‘Former US drone pilot quits, regretting bombing innocents, including children’

Press TV

A former US assassination drone pilot says he quit the force after feeling “numb” about seeing a child and other civilians blown away in his remote bombing of targets in Afghanistan and realizing he has unconsciously developed a desire to kill.

Since leaving the controversial US targeted-killing program over two years ago, the young ex-terror drone operator, who was recruited by the military after graduating at the top of his class, has become homeless and detected with post-traumatic stress disorder, which is commonly associated with US soldiers in warfronts, according to US-based National Public Radio (NPR).

In a recent NPR interview, the former drone pilot, identified as 27-year-old Brandon Bryant, offered some graphic details about feeling troubled after witnessing the immediate outcome of his bombings in Afghanistan on video screens beside his control buttons inside a windowless trailer ‘somewhere in a western US state,’ from where he fired off the missiles mounted on the assassination drones flying some 10,000 miles (16,000 km) away.

Describing his “first shot” out in Afghanistan, Bryant said he was specifically “ordered” to target a group of suspected militants that where (idly) sitting on a hill, rather than another group of militants that were “firing at US soldiers” nearby.

“We fired the missile, and 1.2 seconds after the missile fires, it sonic booms. And so the sonic boom gets there before the missile does… and then the missile hits. And after the smoke clears, there’s a crater there. You can see body parts of the people,” he explained. “I watched him (one of the men) bleed out. The blood rapidly cooled to become the same color as the ground, because we were watching this in infrared.”

Bryant then remembered thinking regretfully about the bombing, believing that that the targeted men were just local folks “that had to protect themselves… and I think we jumped the gun.”

The ex-drone pilot then went on to describe his next bombing in Afghanistan in which, he says, he bombed a home of suspected militants but noticed a child running around the house (on his video monitor) just before the missile hit the target.

“We just aim at the corner of the building,” Bryant explained. “We’re going to fire, and we do. And there’s about six seconds left before the missile impacts, and something runs around the corner of the building. And it looked like a small person… It was a small, two-legged person. And the missile hits. There’s no sign of this person.”

Further elaborating on the aftermath of that bombing, he added, “So we lock our camera on there, and I ask the screener, who disseminates the video feed,… who was that thing that ran on the screen?… and comes back and says, oh, that was a dog.”

But Bryant insists, “It was a person. It was a small person. Like, there was no doubt in my mind that that was not a – an adult.”

“I felt really numb,” he further emphasized, recalling his thoughts after realizing he had blown away a small child with a missile he fired off of a US assassination drone flying over Afghanistan. “I didn’t feel distraught, like I felt my first shot. I felt numb because this was the reality of war… and innocence can die as well.”

According to the NPR reporter that interviewed Bryant, shortly after that bombing, he decided to leave the [targeted-killing] program, boasted by the Obama administration as its prime mean to root out suspected anti-US militants in Muslim nations.

Bryant also explained that back in late 2010 he found himself really disturbed about his thought of which militant he is going to kill today, after looking at a poster in his work area of “five top al-Qaeda leaders,” but then having second thoughts of “that’s just not who I am. I don’t think like that… I was taught to respect life” and that if human life was to be taken in a war, “it should be done with respect.”

He then underlined that he “tried to talk” to people about his feelings but “one of the weird things about the whole [assassination] drone community is that you don’t talk about anything that you’ve done. You just don’t. So I just shut up and didn’t talk to anyone about how I was feeling or how I was doing.”

According to the NPR report, Bryant eventually quit the targeted-killing program and has become homeless and “staying with friends” while attending college in northwestern US state of Montana.

While noting that Bryant has also been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the NPR reported pointed to the growing realization that PTSD can also affect terror-drone pilots, even though they “haven’t’ been on the battlefield.”

The development comes while despite the rising controversy over the legality of the secret assassination drone strikes and the high number of civilian casualties caused by aerial bombings, as part of the US targeted killing program, the Obama administration insists on continuing the lethal effort to take out what it regards as anti-US “terror suspect” in Muslim nations.

Syria seizes Israeli army vehicle used by insurgents in al-Qusayr

Press TV

The Syrian army has confiscated an Israeli military vehicle used by foreign-backed militants in Syria’s strategic western city of al-Qusayr.

