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Iranian sportsmen and women have received five more medals, including two gold ones, at the ongoing fifth edition of Confdration Sportive Internationale Travailliste et Amateur (CSIT) World Sports Games in Latvia to raise their countrys medal count in the multinational and multi-sport event.

On Friday, Morteza Nazemi took part in the mens discus throw competitions in the Latvian capital city of Riga, and received the gold medal.

He dedicated his precious medal to the families of the victims of an explosion at a coal mine in the northeastern Iranian province of Golestanlast month. At least 35 workers lost their lives in the mishap, while 73 others sustained injuries.

In the men's 4x100m relay division, the Iranian outfit, comprised of Rouhollah Mohammadi, Reza Malekpour, Omid Najafpour and Hadi Khoubyari, scooped the gold.

Ahmad Foroud was also the second fastestrunner in the mens 5000m category of the CSIT World Sports Games, and claimed the silver medal.

Furthermore, Iran's female triplejumper Aylin Babakisettled for the bronze.

She added a silver medal to the Islamic Republics medal tally by registering 1.66 meters in the final contest of womens high jump.

The fifth edition of the CSIT World Sports Games kicked off in Riga, Latvia, on June 13 and will run through June 18, 2017.

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Iranian athletes bag 5 more medals in CSIT World Sports Games - Press TV

Soleimani and Muhandis

Yesterday, photos emerged on social media of Qassem Soleimani, the chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force, on a pilgrimage during a holy period in Ramadan to the shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala, Iraq. Soleimani was photographed next to his deputy Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, the operations commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Force (PMF), which was enshrined into a legal and separate military corps last year, thus technically making Muhandis a government official.

The US has designated both Soleimani and Muhandis as terrorists. A United Nations travel ban applies to the Iranian general until 2020.

Earlier this week, Iranian media posted photos of Soleimani in Syria allegedly by the border area with Iraq. He was photographed next to Afghan Fatemiyoun Division forces. Late last month, Soleimani was spotted with Iraqi militias in northwestern Iraq close to the Syrian border, according to the media.

Answering directly to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Soleimani is in charge of Tehrans Iraq and Syria portfolios.

Soleimani has signaled his plan of intimidating the US in southeastern Syria. In the past month, the US military has struck pro-regime forces including Iranian-backed militias three times and has downed an IranianShahed-129drone inside the US deconfliction zone of At Tanf. On Wednesday, the spokesman of the Iraqi Harakat al Nujaba which answers to Soleimani threatened the US over potential military action against its forces. In the case of any foolishness, we will target Americas interests anywhere in the region, he said, then accusing the US of conspiring to disrupt operations by the Iraqi and Syrian border.The militia this week announced deployment to the southeastern Syrian front and plans to advance toward the Albukamal-Qaim border crossing further to the north. Harakat al Nujabas threat follows Lebanese Hezbollahs vague threat last week over the US crossing red lines in Syria, which was issued a day following the June 6 US airstrike against pro-regime forces.

Soleimani is overseeing sensitive operations to gain territory in the Iraq and Syria border area as the Islamic State crumbles and links Iranian-backed militias, thus securing a supply route between Iraq and Syria. Iran used the land route to supply the Assad regime between 2011 and late 2012, when Syrian rebels shut it down. Iranafterwards turned to aerial supply to transfer weapons and material to the Levant. In Iraq, the PMF last month reached the border with Syria in the northwestern countryside and is moving southward toward the Albukamal-Qaim border crossing. The PMF reached the border town of Baaj this week, and commanders told The Guardian they are exploring pathways to create a supply line from there to the town of Deir Ezzor in Syria. Meanwhile, pro-regime forces in Syria have launched offensives in southern and central Syria. They seek to reach the besieged Deir Ezzor, capture a border crossing into Iraq and deny territory to both theUS and US-backed forces.

If they are able to secure aviable border crossing between Iraq and Syria and that is a big if at this time it would complement Irans air bridge to Syria. Although achieving and holding a supply route faces significant obstacles, such as potential US-backed advancement into Deir Ezzor and an area laden with hostile insurgents.

Amir Toumaj is a Research Analyst at Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Tags: IRGC, Muhandis, Soleimani

Link:
Qassem Soleimani spotted in Karbala, Iraq - Long War Journal

Iraq has been Indias largest supplier of crude oil for the last three months, shipping data from Bloomberg has revealed. This means that OPECs number-two has dethroned the cartels leaderSaudi Arabiawhich has been the top supplier in the worlds fastest-growing market in terms of oil consumption.

Iraq produced almost a quarter of the oil India imported last month, or 23 percent, exporting at a daily rate of 1 million barrels. That is compared to a monthly average export market share of 19 percent for the prior four months.

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, supplied 17 percent of the crude India bought in May.

Iraq has consistently shown signs of an expansion strategy for its oil industry, despite its participation in the OPEC agreement for oil output reduction. While Iraq has not been fully compliant to the production caps, Saudi Arabia has been over-complianta fact that contributed to Saudi Arabia losing coveted market share in India.

