Iraq
i24: Iraq Executes Three Convicted For Islamic State Blast That Killed Hundreds
“Iraq executed three individuals on Monday who were convicted of their involvement in a 2016 Baghdad bombing, an attack claimed by the Islamic State group that resulted in the deaths of more than 320 people. The bombing, occurring on July 3, 2016 in the Karrada shopping area, was one of the deadliest terrorist acts globally since the 9/11 attacks. During the incident, a car bombing wreaked havoc in Baghdad as people gathered for the Eid al-Fitr festival marking the end of Ramadan. Flames ignited by the explosion engulfed shopping centers, trapping victims due to a lack of emergency exits. The initial explosion, set off by plastic explosives and ammonium nitrate loaded in a minibus, was followed by devastating fires that complicated the identification of the deceased. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, addressing victims' families, revealed that the three convicts were sentenced to death for their roles in the terrorist attack.”
Reuters: Iran Says Iraq Has Agreed To Disarm And Relocate Kurdistan Militants
“Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement that "armed terrorist groups" in Iraq's Kurdistan region will be disarmed and relocated next month, Iran's foreign ministry said on Monday. "An agreement has been struck between Iran and Iraq, in which Iraq has committed to disarm armed separatists and terrorist groups present in its territory, close their bases, and relocate them to other locations before the 19th of September," ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said at a weekly briefing. The spokesperson did not specify where the militants would be relocated to. An Iraqi foreign ministry spokesman did not respond to a request for comment, but a security adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Iran was demanding the disarmament of opposition groups in Iraqi Kurdistan and their relocation to refugee camps. This demand was outlined in the border security agreement signed by Iraq and Iran in Baghdad in March, he added.”
Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal: ‘If They Recognize Me, They Will Kill Me.’ The Grinding Terror Of An Afghan Interpreter Who Helped The U.S.
“Ahmad Jawed wakes at 7 a.m. in a daily routine that has so far kept him alive. He packs milk and bread into the backpacks of his 9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter and walks them to school, hoping to pass unnoticed. There and back, he wears sunglasses, a pandemic-era surgical mask and the type of skull cap worn by Pashtuns, the ethnicity of most Taliban. When he returns to the family’s fourth-floor apartment in Kabul, he has breakfast with his wife, Palwasha. After the meal, she leaves for work as a hospital midwife, the family’s sole supporter. Jawed spends the rest of the day at home with his 3-year-old daughter, tapping at his laptop and watching TV, afraid to venture outside, trapped in idle humiliation. “I live like a prisoner,” he said. A decade ago, Jawed worked as an interpreter for U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan, a popular aide-de-camp known as A.J. He served as the voice of American troops on missions to capture or kill suspected Taliban militants in far-flung rural villages. With the Taliban now in charge, he is one of the hunted.”
The Guardian: ‘Despair Is Settling In’: Female Suicides On Rise In Taliban’s Afghanistan
“First, her dreams of becoming a doctor were dashed by the Taliban’s ban on education. Then her family set up a forced marriage to her cousin, a heroin addict. Latifa* felt her future had been snatched away. “I had two options: to marry an addict and live a life of misery or take my own life,” said the 18-year-old in a phone interview from her home in central Ghor province. “I chose the latter.” It was not an isolated act of desperation. Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, there has been a disturbing surge in the number of women taking their own lives or attempting to do so, data collected from public hospitals and mental health clinics across a third of Afghanistan’s provinces shows. Taliban authorities have not published data on suicides and have barred health workers from sharing up-to-date statistics in multiple provinces, medics say. Health workers agreed to privately share figures for the year from August 2021 to August 2022 to highlight an urgent public health crisis. The data suggests Afghanistan has become one of very few countries worldwide where more women than men die by suicide.”
Fox News: 2 Years After US Withdrawal Afghanistan Resistance Group Yearns For Western Help As They Take On Taliban
“The Taliban have doubled down with its extremist rule over Afghanistan since the withdrawal of U.S. forces almost two years ago, but a national resistance movement emerged immediately after with the hope of ending the Islamic regime in Kabul. The Taliban’s growing repression, contrary to their assurances after seizing power in August 2021, has not stopped the National Resistance Front (NRF) from continuing operations against Taliban rule. "Today, especially this fighting season, we have been successful in challenging the Taliban in many parts of Afghanistan beyond our base in the remote valleys of the Hindu Kush mountains," Ali Maisam Nazary, head of foreign relations for the NRF, told Fox News Digital. "We have launched successful guerrilla operations in eastern provinces like Nangarhar, Laghman and Nuristan. The same in the North and Central Afghanistan. The reason for this is that the people of Afghanistan are more convinced today than two years ago that an armed struggle is the only way to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan."”
