Excerpts:Kuwait uncovers ISIS network. US re fighting Daesh. Israel re Sinai
terrorists. Lebanese army anti-extremism sweep. Iran,Hizbullah present
security challenges. Egypt defends Syria's territorial unity July 30, 2015

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 30 July ’15:”Kuwait Uncovers ISIS network”,Reuters

SUBJECT: Kuwait uncovers ISIS network

FULL TEXT:Kuwait said on Thursday[30 July] it had uncovered a network of the
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group including five
Kuwaitis and referred them to judicial authorities for prosecution.

An interior ministry statement carried by the official KUNA state news
agency added that the individuals had been active in neighboring Iraq and
also in Syria.

The individuals admitted receiving lessons in the "science of a terrorist
organization" and military training, the statement said. "They were involved
in fighting operations in both Syria and Iraq."

The Gulf state launched a security crackdown on Islamist militants after a
June 26 attack claimed by ISIS, when a Saudi suicide bomber blew himself up
inside a Shi'ite Muslim mosque, killing 26 people.

The government declared itself at war with militants and said the bombing,
Kuwait's worst militant attack, was aimed at stoking sectarian strife in the
majority Sunni state, where the two sects have traditionally co-existed in
peace.



+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 30 July ’15:”US not serious about figting Daesh,
claims militia leader”,by Reuters

SUBJECT: US re fighting Daesh

QUOTE:”The head of one of Iraq’s fiercest Shiite militias called the
US-coalition campaign against Daesh(the so-called IS) ineffective and
accused Washington of lacking the will to uproot the radical group.”

FULL TEXT:NAJAF — The head of one of Iraq's fiercest Shiite militias called
the US-led coalition's campaign against Daesh (the so-called IS) ineffective
and accused Washington of lacking the will to uproot the radical group.

Qais Al-Khazali, leader of the paramilitary group Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, said the
anti-Daesh campaign had failed because of an American agenda to redraw the
map of the Middle East along new borders.

"We believe the United States of America does not want to resolve the crisis
but rather wants to manage the crisis," he told Reuters.

"It does not want to end Daesh. It wants to exploit Daesh to achieve its
projects in Iraq and in the region. The American project in Iraq is to
repartition the region."

Khazali said the US-led coalition had failed to ramp up the number of
airstrikes over time as he said it had pledged to do.

Asaib, along with the Badr Brigades and Kataib Hezbollah, are at the
forefront of the Popular Mobilization Committee, the official Iraqi
government entity organizing volunteers in the battle against Daesh.

Khazali said Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi was under US pressure to limit
the presence of Shiite fighters in the campaign to retake Anbar province
from Daesh. — Reuters




+++SOURCE:Naharnet (L ebanon)30 July ’15:”Israel Army Says Could Launch
Preemptive Sinai Strikes”, Naharnet Newsdesk
SUBJECT: Israel army re Sinai terrorists

QUOTE:”Israel could attack militants affliated to the Islamic State group in
neighboring Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, if they were about to attack Israeli
soldiers or civilians”

FULL TEXT:A senior military officer has said Israel could attack militants
affiliated to the Islamic State group in neighboring Egypt's Sinai
Peninsula, if they were about to attack Israeli soldiers or civilians.

The "threat of terror from Sinai" has grown in recent years, Brigadier
General Royi Elcabets said on Wednesday[29 July].

Speaking at a ceremony marking the end of his two years as commander of the
Edom division that controls the border with the Sinai, Elcabets said IS's
Egypt affiliate could attempt to attack Israel.

"It is our duty to preempt it and strike at it, if and when this happens,"
he said in remarks relayed by the military.

Militants loyal to the Islamic State group have killed hundreds of Egyptian
policemen and soldiers in Sinai since the army overthrew Islamist president
Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The Egyptian military says it has killed more than 1,000 militants in Sinai,
which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

An Israeli official familiar with the situation in Sinai would not address
Elcabets's remarks, but told AFP that "Israel is coordinated with states in
the region on matters pertaining to the war on terror and terror groups."

According to the official, following the attacks on Egyptian forces in
Sinai, "Israel agreed to Egypt's request to allow more Egyptian forces and
devices into Sinai, and provided intelligence to Egypt."

The amount of Egyptian military forces allowed in Sinai is stipulated in the
1979 peace treaty with Israel, that led to its withdrawal from the peninsula

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon)30 July’15:”Army arrests Lebanese and
Foreigners in Anti-Extremism Sweep”Naharnet Newsdesk
SUBJECT:Lebanese army anti-extremism sweep
QUOTE:”The Lebanese army announced 30July the arrest of Lebanese citizens
and foreigners suspected of belonging to armed groups and terrorist
organizations”
FULL TEXT:The Lebanese army announced on Thursday[30July] the arrest of
Lebanese citizens and foreigners suspected of belonging to armed groups and
terrorist organizations.

Lebanese Abdullah Mahmoud Massoud and his brother Azzam, in addition to Ali
Ahmed al-Abdo and Odai Ahmed al-Obaid, were apprehended during a raid that
an army unit carried out in the area of al-Zahrieh in the northern city of
Tripoli on Wednesday night.

The army said in a communique that the unit seized rifles, guns, rocket
launchers, hand grenades and military gear during the raids.

In the area of Haret Hreik in Beirut's southern suburbs, the military
arrested Palestinian Ali Mohammed al-Abed, who is wanted on suspicion of
tossing grenades and opening fire on several occasions in Borj al-Barajneh
last year, said the communique.

Troops also arrested several Syrians during raids in the areas of Torza in
Koura, Labweh in Baalbek and the Metn town of Jdeideh, it said.

According to the army, the six Syrians are suspected of belonging to
terrorist organizations.

The communique also said that soldiers have arrested ten other Syrians for
entering the country illegally.


+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 30 July ’15:”U.S. Defense Secretary Says Iran,
,Hizbullah Present Security Challenges”,Naharnet Newsdesk
SUBJECT:Iran,Hizbullah present security challenges

QUOTE:”U.S.Sec.Defense Ashton Carter…stressed that the Islamic
Republic[Iran]and its proxies, including Hizbullah still present security
challenges”

FULL TEXT:U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has sought to reassure
worried lawmakers on the nuclear deal with Iran and stressed that the
Islamic Republic and its proxies, including Hizbullah, continue to be a
threat.

Iran and its proxies still present security challenges, Carter said on
Wednesday at a committee hearing as part of the White House's aggressive
campaign to convince Congress to back the Iranian nuclear deal, which calls
on Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in
sanctions relief.

Carter noted Iran’s support of Hizbullah and the Assad regime in Syria, its
contribution to disorder in Yemen and its hostility and violence toward
Israel.

Congress, which has begun a 60-day review of the deal, is expected to vote
in September. If the Republican-controlled Congress passes a resolution of
disapproval for the deal, U.S. President Barack Obama has said he will veto
it. The administration is hoping to secure the backing of Democrats to
sustain the veto.

At the same hearing, General Martin Dempsey, the outgoing chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified that Iran's ballistic missile, weapons
trafficking, mine usage and related efforts were still a primary concern.

"We have to pay more attention to the malign activities," Dempsey said.


+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 30 July’15:”Egypt defends Syria’s territorial unity
after Turkey moves against Daesh”, by Reuters

SUBJECT:Egypt defends Syria’s territorial unity

QUOTE:The foreign ministry said[28 July]Syria’s territorial integrity must
be preserved”

FU L L TEXT:CAIRO — Egypt said that Syria's territorial integrity must be
preserved — an apparent sign of its disapproval of Turkey's intervention
against militants in Iraq and Syria.

The foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday [28 July]that Cairo
supported combating what it called terrorist groups in Syria.

But this effort must happen "within the context of preserving the unity and
integrity of Syria's territories... in accordance with international legal
norms and decisions", it said.

Turkey last week began bombarding targets in Syria linked to the Daesh
jihadist movement and granted access to its air bases to a US
led-coalition — ending a policy which avoided direct intervention in the
Syria conflict.

It also struck militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq in
recent days in response to attacks against its security forces.

Washington and Ankara also announced plans to sweep Daesh militants from a
strip of land along the border, possibly providing a safe haven for
civilians.

The Egyptian statement did not elaborate nor mention Turkey.

Political analyst Hassan Abou Taleb of Al Ahram Centre for Political and
Strategic Studies said Egypt's message was a "condemnation and rejection of
Turkey's unilateral moves".

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, who is fighting an Islamist
militancy in the Sinai, has stressed the need to maintain Syria's unity in
the past.

Various countries, including the United States, support rebels fighting to
bring down President Bashar Assad. But the conflict has seen a proliferation
of jihadist groups opposed to both Assad and the West, and the fragmentation
of the country.

Four years into a war that has killed more than 220,000 people, Assad can no
longer defend the whole country or hope to regain lost territory and his
forces are retreating and fortifying their core strongholds, from the
capital Damascus up to the coastal strip in northwestern Syria.

At the same time, the main blocs of insurgents — Daesh in the east, a rival
Islamist alliance in the northwest, nationalist rebels in the south and
Kurds in the north — are carving out their own fiefdoms.

Sisi is also worried about Islamist militants in neighbouring Libya, which
has descended into chaos since autocrat Muammar Qadhafi was toppled in 2011.

Egypt intervened in Libya in February when it bombed Daesh targets there
after the militant group beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians
======================
Sue Lerner -- Associate, IMRA