US Envoy in Ankara to Defuse Tensions With Ally in War Against IS

ISTANBUL — 

Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the coalition fighting Islamic State, flew into Ankara Friday in the latest efforts by Washington to calm mounting tensions involving key allies in the war against IS.

Those tensions threaten to derail efforts to capture the Syrian town of Raqqa, the militants' self-declared capital.

McGurk's visit comes the same day that President Donald Trump spoke by telephone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

An indication of the difficulty of McGurk's task on this visit: he only met with senior Turkish officials. On previous visits, he met with government ministers and Erdogan himself; but, Erdogan has called for McGurk's removal and accuses him of being too close to the YPG Kurdish militia.

After his meetings Friday, McGurk only said the discussions were about joint efforts to destroy Islamic State. Earlier in the week, McGurk had made clear the U.S. is concerned by Turkish activity in Syria, saying, “It is certain that we wouldn't anything to disrupt the Raqqa campaign.”

Ankara threatens to attack the Syrian enclave of Afrin, which the YPG holds. Turkey's government accuses the YPG of being linked to the PKK, a Kurdish group waging an insurgency in Turkey.

Buildup near Afrin

Turkish forces continue to build up around Afrin both in Syria and Turkey; but, YPG forces make up a large component of the Syrian Democratic Force. U.S. forces are backing the SDF in the fight to capture Raqqa.

YPG commanders have warned an attack by Turkey could push them to redirect their forces away from Raqqa. Despite that warning, Turkish ministers this week stepped up the tough talk. “The Afrin region needs to be cleared of terror elements and terrorists,” Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said this week.

Ankara accuses the YPG of launching military operations in Turkey. Turkish security forces Friday said eight Kurdish militants captured in the city of Gaziantep included YPG members, and they were planning to carry out a major attack. The YPG denied allegations it is targeting Turkey.

Until now, Ankara's ability to hit the YPG has been restricted, because both Moscow and Washington support the group.

“Turkey is squeezed between Russia and the U.S. in Syria and its options are limited as it tries to demonize and criminalize the YPG,” said Semih Idiz, a columnist with Al Monitor website.

Ankara, however, senses an opening with Moscow's fury after the U.S. downed a Syrian government jet in mid-May.

“Obviously there is increasing tension in Afrin and that is probably due to changing balance between Russia and U.S. in Syria,” said Aydin Selcen, a former senior Turkish diplomat, who is an expert on Kurdish affairs.

“Turkey sees a window of opportunity. If Turkey can make a deal with Damascus and Moscow like it did with the Al Bab operations, at least it can push back YPG elements. Moscow is trying to pull the YPG back toward Damascus and also to peel away Turkey away from its main ally the U.S.”

Stressing Russian role

Last year Turkish troops backed Syrian opposition forces in ousting IS from the Syrian town of Al Bab.

Ankara appears keen to stress the importance of Moscow in the current tensions. Shortly after Erdogan's phone call with Trump Friday, he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Any Turkish operation against Afrin, however, carries risks. “It would pit Turkey against American-supported forces that are fighting with America against IS, and IS is a major target for America, and so this will be a disaster as far as Turkish-American relations are concerned,” Idiz said.

Washington is eager to avoid that, so is expected to intensify its diplomatic efforts.

Even if Turkey moved toward Afrin, it's not clear its forces could capture the whole enclave.

“Afrin is difficult, if not impossible, because of the demographic structure being overwhelmingly Kurdish, as well as it being mountainous,” points out Selcen, the former diplomat. “But they [Turkish forces] can push to control some strategically important towns ... there could be a push by Turkey to fully isolate Afrin.”

Selcen suggests the latest tension over Afrin is part of the jockeying for position for the end of the fighting.

“There will be a final push for control for these spheres of influence in Syria,and then hopefully there will be a table for all sides to sit around in which they exchange something against something else. For example, a political agreement in exchange for territory. That's why all sides are trying to control as much terrain,” he said.

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After Attack on IS, Iran Proposes Expanding Missile Program

Iran's parliament is considering a proposal to spend nearly $550 million to bolster security and expand the country's missile program.

The proposal follows an Iranian rocket strike on Islamic State in Syria that analysts called retaliation for twin terror attacks in Tehran and a warning to regional rivals.

The bill would raise the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) budget to $8 billion, in addition to an already approved five-year development plan that requires the government to earmark at least 5 percent of the national budget to defense, particularly development of the multidimensional missile program.

The June 18 strike — the first time Iran fired missiles outside its borders in 30 years — hit IS command centers in the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor and a bomb-manufacturing facility outside the city, the IRGC said.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the "Islamic Republic will respond more decisively to any future terrorist attack on Iran's soil."

And former IRGC chief General Mohsen Rezai wrote on Twitter, "The bigger slap is yet to come."

A parliament correspondent in Tehran, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was little doubt the bill would pass because it projected patriotism and some legislators are retired IRCG commanders or have strong ties with the force.

Symbol of pride

Although Iran's defense budget is less than those of many of its Arab neighbors, the missile program is considered a symbol of national pride and deterrence.

Iran has surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, including the Zolfaghar, the kind Iran used to hit IS in Syria. The military also has missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), long enough to reach Israel and U.S. bases.

Hojatoleslam Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi, former deputy speaker of parliament, has called the missile program one of the major pillars of sovereignty.

Babak Taghvaee, a Malta-based Iran military expert, said the additional fund for missile development "would probably be spent on the domestically produced Ya-Ali cruise missile, which was long awaited for financial sources."

"I assume a big chunk of this money is going to be dedicated to [research and development] on anti-jamming and target-error-correcting technology," he said. The money would be insufficient to push Iranian missile capability close to that of Chinese or Russian weapons, but it would help the Iranians "enhance their progress in terms of making missiles more accurate."

Still, the timing of the bill, which will be considered in the coming days, and the agility to be able to spend such a large amount are very important factors to consider, analysts say.

U.S.-Saudi deal

U.S. President Donald Trump sealed a $110 billion arms deal last month with Iran's chief rival in the region, Saudi Arabia, and Tehran was stung by the IS-claimed June 5 attacks on parliament and the mausoleum of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, that killed 17 people.

"The quick reaction of parliamentarians in putting together the bill and accelerating country's missile program projects the level of insecurity Tehran feels from its southern neighbors teaming up with the United States under the Trump administration," said retired Iranian Admiral Houshang Aryanpour, now based in Virginia.

"The successful missile strike, which was also a real-time test for them, was a great victory for IRGC to be rewarded after that huge frustration of the Tehran attacks," Aryanpour said. "This bill carries, for sure, a propaganda aspect within and serves domestic public opinion."

The U.S. and Israel are rankled by Iran's increasing missile activity, which they see as a threat to regional stability.

'Bad behavior'

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on Iran this year over what it called "bad behavior" with respect to Iranian missile tests, and on Thursday the U.S. urged the United Nations to closely watch Iran's missile buildup.

The U.N. said Thursday that Tehran was in compliance with its obligations under an international nuclear deal, but U.S. envoy Nikki Haley disputed that.

Under Security Council Resolution 2231, Iran is "called upon" to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for up to eight years. Tehran and Moscow argue that the language does not make such restraint obligatory. The U.S. and Israel strongly objected to an Iranian missile test in March 2016 that they said violated the U.N. resolution.

"Iran's destructive and destabilizing role in the Middle East goes far beyond its illicit missile launches," Haley said. "From Syria to Yemen and Iraq to Lebanon, Iran's support for terrorist groups continues unabated. Iran's weapons, military advisers and arms smugglers stoke regional conflicts and make them harder to solve."

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Trump, Turkey's Erdogan Discuss Gulf Crisis Involving Qatar

President Donald Trump spoke with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Friday to discuss the ongoing feud between Qatar and several Arab states, a conflict that some are calling the worst Gulf Arab crisis in years.

Trump and Erdogan talked by phone to discuss how to resolve the dispute "while ensuring all countries work together to stop terrorist funding and to combat extremist ideology," the White House said in a statement.

Turkey has been a supporter of Qatar, whose ties with some of its Gulf and Arab neighbors were severed after Qatar was accused of funding terrorism and fomenting regional instability. Qatar denies the accusations. Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates cut ties with Qatar.

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The Sorrow in Iraq's Triumph

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UN: 'Significant Number' of Displaced Syrians Returning Home

Almost a half-million displaced Syrians have returned to their homes since the beginning of the year, mostly to check on property and relatives, according to estimates from the United Nations.

The U.N. refugee agency said Friday it had seen a "notable trend of spontaneous returns" this year, and estimated that more than 440,000 internally displaced Syrians and another 31,000 refugees who left the country had returned home.

