Syrian Kurds call Iraqi brothers to the flag against Turkey | Information and Cyber Wars - 9.1.16 Update: Why Obama Is to Blame for Russia’s SpyWar on America

Syrian Kurds call Iraqi brothers to the flag against Turkey | Information and Cyber Wars - 9.1.16 Update: Why Obama Is to Blame for Russia’s SpyWar on America | Observer

September 02, 2016

Image result for Why Obama Is to Blame for Russia’s SpyWar on America | Observer

____________________________________

Syrian Kurds call Iraqi brothers to the flag against Turkey
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 10:01 AM

DEBKAFile

September 2, 2016, 4:58 PM (IDT)

The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union (PYD) leader, Salih Muslim, Friday called on Iraqi Kurds to cross the border and fight with their YPG militia against the invading Turkish army in northern Syria. The PYD leader issued his appeal to Irbil from Brussels where he told reporters he had evidence of links between the Erdogan government in Ankara and the Islamic state terrorists. DEBKAfile: The autonomous Kurdish Republic of Iraq’s Peshmerga force is 50,000 strong.

Obama rejects panel's proposal for more oversight of VA health care system by Dave Boyer
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 10:01 AM

Www.Washingtontimes.Com Stories: Security

President Obama objected Thursday to a new governing board to oversee health care at the Department of Veterans Affairs, saying it would undermine the VA secretary's authority and make it harder for the scandal-ridden agency "to implement transformative change."

The president said the recommendation by a national commission for a ...

Next Page of Stories

Page 2

Hillary Clinton: U.S. will treat cyberattacks 'just like any other attack' by Andrew Blake
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 10:01 AM

Www.Washingtontimes.Com Stories: Security

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said as commander in chief the U.S. will deploy its military to respond to cyberattacks waged against its interests.

Amid a wide-ranging hacking campaign that has successfully claimed several victims from the Democratic Party in recent months, Mrs. Clinton indicated her administration will ...

Obama says he supports veterans' health care recommendations
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 10:01 AM

Www.Washingtontimes.Com Stories: Security

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says he supports a congressional panel's recommendation to create a veterans' health care system that coordinates government and private care.

The recommendation is among a total of 18 issued in July by the Commission on Care. Congress created the panel following a scandal over ...

With Obama's term ending, the despots' window of opportunity closing by L. Todd Wood
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 10:00 AM

Www.Washingtontimes.Com Stories: Security

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The dictators' window is closing and they know it.

I'm talking about the opportunity for foreign regimes to take advantage of the weakness of the Obama administration. Whether it's through incompetence or the result of a some misguided agenda, President Obama has weakened the power of the United States ...

Kaine to give 'national security address' in North Carolina
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 10:00 AM

Www.Washingtontimes.Com Stories: Security

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine is slated to deliver what Hillary Clinton's campaign calls a "major national security address" next week in North Carolina.

The Clinton campaign announced the speech would occur in Wilmington on Tuesday but didn't immediately have more location details Thursday. A ...

Russian Aggression Looms Over G-20 Summitby Morgan Chalfant
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:59 AM

Washington Free Beacon

Russia has stoked conflict in Ukraine and conducted unannounced military drills in recent weeks, displaying increased aggression ahead of a key economic summit in China where Vladimir Putin will meet with western leaders who have been unable to deter Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.

Tensions over Russia’s provocative behavior are high ahead of the G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, where leaders from 20 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany will gather on Sept. 4 and 5. The war in Ukraine, as well as strained relations between Russia and NATO, are likely to influence the meeting.

It was at the same summit in 2014 when western leaders criticized Russia for its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, leading Putin to leave the two-day meeting ahead of schedule. Russia has been subject to U.S. and EU sanctions for its role in the Ukraine conflict, and the U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday expanded its sanctions lists to punish more Russian individuals and entities for the continued violence.

Sanctions, thus far, have been insufficient in deterring Russia’s occupation of Crimea or accompanying violence that has persisted for more than two years. NATO member states in Eastern Europe have also grown increasingly weary of the possibility of Russian invasion, leading the alliance to bolster military forces there, in defiance of Russian warnings.

On the sidelines of the G-20 summit, Putin is likely to meet with President Obama, who has been critical of Russia’s behavior in Ukraine but has not given lethal aid to Ukrainian troops, despite pressure from lawmakers and some in his own administration. Putin is also due to hold bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Francois Hollande.

