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Eight villages in Aleppo liberated by Syrian army

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The Syrian army has recaptured eight villages in the northern Aleppo province from terrorist groups.

Syria’s army units, backed by national defense forces, retook control of the villages, including Jamaymah, Hadidah and Maryameen, in Aleppo’s southern countryside over the past two days.

“We secured over six villages during the past 24 hours in the southern countryside. We are determined to continue advancing in our offensive,” a Syrian army commander said on Sunday.

Also on Sunday, Syrian forces retook control of the two other villages of Shalashil and Tel Dadeen, inflicting heavy losses on the terrorists who were there.

The new gains come two weeks after Syrian armed forces, backed by Russian air support, launched a large-scale military offensive against Takfiri terrorists in the southern countryside of Aleppo.

In recent days, Syrian army units and popular fighters have engaged the extremists on several fronts in the country.

Syria’s fight against terrorism has entered a new phase. In late September, Russia accepted a request from Damascus and began an aerial campaign against the positions of the terrorist groups that have been operating in the Arab state over the past four years.

Russia says Takfiri Daesh terrorists appear to be abandoning their bases in Syria, as army forces, backed by Moscow’s airpower, continue to make more gains against the militants on different fronts.

The conflict in Syria has killed more than 250,000 since March 2011, according to the UN. More than 12 million people, including over 5.6 million children, also remain in need of humanitarian assistance.

The foreign-sponsored militancy has displaced 7.6 million Syrians.

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Latvia Considering Sending Troops to Iraq to Help Fight Against ISIL

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The Latvian Defense Ministry is considering a possibility of sending its soldiers to Iraq to help fight against the ISIS militant group, the ministry’s spokesman said on Monday.

Last week, another Baltic state, Estonia, announced plans to join the fight against the ISIS militants in 2016.

Prior to that, the country’s government approved a bill, adopting an open mandate which allows up to 50 Estonian servicemen may be directed to address conflicts in any part of the world.

“In any case, politicians are to decide on Latvia’s participation in this operation,” Kaspars Galkins told reporters.

Latvia’s combat role is out of the question, but the Latvian experts might help local units fight the terrorists, the spokesman added.

On September 30, Russia began an air campaign against the ISIS terrorists in Syria on a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Latvia, a member of the European Union, has been a member of NATO since 2004. The Latvian servicemen took part in operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

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Hamburg cleric condemns Sheikh Nimr’s death sentence

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Hamburg’s Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Reza Ramezani criticized the death sentence against highly-revered Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr.

“Is it fair that a person is entitled to the award of Sakharov due to his defense of freedom of expression, but a religious scholar who practices his religious duty to direct human beings with his insightful comments is doomed to be executed?,” Ayatollah Ramezani said during his Friday sermon on October 30 in Hamburg.

He harshly criticized the determined death penalty against al-Nimr as an inhumane act by Al Saud and expressed regret over the silence of the media on the issue.

Pointing to the misrepresentation of freedom of expression by some world governments, he said, unfortunately people in today world tend to upside down the reality.

“Not long ago, the Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi who was sentenced to a decade in prison and 1000 lashes for “spreading liberal thoughts” and “insulting Islam,” was honored with the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize, which is a human-rights award,” he said, adding that the head of European Parliament Martin Schulz, then, called on Saudi King Salman to immediately release Badawi.

On the other hand, Ramezani added, a Shia cleric and religious leader, using the same ‘freedom of expression’ to act his religious duty and responsibility, is sentenced to death, guilty of seeking “foreign meddling” in the kingdom, “disobeying” its rulers and taking up arms against the security forces.

Ironically, the world media and those who claim protecting human rights are completely silent, and even avoid to reflect the position of Islamic authorities and scholars in defense of the Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ramezani underlined.

He said that Mohammad Baqir al-Nimr is one the great scholars of Islam who, unfortunately, is in jail in the worst situation.

“A cleric who is concerned with religion, the guidance of mankind and fight against oppression, is sentenced to death and this would have heavy price for the Saudis,” he stated.

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Iran’s FM Vows to Pursue Fate of Missing Iranian Pilgrims in Mina Incident

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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reaffirmed the ministry’s resolve to follow up on the fate of Iranian pilgrims who are still missing after a recent deadly crush in Mina, Saudi Arabia.

Speaking in a Sunday ceremony held in Tehran, Zarif paid tribute to the Iranian pilgrims killed in the Mina tragedy, and highlighted the necessity for determining the fate of those still unaccounted for.

Former Iranian ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi is among those who went missing after the deadly crush.

Referring to the missing diplomat, Zarif stressed that the foreign ministry and Roknabadi’s family are waiting for his return, expressing the hope that he would be found as soon as possible.

Identifying the culprits, taking measures to restore the victims’ rights, and planning for appropriate moves to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies in Hajj pilgrimage in the future are on the foreign ministry’s agenda, he added.

The September 24 crush in Mina, which happened when pilgrims from around the world were performing the Hajj rites, killed about 7500 Hajj pilgrims, including 464 Iranians.