Andrej Mahecic, a spokesman for the agency, told reporters Friday in Geneva that it marked "a significant trend and a significant number." He said people returning home were "seeking out family members, checking on property, and, in some cases, a real or perceived improvement in security conditions in parts of the country."

He cautioned, though, that the returnees are "only a small fraction" of the roughly 5 million Syrian refugees estimated to have fled the country.

More than 320,000 people have been killed since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

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Suicide Bombers Target Lebanese Soldiers, Kill Only Themselves

Suicide bombers targeted Lebanese soldiers conducting raids on refugee settlements along the Syria-Lebanon border Friday, wounding seven troops but killing only themselves, the military said.

According to the army statement, the soldiers were raiding a settlement in the border town of Arsal on Friday morning when the attacks took place.

There were five suicide bombers and another man, who threw a hand grenade at soldiers as they conducted manhunts in the refugee settlements.

One man blew himself up as soldiers raided the al-Nour refugee camp, wounding three soldiers. Four soldiers were wounded when one of the militants threw a grenade at them. The other four suicide bombers exploded themselves without causing harm to anyone else, the army said.

The refugee camps along the border near Arsal have served as a haven for militants coming from the battle in Syria.

The Lebanese army has been stepping up security along its border with Syria, as the country continues to struggle in a brutal civil war.

Local media reports said more than 100 people were arrested during the raid.

There have been several clashes in recent years between Lebanese forces and militants in the Arsal area. In 2014, 30 soldiers were abducted by Islamic State jihadists and taken back to Syria.

The jihadists executed four of those hostages and eventually released another 16 in exchange for Islamist prisoners held in Lebanon. One of the hostages died of wounds he suffered during the initial skirmish, while nine are still being held.

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Watchdog: Sarin Nerve Gas Used in Deadly Syrian Attack

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS — 

An investigation by the international chemical weapons watchdog confirmed Friday that sarin nerve gas was used in a deadly April 4 attack on a Syrian town, the latest confirmation of chemical weapons use in Syria’s civil war.

The attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Syria’s Idlib province left more than 90 people dead, including women and children, and sparked outrage around the world as photos and video of the aftermath, including quivering children dying on camera, were widely broadcast.

“I strongly condemn this atrocity, which wholly contradicts the norms enshrined in the Chemical Weapons Convention,” Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu said in a statement. “The perpetrators of this horrific attack must be held accountable for their crimes.”

The investigation did not apportion blame. Its findings will be used by a joint United Nations-OPCW investigation team to assess who was responsible.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement issued Thursday night after the report was circulated to OPCW member states that “The facts reflect a despicable and highly dangerous record of chemical weapons use by the Assad regime.”

President Donald Trump cited images of the aftermath of the Khan Sheikhoun attack when he launched a punitive strike days later, firing cruise missiles on a Syrian government-controlled air base from where U.S. officials said the Syrian military had launched the chemical attack.

It was the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and Trump’s most dramatic military order since becoming president months before.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has denied using chemical weapons. His staunch ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, said earlier this month that he believed the attack was “a provocation” staged “by people who wanted to blame him (Assad) for that.”

Both the U.S. and the OPCW were at pains to defend the probe’s methodology. Investigators did not visit the scene of the attack, deeming it too dangerous, but analyzed samples from victims and survivors as well as interviewing witnesses.

The Syrian government joined the OPCW in 2013 after it was blamed for a deadly poison gas attack in a Damascus suburb. As it joined, Assad’s government declared about 1,300 tons of chemical weapons and precursor chemicals, which were subsequently destroyed in an unprecedented international operation.

However, the organization has unanswered questions about the completeness of Syria’s initial declaration, meaning that it has never conclusively been able to confirm that the country has no more chemical weapons.

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US-led Forces Tighten Ring Around IS Stronghold in Syria

American officials say that U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have surrounded the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, and that the extremists' escape routes have been sealed. The State Department said Thursday it is important that once Raqqa is free from Islamic State control, a government approved by the local population can be elected. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports that the fall of Raqqa does not mean the end of Islamic State activity in Syria.

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Qatar Seeks US Backing for Negotiations With Saudis

WASHINGTON — 

Qatar’s foreign minister says Doha is interested in negotiating an end to the standoff with regional forces, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the country’s sovereignty.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani spoke at the Arab Center in Washington this week, two days after meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson regarding the tiny Gulf nation’s growing dispute with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and several other nations.

Watch: Qatar Willing to Negotiate, Will Not Give Up Sovereignty

On June 5, the Saudi-led group suspended all relations and accused Qatar of supporting extremist groups and destabilizing the region. Qatar has denied all such claims.

Al Thani said Qatar is willing to sit down for negotiations with the other regional forces, “so long as there is no interference in its sovereignty.”

“Qatar and the U.S. agreed that the best way is to pursue a negotiating path, not ultimatums,” he added.

A busy round of diplomatic meetings

The U.S. has played a vital role for Qatar, Al Thani said, adding that he hopes Washington will exert pressure on the Arab states blockading Qatar, and get them to negotiate, not dictate, to their smaller neighbor.

It’s been a busy week in Washington, as Tillerson also has met with top officials from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to urge on negotiations to end the crisis.

In the background of those talks at the State Department, another voice was heard from Capitol Hill earlier in the week. Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would be willing to block U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and their neighbors in the Gulf Cooperation Council, if that would push them toward ending their standoff, since all are important American allies in the region.

“Before we provide any further clearances during the informal review period on sales of lethal military equipment to the GCC states, we need a better understanding of the path to resolve the current dispute,” Corker said in a letter to Tillerson.

The threat to block weapons deals may help Tillerson’s efforts to persuade the feuding parties to move toward an agreement.

Tillerson: Get issues on the table

“Our role has been to encourage the parties to get their issues on the table, clearly articulated,” Tillerson said, “so that those issues can be addressed and some resolution process can get under way to bring this to a conclusion.”

The Saudi-led coalition, however, has shown no willingness to ease the 13-point list of demands that the group sent to Qatar. Among other things, the Saudis and their partners insist Qatar must downgrade its relations with Iran and close the Qatari-state-funded Al Jazeera news network.

Steve Grand, executive director of Middle East Strategy Task Force at the Atlantic Council, said such demands appear to be unrealistic.

“The kind of demands that have been made of Qatar, and the way in which those demands were made, would not produce the kind of results that is desired,” Grand said. “I don’t think the Qataris are just going to accede to the many demands that have been placed upon them,” he added.

He argued that the current disunity within the Gulf Cooperation Council, which had until recently been a model of positive regional cooperation, is harmful to both the Gulf states and to U.S. interests in the region.

Qatar, on the Arabian Peninsula, hosts the largest U.S. military base in the region, Al Udeid Air Base, with about 11,000 U.S. military personnel, while Bahrain, which is allied with Saudi Arabia in its anti-Qatar stance, is home port for the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

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Qatar Says It is Willing to Negotiate But Will Not Give Up Sovereignty

Despite diplomatic activity in Washington this week, the blockade of Qatar by its Persian Gulf neighbors continues. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with top officials from Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, calling for negotiations to end the crisis. But Saudi Arabia says its demands on Qatar are non-negotiable, and Qatar says it will negotiate, but will not give up its sovereignty. VOA Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.

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After Mosul, Iraq Plans to Launch Assault on IS in Hawija

As the push to recapture Mosul from Islamic State (IS) enters its final days, Iraqi forces say they will soon launch an assault on Hawija, the terror group's last stronghold in the country.

Iraqi forces say IS's self-proclaimed caliphate is crumbling after three years of brutal control, although the militants are considered likely to persist as an insurgent force even after they are forced out of Hawija, roughly 160 kilometers (99 miles) south of Mosul.

Iraqi forces say they do not expect a difficult battle given that IS fighters in Hawija have been encircled and isolated for weeks by Iraqi forces, Kurdish peshmerga and Shi'ite militias.

“Our preparation for the Hawija operation is complete and a plan to liberate the city is ready,” Muhammad al-Khazary, a spokesman for the Iraqi Defense Ministry, told VOA.

Al-Khizary declined to be specific on when the offensive will start to make it a “surprise” for IS but said it will come “soon after Mosul is fully liberated.”

Taking ground

The U.S.-backed Iraq forces on Thursday declared a major victory against IS in Mosul when they announced they had taken control over the rubble of the historic al-Nuri mosque, where IS leader Abu Bakir al-Baghdadi declared the caliphate in mid-2014.

IS militants blew up the 850-year-old mosque and its landmark leaning minaret last week to keep Iraqi forces from seizing it intact.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi described the action as “an official acknowledgement of defeat” by IS and its recapture by Iraqi forces a major achievement for his country's war on terror.

