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Thousands of Taliban members dismissed for ‘abuses’

By
IFP Media Wire
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The commission that was launched after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan regained power last year is responsible for vetting the Taliban affiliates.

The commission mostly works on the complaints of people, videos on social media, and reports of common people about misdemeanors of the Taliban members, violation of law, and their abusive practices.

“They were giving a bad name to the IEA and were removed in this vetting process so that they build a clean army and police force in the future,” Hakimi told AFP.

“They were involved in corruption, drugs and were intruding in people’s private lives. Some also had links with Daesh,” Hakimi added.

So far about 2,840 members had been dismissed, he continued.

Hakimi further noted those dissociated were from 14 provinces and the process of filtering out will continue in other provinces.

Taliban fighters have been accused by rights groups of extrajudicial killings of former security force members, despite an order from the movement’s leader Hibatullah Akhundzada of an amnesty.

The Taliban took back control of Afghanistan in August 2021 after a 20-year insurgency against former US-backed governments and NATO foreign forces.

Rockets target US military base in eastern Syria

By
IFP Media Wire
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A Local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Anadolu news agency that ‏the projectiles slammed in the vicinity of the US-controlled al-Omar oil field late on Saturday, causing a fire.

The sources added that American forces stationed at the field put out the fire, and responded with missile strikes.

There were no immediate reports of serious injuries and the extent of damage caused. So far, no group has claimed responsibility.

US military drones also flew over the field following the attack. 

The development came hours after several unmanned aerial vehicles reportedly targeted an Iraqi air base hosting occupying US military forces and warplanes north of the capital, Baghdad.

The US military has stationed forces and equipment in eastern and northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.

Damascus, however, says the unlawful deployment is meant to plunder the country’s resources.

Former US president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in Syria for its oil.

Separately, a number of rockets targeted a military base in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh, where Turkish military forces are engaged in on-and-off operations against positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Sabereen News reported that three rockets were launched at Zilkan base in northern Iraq’s Bashiqa region late on Saturday.

The report added that Turkish forces responded to the attack with a volley of artillery rounds.

Shortly afterwards, four other rockets slammed in the Turkish-occupied military base.

Iraq and Turkey have been locked in a dispute over Ankara’s military activities in Kurdistan region. The Baghdad government has repeatedly called on the Turkish government to stop violations of Iraqi sovereignty.

Militants of the PKK — designated as a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and European Union — regularly clash with Turkish forces in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey attached to northern Iraq.

A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

More than 40,000 people have been killed during the three-decade conflict between Turkey and the autonomy-seeking militant group.

Iranian delegation to visit Iraq to boost trade ties

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Headed by ICCIMA chief Gholamhossein Shafei, the delegation is also taking 40 experts of the private sector to the neighboring country at the invitation of Abdul Razzaq al- Zuhairi, the head of the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce. 

During its three-day stay, the Iranian delegation will discuss bilateral cooperation with their Iraqi counterparts in the commercial, industrial, agricultural, and mining sectors.

The two sides will also exchange views on trade opportunities in Iran and Iraq in a conference organized by the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce in the capital city of Baghdad.

The Iraqi cities of Karbala and Najaf will hold two more trade conferences to explore all avenues to expand the economic relations between the two countries. 

Shafei is to hold talks with some Iraqi ministers, including the trade and transportation ministers and the private sector’s experts.

Some Iranian universities denied access to world scientific centers

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

The ministry’s research director general said it had been decided to give universities unrestricted access to scientific centers and information and that the costs would be paid by governments, not universities. To this end, the European Union offered a model that would financially support researchers and provide them with access to scientific resources, but the plan was not put into practice. 

Based on the contracts, the universities must pay the scientific centers in dollars, added Abdolsadeh Neisy, explaining since the Iranian universities’ budgets are paid in rials, they fail to bear the cost. 

In the meantime, he continued, the dollar fluctuations in the country are behind the universities’ outstanding debts.

He also cited U.S. sanctions on the country as another main problem that have made the transfer of money impossible in several cases.  

Neisy, however, said this is not the case in the health sector as the Health Ministry fully pays for access to the international scientific centers’ sites and data, offering the universities free access to them.

He said his department is making every effort to supply the budget and resolve the problem in the coming Iranian year (to start March 21, 2022).

Hezbollah, Amal to end boycotting Lebanon cabinet sessions

By
IFP Media Wire
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The groups, which back several ministers in a government made up of members from across the political spectrum, said in a statement on Saturday that the decision was driven by a desire to approve the 2022 budget and to discuss an economic recovery.

The Lebanese cabinet under Prime Minister Najib Mikati has not met since October 12 due to squabbling about the investigation into the deadly Beirut port explosion in August 2020, and a continuing diplomatic rift with Saudi Arabia and some Persian Gulf states.

As a result, the government has been unable to take swift action to address the country’s dire economic crisis.

Since August 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90 percent of its value as more than three-quarters of the population has slipped into poverty.

The country’s inflation rate has exceeded those of crisis-hit Venezuela and Zimbabwe. The World Bank has reported the Lebanese financial crisis is one of the worst since the mid-19th century.

In December, President Michel Aoun stated Lebanon needs “six to seven years” to emerge from the crisis.

The economic meltdown began in 2019 when the financial system collapsed under the weight of huge state debt and lack of foreign currency – the result of decades of corruption, economic mismanagement, and unsustainable financing.

The international community has for years pressed Lebanon to reform its economy, implement anti-corruption mechanisms, and reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund in order to unlock billions of dollars in developmental aid.

Beirut is also struggling to resolve a diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, which have been critical of Hezbollah for its role in regional conflicts.

Kazakhstan: 225 killed; thousands injured during unrest

By
IFP Media Wire
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“4,578 victims have been identified. Of those, 4,353 were injured, including 3,393 members of the law enforcement agencies. During the state of emergency, 225 bodies were transported to the country’s morgues,” Shalabayev said.

The prosecutor added that 19 police officers and service members were among those killed.

Shalabayev clarified that some of those killed were “armed bandits who took part in the terrorist acts and attacked buildings and law enforcers.” 

“Regrettably, civilians became victims of the terrorist acts as well,” Shalabayev continued.

The Kazakhstan’s Health Ministry reproted that of those 225 people killed, 175 died at medical facilities.

Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots with government buildings getting ransacked in several cities, primarily in Almaty, a few days later. The ensuing violence left thousands of people injured, with fatalities also being reported. Subsequently, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev turned to the Collective Security Treaty Organization requesting assistance from the Russia-led bloc. As a result, peacekeepers were deployed to Kazakhstan. Law and order, Kazakh authorities affirm, was restored to all of the country’s regions.

The Kazakh president announced that the post-Soviet security bloc’s forces played a crucial role in stabilizing the situation in Kazakhstan and called their mission successful. On January 13, the CSTO began the pullout of its peacekeeping contingent from the Central Asian republic.

The peacekeeping contingent of the CSTO collective forces will be withdrawn from Kazakhstan by January 19, Secretary General of the CSTO Stanislav Zas said in a televised interview with Belarus-1 channel on Saturday.

“Almost within a week, all the units and all the personnel will be pulled out to their permanent deployment locations. Unless the weather interferes, it is scheduled to return everyone to their permanent deployment locations by January 19, according to the Russian Defense Ministry’s plan,” the CSTO secretary general added.

The situation has returned back to normal in Kazakhstan, but still the law enforcement agencies have much work ahead, he noted.

“It probably is not quite right to say that the situation has returned back to normal,” Zas said, recalling that the state of emergency had not yet been lifted in some regions of Kazakhstan.

“At the same time, the situation is improving, the turning point has been passed, and we can say that the country is getting back to normal life,” the chief of the CSTO added.

Nevertheless, Zas pointed out that Kazakhstan’s law enforcement and special agencies have loads of work to do.

Foreign nationals were among the terrorist groups participating in the unrest in Kazakhstan, but they were not the main participants, he claimed.

“We can say that terrorists group were operating. Among those arrested are foreigners from different countries. You have read about it. Of course, we cannot say that foreigners prevailed there,” he stated.

Report: Israel prepares weapons wish list for action against Iran, Hezbollah

By
IFP Media Wire
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The wish list is “highly classified” and includes aerial munitions that the occupying regime “predicts would be needed” if it dares to militarily engage Iran or fend off against Hezbollah’s retaliatory rocket strikes, Breaking Defense military news outlet reported, citing Israeli military sources in Tel Aviv.

The US War Reserves Stock Allies stockpile, established in the 1980s, allows the US military to “stockpile arms and equipment at Israeli bases for American use in wartime” and has included missiles, armored vehicles and artillery ammunition, according to a report by the official US Congressional Research Service (CRS).

Later the US amended the rules for the stockpile, the report further noted, explaining that the Israeli regime could have direct access “in emergency situations,” and weapons could be transferred through significantly streamlined Foreign Military Sales channels.

“Officially, all this equipment belongs to the US military. If, however, there is a conflict, the IDF (Israeli military forces) can ask permission to use some of the equipment,” said an Israeli military officer quoted in a 2020 CRS document cited in the report.

