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Jared Kushner mocked for wearing flak jacket and blazer in Iraq - New York Daily News
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the terror organization carried out the mass killing in the the al-Mayadin desert near the strategic city of Deir Ezzor on Wednesday morning, it said, adding that its activists were "able to monitor" the incident.
The London-based monitoring group called it "the largest execution operation carried out by the Islamic State organization in 2017."
The report said the people were between ages 18 and 25 and were "killed by sharp tools." It added that it is unknown whether the victims were Syrian government forces, allied militia or rebel factions.
The report came as ISIS killed at least 22 people in the Iraqi city of Tikrit, also on Wednesday.
ISIS gunmen indiscriminately opened fire on police and civilians in the central Iraqi city before they blew themselves up, police officials told CNN. At least 31 other people were wounded in the attack.
Several ISIS suicide bombers dressed in military uniforms attacked police checkpoints and police patrols in a busy commercial street in the city, police officials said.
ISIS claimed responsibility in a statement released on Twitter and tweeted by several ISIS supporters.
Tikrit, the birthplace of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, was recaptured by Iraqi troops from ISIS in March 2015.
The jihadist group, which controlled swathes of Syria and Iraq since a blitzkrieg across the two countries in 2014, has steadily been losing ground thanks to concerted efforts by troops, and militia in both countries.
Nearly three years since the group's elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS is reeling from losses across its so-called "caliphate."
Over the last six months, ISIS has seen its finances slashed, media operations crippled and several high-ranking leaders killed or captured.
It is fast losing its grip on Mosul, its biggest hub in Iraq, and its de-facto capital in Syria -- Raqqa -- is all but surrounded.
In Iraq, government troops, supported by Shia and Kurdish militia, have been making good progress in liberating Mosul from ISIS, which it has held since 2014.
And in Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces -- an alliance of Kurds and Arab tribes -- are approaching the outskirts of Raqqa.
CNN's Natalie Gallon and Tim Lister contributed to this report.
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ISIS kills 33 execution-style in Syria; 22 people in Iraq attack - CNN
HIGHLIGHTS:
76,175 Refugee Children are aged 3-17years. Of these, 55,380 are 6-17 years. 29,712 are so far enrolled in formal education and 1,292 in informal education.
55,380 Syrian school aged refugee children (6-17 years) are residing in Iraq, 98% in the KRI. 31,714 are spread into urban, peri-urban and rural communities, while 23,666 are in camps across the KRI. Of these 29,172 children enrolled in formal both in primary and secondary education as of January 2017 in camps and noncamp settings across the Iraq.
NEEDS ANALYSIS:
The ongoing financial crisis of the KRI Government has limited the assistance that the Ministry of Education (KRI) can provide to refugee students in Iraq.
One of the main barriers for refugee education is that despite the increases in enrolment rates of Syrian refugee children, the number of teachers has reportedly not increased. Many existing schools are unable to establish multiple shifts and do not have the capacity to absorb more students. Additional barriers include financial situation of Syrian refugee families, the language of instruction, and lack of textbooks. Limited engagement of youth, majority of them are out of school or unemployed, there are limited vocational training options particularly for girls.
As per recent study conducted by UNHRC, 28% of the Refugee children remain out of school, %51% of these are boys. Factors such as child labour, child marriages, being over age among others are contributing to out of school children.
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Iraq: 3RP Monthly Update - January 2017: Education - Iraq | ReliefWeb - ReliefWeb
Tripoli - Four suspected migrant traffickers were killed in an exchange of fire with Libyan coastguards off the western town of Zawiya on Thursday, the navy said.
Navy spokesperson General Ayoub Qassem told AFP that the traffickers were on a vessel escorting a migrant boat headed across the Mediterranean to Europe.
The coastguards opened fire after coming under attack, said Qassem.
Four of the group, armed with automatic weapons and rocket launchers, were killed, two arrested and one went missing, the spokesperson said.
The migrants' boat had left the scene without being hit.
"The coastguards tried to avoid the confrontation and called on the armed group to follow their orders, but in vain," Qassem said.
People smugglers have exploited the chaos gripping Libya since its 2011 uprising that overthrew longtime dictator Moammar Qaddafi.
Smuggling is big business for gangs who cram migrants into boats that are small and unsafe for the perilous journey to Italy just 300km from western Libya.
In the absence of an army or a regular police force in Libya, several militias act as coastguards but are often accused of complicity or involvement in the lucrative trade.
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4 suspected people smugglers killed off Libya - News24
Editor's Note: This piece originally appeared on Order from Chaos.
Recent developments in Libya make it hard to be optimistic about the survival of the country as a unified and stable state. The smuggling of migrantscomparable in some ways to the slave trade of the 17th and 18th centurieshas skyrocketed, setting off worrisome alarms throughout the Mediterranean region. This is compounded by the situation in Libya itself, which appears to exist in a permanent state of anarchy characterized by fighting between militias, gangs, and tribes. The recent clashes around the oil terminals in the Gulf of Sidra are just an example of this state of instability and lawlessness.
