Alleged Maduro co-conspirator says CIA knew about coup plans

By JOSHUA GOODMAN

January 28, 2022

FILE - This image provided by the U.S. Department of Justice shows a reward poster for Cliver Alcala-Cordones that was released on March 26, 2020. The retired Venezuelan army general says U.S. officials at the highest levels of the CIA were aware of his efforts to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The accusation came in a court filing late Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, by Alcala's attorneys who are seeking to dismiss narcoterrorist charges filed nearly two years ago by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. (Department of Justice via AP file)

MIAMI (AP) — A retired Venezuelan army general says U.S. officials at the highest levels of the CIA and other federal agencies were aware of his efforts to oust Nicolás Maduro — a role he says should immediately debunk criminal charges that he worked alongside the socialist leader to flood the U.S. with cocaine.

The stunning accusation came in a court filing late Friday by attorneys for Cliver Alcalá seeking to have thrown out narcoterrorist charges filed nearly two years ago by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

“Efforts to overthrow the Maduro regime have been well known to the United States government,” Alcalá’s attorneys said in a November 2021 letter to prosecutors that accompanied their motion to have the charges dismissed.. “His opposition to the regime and his alleged efforts to overthrow it were reported to the highest levels of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Council, and the Department of the Treasury.”

The court records raise fresh questions about what the Trump administration knew about the failed plot to oust Maduro involving Jordan Goudreau, an idealistic if battle-scarred former U.S. Green Beret, and a ragtag army of Venezuelan military deserters he was helping Alcalá train at secret camps in Colombia around the time of his arrest.
Alcalá has been an outspoken critic of Maduro almost since he took office in 2013 following the death of Hugo Chávez.

But despite such open hostility toward Maduro, he and his sworn enemy were charged together in a second superseding indictment with being part of a cabal of senior Venezuelan officials and military officers that worked with Colombian rebels to allegedly send 250 metric tons of cocaine a year to the U.S. .

While the attorneys provided no details about what U.S. government may have known about Alcalá’s coup plotting, they said they believe his activities “were communicated at the highest levels of a number of U.S. government agencies” including the CIA, Treasury and Justice departments, the NSC and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

To that end they are seeking documents and information, much of it classified, regarding communications between U.S. officials and members of Venezuela’s opposition about Alcalá. Those U.S. officials include former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Attorney General William Barr as well as senior officials at the White House and unnamed CIA operatives in Colombia.

The CIA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent Friday night.

Also named as having knowledge of Alcalá’s activities are two allies of opposition leader Juan Guaidó — who the U.S. recognizes as Venezuela’s legitimate leader — as well as Miami-based political strategist J.J. Rendon, who signed on behalf of Guaidó a never-executed agreement for Goudreau to carry out a snatch and grab operation against Maduro.

“The evidence is clear that he has been openly and actively opposed to his alleged co-conspirators for at least the past eight years,” attorneys wrote in the letter to prosecutors included in Friday’s filing. “Indeed, his conduct, in support of the democratic ideals in which he believes, constituted treason against the very people whom the government alleges were his co-conspirators for which they seek his detention, imprisonment, and life.”

In the telling of Alcalá’s attorneys, on the eve of launching what would’ve been his second armed raid against Maduro, the former army major general received a knock on the door from a U.S. law enforcement official at his home in Barranquilla, Colombia informing him that he had been indicted.

“The agent informed (him) that he could either board a private jet bound for New York or be held in a Colombian jail where he would no doubt be targeted by the Venezuelan intelligence services for assassination,” Alcala’s attorneys claim. “Left with little choice, (he) agreed to accompany the agent back to the United States.”

Although Alcalá was out of the picture in a Manhattan jail, a small group of would-be freedom fighters pushed ahead and on May 3, 2020 — two days after an investigation by The Associated Press blew the lid on the clandestine camps — launched a crossborder raid that was easily mopped up.

Operation Gideon — or the Bay of Piglets, as the bloody fiasco came to be known — ended with six insurgents dead and two of Goudreau’s former Special Forces buddies behind bars in Caracas. It also delivered a major propaganda coup to Maduro, who has long accused the U.S. of seeking to assassinate him.

The U.S. has always denied any involvement in violent attempts to overthrow Maduro. However, Pompeo’s cryptic statement that the U.S. had no “direct involvement” in Operation Gedeon left some observers wondering what the U.S. may have known about the plot in a region where the CIA has a long history of coup-plotting during the Cold War.

Evidence that the U.S. was aware of Alcalá’s clandestine activities could bolster his defense at trial that even if he had been a member of a drug smuggling ring — which he denies — he took steps to withdraw from the criminal conspiracy years before being charged.

Alcalá’s attorneys also argue that despite having pored over thousands of documents, video and audio recordings turned over by prosecutors, they could find no evidence demonstrating Alcalá was involved in the alleged narcotics conspiracy.

The only act tying Alcalá to the conspiracy in the 28-page indictment is a 2008 meeting he allegedly attended with Chávez’s former spy boss Hugo Carvajal and socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello in which it was agreed Alcalá would take on unspecified “additional duties” to coordinate drug trafficking.

Alcalá has been living in Colombia since fleeing Venezuela in 2018 after the discovery of a conspiracy that he was secretly leading in hopes of ousting Maduro. The U.S. offered a $10 million reward for his arrest when Barr at a press conference announced he, Maduro and several other senior Venezuelan officials had been indicted.

Alcala’s attorneys also contend that around 2018, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard indicated in various discussions that his office had decided not to charge Alcala with narcotics-related crimes because the evidence against him was “equivocal.”

They also produced a copy of a 2014 email by one of Alcala’s attorneys, Adam Kaufmann, to the then-assigned prosecutor recounting a conversation he had with DEA agents who purportedly told him the government had located a witness with information that had led them to drop their investigation.

Alcala’s defense says it didn’t receive any materials substantiating the government’s apparent misgivings. Under what’s known as Brady rules, prosecutors are required to hand over to defendants evidence that may help them prove their innocence.

Before surrendering in 2020, Alcalá shocked many by claiming responsibility for a stockpile of U.S.-made assault weapons and military equipment seized on a highway in Colombia for what he said was a planned incursion into Venezuela to remove Maduro. Without offering much in the way of details, he said he had a contract with Guaidó and his “American advisers” to purchase the weapons but blamed the U.S. backed opposition for betraying the cause.

“We had everything ready,” Alcalá said in a video published on social media moments before turning himself in. “But circumstances that have plagued us throughout this fight against the regime generated leaks from the very heart of the opposition, the part that wants to coexist with Maduro.”