“We are seeing the end of the fake Daesh state; the liberation of Mosul proves that,” al-Abadi said in a tweet Thursday, using an Arabic acronym for IS. “We will not relent, our brave forces will bring victory.”

Hawija is a Sunni-majority district consisting of a town of the same name and 500 villages in Kirkuk province, 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Kirkuk and 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad.

It had a population of 500,000 before IS took control in mid-2014. That number has reportedly shrunk by half as many residents fled IS violence. IS is forcing those who remain to serve as human shields to inhibit airstrikes, Iraqi forces say.

The Iraqi air force earlier this week dropped thousands of leaflets on the town, urging residents to stay away from IS locations ahead of the looming operation.

“The Iraqi armed forces will start to storm your area very soon,” said the leaflet, posted by Iraqi activists on social media. “Protect yourself and your family by staying inside homes and staying away from IS sites such as headquarters, checkpoints, artillery sites and barracks because they will be our targets.”

Officials in Kirkuk, where most displaced Hawija residents have taken refuge, say they expect more civilians to try to flee as the Iraqi operation starts.

Refugees, safe routes

Aso Dalo, a police officer in Kirkuk, told VOA the city government has prepared refugee camps while security forces open up safe routes.

“We are prepared for all scenarios,” Dalo said.

Kurdish peshmerga forces, who have controlled the Hawija's northern borders and its four gates since August 2016, say they are prepared to cooperate with the Iraqi army to oust IS. They say removal of the militants will improve the security of nearby Kurdish areas.

Kurdish commander Lt. Col. Himdad Omar told VOA that most IS fighters in the town are expected to fight to the death. He said it was unknown how many militants are in the city, but that the majority are foreign fighters.

“The foreign fighters have controlled all matters in the city and consider local fighters inferior,” Omar said. “This has led to arguments and even clashes between them recently.”

Experts say the start of an operation and the ultimate removal of IS from Hawija will mark a major military victory for Iraq. But they warn IS may linger long after losing territory and turn to violent insurgency.

“IS will lose militarily, but its political and ideological influence will remain for a long time,” Mazin Bilah, an Iraqi analyst, told VOA. “They will turn back to sleeper cells, which have proven very effective for them, rather than confronting an army in the battlefield.”

VOA's Balen Salih contributed to this report.

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IAEA: Iran Complying with Nuclear Deal

UNITED NATIONS — 

The United Nations said Thursday that Tehran is in compliance with its obligations under an international nuclear deal, but U.S. envoy Nikki Haley disputed that.

"Today's meeting of the Security Council on the implementation of resolution 2231 is taking place against a backdrop of steady implementation, cooperation and progress," U.N. political chief Jeffrey Feltman said in his semi-annual briefing on the subject.

The resolution was adopted in July 2015, endorsing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that aims to ensure Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons. The five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany negotiated the deal with Iran.

Since implementation of the plan on Jan. 16, 2016, "the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] has issued seven reports documenting continued implementation by Iran of its nuclear-related commitments," Feltman said, referring to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.

That verified compliance led last year to the Security Council lifting an array of financial sanctions on Iran that had been in place for years and the unfreezing of billions of dollars.

Feltman said there had been no reports regarding the supply, sale or transfer to Iran of nuclear-related items. However, he did note that a January ballistic-missile launch by Tehran had evoked concern from some member states. He said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Iran to avoid such launches, which have the potential to increase tensions.

He also reported that the U.N. had examined a shipment of weapons seized in March 2016 by France from an unregistered vessel in the Indian Ocean. The arms, which included 2,000 assault rifles and 64 sniper rifles, were believed to be heading to Somalia or Yemen.

"After examination of the weapons and analysis of information provided, the Secretariat is confident that the weapons seized are of Iranian origin and were shipped from Iran," Feltman said.

U.S. Ambassador Haley said the secretariat's report was "filled with devastating evidence of the nature of the Iranian regime."

"Iran's destructive and destabilizing role in the Middle East goes far beyond its illicit missile launches," Haley said. "From Syria to Yemen and Iraq to Lebanon, Iran's support for terrorist groups continues unabated."

She said the United States would not ignore such behavior and would continue to enforce the resolution, including interdicting prohibited cargo and imposing unilateral sanctions on those who help violate resolution 2231.

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump said the nuclear agreement was "the worst deal ever negotiated" and he would tear it up. In April, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. was considering pulling out of the deal because of Iran's support for terrorism.

"The United States is now undertaking a comprehensive review of this policy," Haley told council members. "Until that review is completed, we will comply with our JCPOA commitments and we expect Iran to do the same."

Several other council members, as well as the representatives of the European Union and Germany — who are parties to the agreement — said the world is much safer because of the nuclear agreement and urged all parties to stay committed to it.

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Travel Ban, First On, Then Off, Is Back — But It's Different

WASHINGTON — 

President Donald Trump's first, temporary ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations was short-lived, but it sparked confusion, panic and anger that lasted through months of court rulings. The Supreme Court is now taking up the case in the fall. In the meantime, the government can enforce parts of a second version of Trump's order.

So what's new this time?

BANNED FOREIGNERS

Old order: Three-month ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, including those who had valid visas but were outside the United States when the ban was signed.

Supreme Court version: Iraq has been dropped from the ban.

For 90 days, the government can bar new visa applicants from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Iran and Libya who can't prove they have a "bona fide relationship'' with close relatives or a business in the United States. The State Department says valid relationships include a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the United States. Journalists, students, workers or lecturers who have valid, formal invitations or employment contracts in the U.S. will also be welcome.

Refugees hoping to come to the United States who aren't already approved for travel must now also prove one of these relationships. Otherwise, they'll be barred for 120 days.

SYRIANS

Old order: Syrian visitors, immigrants and refugees were barred from the United States indefinitely.

Supreme Court version: Syrians will be treated in the same manner as citizens of the other five designated countries.

REFUGEES

Old order: Four-month halt to refugees entering the United States.

Supreme Court version: The refugee ban will be in place for 120 days. But refugees already vetted and approved for travel through July 6 will be allowed to move to the United States. The "bona fide relationship'' standard applies after a cap of 50,000 refugees that Trump set for the fiscal year is met. That is likely to happen soon. The new rules will most likely affect refugees in the next fiscal year, which starts in October. The Supreme Court will hold a hearing on the ban that same month.

TIMING

Old order: The January 27 order was immediately put into place, causing chaos and panic at airports as the Homeland Security Department scrambled to figure out who was covered by the order and how it was to be implemented.

Supreme Court version: It goes into effect about 8 p.m. Eastern time Thursday, more than 72 hours after the Supreme Court issued its opinion.

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Report: Raqqa Completely Encircled by US-Backed Forces

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have fully encircled Raqqa, which serves as the de-facto capital of the Islamic State group in Syria, cutting off the jihadist group’s last route out of the city, according to a monitoring group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Thursday that SDF forces captured two villages on the southern bank of the Euphrates River, effectively cutting off the last IS escape route.

"They thereby cut the last route IS used to withdraw from Raqqa towards territory it controls in the Syrian desert and in Deir Ezzor province," the Observatory said.

A spokesman for the U.S. mission to defeat IS said on Twitter the SDF had this week cleared nearly 20 square kilometers of territory once held by IS jihadists, and that the SDF "now control all high-speed avenues of approach" into Raqqa.

"[IS] fighters, abandoned by their leadership, are being pressured by the [SDF] from multiple axes around the city," he wrote.

The SDF, backed by U.S. airstrikes, has been battling the Islamic State fighters along the outskirts of Raqqa for several months. It first entered the city in early June and has since captured districts throughout the city.

IS jihadists took control of Raqqa in 2014, claiming it as the capital of its self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq. The city became notorious as the site of some of the extremist group's most heinous atrocities, including public beheadings, and also is believed to have been a hub for planning international attacks.

United Nations estimates say that up to 100,000 civilians are still trapped in the city. Islamic State uses civilians as human shields, and kills those trying to escape.

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Canada Extends Mission in Iraq to March 2019

TORONTO — 

Canada is extending its military mission against the Islamic State group in Iraq for another two years.

Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said Thursday that Canada is renewing its contribution to the Global Coalition until March 31, 2019.

Canada has about 200 special forces soldiers operating in northern Iraq supported by a combat hospital, a helicopter detachment, a surveillance plane and an air-to-air refueling aircraft. The government calls it an advise-and-assist mission to help train local forces, but opposition parties say Canada is involved in combat. They pointed to word that that a Canadian special forces sniper, supporting Iraqi forces, killed an Islamic State fighter from 3,540 meters away, in what the Canadian military said is a world record.