Merkel and Hollande said ahead of the summit that they remain “extremely concerned” about the situation in eastern Ukraine, renewing calls for the implementation of a ceasefire deal that has long been ineffective at curtailing fighting.

It is unclear whether leaders will prioritize discussions on the Ukraine situation, given other matters of international concern, such as the Syrian civil war in which Russia has intervened to prop up Bashar al Assad’s regime.

Dalibor Rohac, an expert on Central and Eastern Europe at the American Enterprise Institute, said that he does not expect western leaders to take a hard line on rebuking Russia’s actions in Ukraine at the summit.

“Of course Ukraine is still on the agenda, but I don’t expect major pushback from the West. There are rising constituencies in all of these countries, mostly in the world of business, who want to return to business as usual,” Rohac said. “With Syria, divisions inside the EU, Brexit, U.S. presidential election, not many remember—and fewer care about—the conflict in eastern Ukraine.”

The fighting in Ukraine escalated in mid-August. Russia on Aug. 10 accused Ukrainian intelligence agents of plotting terror attacks on critical elements of Crimea’s infrastructure and then began tostage thousands of military forces near Russia’s border with Ukraine. The accusations, which Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko described as baseless and a “pretext for more military threats,” led Ukraine to order its troops on high alert in anticipation of potential conflict.

A spokesman for Ukraine’s military said Wednesday that 100,000 Russian troops are stationed in Crimea, separatist-controlled parts of Donbas, and along the border with Ukraine. He also said that around 700 tanks are present in separatist-held areas of Donbas.

“Effective deterrence requires more than talk,” Rohac said of the western response to the conflict. “In the Ukrainian context, lethal aid is needed, as well as commitment to shepherd the country into the Western geopolitical space, through EU accession talks, prospect of NATO membership.”

Russian military forces have also been participating in unannounced military drills for the last week in the central, southern, and western military districts of the country. The spontaneous “combat readiness” exercises, which Putin ordered last Thursday, involved air forces and naval forces in the Black and Caspian Seas and were said by Moscow to prepare troops to protect Russia’s territory national interests in the event of security threats.

The drills, which ended Wednesday, drew ire from NATO’s No. 2 official, who said this week that Russia has conducted unannounced military drills “with increased frequency” and has as a result exacerbated tensions with the alliance. NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow said that roughly a dozen such drills have occurred over the last two years.

“If there is an interest in Moscow in stability and predictability, then these exercises are not the way to go,” Vershbow said, describing the alliance’s relationship with Russia as “very unsatisfactory.”

“These are certainly making Eastern Europeans understandably nervous, especially given that Russia would enjoy a significant tactical advantage over NATO should a conflict in the Baltic region take place,” Rohac said. “Together with the frequent airspace incursions there is a real risk of a human error that could lead to war.”

The Ukraine conflict has raised concerns among NATO members about the possibility of Russia invading other countries in Eastern Europe.

NATO member states in July agreed to deploy four battalions in Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.

Russia responded to the planned deployment by pledging to create three new Army divisions in its western and southern military districts to counter the bolstered force.

The post Russian Aggression Looms Over G-20 Summit appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Read the whole story

· · · ·

Uzbekistan appears to be preparing for president's funeral
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:58 AM

Stars And Stripes

Uzbekistan appeared to be preparing for a state funeral after saying Friday that the country's president is critically ill. Islam Karimov has run an authoritarian government in the Central Asian nation since 1989, and cultivated no apparent successor.

Next Page of Stories

Page 3

Kurds Fear the U.S. Will Again Betray Them, in Syriaby By TIM ARANGO
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:57 AM

United States Defense And Military Forces

Throughout history, Washington and other Western powers have used the Kurds for their ends, then abandoned them when it became expedient.

Putin sees opening with Japan on World War II island dispute
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:57 AM

Stars And Stripes

Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a conciliatory tone before talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on a territorial dispute that's prevented the countries from signing a World War II peace treaty.

Czech spy service accuses Russia of waging ‘information war’by Joseph Fitsanakis
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:56 AM

IntelNews.Org

The intelligence agency of the Czech Republic has accused Russian spy services of waging a “war of information” aimed at destabilizing the eastern European country.