Follow Goodman: @APJoshGoodman

Virginia Republicans push for changes in marijuana law
By DENISE LAVOIE

January 29, 2022

FILE workers trim cannibis plants that are close to harvest in a grow room at the Greenleaf Medical Cannabis facility in Richmond, Va., Thursday, June 17, 2021. Republican lawmakers in Virginia who opposed legalizing simple possession of marijuana say they don't want to scrap the law, but they do want to make significant changes. (AP Photo/Steve Helber/FILE)

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Newly empowered Republican lawmakers in Virginia who opposed legalizing simple possession of marijuana say they don’t want to scrap the law, but they do want to make significant changes.

Those changes could include moving up the start date for retail sales and getting rid of a provision that would give licensing preference to people who have been convicted of marijuana crimes.

Republicans have filed at least eight bills that call for amendments to the 2021 law that legalized adult possession of up to an ounce of marijuana and laid the ground work for retail sales to begin in 2024.

“The overriding top-tier concern is that we have to have a regulatory structure in place for retail sales that does not encourage the black market,” said Garren Shipley, a spokesperson for House Speaker Todd Gilbert.

The law was passed along strict party lines, with Democrats supporting legalization and Republicans voting against it. At the time, Democrats controlled both the House and Senate. Republicans took control of the House in the November election, winning a 52-48 majority over Democrats. Democrats still hold a slight 21-19 majority in the Senate.

A reenactment clause in the law requires the legislature to vote again this year on a complex regulatory structure for retail sales, leaving open the possibility Republicans could push through changes in how the licensing process will work, who will be given an advantage when applying for licenses and how tax revenue from marijuana sales will be spent by the state.

Democrats who supported legalization and advocates for people convicted of marijuana crimes are concerned the changes proposed by Republicans will strip the law of “social equity” provisions designed to help people who have been hurt by old marijuana laws.

“A lot of people have been overly penalized and overly policed and overly suffered because of our misguided policies of the past, and it’s time they stop suffering, and in fact have a chance to make up some lost ground in ways that their lives have been impacted,” said Democratic Sen. Adam Ebbin, a chief sponsor of the 2021 legalization legislation.

Republican Del. Michael Webert is sponsoring a multipronged bill that would make several significant changes, including redirecting the 30% of tax revenues from marijuana sales currently earmarked for a Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund to a fund that would be used to rebuild crumbling school buildings around the state.

“We are trying to ensure that the money goes to where it’s most needed,” Webert said. “To be in a good school environment, to provide a good, safe school building and an atmosphere in which a child can learn will be a great asset for that person’s future.”

A separate bill filed by Sen. Tommy Norment would funnel 30% of the revenue from marijuana sales into the state’s general fund instead of the reinvestment fund, which was included in the 2021 law as a way to reinvest in communities disproportionately affected by stringent drug laws, particularly communities of color. Both proposals are drawing criticism from social justice advocates.

“I’m really struck by this attempt to defund equity and reinvestment when we have committed to legalizing in a way to bring some kind of benefit to people impacted by the war on drugs,” said Chelsea Higgs Wise, executive director of Marijuana Justice.

Webert’s bill also would eliminate a provision that calls for giving special consideration to social equity license applicants, including people who have been convicted of marijuana crimes or members of their immediate families. It leaves in 2021 provisions that would give preference to people who live in economically distressed areas and for people who attended a historically black college or university in Virginia.

“I believe that if you commit a crime and serve your time, you should have a seat at the table, but it shouldn’t put you at the front of the line,” Webert said.

Webert’s bill would also slash the overall tax rate on marijuana sales from 21% to 10%, a step he said he believes is necessary to encourage people to buy from the legal market instead of the black market.

Several Republican-sponsored bills propose moving up the date for retail sales to begin in 2023 instead of 2024 by selling through existing medical marijuana operators. Other GOP bills call for giving preference for marijuana cultivation facility licenses to farmers who have legally grown hemp in Virginia and farmers from economically distressed areas of the state.

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who took office Jan. 15, has said that while he will not try to repeal personal possession, he does have serious concerns about pieces of the bill that establish the commercial market.

“It includes forced unionization, is concerning to law enforcement, and establishes an unstable market that includes anti-competitive business provisions that set Virginia up to fail,” said Youngkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter. “He’s ready to work in good faith to address these and other issues in concert with the General Assembly.”

JM Pedini, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said many advocates believe the legislature must take action this year to move up the date for retail sales.

“Continuing to cede control of the cannabis market to untaxed illicit operators is not tenable,” Pedini said.

Socialists win reelection in Portugal, eye major investments

By BARRY HATTON

1 of 19

Portuguese Prime Minister and Socialist Party Secretary General Antonio Costa speaks to journalists after arriving at a hotel to wait for the election results in Lisbon, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. Portuguese voters went to the polls Sunday, two years earlier than scheduled after a political crisis over a blocked spending bill brought down the country's minority Socialist government and triggered a snap election. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)


LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s center-left Socialist Party won a third straight general election Sunday, returning it to power as the country prepares to deploy billions of euros (dollars) of European Union aid for the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a ballot that took place amid a surge of coronavirus cases blamed on the omicron variant, and with around 1 million infected voters allowed to leave home to cast their ballots, the Socialists elected at least 112 lawmakers in the 230-seat parliament.

With 98.7% of votes counted, the Socialists had 41%, compared with 28% for their main rival, the center-right Social Democratic Party, which took at least 68 parliamentary seats. Eighteen seats remained to be allocated.

It was unclear whether the Socialists would reach 116 lawmakers, allowing it to enact legislation alone, or whether it would fall short of that number and need to cut deals for the support of smaller parties. Late results could come Monday.

Socialist leader António Costa, expected to return to his post as prime minister, immediately offered an olive branch to his adversaries. He said he would encourage alliances with other parties in parliament to overcome the country’s pandemic-inspired economic difficulties.

“The mission is to turn the page on the pandemic and bring affected sectors back to life,” Costa said in a victory speech.

The stakes are high for the next administration. Portugal, a country of 10.3 million people and the poorest in Western Europe, is poised to begin deploying 45 billion euros ($50 billion) of aid as a member of the EU to help spur the economy after the pandemic.

Two-thirds of that sum is intended for public projects, such as major infrastructure, giving the next government a financial bonanza. The other third is to be awarded to private companies.

A parliamentary majority would smooth the next government’s path in allocating those funds in a country whose economy has struggled to gain traction since the turn of the century.

The past two Socialist administrations were minority governments. Since coming to power in 2015, the Socialist Party relied on the support of their smaller allies in parliament — the Left Bloc and the Portuguese Communist Party — to ensure the annual state budget had enough votes to pass.

But two months ago their differences, especially over public health spending and workers’ rights, were insurmountable, leaving prime minister Costa short of votes in parliament to pass his party’s plan and triggering a snap election.

Costa may need to repeat his political shrewdness to forge another cross-party alliance in a fragmented parliament.