The Lebanese channel al-Mayadeen broadcast the video of the confiscated vehicle on Monday.

The report also said that military uniforms as well as wiretapping and jamming equipment were found in the vehicle, but it did not display the items.

The Syrian army has restored security in al-Qusayr in the central province of Homs, after taking back control of 50 percent of the city from foreign-backed militants.

The army said it has killed two militant commanders during the operation in the strategic city, which is located near the border with Lebanon.

Fierce battles are still going on in the city as the Syrian army continues its operations there, while large numbers of militants abandon their weapons and flee the city.

The Syrian army entered the strategic city from every front on Sunday following weeks of battle.

The Syrian army says it has also found Israeli-made rockets in a weapons cache seized from militants in Homs province.

Palestine: A march in Al Aqsa Mosque in protest at its desecration & demands about the condition of sick captive

Worshipers stage a march in Al Aqsa Mosque in protest at its desecration

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Worshipers at Al Aqsa Mosque staged a march in its squares after Friday prayers; in protest at settlers’ raids and the targeting of the mosque by the occupation.

The protesters chanted slogans condemning the occupation and calling for supporting Al Aqsa Mosque.

Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Council, asserted during Friday sermon that Al Aqsa Mosque is a red line for all Muslims, stressing the Muslims’ rejection for all the occupation authorities and settlers’ schemes.

Sheikh Sabri reminded of the fatwa he issued almost four years ago and which prohibits the exchange of land.

Palestine is not for sale nor for compromise because it is a purely Islamic endowment, he said.

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An organization demands that condition of sick captive be revealed

GAZA, (PIC)– The Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Studies demanded that the Israeli Prison Authority reveals the nature of illness of captive Muhammad al-Sharha, 32, from the town of Dura, south of al-Khalil, who is suspected of having throat cancer.

The center said that Sharha has been in detention for the past 12 years. Two years ago, he started suffering from a swelling in his neck. For long months the IPA refused to take him to a hospital to be examined. They only took him to hospital after fellow captives took protest steps. There was talk after that of him suffering from a throat cancer similar to that suffered by martyr Maysara Abu Hamdeyyah, who was kept in prison, without proper medical treatment, till he died.

The center added that doctors have not informed him officially of this, neither have they denied it. Samples were taken two months ago for testing, but till now neither the prisoner nor his family has been informed of the nature of the illness. His family are living in constant worry as the initial diagnosis suggest cancer.

The center held the occupation authority fully responsible for the life of the captive, because it concealed the truth about his illness, giving the illness time to take hold and become difficult to treat, similar to what they did with martyr Maysara Abu Hamdeyyah.

Palestine: Youths make their way into apartheid wall, many injured in clashes & 18 houses demolished

Palestinian youths make their way into Jerusalem through ‘Israel’s’ apartheid wall

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– A group of Palestinian young men was able on Friday evening to knock down part of Israel’s segregation wall near Abu Dis town to the east of occupied Jerusalem, particularly in the area known as Kabsa.

The young men used pickaxes to make a hole in the wall and then entered Jerusalem carrying Palestinian flags in a step intended to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe).

The Palestinian information center (PIC) reporter in Jerusalem said that the Israeli army immediately dispatched a unit of Israeli soldiers to the area to confront the young men.

The soldiers, then, started to fire rubber bullets at the young men who responded by throwing stones.

Later, the Israeli occupation forces invaded Abu Dis town and clashed with dozens of young men inside its neighborhoods.

Several young men suffered tear gas and bullet injuries during the events.

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New road connects Israeli settlement with the Ibrahimi Mosque

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– An Israeli team of civil engineers from Kiryat Arba settlement, built on Palestinian territories in al-Khalil, started land surveying of a road in Husain valley, in order to pave a new road connecting the settlement with the Ibrahimi Mosque.

The so-called ‘Hebron’s Council of Settlements’ has surveyed the dirt road locating on Palestinians’ lands and lined signals on the street as a prelude to establish a new road linking between Kiryat Arba settlement and the Ibrahimi mosque, local sources told Al-Khalil Reconstruction Committee.

Since more than a year the settlers have been trying to establish the road at the expense of the Palestinian lands in Husain valley, the sources added.