Spies Who Never Were by fredslibrary
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:56 AM

Intelligence Analysis And Reporting

Title: Spies Who Never Were

Author: Colonel Vernon Hinchley

Hinchley, Vernon (1965). Spies Who Never Were. New York: Dodd, Mead

LCCN: 65024462

UB270 .H45

Date Posted: September 1, 2016

Reviewed by Paul W. Blackstock and Frank L. Schaf[1]

The author, a former British intelligence officer, examines the legends which have accumulated around thirteen people accused of espionage and condemned by the press and public opinion as spies. Among the more notable cases ore those of Dreyfus, Treibitsch Lincoln, Bruno Pontecorvo, Rutland, Elsbeth Scragmuller, Guy Burgess, and Alger Hiss.

[1] Blackstock, Paul W. (1978) and Frank L. Schaf, Jr. Intelligence, Espionage, Counterespionage, And Covert Operations: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit: Gale Research Co., p. 143

Trump's fuzzy math on undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes - Washington Post
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:56 AM

House Judiciary Committee - Google News

Washington Post

Trump's fuzzy math on undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes
Washington Post
ICE has provided its estimates for released criminal convictions to the House Judiciary Committee. Between fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2015, there were 82,288 criminal aliens that ICE released into non-custodial settings. Vaughan added an additional 200,000 ...
HUFFPOST HILL - The GOP Can't Even With Donald TrumpHuffington Post

all 4,669 news articles »

ACLU concerned about FBI access to Ohio records, photos - Columbus Dispatch
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:54 AM

Fbi - Google News

ACLU concerned about FBI access to Ohio records, photos
Columbus Dispatch
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio says allowing the FBI to access Ohio's photographic records isn't a good idea. One of the organization's concerns is the FBI's use of sophisticated electronic facial recognition software on photos of people ...

and more »

Next Page of Stories

Page 4

Get Ready for the FBI's New Encryption Back Door Push - The Mac Observer (blog)
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:53 AM

Fbi - Google News

The Mac Observer (blog)

Get Ready for the FBI's New Encryption Back Door Push
The Mac Observer (blog)
The FBI's fight for government mandated backdoors into our encrypted data and devices is far from over, and Director James Comey says he plans to bring that back to the forefront next year. Mr. Comey says it's time for an “adult conversation” on the ...
FBI Director Has High Expectations for New Cyber Security AgentsNBCNews.com
Comey: FBI wants 'adult conversation' on device encryptionWashington Post

Comey: FBI takes election tampering 'very seriously'Politico
Huffington Post-The Hill
all 91 news articles »

Jury fails to convict blogger charged with threatening to behead FBI agents - CNN
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:53 AM

Fbi - Google News

CNN

Jury fails to convict blogger charged with threatening to behead FBI agents
CNN
He was accused of threatening to behead and slit the throats of FBI agents, including David Bowdich, who was formerly in charge of the bureau's Los Angeles field office. Wexler, 50, testified that he relied on sarcasm and hyperbole to get points across ...

and more »

Jury fails to convict blogger charged with threatening FBI agents - Toledo Blade
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:53 AM

Fbi - Google News

Toledo Blade

Jury fails to convict blogger charged with threatening FBI agents
Toledo Blade
A blogger from Orange County, California, who was charged with threatening to harm or kill FBIagents was acquitted of some charges today, and jurors could not reach a verdict on the remaining counts against him. Peter Ronald Wexler, who had been held ...

and more »

Putin: I have no idea who hacked U.S. Democratic Party
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:53 AM

DEBKAFile

September 2, 2016, 10:58 AM (IDT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday, that he did not know who was behind the hacking of U.S. Democratic Party organizations but it was important the information had been made public, Bloomberg news agency reported on Friday.
In an interview two days before a G20 meeting in China with U.S. President Barack Obama, Putin said it could be impossible to establish who engineered the release of sensitive Democratic Party emails but it was not done by the Russian government.
"Does it even matter who hacked this data?" Putin asked. "The important thing is the content that was given to the public."
"There’s no need to distract the public’s attention from the essence of the problem by raising some minor issues connected with the search for who did it," he added. “But I want to tell you again, I don’t know anything about it, and on a state level Russia has never done this.”