Some 10.8 million voters — 1.5 million of them living abroad — were eligible to choose lawmakers in the Republican Assembly, Portugal’s parliament, where political parties then decide who forms a government.

Chega! (Enough!), a populist and nationalist party founded less than three years ago, collected around 7% of the vote. That might give it a dozen lawmakers, up from only one in the last parliament.

The Left Bloc captured some 4% of the vote, with about the same going to the Portuguese Communist Party. Other smaller parties could get one or more parliamentary seats and offer Costa their support.

Portugal’s economy needs a shot in the arm, which the EU funds may provide.

The country has been falling behind the rest of the 27-nation EU since 2000, when its real annual gross domestic product per capita was 16,230 euros ($18,300) compared with an EU average of 22,460 ($25,330). By 2020, Portugal had edged higher to 17,070 euros ($19,250) while the bloc’s average surged to 26,380 euros ($29,750).

The Socialists promised to increase the minimum monthly wage, earned by more than 800,000 people, to 900 euros ($1,020) by 2026. It is currently 705 euros ($800). The Socialists also want to “start a national conversation” about working four days a week instead of five.

Bangladeshi scientists claim breakthrough in rice research

After 7 years of research, scientists develop rice variety resistant to floods and salinity

Md. Kamruzzaman |29.01.2022



DHAKA, Bangladesh

Bangladeshi scientists have claimed a breakthrough by developing a special rice variety, resistant to floods and salinity.

Starting in 2015 as a joint project between Bangladesh Atomic Agriculture Research Institute (BINA) and Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), the researchers achieved a milestone last month, that has the potential to improve food security in the region.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Mirza Mofazzal Islam, who led the team of scientists, said the new rice variety will not only come to the rescue of Bangladesh but across Asia as the rice is the staple diet of millions of people in the region.

“Through this genome sequence we have discovered three new types of rice varieties that are different from the mother type with new characteristics and survival capabilities,” said the chief scientist.

He said the new rice seeds produced from this genome sequencing will be several times tolerant to water submergence and salinity.

Bangladesh is one of the most climate-prone countries in the world hit by floods, cyclones, and other natural disasters every year.

About two million hectares (4.9 million acres) of arable land in the country face salinity, according to data available with Bangladesh’s Agriculture Ministry. Besides crops, mostly southern coastal areas get destroyed every year due to floods, bringing misery to millions of farmers.

“As an outcome of the genome sequence, the new type of rice seeds will be hopefully able to reach our farmers on a massive scale by the next three years. They will bring revolutionary progress in rice production, as it will survive underwater for 15-20 days,” said Islam.

Resistant variety

The current seeds can survive just 4-5 days under the water. Rice can only resist saline water only for 2-3 days. According to scientists, the new seeds will be able to tolerate waters and salinity several times more than current varieties.

“In Bangladesh, we normally spend huge money for technological support from other nations in different sectors. But in the country’s very vital agricultural sector we have invented a full genome sequence that will inspire our scientists to be more devoted to research works,” said the chief scientist.

He said that the research will benefit people living in neighboring Myanmar, Thailand, and parts of India, where the staple diet of people is rice.

Shaikh Mohammad Bokhtiar, chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), told Anadolu Agency that this research will boost rice production not only to meet domestic requirements but there will be a surplus for exporting to other countries as well.

Hailing the development, farmers in Bangladesh have urged the government to supply new seeds for cultivation on a massive scale within the possible shortest time.

Mohammad Alamin, a farmer, said that there are huge tracks of cultivable land between Bishkhali and Baleshwari rivers in the southern coastal district of Barguna. But due to the saline nature of the soil and frequent floods, it has remained out of bounds for farmers.

Flood prone country

According to government records, more than 400 rivers crisscross the territory of Bangladesh, making it flood prone country in South Asia.

“Some of our farmers always try to cultivate on the riversides every year. It is the lone income source for many. But due to salinity, there is little to harvest,” Alamin said.

He said that saline-resistant seeds will go a long way to help cultivate large tracts of land.

“So, I hope that the government will try to supply new paddy seeds based on the new genome sequence soon,” he said.

Another farmer, Haider Shajjal, said many canals get flooded during monsoon and inundate cultivable land. They overflow as the flow of water has been blocked by people due to illegal occupation of land along their banks.

“The new invention is very significant for us, but at the same time the government must take a megaproject to restore the destroyed canals as well as dig new ones,” he added.

Putin Says Russia Now has 2,000 Territorial Disputes and that Allowing Any Part to Leave Could Lead to a Yugoslavia and Reduce Russia to the Size of Muscovy

Window on Eurasia -- New Series

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Putin Says Russia Now has 2,000 Territorial Disputes and that Allowing Any Part to Leave Could Lead to a Yugoslavia and Reduce Russia to the Size of Muscovy

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 9 – One of the most remarkable political exchanges in Russia since 1991 came today when filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov outlined at the Presidential Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights his view of the problems of Russia and Vladimir Putin responded in terms that reveal just how fragile he sees Russia as being.

            “All republics today bear a national character,” Sokurov begins. “There are capitals; there are even armies and padishahs have appeared. There is a President of the Federation. But where is Russia? Russia doesn’t even have a capital. Moscow is the capital of Moscow,” and ever more people outside it see that (kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67331).

            What is taking place in the North Caucasus is “a big problem, politically, culturally, emotionally and economically,” he continues. Under the Soviets, the Russians came but did not allow development. “Now there are almost no Russians there, and the Caucasus is becoming mono-ethnic.”

            “All power is in the hands of indigenous people, but there is no development or almost none? Why? Because,” Sokurov says, “there is no free development of young people.” They cannot be themselves and act on their own. They are constrained by a system that prevents all that despite what the Constitution says.

            The Ingush people came into the streets to protest the fact that part of their territory was taken away from them. They had no choice, “but Moscow didn’t like this. In Moscow there are many lobbyists of the Chechen sector and the Muscovites decided to arrest the active Ingush” rather than listen to their grievances.

            That is leading to unfortunate developments. “It seems to me,” Sokurov says, “that all the people there are ever more beginning not to live the federation of the Russians.” Young people say that “you, Russians, do not deserve our respect,” and some even say, “you will fight with NATO [but] but we will not fight on your side.” (stress added)

            This is part of larger problems that must be thought about, discussed and resolved. There is “a horrific politicization of life in the country” while at the same time, “however strange, the ruling party is apolitical even as there has been a politicization of all law enforcement organs and the army.”

            The separation of church and state the Constitution mandates has not been maintained. And that matters because an Islamic revolution is approaching. “One can ward off a revolution but one can’t defeat it.” The country needs trade unions; it needs civic organizations; and it needs to respond to the variety of country rather than seek to make everything uniform.

            Tested by the covid pandemic, the state has been found wanting, Sokurov says. And as a result, “the population doesn’t completely trust the government.” And there is too much talk of war when Russia should be focusing on itself and its own population which needs so much. The place to begin is to follow the principles of the Constitution.

            “Let’s let all who no longer want to live with us in one state leave,” he says. “Let us wish them success.”

            Sokurov ends by apologizing for his bluntness, and Putin responds by saying that the director does have something to apologize for. There have always bee problems and these need to be considered but privately lest discussions provoke exactly what no one wants as they easily could.

            “We have two thousand territorial claims around the country,” the Kremlin leader says. Does anyone want “a repetition of Yugoslavia on our territory?” And he pointedly says that Sokurov shouldn’t talk about the Vaynakh peoples – the Chechens and the Ingush – without recognizing the complexities of their situation and the problems of the others.

            According to Putin, “we must support the Caucasus. The Caucasus is part of the Russian Federation.” And he challenges Sokurov to show that there are many there who want to separate from Russia. “Certainly,” he says, there are some; but overwhelmingly, people there want to be part of Russia and avoid a repetition of the tragedies of the 1990s.

            Loose talk about allowing people to leave is “a very dangerous little joke,” Putin says. “It can end very badly.” The Russian people don’t want the country to come apart, and talking as if they should let others go is wrong. “You want to transform us into Muscovy?” Putin asks. “Well, that is what NATO wants to do.”

Destruction of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem goes to ICC

Israel is taken to the International Criminal Court as it continues to demolish Palestinian homes in the occupied territories.

Mahmoud Salhiyeh with his daughter Aya, 9, who is traumatised and suffering nightmares from the eviction and destruction of their home [Al Jazeera]

By Al Jazeera Staff
Published On 29 Jan 2022

Beit Hanina, Occupied East Jerusalem – Nine people were injured and journalists were attacked by Israeli security forces this week as the Jerusalem Municipality demolished a two-story building and home of the Karameh family in the East Jerusalem suburb of Abu Tor on the pretext of being constructed without a building permit.

The family of 15 was forcibly evicted by Israeli police while six of those injured required hospitalisation, according to the Red Crescent. Hundreds of Palestinians are facing forced expulsion from homes in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want to be their future capital.

But one family, the Salhiyehs, is taking the Israeli authorities to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after they were evicted from their home in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem last week, and the subsequent destruction of their home by the Jerusalem Municipality.

“There is no justice, as an Israeli I don’t believe in my country any more. They have destroyed my life,” Lital Salhiyeh, 40, told Al Jazeera.

Last week Lital’s husband Mahmoud, 43, several of their sons and their friends staged a demonstration on the roof of their house in Sheikh Jarrah, threatening to blow themselves up with a gas canister after the Israeli authorities attempted to evict them from the home they have lived in for decades.

Several days later, during a cold and rainy night, Israeli special forces raided their home, arrested them at gunpoint, and beat them up. They were taken to prison for several days before their lawyer secured their release on bail.

Adel Salhiyeh holds a photo showing the neighbourhood of his family home that was taken before 1967 [Al Jazeera]

Homes destroyed

While Mahmoud was in jail their home was destroyed by the municipality, leaving 18 people homeless.

“The police drove me past my destroyed home the next morning and showed me what they had done. We were not informed that the home would be destroyed,” Mahmoud told Al Jazeera.

“Mahmoud and I knew that the eviction order was against us personally but not the rest of the family and neither was there a demolition order against our home,” said Lital from the home they have temporarily rented in the East Jerusalem suburb of Beit Hanina.

“We lost everything and left with only the clothes on our back. I don’t even have pictures of my children,” Lital, who has been married to Mahmoud for 23 years, said. The couple has six children.

A family agricultural nursery, where Mahmoud worked, and ancient olive trees on their plot of land were also destroyed.

Lital, an animal lover, managed to rescue some of the family pets who were left stranded in the rain and cold after the family’s home was demolished.

It was the second time the Salhiyeh family has been made refugees. In 1948 they were expelled from their home in the village of Ein Karem during the Arab-Israeli war.

In 1984 Jerusalem Municipality’s district planning committee approved a building plan for the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood and designated the plot on which the family home and nursery were built for public building – even though other public areas can be found for this purpose without requiring the eviction of a family home.

In July 2017, the municipality announced the expropriation of the plot of land, which Mahmoud’s parents purchased in 1958.

The landowners filed an objection to the expropriation, but the court approved the expropriation and dismissed the objection.

‘Looking at all the details’

Critics argue the Israeli authorities are trying to Judaise East Jerusalem in favour of a higher Jewish demography.

However, the Salhiyeh family is defiant and plans to take the Israeli authorities to the ICC in addition to launching an international campaign highlighting the case and those of other Palestinians facing eviction and home demolitions in East Jerusalem.

“On Monday afternoon we held a Zoom meeting with our lawyers in London, Bindmans Solicitors, who are partnering with the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians [ICJP], in representing several other Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah,” family lawyer Walid Abu-Tayeh told Al Jazeera.

“They are studying the documents and looking at all the details before deciding the next step and have been working on the case since October after we first consulted them. We don’t know when the case will be brought before the ICC but it could take a long time,” he said.

“What made this all possible was an announcement in 2019 by the ICC prosecutor of the opening of an investigation into whether crimes committed in Palestine after June 2014 fell within the jurisdiction of the court,” said Abu-Tayeh.
Expectations from ICC

In 2021 the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC concluded the court’s territorial jurisdiction extended to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967: Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem.

“The ICC can now pursue Israel for war crimes,” said Abu-Tayeh.

“The ICC could rule that Israel needs to rebuild the demolished house; that senior Israeli government officials involved in the demolition and eviction could be arrested if they travel abroad; and that all Israel’s actions in the West Bank such as land theft, the behaviour of the settlers, and other human rights abuses could also fall under the ICC’s jurisdiction so that individual settlers can be sued as well as collectively.”

The Salhiyehs are taking other legal action as well.

“We have also been in contact with several American senators in both the Senate and the Congress in regards to taking up our case to kick off an international campaign against the home demolitions and the evictions, and my brothers in the US are in contact with several law firms there too,” Abu-Tayeh said.

East Jerusalem is illegally occupied under international law. The “extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly” amounts to a grave breach of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and is considered a war crime, according to the 1998 Rome Statute of the ICC.

Tensions have been building elsewhere in East Jerusalem, where Palestinians are either in the process of being displaced or have already been made homeless.

Last week Israeli and Palestinian peace activists were attacked by Israeli security forces as they protested the pending eviction and destruction of the Salem family home.

An Israeli settler who pulled a gun on the protesters was arrested.

Hatem Abdel Khader works with people in East Jerusalem who are in danger of being evicted and losing their homes [Al Jazeera]

Hatem Abdel Khader, the Palestinian Authority’s former minister for Jerusalem, and who now coordinates Muslim and Christian efforts on behalf of the PA to prevent the Judaisation of East Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera the home demolitions and evictions were inflammatory and dangerous.

