of Democracy, appeared on television and announced the dissolution of state institutions and suspension of the constitution. 

Konare also said a curfew will be in place from midnight to six a.m. local time. 

He added that upon consultations with all the Malian political factions, a national unity cabinet will be formed in the coming days and the transitional government will run the country until power is ceded to a civilian government after “free and transparent” elections in near future. 

The spokesman cited the former government's security failures in northern Mali and its “inability” to fight terrorism as well as threats to national unity, and the uncertainty shadowing general elections in 2012 as some of the major reasons behind the mutiny. 

PKK, soldiers killed in major anti-militant operation 

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232796.html 

Twelve people have been killed after the Turkish army launched a massive operation against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists in southeastern Turkey.

Security sources said on Thursday that six Kurdish rebels and six policemen were killed in the anti-PKK operation that started on Tuesday. 

Thousands of police and army forces, backed by helicopters and fighter jets, have the offensive, Turkey’s largest such operation so far in 2012. 

Clashes between the Kurdish militants and government troops were still continuing on Thursday on the outskirts of Mount Cudi in Sirnak Province, near the Syrian and Iraqi border. 

Turkey launched a large-scale air and land offensive against the armed separatists in October in the southeast of the country and in northern Iraq after 24 of its troops were killed in an overnight terrorist attack. 

In December, Turkish air strikes killed 34 Kurdish smugglers, mostly teenagers, near the Iraqi border when commanders mistook them for PKK fighters. 

Tens of thousands of people have lost their lives since PKK terrorists embarked on an armed struggle against Ankara in 1984 in a quest to form an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey. 

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international communities, including Turkey, Iran, the European Union, and the United States. 

Kenya’s jets kill 37 al-Shabab fighters in southern Somalia 

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232692.html 

Kenyan fighter jets have killed at least 37 al-Shabab fighters in the southern Somali town of Diff along the Somalia-Kenya border, Press TV reports.

According to local residents, four fighter jets began hitting several of the group's military compounds in Diff from late Tuesday until early Wednesday. 

“The aircraft destroyed military capabilities of al-Shabab, including armored vehicles and weapons,” a local resident told a Press TV reporter. 

Meanwhile, al-Shabab sources confirmed that over 37 of its members were killed in Kenyan jets’ bombardments in the outskirts of Diff. 

This comes just one day after the fighters captured the town from the government-allied forces. 

The aerial bombardments are helping the Kenyan forces who have made significant gains on the ground to make further advances. 

Kenya has beefed up security along its border with Somalia since it dispatched soldiers over its border into the conflict-plagued country last October to chase al-Shabab militants, which it accuses of being behind the kidnapping of several foreigners on its territory. 

However, al-Shabab has denied involvement in the kidnappings. 

Germany to sell Israel new nuke-capable submarine 

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232603.html 

Germany has announced that it will sell Israel a sixth Dolphin-class submarine capable of carrying nuclear warheads with an operating range of 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles).

German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced the decision on Tuesday in a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak in Berlin. 

"A further boat will be delivered to Israel and there will be financial help," said Maiziere, confirming that Germany would shoulder part of the cost of the submarine. 

In November, a German government source had said that the country would pay a contribution of 135 million Euros ($178 million), a third of the cost. 

Three earlier-model Dolphin submarines had been delivered to Israel between 1998 and 2000. 

In 2006, Israel placed its fourth and fifth orders for two more advanced subs. 

The fourth one is scheduled for delivery by 2013. The fifth and the sixth orders are due for delivery in 2014 and 2016 respectively. 

This is while Israel is the only possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East and it has never allowed inspections of its nuclear facilities nor has it joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty based on its policy of nuclear ambiguity. 

A survey conducted by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) in twelve Arab countries reveals that 51 percent of the respondents believed Israel to be the first major threat to the Arab world, while 22 percent considered the US. 

Another survey conducted in 2011 by the Berlin-based Friedrich Ebert Foundation shows that more than 50 percent of European people believe Israel is the most serious threat to global security. 

Germany has recently sold heavy weaponry to autocratic regimes in the Middle East, including 200 Leopard tanks worth billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia, a regime which has helped suppress the popular protests in Bahrain. 