Canada previously removed its fighter jets from the mission.

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Iraqi Military Says It Recaptured Landmark Mosul Mosque

Iraq said Thursday its forces retook control of the destroyed historic mosque in the city of Mosul, where three years ago the head of the Islamic State group announced a self-declared caliphate.

Militants blew up the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri mosque and its leaning 45-meter minaret last week, furthering the devastation of Mosul during eight months of fighting.

Iraqi forces backed by airstrikes and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition are working to oust the last Islamic State fighters from the Old City section of western Mosul and complete their mission to reclaim full control of the city the militants seized in mid-2014.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said blowing up the mosque amounted to "an official acknowledgement of defeat" by Islamic State.

The militant group has lost control of the other major Iraqi cities it once held, and while it controls more areas in Syria, a collection of forces there is focused on recapturing its de facto capital of Raqqa.

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Saudis Deny Ousted Prince Confined to Palace

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — 

A Saudi official Thursday denied a New York Times report that Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has been confined to his palace and barred from traveling abroad after he was replaced by the king’s son as next in line to the throne.

Mohammed bin Nayef, a veteran interior minister who was admired in Washington for quashing an al-Qaida insurgency in the kingdom between 2003 and 2006, was relieved of all his duties a week ago.

In his place as Crown Prince, King Salman appointed his son Mohammed bin Salman, who also serves as defense minister and leads an ambitious reform agenda to end Saudi Arabia’s over-reliance on oil.

The New York Times, citing four current and former American officials and Saudis close to the royal family, said that Mohammed bin Nayef has been “barred from leaving the kingdom and confined to his palace” in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

“It’s not true, 100 percent,” the official told Reuters, responding to a question on the New York Times report, without giving any further details.

Saudi state media, eager to show the change was going smoothly, repeatedly broadcast footage of the young Mohammed bin Salman kissing the hand of his older cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, as he offered congratulations.

Mohammed bin Salman’s promotion ended two years of speculation about a behind-the-scenes rivalry near the pinnacle of royal power, but analysts said he still has to win over powerful relatives, clerics and tribesmen.

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US Publishes Report on Its Role in 1953 Iran Coup

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — 

Once expunged from its official history, documents outlining the U.S.-backed 1953 coup in Iran have been quietly published by the State Department, offering a new glimpse at an operation that ultimately pushed the country toward its Islamic Revolution and hostility with the West.

The CIA’s role in the coup, which toppled Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh and cemented the control of the shah, was well-known by the time the State Department offered its first compendium on the era in 1989. But any trace of American involvement in the putsch had been wiped from the report, causing historians to call it a fraud.

The papers released this month show U.S. fears over the spread of communism, as well as the British desire to regain access to Iran’s oil industry, which had been nationalized by Mosaddegh. It also offers a cautionary tale about the limits of American power as U.S. President Donald Trump, long suspicious of Iran, weighs the landmark nuclear deal with Tehran reached under his predecessor.

​'Milestone event in Middle East'

It exposes “more about what we know about this milestone event in Middle East history and especially U.S.-Iran history. This is still such an important, emotional benchmark for Iranians,” said Malcolm Byrne, who has studied Iran at the non-governmental National Security Archive at George Washington University. “Many people see it as the day that Iranian politics turned away from any hope of democracy.”

The 1,007-page report, made up of letters and diplomatic cables, shows U.S. officials discussing a coup up to a year before it took place. While America worried about Soviet influence in Iran, the British remained focused on resolving a dispute over the nationalization of the country’s oil refinery at Abadan, at the time one of the world’s largest. Many also feared further instability following the 1951 assassination of Premier Ali Razmara.

“Nationalization of the oil industry possibly combined with further assassinations of top Iran officials, including even the shah, could easily lead to a complete breakdown of the Iran government and social order, from which a pro-Soviet regime might well emerge leaving Iran as a satellite state,” one undated CIA analysis from the report warned.

Fears of Soviets

Out of that fear grew TPAJAX, the CIA codename for the coup plot. Papers show the CIA at one point “stockpiled enough arms and demolition material to support a 10,000-man guerrilla organization for six months,” and paid out $5.3 million for bribes and other costs, which would be equivalent to $48 million today. One CIA document casually refers to the fact that “several leading members of these (Iranian) security services are paid agents of this organization.”

The CIA also described hoping to use “powerfully influential clergy” within Shiite Iran to back the coup, something that would be anathema by the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It offers no definitive proof of that, though several documents show American officials in contact with Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani, an anti-British leader in the Iranian parliament who turned against Mosaddegh.

The agency faced problems, however, chief among them Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi himself. Diplomats and spies referred to him as a “weak reed” and “petulant.”

“His inability to take decisions coupled with his tendency to interfere in political life has on occasions been (a) disruptive influence,” the U.S. Embassy in Tehran warned in February 1953. Ultimately, his twin sister Princess Ashraf and a U.S. general helped convince him.

Mosaddegh was tipped off about the coup, and it appeared doomed as the shah fled to Baghdad and later Italy. But protests supporting the shah, fanned in part by the CIA, led to Mosaddegh’s fall and the monarch’s return.

Report fills in gaps

The report fills in the large gaps of the initial 1989 historical document outlining the years surrounding the 1953 coup in Iran. The release of that report led to the resignation of the historian in charge of a State Department review board and to Congress passing a law requiring a more reliable historical account be made.

Byrne and others have suggested the release of the latest documents may have been delayed by the nuclear negotiations, as the Obama administration sought to ease tensions with Tehran, and then accelerated under President Donald Trump, who has adopted a much more confrontational stance toward Iran.

Byrne said the new administration needed just two months to agree to release the documents.

“That kind of speed is unheard of in the government unless there is some sort of political foundation,” he said.

Playing with fire

Die-hard opponents of Iran’s current government might look to 1953 as a source of inspiration. But the Americans involved in the coup acknowledged at the time they were playing with fire.

Widespread Iranian anger over the heavy-handed Western intervention lingered for decades and fed into the 1979 revolution, when Iranians seized control of the U.S. Embassy and held those inside captive for 444 days. To this day Iran’s clerical leaders portray the U.S. as a hostile foreign power bent on subverting and overthrowing its government.

As President Dwight Eisenhower wrote in his diary in 1953, if knowledge of the coup became public, “We would not only be embarrassed in that region, but our chances to do anything of like nature in the future would almost totally disappear.”

​

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Former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert to Leave Prison Early

JERUSALEM — 

The parole board of Israel’s Prison Service has granted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert early release from prison.

Prison Service spokesman Assaf Librati says the board on Thursday granted Olmert’s request to reduce a third of his 27-month incarceration sentence. Barring unforeseen developments, he will be freed on Sunday, July 2.

Olmert was convicted in 2014 in a wide-ranging case that accused him of accepting bribes to promote a real-estate project years before he became premier in 2006.

His imprisonment capped a stunning fall from grace that ended Israel’s last serious round of peace efforts with the Palestinians and ushered in the era of Benjamin Netanyahu in 2009.

Olmert was a longtime fixture in Israel’s hawkish right wing when he began taking a dramatically more conciliatory line toward the Palestinians.

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US Sets New Visa Rules for 6 Mainly Muslim Nations, Refugees

WASHINGTON — 

The Trump administration on Wednesday set new criteria for visa applicants from six mainly Muslim nations and all refugees that require a “close” family or business tie to the United States. The move came after the Supreme Court partially restored President Donald Trump's executive order that was widely criticized as a ban on Muslims.

Visas that have already been approved will not be revoked, but instructions issued by the State Department say that new applicants from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen must prove a relationship with a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the United States to be eligible. The same requirement, with some exceptions, holds for would-be refugees from all nations that are still awaiting approval for admission to the U.S.

Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, fiancees or other extended family members are not considered to be close relationships, according to the guidelines that were issued in a cable sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates late on Wednesday. The new rules take effect at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday (0000GMT on Friday), according to the cable, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

As far as business or professional links are concerned, the State Department said a legitimate relationship must be “formal, documented and formed in the ordinary course rather than for the purpose of evading” the ban. Journalists, students, workers or lecturers who have valid invitations or employment contracts in the U.S. would be exempt from the ban. The exemption does not apply to those who seek a relationship with an American business or educational institution purely for the purpose of avoiding the rules, the cable said. A hotel reservation or car rental contract, even if it was pre-paid, would also not count, it said.

Consular officers may grant other exemptions to applicants from the six nations if they have “previously established significant contacts with the United States;” “significant business or professional obligations” in the U.S.; if they are an infant, adopted child or in need of urgent medical care; if they are traveling for business with a recognized international organization or the U.S. government or if they are a legal resident of Canada who applies for a visa in Canada, according to the cable.