“These are raising tensions and could provoke severe consequences. The international community needs to take action and the international courts have to get involved in the fight,” said Khader.

Mahmoud Salhiyeh said he knows the battle ahead is going to be long and hard “but we won’t give up without a fight”.

Crispin Blunt, member of parliament and director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, said the Sheikh Jarrah case was already notorious.

“ICJP is proud and privileged to stand alongside this family as they represent not just their own interests, but the century of historic injustice meted out to the Palestinian people individually and collectively,” he said.

“For Israel’s sake, for all Palestinians and for humanity’s sake, the Sheikh Jarrah case needs to be a turning point where justice and our common humanity starts to count for more than people’s insecurities driven by fear.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Death, danger, despair: A year in Myanmar under the military

By VICTORIA MILKO

1 of 8

A photographer wearing a protective vest with a 'press' sign at the back films an anti-military government protest being dispersed with tear gas by security forces in Sanchaung township in Yangon, Myanmar on March 3, 2021. Since Myanmar's military dismissed the results of democratic elections and seized power on Feb. 1, 2021, peaceful nationwide protests and violent crackdowns by security forces have spiraled into a nationwide humanitarian crisis. (AP Photo)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An elderly woman forced to flee bombings. A former peace negotiator leaving his job to fight Myanmar security forces. A woman’s husband shot during a peaceful protest, leaving her alone to care for their two children.

Since Myanmar’s military dismissed the results of the country’s democratic election and seized power on Feb. 1, 2021, peaceful nationwide protests and violent crackdowns by security forces have spiraled into a nationwide humanitarian crisis.

The Associated Press spoke to people in Myanmar about how their lives have changed in the year since the military took power. They spoke on condition their names are not disclosed for fear of reprisal.

___

THE WIDOW: “HE SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED”

Before his death, Khine’s husband earned enough money making door gates that her family lived a comfortable life in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. She was able to stay home to care for the couple’s two young daughters while the husband worked.


On Feb. 1, Khine’s husband got a phone call from a friend, telling him about the military takeover.

“He looked really sad, angry and couldn’t talk much,” Khine told the AP by phone.

In the weeks that followed, protests calling for the military to restore democracy and free imprisoned politicians rippled through the country. Khine and her husband joined the crowds.

In late March, as security forces began using lethal force to crack down on protests, Khine was babysitting when demonstrators came to her home to tell her that her husband had been shot. They took him to two clinics but both refused to treat him. He died when they reached a hospital.

“He suddenly disappeared,” she said. “Before the coup, I had never imagined that our family life would fall apart like this.”

Her husband is one of at least 1,490 people killed by the military since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group that monitors verified arrests and deaths in Myanmar. Over 11,775 have been arrested, according to the group.

Since her husband’s death, Khine has started working at a garment factory, earning $3 a day. Unable to afford their old apartment after the loss of her husband’s income, the family has moved into a small room. She worries about being able to provide for her children and their mental health.

“My eldest daughter is becoming traumatized,” said Khine. “She often says, ‘My friends have their fathers, but I don’t.’”

___

THE DISPLACED: “FLEEING THE WAR IS EXHAUSTING”

Bomb blasts, gunfire and artillery shelling have followed 63-year-old Mee at every shelter she’s been forced to flee to over the past year.

She first had to flee to a camp for the displaced after fighting broke out near her village in eastern Myanmar. A month later, the camp was no longer safe, and the medicine she needed for her heart disease and hypertension wasn’t available. With nowhere else to go, Mee moved to a relative’s house.

“While we were there, gunfire was heard,” Mee told the AP by phone “We decided not to run away, even if we died, because fleeing the war is exhausting.”

Not long after, the area near her relative’s house was bombed, and she had to move once more. For now, Mee shares a small barn with 15 other people, all of them displaced. She has enough medicine only for two months and is concerned about the future of her family and the country.

As of Jan. 17, the U.N. refugee agency estimates the number of the displaced since the army takeover at 405,700. Another 32,000 have fled to neighboring countries.

“I am worried and tired every day,” Mee said. “For now, my hope is that I just want to see peace and calm. Then, I want to go back to my house.”

___

THE SURGEON: “LIVES HAVE TO BE SACRIFICED”

Before the military seized power, the 28 year-old assistant surgeon was studying for his exams to become a specialist. He lived with his family and would take pride in treating patients at the hospital he worked at in a major city.

On the morning of the takeover, he went to work, seeing military vehicles on the roads and helicopters overhead. The phones and internet were cut. Stepping into the hospital, he learned the military had detained the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The next day, he and other health care workers in state-run hospitals quit, sparking what would become known as the Civil Disobedience Movement.

“After the military coup, we no longer wanted to work under them. We believed all the health sectors will have no progress under the military,” he told the AP by phone.

Myanmar has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for health care workers, according to Physicians for Human Rights. It said 30 health workers were killed and 286 arrested between the takeover and Jan. 10.

Seeing his colleagues getting arrested, the surgeon fled to an area controlled by an armed opposition group. He has worked in makeshift clinics made of tents in camps for four months, treating people with general illnesses and those wounded by military shelling and land mines.

Medicine is hard to find, with security forces arresting anyone transporting medication.

“We have to carry medicine secretly. That’s why it takes about a month for medicine to arrive,” he said. “Even if cars are carrying paracetamol or something like that, they’re arrested.”

The surgeon still dreams of being able to return home to take the exams for a specialist.

“But dreams and reality are different,” he said. “The people are suffering from the oppression of the military council. Lives have to be sacrificed for the revolution.”

___

THE JOURNALIST: “WE DARE NOT TAKE OUT OUR CAMERAS”

The videographer knew journalists had to show the world what was happening in Myanmar. Setting aside their anger and sadness about the military takeover, they went to the streets to document protests and brutal crackdowns with their phones day after day.

“We dare not take out our cameras” for fear of arrest, the videographer told the AP by phone. “Things are getting worse.”

Facing increasing threats, many of the videographer’s colleagues fled to the jungle to join armed resistance groups. Others have been arrested. By Dec. 1, more journalists were arrested in Myanmar than every country in the world except China, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. At least two journalists have been killed and others tortured while in detention, the group said.

Yet the videographer continues to work, realizing that any report could be the last one.

“I’m working like an underground journalist,” the videographer said. “In case of an emergency, I have prepared a bag if I need to run.”

Despite the threats, the journalist has no intention of leaving the country.

“The international community only knows about the military’s atrocities through the media,” the videographer said. “But I will continue to do this work until I can’t do it. If the security forces chase and catch me — let them.”

___

THE FIGHTER: “I DECIDED I WOULD TAKE UP ARMS”

After watching fellow peaceful protesters get shot in the head by military forces, the 47 year-old made a decision.

