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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Excerpts: Israeli drone hits ceasefire line Syria village. Turkey opens bases to US-led coalition. Taliban leader Mollah Omar death. Fabius visit to Iran a 'key test'. Gaza teachers to Qatar. IS supporter bomb plot in Florida. Obama re Africa's"cancer of corruption" July 29, 2015

Excerpts: Israeli drone hits ceasefire line Syria village. Turkey opens
bases to US-led coalition. Taliban leader Mollah Omar death. Fabius visit to
Iran a 'key test'. Gaza teachers to Qatar. IS supporter bomb plot in
Florida. Obama re Africa's"cancer of corruption" July 29, 2015

+++SOURCE:AlAabiya News 29 July “Israel strike on Syria kills Hezbollah
fighters”,by Staff Writer with Agence France Presse
SUBJECT Israeli drone hits ceasefire line Syria village
QUOTE: Hadar is a Druze village that lies along the ceasefire line with the
Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights plateau to the west and the
border of Damascus province to the northeast”
FULL TEXT:Two Hezbollah fighters have been killed in an Israeli drone strike
near the Syrian town of Hadar, according to the Lebanese Al-Manar TV
station.

A Syrian monitor said three other men were also wounded in the strike.

"An Israeli plane hit a car inside the town of Hadar, killing two men from
(Lebanese Shiite group) Hezbollah, and three men from the pro-regime popular
committees in the town," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, told Agence France-Presse.

Hadar is a Druze village that lies along the ceasefire line, with the
Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights plateau to the west, and the
border with Damascus province to the northeast.

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 29 July’15:”Turkey inks deal to open bases to
US –led coalition”, by Reuters

SUBJECT: Turkey opens bases to US-led coalition

QUOTE: the agreement only includes the fight against ISIS”

FULL TEXT: Istanbul:Turkey has formally signed a deal with the United States
opening its Incirlik air base to the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, the Turkish foreign ministry said
on Wednesday[29 July].

The agreement only concerns the fight against ISIS and does not include air
support to Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, spokesman Tanju Bilgic told
reporters in a briefing.

Additionally, Turkish air strikes hit six Kurdish militant targets in Turkey
and northern Iraq overnight, the prime minister's office said.

Turkish authorities have also detained a total of 1,302 people in 39
provinces as part of a crackdown targeting members of Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria (ISIS), the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and illegal leftist
groups, the statement added.

+++SOURCE:Al Arabiya News 29 July ’15:”Reports claim Taliban leader Mullah
Omardead”. Staff Writer

SUBJECT:Taliban leader Mollah Omar death

QUOTE:”Afghan official says news conference called on subject of Taliban
leader Mullah Omar amid rumors of his death”

FULL TEXT:The Afghan government said on Wednesday[29July] it was
investigating reports that Mullah Omar, leader of Afghan Taliban, is dead.

The BBC had reported the news citing security sources.

An Afghan official told Reuters news agency that a news conference has been
called on the subject amid rumors of his death .

+++SOURCE:Saudi Gazette 29 Juyly ’15:”Fabius visit to Tehran will be a ‘key
test’, says Hollande”,Agence France Presse
SUBJECT Fabius Iran visit a’key test’

PARIS — French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius's upcoming visit to Tehran
will be a key test for Iran after the conclusion of a landmark deal over its
controversial nuclear program, President Francois Hollande said Monday[27
July].

Fabius is to travel to Tehran on Wednesday[29 July] over the deal which
requires Iran to curb its nuclear capabilities in return for the lifting of
crippling sanctions.

"The way he (Fabius) will be received is, for us, a test of Iran's
behavior," Hollande told reporters.

He was making an apparent reference to attacks by hardliners in Iran against
France, which was seen as the most hawkish of the global powers negotiating
the deal with Tehran.

Hollande also said Iran should play a role in promoting peace and stability
in the Middle East, saying: "We expect president (Hassan) Rohani to now
prove that Iran can help to address the grave crises in the region,
particularly Syria."

The UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution endorsing the
nuclear deal this month, clearing a path to lift sanctions.

In addition to opening up trade, the agreement has been touted as a chance
for greater contact between Iran and leading nations over common interests,
particularly on tackling the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

Fabius's trip will be hot on the heels of a similar visit from German
Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who was the first top Western official to
visit the country since world powers and Tehran struck a nuclear deal after
years of negotiations.

France used to have a strong presence in Iran before the sanctions went into
effect, with Peugeot and Renault being major players in the Iranian auto
industry and energy giant Total heavily involved in the oil sector.



+++SOURCE:Saudi Gazette 29 July ’15:”Gaza teachers head to Qatar”,by Agence
France Presse

SUBJECT:Gaza teachers to Qatar

FULL TEXT:GAZA CITY — About 100 Palestinian teachers have departed the
impoverished Gaza Strip for potential teaching positions in Qatar.

Two buses with banners praising Qatar and its emir dropped off the teachers
Tuesday[28 July] afternoon at the Gaza side of the border crossing with
Israel. From there they travel to Jordan and Qatar.

The teachers are the first class of those applying for jobs in Qatar since
the oil-rich Gulf emirate launched its new Palestinian employment program.
Qatar recently launched a series of initiatives in Gaza, building a
hospital, repaving roads and funding construction of a large housing project
that will accommodate 1,000 families.

According to the World Bank, Hamas-run Gaza has the highest unemployment
rate in the world at 43 percent




+++SOURCE:Naharnet(Lebanon) 29July’15:”FBI: IS Supporter in Florida Charged
with Bomb Plot”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT:IS supporter bomb plot in Florida

QUOTE:”drew authorities attention because of his extremist Facebook posts”

FULL TEXT:A self-professed Islamic State group supporter in the U.S. state
of Florida was charged with attempting to set off a backpack bomb, the FBI
said.

Harlem Suarez, 23, from Key West, Florida drew authorities' attention
because of his extremist Facebook posts, the FBI said Tuesday[28 July].

A user of the social site contacted the police after Suarez allegedly tried
to recruit them to support the Islamic State group, according to the
government's criminal complaint.

"I'm gonna do the backpack...that's for sure I'm gonna do the backpack,"
Suarez allegedly told the cooperator in apparent reference to a backpack
bomb that had been discussed earlier.

Suarez later allegedly paid a cooperator to construct a telephone-controlled
bomb. The complaint said Suarez intended bury the bomb on the beach and
detonate it.

"I just call and the thing is gonna, is gonna make... a real hard noise from
nowhere," he allegedly said by phone.

The FBI said Suarez listed his Facebook "likes" as "Jihadist,"
"Extraordinary Prayer for ISIS," and "Prayers for ISIS: Weapons of our
Warfare."

Suarez had also placed an online order for an AK-47 rifle, the FBI said.

The Syria and Iraq based radical group IS has inspired a number of
supporters across the world and raised the threat of lone-wolf attacks.

Suarez allegedly said he attempted to contact IS in Syria but never got a
response, according to the complaint.

Also Tuesday[28 July], the FBI said another Islamic State supporter was
sentenced to 10 years in jail for illegally possessing a firearm.


+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 29 July ’15:”Obama warns African leaders who refuse
to step down”, by Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Obama re Africa’s “cancer of corruption”

QUOTE:”Obama (28 July) condemned African leaders who refuse to give up power
and urged the continent to end ‘the cancer of corruption’ “

ADDIS ABABA — Barack Obama on Tuesday[28 July] condemned African leaders who
refuse to give up power and urged the continent to end "the cancer of
corruption", in the first ever address to the African Union by a US
president.

But Obama said the rest of the world also needed to change its approach to
Africa by boosting fair trade and not just providing aid handouts, and vowed
that the United States stood with the region to defeat terrorism and end
conflict.The speech marked the end of a short tour that has seen Obama visit
Kenya, his father's birthplace, and Ethiopia, from where he flew out on Air
Force One after the speech.