On Monday, the Supreme Court partially lifted lower court injunctions against Trump's executive order that had temporarily banned visas for citizens of the six countries. The justices' ruling exempted applicants from the ban if they could prove a “bona fide relationship” with a U.S. person or entity, but the court offered only broad guidelines - suggesting they would include a relative, job offer or invitation to lecture in the U.S. - as to how that should be defined.

Senior officials from the departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security had labored since the decision to clarify the ruling and Wednesday's instructions were the result. The new guidance will remain in place until the Supreme Court issues a final ruling on the matter. Arguments before the justices will not be held until at least October, so the interim rules will remain in place at least until the fall.

Shortly after taking office, Trump ordered the refugee ban and a travel ban affecting the six countries, plus Iraq. He said it was needed to protect the U.S. from terrorists, but opponents said it was unfairly harsh and was intended to meet his campaign promise to keep Muslims out of the United States.

After a federal judge struck down the bans, Trump signed a revised order intended to overcome legal hurdles. That was also struck down by lower courts, but the Supreme Court's action Monday partially reinstated it.

The initial travel ban led to chaos at airports around the world, but because the guidelines exempt previously issued visas, similar problems are not expected. After a judge blocked the original ban, Trump issued a scaled-down order and the court's action Monday further reduced the number of people who would be covered by it. Also, while the initial order took effect immediately, adding to the confusion, this one was delayed 72 hours after the court's ruling.

Under the new rules, would-be immigrants from the six countries who won a coveted visa in the government's diversity lottery - a program that randomly awards 50,000 green cards annually to people from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States - will also have to prove they have a “bona fide relationship” with in the U.S. or are eligible for another waiver or face being banned for at least 90 days. That hurdle may be a difficult one for those immigrants to overcome, as many visa lottery winners don't have relatives in the U.S. or jobs in advance of arriving in the country.

Generally, winners in the diversity lottery only need prove they were born in an eligible county and have completed high school or have at least two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two other years of training or experience.

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Gunmen Fire at UN Convoy in Libya, Seize Workers

Gunmen fired at a United Nations convoy in Libya on Wednesday and seized seven U.N. observers.

A U.N. spokesman said the convoy was traveling between Tripoli and the town of Surman in western Libya when the gunmen started shooting. One vehicle was damaged, but the seven staffers who were detained briefly were released unharmed.

The U.N. thanked Libyan government officials and local authorities for helping to ensure the workers' safety, and said the U.N. staff in Libya remain committed to supporting peace and security.

The identity of the gunmen is unclear, but militias are believed to be widespread across parts of western Libya.

Libya is split between an internationally recognized government in Tripoli and rival administrations, all jockeying for power and control over the country's oil wealth.

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Widespread Uncertainty as US Travel Ban Start Looms

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK — 

One day before President Donald Trump's temporary ban on all refugees and travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries is scheduled to take effect, there is still widespread uncertainty about how the administration will implement it.

The confusion follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision on Monday that allowed the long-delayed executive order to take effect, but significantly narrowed its scope. It exempted travelers and refugees who have a "bona fide relationship" with a person or entity in the United States.

As of Wednesday, the main federal departments and agencies responsible for implementing the ban had not issued official legal guidance to staff in the field or to the public. Among the questions to be resolved are what qualifies as a "bona fide" connection and how pending and future visa and refugee applications will be handled during the period of the ban.

Many immigrant and refugee agencies say they need more details in order to prepare their clients for what to expect.

Without guidance from the administration, "it's easy to game out a number of ways this could go off the rails," said Johnathan Smith, legal director of legal advocacy group Muslim Advocates.

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday said it was waiting for legal guidance from attorneys at the Department of Justice.

Treading carefully

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said on Wednesday he told DHS employees he wants to tread carefully in implementing the order.

"I told my folks I didn't want to come anywhere near close to getting crosswise with the court. I think that's the right way to be a public servant," Kelly said, adding that he expects the government will win the case when it is heard this fall.

David Lapan, a DHS spokesman, said additional information will be released on Thursday, the day the ban is to start. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

The ban's looming enforcement against nationals of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen stirred anger and confusion in parts of the Middle East on Wednesday, with would-be visitors worried about their travel plans and their futures.

Kiyanoush Razaghi, an immigration attorney in Maryland with primarily Iranian clients, said he has received a flurry of messages from Iranians wondering what it would mean for their plans to enter the United States.

Family ties, education, employment

The Supreme Court specifically mentioned family ties and job or university offers as reasons to exempt someone from the ban, but did not mention such issues as business or professional conference travel.

Airlines in the region said they had not received a directive from the United States, and there were few people at the U.S. Consulate in Dubai, where there is normally a line out the door of people waiting to process visa applications.

The State Department has said it does not plan to cancel previously scheduled visa appointments for residents of the six countries.

Trump issued the ban in a March 6 executive order, saying it was a temporary measure needed to allow the administration to review the vetting process for immigrants from those countries.

Travel from the six countries was banned for 90 days and for all refugees for 120 days.

But lower courts in Maryland and Hawaii blocked the order, saying it was a pretext for targeting Muslims and violated the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on favoring one religion over another. The Supreme Court then narrowed the scope of the lower court injunctions.

Refugees in limbo

Refugee advocates are struggling to understand what the court ruling will mean to applicants in the pipeline.

The State Department on Tuesday said the United States has already admitted about 49,000 refugees for the fiscal year ending in September, while Trump's executive order set a cap of 50,000.

The high court's decision allowed the cap take effect, but only against those who do not have a "bona fide" connection.

Refugee resettlement agencies are poised to argue that their relationships with individual refugees, which entail coordination with the U.S. government, sometimes over the course of years, meets the Supreme Court's standard.

If the government accepts that view, it would likely mean that every refugee already cleared for resettlement would be eligible to enter the United States.

A narrower approach limiting entry only to refugees with U.S. family members would shut out some of the most vulnerable populations, said Eleanor Acer, from the organization Human Rights First.

Many refugees being resettled in the United States already have U.S. ties, but those that do not include children in need of urgent medical care and women who are victims of human trafficking, she said.

The State Department has told refugee resettlement partners abroad that they should proceed with resettlement of refugees scheduled to travel to the United States through July 6.

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Yemen War Brings Multiple Disasters: Death, Destruction, Cholera, Famine

CAIRO — 

More than two years of civil war have led to continually compounding disasters in Yemen. Fighting rages on in a deadly stalemate. The economy has been bombed into ruins. Hunger is widespread, and a new misery has been added: the world's biggest current outbreak of cholera, with more than 200,000 cases.

The south, meanwhile, has seen the growing power of the United Arab Emirates, which is part of a coalition meant to protect the internationally recognized government in the war with Shi'ite rebels while also fighting al-Qaida. But at the same time, the UAE has set up its own security forces, running virtually a state within a state and fueling the south's independence movement.

An Associated Press investigation last week documented 18 secret prisons run by the UAE or its allies, where former prisoners said torture was widespread. The UAE denied the allegations and said all security forces were under the authority of President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi.

The Emirati role reflects how the Yemen conflict has been regionalized from the start.

With U.S. backing, Saudi Arabia launched its coalition, contending that Iran was behind the rebels, known as Houthis, who overran the north and the capital, Sanaa. The coalition's air bombardment averted the complete fall of the Hadi government and prevented the Houthis from taking over the south.

But now both sides are locked in. The north remains in the hands of the Houthis, backed by army units loyal to Hadi's predecessor, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was removed by a 2011 uprising. The south is ostensibly under the authority of Hadi, but he spends most of his time in exile in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Here is a look at the multiple levels on which the war has devastated the country of 26 million, which even before the conflict was the Arab world's poorest nation.

Humanitarian disaster

In May, a senior U.N. humanitarian official declared that Yemen was site of "the world's largest food security crisis." More than 17 million desperately needed food, and nearly 7 million of those were "one step away from famine."

Last week came the newest horrible superlative. The World Health Organization said Yemen faced "the worst cholera outbreak in the world." More than 1,400 people, a quarter of them children, have died of cholera the past two months.

Those nightmares come on top of other intertwined effects of the war.

More than 3 million people have been driven from their homes. More than 10,000 people have been killed. There are major fuel shortages caused by a coalition blockade. Health services have collapsed. One million civil servants have not been paid for months, including 30,000 health workers.

The cholera outbreak spread with startling speed after two months of heavy rains in the north, exacerbated by the pileup of garbage in streets — trash collectors are among those who have gone unpaid — and the lack of access to clean water for millions of people.