“I decided I would take up arms, and I started looking for options to actually do so,” he said.

His protests had started peacefully. After the military takeover, he began organizing rallies in Yangon. But as the weeks passed, he knew his safety was in jeopardy.

“I stopped living in my apartment,” he said. “I also had to ask my family to leave that apartment to a secret location so that (the military) could not harm them.”

But when the protests turned deadly, he realized he wanted to take a step further.

“I never thought I would find myself involved in a struggle,” he told the AP by phone.

The man is just one of thousands of people in Myanmar who have joined loose-knit guerilla groups called People’s Defense Forces. Some have forged alliances with armed ethnic groups that have been at war with Myanmar military for decades, while others have pledged allegiance to the opposition National Unity Government, a parallel administration that declared a “defensive war” against the military in September.

Before the takeover, the man enjoyed going to restaurants with his family, shopping trips to the mall and spending time with his children in their home when he wasn’t working at a nongovernment organization involved in the decades-long peace process.

His days are now spent on missions he is hesitant to speak about for security reasons. He lives in an area of a jungle controlled by an armed ethnic group, carrying multiple weapons wherever he goes. He and his comrades forage for whatever they can to survive and sleep in hammocks strung between trees.

“The life I enjoyed is no longer available,” he said.

The man said he is frustrated by the international community’s lack of response, and that the people of Myanmar have had to take matters into their own hands.

“We have the right to use violence to defend ourselves while the international community stands by.”

No peace in Myanmar 1 year after military takeover

By GRANT PECK

January 29, 2022 GMT

PHOTOS 1 of 9

 The army takeover in Myanmar a year ago that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi brought a shocking end to the effort to restore democratic rule in the Southeast Asian country after decades of military rule. But at least as surprising has been the level of popular resistance to the seizure of power, which has blossomed into an insurgency that raises the specter of a protracted civil war. 

BANGKOK (AP) — The army takeover in Myanmar a year ago that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi not only unexpectedly aborted the country’s fledgling return to democracy. It also brought a surprising level of popular resistance, which has blossomed into a low-level but persistent insurgency.

Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander of Myanmar’s military — known as the Tatmadaw — seized power on the morning of Feb. 1, 2021, arresting Suu Kyi and top members of her government and ruling National League for Democracy party, which won a landslide election victory in November 2020.

The military’s use of deadly force to hold on to power has escalated conflict with its civilian opponents to the point that some experts describe the country as being in a state of civil war.

The costs have been high, with some 1,500 people killed by the security forces, almost 8,800 detained, an unknown number tortured and disappeared, and more than 300,000 displaced as the military razes villages to root out resistance.

Other consequences are also significant. Civil disobedience hampered transport, banking services and government agencies, slowing an economy already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. The public health system collapsed, leaving the fight against COVID-19 abandoned for months. Higher education stalled as faculty and students sympathetic to the revolt boycotted school, or were arrested.

The military-installed government was not at all anticipating the level of resistance that arose, Thomas Kean, an analyst of Myanmar affairs consulting for the International Crisis Group think tank, told The Associated Press.

“We saw in the first days after the coup, they tried to adopt a sort of business-as-usual approach,” with the generals denying they were implementing any significant change, but only removing Suu Kyi from power, he said.

“And of course, you know, that unleashed these huge protests that were brutally crushed, which resulted in people turning to armed struggle.”

The army has dealt with the revolt by employing the same brutal tactics in the country’s rural heartland that it has long unleashed against ethnic minorities in border areas, which critics have charged amount to crimes against humanity and genocide.

Its violence has generated newfound empathy for ethnic minorities such as the Karen, the Kachin and the Rohingya, longtime targets of army abuses with whom members of the Burman majority now are making common anti-military cause.

People opposed the army takeover because they had come to enjoy representative government and liberalization after years of military rule, said David Steinberg, a senior scholar of Asian Studies at Georgetown University.

Youth turned out in droves to protest despite the risks, he said, because they had neither families nor careers to lose, but saw their futures at risk.

They also enjoyed tactical advantages that previous generations of protesters lacked, he noted. Myanmar had caught up with the rest of the world in technology, and people were able to organize strikes and demonstrations using cellphones and the internet, despite efforts to limit communications.

A driving force was the Civil Disobedience Movement, founded by health care workers, which encouraged actions such as boycotts of military products and people not paying electricity bills or buying lottery tickets.

Kept in detention by the military, Suu Kyi has played no active part in these developments.

The ruling generals, who have said they will probably hold a new election by 2023, have tied her up with a variety of criminal charges widely seen as trumped-up to keep her from returning to political life. The 76-year-old Suu Kyi has already been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, with the prospect of many more being added.

But in the days after the army’s takeover, her party’s elected members of parliament laid the groundwork for sustained resistance. Prevented by the army from taking their seats, they convened on their own, and in April established the National Unity Government, or NUG, which stakes a claim to being the country’s legitimate administrative body and has won the loyalty of many citizens.

The NUG has also sought to coordinate armed resistance, helping organize “People’s Defense Forces,” or PDFs, homegrown militias formed at the local and neighborhood levels. The military deems the NUG and the PDFs “terrorist” organizations.

With urban demonstrations mostly reduced to flash mobs to avoid crackdowns, the battle against military rule has largely passed to the countryside, where the badly outgunned local militias carry out guerrilla warfare.

The army’s “Four Cuts” strategy aims to eradicate the militias’ threat by cutting off their access to food, funds, information and recruitment. Civilians suffer collateral damage as soldiers block essential supplies, take away suspected militia supporters and raze whole villages.

When the military enters a village, “they’ll burn down some houses, maybe shoot some people, take prisoners and torture them — the sort of horrific abuses that we’re seeing on a regular basis,” said analyst Kean.

“But when the soldiers leave, they lose control of that area. They don’t have enough manpower to maintain control when 80% to 90% of the population is against them.”

Some ethnic minority groups with decades of experience fighting the Myanmar military offer critical support to the PDF militia movement, including supplying training and some weapons, while also providing safe havens for opposition activists and others fleeing the army.

“We never accept a coup at all for whatever reason. The position of our organization is clear,” Padoh Saw Taw Nee, the chief of the Karen National Union’s foreign affairs department, told the AP. “We oppose any military dictatorship. Therefore, the automatic response is that we must work with those who oppose the military.”

He said his group began preparing immediately after the takeover to receive people fleeing from military persecution and noted that it played a similar role in 1988 after a failed popular uprising.

There is a quid pro quo — the NUG says it will honor the minority ethnic groups’ demands for greater autonomy when it takes power.

The military, meanwhile, keeps the pressure on the Karen with periodic attacks, including by air, that send villagers fleeing for safety across a river that forms the border with Thailand.

The support of the ethnic groups is seen as key to sustaining the resistance, the thought being that as long as they can engage the army, its forces will be too stretched to finish off the PDFs.

No other factors are seen as capable of tilting the balance in favor of the military or the resistance.

Sanctions on the ruling generals can make them uncomfortable — U.S. actions, especially, have caused financial distress — but Russia and China have been reliable allies, especially willing to sell arms. The U.N. and organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are seen as toothless at best.

“I see the stage sort of set for a prolonged conflict. Neither side seems willing to back down or sees it as in their interest or a necessity to back down or to make concessions in any way to the other,” said analyst Kean.

“And so it’s just very difficult to see how the conflict will diminish, will reduce in the near term, even over a period of several years. It’s just very difficult to see peace returning to many areas of Myanmar.”

——-

Associated Press video editor Jerry Harmer contributed to this report.

U.N. human rights chief calls on Myanmar to restore civilian rule

Armed anti-riot police stand guard as demonstrators flash the three-finger salute, a symbol of resistance, during a protest against the military, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Photo by Stringer/EPA-EFE

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- As the one-year anniversary of the Myanmar coup nears, U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet is urging the international community to pressure the country to return to civilian rule.

"I urge governments -- in the region and beyond -- as well as businesses, to listen to this plea," Bachelet said in her appeal to the international community Friday. "It is time for urgent, renewed effort to restore human rights and democracy in Myanmar and ensure the perpetrators of systemic human rights violations and abuses are held to account."

Since the Feb. 1 coup, the military's effort "to crush dissent has led to the killing of at least 1,500 people," she added.

The U.N. Human Rights Office has also documented daily human rights violations.

RELATED U.S. warns of heightened businesses risks in Myanmar

At least 11,787 people have been arbitrarily detained for peacefully protesting the coup, with 8,729 remaining in custody, and at least 290 dying in detention, many likely due to torture, according to the U.N. figures.

The U.N. office has also documented village burnings, including places of worship and medical clinics, mass arrests, summary executions and use of torture, amid "assumed support of armed elements," in clashes between civilian militant groups and military forces.

Areas of highest intense military activity include the Sagaing region, and Chin, Kachin, Kayah and Kayin states, according to Bachelet's address, which noted that the U.N. human rights office would publish a report in March detailing the human rights situation since the coup.

RELATED Military court sentences deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to 4 more years in prison

While the coup has drawn near universal condemnation, Bachelet said the response has been "ineffectual and lacks a sense of urgency commensurate to the magnitude of the crisis."

Bachelet added that the current human rights crisis was "built upon the impunity with which the military leadership perpetrated the shocking campaign of violence resulting in gross human rights violations against the Rohingya communities of Myanmar four years ago -- and other ethnic minorities over many decades beforehand."

"As long as impunity prevails, stability in Myanmar will be a fiction," Bachelet said. "Accountability of the military remains crucial to any solution going forward -- the people overwhelmingly demand this."

RELATED  Aid group says 2 workers among adults and children killed in Myanmar on Christmas Eve

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the crisis from the coup with projections that nearly half of the population of 54 million may be driven into poverty this year.

"Members of Myanmar civil society have told me first-hand what the impact of the last year has been on their lives and those of their families and communities," Bachelet said. "The people have shown extraordinary courage and resilience in standing up for their basic human rights and support each other. Now the international community must show its resolve to support them through concrete actions to end this crisis."

The Myanmar military took over the government and detained its civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and other high-ranking democratically elected officials, in the coup.

Suu Kyi was sentenced earlier this month to an additional four years in prison for illegally possessing walkie-talkies and violating COVID-19 health restrictions. She was also given a four-year sentence last month on a different pair of convictions, a term that was later reduced to two years.

Protesters have demanded that Suu Kyi be released along with other members of the National League for Democracy Party.

The military, also known as the Tatmadaw, made unsubstantiated claims of fraud after November 2020 general elections, in which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide over the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, picking up 396 of the 476 contested seats in parliament.

The country's election committee, independent observers, and numerous Western nations, have refuted the claims of election fraud.

Islamic State strikes from shadows in vulnerable Syria, Iraq

SAUDI BACKED SUNNI JIHADISTS

By ZEINA KARAM and SARAH EL DEEB

1 of 9

FILE - US attack helicopter shoots flares in Hassakeh, northeast Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. With a spectacular jail break in Syria and a deadly attack on an army barracks in Iraq, the Islamic State group was back in the headlines the past week, a reminder of a war that formally ended three years ago but continues to be waged away from view. 

(AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)

BEIRUT (AP) — With a spectacular jail break in Syria and a deadly attack on an army barracks in Iraq, the Islamic State group was back in the headlines the past week, a reminder of a war that formally ended three years ago but continues to be fought mostly away from view.

The attacks were some of the boldest since the extremist group lost its last sliver of territory in 2019 with the help of a U.S.-led international coalition, following a years-long war that left much of Iraq and Syria in ruins.

Residents in both countries say the recent high-profile IS operations only confirmed what they’ve known and feared for months: Economic collapse, lack of governance and growing ethnic tensions in the impoverished region are reversing counter-IS gains, allowing the group to threaten parts of its former so-called caliphate once again.

One Syrian man said that over the past few years, militants repeatedly carried out attacks in his town of Shuheil, a former IS stronghold in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zour province. They hit members of the Kurdish-led security force or the local administration — then vanished

“We would think it is over and they’re not coming back. Then suddenly, everything turns upside down again,” he said.

They are “everywhere,” he said, striking quickly and mostly in the dark, creating the aura of a stealth omnipresent force. He spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.

IS lost its last patch of territory near Baghouz in eastern Syria in March 2019. Since that time, it largely went underground and waged a low-level insurgency, including roadside bombings, assassinations and hit-and-run attacks mostly targeting security forces. In eastern Syria, the militants carried out some 342 operations over the last year, many of them attacks on Kurdish-led forces, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Jan. 20 prison break in Syria’s Hassakeh region was its most sophisticated operation yet.

The militants stormed the prison aiming to break out thousands of comrades, some of whom simultaneously rioted inside. The attackers allowed some inmates to escape, took hostages, including child detainees, and battled the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces for a week. It was not clear how many militants managed to escape, and some remain holed up in the prison.

The fighting killed dozens and drew in the U.S.-led coalition, which carried out airstrikes and deployed American personnel in Bradley Fighting Vehicles to the scene. The battle also drove thousands of neighboring civilians from their homes.

It harkened back to a series of jail breaks that fueled IS’s surge more than eight years ago, when they overwhelmed territory in Iraq and Syria.

Hours after the prison attack began, IS gunmen in Iraq broke into a barracks in mountains north of Baghdad, killed a guard and shot dead 11 soldiers as they slept. It was part of a recent uptick in attacks that have stoked fears the group is also gaining momentum in Iraq.