The Palestinian residents have appealed to the local institutions to stand against these Israeli schemes that aim to annex more lands to Kiryat Arba settlement.

In the same context, Israeli occupation soldiers set up surveillance cameras on the roofs of several houses south of the Ibrahimi Mosque.

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30 Palestinians wounded in clashes with Israeli soldiers in Al-Khalil

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– About 30 Palestinians were injured on Friday afternoon during violent clashes with the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in Al-Aroub refugee camp and Beit Ummar town in Al-Khalil city.

Coordinator of Beit Ummar popular committee Mohamed Awad said that 14 Palestinian young men sustained injuries when the IOF attacked an event held in Beit Ummar in solidarity with prisoner Ahmed Awad.

One of the young men suffered a serious injury in his left hand and the others suffered rubber bullet injuries.

The IOF also kidnapped a 15-year old boy named Quteiba Sabarneh during the clashes.

In Al-Aroub refugee camp, another young man named Luay Al-Badawi suffered serious injuries in his head and face, and 16 others had different wounds.

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More than 20 Palestinians injured in different clashes east of Ramallah

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– More than 12 Palestinians on Friday afternoon sustained different injuries during clashes with the Israeli occupation forces near the entrance to Jalazoun refugee camp east of Ramallah city.

According to the Palestinian information center (PIC) reporter in Ramallah, the IOF fired live bullets intensively at the angry young men.

Other clashes also broke out after the Friday prayers in Silwad town east of Ramallah between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli soldiers, who fired a barrage of rubber bullets and tear gas grenades at the protestors.

Consequently, more than 10 Palestinians suffered injuries and one was reportedly detained during the violent events.

Some foreign and local journalists, including a cameraman working for Anatolia news agency, were brutally attacked by the IOF.

In another incident, hundreds of Palestinians performed their Friday prayers on their lands in Deir Jarir village east of Ramallah after they used a bulldozer to level the road leading to these lands.

The IOF, however, attacked the bulldozer and the Palestinian worshipers with tear gas and rubber bullets.

A horde of Jewish settlers also attacked the Palestinians during their presence on their lands and fired live bullets at them with no reported injuries.

The intensity of the tear gas attacks caused vast tracts of cultivated lands to catch fire.

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Israeli authorities demolish 18 Palestinian houses in the Negev

NAZARETH, (PIC)– The Israeli authorities’ bulldozers accompanied by a large police force and special units demolished on Thursday morning 18 Palestinian houses in the village of Atir in the Negev, in southern 1948-occupied Palestine.

Arab MK Taleb Abu Arar said in remarks to Quds Press that nearly 500 policemen from special units stormed the area to protect the bulldozers while demolishing the houses belonging to the family of Abu al-Ki’an.

The policemen imposed a tight blockade on the houses that were demolished and prevented the residents from entering or approaching them.

Abu Arar warned of the aggravation of the situation and the outbreak of an uprising in the Negev due to the policy of displacement adopted by the Israeli occupation authorities, pointing out that due to the demolition about 40 people, including women and children, have become homeless.

The Israeli bulldozers have also destroyed sheep barns and uprooted about 600 olive trees.

For his part, Sheikh Osama Uqbi official of the Islamic Movement in the Negev described the demolition operations as “crime against humanity”, and stressed on the steadfastness of the residents and their adherence to their land.

France to buy US-made Reaper drones for use in Mali: Report

(File photo)

Press TV

France has plans to purchase US-made unarmed Reaper surveillance drones in a bid to back up its military operations against fighters in the crisis-hit African country, Mali, a report says.

According to the report published by Air et Cosmos specialist magazine on Friday, France will buy two American medium-altitude Reaper drones following a deal reached between Paris and Washington.

The report added that the French Air Force, which has already deployed Israeli-made armed unmanned drones to the West African nation, intends to acquire more modern drones rapidly.

In February, a report published by the World Tribune indicated that the French military has used “Harfang” medium-altitude long endurance (MALE) drones manufactured by Israel in the war-torn country.

The Air et Cosmos report also stated that the French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is currently on a visit to the US, is set to make an official announcement in this regard.

France launched its war on the resource-rich West African country in January under the pretext of fighting al-Qaeda-linked extremists.

