Gen.: US bombings won’t destroy ISIL

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US Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian believes that US airpower alone will not destroy the ISIL terrorist group as the bombing campaign continues in Iraq and Syria.

In a press conference on Monday, Harrigian, Air Force assistant deputy chief of staff for operations, also noted the terrorists are adjusting to the airstrikes and make it more difficult to target them.

“They are now dispersing themselves to allow themselves situations to be more survivable, if you will, which requires us to work harder to locate them, and then develop the situation to appropriately target them,” Harrigian said.

The general explained that the Air Force has been cooperating with Iraqi and Kurdish troops out in the field to determine target locations. 

He said that the air raids prevented the terror network from massing forces on a large scale and disrupted the group’s ability to communicate with each other and command forces.

Since Aug. 8, there have been over 240 attacks in Iraq and Syria — 74 percent of them by the Air Force in Iraq, and 50 percent of them in Syria, according to the general.

The Pentagon launched the airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq last month and a US-led coalition began military campaign against the group in Syria earlier this month.

Meanwhile, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said that international troops would be deployed in Iraq to fight against ISIL if necessary.

The general told reporters he may eventually recommend boots on the ground and those forces would not necessarily be American forces.

President Barack Obama has repeatedly ruled out American boots on the ground in a combat role.

AGB/AGB

Egypt court bans pro-Morsi party

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An Egyptian court has banned a political party that had formed part of a coalition backing ousted President Mohammed Morsi.

Local media outlets reported that Cairo’s Court for Urgent Matters ruled on Monday against the Independence Party, one of the members of the pro-Morsi Anti-Coup Alliance.

The case had been brought by a retired state security judge, who argued the party was linked to the Muslim Brotherhood movement that has been banned in Egypt.

The party was accused of “harboring extremist thoughts which harm national security.”

The Anti-Coup Alliance, or the National Coalition for Supporting Legitimacy, was established in June 2013 to support Morsi.

Morsi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was also banned in a court ruling issued last year.

Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, was toppled in July 2013 in a military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the country’s current president and then army commander.

Sisi is accused of leading the suppression of Brotherhood supporters, as hundreds of them have been killed in clashes with Egyptian security forces over the last year.

Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has left over 1,400 people dead and 22,000 arrested, while some 200 people have been sentenced to death in mass trials.

The UN Human Rights Council has also repeatedly expressed concern over the Egyptian security forces’ heavy-handed crackdown and the killing of peaceful anti-government protesters.

MSM/HJL/HRB

36 killed in Japan volcano eruption

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The death toll from the volcanic eruption in central Japan’s Mount Ontake has reached 36, as fears of a fresh eruption forces rescue teams to halt their operations.

Japanese officials announced the death toll on Tuesday, after rescue workers found five more bodies.

The announcement was made about 72 hours after the eruption, which left about 60 others injured.

An unnamed crisis management official at the Nagano prefectural government said that rescue workers were on standby “while being prepared to evacuate in any emergency.”

The spokesman also said that volcanic tremors had repeatedly been detected since Saturday, with underground boiling water breaking and moving rocks.

The official added “the shakes have became bigger (since early Tuesday), prompting worries over possible secondary casualties” in case of a fresh eruption.

More than 1,100 soldiers and firefighters were set to be deployed near the peak of Mount Ontake as part of the search and rescue mission on Tuesday.

Rescue workers have managed to airlift only 12 bodies so far since Saturday.

It remains unclear, however, how the victims have died, with possible factors cited as toxic gases, suffocating ash, and falling rocks, among other possible causes.

Mount Ontake erupted around noon on Saturday, spewing gas, rocks, and ash into the sky, while at least 250 hikers were reportedly enjoying a fall season hiking venture.

SZH/HJL/HRB

China urges creativity in Iran N-talks

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China says ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group have entered a “final” and “crucial” stage, calling on all involved sides to show creativity in order to facilitate a final accord.

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying expressed hope that Tehran and the six states – Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany – would work “creatively” to sort out their differences and reach a permanent deal on Iran’s nuclear energy program.

The Chinese official also stressed that any final agreement aimed at ending the longstanding standoff over Iran’s nuclear work should be “balanced,” “fair” and “mutually beneficial.”