An Iraqi intelligence source said IS does not have the same sources of financing as in the past and is incapable of holding ground. “They are working as a very decentralized organization,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security information.

The group’s biggest operations are conducted by 7-10 militants, said Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Yehia Rasool. He said he believes it is currently impossible for IS to take over a village, let alone a city. In the summer of 2014, Iraqi forces collapsed and retreated when the militants overran vast swathes of northern Iraq.

On its online channel, Aamaq, IS has been putting out videos from the prison attack and glorifying its other operations in an intensified propaganda campaign. The aim is to recruit new members and “reactivate quasi-dormant networks throughout the region,” according to an analysis by the Soufan Group security consultancy.

On both sides of the Syria-Iraq border, IS benefits from ethnic and sectarian resentments and from deteriorating economies. In Iraq, the rivalry between the Baghdad-based central government and the autonomous Kurdish region in the north of the country has opened up cracks through which IS has crept back. Sunni Arab disenchantment with Shiite politicians helps the group attract young men.

In Afghanistan, IS militants have stepped up attacks on the country’s new rulers, the Taliban, as well as religious and ethnic minorities.

In eastern Syria, the tensions are between the Kurdish-led administration and Arab population. IS feeds off Arab discontent with the Kurds’ domination of power and employment at a time when Syria’s currency is collapsing.

Kurdish authorities have carried out crackdowns against the Arab population on suspicion of IS sympathies, especially after a wave of protests against living conditions. At the same time, to reduce tensions, Kurdish authorities released detained Arabs and encouraged members of Arab tribes to join the ranks of the SDF. But those steps have raised concerns over infiltration or charges of corruption, adding to the challenges.

The militants have cells extending from Baghouz in the east to rural Manbij in Aleppo province to the west, according to Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory.

“They are trying to reaffirm their presence,” he said.

East Syria is also fractured among several competing forces. The Kurdish-led administration runs most of the territory east of the Euphrates, supported by hundreds of U.S. troops. The Syrian government, with its Russian and Iranian allies, is west of the river. Turkey and its allied Syria fighters, who view the Kurds as existential enemies, hold a belt along the countries’ border.

Dareen Khalifa, a senior Syria analyst for the International Crisis Group, said the SDF’s dependence on an “unpredictable U.S. presence” in fighting the militants is one of its biggest challenges.

She said the SDF is viewed as a lame duck that makes local residents reluctant to cooperate with anti-IS raids or provide intelligence on IS cells, particularly after the group threatened or killed many suspected collaborators in the past.

Moreover, the Kurdish authorities’ claim to be able to govern and provide services to the region and its mixed population “has taken a blow in 2021 as the economic conditions in the area deteriorated,” Khalifa said.

Residents say the Islamic State group is not collecting taxes or actively recruiting people, indicating they are not seeking to seize and control territory like they did in 2014, when they became de-facto rulers of an area that stretched across nearly a third of both Syria and Iraq. Instead, they exploit the security vacuum and lack of governance and resort to intimidation and kidnappings.

The resident of Shuheil in Deir el-Zour said they mostly operate at night, in flash attacks on military posts or targeted killings carried out from speeding motorcycles.

“It is always hit and run,” he said.

He described the area as constantly on edge, under an invisible threat from militants who blend into the population. The fear is so great, no one talks openly about them, whether good or bad, he said.

“Everyone is afraid of assassinations,” he said. “They have prestige, they have a reputation. They will never go away.”

___

Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed reporting.

Sudanese take to the streets in latest anti-coup protests

By SAMY MAGDY

1 of 5

People chant slogans during a anti-coup protests that have rocked the country since a military coup three months ago.in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022

. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)


CAIRO (AP) — Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Sudan’s capital and other cities across the country Sunday for the latest in a months-long string of demonstrations denouncing an October military coup that plunged the country into turmoil. At least one person was killed when security forces violently dispersed protesters, a medical group said.

Protesters, mostly young men and women, marched in the streets of Khartoum and other cities, demanding an end to the military’s takeover. They called for a fully civilian government to lead the country’s now-stalled transition to democracy.

The coup has upended Sudan’s transition to democratic rule after three decades of repression and international isolation under autocratic President Omar al-Bashir. The African nation has been on a fragile path to democracy since a popular uprising forced the military to remove al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

The protests are called by the Sudanese Professionals Association and the Resistance Committees, which were the backbone of the uprising against al-Bashir and relentless anti-coup protests in the past three months.

Footage circulated online showed people beating drums and chanting anti-coup slogans in the streets of Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman. Protesters were also seen carrying Sudanese flags and other flags with photos of protesters reportedly slain by security forces printed on them.

They marched towards the presidential palace, an area in the capital that has seen deadly clashes between protesters and security forces in previous rounds of demonstrations.

Security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters in at least one location in the capital. At least three people suffered injuries from rubber bullets, said activist Nazim Sirag.

The Sudan Doctors Committee, a medical group tracking casualties among protesters, said a 27-year-old protester died in a Khartoum hospital after he sustained unspecified injuries to his chest during the protests. It did not elaborate.

There were protests elsewhere in the country including the eastern city of Port Sudan, western Darfur region and Madani, the capital city of Jazira province, about 135 kilometers (85 miles) southeast of Khartoum. Madani saw a massive anti-coup protest last week.

Ahead of the protests, authorities stepped up security in Khartoum and Omdurman. They deployed thousands of troops and police and sealed off central Khartoum, urging protesters to assemble only in public squares in the capital’s neighborhoods.

The United Nations mission in Sudan on Saturday warned that such restrictions could increase tensions, urging authorities to let the protests “pass without violence.”

Since the coup, at least 79 people have been killed and hundreds of others wounded in a widely condemned crackdown on protests, the doctors group said.

There were also mass arrests of activists leading the anti-coup protests and allegations of sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, in a Dec. 19 protest in Khartoum, according to the U.N.

The upheaval in Sudan worsened earlier this month following the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was the civilian face of the transitional government over the past two years.

The prime minister, who was ousted in the October coup only to be reinstated a month later under heavy international pressure, stepped down on Jan. 2 after his efforts to reach a compromise failed.

Sunday’s protests came as the U.N. mission continued its consultations to find a way out of the ongoing crisis.

On Saturday, powerful Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy head of the ruling Sovereign Council, and commander of the feared Rapid Support Forces, said they have accepted the U.N. efforts to resolve the crisis, but that U.N. envoy Volker Perthes “should be a facilitator not a mediator.”

Dagalo did not elaborate but his comments showed the challenges the U.N. mission faces to find a common ground between rival factions in Sudan.

The pro-democracy movement has insisted on the removal of the generals from power and the establishment a fully civilian government to lead the transition.

The generals, however, said they will hand over power only to an elected administration. They say elections will take place in July 2023, as planned in a 2019 constitutional document governing the transitional period.