@Marguer_dMarguerite Dehler
RT @WOTN Middle East News - 26 Sep 2011: #Libya n Rebels attempt to secure Qaddafi's hometown while politicia... bit.ly/qBGpfq #SOT
UESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2011
Middle East News - 26 Sep 2011
Syria is now killing its own troops, as well as civilians, as 4 soldiers attempted to escape Monday. Syria bloviated in front of the UN about how those civilians were the problem.
Israel has begun the process of putting the Dead Sea Scrolls online.
Islamists killed a Yemeni Commander and took 30 soldiers hostage, as President Saleh voiced his commitment to a democratic change of power in that country.
The EU has appointed a Belgian to head an inquiry into what to do with Iranian dissidents at a camp in Iraq.
Turkey has confirmed it will continue cooperation with Iran against Kurds in Iraq.
Turkey's prime minister says cross-border military operations will continue against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, confirming that Ankara is cooperating with Iran against members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that joint military operations with Iran against PKK rebels will no longer be postponed. Both countries already are sharing intelligence.
It was not immediately clear if Turkey and Iran are planning a risky ground offensive against the main Kurdish rebel base, located deep in the Qandil mountains near the Iranian border.
The PKK has been waging a war for autonomy in Turkey's southeast from bases in northern Iraq. The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, a banned PKK offshoot, also uses Qandil as a springboard for attacks on Iranian territory.
Iranian artillery units often fire at Qandil, and Turkish warplanes stage bombing raids against suspected rebel bases there.
Turkey already has been pressing the U.S.-backed Iraqi government to clamp down on Kurdish guerrillas who use Iraq as a base. Ankara and Tehran fear Kurdish success in creating an autonomous region in northern Iraq encourages their own Kurdish minorities.
PKK rebels attacked a Turkish army outpost on Saturday, killing six soldiers and wounding 11.
Last week, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani urged Turkey and Iran to stop bombing northern Iraq's Kurdistan region.
In comments Friday to the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Talabani said the bombing is victimizing many civilians. He called on Turkey and Iran to use diplomacy and dialogue to ease tensions with Kurdish rebels.
The European Union has appointed a senior Belgian diplomat to work with the United Nations and others on finding a solution to the plight of more than 3,000 Iranian government opponents living in a camp in Iraq.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton tapped Jean De Ruyt Monday as her advisor on Iraq's Camp Ashraf. The camp of more than 3,000 residents is a base of the Iran's main armed opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
The U.S. considers the group a terrorist organization and transferred security of the camp to Iraq in 2009. Iraq says it will close the camp by the end of the year.
The EU has removed the group from its list of terrorist organizations. EU representative Struan Stevenson says the U.N. is assessing the camp's residents for refugee status with the intention of resettling them elsewhere. However, he says this process cannot be completed before the year's end.
A raid by Iraqi security forces on Camp Ashraf earlier this year drew international concern for the residents there. U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay has said the raid killed at least 34 people.
Pillay had called for an independent probe into the Iraqi military raid.
Iraq and Iran also consider the group a terrorist organization.
Last month, Iran and Iraq signed an agreement to extradite criminals wanted by the two neighbors.
Yemeni officials say anti-government tribesman have seized a base operated by troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, killing a commander and capturing 30 soldiers.
The defense ministry said Monday's attack on a base north of the capital, Sana'a, killed Ali al-Keleibi, a commander in the elite Republican Guard. Officials said four tribesman were also killed in the fighting.
The head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Monday urged parties in Yemen to exercise restraint and not use force against Yemeni citizens. The OIC consists of 57 member states and serves as a collective voice of the Muslim world.
On Sunday Mr. Saleh said he wants a peaceful transfer of power through elections.
He said in a televised speech he is committed to implementing a power transfer initiative drawn up by the Gulf Cooperation Council, but made no pledge to step down. The long-stalled plan calls for President Saleh to hand over power to a deputy.
The appearance was his first since he returned to the capital, Sana'a, on Friday after a three-month stay in neighboring Saudi Arabia while recuperating from a June assassination attempt.
In other violence Sunday, at least two people, including a soldier, were killed in the southern city of Taiz, and troops killed two people outside of Sana'a.
The Israel Museum and Internet giant Google have made high-quality images of five of the Dead Sea Scrolls available for viewing online.
Antiquities officials say the online project launched Monday provides unlimited access to the 2,000-year-old manuscripts, which are considered one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century.
When complete, the project by Israel's Antiquities Authority and Google will have placed images of the 30,000 fragments that make up the scrolls on a free, searchable database.