The French-led war on Mali has caused a serious humanitarian crisis in the northern areas of the country and has displaced thousands of people, who now live in deplorable conditions.

Amnesty International said on February 1 that serious human rights breaches including the killing of children were being conducted in Mali.

Some political analysts believe Mali’s abundant natural resources, including gold and uranium, are among the reasons behind the French war against the African country.

Back to Tahrir Square: Clashes at demo calling Mursi to resign

Moqawama

Demonstrators calling for Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi to resign and demanding early elections clashed with riot police in Cairo late Friday.

Hundreds of people had marched on Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday for the protest, called by a number of opposition groups.

The demonstrators, most of them teenagers, threw molotov cocktails at the police who replied with volleys of tear gas canisters, but there were no reports of casualties.

The clashes took place near Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the opposition movement that brought down President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

Earlier Friday, marches had begun in various parts of the capital with the aim of converging on Tahrir Square.
At the head of one march people were carrying two large banners, one reading “an early presidential election” and the other “a unifying constitution for Egypt”.

Marchers from the Tamarod [rebellion] campaign, which claims to have garnered more than two million signatures demanding that Mursi resign, collected more names from people along the route.

Before the clashes, state media said security had been beefed up around the interior ministry, close to Tahrir Square, as it has been the scene of violent confrontations in the past.

The protest was called by groups including the al-Dustur party of former UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed al-Baradei and the April 6 movement that spearheaded the 2011 uprising to oust then president Mubarak.

The opposition accuses Mursi of governing only in the interests of his Muslim Brotherhood, while he insists he is the “president of all Egyptians”.

Since Mursi was elected last June, Egypt has continued to suffer from a serious political and economic crisis, and there have often been frequent clashes, sometimes deadly, between his opponents and supporters.

Palestine: ‘Israel’ arrests 28 children within 2 weeks & plans to legalize four unauthorized West Bank outposts

Israel arrests 28 children within 2 weeks

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– A Palestinian official report showed that the Israeli occupation forces have arrested 28 children from different cities and villages in the occupied West Bank, since the beginning of the month of May.

The report noted that the occupation forces “continued its aggression against the Palestinian children, as they arrested during the first half of May 28 children, and injured dozens of others during attacks on them by Israeli soldiers and settlers.”

Data of the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs states that the occupation forces have arrested since the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000 until the 7th of May 2013 nearly 9500 children under the age of eighteen, at the rate of 760 children per year.

Israel is still holding in its jails 243 Palestinian children, 42 of them are under the age of 16.

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“Israel” plans to legalize four unauthorized West Bank outposts

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Thursday that the Netanyahu government wants to give retroactive approval to four unauthorized West Bank settlement outposts already slated for demolition.

Haaretz newspaper reported that “in a document submitted to the High Court of Justice on Tuesday, the state said that it will act to legalize four West Bank outposts for which a delimitation order was issued in 2003.”

The four outposts in question are: Givat Asaf, Mitzpeh Lakhish, Ma’aleh Rehavam and Givat Haroeh. They have been established on privately-owned Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

FT: Qatar pays Syria mercenaries 50,000$ yearly

Moqawama

Financial Times magazine published a report Friday that mentioned that Qatar has invested in Syrian insurgents, paying up to 3 billion dollars over the past two years to rebels.

“The tiny gas-rich state of Qatar has spent as much as $3 billion over the past two years supporting the rebellion in Syria, far exceeding any other government, but is now being nudged aside by Saudi Arabia as the prime source of arms to rebels,” the report stated.

In dozens of interviews with the FT conducted in recent weeks, rebel leaders both abroad and within Syria as well as regional and western officials detailed Qatar’s role in the Syrian conflict.

The small state is the biggest donor to the political opposition, providing generous refugee packages to defectors [one estimate puts it at $50,000 a year for a defector and his family] and has provided vast amounts of humanitarian support.

In September, many rebels in Syria’s Aleppo province received a one off monthly salary of $150 courtesy of Qatar. Sources close to the Qatari government said total spending has reached as much as $3 billion.