Middle East
The Times Of Israel: Gallant Warns UN Chief: Potential For Violence Growing Amid Hezbollah Provocations
“Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday that the likelihood of an outbreak of violence with the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon was mounting, calling on United Nations peacekeepers to work to reduce the recently raised tensions. Gallant made the comments during a closed-door meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at UN headquarters in New York, his office said in a statement. “The potential for a violent escalation on Israel’s northern border is growing, as a result of flagrant violations by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah,” Gallant said in remarks provided by his office in English. “The UN must act immediately.” The minister demanded an “immediate UN intervention in deescalating tensions” by strengthening and increasing the freedom of movement of a peacekeeping force, known as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, in the border area.”
The Times Of Israel: Hezbollah Terror Chief Threatens Israel After Warning From Netanyahu
“The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group, Hassan Nasrallah, threatens Israel, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas and other “Iranian proxies” against targeting Israel. “For any Israeli assassination against a Lebanese, Palestinian, Iranian person or anyone else, that is carried out on Lebanese territory — there will be a severe reaction and we will not be silent about it,” Nasrallah says. “We will not allow a return to assassinations in Lebanon and we will not accept changes to the rules of conflict. Israel must understand this,” Nasrallah says.”
Nigeria
Reuters: Nigerian Army Rescues Children Among Dozens Who Were Abducted By Islamic Rebels In The Northeast
“Nigerian security forces have rescued dozens of “captives mostly women and children held by Islamic extremist rebels in the country’s hard-hit northeastern region, the army said. The Nigerian army said late Monday the 25 captives were rescued during “clearance operations” by its troops in Borno state’s Gwoza district, a hotbed for the jihadi violence that has upended lives and livelihoods in the region since 2009, when Boko Haram extremists launched an insurgency. Fourteen of the captives were first to be rescued on Saturday in Gobara village while 11 others were freed on Sunday when troops raided the rebel hideout in Gava village, both around 130 kilometers (80 miles) from Borno state capital, Maiduguri, said army spokeman Onyema Nwachukwu. The army shared pictures of the freed hostages that included toddlers. Most of them looked malnourished and wore worn-out clothes, suggesting that they might have been held for a long time.”
Somalia
Garowe Online: Somalia: Danab Forces Kill Over 47 Al-Shabaab Fighters
“The elite commandos; the Danab Special Forces have killed over 47 Al-Shabaab militants in the latest crackdown, just ahead of operations against the group in Jubaland and Southwest states, which is set to be activated in due course according to observers. The operation on Sunday comes just a few hours after the Somali National Army reportedly suffered immense losses in Oswein village within central Somalia, with the government remaining silent over the tragedy that has been widely shared by several eyewitnesses. Arab Dheeg Ahmed, the commander of the 5th unit of Danab Special Forces, said the operation was activated at Yaq Dabey area in Lower Jubba where the militants have been plotting an attack against innocent civilians and members of security teams in frontline states across Somalia.”
Mali
Voice Of America: Islamist Blockade On Timbuktu Stops Food And Aid As Prices Spike
“A two-week blockade by Islamist militants has created food and aid shortages in the ancient city of Timbuktu, the mayor and residents said, as security deteriorates across much of northern and eastern Mali. Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a fabled seat of Islamic learning on the edge of the Sahara desert, has been surrounded by violence ever since French forces liberated it from militants in 2013 after an uprising. The unrest, driven by local affiliates of al Qaeda and Islamic State, has intensified over the past year after the West African country's military leaders kicked out French troops, asked United Nations' peacekeepers to leave, and teamed up with Russian private military contractor Wagner Group. A local al Qaeda affiliate, known as JNIM, has blocked the roads to Timbuktu since around Aug. 13, residents said, cutting food staples and stopping humanitarian aid to the remote city of some 35,000 people whose economy has already been dented by the years of violence.”
India
Hindustan Times: Pushing Bangladesh May Aid Extremist Forces, India Indicates To US
“The Indian side conveyed its concerns on this issue to the US during several recent interactions, the people said on condition of anonymity. New Delhi also believes US pressure on the issue of free and fair elections could push Bangladesh closer to China, a development that can have ramifications for the region, they said. While the Indian side has made it clear that it too wants a free and fair election process in Bangladesh, it has conveyed to the US leadership that too much pressure in this regard will only end up encouraging the extremist and fundamentalist forces the Sheikh Hasina government has successfully kept at bay, the people said. Besides sanctions imposed on Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a paramilitary force, and several senior RAB officials in December 2021, the US threatened visa sanctions in May 2023 against Bangladeshi nationals believed to be involved in actions that undermine the election process. These actions include use of measures to prevent political parties, civil society or the media from disseminating their views.”
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