About Us

IMRA
IMRA
IMRA

 

Subscribe

Search


...................................................................................................................................................


Sunday, August 21, 2016
Excerpts: Iran'a new Bavar 373 missile defense system.Turkey more active Syria role.Israel responds to Hamas rocket attack. Child kills 51 at Turkish wedding.Iraq hangs 36 re 2014 massacre, Palestinian journalist's detention August 21, 2016

Excerpts: Iran'a new Bavar 373 missile defense system.Turkey more active
Syria role.Israel responds to Hamas rocket attack. Child kills 51 at Turkish
wedding.Iraq hangs 36 re 2014 massacre, Palestinian journalist's detention
August 21, 2016

+++SOURCE: AlArabiya News 21 Aug.’16:”Iran releases new missile defense
system images:,byAgence France Presse
SUBJECT: Iran’s new Bavar 373 missile defense system

QUOTE:”Iran's new Bavar 373 missile defence system was designed to match the
Russian S-300 system, pictured, that was suspended while international
sanctions were in place.”

FULL TEXT:imra@netvision.net.ilIran released images of its first
domestically built long-range missile defense system on Sunday[21 Aug.], a
project started when the country was under international sanctions.

Images released on multiple state news agencies showed President Hassan
Rouhani and Minister of Defence Hossein Dehghan standing in front of the new
Bavar 373 missile defense system.

The system was designed to intercept cruise missiles, drones, combat
aircraft and ballistic missiles, according to earlier statements by Dehghan.

It was intended to match the Russian S-300 system, the delivery of which was
suspended in 2010 due to sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program.

“We did not intend to make an Iranian version of the S-300 -- we wanted to
build an Iranian system, and we built it,” Dehghan told the IRNA news agency
on Saturday[20 Aug].

Rouhani said in a televised speech that Iran’s military budget had more than
doubled compared with last year.

“If we are able to discuss with world powers around the negotiating table,
it is because of our national strength, because of our national unity,” he
said.

In 2015, shortly before the conclusion of an international agreement on the
nuclear program, Moscow re-authorized the delivery of the S-300 system in a
move criticized by the United States and Israel.

Iran’s army said in May that it was now equipped with the S-300 system,
though further parts are due over the coming months.

Rouhani also unveiled the first Iranian-made fighter jet engine on Sunday[21
Aug], saying it was capable of flight at 50,000 feet.

“The Islamic republic is one of eight countries in the world who have
mastered the technology to build these engines,” the president said.

Dehghan added that Iran was now looking to develop seaborne cruise missiles
capable of supersonic speed.

In 2015, shortly before the conclusion of an international agreement on Iran’s
nuclear programme, Moscow re-authorized the delivery of the S-300 system in
a move criticized by the United States and Israel.

Iran’s army said in May that it was now equipped with the S-300 system,
though further parts are due over the coming months.

The new Bavar 373 has Iran’s first vertical launcher, using Sayad 3 missiles
that were first tested in September 2014.



+++SOURCE:AlArabiya News 21 Aug.’16:”Turkey:More active role to be taken in
Syria,by Reuters
SUBJECT:Turkey more active Syrian role

Turkey will take a more active role in addressing the conflict in Syria in
the next six months to prevent the war-torn country from being divided on
ethnic lines. (File Photo: AP)

Reuters, IstanbulSaturday, 20 August 2016


Turkey will take a more active role in addressing the conflict in Syria in
the next six months to prevent the war-torn country being divided along
ethnic lines, Turkish Prime Binali Yildirim said on Saturday.

Yildirim also told a group of reporters in Istanbul that while Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad could have a role in the interim leadership, he
must play no part in its future.

Syria’s more than five-year conflict has taken on an ethnic dimension, with
Kurdish groups carving out their own regions, and periodically battling
groups from Syria’s Arab majority whose priority is to overthrow Assad.

Turkey fears the strengthening of Kurdish militant groups in Syria will
further embolden its own Kurdish insurgency, which flared anew following the
collapse of a ceasefire between militants and the state last year.

“Turkey we will be more active in the Syria issue in the coming six months
as a regional player. This means to not allow Syria to be divided on any
ethnic base, for Turkey this is crucial,” Yildirim said.

On Friday Syrian Kurdish authorities evacuated thousands of civilians from
Kurdish areas of Hasaka following Syrian government air strikes, the Kurdish
YPG militia said.

The fighting this week in Hasaka, which is divided into zones of Kurdish and
Syrian government control, marks the most violent confrontation between the
Kurdish YPG militia and Damascus in the civil war.

It came a week after Turkey and Russia, Assad’s strongest military backer,
repaired ties following Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet late last year.

The YPG and Syrian government forces had mostly left each other to their own
devices in the conflict, during which Kurdish groups have exploited the
collapse of state control to establish autonomy across much of the country’s
north.

The Kurdish YPG militia is an integral part of the US-backed Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF), which are at the heart of Washington’s military
campaign against ISIS and last week seized the northern town of Manbij from
the militants.