For Qatar, its intervention in Syria is part of an aggressive quest for global recognition and is merely the latest chapter in its attempt to establish itself as a major player in the region, the magazine reported.
“According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks arms transfers, Qatar has sent the most weapons deliveries to Syria, with more than 70 military cargo flights into neighboring Turkey between April 2012 and March this year,” FT said.

Moreover, the report stated that though Qatar’s approach is driven more by pragmatism and opportunism than ideology, it has become entangled in the polarized politics of the region, setting off scathing criticism.

“You can’t buy a revolution,” says an opposition businessman.

“Qatar’s support for fundamentalist groups in the Arab world, which puts it at odds with its peers in the Gulf States, has fuelled rivalry with Saudi Arabia,” the Financial Times remarked.

Bahrain regime storms Sheikh Issa Qassem’s house

Al Manar

(Click to view video)

Bahrain regime forces stormed early Friday the house of Sheikh Issa Qassem in Daraz, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society reported.

Al-Wefaq added on its account on Twitter that “the house was violated”, indicating that “dozens of soldiers are storming the house of Ayatollah Qassem, breaking doors, frightening women and vandalizing properties”.

Live witnesses were quoted as saying that dozens of soldiers surrounded the house, broke the main gate, and then broke into the house to search it.

The attack upset the Bahrainis, as Al-Wefaq considered this was “a heinous crime”, and held the “Bahraini regime the complete responsibility of storming the house of Ayatollah Qassem”.

For their part, Bahrain’s leading scholars condemned this “disgraceful act”, pointing out that this step “carries serious indicators, and shows irritability and rashness”.

“The Bahraini people will not remain silent on this aggression on the most significant religious symbol, and the authority holds the full responsibility in that,” the statement added, calling on people to “express rejection to this act peacefully”.

In another statement, the religious schools (Hawza) in Bahrain said they were shocked from hearing “about the blatant violation by the security apparatuses on the house of Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassem…”

The statement condemned “the barbaric attack on the house of this great leader and symbol,” and considered that it “violated the security of the nation, and took it to the verge of abyss.”

It further held the regime “the full responsibility of the consequences of this stupid act.”

Palestine: Hundreds of worshipers, students rally in Al-Aqsa Mosque, cultivated land lot bulldozed & more minors are detained

Ongoing Nakba: Powerful infographic from Visualizing Palestine shows century of land theft, expulsion (click to view)

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Watch: “From Al-Araqib to Susiya” – Palestinians highlight ‘Israel’s’ ongoing efforts to expel them (click to read/watch)

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Hundreds of worshipers and students rally in Al-Aqsa Mosque

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said hundreds of worshipers and students from Jerusalem and 1948 territories accompanied by Islamic Movement leaders rallied on Wednesday in Al-Aqsa Mosque to support Jerusalemites

The Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Taysir Khalidi said that 20 buses carrying Palestinians from the 1948-occupied territories headed toward Al-Aqsa Mosque to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Nakba.

He said the move was called for by a number of political parties and movements, which urged Palestinians from the 1948 territories to flock to Jerusalem to support its residents and defend Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Resurrection against the settlers and Jewish extremists’ fierce attacks.

Al-Aqsa Foundation reported that nearly 70 settlers, guarded by the Israeli police, stormed on Wednesday morning Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Mughrabi Gate, and desecrated its courtyards.

The Foundation pointed out that the pace of raids in Al-Aqsa has increased, especially in recent days, and warned that the incursions will continue in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Kiryat Arba settlers in addition to a number of Jewish organizations announced their intention to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque and organize inside it a celebration for their children on the occasion of the Shavuot Feast.

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Rabbi accompanies Jewish settlers on storming of Aqsa

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Extremist rabbi Yisrael Ariel stormed the holy Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem on Thursday at the head of a group of Jewish settlers.

Jerusalemite sources said that groups of Jewish settlers stormed the Aqsa mosque via the Maghareba gate and strolled inside it under heavy police escort.

Worshipers and Quran students inside the mosque chanted Allahu Akbar to protest the tour.

For his part, Mahmoud Abu Atta, the spokesman for the Aqsa Foundation for endowment and Heritage, said that 32 settlers broke into the Aqsa mosque in three groups and toured its plazas and attempted to offer Talmudic rituals.

Abu Atta said that the Israeli police forces tightened security measures in and around the holy site and took shots of worshipers and students.

Tension is running high in occupied Jerusalem and the vicinity of the Aqsa mosque in light of the heavy deployment of Israeli police and military forces in anticipation of more such storming by Jewish settlers.

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IOF soldiers bulldoze cultivated land lot

NABLUS, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) bulldozed Palestinian cultivated land lot in Aqraba village near Nablus claiming that it was “state owned”.

Hamza Direiya, a member of the committee in defense of Aqraba land, said that the soldiers destroyed the 25-dunum land planted with olive and almond trees south of the village.

He said that the soldiers also destroyed a water well used in irrigating that land owned by Ayham Direiya.

The activist said that the land owner, who has been reclaiming the land for the past two years, suffered heavy material losses, adding that the Israeli authorities did not recognize the land owner’s title deeds proving his ownership of the land.

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IOF soldiers detain 20 Palestinians mostly children

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained 20 Palestinians, mostly children, in Tabaka village, south of Al-Khalil, on Thursday.

Local sources said that dozens of IOF soldiers broke into houses in the village and searched them using police dogs and rounded up 150 citizens in one of the squares before arresting 20 of them.

The soldiers targeted children in the age category 14-18 in the arrest campaign and interrogated them on the attack on an army jeep that was burnt in the attack during confrontations on Wednesday on the Nakba anniversary, the sources said.

They pointed out that the IOF released 18 of those arrested after quick interrogation and retained two behind bars.

Prominent Bahraini activist Nabeel Rajab goes missing

(File photo)

Al Akhbar

Prominent Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab has been removed from his cell to an unknown location, losing all contact with his family and lawyer, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights reported Wednesday.

In an appeal sent out by the human rights group, Rajab had reportedly witnessed prisoners at the central Jaw prison being tortured.

Rajab’s wife had received a phonecall from Rajab testifying on what he had witnessed in the prison. Shortly after, Rajab’s wife was told that her husband had been removed from his prison cell.

His lawyer, family and fellow activists have not been in contact with him since.

On Wednesday, six Bahraini tweeters were sentenced to one year in jail each for insulting the King and “misusing the right of free expression.”

Torture in Bahraini prisons is very commonly used to force prisoners to sign confessions. In February of last year, leading political prisoners began refusing food after reporting systematic abuses in Bahrain’s jails, including beatings, torture and the use of tear gas.

Nabeel Rajab, who founded the Bahrain Center for Human Rights in 2002, has been in custody since June 6 on charges of “public insults against plaintiffs,” the prosecution said in a statement at the time of his rearrest in June 2012.

The avid Twitter user has been charged with insulting the security forces, posting comments on Twitter deemed insulting to a government body and organizing peaceful protests.

His activism has given him the largest Twitter following in Bahrain, and the fourth largest in the Arab world.

The BHCR appeal calls for the immediate release of Rajab “as it is believed that he has been targeted solely due to his legitimate and peaceful work in the defense of human rights.”

Palestine: MK calls for building synagogue inside the Al Aqsa, confrontations in Al-Khalil, child arrested& the Aqsa mosque stormed

(File photo)

MK calls for building synagogue inside the Aqsa mosque

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Mordechai Eugev, a member of the Israeli Knesset, called on his government to build a synagogue in the Aqsa mosque’s southern area.

The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said in a press release on Wednesday that the Israeli escalation against the Aqsa mosque was ongoing, the latest being an article by MP Eugev, a member of the fanatic party Habayit Hayehudi, that called for building a synagogue inside it.

The statement coincided with the distribution of a detailed map of the alleged temple by Jewish settlers during their storming of the Aqsa mosque.

Sheikh Kamal Al-Khatib, deputy leader of the Islamic movement in 1948 occupied Palestine, described the recent storming of the Aqsa as “unprecedented” as far as the quantity and proximity of storming days are concerned.

Khatib warned that the Knesset speaker and members’ calls for more such storming were part of new political drive to create a new de facto situation in the holy site.

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Violent confrontations in Al-Khalil, child arrested

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) encircled Arroub refugee camp, south of Al-Khalil, on Wednesday and showered young men with teargas canisters and metal bullets.

Eyewitnesses told the PIC that the young men were demonstrating on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Nakba and threw stones and crude firebombs at the soldiers.

Groups of young men said that commemorating the Nakba should include marching to settlements and military positions and not dancing and singing inside Palestinian cities surrounded by settlements and IOF soldiers.

Meanwhile, IOF soldiers arrested a Palestinian man and a child from Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, on Tuesday night.

Local sources said that the IOF arrested the schoolchild, Hakam Al-Alami, after the Israeli intelligence interrogated him at Gush Etzion detention center, north of Al-Khalil.

IOF soldiers rounded up eight university students and children in Beit Ummar over the past three days.

Jewish settlers start building religious institute in Bethlehem outpost

BETHLEHEM, (PIC)– Jewish settlers started building a religious institute in a settlement outpost in Khader village, Bethlehem province.

Ahmed Salah, the coordinator of the popular committee in Al-Khader, told Quds Press on Tuesday that the institute was almost completed.

He said that the institute was being built in Tal Hatmar outpost that was built over 500 dunums of the village land in 2000.

He said that building an institute in that outpost means turning it into an official settlement. He recalled that the outpost was dismantled but the settlers rebuilt it 13 years ago.

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Jewish settlers storm the Aqsa mosque

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– 35 Jewish settlers stormed the Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday through the Maghareba gate.

Local sources said that 50 Jewish children also attempted to break into the mosque via King Faisal gate.

The sources said that tension was running high in the holy site as Muslims inside it continue to chant Allahu Akbar (God is Great).

Fanatic Jewish organizations called for storming and desecrating the Aqsa mosque on the occasion of “Shavuot” on Wednesday and Thursday.

Coordinating with CIA, Qatari diwan, KSA control arms flow to Syria

Moqawama

Reuters reported Wednesday that Qatar, which has taken a lead in arming the Syrian opposition, is coordinating with the CIA.

Rebel fighters in Syria say that in recent months the system for distributing arms has become more centralized, with arms being delivered through opposition National Coalition’s General Command, led by Selim Idriss, a general who defected to the opposition and is a favorite of Washington.

Qatar mostly sends arms to rebels operating in the north of Syria, while Saudi Arabia, another rich Gulf Arab kingdom, sends weapons to fighters operating in the south, several rebel commanders said.

“The Qataris are now going through the Coalition for aid and humanitarian issues and for military issues they are going through the military command,” a commander in northern Syria interviewed from Beirut said.

He further stated: “Before the Coalition was formed they were going through liaison offices and other military and civil formations. That was at the beginning. Now it is different – it is all going through the Coalition and the military command.”

Today, Qatari shipments have resumed with controls exerted from the palace of Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, in consultation with the US Central Intelligence Agency, said a senior Qatari security official.

“There’s an operations room in the Emir’s diwan (office complex), with representatives from every ministry sitting in that room, deciding how much money to allocate for Syria’s aid,” the Qatari official said.
“There’s a lot of consultation with the CIA, and they help Qatar with buying and moving the weapons into Syria, but just as consultants,” he said. The CIA declined to comment.

Rebel commanders contacted by Reuters said they submit their lists of needs to the General Command led by Idriss, which forwards the requests to Qatar or Saudi Arabia.

One Western source involved in the process said that sometimes weapons sent in by Qatar do in fact reach hardline groups.

Several rebel commanders said they believed wealthy Kuwaiti and Saudi individuals were also sending weapons and money to rebel fighters outside the National Coalition’s distribution channel.

“They usually ask for a video proving that an attack took place with the name of the brigade that did it. Sometimes they ask for a statement expressing gratitude,” said a rebel commander in Damascus.

He said the Saudis and Qataris also occasionally send weapons into each other’s territory, bypassing normal controls.

“Sometimes the Qataris manage to send stuff to the southern part and the Saudis to the northern side. When they do so, they send it to brigades that are not part of the military command.”

According to the Qatari official, weapons supplied included AK-47 rifles, rocket propelled grenades, hand grenades and ammunition. Qatar also provides instructions on battlefield techniques such as how to rig weapons on vehicles.

The weapons are purchased mainly from eastern Europe by arms brokers based in Britain and France, and are flown from Qatar to Ankara and then trucked to Syria, the Qatari source added.