IRAQ BOMB ATTACKS KILL DOZENS

Iraqi bomb attacks kill at least 39

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0320/breaking8.html 

Car and roadside bombs exploded in cities and towns across Iraq today, killing at least 39 people and wounding 188, police and hospital sources said, the latest in a spate of violence ahead of next week's Arab League summit in Baghdad.

The summit is seen as the country's debut on the regional stage following the withdrawal of US troops in December and Iraq's government is anxious to show it can reinforce security to host its neighbours.

The deadliest attack occurred in the southern holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala, where twin explosions killed at least 13 people and wounded 48, the sources said.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, a car bomb exploded near a police headquarters, killing seven and wounding 30.

In central Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed three people and wounded 21.

A car bomb targeting a police patrol in Mahmudiya in the south killed three people and wounded 12, while a car bomb blast near a convoy carrying the governor of Anbar province killed one of his security men and wounded eight other people.

Blasts also occurred in Baiji, Samarra, Tuz Khurmato, Daquq and Dhuluiya, all north of Baghdad, and Hilla and Latifiya in the south.

Although violence in Iraq has declined since the height of sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007, bombings and shootings still occur on a daily basis nine years after the 2003 US-led invasion.

Yesterday evening, bombers struck five times in the northern Diyala province, killing at least three people and wounding more than 30, police said.

The Arab League summit is due to be held in Baghdad from March 27th-29th.

Dozens killed as terror blasts hit Iraqi cities 

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At least 39 people have been killed in a string of explosions targeting police in more than 10 Iraqi cities, government and hospital sources told Reuters news agency.

At least 188 people have also been injured in the attacks, which hit the Iraqi capital Baghdad and other cities in the country’s north and south.   

The deadliest attack occurred in Iraq’s southern city of Kerbala: there, the twin explosion claimed at least 13 lives, wounding 48 people, the agency reports. In another city, Kirkuk, an explosion near the police headquarters killed seven and injured another 30 people. 

In central Baghdad, three people have been killed and over 20 injured by a suicide car bomber.  

The attacks also affected the Iraqi cities of Baiji, Samarra, Tuz Khurmato, Daquq and Dhuluiya, all located to north of Baghdad, as well as Hilla, Latifiya and Mahmudiyain the south.  

The bombings are believed to be connected to the upcoming summit of the Arab League states starting in Baghdad next Tuesday. The three-day summit comes as Iraq’s debut in the regional stage after the withdrawal of the American troops in December. Baghdad has made major investments into security ahead of the summit. 

The Arab League meeting is the first to be held in Iraq in over 20 years.

Nine years ago, on March 20, 2003, the US and its allies commenced their military operation in Iraq, leading to overthrow of the country’s leader Saddam Hussein. The US claimed that Hussein had links with Al-Qaeda and had weapons of mass destruction, which the allies failed to find in the country.

Palestinian hunger striker Hana Shalabi hospitalized 

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Female Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi, who has been on a hunger strike since February 16, has been hospitalized.

“Hana Shalabi was transferred this evening to Israel's Meir hospital after her state of health deteriorated,” Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqaa said on Monday. 

An independent doctor from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel who examined Shalabi said her life was at risk. The doctor described a weakening of her muscles, weight loss of 14 kilograms, and a very weak pulse. 

She has been on a hunger strike since her arrest in the northern West Bank on February 16. She was originally ordered to be detained without trial for six months. 

Although Shalabi was among more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in October 2011 in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, she was later re-arrested and sent back to prison. 

36 militants killed, primary school attacked in Pakistan 

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At least 36 militants have been killed in two separate military operations carried out by government forces in tribal regions of northwestern Pakistan, Press TV reports.

Pakistani war planes bombarded militant hideouts in Orkazai Agency on Sunday, killing 16 militants and wounding many others. 

Security forces also pounded militant positions in different areas of Kurram Agency, killing 20 militants and injuring 18 others. 

The operation was carried out after the militants ambushed a security checkpoint in the tribal region. 

Meanwhile, unknown militants blew up a primary school in Mardan district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday as government troops were engaged in battles with militants in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan. 

Suspected pro-Taliban attackers managed to escape the scene. 

There were no reports of casualties since the school was empty at the time of the attack, local officials said. 

Over the past several years, the militants have destroyed hundreds of schools, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, previously known as North-West Frontier Province

Kandahar massacre revenge for attack on US troops: Afghan report 

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An Afghan parliamentary investigation team says the massacre of at least 16 civilians by American soldiers in Kandahar province was planned in retaliation for an earlier attack on US forces.

