US Cuts Funding to UN Agency Helping Palestinian Refugees

The Trump administration has cut funding to the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees, calling the organization "irredeemably flawed."

The U.S. State Department ended decades of support to the organization Friday, saying "the administration has carefully reviewed the issue and determined that the United States will not make additional contributions to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency)."

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.N. agency's "endlessly and exponentially expanding community of entitled beneficiaries is simply unsustainable and has been in crisis mode for many years."

UNRWA provides health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The agency says it provides services to about 5 million Palestinian refugees, most of whom are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes during the war that led to Israel's establishment in 1948.

The United States supplies nearly 30 percent of the total budget of UNRWA and donated $355 million to the agency in 2016. However, in January, the Trump administration withheld $65 million it had been due to provide UNRWA and released only $60 million in funds.

Last week, the Trump administration announced it would cut more than $200 million in economic aid to the Palestinians, following a review of the funding for projects in the West Bank and Gaza. A senior State Department official said the decision took into account the challenges the international community faces in providing assistance to Gaza, where "Hamas control endangers the lives of Gaza's citizens and degrades an already dire humanitarian and economic situation."

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that runs Gaza, seized the coastal territory in 2007 from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority. That led to Israel and Egypt placing severe economic restrictions on the region.

Under the Trump administration, Washington has taken a number of actions that have angered the Palestinians, including recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December and moving the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv in May. The Palestinian leadership has been boycotting Washington's peace efforts since the Jerusalem announcement.

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Rights Group Criticizes Sentences Given to Iranian Journalists

A media rights group is condemning what it calls "harsh sentences" that Iranian authorities imposed on at least seven journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Friday that the reporters were jailed this summer for their coverage of protests in February by the Gonabadi Dervish religious order.

The New-York based group said Iranian courts in July and August sentenced at least six journalists affiliated with Majzooban Noor, a news website that focuses on the Gonabadi Dervish minority, and a journalist from the state-run outlet Ensaf to prison terms of between seven and 26 years.

A Turkey-based editor of Majzooban Noor told VOA earlier in August that the six jailed contributors had received prison terms totaling 71 years.

"There is no reason for them to have been given such heavy sentences other than the fact that the Iranian government is trying to apply pressure on us to shut down Majzooban Noor, which is the central news source of the Dervishes," said Alireza Roshan, an Iranian Dervish writer and poet.

Dervishes involved in the February protests had been demanding the release of arrested members of their community and the removal of security checkpoints around the house of their 90-year-old leader, Noor Ali Tabandeh. Members of the Sufi Muslim religious sect long have complained of harassment by Iran's Shiite Islamist rulers, who view them as heretics.

Roshan said Majzooban Noor has brought international attention to what it sees as human rights violations by Iranian authorities against the Dervishes, including the detention of dozens of women in February's crackdown on the Dervish protests. He said the Iranian government had not accused Majzooban Noor of any illegal activity that could warrant the apparent effort to silence the news outlet.

Iran's courts have accused the reporters of "spreading propaganda against the regime."

In addition to the jail time, the journalists also received sentences of public floggings, multiyear bans on leaving the country, and bans on political and media activity upon their eventual releases.

"These horrifying sentences lay bare Iranian authorities' depraved attitude toward journalists, as well as the hollow center of President Hassan Rouhani's promises of reform," Sherif Mansour, CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program coordinator, said in Washington.

"Iran should end its vicious campaign against journalists and allow them to report freely," Mansour said.

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Exclusive: Iranian Officer Flees After Refusing to Suppress Protests

Armed Clashes in Tripoli Take Heavy Toll on Migrants, Refugees

Syria Rebels Destroy Bridges in Anticipation of Offensive

BEIRUT — 

Syrian opposition fighters blew up bridges Friday linking areas they control to government-held territories in northwestern Syria in anticipation of a military offensive against their last stronghold in the country, activists and a war monitor said.

The explosions rocked the area in al-Ghab plains, south of Idlib and came after rebels detected government troop movement in the area, according to Rami Abdurrahman, head of the war monitoring Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Abdurrahman said two other bridges remain in the area and could be used by government forces to move in on the rebel stronghold.

Most of Idlib province and adjacent strips of Hama province remain in the hands of an assortment of armed groups, some Turkey-backed and others independent Islamist groups. But the strongest alliance of fighters is led by an al-Qaida-linked group that controls most of the area that is also home to some 3 million people.

Thousands of government troops and allied fighters have been amassing in areas surrounding Idlib while Russia, Syria's powerful ally, has said a military operation was necessary to weed out “terrorists” it blames for attacking its bases on the coast.

Turkey, which backs a number of opposition factions in Syria and has set up observation points that ring the rebel stronghold, has been seeking to curtail a full-scale offensive. Ankara fears a humanitarian and security crisis on its borders.

U.N. officials estimate an offensive would trigger a wave of displacement that could uproot up to 800,000 people. The area is already home to nearly 2 million displaced previously from other parts of Syria.

The Observatory said Turkey-backed rebels blew up the bridges as part of their reinforcement around the stronghold.

They have dug trenches, built berms and fortified their posts. Al-Qaida-linked authorities have also called on residents to take part in supporting the fighters, either through building reinforcements, volunteering to fight, or in field hospitals and kitchens to help men deployed on the frontline.

It also called on residents to take to the streets after Friday prayers against an offensive and in support of the fighters. Thousands protested in various towns in Idlib and Hama, denouncing threats of an attack and hailing the area's readiness to fight.

The campaign for Idlib is likely to be the last major theater of battle after seven years of brutal civil war.

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US Navy Interrupts Gun Smuggling Operation in Gulf of Aden

UN Envoy Warns Against Use of Chemical Weapons in Battle for Idlib

The United Nations expressed concern for civilians in the Idlib area in northwestern Syria, where government forces, backed by Russia, plan to launch a major offensive to reclaim the last rebel stronghold. U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura warned Thursday that chemical weapons use would be unacceptable. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports the U.N. official urged the Syrian government to allow civilians to leave Idlib before launching an offensive likely to cause another humanitarian catastrophe.

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Report: Protesting Dervish Prisoners Put in Solitary Confinement

An Iranian news outlet covering Iran’s Gonabadi Dervish minority says a number of jailed Dervishes have been put in solitary confinement at a prison near Tehran after guards broke up a protest they had held.

In several tweets posted Thursday, Majzooban Noor said authorities at the Great Tehran Penitentiary transferred an unidentified number of Dervishes to solitary cells in response to the protest staged by those prisoners the previous day. It said the prison management also cut off phone connections to wards where the Dervishes were being detained, to prevent information about them from leaking out.

Sit-in protest

A day earlier, Majzooban Noor posted several tweets saying security guards used batons and tear gas to break up a sit-in by male Dervish inmates calling for the release of female Dervishes held at Qarchak prison, also near the Iranian capital. The Dervish detainees in both prisons were among several hundred Dervishes arrested by security forces in February for involvement in anti-government protests in Tehran.

In its Thursday tweets, the news outlet said relatives of Dervishes wounded in the breakup of Wednesday’s protest were concerned that prison authorities would keep the inmates in solitary confinement until their wounds healed, in order to cover up the incident. It said family members sent a letter to judiciary officials demanding immediate access to the prison to meet with the detainees.

There were no reports of the Great Tehran Penitentiary incident in Iranian state media.

Violent confrontations

The February 19-20 protests by Iranian Dervishes escalated into violent confrontations with security forces, who arrested more than 300 people. Five security personnel were killed in the clashes.

The Dervish protesters had been demanding the release of arrested members of their community and the removal of security checkpoints around the house of their 90-year-old leader, Noor Ali Tabandeh. Members of the Sufi Muslim religious sect long have complained of harassment by Iran’s Shiite Islamist rulers, who view them as heretics.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Persian service.

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UN: Lebanon, Israel at Risk of Renewed Conflict

UNITED NATIONS — 

The U.N. Security Council warned Thursday that violations of the cease-fire agreement between Lebanon and Israel could lead to a new conflict and urged international support for Lebanon’s armed forces and their stepped up deployment in the south and at sea.

The council’s warning against “a new conflict that none of the parties or the region can afford” came in a resolution adopted unanimously extending the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL until Aug. 31, 2019.

Council members urged “all parties” to exercise “maximum calm and restraint and refrain from any action or rhetoric that could jeopardize the cessation of hostilities or destabilize the region.”

Peacekeepers since 1978

UNIFIL was originally created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after a 1978 invasion. The mission was expanded after a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah militants so that peacekeepers could deploy along the Lebanon-Israel border, to help Lebanese troops extend their authority into their country’s south for the first time in decades.

The French-drafted resolution again urged all countries to enforce a 2006 arms embargo and prevent the sale or supply of weapons to any individual or entity in Lebanon not authorized by the government or U.N. force known as UNIFIL, an implicit criticism of the suppliers of weapons to Hezbollah.

Rodney Hunter, the U.S. Mission’s political coordinator, told the council that Hezbollah, with Iran’s help, “has grown its arsenal in Lebanon in direct threat to peace” along the boundary with Israel “and the stability of all of Lebanon.”

Hunter said 12 years after the council imposed an arms embargo, “it is unacceptable that Hezbollah continues to flout this embargo, Lebanon’s sovereignty, and the will of the majority of Lebanese people.”

Lebanese forces

Israel and Lebanon are still technically at war and the resolution reiterates the council’s call for Israel and Lebanon “to support a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution.”

The council also stressed “the necessity of an effective and durable deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces in southern Lebanon and the territorial waters of Lebanon at an accelerated pace.”

It called for UNIFIL, which has more than 10,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese military to analyze the country’s ground forces and maritime assets.

The council also called for the Lebanese government “to develop a plan to increase its naval capabilities ... with the goal of ultimately decreasing UNIFIL’s Maritime Task Force and transitioning its responsibilities to the Lebanese Armed Forces.”

France’s deputy U.N. ambassador Anne Gueguen stressed that “only the presence of the Lebanese state and its armed forces will ensure security ... and create the conditions of lasting stability in the south of Lebanon, and along its territorial waters.”

Political solution

The Security Council also commented on the current political situation in Lebanon.

Nearly four months after the country held its first general elections in nine years, politicians are still squabbling over the formation of a new government amid uncertainty over a long stagnating economy, struggling businesses and concerns over the currency.

The Security Council welcomed the holding of elections and the country’s progress toward reactivating government institutions, and called for the formation of a new Lebanese government “without further delay.”

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IAEA Says Iran Is Sticking to Nuclear Deal

Syria Is Lone Nation Using Cluster Munitions, Group Says

The Cluster Munition Coalition says Syria, with Russia's support, remains the only country still using cluster munitions, a weapon that has been outlawed by most of the world.

Since the treaty banning cluster munitions took effect 10 years ago, 103 states have joined and another 17 have signed on but not yet ratified it. Syria, which is not party to the treaty, reportedly has been using cluster munitions since mid-2012, about one year after civil war broke out there. According to the Cluster Munition Coalition — an international civil society movement that campaigns against the devices — Syria denies possessing or using such weapons.

Mary Wareham of Human Rights Watch is an editor of ​Cluster Munition Monitor 2018, the latest annual report of the Cluster Munition Coalition, a global group of nongovernmental organizations co-founded and chaired by HRW. She said the use of both air-dropped and ground-launched cluster munitions had increased since Russia joined Syrian military operations in 2015, but that their use had fallen off this year.

"There are several reasons for that," she said. "One is that … the territory held by the opposition forces has been shrinking in the past year. Most of the cluster munition attacks have been centered on Idlib. ... A cluster munition rocket attack a couple of weeks ago in Idlib resulted in civilian casualties. And there has been use of air-dropped cluster munitions in Dhouma and in other governorates."

The Monitor said the Saudi Arabian-led coalition in Yemen continued to use cluster munitions in 2017. But Wareham said there was little evidence that such attacks have continued this year.

"It does appear that in the case of Yemen, the stigmatization effort has had some impact," she said. "You probably have seen some of the efforts that have been undertaken to convince the Saudi Arabian-led coalition not to use cluster munitions, and I think that has paid off."

Authors of the report said parties to the convention had destroyed 99 percent of their stockpiles, ridding the world of more than 33,500 cluster munitions and more than 1.7 million submunitions that are part of these weapons systems.

The Monitor recorded 289 cluster munitions casualties in 2017, a sharp decrease from the 971 in 2016; however, the report added that the actual global total was probably much higher because many casualties go unreported.

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Thousands of Yemeni Civilians Caught in Conflict Need Protection, UN Says

Police Say Sara Netanyahu Suspect in Israel Corruption Case

JERUSALEM — 

Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israel's prime minister, is reportedly suspected by authorities of accepting bribes in a corruption case involving Israel's telecom giant.

Haaretz and other Israeli media reported Thursday that police investigator Uri Kanar told a Tel Aviv court that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife was a suspect.

The case deals with suspicions that Netanyahu confidants promoted regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bezeq telecom company in exchange for positive coverage of the prime minister in Bezeq's news website, Walla.

Netanyahu's lawyers dismissed the report. Police didn't respond to The Associated Press's requests for comment.

Police have questioned Netanyahu and his wife concerning the case, also known as Case 4000, but neither had been known to be directly implicated.

Police recommended indicting Netanyahu in two other corruption cases. The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing.

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Cholera Outbreak Stirs Panic in Algeria

CAIRO — 

Algerian health authorities claim the situation is under control after a cholera epidemic in at least four provinces caused more than 60 confirmed cases of the disease, with several deaths reported.

Residents in a village of Tipaza province are drinking water from a spring government officials claim is infected with the cholera virus. But residents counter the spring is safe to drink from and that the government analysis is mistaken.

Cholera outbreaks have been confirmed in Tipaza, Blida, Algiers, and Bouira provinces. More than 130 people have been hospitalized with suspected cases of cholera this month and more than 60 cases were confirmed. At least three people have died, according to Algerian media.

Algeria's health minister, Mokhtar Hazblawi, recently said health officials have been doing their best to keep on top of the situation.

He says since the disease surfaced, the health ministry has devised a strategy to control it and stop it from spreading.

Issam Eddin Bouyoucef of the El Hadi Flici Hospital Center, which treats infectious diseases in Algiers, told Al Hurra TV hundreds of people have come to the hospital fearing they were suffering from cholera.

He said patients must be quarantined and the disease isolated. He stressed his hospital has set up a specialized isolated wing to treat patients while they recover, once the disease has been confirmed.

Bouyoucef said many people have been panicking, mistaking stomach ailments for cholera. Local media report consumers are buying up large quantities of mineral water.

An elderly resident of capital Algiers told Al Hurra TV he was afraid of the potentially deadly disease and thinks that a large number of people who live in his area have been sickened.

Physician Mohammed Gamary complained to a local TV station the media uncovered the cholera epidemic before the government did. He said doctors in Khazrouna, where the disease was first detected, should have sounded the alarm when they noticed the unusual number diarrhea cases.

Pharmacies in Algiers have been selling large quantities of salts to treat diarrhea, while many people have been avoiding fruit and vegetables, which they fear may be contaminated with the cholera virus.

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Salah Takes on Egyptian Federation Over World Cup Debacle

CAIRO — 

Emboldened by his global star power, Mohamed Salah has said out loud what many of his Egyptian teammates have been saying in private for weeks: Failure by the national federation to enforce discipline and stop meddling by sponsors was mostly to blame for the Pharaohs’ miserable World Cup run in Russia.

The Liverpool star posted a video clip this week on social media complaining about the chaos at the team’s World Cup base in Grozny, capital of Russia’s Chechnya region, and calling for better discipline in training camps and security for players.

Salah’s agent, lawyer Ramy Abbas, went further in a leaked letter to federation officials, demanding that they improve security for his client or resign. Egypt’s wealthiest man, influential business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, echoed his demands in a tweet this week.

The federation rejected Abbas’ call for its board to resign, but said it was prepared to discuss Salah’s demands.

The latest quarrel between Salah and the federation swiftly dominated the national conversation in Egypt, with fans on social media voicing support for the 26-year-old striker against federation officials they accused of corruption and inefficiency. The hashtag “resignation of the football federation is a popular demand” has been trending on Twitter in Egypt since Tuesday.

Egypt lost all three group matches in Russia. It was a bitter disappointment for a soccer-crazy nation, which had waited nearly 30 years to see its national team qualify and hoped that, with Salah leading a group of Europe-based players, the team would do well.

The Pharaohs lost to Uruguay, Russia and Saudi Arabia, with Salah scoring the team’s only goals, one against Russia in a 3-1 loss and the second in the 2-1 loss to the Saudis.

There were calls for an official inquiry into the team’s poor performance and management of its camp in Russia, including the choice of Grozny as the team’s base given the long flights to match venues, but no action was taken.

In the video clip, Salah said uninvited guests kept knocking on his hotel room door in Grozny, keeping him up until 6 a.m. in one instance. Citing the inability of the federation officials to maintain order and shield him from unruly fans, he said he was often told not to join his teammates for meals because of the large number of fans in the restaurant or in the hotel’s lobby.

“In all my years abroad, I had never seen anyone bringing his friends to my (hotel) room to shake my hand and take photos with me,” said Salah, who insisted he was seeking change for the entire squad.

He also said the federation was trying to tarnish his name and accusing him of not being patriotic, a charge that has a familiar ring in a country where the pro-government media routinely label critics as foreign agents or members of an outlawed Islamist group.

“I think people will not believe any of this. People know how I perform when I play for the national squad,” said Salah, last season’s best player and top scorer in the Premier League.

Salah is considered a national hero in Egypt, where many see him as a rare success story at a time of economic malaise and political repression. Egyptian fans are confident his popularity will shield him from the wrath of the government, which has shown zero tolerance for dissent.

But pro-government media, which had previously lavished praise on him, have increasingly sided with the federation in the latest dispute, with some accusing him of being arrogant, ungrateful and seeking exclusive privileges.

Salah’s teammates have remained publicly silent so far, reflecting fears of reprisals if they side with him against a federation known to enjoy strong government backing. Goalkeeper Sherif Ikramy, however, was the exception. He tweeted that players agreed with Salah’s calls for improved security and discipline.

Two members of Egypt’s World Cup squad in Russia, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals, also backed Salah’s complaints.

They cited the example of a TV reporter for a Dubai-based channel who, with the implicit approval of federation officials, knocked at the doors of the players’ rooms well past their bedtime offering money in exchange for on-camera interviews.

The two said federation officials were fully aware of this and other transgressions in Grozny, but chose to look the other way to avoid a clash with the team’s chief sponsor, a PR and advertising company called Presentation in which the Egyptian government has a majority stake.

Hector Cuper, the Argentine coach who took Egypt to the World Cup, had repeatedly sought to penalize players who breached camp rules in Grozny, but was persuaded not to take action by federation officials, said the two players.

Federation spokesman Osama Ismail acknowledged disciplinary problems in the Grozny camp.

“The players were not well prepared psychologically (for the World Cup) and there was no clarity on regulations governing marketing. That took away the players’ focus,” he told The Associated Press.

Two federation board members, also speaking on condition of anonymity, painted a picture of a complex network of interests between the federation, the government and sponsors that resulted in lax rules in Grozny. They said players were told that public criticism of the company could cost them their place in the squad.

“We were specifically warned against speaking to the media about what went on in Russia,” said one of the two players.

Presentation officials did not respond to several text messages requesting comment.

Presentation provides most of the advertising going to private television channels, which in turn have several federation board members on lucrative contracts hosting sports talk shows. The company’s drive to cash in on Egypt’s first qualification for the World Cup since 1990 and on Salah’s global celebrity meant that near unfettered access to the players was granted to commercial sponsors.

A three-member media team from a global tea brand, for example, shadowed the Pharaohs in Grozny for at least four days prior to the June 15 Uruguay match. The group regularly posted short video clips of players talking about the tea. Before leaving for Russia, federation officials appeared to go to great lengths to praise Presentation and allow representatives of sponsoring companies to address news conferences broadcast live from the federation’s Cairo headquarters.

“You can comfortably say that Presentation and those behind it are running the federation,” said a board member who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals. “There is no direct government meddling in the federation, but what it wants the federation to do is conveyed through Presentation or the Sports Ministry as ‘suggestions.’”

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UN Envoy Warns of 'Perfect Storm' in Syria's Idlib

Official: US Navy Seizes Hundreds of Weapons from Boat in Gulf of Aden

Saudi-Led Coalition Condemns UN Rights Report on Yemen

UN Chief Fears 'Humanitarian Catastrophe' in Syria’s Idlib

Iraq Sees Spike in Water-Borne Illnesses

CAIRO — 

Iraqi health officials say that a health crisis stemming from water pollution and a shortage of clean drinking water has worsened in recent days, as hospitals in the southern port city of Basra treat more than 1,000 cases of intestinal infections on a daily basis. The problem was exacerbated several months ago when Turkey cut back on water distributed to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

A crowd of young men took to the streets on in the southern port city of Basra Tuesday, demanding the central government and Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi increase the quantity of clean drinking water allotted to their province. Abadi vowed to increase spending on infrastructure for the province during a visit to Basra in July.

A young man, whose friend was killed during a rally several weeks ago, broke down and sobbed over the protesters' inability to force Iraqi leaders to improve the condition of public services in Basra, especially the region's worn-out water infrastructure and insufficient quantities of drinking water allotted by the central government.

Some health officials in Basra warn that a cholera outbreak is possible due to water pollution and water-borne parasites that have made thousands of people sick in recent days. The director general of the Basra Health department, Riad Abdul Amir, told Al Hurra TV the situation continues to worsen.

He says more than 17,500 cases of intestinal ailments, resulting from contaminated drinking water, have been treated by Basra hospitals during the past two weeks, alone.

Abdul Amir says the problem stems from insufficient fresh water supplies coming into the city via canals and water pipes from the north.

"Salty water [which has infiltrated the water network]," he asserts, "is known to reduce the efficacy of chlorine used to treat and kill bacteria in drinking water," he said.

Safaa Kazem, a docotor who has been treating dozens of cases of intestinal problems and diarrhea in Basra's Sadr Teaching Hospital each day, says water from the city's supply is not safe to drink.

She says the degree of water sterilization is minimal and that Basra's water is very salty and has an extremely high level of microbes in it, along with a high degree of chemical pollution.

Basra Governor Assad al Edani told Al Hurra TV that his province has been suffering from numerous infrastructure problems for a long time.

He says the water network in Basra hasn't been updated in at least 30 years and the old pipes often break, mixing drinking water with sewage.

Edani says "not enough fresh water is arriving via the region's only canal from Thi Qar province to the north." He thinks a "strong current of fresh water will flush out salty water seeping into the water network from the sea."

Edani adds that the population of Basra has "more than doubled since the water network was last updated in the early 1990s."

Iraq's individual provinces have been fighting for water, amid a general shortage, since Turkey in early June severely curtailed the number of cubic meters of water it funnels into both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

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Millions of Refugee Children Are Out of School

Car Bomb Claimed By Islamic State Kills 7 in Western Iraq

BAGHDAD — 

Seven people were killed Wednesday in a suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group in a former stronghold of the jihadists in western Iraq, a security official said.

The attacker detonated his explosives-laden vehicle at a joint security checkpoint managed by the Iraqi army and the Popular Mobilization Forces at the southern entrance to the town of al-Qaim, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Syrian border, Maj. Gen Qasem al-Dulaimi said.

He said four security forces and three civilians were killed in the blast.

Al-Dulaimi blamed IS for the attack, and the group, through its Aamaq news agency, later claimed responsibility in posts it circulated on social media.

Also on Wednesday, the Criminal Court of Anbar Province, which includes al-Qaim, sentenced three men to death by hanging, finding them guilty of carrying out terror attacks in the province. There was no indication the men were connected to Wednesday’s attack.

Judge Abdelsattar Bayarqadar, spokesman for Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, said the three men were members of IS. Al-Qaim is a former Islamic State group stronghold in Anbar province in western Iraq.

A spate of kidnappings and guerrilla style attacks in desert areas in western and central Iraq this summer have stirred security concerns in the country as it seeks to rebuild from its three-year-long war with the militant group.

Iraqi officials declared victory over the jihadists late last year after recapturing Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in a grinding battle supported by the U.S.-led international coalition against IS.

But heavy-handed tactics by the military and the Shiite-dominated PMF, and faltering efforts at reconciliation between the country’s Sunni and Shiite Muslims, have fueled resentment in Sunni Muslim areas that were most affected by the war, and where IS cells are believed to operate.

Millions of Iraqis have not been able to return to their homes, including hundreds of thousands still living in displaced persons camps.

Iraq’s military and the PMF have been using the predominantly Sunni Anbar province as a base of operations against IS in the country’s western desert and for air operations against the group in neighboring Syria.

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Iran Intelligence Chief Acknowledges Having Israeli Spy

TEHRAN, IRAN — 

Iran's intelligence minister has boasted on state television about his country's successful recruitment of a former Cabinet-level official from a “hostile” country, signaling Tehran's first acknowledgment of compromising an arrested Israeli official.

Speaking on state TV late Tuesday, Mahmoud Alavi claimed his agency had a “member of the Cabinet of a hostile country” in hand.

He did not name the country or individual, but said it showed “the counter-espionage sector of the Intelligence Ministry is one the most powerful among world's intelligence services.”

Alavi's language and recent events signal he's referring to Israel, one of Iran's Mideast archrivals.

In June, Israel imprisoned former government minister Gonen Segev. Israel's Shin Bet security agency accuses Segev of “committing offenses of assisting the enemy in war and spying against the state of Israel.”

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UN Rights Chief: Vowed US Cuts Wouldn't be 'Fatal' to Office

Britain Seeks Ways to Continue Trading with Iran

US Casts Doubt on Islamic State's Staying Power

Iraq Sending Team to US to Seek Deal on Transactions with Iran

BAGHDAD — 

Iraq will send a delegation to the United States seeking an agreement on financial transactions with Iran following Washington's reimposition of sanctions on Tehran, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Tuesday.

His statement was the first by an Iraqi official since Reuters reported last week that Baghdad was going to ask Washington for exemptions from some of the sanctions because Iraq's economy is closely linked with neighboring Iran.

"We have requests for the American side, we have presented them and a delegation will go to negotiate within that framework," Abadi told a weekly news conference.

"We have presented a clear vision of what Iraq really needs. This includes Iranian [natural] gas, which is very important, as well as other trade and the electricity sector."

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States in May from world powers' 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, calling it flawed, and reimposed trade sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The Trump administration has warned of consequences for countries including European allies that co-signed the nuclear accord, that do not respect the new sanctions. Baghdad is in a difficult position — its two biggest allies are the United States and Iran, themselves arch-adversaries.

"We have had good promises initially, but as you know the American situation is complicated; you do not deal with one person, there are several institutions," Abadi said.

He called the sanctions "unilateral" and "oppressive," adding that Iraq would not be "part of a blockade" due to its own painful experience with international sanctions during the era of Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi government and central bank officials said the delegation would travel to Washington to ask for exemptions in applying the sanctions. They did not say when that trip would take place.

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US to Continue Backing Saudi Coalition in Yemen War

US Says Airstrike Kills Islamic State Militant in Libya

BENGHAZI, LIBYA — 

A U.S. airstrike killed a suspected Islamic State militant in Libya on Tuesday, the U.S. Africa Command said.

The strike into the northwestern town of Bani Walid was carried out in coordination with the U.N.-backed government based in Tripoli, it said in a statement.

It did not name what it called an "ISIS-Libya terrorist" but residents identified him as Walid Bu Hariba who hails from the central city of Sirte where Islamic State had its main base in the anarchic North African country until 2016.

Residents had earlier reported an airstrike on a car in Bani Walid in which an Islamic State militant had been traveling. Photos on social media showed a white pickup truck purportedly hit by a projectile.

Some militants have sought to regroup in Libya's vast desert and in towns such as Bani Walid, located some 150 km (93 miles) south of the capital Tripoli.

In June, the United States said it had conducted two precision airstrikes near Bani Walid, killing four Islamic State militants and an al-Qaida fighter.

The United States gave air support to Libyan forces that drove Islamic State from Sirte in 2016, and has continued to launch occasional strikes on suspected militants in Libya since the end of that campaign.

The Tripoli administration exercises little control in the OPEC member country, which has been plagued by turmoil since rebels overthrew Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

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US Envoy Haley Questions Palestinian Refugee Numbers

Egypt's al-Azhar Calls for Harsh Penalties for Sexual Harassment

CAIRO — 

Egypt’s top Sunni Muslim authority has called for strong penalties against perpetrators of sexual harassment, following a recent increase in reports.

Several incidents, apparently recorded by victims or bystanders during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday last week and posted on social media, left many Egyptians in shock.

One showed a brawl in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria where a 40-year-old man was stabbed to death when he tried to fend off another man harassing his wife.

Local media said the unidentified 39-year-old attacker was in custody.

In another social media post, a crowd of young men in the Nile delta city of Damanhour fought off a motorbike rider as he tried to rescue three women being mobbed on a public street.

The authenticity of the recordings could not be independently verified, but some local media had reported on them.

In a statement first issued on Monday, al-Azhar said sexual harassment in any form was deviant behavior, and rejected any attempt to blame the way some women dress or behave.

“Al-Azhar has closely followed up the reports of sexual harassment incidents recently circulated by the mass media outlets and social media networks including harassers’ violent attacks on those trying to save women,” the statement, also issued in English on Tuesday, said.

“Al-Azhar asserts that criminalizing harassment and those who commit harassment must be absolute and without any condition or context,” it added.

The statement rejected any attempt to blame women for sexual harassment, saying abuse “violates women’s privacy, freedom and human dignity”.

Al-Azhar demanded the activation of all laws that punish sexual abuse and called for efforts to raise social awareness.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi ordered a crackdown on sexual harassment after he was elected for his first term in office in 2014, following an incident in which seven men were arrested for attacking women near Cairo’s Tahrir Square during his inauguration celebrations,

Earlier this year, an Egyptian court jailed a Lebanese woman for eight years for insulting Egypt and Egyptians after she posted a video on Facebook complaining of sexual harassment.

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US Insists Re-Imposition of Iran Sanctions Legal

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS — 

The United States on Tuesday defended its re-imposition of sanctions against Iran as a legal and justified national security measure that cannot be challenged by Tehran at the United Nations' highest court.

U.S. State Department legal advisor Jennifer Newstead urged judges at the International Court of Justice to reject an urgent request by Iran to order the suspension of sanctions re-imposed by President Donald Trump in May.

”The United States does intend, lawfully and for good reason, to bring heavy pressure to bear on the Iranian leadership to change their ways,” Newstead told judges in the court's wood-paneled Great Hall of Justice. “We do this in the interests of U.S. national security as well as in pursuit of a more peaceful Middle East and a more peaceful world.”

Iran filed a case with the court in July challenging the re-imposition. Tehran alleges that the move breaches a 1955 bilateral agreement known as the Treaty of Amity that regulates and promotes economic and consular ties between the two countries, which have been sworn enemies for decades.

Washington argues that Tehran is attempting to use the 1955 treaty as a pretext to bring before the court a dispute over the 2015 agreement that imposed restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in return for lifting most long-standing U.S. and international sanctions. The 2015 agreement does not include a clause referring disputes to the court in The Hague.

On Monday, Iranian representative Mohsen Mohebi told the court the U.S. sanctions are a clear breach of the 1955 treaty because they are “intended to damage, as severely as possible, Iran's economy.” He called Trump's sanctions policy “nothing but a naked economic aggression against my country.”

The 2015 deal came with time limits and did not address Iran's ballistic missile program or its regional policies in Syria and elsewhere. Trump called the accord the “worst deal ever” and backed out of it in May.

The U.S. decision to pull out was motivated by “an acute, long-standing and growing concern about the national security threat posed by Iran,” Newstead said. “The sanctions that the United States has re-introduced are lawful and appropriate in the face of Iran's activities, past, continuing and threatened.”

She stressed that the sanctions exclude humanitarian activities in Iran.

Iran's case challenging the legality of the re-imposition of sanctions is likely to take months or years to complete. The world court is holding hearings this week into Tehran's request to judges to urgently order a suspension of the sanctions while the underlying case is being heard.

A decision on the urgent request is likely to take weeks.

Rulings by the world court, which settles disputes between nations, are final and legally binding. However, it remains to be seen if the U.S. would abide by a court order to suspend sanctions on Iran.

The case in The Hague came as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani failed to convince parliament that his plans will pull the country out of an economic nosedive worsened by America's withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

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Iran Says Maintain Military Presence in Syria Despite US Pressure

LONDON — 

Iran will maintain its military presence in Syria despite U.S. pressure for its withdrawal, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday, revealing more details about a military cooperation deal that Tehran and Damascus signed this week.

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami visited Damascus on Saturday for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and senior military officials. He signed a deal for military cooperation in a meeting with his Syrian counterpart, but details of the accord were not revealed.

"The continued presence of Iranian [military] advisers in Syria was part of this military cooperation agreement between Tehran and Damascus," the state news agency IRNA quoted Tehran's military attache to Damascus, Abolqassem Alinejad, as saying.

"Iran will help Syria in clearing minefields in different parts of the country... Iran will help Syria to rebuild the military factories that were damaged in the war," Alinejad said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have sent weapons and thousands of soldiers to Syria to help shore up Assad during the seven-year-long civil war there.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton reiterated last week Washington's call for Iran to remove all its forces from Syria.

The United States has reimposed economic sanctions against Iran partly over its involvement in conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen as well as over its nuclear and missile programs.

Israel has also long called for its arch foe Iran to withdraw from its neighbor Syria. The Israeli air force has carried out scores of air strikes against Iran's allies there.

"The pact between Syria and Iran for rehabilitating the Assad army is an excuse and a facade meant to grant legitimacy to the Iranian forces remaining in the area," Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Ynet TV on Tuesday. "But as far as we are concerned, no machinations keeping the Iranians in the area will be acceptable."

A senior Israeli official said in an anonymous statement to reporters that Israel's military "will continue to act with full determination against attempts by Iran to transfer military forces and weapons systems to Syria."

Iran has repeatedly said its military presence in Syria is at the invitation of the Assad government and that it has no immediate plans to withdraw. More than 1,000 Iranians, including senior members of the elite Revolutionary Guards, have been killed in Syria since 2012.

The Guards initially kept quiet about their role in Syria.

But in recent years as casualties have mounted they have been more outspoken, framing their engagement as an existential struggle against Sunni Muslim fighters of Islamic State who see Shi’ites that form Iran's majority as apostates.

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Russia Reinforces Naval Forces in Mediterranean off Syrian Coast

MOSCOW — 

Russia has deployed several frigates to the Mediterranean via the Bosphorus, an analysis of shipping traffic showed, part of what a Russian newspaper on Tuesday called Moscow's largest naval buildup since it entered the Syrian conflict in 2015.

The reinforcement comes as Russia's ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is believed to be considering an assault on the last big rebel-held enclave, Idlib in the north.

Russia has accused the United States of building up its own forces in the Middle East in preparation for a possible strike on Syrian government forces.

On Saturday, the Admiral Grigorovich and Admiral Essen frigates sailed through Istanbul's Bosphorus towards the Mediterranean, Reuters pictures showed.

The day before, the Pytlivy frigate and landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov were pictured sailing through the Turkish straits that connect the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. The Vishny Volochek missile corvette passed through earlier this month.

The Izvestia newspaper said Russia had gathered its largest naval presence in the Mediterranean Sea since it intervened in Syria in 2015, turning the tide in Assad's favor.

The force included 10 vessels, most of them armed with long-range Kalibr cruise missiles, Izvestia wrote, adding that more were on the way, and that two submarines had also been deployed.

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Iran’s Zarif Draws Ire for Saying Iranians 'Chose' to Live with Pressures

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has drawn a social media backlash from Iranians for saying the pressures they face are a result of the life they have chosen to live.

Zarif made the comment while appearing Sunday on a live Iranian state television talk show. At one point during the program, show host Reza Rashidpour asked Zarif why Iran appears to face more global pressures than other nations.

“We have chosen to live in a different way [compared to other countries],” Zarif replied. “We do not want someone telling us how to live. We want to secure our people’s rights based on our laws. We want a system of government that we prefer.”

By late Monday, Iranian Twitter users posted at least 5,000 tweets with hashtags rejecting Zarif’s assertion that Iran “chose” to live as an Islamist theocracy that has pursued nuclear and other activities that have sparked international criticism and economic sanctions.

An analysis of internationally-trending hashtags using the online tool Trendsmap showed more than 1,000 tweets posted with the Farsi equivalent of the hashtag #I_didn’t_choose, and more than 4,000 tweets with the Farsi equivalent of #We_didn’t_choose.

Among those criticizing Iran’s top diplomat was a Farsi-speaking Twitter user with 24,000 followers who goes by the female name Sadaf.

In the tweet, she wrote, “We haven’t chosen that, Mr Zarif. Our parents and people like you decided for us some 40 years ago, and now they are very regretful. We, young (Iranians) are dreaming about having normal and friendly relations with the world.”

Iran-based journalist Amir Abbas Kalhor, using the “I didn’t choose” Farsi hashtag, responded to Zarif with a tweet saying, “Neither my parents chose you, nor myself and others in my generation, who have not had a referendum or free elections to decide [how we want to be governed].”

Iran’s Islamist leadership seized power in a 1979 revolution that ousted the nation’s ruling monarch, or shah, from power. Since then, Iran has been ruled by unelected clerics known as Supreme Leaders who preside over presidents and parliaments elected by the public from pools of candidates vetted by a Guardian Council of Islamist clerics and jurists.

In another part of Sunday’s talk show, host Rashidpour said Iran has seen little economic benefit from Europe for upholding a 2015 nuclear deal with European and other word powers. In May, U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from that deal that his predecessor had signed and called for a new one to permanently block Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a goal Tehran denies pursuing.

Zarif responded to Rashidpour’s comment by saying Iran chose to remain in the 2015 deal because doing so entailed the “least cost” to the Iranian people. “It was the hardest choice for us. We had much easier choices, but those choices would have cost the people more,” he said.

Trump reimposed some U.S. economic sanctions on Iran earlier this month as a result of his withdrawal from the 2015 deal. The cost to Iran of the U.S. pressure campaign is set to escalate significantly in November, when the United States has said it will reimpose sanctions on Iran’s central bank and oil exports, the country’s main revenue source.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Persian Service.

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Water Crisis Looms as Syria Military Conflict Winds Down

Experts: UAE, Saudis May Have Committed War Crimes in Yemen

Iran President Fails to Appease Lawmakers in Economic Crisis

TEHRAN — 

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani failed to convince parliament on Tuesday that his plans will pull the country out of an economic nosedive worsened by America's withdrawal from the nuclear deal, further isolating his relatively moderate administration amid nationwide anger.

For only the second time in its history, parliament ordered a sitting president to appear before it to answer questions, the last time coming amid widespread discontent in 2011 over Western sanctions during the government of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

While Rouhani warned that "painting a bleak picture of people's lives will lead to further darkness," lawmakers voted four separate times to say they were unconvinced of his answers about Iran's recession, its cratering currency, unemployment and smuggling. Those questions now could go to Iran's judiciary for further review, serving as a warning to the cleric his political stature is slipping.

"We have made mistakes," Rouhani acknowledged at one point.

Since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and subsequent takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, it has faced American sanctions. Those measures steadily increased as Western fears mounted over Iran's nuclear program, despite Tehran's repeated insistence it has never sought atomic weapons.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers, including the U.S. under President Barack Obama, Tehran agreed to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. That allowed banks to re-connect Iran's financial system to the world and brought foreign firms from airplane manufacturers to oil companies back into the country.

But in May, President Donald Trump pulled America from the accord. That only fanned the flames burning through the country's economy from chronic unemployment, high inflation and drastic drops in its currency. Those problems sparked nationwide protests in December and January across Iran, and another series of sporadic protests have erupted in recent weeks.

Lawmakers have fired Rouhani's labor and finance ministers this month amid the economic crisis.

Speaking Tuesday before parliament, Rouhani said those protests only strengthened Trump's hand to pull out of the atomic accord.

"This lured Trump into saying . that he will not remain in the deal," Rouhani said.

Lawmakers did, however, narrowly support Rouhani's answer regarding sanctions facing Iran's banks.

Rouhani also made a cryptic remark that Iran has a ``third way'' to deal with the ongoing crisis other than simply abandoning or staying in the nuclear deal. He did not elaborate, but said he mentioned the idea to French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.

In a speech Monday, Macron mentioned that he had spoken to Rouhani and said France, in coordination with Britain, Germany and the EU, will keep working on "preserving" the deal.

Rouhani's growing political weakness has been a boon to hard-liners within Iran's Shiite theocracy. Those pressures have only been growing.

A demonstration last week saw hard-line clerics waving a placard calling Rouhani's negotiations with the West his "swimming pool." That's a reference to long-swirling rumors surrounding the death of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a political godfather to Rouhani whose body was found in a swimming pool.

"If I am threatened with assassination, I'm OK with it. I don't think of it as a big deal," Rouhani said. "We all know that it is our dream to be killed in the path of God."

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As Syria's War Winds Down, Water Shortages Pose New Threat

Seven years after civil war erupted, it appears Syria is beginning to emerge from a dark period of death and destruction. While some signs are pointing towards a slow recovery, there are fears that a crisis over water is looming and could set off conflicts in the future. The lands along the Euphrates River - long known as the Fertile Crescent – have been hit by water shortages, drought, and poor crop yields.

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Merkel, Trump Share Concerns About Syrian Developments

Mystical Sufi Dancing Rituals Return to Mosul After IS

Turkey: US Trade Sanctions Could Destabilize Region

Iraqi President to Convene New Parliament on Sept. 3

BAGHDAD — 

Iraq’s new parliament will convene on Sept. 3, according to a decree issued on Monday by President Fuad Masum, preparing the way for lawmakers to elect a new government to start rebuilding the country after a three-year war with Islamic State.

Iraqis voted in May in their first parliamentary election since the defeat of Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate, but a contentious recount process delayed the announcement of final results until earlier this month.

Uncertainty over the make-up of the new government has raised tensions at a time when public impatience is growing over poor basic services, high unemployment and the slow pace of rebuilding after the war with Islamic State.

“The president has held several substantive talks with all political groups, urging them to finalize their political agreements in order to meet constitutional provisions,” Masum’s office said in a statement.

The Federal Supreme Court ratified the election results on Aug. 19 and Masum had 15 days to call the new parliament into session, the first step in a 90-day process outlined in the constitution that will eventually lead to a new government.

Lawmakers will elect a parliamentary speaker and two deputies in their first session. They will later elect a new president and task the leader of the largest bloc to form a government as prime minister.

The recount delayed the process by three months yet showed little had changed from the initial results, with populist Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr retaining his lead.

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Qatar to Expand Air Base Hosting Major US Military Facility

DOHA — 

Qatar will expand two air bases including Udeid, which hosts the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East, a senior military official said on Monday amid a year-long dispute between the tiny Gulf Arab state and its neighbors.

The development will help accommodate new aircrafts and systems introduced to the air force service including French Rafale fighter jets, American F-15 fighter jets and Eurofighter Typhoon jets, Deputy Commander of the Amiri Air Force Major-General (Pilot) Ahmed Ibrahim Al Malki said in comments published by the official state news agency QNA.

The other development will take place at Doha Air Base. Malki did not provide details about the projects' expected cost or timeframe.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Doha denies that charge and says the boycott is an attempt to impinge on its sovereignty.

Doha has used the wealth it has accumulated as the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas to defy some of the largest and wealthiest Arab countries. It has repeatedly called for dialogue with its neighbors, although it has strengthened its military as relations with them have deteriorated.

Last December, Qatar entered into a 5 billion pound ($6.38 billion) contract with British defence group BAE Systems for the purchase of 24 Typhoon combat aircraft and a $6.2 billion deal with Boeing Co for 36 F-15 aircraft. It also agreed to buy 12 additional Dassault Aviation-made Rafale fighters with an option for 36 more.

The Gulf dispute has eluded mediation efforts by the United States, which has military bases in both Qatar and some of the countries lined up against it — including Udeid, from which U.S.-led coalition aircraft stage sorties against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Nonetheless, Qatari forces participated in joint military exercises in Saudi Arabia in April in an apparent sign of some compromise between the adversaries.

U.S. President Donald Trump publicly sided with the Saudis and Emiratis early in the crisis but then began pushing for a resolution to restore Gulf unity and maintain a united front against Iran.

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Egyptian Movement Calls for Release of Opposition Figures

CAIRO — 

A coalition of secular and leftist Egyptian groups on Monday slammed the arrests of opposition figures and called for the release of all such prisoners not convicted of violent offenses.

Masoum Marzouk, a former ambassador, and six other activists were arrested on Thursday and detained for 15 days pending investigation on charges of joining a terrorist group and receiving funds for terrorism. He had recently called for a referendum on President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s rule, in rare public criticism of the former general.

The Civil Democratic Movement (CDM) said in a statement read out by its spokesman, Yehia Hussain, at a news conference that the group “rejects such police tactics in dealing with political opponents”.

“The recent campaign of arrests ... is part of a systematic policy followed by the regime to silence any voice that opposes its oppressive policies that are hostile to freedoms,” the statement said.

The statement said such policies were a “cover-up for its economic and social failures by constantly claiming that there are conspiracies that are being woven in the dark against the country”.

Egyptian authorities have jailed thousands of opponents in recent years, most of them suspected Islamists, but some secular activists and journalists. The government has said its actions are directed at terrorists and saboteurs trying to undermine the state.

Sissi was elected president in 2014, a year after the military, led by him, ousted Egypt's first freely elected civilian president Mohamed Morsi following mass protests against his rule.

The CDM, founded in December, includes eight secular and left-leaning parties and 150 prominent activists and political figures. It called for a boycott of the presidential election in March after all major opposition campaigns withdrew on the grounds of intimidation.

Former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, a member of the movement who ran in the 2012 and 2014 elections, called the government a “failed regime”.

“This regime must be changed,” he said. “This authority is a failure. This authority is repressive ... an authority of corruption, tyranny and repression is an oppressive regime,” he told the news conference.

Fareed Zahran, head of the Egyptian Democratic Social Party, said the target of the call for regime change was not Sissi, but rules and regulations that shackle freedoms.

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EU Disagrees with Russia that Syrian Refugees Can Go Back

BRUSSELS — 

The European Union does not believe Syria is safe for refugees to go back, officials in Brussels said of a Russian push to have people return to the war-torn country and the international community to spend money on rebuilding it.

The bloc’s foreign ministers will discuss the matter in Austria later this week.

EU officials expect the bloc to stick to its line that it would not offer reconstruction money for as long as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — propped back to power by Russian and Iranian militaries — does not let the opposition share power.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said before talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this month that everything needed to be done for Syria refugees to return. “But the conditions are just not there. Russia would want us to pay for it but Syria under Assad is not safe,” said one EU official.

The EU has backed Syrian opposition groups in the multi-faceted war that has raged for more than seven years, largely because global and regional powers disagree on how to end it.

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Turkey Cracks Down on Mothers of Missing Dissidents

Iran Asks UN's Highest Court to Suspend US Sanctions

In Familiar Dance, Turkey Warms to Russia As US Ties Unravel

ISTANBUL, TURKEY — 

Relations between Turkey and Russia are cozy, prompting worries in the West of a potentially critical rift in the NATO alliance. But Turkey's president may be engaged in a balancing act, tactically turning to Russia as ties with the United States further deteriorate over the detention of an American pastor.

President Donald Trump tweeted this month that U.S.-Turkey relations “are not good at this time!” and announced tariff hikes on the NATO ally, precipitating a nosedive in the Turkish currency. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on the phone with Russia's Vladimir Putin that same afternoon, when they promised more cooperation in the areas of defense, energy and trade.

Switching partners is becoming a familiar dance for Turkey, which is strategically situated between Asia and Europe and often caught in the geopolitical push and pull of the turbulent Mideast region. Despite his country's economic vulnerability, Erdogan seemed to be signaling that it had alternatives to the traditional alliances that date from its Cold War role as a regional bulwark against Soviet power.

In Turkey's view, “the U.S. has become even more threatening than Russia” due to strains over critical issues, Sener Akturk, an associate professor of international relations at Koc University in Istanbul, said. The perceived threat makes the U.S. “an ally that has to be paradoxically kept at arm's length and even balanced against with Russian cooperation.”

Points of contention between the U.S. and Turkey include American military support for Kurdish fighters in Syria who are considered terrorists by Turkey; Turkish appeals to the U.S. to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric Turkey accuses of plotting a failed 2016 coup; and American pastor Andrew Brunson, who is being prosecuted in Turkey on terror-related charges.

A lever in Turkey's diplomatic maneuvering is its pledge to buy a Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system, with deliveries starting next year. U.S. and NATO officials say the Russian system conflicts with NATO equipment and would lead to security breaches.

Trump signed a defense bill this month that would delay delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. Separately, the U.S. president has criticized NATO allies, saying they should pay more for their defense and rely less on American support.

Koc University's Akturk said the missile deal with Russia makes sense since Western allies have sometimes suspended military deals with Turkey because of political disputes and concerns about the country's human rights record.

Meanwhile, Russia and Turkey have come a long way in restoring their rapport since the Turkish military shot down a Russian military jet in 2015 along the Turkish-Syrian border.

Erdogan and Putin have met at least 11 times since August 2016. Outgrowths of the frequent contact between the two regional powers include the resumption of a deal for a natural gas pipeline through Turkey and Russian plans to build a nuclear power plant in Turkey.

The rapprochement “demonstrates a striking level of pragmatism in this relationship,” Anna Arutunyan, a Moscow-based senior analyst for the International Crisis Group, said.

“The prospect of a friendly NATO member is very valuable for Moscow” as it aims to bolster its influence in the Middle East, Arutunyan said. “Turkey is a good avenue to do that. Syria has been a good avenue to do that.”

Russia, along with Iran, supports Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country's long war. Turkey backs some groups fighting Assad. Despite their support for opposing sides, the two countries are working together.

Turkey has dropped its insistence on the immediate departure of the Syrian president, while Russia has allowed Turkey to conduct cross-border operations against Kurdish militants in Syria. Turkey has also asked Russia to restrain Assad from launching an all-out offensive against the last major rebel stronghold in Idlib province, on the border with Turkey.

“Russia and Turkey, within the Syrian context, need each other, and the relationship is far more robust,” said Aaron Stein, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Atlantic Council. But he thinks Russia holds the upper hand, using the reconciliation to have Turkey bring the rebels under regime control.

Even if Putin and Erdogan find accommodation in Syria, their interests diverge further north in the Black Sea, a theater for conflicts since Russian and Ottoman imperial days. Russia's war with Georgia a decade ago, its 2014 annexation of Crimea and ongoing military intervention in Ukraine have challenged Turkish influence and position in the Black Sea.

Russia's moves prompted Erdogan to warn NATO in 2016 that the Black Sea, dubbed the “Turkish lake” under the Ottomans, was turning into a “Russian lake.” NATO now maintains a “tailored forward presence” with increased land, air and naval capabilities.

“Russia's expansion makes the NATO alliance more and more significant for Turkey in the Black Sea,” the Crisis Group said in a June report, noting that Ankara has reversed a decades-long policy of keeping the Western military alliance out of the region.

Turkey's position on the Black Sea points to what Akturk described as co-existing “a la carte alliances,” in which the Turkish government moves between Russia and the West depending on what's at stake.

That makes it hard to know if Turkey's pivot toward Moscow will last in a region of shifting allegiances and periodic crises. But it's a remarkable turnaround in the three years since Putin described the downing of the Russian jet as a “stab in the back.”

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Turkey's Erdogan Says Will Bring Safety and Peace to Syria, Iraq

Turkey's Erdogan says will bring safety and peace to Syria, Iraq

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Sunday to bring peace and safety to Iraq and areas in Syria not under Turkish control and said terrorist organizations in those areas would be eliminated.

Turkey, which has backed some rebel groups in Syria, has been working with Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al Assad, and Iran for a political resolution to the crisis.

It has so far carried out two cross-border operations along its border with Syria and set up a dozen military observations posts in the northern Syrian region of Idlib.

The rebel-held Idlib enclave is a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria as well as for powerful jihadist forces, but has been hit by a wave of air strikes and shelling this month.

The attacks posed a possible prelude to a full-scale Syrian government offensive, which Turkey has said would be disastrous.

Speaking in the southeastern province of Mus to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Manzikert of 1071, Erdogan vowed to bring peace and safety to Syria and Iraq.

“It is not for nothing that the only places in Syria where security and peace have been established are under Turkey’s control. God willing, we will establish the same peace in other parts of Syria too. God willing, we will bring the same peace to Iraq, where terrorist organizations are active,” he said.

Erdogan also linked regional conflicts and an ongoing currency crisis in Turkey, which he has cast as an “economic war”, to previous attempts to invade Anatolia, warning that the this would lead to the collapse of surrounding regions.

“Those who seek temporary reasons behind the troubles we have been facing recently are wrong, very wrong. The attacks we face today... are rooted in history,” he said.

“Don’t forget, Anatolia is a wall and if this wall collapses, there will no longer be a Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Balkans or Caucasus.”

Turkey’s lira has tumbled nearly 40 percent this year as investor concerns over Erdogan’s grip on monetary policy and a growing dispute with the United States put pressure on the currency.

Ankara has accused Washington of targeting Turkey over the fate of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor being tried in Turkey on terrorism charges that he denies.

“Some careless people among us think this is about Tayyip Erdogan or the AK Party. No, this is about Turkey,” Erdogan said.

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British-Iranian Woman Returns to Prison After Temporary Release

Three days after she was given a temporary release, a British-Iranian woman returned to prison in Tehran Sunday after authorities there refused to extend the furlough.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, has been jailed since early 2016 following her arrest at the Tehran airport as she tried to return to Britain with her daughter following a family visit. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was born in Iran, is married to a British man and has dual British and Iranian citizenship. She was given a five year sentence for "plotting to topple the Iranian regime."

Last week she received a three day release "to reunite with her family," according to a tweet from Iran's ambassador to Britain, Hamid Baeidinejad.

Family members and supporters hoped that the furlough would be extended or even made permanent, but her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, said Sunday that after mixed messages from Iranian authorities as to whether Zaghari-Ratcliffe could remain free longer, she returned to Evin prison. Ratcliffe said his wife went back to prison voluntarily to avoid having their daughter, who is living with relatives in Iran, see her "dragged out of bed in the middle of the night."

Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, tweeted that he had spoken to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif last week in an effort to win Zaghari-Ratcliffe's freedom "but that clearly wasn't enough."

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Iran Defense Minister in Damascus, says Will Help Rebuild Syria

DAMASCUS — 

Iran's top defense official met Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and its defense minister on Sunday in Damascus, hailing their strong ties and pledging to contribute to the war-torn country's reconstruction.

Tehran has provided steady political, financial, and military backing to Assad as he has fought back a seven-year uprising.

On Sunday, Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami arrived in Syria and met with his Syrian counterpart Abdullah Ayoub, then with Assad.

"Syria is in a very, very important juncture. It is passing through the critical stage and it is entering the very important stage of reconstruction," said Hatami, in comments carried by Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.

He said it was agreed with Syria that Iran would have "presence, participation and assistance" in reconstruction "and no third party will be influential in this issue."

Since it erupted in 2011, Syria's war has cost it approximately $388 billion (334 billion euros), according to the United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

Assad last month said reconstruction was his "top priority" in Syria, where more than 350,000 people have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes.

World powers who long called for his ouster insist reconstruction aid should only come with political transition, but fellow regime ally Russia is pressing them to provide support.

According to comments carried by state media, Assad told Hatami that Damascus and Tehran should set "long-term cooperation plans."

Minister Ayoub also championed the two countries' special relationship on Sunday.

"Syrian-Iranian relations are a model for bilateral ties between independent and sovereign nations," Ayoub said.

The two countries have had strong ties for years. Iran has dispatched military forces to Syria but insists they are advisors, not fighters.

Iran-backed militias, including the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah movement, have also backed Assad's troops.

With help from them and Russian warplanes, Assad has recaptured around two-thirds of the country and is now eyeing the northwest province of Idlib.

"Idlib will return to the nation's bosom, and all Syrian soil will be cleansed of terrorism, either through reconciliation or ground operations," Ayoub said on Sunday.

He also slammed the United States, which has established military bases in Syria to fight the Islamic State group.

"The Americans are looking for a way to stay east of the Euphrates River to lock in their presence in this region," said Ayoub.

The comments came a day after a senior US diplomat, ambassador William Roebuck, visited territory around those bases and said the US was "prepared to stay" in Syria to defeat IS, but was also "focused" on ousting Iran.

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Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Egypt's Sinai Attack

CAIRO — 

Islamic State on Sunday claimed responsibility for an attack on an Egyptian police checkpoint in northern Sinai, the group's Amaq news agency reported, saying 15 soldiers were killed or wounded in what it described as an infiltration operation.

Egypt's state news agency MENA said on Saturday that security forces foiled an attack on a checkpoint west of the city of al-Arish, and killed four militants while other fled.

MENA made no reference to any casualties among security forces in the attack, but the privately owned al-Masri al-Youm newspaper reported that four policemen had died.

Egyptian troops, backed by police, have since February been conducting a major operation targeting Islamist militants behind a wave of attacks against security forces and civilians.

Hundreds of suspected militants have been killed or captured in the operation.

Amaq said Islamic State militants targeted the Kilometer 17 checkpoint west of al-Arish, without giving any evidence or details on how many were involved.

MENA, citing an unnamed source, said Egyptian police confronted the militants who tried to storm the checkpoint, killing four of them while the rest fled.

The Egyptian army military campaign began after President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi ordered the army and security forces to crush militants after gunmen killed hundreds of worshipers at a mosque in Sinai last November. Egypt says fighting Islamist militants is a priority to restore security to the country of some 96 million people after years of turmoil that followed Arab Spring protests in 2011.

Sissi's critics say his presidency has brought a harsh crackdown on dissent.

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Iranian Parliament Removes Finance Minister From Office

Iran's parliament sacked the minister of economic affairs and finance on Sunday, state media said, amid a sharp fall in the rial currency and a deterioration in the economic situation.

The Iranian economy is dogged by high unemployment and the rial has lost half its value since April. The United States reimposed some sanctions in early August and a second set targeting Iran's oil industry is due to take effect in November.

The head of the elite Revolutionary Guards said Iran faced "unique" challenges and the foreign minister accused the United States of waging "psychological war" on his country.

The Iranian parliament backed the removal from office of Masoud Karbasian, minister of finance and economic affairs, by 137 votes to 121 against, state media said.

The sacking was the latest in a continuing shakeup of top economic personnel. In early August Iranian lawmakers voted out the minister of labor and last month President Hassan Rouhani replaced the head of the central bank.

The U.S. sanctions, reimposed after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 international deal aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear program, have exacerbated an already difficult economic situation in Iran.

"[America's] focus is on a psychological war against Iran and its business partners," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday, according to the Tasnim news agency.

"From the time that Trump announced the withdrawal from the nuclear deal, America has not been able to reach its goals," Zarif added, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA).

‘Complicated and sensitive’ situation

Other parties to the 2015 accord — China, Russia, Germany, Britain and France — are trying to salvage the deal, which lifted some economic sanctions against Iran in return for curbs on Tehran's nuclear program. But their companies now face the risk of U.S. penalties if they do business with Iran.

Washington also wants Tehran to end its support for militant groups in Syria and Iraq.

Protests linked to the tough economic situation in Iran began last December, spreading to more than 80 cities and towns and resulting in 25 deaths.

Sporadic protests, led by truck drivers, farmers and merchants in Tehran’s bazaar, have continued regularly since then and have occasionally resulted in violent confrontations with security forces.

The head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Major General Ali Jafari said on Sunday Iran was facing a "unique, complicated and sensitive" situation, with both external and internal threats to its security, Tasnim reported.

The U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal has undermined Rouhani, a relative pragmatist, and emboldened his hardline opponents who always opposed any compromises with Washington.

Zarif appeared to offer guarded criticism of Rouhani's opponents.

"There are some in the country who, instead of laying the groundwork for using the opportunities presented by the nuclear deal, chose a political fight," Zarif said, according to ISNA. "And this political fight led to despair and disappointment."

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Egypt: No Poison Gas Leak Behind 2 Britons’ Deaths

CAIRO — 

Egypt’s top prosecutor dismissed speculation that the death of two British tourists in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada was caused by poisonous gas emissions in their hotel room, as the hotel attributed their deaths to “natural causes.”

An inspection by the prosecutor’s technical team of John and Susan Cooper’s room found that there were no toxic or harmful gas emissions or leaks, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. All devices in the room were “functioning efficiently without any defects,” it added.

The prosecutor’s office is awaiting a forensic analysis of samples taken from the bodies to provide more details about the incident, it said. The statement came after the couple’s daughter, Kelly Ormerod, told Sky News that “something suspicious has gone on,” especially since her parents had not complained of any health problems before going on the holiday.

Guests evacuated

The Cooper couple’s deaths prompted tour operator Thomas Cook to evacuate its 301 customers, of various nationalities, from the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel as a “precautionary measure.” The company said the circumstances surrounding their deaths are “unclear” and that it received reports of “a raised level of illness among guests.”

In a statement Saturday, however, the hotel denied this, saying the couple’s death was the result of “natural causes.”

“There are no indications to support allegations of an increased incidence of illness at the hotel. Such rash speculations should urgently be put aside out of respect for the family members of the deceased persons and for other guests,” the hotel said in an email to The Associated Press.

Also Saturday, Thomas Cook said about 100 Britons, roughly half of the U.K. guests they had staying at the hotel at the time, had returned home. The rest had opted to move to another hotel, the operator added.

Criminal motives dismissed

Egyptian authorities dismissed criminal motives as being behind the deaths. An official statement by the Red Sea governorate Friday said an initial medical examination of John Cooper showed he had suffered acute circulatory collapse and a sudden cardiac arrest. It also said Susan Cooper was later rushed to hospital after fainting and underwent resuscitation attempts for 30 minutes but died.

Speculation over the couple’s death swirled in the media Friday, with some suggesting that carbon monoxide poisoning may have been the cause. A later statement by Thomas Cook said that while the company was aware of the speculation, there was “no evidence to support this.”

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Iraqi Kurdistan Gets First All-Femal-Run Newspaper

Is 2018 the Year of the Woman? A small newspaper in the Garmiyan region of Iraqi Kurdistan, seems to think so. The monthly newspaper Nawzhin, which focuses on women's issues, success stories and the challenges women face, is Iraqi-Kurdistan's first all-female-run newspaper. It employs 20 young women, but in a conservative country the fledgling newspaper is facing its own challenges. VOA’s Rebaz Majeed recently visited the 2-year-old newspaper and filed this report narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.

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Report: Quake Strikes Iran; 1 Dead, 58 Injured

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck near the Iranian city of Kermanshah, killing one and wounding 58, the Tasnim news agency reported Sunday.

The casualties were in the city of Tazehabad, northeast of Kermanshah, according to Tasnim.

Two aftershocks above 3.0 on the Richter scale were also recorded, according to the Tasnim news agency.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported that a shallow, magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck about 55 miles (88 km) west-northwest of Kermanshah.

The quake was felt as far away as Baghdad, according to Iraqi state television, which also said there were no injuries recorded.

Last November, a 7.3 magnitude quake struck villages and towns in Kermanshah province along the mountainous border with Iraq, killing at least 530 people and injuring thousands of others. It was Iran’s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade.

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Palestinians: US Cut Aid to Bring End to Jerusalem Claim

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman said Saturday that the U.S. decision to cut more than $200 million in aid is meant to force the Palestinians to abandon their claim to Jerusalem.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh told The Associated Press the move is part of continuing political and financial pressure on the Palestinian leadership. He said the Americans must be fully aware that there will be no peace without east Jerusalem as capital of a Palestinian state.

The Palestinians were outraged by President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and his moving of the U.S embassy there in May.

The Trump administration says it's cutting bilateral aid to the Palestinians after a review of funding for projects in the West Bank and Gaza and will redirect the money to "high priority projects elsewhere.''

The State Department notified Congress of the decision in a brief, three-paragraph notice sent first to lawmakers and then to reporters on Friday. The move comes as Trump and his Middle East pointmen, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, staff up their office to prepare for the rollout of a much-vaunted but as yet unclear peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians.

One main issue the U.S. has had with support for the Palestinian Authority had been the stipends paid to the families of Palestinians killed, injured or jailed for attacks on Israel. Israel and the Trump administration, have repeatedly demanded that those payments from a so-called ``martyrs' fund'' be halted because they encourage terrorism. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to do so.

However, several former U.S. officials said that cutting back aid money to the Palestinians would only strengthen Abbas' more radical rivals in the militant Hamas movement that rules Gaza.

"The U.S. is ceding space to Hamas in Gaza," tweeted Dave Harden, until recently the USAID director in the Palestinian territories. "No security professional recommends an aid cut off in Gaza. None."

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