Around 5,000 new cholera cases are reported daily. Aid officials fear it could pass a quarter-million people by September. The U.N. is sending 1 million doses of vaccines, the largest since Haiti's outbreak in 2010.

Dealing with cholera is pulling away resources and food meant to go to battling famine, warned the U.N. humanitarian chief in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick.

Yemen long struggled with malnutrition. But the coalition embargo and the fighting have wrecked distribution systems and tipped the country into near famine.

A child under the age of 5 dies every 10 minutes of preventable causes, and 2.2 million babies are acutely malnourished, with almost half a million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, a 63 percent increase since late 2015, according to Stephen O'Brien of the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance.

Devastated north

Coalition warplanes have pounded the north relentlessly, hitting military camps, weapons storehouses and armed compounds.

But they have also hit hospitals, schools, outdoor markets and residential areas to a degree that rights groups have said may amount to a war crime. One of the deadliest strikes, in October, hit a Sanaa funeral hall, killing and wounding hundreds.

The U.S. has backed the coalition with intelligence, satellite imagery and billions of dollars in weapons sales. This year, American drone strikes targeting al-Qaida have mounted dramatically.

The main battle zones are along the western coastline, on the mountainous outskirts of Sanaa and around the city of Taiz. But front lines have not moved significantly in months. Multiple peace initiatives have fallen apart.

Meanwhile, the Houthis have clamped down against dissent. The opposition says they hold thousands of political prisoners in secret prisons, including in private houses. Detainees are often accused of supporting the coalition or belonging to Sunni extremist groups. Journalists have been arrested, tortured, and forced to flee to the south or abroad.

Critics accuse Houthis of profiting from the crisis by imposing extra tariffs and taxes for "the war effort" as well as engaging in fuel smuggling. The north has seen a severe cash shortage after Hadi's government moved the Central Bank to the south. The government bureaucracy has been largely paralyzed since the Houthis set up their own parallel institutions, called "Revolutionary Committees."

Southern divisions

Billboards and posters praising the UAE are all around the streets of the southern city of Aden, ostensibly the headquarters of Hadi's government. Often pictured on the posters as well are leaders of Emirati-backed security forces alongside flags of the former independent nation of South Yemen, which secessionists dream of creating once more.

After the Houthis were pushed back, the UAE created security forces such as the Hadramawt Elite in the city of Mukalla and the Security Belt in Aden, better armed and trained than Hadi's forces.

The UAE-backed forces have been key in fighting al-Qaida's branch, which held Mukalla for a year until it fled before an assault by the Elite. The security forces have also arrested hundreds in anti-terror raids. Human rights activists accuse them of abuses, illegal detentions and extrajudicial killings.

Many of the UAE-backed officials belong to the Southern Movement, or Hirak, which seeks the south's independence. That has fueled tension with Hadi, an advocate for a six-state federation in Yemen.

A sign of the power struggle surfaced two months ago when Hadi ordered to removal of two top UAE allies — Aden's governor, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, and a Cabinet member, Hani Bin Braik, the founder of the Security Belt.

In response, al-Zubaidi and other powerful Emirati allies — including the head of security in Aden and the governors of Hadramawt and four other provinces — launched a "South Transitional Council," aimed at working toward secession. Some in Hadi's camp have branded the move as a virtual coup attempt.

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Kurds in Northern Syria Fear New Turkish Incursion

WASHINGTON — 

Kurdish officials say they have spotted increasing numbers of Turkish troops and military equipment gathering on the border after Turkey's president threatened to send his forces into northern Syria to pursue groups that Turkey sees as supporters of Kurdish militants.

The threat of an incursion comes two months after the Turkish military bombed Kurdish targets inside northern Syria, before U.S. troops began patrolling along the border in defense of Syrian Kurdish forces known as the YPG — a group Ankara calls a terrorist organization — and to prevent direct confrontations between the two sides.

Turkey's military said Wednesday it destroyed YPG targets in the Afrin district in retaliation for Kurdish artillery fire against Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria.

“The Turkish state from the north has been gathering its troops with the Syrian groups who call themselves the Syria opposition for a week,” according to Hevi Mustafa, co-chair of the executive council of the self-proclaimed Kurdish Afrin Canton in northern Syria.

“The Turkish state is planning to attack our cities and villages in Afrin with its tanks and troops,” she told VOA.

​Turks could disrupt operations targeting Raqqa

Mustafa said an attack would ultimately disrupt the ongoing U.S.-backed Syrian forces' operation to liberate Raqqa, Islamic State's de-facto capital.

The Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, are a key part of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. While the United States supports the YPG and sees it as a key partner in the fight against IS, Turkey considers it a terrorist organization linked to Turkish-Kurdish separatists inside Turkey, known as the PKK.

To counter the YPG's growing influence in northern Syria, Turkey has supported efforts by several militia groups, part of the rebel Free Syrian Army, to gain control of a large swath of land in northern Syria.

A Turkey-supported operation known as Euphrates Shield, which involved Turkish troops and tanks and some FSA factions, entered northern Syria in August 2016 and ended in March. The area along the Turkey-Syria border remains under the Turkish army's control.

Turkish President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned in recent days that Turkish troops could cross into northern Syria to prevent the YPG from helping Kurds to form what he called “a state.”

Heavy shelling since late Tuesday

It is not known if there were any casualties from the most recent clashes, but activists in northern Syria said heavy Turkish artillery shelling in Afrin started late Tuesday and continued into early Wednesday morning.

Roj Musa, a journalist from Afrin, told VOA the barrage started after severe clashes between the YPG and Turkey-backed opposition groups near Menagh Military Airbase, 15 kilometers east of Afrin. He said the fighters backed by Turkey were not able to seize the airbase, which has been under YPG control since February.

“Turkish artillery pounded the airbase with hundreds of shells for about eight hours,” Musa said.

The conflict-monitoring Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group says tensions rose after Turkish reinforcements arrived in the countryside near Azaz, roughly 20km northeast of Afrin. It said the development was a part of “continued preparations” by the Turkish forces and their Syrian allies “to carry out a wide-scale military operation against the Syria Democratic Forces.”

Asked earlier this week if the U.S.-led coalition was aware of the Turkish build-up, a spokesman, Colonel Ryan Dillon, confirmed that American units had “seen some movement” on the border, but declined further comment.

‘Land IS seized belongs to local residents'

Following reports that the Turkish military was working to establish a “national army” for Free Syrian Army fighters to operate in northern Syria's Jarabouls and al-Bab areas, U.S. Army Colonel Joseph Scrocca said the U.S.-led coalition “feels strongly that any land seized (from Islamic State) should be returned to the people and governed by local representatives from that area.”

He said the coalition's focus was on defeating IS in Syria and Iraq, and “we urge all of our partners and allies to do the same.”

Analysts say recent developments on the ground point to a rise in tensions between Turkey and the YPG.

“If Turkey feels that its nerve-endings are irritated or provoked by others, it would not hesitate to start an extensive military operation,” Metehan Demir, a Turkish defense and military analyst, told VOA.

He said Washington should use its leverage to stop the outbreak of violence between two of its closest allies in the region from escalating.

VOA's Kasim Cindemir contributed to this report from Washington.

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Syrian Refugee Rape Survivor Turns Pain into Power: 'I Have to Spread This Message'

BEIRUT — 

For about four years, Sarah has gone around her community in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon speaking with fellow female Syrian refugees who have been victims of sexual violence, comforting them and telling them about local services.

Her advice comes from the heart — having been raped twice herself — but Sarah, like many other women, has kept these attacks secret.

Many victims are too traumatized to speak out, so women like Sarah are being trained to step in and give support.

Sarah, 34, described a day in the first year of the Syrian civil war when she had to leave the Homs apartment she shared with her four children and husband to seek shelter in a basement with her daughters, then aged 11 and three, and 20 other women.

But at first light, after a night of intense gunfire, a group of about a dozen armed men stormed the basement, ordering the women to take off their clothes and line up.

"My daughter was telling me 'Please mom, for God's sake please take off your clothes,'" Sarah said her 11-year-old daughter begged her, fearing the men would kill them.

Her daughter started to undress but Sarah stopped her.

"I took off my clothes then came my turn," said Sarah, her eyes welling up as she described the first time she was raped.

Homs, then Syria's third-largest city, was an early center of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 that turned into a civil war, killing an estimated 465,000 people and forcing more than 11 million from their homes.

Sarah — whose name has been changed for security reasons — said in the middle of the attack a loud noise distracted the men and they ran out, allowing the women to escape.