The scrolls scanned and placed online so far include the Temple Scroll and the Great Isaiah Scroll.
The link is http://dss.collections.imj.org.il
The Dead Sea Scrolls contain some of the oldest known copies of the Hebrew Bible and descriptions of life for Jews and early Christians at the time of Jesus. They were discovered in the 1940s and 1950s in caves near the Dead Sea.
Over the years, Israeli antiquities officials have given scholars and researchers very limited access to the scrolls because of their fragile condition. The Israel Museum rotates the scroll sections on display every three or four months to minimize damage from exposure to light.
Syrian activists say security forces shot dead four soldiers who tried to desert a military camp in the country's north.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Monday said the soldiers were killed in Idlib province, which borders Turkey.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has sent troops across the country to quell an uprising by protesters. The U.N. says the government crackdown has killed at least 2,700 people since mass protests started in March.
Also Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem blamed armed groups for the situation in Syria while speaking in front of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Despite continued protests for change, Mouallem assured that the Assad government has guaranteed reforms for democratic practices.
He also lashed out at the U.S. and EU for imposing sanctions against Syria, accusing them of jeopardizing the interests and basic needs of Syrians while pronouncing concerns for their security and rights.
A U.S. State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, again called for the Syrian president to step down so that a democratic transition can take place. He said Mr. Assad is no longer the legitimate leader of that country because of his government's violent attacks on its own citizens.
Libyan interim government forces backed by NATO warplanes have tightened their siege on Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, as hundreds of civilians attempted to flee the city through increasingly tense security checkpoints.
Anti-Gadhafi troops raced through Sirte's eastern outskirts Monday while NATO jets bombed loyalist positions for the third consecutive day. Scores of civilians in cars laden with personal belongings continued to exit the city in multiple directions.
National Transitional Council fighters from Misrata distributed food and water to fleeing families, but also pulled suspected loyalists from a column of civilians fleeing Sirte to the west. The Misrata fighters checked names of refugees against lists of suspected Gadhafi loyalists. Some were arrested.
Fleeing civilians said fighters on both sides are often motivated by vengeance. Others described grave shortages of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine in Sirte as medics warned of a growing health crisis. International aid groups are demanding access to the city.
Libya's interim justice minister said Monday he has approved a measure to abolish the country's state security courts used by Mr. Gadhafi to imprison political dissidents.
Mohammed al-Alagi said his proposal, drafted by judicial experts, will be forwarded shortly to NTC leaders for approval. The state security system jailed or executed thousands of people suspected of opposing Mr. Gadhafi's four-decade-long rule.
Libyans are pushing forward with efforts to disband some of the most reviled elements of the ousted leader's government, even while fighting continues and Mr. Gadhafi's whereabouts remain unknown.
Also Monday, Libya's interim prime minister asked the U.N. Security Council to lift remaining sanctions on his country.
Mahmoud Jibril told the Council in New York that sanctions are hindering the NTC's ability to provide basic services to citizens. The Security Council already has unfrozen $16 billion in Libyan assets, and the NTC hopes to gain access to more funds that remain locked.
Italian energy giant Eni says it is resuming large-scale oil production in Libya, a half year after its operations were brought to a near standstill by the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi.
Eni, the largest foreign oil producer in Libya, said Monday that it is now drawing nearly 32,000 barrels of crude oil a day at a field about 300 kilometers south of the eastern city of Benghazi. Before the rebellion broke out, the company said it was producing 273,000 barrels daily, and hopes to soon reactivate other wells. Its French rival, Total, said last week it has reopened a smaller operation at an offshore well.
Resumption of oil production — and the revenue from exports of the commodity — could prove crucial for the National Transitional Council as it seeks to solidify its hold on the country.
Before the war, Libya’s global oil production was relatively small, about 1.6 million barrels a day, or 2 percent of the world total. But the light, sweet Libyan oil is valued on world markets because of its low sulfur content.
Scotland has asked Libya's interim rulers to help find additional people who may have played a role in the 1988 bombing of a U.S.-bound jetliner that killed 270 people when it exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Scottish authorities said Monday they have asked the National Transitional Council for written evidence and witnesses in the case.
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi has already been tried and convicted in Scotland for bombing Pan Am flight 103, and served eight years of a minimum 27-year sentence. He was freed in 2009 on compassionate grounds after a doctor said he had terminal cancer and only months to live.
Scottish authorities say Megrahi's trial found he had not acted alone, and that the investigation remains open. The NTC has already said they will not return Megrahi to complete his sentence.