Hugh Griffiths, a researcher on arms transfers at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said 90 Qatari military air cargo flights were made to Turkey between 3 January 2012 and the end of April 2013.

He suggested the Qataris had made no particular effort to disguise the nature of the cargo.
The planes were Qatari air force aircraft flying from Al Udeid, a big air force base shared with the US military.

“This is quite unusual for arms deliveries intended for non-state actors in conflict zones, in the last 20 years or so the pattern has been to use private, commercial companies,” he said.

Bahraini opposition: Int’l community responsible for regime torture crimes & six tweeters sentenced to one year in jail

(File photo)

Bahraini Opposition: Int’l Community Responsibile for Regime Torture Crimes

Moqawama

Bahraini opposition’s democratic national forces held the international community “accountable for the systematic torture crimes inside and outside Bahraini detention camps, on the streets, and in places specially made for committing such crimes.”

The opposition’s Al-Wefaq, Waed, al-Ikhaa, the Nationalist, and the Unionist Associations noted the detained activist Nabil Rajab’s statement of witnessing dreadful torture methods inside detention camps against children and youth.”

“This reiterates the regime’s inhumane conduct that undermines citizens’ lives and security,” the statement released by the Bahraini opposition mentioned.

“Victims of torture in Bahrain reached thousands in the past 40 years, and it is a continuing policy that the corrupt security mentality adopts, turning security personnel into tools to commit the ugliest kinds of violation against citizens instead of protecting them,” it added.

“This holds the international community, the UN, and all organizations accountable for such organized crimes, since they must take the humanitarian, moral, and legal responsibility in this regards,” the Bahraini opposition further stated.

“The [Bahraini] regime will violate as long as the international community supports it or shows silent, in which the regime would believe is an OK to commit crimes,” it stressed.

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Bahrain sentences six tweeters to one year in jail for insulting king

Press TV

A court in Bahrain has sentenced six tweeters to one year in jail on charges of insulting Bahrain’s monarch, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

The Bahraini public prosecutor’s office said in a Wednesday statement that the six had been charged and convicted by a lower criminal court for “misusing the right of free expression.”

The statement added that the tweeters were accused of posting remarks “undermining the values and traditions of Bahrain’s society towards the king on Twitter.”…

Russia expels US embassy employee over espionage

Moqawama

In a throwback to the Coldwar era, Russia issued Tuesday orders for the expulsion of a US diplomat caught red-handed as he tried to recruit a Russian intelligence officer to work for the CIA.

The announcement came at an awkward time, just days after a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry during which Washington and Moscow agreed to try to bring the warring sides in Syria together for an international peace conference.

The Federal Security Service said Ryan Fogle, a third secretary at the US Embassy in Moscow, had been detained overnight carrying “special technical equipment”, a disguise, a large sum of money and instructions for recruiting his target.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it summoned US Ambassador Michael McFaul over the case and a Russian television station published photographs which showed Fogle being detained, apparently wearing a blond wig.

“Such provocative actions in the spirit of the Cold War will by no means promote the strengthening of mutual trust,” the Foreign Ministry said.

A successor of the Soviet-era KGB, the FSB said Fogle worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and that he had been handed over to embassy officials at some point after his detention.

Diplomats accused of espionage are usually expelled or withdrawn.
“Recently American intelligence has made multiple attempts to recruit employees of Russian law enforcement organs and special agencies, which have been detected and monitored by Russian FSB counterintelligence,” the FSB said in a statement.

The embassy declined comment. Russia Today television published photographs on its website which it said showed Fogle being detained. In one photograph, a man lies face-down on the ground with his arms held behind his back by another man, and apparently wearing a blond wig.

Another image showed two wigs, apparently found on him, as well as three pairs of glasses, a torch, a mobile phone and a compass. Aldo displayed was a wad of 500-euro notes and an envelope addressed to a “dear friend”.

“This is an advance from someone who has been highly impressed by your professionalism, and who would highly value your cooperation in the future,” the letter said.

“We are willing to offer you $100,000 and discuss your experience, expertise and cooperation, and payment could be significantly larger, if you are willing to answer concrete questions,” it said, offering $1 million a year for long-term cooperation plus possible bonuses for useful information.