Long-missing US student reportedly kidnapped in China in '04, forced to tutor North Korean dictator - Fox News
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:52 AM

Cyber Warfare - Google News

Fox News

Long-missing US student reportedly kidnapped in China in '04, forced to tutor North Korean dictator
Fox News
An American college student who disappeared in China 12 years ago and was believed to have died was in fact kidnapped and forced to work as Kim Jong Un's personal tutor in Pyongyang, where he remains to this day, according to a South Korean activist ...

and more »

Gulen movement 'founded by CIA, like Mormons and Scientology' – Turkish prosecutor - RT
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:51 AM

Cia - Google News

RT	Gulen movement 'founded by CIA, like Mormons and Scientology' – Turkish prosecutor RT “Investigative journalists have been reporting that [Gulenists] worked as contractors for foreign intelligence services such as

the CIA,
MI6 and BND and infiltrated into the intelligence services of other countries acting in the name of the services ...
Turkish Prosecutor Coup Indictment: Gulen, Like Mormons, Is a CIA ProjectBreitbart News

all 273 news articles »

Next Page of Stories

Page 5

The Early Edition: September 2, 2016 by Zoë Chapman
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:51 AM

Just Security

Zoë Chapman

Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad. Here’s today’s news.

IRAQ and SYRIA

Turkey’s President Erdoğan denied claims by US officials that Syrian Kurdish forces in northern Syria have withdrawn east of the Euphrates River today, reports the AP.

Turkey has removed the Islamic State and the Kurds from a 150 mile square area of northern Syria, Erdoğan also said this morning. [Reuters]

The Syrian rebel assault in Hama was the largest coordinated rebel assault in the area since 2014, reports Al Jazeera. The capture of at least 14 villages in four days prompted the Syrian government to retaliate with heavy air strikes yesterday.

An intensification of the Syrian government’s strategy of refusing access to besieged towns by aid agencies will lead to mass evacuations along the lines of that seen in the town of Darayya last week, the UN has predicted. Patrick Wintour reports at the Guardian.

The UN Security Council will hold a meeting to take stock of the Syria conflict, now in its sixth year, and discuss prospects for ending it, on September 21, the AP reports.

Obama is under pressure to score a “major win” against the Islamic State in Iraq before he leaves office, Nancy A. Youssef writes at The Daily Beast. US generals are promising that the city of Mosul will be rid of the Islamic State soon, while politicians are pushing for the move to take place before the Obama administration terms, according to one official.

US-led airstrikes continue. US and coalition forces carried out eight airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria on August 31. Separately, partner forces conducted eight strikes against targets in Iraq. [Central Command]

TURKEY

Turkey’s President Erdoğan and President Obama are due to meet on Sept.4 on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in China, reports the Hürriyet Daily News, at a time when relations between the two NATO allies are strained. US Ambassador to Ankara John Bass and Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirloğlu met yesterday to conduct a general assessment of issues that concern both sides, in an effort to smooth the ground ahead of the Presidents’ meeting, according to diplomatic sources.

Clashes between Turkey’s military and Kurdish militia in southeast Turkey have left a total of 20 Kurds and one Turkish soldier dead in southeast Turkey, reports the AP.

Turkey has begun a process to patch up relations with Egypt and Syria, a further shift in Turkey’s regional foreign policy toward increasing pragmatism, reports Reuters.

PAKISTAN

Pakistan says it has thwarted an attempt by the Islamic State to expand its network into the country,Pakistan’s military arresting 309 suspects, Islamic State members from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan among them, a military spokesperson said yesterday. [AP’s Munir Ahmed]

A suicide bombing at a court in the northern Pakistani city of Mardan has killed at least 12 people and injured over 50, according to officials. [BBC] Militant group Jamaat-Ur-Ahrar has claimed responsibility for the attack, Reuters reports.

CHINA

The Chinese air force is developing a new type of long-range bomber, state media reported today. [AP]

China has set the trial date for this month for a US businesswoman accused of spying, Reutersreports. The US State Department has said it is concerned for her welfare.

China is tightening regulation of online maps to clarify its territorial claims and protect “national sovereignty and interests,” Chinese state media has reported today. [AP]

CYBERSECURITY, PRIVACY and TECHNOLOGY

Romanian hacker “Guccifer,” responsible for revealing Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state, was sentenced to over four years in federal prison yesterday, theWashington Post’s Rachel Weiner and Spencer S. Hsu report.

Russia’s President Putin has no idea who hacked the D.N.C., but it is important that the information had been made public, he said in an interview reported by Russian media today. [Reuters]

US law enforcement purchases spy equipment enabling the interception of wireless calls and texts, the location of people via their cellphones, and the jamming of cellular communications in an areafrom British defense firm Cobham, a confidential 120-page catalogue reveals. This shows the wide range of electronic surveillance tactics used by police and militaries in the US and abroad, reports Sam Biddle at the Intercept.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

The White House’s statement that it “did not and will not allow Iran to skirt” its commitments under the nuclear deal in response to the report from the Institute for Science and International Study would be “more credible” if the Obama administration had not agreed to allow Iran to inspect its own nuclear-related military facilities, and if Iran weren’t testing ballistic missiles as a result of another nuclear side-deal, according to the Wall Street Journal editorial board.

NATO needs to be able to regularly advise Afghan corps as well as occasionally push training and advice down to Afghan kandaks – units of 600 soldiers – US Army Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, NATO alliance spokesperson in Afghanistan, said yesterday, since Afghan security forces continue to have leadership problems. Julian E. Barnes reports at the Wall Street Journal.

Misrata militias spearheading the ousting of the Islamic State from Libya’s Sirte are claiming the city for themselves now that the terrorist group is all but removed, report Maria Abi-Habib and Hassan Morajea at the Wall Street Journal. Once the battle at Sirte is over, the Misrata militias will head for Libya’s capital, Tripoli, commanders say.

Ex-Guantánamo Bay detainee Abu Wa’el Dhiab is planning a hunger strike now that he has been returned to Uruguay after going missing for several weeks, demanding that he be allowed to leave the South American country. [AP’s Leonardo Haberkorn]

The US is providing logistical support and political cover for the Saudi-led coalition in the Yemen conflict, the leader of the Houthis has said. [Reuters]

Extremism, Turkey, relations with Russia and global strategy are on the cards for foreign ministers of EU nations when they meet in Slovakia for a two-day meeting today, reports the AP.

A joint military exercise in the US with Israeli, Pakistani and UAE fighter pilots last month was “professional” even though the countries do not share diplomatic ties with Israel, the Israeli air force has said. [AP’s Daniel Estrin]

Peace talks with Muslim separatists suspected of a string of bombings in tourist towns will go ahead,Thailand’s military government has announced. [Reuters]

Five men taken into custody in the UK on suspicion of planning acts of terrorism last Friday are to be detained in custody for another week for questioning, a judge has ruled, under laws which allow law enforcement to hold suspects for up to 14 days without charge in sufficiently serious cases. Alexis Flynn reports at the Wall Street Journal.

Read on Just Security »

Read the whole story

· · · · ·

Clinton Raised $143 Million in August by Jack Heretik
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:49 AM

Washington Free Beacon

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton raised a hefty $143 million in the month of August for her campaign and the Democratic Party.

The sum is more than she has raised ever in a month, the New York Times reports:

August was Mrs. Clinton’s most successful fund-raising month so far, as she crisscrossed the country on a money hunt that took her to dozens of events in the summer locales of the wealthy and the well-to-do. Her efforts brought in $143 million for her campaign and for Democratic organizations, according to her campaign. That is far more than the $90 million haul Mrs. Clinton and the Democrats reported in July.

A large portion of the money Clinton raised will go to other Democratic races. Much of the money raised for her campaign will be spent in swing states, such as Ohio and Florida. The states are key to her and Donald Trump’s respective hopes of winning the White House.

Currently, Clinton has approximately $68 million in cash while $84 million is held by the two joint fundraising committees between Clinton and the Democratic Party.

Her fundraising spree took her around the country, including around Hollywood. This time spent fundraising has taken her off the campaign trail and away from voters and reporters who have questions for her surrounding the Clinton Foundation, her time at the State
Department, and her private email server.

The post Clinton Raised $143 Million in August appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Syria strikes kill 25 as another Damascus suburb surrendersby In Homeland Security Staff
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:48 AM

In Homeland Security

Syrian rebels captured new ground in a lightning advance on the central city of Hama and suspected government airstrikes killed 25 civilians in the surrounding province.

No motive ascribed to knife attack on Paris policewoman
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:48 AM

DEBKAFile

September 2, 2016, 4:40 PM (IDT)

French officials are withholding the identity and motive of the knifeman who critically injured a policewoman in Paris earlier Friday. They were also cagey about a similar attack in Toulouse three days ago, when a man knifed a policeman in the throat shouting “I’m sick of France!”

DEBKAfile’s counterterrorism sources disclose a new policy adopted by France, Germany and Belgium to abstain from giving exposure to Islamist terrorist attacks as such.

Turkish president to EU on migrant deal: where is the money?by DUSAN STOJANOVIC
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:48 AM

Www.Washingtontimes.Com Stories: Security

ISTANBUL (AP) - Turkeys's president accused the European Union on Friday of failing to deliver funds it promised as part of a deal to stop migrants crossing the Aegean Sea, adding to fears that the agreement which has curtailed last year's huge refugee surge to Europe's heartland is about to ...

300 Syrians Leave Besieged Damascus Suburb After Dealby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:47 AM

Voice Of America

Buses carrying about 300 Syrians living in a besieged rebel-held suburb of the capital, Damascus, began leaving the area Friday following a deal struck with the government that grants amnesty to gunmen and restores state control. An Associated Press reporter in Moadamiyeh saw security forces searching the luggage of dozens of men, women, and children before they boarded buses Friday, heading out of the suburb to shelters in a government-controlled neighborhood nearby. Moadamiyeh, which a U.N. report said was gassed with toxic sarin in 2013, has suffered a three-year government siege, leaving its estimated 28,000 residents with dwindling food and medical supplies. The first part of the deal's implementation evacuates about 300 people, including 62 gunmen who agreed to lay down their arms after taking advantage of a presidential amnesty, said the governor of rural Damascus province, Alaa Munir Ibrahim. The Moadamiyeh deal came a week after the full evacuation of the nearby rebel-held suburb Daraya, which was widely criticized as a forced displacement. The 300 people leaving Moadamiyeh are originally from Daraya, a number of whom had fled to or were stuck in Moadamiyeh after an extensive military offensive against the neighboring suburb that began earlier this year. On Syrian state TV, Ahmed Mounir, a government adviser, described the Friday evacuation as a completion of the Daraya deal. The Daraya offensive cut the suburb off from other rebel-held areas in the western suburbs of Damascus. It accelerated the surrender of the gunmen in Daraya, forcing them to reach a deal with the government which fully evacuated the nearly 4,000 people still living in a neighborhood that was once home to more than 200,000. “The heroic acts of the Syrian army in Daraya led to the achievement in Moadamiyeh,” Ibrahim, the provincial governor, told Syrian state TV. He said other “settlement” deals with rebel-held Damascus suburbs were currently under discussion, and urged other gunmen to lay down their arms. At a press conference in Geneva on Thursday, U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura warned that the government's siege tactics were forcing evacuations, saying that “after Daraya, we may have other Darayas.” De Mistura's humanitarian adviser, Jan Egeland, echoed his sentiment, saying the U.N. humanitarian task force for Syria had “failed the people of Daraya.” The U.N. underlined that it had not been consulted on the Daraya deal, which it described as forced displacement. Once the 300 evacuees have been moved to government-controlled areas, under the second part of the Moadamiyeh deal gunmen who refuse to hand over their weapons will be forced to leave, likely to rebel-held parts of northern Syria. It was not clear when government security forces would take over control of the suburb. Moadamiyeh's buildings and infrastructure appeared largely intact. Local rebels had negotiated several local truces with the government starting 2012, and the suburb was spared much of the destruction and bombing that beset Daraya, a mile away. “I am very happy to get out,” said 25-year old Samira Khadra, a resident of Daraya who had moved to Moadamiyeh, as she boarded one of eight waiting green buses with her mother and children. Rajab Taysir al-Sheikh, a 55-year old resident of Daraya, said his former home was totally destroyed. He was now joining his family, evacuated last week from Daraya, in a shelter in a Damascus suburb. “Nothing remains from my house except what I am carrying: two pants and some shirts,” he said, before criticizing the rebels for provoking the government's violence. Hassan Ghandour, a former resident of Moadamiyeh and a lead negotiator on the deal, said most gunmen from Moadamiyeh are expected to stay and lay down their weapons. The deal also includes the release of detainees from Moadamiyeh currently held in government prisons.

Read the whole story

· · ·

Next Page of Stories

Page 6

Suicide Bomber Targets Court Complex in Mardan, Pakistan
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:46 AM

Voice Of America

Authorities in Mardan, northwestern Pakistan say a suicide bombing attack on a court complex has killed at least 12 people and wounded about 50 others.

Putin 'Doesn't Know' Who Hacked U.S. Democratic Party Computers
Friday September 2nd, 2016 at 9:45 AM

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he doesn't know who hacked the e-mails of U.S. Democratic Party-affiliated organizations but added that the Russian government had nothing to do with it.