Both are key security allies in the fight against Somalia's Al
Qaeda-affiliated Al Shabab militants, but they were also challenged on
concerns over democracy, human rights and graft.

"Africa's democratic progress is also at risk when leaders refuse to step
aside when their terms end," Obama said, drawing huge applause and cheers
from some sections of the audience in the AU's Nelson Mandela hall."No one
should be president for life," he said, explaining that he was personally
relishing handing over office in 18 months.

"Now let me be honest with you: I do not understand this. I am in my second
term... I love my work, but under our constitution, I cannot run again. I
actually think I'm a pretty good president, I think if I ran again I could
win, but I can't," he said.

"And, I'll be honest with you, I'm looking forward to life after being
president. I won't have such a big security detail all the time, it means I
can take a walk, it means I can spend time with my family."The point is I
don't understand why people want to stay so long. Especially when they've
got a lot of money," he said, drawing another huge cheer from the hall —
packed with diplomats but also many civil society activists.

Dig at China Obama's keynote speech also went further on endemic and
institutionalized graft, something he also pressed on in Kenya over the
weekend.

"Nothing will unlock Africa's economic potential more than ending the cancer
of corruption," Obama said, before speaking at length of the need for growth
to be unlocked by ending discrimination and sexual violence against women
and girls.

Obama singled out Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza — whose successful
bid for a third term provoked weeks of unrest in the small central African
nation — as an example of the dangers of trying to stay put and risking
"instability and strife".

At the same time, Obama said the world needed to "recognise Africa's
extraordinary progress", and outlined how American businesses were
increasing US trade with the continent.

"A half century into this independence era, it is long past time to put
aside old stereotypes of an Africa forever mired in poverty and conflict,"
the president said.

Playing up his position as the first-ever African-American US president, he
also cast Washington as a trusted partner of the continent and took a veiled
swipe at resource-hungry China — which has massively stepped up its presence
in Africa, symbolised by the Chinese-built AU headquarters where he gave the
speech.

"Economic relationships cannot simply be about other countries building
infrastructure with foreign labour, or extracting Africa's natural
resources," Obama said.

"Real economic partnerships have to be a good deal for Africa. They have to
create jobs and capacity for Africans. That's the kind of partnership
America offers."

Obama said the United States was also a solid security partner that would
stand by Africa in dealing with terrorism and end conflict. He said
continent's progress will "depend on security and peace".

"As Africa stands against terror and conflict, I want you to know the United
States stands with you," he said, highlighting threats ranging from
Somalia's Al Shabab, Boko Haram in Nigeria, insurgents in Mali and Tunisia
and the Uganda-led Lord's Resistance Army rebels in central Africa.

'Inspiring, empowering'

Obama said the United States was backing AU military efforts and saluted the
"brave African peacekeepers" battling militants.

"Many of these groups claim the banner of religion, but hundreds of millions
of African Muslims know that Islam means peace. We must call groups like Al
Qaeda, Daesh Al Shabab and Boko Haram, we must call them what they are —
murderers."

He said progress against them was being made.

"Because of the AU force in Somalia, Al-Shebab controls less territory, and
the Somali government is growing stronger. In central Africa, the AU-led
mission continues to degrade the Lord's Resistance Army," he said.

"In the Lake Chad basin, forces from several nations — with the backing of
the AU — are fighting to end Boko Haram's senseless brutality."

Many audience members emerged impressed — even if several African leaders
may be less happy.

"It was excellent, inspiring," said Aeneas Chuma, a UN worker from Zimbabwe
who said he was speaking in his personal capacity. "He touched on all
challenges for Africa, like the importance of good governance, the fact that
this trend of leaders staying in power cannot continue."

Addis Ababa university student Anatoli Bulti said Obama's address was
"empowering"."He spoke about a lot of issues that don't usually get
addressed in this country: democracy, freedom. Coming from him it gives
these issues a lot more weight."
==================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA

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