No substantial progress was made in the latest round of nuclear negotiations in New York, Hua said, stressing, however, that all sides demonstrated political will and discussed the core issues with seriousness.

Tehran and the six world powers wrapped up their seventh round of closed-door negotiations this year in New York on September 26. They are working toward a final nuclear deal before a November 24 deadline.

Last November, the two sides signed an interim accord, which took effect on January 20 and expired six months later. However, they agreed to extend their talks until November 24 as they remained split on a number of key issues.

On September 26, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi, a top nuclear negotiator, said Iran and the P5+1 states had not reached any agreement on major issues, adding, however, that there had been progress with regard to the details of technical issues.

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‘Iran, P5+1 can reach deal by deadline’

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Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says if the P5+1 group shows real determination, a final nuclear agreement between Tehran and the six powers is possible before the November 24 deadline.

Iran is firmly determined to reach an agreement with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Russia, China, France, Britain, and the United States – plus Germany by the November deadline and if the opposite side is committed as firmly, “we can come to [an] agreement,” President Rouhani told Rossiya 24 TV channel on Monday.

The Iranian president urged the negotiating partners to show more resolve, addressing particularly the United States which, he said, has been dragging its feet more than others even though all parties understand the necessity for reaching an agreement as soon as possible.

Iran and the six world powers held their latest round of talks in New York on September 18-26 to work out a final agreement aimed at ending the longstanding dispute over Tehran’s civilian nuclear energy program before a November 24 deadline.

Last November, the two sides clinched an interim nuclear accord, which took effect on January 20 and expired six months later. However, they agreed to extend their talks until November 24 as they remained divided on a number of key issues.

Senior Iranian nuclear negotiator, Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, who is also Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said on Sunday that the nuclear talks in New York were “constructive”, although differences on major issues still remain to reach a deal before the deadline.

YH/HMV/HRB

UK committing to ‘limitless’ war in Iraq

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Veteran British lawmaker David Davis has warned that the UK is in danger of committing itself to an “open-ended, limitless war” in northern Iraq, a military action which is doomed to failure.

Davis made the warning on Monday, saying the US-led airstrikes against the ISIL  group are not “going to work.”

“We have got this wrong three or four times in the past – why do we think we’ve got it right this time?” Davis asked.

Davis, who abstained in last week’s parliamentary vote that gave approval for UK strikes on ISIL in Iraq, said the “half dozen very old” British Tornado warplanes “aren’t going to turn the situation in Iraq.”

According to Davis, ISIL militants have positioned themselves in various places, such as schools and hospitals, with the aim that airstrikes on such targets would fuel their propaganda.

“Innocent people will be killed. We are going to hit oil refineries,” said Davis, adding “Ordinary oil workers who are not members of Isis (ISIL) will be killed, there will be targets missed.”

On September 27, British warplanes were deployed on the first mission in Iraq together with military aircraft from the US-led coalition, which began its airstrikes in the country in August.

The US and some of its Arab allies as well as France have also been conducting air raids against the ISIL inside Syria since the beginning of this week without formal authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

Many observers note that the same countries that are now in the US-led coalition had extended massive backing to various militant groups, including the Takfiri terrorists fighting to overthrow the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since 2011.
The ISIL Takfiris control large areas of Syria’s east and north. They sent militants into Iraq in June, seizing large parts of the land straddling the border between Syria and Iraq.

CAH/HJL/HRB

White House intruder was almost inside

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A US Army veteran, who broke into the White House in Washington two weeks ago, made it further into the president’s home than previously claimed by the US Secret Service.

According to reports, 42-year-old Omar J. Gonzalez, jumped over the White House fence, ran across the front lawn and through the front doors before being tackled in the living quarters of President Barack Obama’s family.

The security breach that took place on September 21 was far more serious than previously disclosed and it is unheard of in recent decades. Officials from the Secret Service, the agency in charge of protecting the president, had originally said Gonzalez was detained at the main entry.

The new revelation comes on the heels of another embarrassing report over the weekend.

The Washington Post revealed that it took the Secret Service five days before realizing a man shot seven bullets at the White House in 2011 while one of Obama’s daughters was inside.

According to The Washington Post story, the 2011 shooting was remarkable because it uncovers an alarming string of security lapses and misjudgments by the Secret Service. The newspaper said that Obama has faced three times as many threats to his life as his predecessors have faced.