What Libya is missing today is strong and determined leadership, empowered by a wide democratic mandate and with an inclusive policy program that could tackle the rapid deterioration of the country. There has been considerable speculation over whether Western countries will stop supporting the U.N.-backed Presidential Council (PC) in Tripoli and switch their allegiance to the eastern strongman General Khalifa Haftar. Some are of the opinion that Haftar would be the right person to keep the country united and guarantee a modicum of stabilityhence allowing the migration and terrorism challenges to be addressed.
But this would be the wrong choice. No one in Libya today has the strength to reach a military victory or rule the whole country, and the fight alone would cause permanent damage to Libyas social fabric, threatening a continuation of guerrilla warfare and terrorism. There is no alternative to a negotiated solution. The challenge is reaching a sustainable one.
Italy: A Good apple among Many Bad
Libya has increasingly become a proxy war among foreign actors. A united international front is therefore essential to the success of Libyan negotiations over the countrys future. But international actions have recently tended to generate more negative reactions than positive ones.
Take Italy. Italy has supported the U.N.-led negotiations and the resulting Presidential Council (PC) from the start. But some in Libya have labeled its support neo-colonialism. In January, Italy became the first Western country to announce the reopening of its embassy in Tripoli, a risky move that, nevertheless, sent a strong signal of support for the government of PC president Fayez Serraj. In an earlier sign of goodwill in 2016, Italy sent a mission to Misrata to install a field hospital to treat wounded soldiers fighting the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) in Sirte. Considering the insufficiency of the medical infrastructure in Libya, this was an important gesture.
However, some Libyan actors have criticized Italys involvement. The Italian government offered to install a field hospital for Haftars Libyan National Army, but this offer was brusquely rejected. Khalifa Gwell, the head of the so-called Government of National Salvation, an illegitimate institution that allegedly governed the Western part of the country from 2014 to 2016, abruptly told the Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in January to withdraw his troops from Misrata because of Italys colonial history of fascism. At the same time, the prime minister of Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) Abdullah al-Thinni issued an urgent diplomatic note to all foreign embassies and consular offices informing them that an Italian military vessel loaded with soldiers and ammunitions has entered the Libyan territorial waters, adding: This is a clear violation of the U.N. Charter and a form of repeated aggression. All of this happened as the Russian air carrier Admiral Kuznetzov sat anchored at the coast of Cyrenaica, hosting Field Marshal Haftar himself, who reportedly signed unknown deals on behalf of the Tobruk government. The hypocrisy is self-evident.
Italy wants Libya to achieve stability and peace because, unlike many other international actors involved in the Libyan theater, it recognizes the importance of a stable and peaceful Libya capable of governing its territory.
There is no doubt that Italy has committed grave mistakes in the past, as well as more recently. However, it is also true that Romes conduct towards post-2011 Libya has been one of the most coherent and transparent, not only in words but in deeds. This is evident in the behavior of Italian ambassador to Tripoli Giuseppe Perrone. In early February, Perrone traveled to Tobruk to meet HoR president Agila Saleh and other members of the parliament to seek a political compromise. Following the Benghazi Defense Brigades (BDB) contentious temporary occupation of the oil terminals in March, the Italian government endorsed the BDBs relinquishing of the terminals to the National Oil Corporation in Tripoli that permitted the PC/Government of National Accord to continue to enjoy oil sale revenues in the Gulf of Sidra. While the wisdom of the approach itself could be debated, it was definitely a coherent oneand one that could hardly be called neo-colonialist.
Italy has been trying to keep Libya at the center of international attention, and has delivered significant humanitarian aid to the needy country by hosting hundreds of wounded Libyan fighters in its hospitals. Italy wants Libya to achieve stability and peace because, unlike many other international actors involved in the Libyan theater, it recognizes the importance of a stable and peaceful Libya capable of governing its territory. Italy has no colonial project, nor any intention to establish a protectorate or extend its influence over Libyan coasts. Italy simply recognizes that the destiny of these two countries are once again interconnected by a series of international interventions in Libya thatthis timeare all but Italian.
Work Together
For the last six years, various players have intervened in Libya without a common projectonly with their particular targets to pursue. That has completely spoiled the process of natural selection at the political level, not favoring the most deserving leader, but the most supported in terms of means and weapons. And the effects have been devastating, facilitating the fragmentation of Libyan society. All the international actors involved in Libya must ask themselves: Where are we heading in Libya? If stability and security for Libya are really the goals, then there is no alternative for the international actors but to honestly and consistently support the U.N.-led negotiation and the Libyan Political Agreement, with all the pertaining corrections and amendments needed to improve its functionality and efficacy.
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No, Italy Is Not Guilty of Neocolonialism in Libya - Lawfare - Lawfare (blog)