The head of the Afghan parliamentary investigation, Sayed Ishaq Gillani, said the locals suspect that the slaughter of the Afghan civilians was carried out in revenge for an attack which destroyed an American tank last week. 

Earlier on Monday, the Afghan tribal leaders of Kandahar province also said that the carnage was in retaliation against the bomb attack on the US tank in the Zangabad region in Panjwaii district in the province of Kandahar. 

Following the blast, the American forces summoned local Afghans and tribal leaders of the region and vowed a bloody revenge on their children and wives, the Kandahar tribal leaders added. 

The new findings came in the wake of an earlier report by the team, which suggested that the American troopers also raped two female victims of the massacre before killing them. 

The investigation mission also implicated up to 20 US soldiers in the carnage. “We are convinced that one soldier cannot kill so many people in two villages within one hour at the same time, and the 16 civilians, most of them children and women, have been killed by the two groups,” investigator Hamizai Lali said. 

Sergeant Robert Bales, one of the soldiers accused of involvement in the massacre of Afghan civilians, was flown from a temporary military prison in Kuwait to a maximum security cell in Fort Leavenworth in the US state of Kansas. The transfer of the US soldier outraged the Afghan people, who demanded the public trial of the perpetrators of the heinous act in their country. 

Earlier on Friday, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai criticized the United States for not cooperating with the Afghan fact-finding team and said the killing of the civilians by foreign forces in Afghanistan “has been going on for too long.” 

On March 11, a group of US soldiers went from house to house in Kandahar’s Panjwaii district and gunned down Afghan civilians inside their homes, killing at least 16 people, mostly women and children, and injuring several others. 




Syria blames foreign-backed Takfiri terrorists for explosions 

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Syria's Foreign Ministry has blamed foreign-backed “Takfiri terrorists” for the recent bombings in the country which killed and injured scores of people.

On Saturday, a bomb planted in a car went off outside the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Headquarters and another explosion hit a security police building in Damascus, killing 27 people and injuring 97. 

On Sunday, two people were killed and 30 others were injured in a car bomb attack in the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo. 

"The falling of dozens of innocent Syrians is a result of the terrorism that is backed by external parties, which had overtly announced their financing and arming to the extremist groups,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Monday in a letter sent to the UN Security Council (UNSC), Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the UN human rights council. 

The letter added that “the Takfiri terrorists and those who back them and overtly supply them with funds and weapons are continuing their terrorist acts in implementation of conspiratorial plan targeting Syria, its people and institutions.” 

The Foreign Ministry described the attacks as the “violation of human rights principles and the international humanitarian law and are absolutely unjustified.” 

The latest incidents occurred as the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, is set to send a team to Damascus to discuss a new international monitoring mission. The Syrian government said on Friday that it will cooperate with Annan to end the year-long unrest in the country. 

Pakistan says drones must go for US ties to be renewed

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 A Pakistani parliamentary commission has demanded an end to American drone strikes on the country’s territory as a condition for renewing Pakistani relations with the US.

The demand was announced on Tuesday, as Pakistan’s lawmakers discussed how Islamabad should proceed in mending its relations with Washington.

Ties between the long-time partners soured in 2011 over a series of scandals, which culminated in a US cross-border attack that mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

The committee's chairman Raza Rabbani, outlining recommendations in parliament, said it should demand an unconditional apology for the killings.

The disarray between the two countries resulted in Pakistan’s cutting off land supply of American troops deployed in Afghanistan through its territory. The move bumped up the cost of maintaining the coalition, forcing the Pentagon’s logistics officers to search for alternative, more expensive routes. Pakistan also denied the US the use of its Shamsi Air base in south of the country.

Pakistan indicated last week that the conflict may soon be resolved, but this would include concessions on America’s part. Those may include higher transit fees for US cargo moving through Pakistan.

The US military have been using unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver strikes on suspected Taliban insurgents in Pakistan’s little-controlled tribal areas since 2004. Over the years, the program was criticized for indiscriminate killing of civilians along with militants.

A February 2012 report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism said that between 282 and 535 civilians, including 60 children, have been killed by American drones in Pakistan under the Obama administration alone.

The US government puts the number of civilian casualties from drone strikes much lower, saying dozens among the thousands killed were not Taliban fighters. The public opinion in Pakistan is that the majority of the drone air strike victims were civilians.