The embarrassing revelations have put Secret Service Director Julia Pierson in trouble. She is scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

“There is nothing that can be said public that’s going to cause the American people to have confidence after the Secret Service failed to lock the front door as part of its protection of the White House,” said US Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

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Egypt court OK’s MB members deaths

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An Egyptian court has confirmed the death sentences of 20 Muslim Brotherhood members convicted of “setting fire to a police station and killing a security guard.”

The Menya Criminal court on Monday also postponed the retrial of over 160 Brotherhood members for participating in the incident, which occurred in the city of Matay in Menya Governorate in August 2013.

The court had sentenced in absentia 37 Muslim Brotherhood members to death in May. In addition, 492 others received life sentences in the same case.

The Egyptian government has been cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters since President Mohammed Morsi was ousted last year.

Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, was toppled in July 2013 in a military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the country’s current president and then army commander.

Sisi is accused of leading the suppression of Brotherhood supporters, as hundreds of them have been killed in clashes with Egyptian security forces over the last year.

Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has left over 1,400 people dead and 22,000 arrested, while some 200 people have been sentenced to death in mass trials.

The UN Human Rights Council has also repeatedly expressed concern over the Egyptian security forces’ heavy-handed crackdown and the killing of peaceful anti-government protesters.

MSM/HJL/HRB

US rejects Bibi’s UN speech about Iran

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The US has rejected the recent comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about Iran during his UN speech in New York.

In his speech at the 69th annual session of the UN General Assembly on Monday, Netanyahu called Iran a greater “threat” than the ISIL Takfiri terrorists fighting in Syria and Iraq.

The Israeli premier claimed, “ISIS (ISIL) must be defeated… But to defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear state power is to win the battle and lose the war.”

But, the State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington disagrees with Netanyahu’s assertion, adding that the White House would like to show that Iran’s nuclear energy program is peaceful during the ongoing talks between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of world powers.

She said that the US “would not agree with the characterization” made in Netanyahu’s speech that ISIL Takfiris and Iran share similar goals of establishing an international Islamic caliphate.

Last week, Press TV released exclusive footage that showed the Takfiri terrorists in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in Syria.

In the video provided by the Press TV correspondent in the region, black-clad masked terrorists are seen holding weapons as several vehicles pass by.

Netanyahu also reacted to nuclear talks between Iran and the Sextet of world powers, saying, an agreement between the two sides “would pose the gravest threat to us all.”

Iran and its negotiating partners — the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany– have been holding talks to resolve the dispute over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.

Since 1958, when Israel began building its Dimona plutonium- and uranium-processing facility in the Negev Desert, it has secretly manufactured numerous nuclear warheads, making it the only player in the Middle East that possesses nuclear weapons.

Former US President Jimmy Carter has attested to the existence of the Israeli nuclear arsenal, which he said has between 200 and 400 warheads.

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Hong Kong chief urges end to protests

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Hong Kong’s chief executive Leung Chun-ying has called on the leaders of pro-democracy protesters to “immediately” end the current demonstrations in the region.

Leung said on Tuesday that street gatherings organized by Occupy Central, the main grassroots group behind the recent protests, had gone “out of control.”

“Occupy Central founders had said repeatedly that if the movement is getting out of control, they would call for it to stop. I’m now asking them to fulfill the promise they made to society, and stop this campaign immediately,” Leung said.

However, protest leaders rejected Leung’s demands, saying his resignation would end the demonstrations.

“If Leung Chun-ying announces his resignation, this occupation will be at least temporarily stopped in a short period of time, and we will decide on the next move,” Occupy Central’s co-founder Chan Kin-man said.

This comes a day after China warned against foreign meddling in the protests in Hong Kong, saying the recent unrest was part of Beijing’s “internal affairs.”

Earlier this week, clashes erupted between riot police and protesters, who have been calling on Leung to step down. They have set Wednesday as a deadline for the government to meet their demands.

The unrest was triggered after China refused to allow open nominations for the region’s next chief executive in 2017, forcing the voters to choose from a list of two or three candidates selected by a nominating committee.

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. The financial hub has enjoyed substantial political autonomy since 1997, when its leadership returned to China after about a century of British colonial rule.

SZH/HJL/HRB