The incident came nearly two weeks after tens of Hajj pilgrims were killed in another tragic incident in Mecca.

On September 11, a massive construction crane crashed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque in stormy weather, killing at least 107 people, including 11 Iranians, and injuring 201 others.

Saudi authorities have come under fire for their inability to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who converge on Mecca every year.

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Photos: Ashura gathering in Baku, Azerbaijan

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Thousands of people take part in Ashura mourning of Nardaran, Azerbaijan / Photos

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Ahlul Bayt News Agency – In the village of Nardaran (30 km from Baku), holds a ceremony to mark the Ashura mourning. Thousands of faithful fill the village of Nardaran and its surroundings: locals, as well as people come from the capital and from around the region.

On the day of Ashura, traditionally one of the most crowded mourning ceremonies is held in the Nardaran shrine.

About 10 thousand people – locals, visitors from Baku and other regions of the country took part in ceremonies.

Entrances and exits of Nardaran were taken under the control of the police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs Rapid Response Regiment. The private transport traffic in the settlement was restricted.

Imam Hussein (the grandson of Prophet Muhammad) and his companions were martyred on Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram (Lunar month), which falls on 24th October 2015 this year. Muharram ceremonies symbolize the eternal and unwavering stance of truth against falsehood and humanity’s struggle against tyranny, the cause for which Imam Hussein was martyred.

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Malawi Islamic charity empowers rural women

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In an attempt to rescue poverty-stricken rural women in Malawi, a local Islamic charity is providing entrepreneurship skills to the women regardless of their faith to achieve sustainable solutions to poverty.

This initiative was being praised as a “living hope” in the highly impoverished and least developed southern African nation.

“In Malawi, women constitute 60 percent of the total population and a larger percentage is rural women who are poor,” Abdul Razzaq Fattani, National Chairperson of Islamic Relief Agency (IRA), the charity implementing the program, said.

“They encounter enormous challenges in their quest for survival. It is for this reason that we introduced this empowerment program to alleviate their suffering and safeguard their integrity.

“Through this program, Fattani said, “we are identifying the poorest of the poor regardless of their faith inclinations, and we are providing them with tailoring and entrepreneurial skills and after the training, we give them sewing machines and start –up capital to enable them stand on their own.”

“The needs of poor rural women are quite overwhelming. Most of our beneficiaries are either divorced or widowed mothers. They shoulder a huge responsibility to provide for their families.” “They go through pain to get something for their children to eat. We are therefore, doing everything possible to reduce rising levels of poverty among women in the rural areas of the country.”

He said, “Since the inception of the program a few years ago, the number of beneficiaries has been on the rise.”

“We started with a small group of women, but there has been a rise in the number of those in desperate need of support. We have so far reached out to more than 1,000 women.

“But due to limited resources, we are unable to take all on board. Funds permitting, we plan to reach to as many women as possible and extend the program to other parts of the country.”

From her side, Fatima Ndaila, National Chairperson of Muslim Women Organization (MWO) has hailed the program describing it as a “huge treasure”.

“The level of pain that poverty has subjected women to is quite indescribable. Scores of women in both urban and rural areas of the country are going through immense pain in their endless struggle for sustainable source of livelihood. This program is therefore a huge treasure which deserves our commendation,” Ndaila said.

Malawi is rated by the World Bank as one of the poorest and least developed nations in the world. Its majority poor people, according to the bank, struggle to survive on less than US$1 a day.

Malawi is a secular, but diverse religious nation. Islam is the second largest religion in the country after Christianity. Muslims, account for 36 percent of the country’ 16 million population.

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Iran to Saudi FM: Don’t test our patience

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A senior Iranian official has dismissed as baseless the recent comments by the Saudi foreign minister against the Islamic Republic, warning that there is a limit to Tehran’s patience.

“We warn Adel al-Jubeir not to test the patience of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, said on Sunday.

He was reacting to the top Saudi diplomat’s remarks on Saturday that Riyadh hoped Tehran would use additional earnings that it would make following the implementation of its July nuclear agreement with world powers, to develop its economy “rather than for aggressive policies.”

“Instead of accusation and shifting the blame [on others], the Saudi foreign minister should assume his country’s responsibility in the Mina disaster,” the Iranian official said.

On September 24, two large masses of Muslim pilgrims fused together in Mina outside the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, leading to a stampede, which, according to Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, killed around 4,700 people, including 464 Iranians.

Saudi Arabia, whose mismanagement prior to and in the aftermath of the incident has elicited widespread criticism, alleges that nearly 770 people were killed in the disaster.

Amir-Abdollahian also advised that Jubeir “abandon his overt and covert support for terrorists in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria” and do not make tiny states such as Bahrain the victim of their wrongful policies.

He, however, said, “Tehran has never ruled out [maintaining] a natural relationship with Saudi Arabia.” “Ever since the start of the administration of [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani, the ball has been in their court, but it is not clear who is the decision maker in Saudi Arabia.”

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