Despite the intensified military involvement of world powers, including the
former Cold War foes, Yildirim said he was optimistic that Iran, Gulf Arab
states, Russia and the United States, could work jointly to find a solution.



+++SOURCE:Naharnet(L ebanon)21 Aug.’16:”Israel Hits Hamas Targets in Gaza
after Rocket Attack”,by Agence France
SUBJECT: Israel responds to Hamas rocket attack

FULL TEXT:Israel targeted Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip by air and with
tank fire Sunday[21 Aug]

after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave crashed into the Israeli
city of Sderot.

Police said the rocket hit "between two buildings on a road" in Sderot,
which is less than four kilometers (2.5 miles) from Gaza, causing no
casualties.

Army spokesman Peter Lerner said Israeli forces retaliated by hitting
targets of the Palestinian Islamist movement in northern Gaza.

"In response to the rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, the IAF (Israeli air
force) and tanks targeted two Hamas posts in the northern Gaza Strip,"
Lerner said in a statement.

Palestinian health and security sources said two people were lightly wounded
by the Israeli fire.

"One of them is a 20-year-old (young man) who was hit by shrapnel in the
face," said Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the Palestinian health ministry
in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Security sources in the territory said several targets in northern Gaza were
struck by Israeli fire, and that a reservoir in Beit Hanun was destroyed.

Witnesses said a base of Hamas' military wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam
Brigades, in nearby Beit Lahya, was also hit.

Israeli media said it was the first time downtown Sderot had been hit by a
rocket from Gaza since the last war with Palestinian militants in the
territory in 2014.

On July 2, Israeli air raids hit four sites in Gaza after a rocket struck a
building in Sderot. There were no casualties in either incident.

+++SOURCE: Naharnet(Lebanon)21 Aug.’16:”Erdogan Says IS ‘Likely Perpetrator’
after ‘Child Bomber Kills 51 at Wedding:,by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Child kills 51 at Turkish wedding
QUOTE:Erdogan pointing the finger at the Islamic State group”
EXCERPTS:A suicide bomber as young as 12 killed at least 51 people at a
wedding in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday[21 Aug.],
pointing the finger at the Islamic State group.

Erdogan said Saturday's [20 Aug]blast in Gaziantep near the Syria border
"was the result of a suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14 who either
detonated (the bomb) or others detonated it."

The explosion was the latest attack to rock the key NATO member in a
horrific year that has seen strikes blamed on Kurdish and Islamist militants
as well as a bloody July 15 botched coup.

The president said the Islamic State group was the "likely perpetrator" of
the bomb attack, the deadliest in 2016, that targeted a celebration attended
by many Kurds.

The remains of a suicide vest were found at the scene, the chief
prosecutor's office said Sunday[21 Aug] according to broadcaster CNN-Turk….

Erdogan told reporters the death toll was now 51 with 94 hurt in the attack.

A total of 69 people remained in hospital, with 17 in critical condition…

Our country and our nation have again only one message to those who attack
us -- you will not succeed!" he said.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Gaziantep would show the same spirit it
had shown in 1921, when it defeated French forces in Turkey's Independence
War which led to the word Gazi (war hero) being added to its original name
of Antep.

"Our grief is great, but be sure our unity and togetherness will defeat all
these diabolic attacks," he said.

World leaders quickly condemned the attack, with President Francois Hollande
denouncing the "vile" incident and pledging that France "stands with all who
fight against the scourge of terrorism."

U.S. ambassador to Turkey John Bass condemned the "barbaric attack on
innocent civilians", adding that Washington would "continue to work closely
together to defeat the common threat of terrorism."

The pope called on faithful to pray for the victims while Chancellor Angela
Merkel condemned the "cowardly and underhand" attack "in the strongest
terms."

- Hub for Syrians -

A major city just 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of the Syrian border,
Gaziantep has become a hub for Syrians fleeing the civil war in their
country.

But as well as refugees and opposition activists, there have long been fears
it was home to a significant jihadist presence.

IS suicide bombers have carried out several attacks in Istanbul this year,
while Kurdish militants have hit targets in both Ankara and Istanbul.

On Thursday, 12 people were killed in three bombings blamed on the PKK, who
Erdogan said had killed 70 members of the security forces in the last month
alone.

The blast in Gaziantep came just hours after Yildirim said Ankara would play
a "more active" role in efforts to solve the Syrian civil war.

Turkey was long accused of turning a blind eye to or even abetting the rise
of IS in Syria, claims it vehemently denies. But Ankara has taken a tougher
line since the start of jihadist attacks on its soil.


+++SOURCE:Naharnet (Lebanon)21 Aug.’16 :”Iraq Hangs 36 over 2014 Massacre of
Recruits”, by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Iraq hangs36 re 2014 massacre

FULL TEXT:Iraq on Sunday[21 Aug] hanged 36 men convicted over the 2014
massacre by Sunni jihadists and allied militants of up to 1,700 military
recruits, officials said.