Regardless of the OPEC agreement, Iraq has been exporting crude oil at a breakneck pace, and in May, its crude oil exports hit the highestrate of the last six months at 101.13 million barrels, or an average 3.26 million bpd daily. India absorbed close to a third of that total. Related:Putins Newest Oil Play: Russia Gains Foothold In Iraqi Oil Patch

But the flurry of crude oil leaving Iraq doesnt stop there. Earlier this month, a deputy Iraqi oil minister toldmedia that the Basra Oil Company is working on expanding the daily capacity of the Amaya oil export terminal in Basra to one million barrels. Amayas current capacity is 250,000 bpd. In addition, the minister, Karim Hattab, said that the Basra Oil Company will increase output from its Leheis oil field, one of the longest-producing in Iraq, to 120,000 bpd, an increase from its current output of 100,000 bpd.

In its latest Oil Market Report, the International Energy Agency noted that Iraq has managed only a 55-percent compliance rate with the OPEC output reduction agreement, which required that it shave 210,000 barrels from its daily production. The failure of Iraq to adhere to the agreement set out in November and extended in May did not come as a huge surprise, given Iraqs overwhelming dependence on oil revenues.

As for Saudi Arabia, which according to OPEC figures is adhering to the agreement whole heartedly, there are additional reasons why it is losing its top spot as oil supplier to the worlds next economic hothouse to its rogue OPEC partner-slash-competitor: energy industry insiders from India told Bloomberg that local Indian refineries have been undergoing upgrades that now allow them to process crude oil with higher sulfur content, such as Iraqi crude. Prices for Iraqi crude are also attractive, according to one of these insiders, the chairman of Hindustan Petroleum Corp.

India is not the only promising destination for Iraqi oil. Tanker tracking datasuggests that Iraq is also exporting more oil to the United Statesagain besting Saudi Arabia, which pledged to cut exports to its North American client to draw down crude oil inventories in the United States.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Iraq loaded 12 million barrels of crude to be shipped to the U.S. in just the first 13 days of June. This is twice as much as what Iraq shipped to the worlds number-two consumer during the comparable periods of April and May.

Iraqs focus on India appears logical, even though India has ambitiousrenewable energy plans aimed at reducing pollution levels and its dependence on oil imports. India is so ambitious, in fact, that it has plans to ban the sales of non-electric cars after 2030. While this will certainly reduce its oil demand, it wont eliminate it. As the countrys oil minister told the FT, Oil will remain an important component of our energy usage but our capital expenditure is moving into alternatives gas, renewables and technologies such as electric cars.

As oil prices continue to dip and high crude oil inventories linger, competition among foreign suppliers will only intensify.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Excerpt from:
Iraq Dethrones Saudi Arabia As India's No.1 Oil Supplier - OilPrice.com

Libya's coast guard has intercepted 906 migrants off the western city of Sabratha.

The migrants were on board several wooden and rubber boats, coast guard spokesman Ayoub Qassem says.

One of the rubber boats was perforated and nearly submerged, and a wooden boat had its engine missing.

The migrants were African, Asian and Arab, and included 98 women and 25 children, Qassem says.

Libya has been in turmoil for years and is the most common departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea.

More than 60,000 migrants have crossed the central Mediterranean route from Libya to Italy this year.

RAW 2017

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Libya intercepts more than 900 migrants - 9news.com.au

Some of the captives said they had had their teeth pulled out and their arms broken. Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

The United Nations migration agency expressed deep concern for around 260 Somali and Ethiopian migrants allegedly held and mistreated by criminal gangs in Libya, saying it believed that a harrowing video of them posted on social media was authentic.

The International Organization for Migration said a video posted on Facebook earlier this month showed abused Somalis and Ethiopians huddled fearfully in a concrete room.

The IOM said a Somali journalist based in Turkey recorded the video call from a gang in which some migrants claimed to have been beaten. Some alleged having their teeth pulled out and arms broken. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.

The agency said some captives relatives had received videos asking them to pay $8,000 to $10,000 or their child or relative will be killed. The captives exact location was not known, but the IOM said the relevant authorities had been informed.

The IOM has long decried risks taken by human traffickers with the migrants and refugees they ferry through relatively lawless Libya and into the Mediterranean sea by boat en route to Italy. Libya has been without a stable, central government since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and has been a major departure point for tens of thousands of people, mostly from the Horn of Africa, who seek to cross the Mediterranean to reach relative peace and stability in Europe.

In the video, posted on Facebook, a man calling himself Abdinajib Mohamed speaks to the camera: I am here for a year now. I am in trouble. I am starved. Anyone who has gone through such ordeal would have hated life altogether. Look at my body they beat me every day with batons. They dont want to release me.

Another young man who called himself Nur Ali Awale said he had been held for 15 months. They beat me with iron bars, he said. I travelled from Ethiopia. They ordered me to pay $8,300, and my family cannot afford to pay that amount.

A veiled woman who said she had travelled from Bossaso city in northern Somalia with her two children said she had been beaten daily.

Originally posted here:
UN 'deeply concerned' at migrants allegedly held for ransom in Libya - The Guardian