Sarah found her husband and two sons and her family fled but, with gunfire surrounding them, a bullet struck one of her sons in the head, killing him immediately.

"I held his hand. My husband was saying 'leave him.' ... I left him there on the ground and ran. I kept looking back, but I had to flee," she said. Her family left Syria a month later.

An unexpected life in Lebanon

The former clothing store owner arrived in Lebanon hoping for a safer life but, shortly after moving to the Bekaa Valley, Sarah was raped again.

This time the attacker was a Lebanese man who came to the door offering financial services when she was alone at home — a warehouse shared with other families — and he forced his way in.

"When he was done, he started to spit on me. He told me 'You Syrians are cheap,'" Sarah said, who was distraught at having been raped twice.

"I wanted to kill myself at first. Drink chlorine, cut my veins," she said, but knew she had to be strong for her children.

Sarah didn't tell anyone about the rape, not even her husband, fearing he would blame her and maybe even kill her to clean their family name — a so-called "honor killing."

She lived in silence for about three months, but then sought help from an international nongovernment organization in her community that gave her counseling and eventually trained her on how to talk to survivors like herself.

Roula Masri, a senior program manager at Abaad, a Beirut-based resource center for gender equality, said there were many reasons why women did not report sexual violence or rape, ranging from honor killings to cultural shame.

Abaad last year recorded 861 reports of sexual violence in Lebanon based on security force figures, but campaigners fear the number is much higher, with thousands of vulnerable female refugees living in Lebanon.

Masri said Abaad now has approximately one dozen women like Sarah who volunteer with them and believe it creates a greater impact when the support comes from a peer who has faced a similar struggle.

Making a difference

Sarah said she found that other female refugees struggling to deal with sexual assault really listened to her as she encouraged them to be strong and not feel guilty.

As well as giving one-on-one support, Sarah passes on information to them about groups like Abaad that provide services such as additional counseling and safe shelters.

"Our ultimate goal is to have women not only survive violence and then continue their lives as individuals, but have them mobilized in this driving force to really address violence against women," Masri said.

Sarah said she has kept in touch with many of the women she has helped, saying they call her a role model and tell her they would have killed themselves if it wasn't for her strength.

Personally, she finds it hard to believe she's moved past her pain by counseling others, but she has no plans to stop.

"I feel like I did something good and I have to spread this message to every woman that is in need of this," Sarah said. "These words give me power. I really live by these words."

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Reports: UAE Sends Yemeni Terror Suspects to Eritrean Prison

The United Arab Emirates has transferred terrorism suspects from Yemen to a secret prison in Assab, Eritrea, according to former detainees and Yemeni officials.

The facility on the Red Sea coast is part of a regional network of prisons in which torture and abuse are rampant, independent investigations by the Associated Press and Human Rights Watch have revealed.

Kristine Beckerle, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, says the UAE and its Yemeni partners view the prisoners as "high-value terrorism suspects [who] are accused of a variety of things related to the UAE efforts against al-Qaida in Yemen."

During a six-month period, HRW researchers visited Yemen to document abuses against detainees.

Beckerle's team discovered some prisoners had been taken to Assab, where the UAE has operated a military base for nearly two years. She said certain details, including how many prisoners the UAE is holding in Eritrea, are difficult to verify due to lack of access to the facilities and denials by UAE and Eritrean officials.

"There's been absolutely no transparency or communication either with the families or with independent monitors," she told VOA. "We've got a whole bunch of prisons that nobody has access to, other than the forces that are running them and detainees that are in them."

Without direct access, HRW relied on interviews with former detainees, family members, lawyers and Yemeni officials. The Associated Press employed similar methods and reached the same conclusions about the scope of the network, the treatment of detainees and the use of the facility in Assab.

Allegations of torture, abuse

Since March 2015, the UAE has been part of a coalition led by Saudi Arabia to defeat Houthi rebels in Yemen. The coalition has also sought to decimate al-Qaida's Yemen branch.

But HRW says the coalition's efforts have a dark side. It accused the UAE of torturing prisoners at informal detention facilities in Yemen and isolating them from the outside world.

The organization documented 49 people including four children who were detained or forcibly disappeared, and says 38 were arrested by security forces backed by the UAE.

Family members of detainees told HRW that their relatives were subjected to beatings with fists or metal objects, electric shocks, canings, forced nudity and threats to family members.

"The UAE was backing Yemeni forces who were implicated in a lot of these abuses," Beckerle said. "And the UAE itself was involved in these detention campaigns, including running some informal detention facilities, and ordering continued detention of people despite release orders, and transferring people potentially out of Yemen to different places for detention."

Official denials

Reached by phone, Eritrea's Minister of Information, Yemane Gebremeskel, denied the accusations and referred to a Twitter message in which he called the reports "patently false."

In the tweet, he pointed out the U.S. has military drone bases in Djibouti and Ethiopia, but made no mention of prisons, Yemen or the UAE.

In a statement, UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the HRW report as "baseless" and denied claims the UAE military is operating secret prisons in southern Yemen.

"What is stated in the report is completely untrue; it is nothing more than a political game through which the militias and the parties affected by the efforts of the Arab Coalition to fight the terrorist organizations seek to discredit the Coalition, which originally entered Yemen in order to save the people of Yemen," the Ministry said.

The statement made no mention of prisons in Eritrea.

U.S. involvement

The revelations of torture have prompted U.S. Senators John McCain of Arizona and Jack Reed of Rhode Island to call for an investigation into the alleged abuses and any role the United States has played in the interrogations.

The United States has provided logistical and intelligence support to the Saudi-led coalition, working especially closely with the UAE. In its reporting, the AP found U.S. forces were involved in interrogations, but uncovered no evidence they participated in or knew about abuse of detainees.

"It would be illegal for the United States to be involved in or participate in those kinds of actions," said Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University and former special counsel to the U.S. Department of Defense.

U.N. special investigators on human rights, terrorism and torture argue a state cannot legally receive intelligence from another state that obtains the information through torture, Goodman said.

The U.S. may also need to reconsider the veracity of whatever intelligence the interrogations produced.

"One could imagine that they would then think, well wait a minute, all the information that we're getting from the UAE could be heavily tainted by having used techniques that they don't think really work," Goodman told VOA.

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Haley Tells Congress US Assuming More Assertive Role at UN

WASHINGTON — 

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told a congressional panel Wednesday that the United States is now taking a more assertive role at the world body to hold North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and other authoritative regimes accountable.

"Our friends and our rivals know that America has once again found its voice at the United Nations," Haley told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "The international community is now very clear about what the U.S. is for and what the U.S. is against."

Haley, a former South Carolina governor who has served in the U.N. post for five months, said she successfully pushed the U.N. Security Council to adopt additional measures against North Korea's continued nuclear weapons development and missile tests, while drawing "a red line" against Syria's use of chemical weapons that led President Donald Trump to launch a missile attack against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

"The more pressure we put on North Korea, the better," Haley said. "You are dealing with a paranoid leader [Kim Jong Un] who thinks we are trying to assassinate him. Who thinks we are trying to do regime change. Who keeps his public in the dark, only hearing what he wants them to hear. And what we need to remember is that he is building a nuclear program."

On Syria, she said, "I think that by the president calling out Assad, I think by us continuing to remind Iran and Russia that while they choose to back Assad, that this was something we were not going to put up with."

She said, "The U.S. mission now refuses to tolerate one of the U.N.'s most disreputable and dangerous habits: obsessive bashing of Israel." She said the U.S. had "steered the Security Council's monthly debate on the Middle East away from unfairly targeting Israel, and toward the true threats in the region, such as Iran and Hamas."

Haley said she has "made the case that human rights violations and conflict are directly connected. History has played out that when governments don't respect the rights and voices of the people, conflict will soon follow."

Reaction from Democrats

The top Democrat on the panel, Congressman Eliot Engel of New York, praised Haley's tenure, saying she had approached the job "with a zest and verve that is very refreshing." But he criticized a call by Trump to cut U.S. funding of the United Nations operations.

"My job was to go in and see if I could find value in the U.N.," Haley said about the prospective cut in U.S. funding. "That was the directive all of you gave me, that was the directive the president gave me. There are a lot of places that the U.N. is very effective. There's a lot of fat around the edges, and some abuses that happen at the U.N., but I do think it is very important that we make the most of it."

Another Democrat, New York's Gregory Meeks, told Haley that it was "absolutely shocking to me" that Haley said she had not talked with Trump about Russian meddling in last year's election, a key focus on the Washington political scene at the moment.

Haley responded that she has told Trump that she accepts the U.S. intelligence community's finding that Russia interfered in the election. But she said the issue had not once come up in her dealings with the world's diplomats at the U.N.