They had been found guilty of involvement in the "Speicher" massacre, named
after a base near Tikrit where the recruits were kidnapped before being
executed in a massacre claimed by the Islamic State group.

"The executions of 36 convicted over the Speicher crime were carried out
this morning in Nasiriyah prison," a spokesman for the governor's office in
Dhiqar, the province of which Nasiriyah is the capital, told AFP.

"The governor of Dhiqar, Yahya al-Nasseri and Justice Minister Haidar
al-Zamili were present to oversee the executions," Abdelhassan Dawood
said."They were transferred to Nasiriyah last week after the president
approved the executions," he said, referring to the necessary green light
from Fuad Masum.Following the death of more than 300 people in the worst
ever single bomb attack to strike Baghdad last month, Prime Minister Haider
al-Abadi had said he wanted to expedite the execution of inmates sentenced
to death in terrorism cases.The Dhiqar governor confirmed to AFP that the
executions were carried out by hanging.

His spokesman said that around 400 of the Speicher massacre victims were
from the Dhiqar province, which is predominantly Shiite and located in
Iraq's south.

"Tens of relatives attended the executions," said Dawood. "They shouted
Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), they were happy to see those people
dead.Among them was Najla Shaab, a 30-year-old woman whose husband was
killed in the massacre, leaving her to raise their children alone."Thank you
God, it's a fair punishment for the worst crime, a triple crime of killing,
throwing bodies in the river and burying people alive," she told AFP by
phone.

- Botched trials -One of the sites of the massacre was the former river
police building inside former president Saddam Hussein's palace complex in
Tikrit.Video footage subsequently released by IS showed an assembly-line
massacre in which gunmen herded their victims towards the quay, shot them in
the back of the head and pushed them in the water one after the other.The
trials that have led to Iraq's latest batches of death sentences have been
severely criticized by rights groups as failing to meet basic
standards.Amnesty International had slammed Iraq's systematic resort to the
death penalty following the execution of 22 other people in May this
year."The use of the death penalty is deplorable in all circumstances, and
it is particularly horrendous when applied after grossly unfair trials
marred by allegations of confessions extracted under torture as is
frequently the case in Iraq," the group's Iraq researcher Diana Eltahawy
said.

The United Nations had criticized Abadi's call to speed up executions, which
according to Amnesty already topped 100 for 2016 before Sunday's
hangings."Fast-tracking executions will only accelerate injustice," U.N.
High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said earlier this
month.The Speicher massacre is considered one of IS' worst crimes since it
took over large parts of the country in 2014.Combined with a call by the
country's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for Iraqis to
take up arms against them, the Speicher massacre played a key role in the
mass recruitment of Shiite volunteers to fight the jihadists.



+++Jordan Times 21 Aug,’16:”Israel extends Palestinian journalist’s
detention — NGO,by Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Israel extends Palestinian journalist’s detention

QUOTE:Israel accuses him of participation in a terrorist organization”

FULL TEXT:RAMALLAH — Israeli authorities have extended by three months the
detention without trial of a Palestinian journalist who had been due for
release on Monday[22 Aug], a Palestinian NGO said on Saturday.[20 Aug.]

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoners Club said it had been informed by
Omar Nazzal’s lawyers that the senior journalists’ union official would not
now be released at the end of his current term, on August 22. “Israel is
intensifying its policy of administrative detention and increasing the
extensions of administrative detention,” prisoners club spokeswoman Amani
Sarahneh told AFP.

“In particular it made this choice in the case of Omar.”

His wife Marlene Rabadi posted on Facebook: “We were informed today that
Omar’s administrative detention has been extended by three months.”

Israeli officials could not immediately be reached for comment on
Saturday[20 Aug], the Jewish sabbath said.

Nazzal was arrested on April 23 at the border between the West Bank and
Jordan, from where he had been due to fly to a European Federation of
Journalists gathering in Bosnia.

A military court ordered at the time that he be placed for four months in
administrative detention, an Israeli measure allowing suspects to be
interned for indefinite periods without charge.

Israel accuses him of “participation in a terrorist organisation”.

Its Shin Bet agency said in April that Nazzal, 54, served in a top position
at Falestine Al Youm television in Ramallah, which Israel forcibly closed on
accusations of incitement to violence.

Nazzal had left the broadcaster several months before his arrest, which
Palestinians say is an Israeli attack on the freedom of the Palestinian
press.

He has been on hunger strikes since August 4 in protest against his
detention, and international organizations have called for his release.

Israel says Nazzal was detained for “his involvement in terror group
activities”, and not “because of his activity as a journalist”.

The Palestinian journalists’ union says that another 19 Palestinian
journalists and students of journalism are in Israeli prisons, one of them
for more than 20 years
==========
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA

Search For An Article

....................................................................................................

Contact Us

POB 982 Kfar Sava
Tel 972-9-7604719
Fax 972-3-7255730
email:imra@netvision.net.il IMRA is now also on Twitter
http://twitter.com/IMRA_UPDATES

image004.jpg (8687 bytes)