That has happened at least twice, according to the Washington-based CRS: once during the Israeli regime’s massive military aggression against Lebanon in 2006 and again during the regime’s brutal military onslaught in 2014 against the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, in the besieged Gaza Strip. Israeli forces suffered huge losses in both instances, prompting it to work out ceasefire deals through intermediaries.

The US also simulated a stockpile weapons transfer for a bilateral war games with Israeli regime forces back in 2019, according to the report.

The report further cited a senior Israeli military source as emphasizing the advantages of increasing the stockpiles of US weaponry in occupied Palestine, stating, “First, since the weapons are owned by the US, they don’t affect Israel’s military budget until they’re needed. Second, while Israel does foot the bill for the systems’ maintenance, they’re stored in US-controlled areas” of Israeli military bases.

Munitions stockpiles, the report insist, remain an intense concern for Israeli military planners after the regime depleted most of its Iron Dome stockpile last year to ward off retaliatory rocket strikes from Gaza following another military aggression against the impoverished Palestinian enclave. The US Congress is set to approve $1 billion in American tax-payers’ money to finance Israeli efforts to replenish its supply of Iron Dome missile system despite the regime’s terrible record of human rights abuses against native Palestinians.

The news outlet also reported last October about Israeli plans to request from the US the purchase of its new 2.3-ton GBU-72 bunker buster bombs for what it claimed as potential operations against tunnel systems in Gaza as well as “fortified Iranian nuclear sites” – a claim widely viewed as merely a publicity stunt to boast its military might.

 It also reported back in November 2021 that the US and the Israeli regime have stepped up joint “operations against Iran’s drone industry” in response to significant Iranian advancements in drone technology and development.

The US has served as the key sponsor of the Israeli regime’s atrocities and military aggressions against occupied Palestinian territories and its native population, neighboring Syria and Lebanon, as well as terrorist assassination operations against opponents across the globe and Iranian nuclear scientists.

Report: Iraq Shia leaders discuss “parliamentary coalition”

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

Shafaq News quote an informed source as saying that the meeting between Muqtada al-Sadr and Hadi al-Amiri, the Secretary General of the Badr Organization, focused on formation of a majority coalition in the parliament to form the next government. 

The source said the issues of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units and coordination among Shia groups for security decision-making in the next government were also on the agenda of the talks. 

Other reports said the Fatah Alliance, which involves Badr Organization as a key member, and Sadr Party, are planning to form a majority parliamentary coalition. 

Iraq held a snap parliamentary vote in October. It saw Sadr Party win 73 seats. Fatal also won 17 seats. 

But Fatah official largely disputed the results saying the US and other foreign players pressured the Iraqi federal court to confirm the outcome. 

Fatah officials, including Amiri, however, later accepted the court ruling and the results. 

3 Iranians die of Omicron, cases on the rise

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

“Unfortunately, one person has died in each of the cities of Tabriz, Yazd and Shahrekord due to the Omicron infection, and another person is in critical condition. The warning is very serious!” announced the Public Relations Office of Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education. 

“The number of those infected with Omicron in the country has reached 1,162, and the figure shows a considerable rise in the city of Mashhad where 249 people have contracted the disease,” the office added. 

This comes as the number of triple-vaxxed people in the country has crossed the 12 million mark while the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered to citizens has reached well over 125 million. 

The vaccination campaign has generally resulted in a downward trend in Coronavirus deaths and infections. 

However, authorities have warned of a surge in the number of Omicron cases across the nation.

US eager to discuss Iran military might during Vienna talks: Kayhan

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

“Western powers, particularly the US and France, have stressed, during Vienna negotiations, their desire for talks to be held on Iran’s military prowess,” wrote Kayhan.

“But when they faced opposition by the Iranian delegation in that regard, they asked the Iranian team to accept their demand generally, even if talks are not really held about Iran’s military capabilities!” the paper added.

“Why is it important for the United States to see Iran’s military power being put on the agenda of the talks, even in a very general and unspecified manner?” Kayhan asked rhetorically.

“The reason is clear. The US wants to shatter Iran’s will to use its own power,” it added.

“In that case, even very modern and efficient missiles will not have any stronger impact than that of atomic bombs of Pakistan or India,” the paper added.

“Of course, it goes without saying that if we accept this demand, the US will definitely begin, as of the following week, to put pressure on Iran to drag it to the negotiating table for military talks,” the paper said.

“So, the bottom line is to break Iran’s willpower,” said the newspaper.

“When it comes to Iran’s nuclear dossier, the Americans have been saying that they know they cannot eliminate Iran’s nuclear know-how and, at the end, cannot prevent Iran from going nuclear. But if Iran agrees to accept the limits set by the hegemonic system with regards to this dossier, it means Iran has compromised on its ‘will’ and has, in fact, crossed out its future,” Kayhan wrote.

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