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Cairo Airport to Screen Passengers from Sudan for Cholera

CAIRO — 

Egypt's Cairo airport has started screening passengers arriving from Sudan for signs of cholera because of a reported outbreak there, the head of airport quarantine said Wednesday.

Similar measures are already carried out in the Cairo airport for people arriving from Yemen due to an epidemic there.

"The number of doctors and health monitors in arrival halls has increased to monitor the flights and examine passengers coming from infected areas," Head of Airport Quarantine Medhat Qandil said.

Qandil said any suspected cholera cases would be isolated and sent to hospitals. Even if passengers do not show symptoms, their details will be recorded so they can be monitored by Egyptian health authorities, he said.

Sudan's government has not officially declared a cholera outbreak, reporting instead on cases of "Acute Watery Diarrhea," the World Health Organization (WHO) told Reuters.

On June 1, the United States embassy in Sudan's capital Khartoum said there were confirmed reports of cholera in some areas of Sudan, including the greater Khartoum area, that have resulted in fatalities.

Between August 2016 and June 23, 2017, a total of 19,666 suspected cases of "Acute Watery Diarrhea" were reported in Sudan, including 355 deaths, the WHO said. The outbreak affects 12 out of 18 of Sudan's states.

"The rainy season usually lasts from in June to August and may exacerbate the situation if no adequate preventative interventions can be implemented in time," a WHO spokesman said.

Neighboring South Sudan has been experiencing a cholera outbreak since mid-2016, according to WHO information.

The World Health Organization said Tuesday that a major cholera outbreak in Yemen may have reached its halfway mark as a massive emergency response has begun to curb its spread two months into the epidemic.

The WHO is responding to Sudan's cholera outbreak by supporting health workers, running education campaigns and distributing medical supplies.

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A New Island in the Mediterranean...Just off Gaza

JERUSALEM — 

At first glance the video looks like a promotion for a luxury offshore development, a Dubai Palm-style project on the Mediterranean. Then it becomes clear it's about Gaza and the future of the impoverished and fenced-in Palestinian enclave.

Israel's intelligence and transport minister has long pushed the idea of an artificial island off the coast of the Gaza Strip, with plans for a port, cargo terminal and even an airport to boost the territory's economy and connect it to the world.

But now the minister, Israel Katz, has released a slick, high-production video setting out his proposal in more detail, complete with a dramatic, English-speaking narration, colorful graphics and stirring music.

"The artificial island initiative is aimed at providing an answer to a reality that is bad for the Palestinians and not good for Israel," says the narrator, acknowledging that the aim is in part to change the view that Israel is to blame for the deteriorating circumstances of Gaza's two million people.

The Islamist militant group Hamas has controlled Gaza for the past decade, during which time Israel and neighboring Egypt have maintained a tight blockade, restricting the flow of goods and people in and out, in part to pressure Hamas.

While Israel withdrew its soldiers and settlers in 2005, it still limits Gaza's access to the sea and controls its airspace.

"Today, Israel continues to be perceived as being responsible for the Gaza Strip and is to a large extent the only lifeline to it, even though it withdrew from the strip over a decade ago," says the narrator.

To challenge that perception, and tackle the broader humanitarian and economic problems that beset Gaza - it is currently receiving less than three hours of electricity a day and has unemployment exceeding 40 percent - Katz's plan calls for a $5 billion investment over five years.

It envisages an international consortium building the 1,300-acre island (525 hectares) some three miles offshore, connecting it to the mainland via a causeway, which would have a bridge in the middle that could be raised, cutting off access.

Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since it seized control of Gaza from the rival Palestinian movement Fatah, has long called for a sea port and wants the airport in Gaza, destroyed by Israel in 2001, rebuilt.

It has not commented directly on Katz's island plan, but Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the group, said: "Building a sea port for Gaza is a right of its people to alleviate their suffering and end the blockade."

Gas, water works

The projected island would hold vast infrastructure, including cargo and passenger ports, a marina, gas and electricity terminals, a desalination plant and space for an airport in the future.

While Israel would retain control of security in the sea around the island, and would carry out inspections at the port, an international policing force would be responsible for security on the island and at checkpoints on the bridge.

"In addition to its humanitarian and economic importance, and distinct security advantages, the artificial island initiative will strengthen the cooperation and relations between Israel and the countries in the region," says the video.

While at one level the idea sounds pie-in-the-sky, Katz has presented it internationally and raised it consistently for discussion. He showed his video to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet this month, where it met with widespread approval, according to Katz's spokesman.

But Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who has responsibility for Gaza policy, remains unconvinced and has not endorsed the proposal. He has said Gaza does not deserve any development project as long as Hamas runs the territory.

Katz's hope is that if the Israeli government does get fully behind it, it can then be presented to international partners as a potential, if ambitious, project to finance.

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Mattis: Assad Heeded US Warning Against Chemical Weapons

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday that Syria appears to have heeded a U.S. warning to not to use chemical weapons.

"It appears that they took the warning seriously," Mattis said, referring to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying it had not launched any new chemical attacks.

A statement late Monday from White House press secretary Sean Spicer warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that if government forces carry out another chemical attack, "he and his military will pay a heavy price." The statement came after American intelligence said it had identified "potential preparations" for another chemical attack in Syria - allegations which the Syrian government denied.

The April 4th chemical attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Syria killed over 80 people and drew harsh criticism from governments abroad, including the United States.

Speaking from a ceremony in Germany honoring the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II, Mattis also called out Russian president Vladimir Putin for causing international "mischief".

Mattis said the Russian people's "leader making mischief beyond Russian borders — will not restore their fortune or rekindle their hope."

Mattis also stated that the U.S. remains committed to NATO - something of which he has repeatedly assured European allies, despite President Donald Trump's occasional bashing of the organization, particularly in regards to other countries paying their "fair share".

Germany's defense secretary Ursula von der Leyen also praised the transatlantic bond, and spoke in favor of Germany spending two percent of GDP to meet NATO pledges.

"Being partners, we need to have a fair burden sharing within NATO. That means we Germans need to do more for our security," she said.

Shortly after meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel last month, Trump had reiterated an accusation that Germany does not pay its fair share of dues in NATO.

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Airstrike in Eastern Syria Kills At Least 15

An airstrike on an Islamic State-held village in eastern Syria killed at least 15 people Wednesday, according to monitoring groups in the area, with some estimates as high as 35.

The monitoring groups said cluster bombs were dropped by unidentified jets along the Euphrates River Valley, on the village of Doblan, an area where U.S., Syrian and Russian jets are all known to operate.

Tuesday the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a coalition airstrike on an IS prison in the nearby town of al-Mayadeen killed 57 people.

The United States said it would review the allegations, but a military spokesman told VOA the coalition "mission was meticulously planned and executed to reduce the risk of collateral damage and potential harm to non-combatants."

“The coalition's goal is always for zero human casualties. We apply rigorous standards to our targeting process and take extraordinary efforts protect non-combatants," Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway said.

Al-Mayadeen is located approximately 20 kilometers from Doblan.

As the de-facto IS capital of Raqqa has come under increasing pressure in recent days, Islamic State reportedly has moved most of its leadership to al-Mayadeen.

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Conflict Emergencies Increase World Hunger

GENEVA — 

A World Food Program review of the global hunger situation in 2016 finds conflict emergencies in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere are hampering United Nations efforts to achieve zero hunger by the year 2030.

In its review2016: A Year in Fighting Hunger, the World Food Program reports that 795 million people in the world went hungry last year. The organization's spokeswoman Bettina Luescher tells VOA the Sustainable Development Goal to eliminate hunger by 2030 does not, for now, appear realistic.

“As you know, the world is a mess," she said. "We have more emergencies than ever. We have more refugees than ever and we are struggling on all fronts to help the people be able to feed themselves.”

Last year, WFP assisted more than 82 million people with food or cash. While that is a lot, Luescher agrees it is far from enough. She says escalating conflicts are making the work of aid agencies much harder.

She says countries that had been making progress in development have gone backwards because of conflict. She points to South Sudan as an example of a country, which on the eve of independence appeared poised to prosper after decades of civil war.

“And look what happened," she said. "They went back to fighting and for the first time in six years, this year, we saw in some areas of South Sudan, a famine again. And, that is just unbelievable in this time in our new century. It is just unbelievable. So, the conflicts have to stop.”

Luescher says it takes money to fight hunger. Unfortunately, she says international support is waning at a time of burgeoning emergencies. She says WFP urgently needs one $1 billion to fight four looming famines in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and in northeast Nigeria.

She says it will be extremely difficult to save people dying from hunger without help from international donors.

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