Orientul Mijlociu

Reports: Foreign Fighters and the Threat of Returnees

On October 24, The Soufan Center and The Global Strategy Network released the collaborative report “Beyond the Caliphate: Foreign Fighters and the Threat of Returnees” on the global threat posed by Islamic State foreign fighters returning from Iraq and Syria. According to the report, at least 5,600 men, women and children from 33 countries have already returned home. Returnees have varying reasons for going home, but all represent a major security concern for countries of origin, residence, and even third-countries. Globally, states have yet to find adequate ways to address the threat of returnees, the report says. Women and children represent a more difficult subset for states.

The Beyond the Caliphate report also draws on a manual, Responses to returnees: Foreign terrorist fighters and their families, issued by the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) in July 2017. The manual outlines practical responses for states to address foreign fighters and their families returning from conflict zones in Iraq and Syria. The following are excerpts from both the reports.

Balkan foreign fighters: from Syria to Ukraine

Although the phenomenon of foreign fighters is certainly not new, recent developments in Syria and Iraq have put this issue back on the European Union’s security agenda. The Western Balkan region is not an exception to this trend. Violent extremism in the region is generally perceived through the lens of Islamist radicalisation and foreign fighters who joined Daesh or Al-Nusra in Syria and Iraq. Other forms of extrem- ism, such as right-wing nationalism, if acknowledged at all, are regarded as a secondary concern.

Although national legislations recognise foreign fighting as a criminal act regardless of the destina- tion, returnees from the Middle East face a robust security-based response in their countries of origin, whereas those returning from Ukraine usually remain exempt from prosecution and severe sanctions. This highlights the question of perception and treatment of foreign fighters by Western Balkan governments, particularly after an alleged coup attempt was foiled during Montenegro’s general elections in late 2016, revealing the role of former Western Balkan combatants fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in the Ukrainian conflict.

Arab League calls for int’l probe into Israeli crimes

Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit on Thursday called for an international probe into “crimes” committed by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians during a protest on the Gaza border on Monday.

“We call for a credible international investigation into the crimes committed by the occupation,” Abul Gheit said at the opening session of an extraordinary meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo to discuss the developments.

French FM: Israeli killings in Gaza “unjustified, disproportionate”

The live fire actions by Israeli soldiers and the killing of almost 100 Palestinians and the wounding of thousands of others in two weeks of protests on the Gaza-Israel border were “unjustified and disproportionate,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tuesday.

Speaking to the French Parliament a day after almost 60 Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli snipers during a protest, Le Drian recalled the “firm condemnation of France” in light of these killings.

European Parliament cmt condemns killing of Palestinians by Israeli troops

Pier Antonio Panzeri, Chair of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights, has condemned the killing of nearly 60 Palestinians by Israeli troops at the Gaza Strip on Monday.

“We cannot remain silent in the face of what happened on Monday: a number of Palestinians killed and injured, amongst them several children, during the mass demonstration near the Gaza fence. Nothing can ever justify the use of military force against civilians who exercise their legitimate rights to protest peacefully,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

58 dead in Gaza protests as Israel fetes US Embassy move

Israeli police officers and Palestinian protesters crashed violently in front of the Qalandya checkpoint near Jerusalem at 4:00 p.m. Monday (local time). It was during middle of the official opening ceremony of the US embassy in Israel’s move to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. On the day, some 40,000 Palestinian residents participated in the protest at the Gaza Strip and the west bank of the Jordan river.

Hundreds of Palestinian residents gathered to protest at the Qalandya checkpoint near Jerusalem. Most were in their teens or twenties in masks. Children a little over 10 were also among the protestors but it did not stop Israel from throwing tear-gas and shooting baton rounds.

The crash in the Gaza Strip was even more tragic. Jerusalem Post, a local newspaper, reported that at least 58 were dead and 2,771 were injured in the area alone.

Grecia : Trei spanioli și doi danezi, salvatori pe mare, acuzaţi de trafic de migranţi au fost puși în libertate

Tribunalul din Mytilene, principalul oraş din insula greacă Lesbos, i-a pus luni în libertate pe cei trei spanioli şi doi danezi acuzaţi că au contribuit la intrarea ilegală de migranţi în această insulă din Marea Egee, unde ei participau la acţiuni de salvare pe mare în 2016, informează AFP, potrivit agerpres.

Judecătorul s-a opus rechizitoriului procurorului, care ceruse un verdict de culpă pentru cei cinci.

‘S-a făcut dreptate’, este ‘o mare victorie pentru ajutorul umanitar’, a comentat într-o postare pe contul său de Twitter organizaţia non-guvernamentală Prome-AID, din care fac parte cei trei spanioli, pompieri din Sevilla, care au beneficiat de o amplă campanie de susţinere în Spania şi din partea organizaţiilor umanitare.

Germany, France, UK pledge to continue nuclear agreement with Iran

Germany, France, and the United Kingdom on Monday said they would honor a nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers amid an ultimatum by the United States about a cancellation of the pact.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed between Iran, the US, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia, and France in 2015.

Iran signed the deal promising to halt its nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions.