Syrian army establishes control a village in Homs, destroys hideouts, kills terrorists

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Ahlul Bayt News Agency – Syrian units of the army and armed forces backed by popular defense groups established control over new areas, killed more terrorists and destroyed their hideouts and vehicles while Takfiri organizations acknowledged scores of their terrorists.

Homs

Al-Hadath village under the army control

The army units in cooperation with the popular defense groups established full control over al-Hadath village, located 82 km southeast of Homs city in the central Homs province, a military source announced on Tuesday.

The source said that the army units eliminated a number of gatherings of ISIS terrorists and destroyed many of their vehicles in al-Hadath and later combed the village, where they dismantled tens of explosive devices planted near the locals’ houses and in farms.

The army has continued advancing towards Hawarin and Mhein villages and al-Qaryatain city, the source said.

Hama/ Idleb

50 terrorists killed in Idleb and Hama provinces

Idleb/ Hama, – Units of the army and armed forces killed some 50 terrorists and destroyed their dens, hideouts and vehicles during precise operations in the countryside of the two provinces of Hama and Idleb.

Field sources saod on Tuesday that units of the army and armed forces destroyed a position for the so called “Jund al-Aqsa” terrorist organization in the town of Tamana’a some 70 Kms to the northwestern side of Idleb, killing 35 terrorists including assistant leader of “Jund al-Aqsa” terrorist Imad Eddin al-din Bakri in addition to destroying more than four vehicles.

Meanwhile, other army units destroyed, in the town of Morek at the northern countryside of Hama, two vehicles and a van killing all terrorists on board including a terrorist in charge of suicide bombers for the “Jund al-Aqsa” terrorist organization.

Aleppo

Takfiri Organizations acknowledge killing 15 of their terrorists

Aleppo, Takfiri Terrorist Organizations acknowledged the killing of 15 terrorists including the so called “military leader of Nour Eddin Al-Zenki Movement” named Hasan Ka’aka and the military leader of ” Hurriya Islamic brigade” called Ahmad Meheddin Amro in the countryside of Aleppo province.

Terrorist organizations mentioned on their social WebPages Tuesday that another 13 terrorists from the so called ” Hurriya Islamic Brigade” were also killed.

Terrorist organizations acknowledged since the beginning of November the killing of tens of their ranks including 11 so called leaders from “Jabhat al-Nusra”, “al-Jabha al-Shamia”, ” Nour Eddin Al-Zenki Movement”, “Ahrar Al-Sham”, “al-Hijra to God brigade” and ” Commander of Muhajereen battalion”.

Sweida

An army unit carried out special operation on the terrorist organizations’ gatherings and hideouts in the southwestern countryside of Sweida province.

The operation led to destroying arms ammunition, gatherings and positions for the terrorist organizations and killing a number of terrorists in Kherbet Samar village, adjacent to the administrative borders of Daraa province.

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Two civilians killed in new Saudi airstrike against Yemen

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At least two civilians have been killed in a Saudi airstrike against Yemen’s southwestern province of Ta’izz.

On Wednesday, Saudi warplanes pounded a residential area in the al-Sarawi district of the province, situated 260 kilometers (166 miles) south of the capital, Sana’a, leaving two members of a family dead, Arabic-language al-Masirah satellite television network reported.

Meanwhile, a commander of Saudi-backed militants loyal to fugitive former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, has succumbed to injuries he sustained during intense clashes with Yemeni army soldiers backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees in the al-Omari district of Ta’izz Province on Tuesday.

Hashim al-Seyed, who was shot in the head and critically wounded, died in a Saudi hospital on Wednesday. He had reportedly been transferred to the medical facility onboard an Emirati military aircraft.

There are reports that Seyed’s son and nephew were killed during the Tuesday gunfight in the Omari district.

Separately, two high-ranking members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Salafist Islah Party lost their lives when they engaged in heavy fighting with Yemeni forces in the Beihan district of Yemen’s southern province of Shabwah on Tuesday.

The slain militants were later identified as Sha’fal al-Faraji and Jalal al-Mansouri.

Yemen has been witnessing ceaseless military strikes by Saudi Arabia since March 26. The military aggression has supposedly been meant to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and bring Hadi back to power.

The Saudi aggression has reportedly claimed the lives of more than 7,100 people and injured nearly 14,000 others. The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.

Human rights groups and international organizations have voiced deep concern over the rising number of civilian casualties in Yemen, calling for an end to the conflict.

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Americans receive false information on Islam

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The majority of American people have a very limited and “primitive” knowledge about Islam and have mostly received false information about the religion, a political analyst in Virginia says.

“Most Americans know very, very little about Islam and the little they know is based on false information,” said Keith Preston, the chief editor and director of AttacktheSystem.com.

“Americans, to a large degree, when they think of Islam, they simply think of terrorism, they think of groups like the Daesh (ISIL), or they think al-Qaeda or someone like Osama bin Laden,” Preston said on Wednesday.

“Most Americans have very little knowledge of the tradition of Islam, the history behind Islam, the theology of Islam,” he added.

“The concept of the people of the book within Islam, the people of the other monotheistic religions are considered to be under the protection of Islamic law,” Preston noted. “That’s something that Americans have no awareness of either.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has voiced concerns over a spike in Islamophobia in the US, following the recent attacks in Paris.

The Muslim advocacy organization called Tuesday for additional safety measures in the Islamic places of worship in the wake of the attacks, which the Daesh Takfiri group has claimed responsibility for.

Since Friday’s Paris attacks, there have been a series of anti-Muslim incidents reported, including terror threats to Florida mosques, vandalism at a Nebraska mosque, shots fired at a Florida Muslim family’s home, hate graffiti targeting a Connecticut Muslim student, a tweet threatening Michigan Muslims, and innumerable hate messages sent online and by phone.

CAIR demanded that state and federal law enforcement authorities investigate the vandalism as a hate crime.

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President Rouhani Warns against Spread of Islamophobia

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that the recent terrorist attacks by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group would fan the fuel of hatred toward Islam and the Muslim community.

“Islam is the religion of mercy and peace, and these acts (of terrorism), particularly in Europe and America where a large number of Muslims live, should not be allowed to increase Islamophobia,” Rouhani said.

He made the remarks in a Tuesday night session here in Tehran, a few days after deadly terrorist attacks in the French capital of Paris killed more than 130.

The Iranian president further renewed the call for a more serious and concerted confrontation with terrorists throughout the world, saying that Iran, which itself is a victim of terrorism, will seriously counter terrorist activities.

“Unfortunately, children, women, and innocent civilians have been the main victims of such terrorist moves, and a global resolve and unity is needed to counter such crimes,” he added.

Rouhani further underlined that it should be investigated how these terrorist groups supply their financial resources, equipment, and arms.

Earlier on Tuesday, Rouhani in a phone conversation with his French counterpart Francois Hollande referred to the spread of Islamophobia throughout the world as one of the goals pursued by Daesh, and said that Islam is a religion of peace and is against any act of terrorism.

He also reaffirmed Tehran’s preparedness to join hands with the international community, particularly France, in the global fight against terrorism.

“Terrorists will never manage to achieve their goals when faced with the wills of all nations and governments,” the Iranian president said, reiterating that all countries should join hands and develop joint plans to eradicate terrorism.

Rouhani added that Tehran is ready to have security and intelligence cooperation with Paris in its fight against terrorism, stressing that as a nation familiar with the disastrous consequences of terrorism, the Islamic Republic is prepared to “take any action against terrorists in any part of the world.”

The coordinated attacks in and around the French capital left at least 132 people dead and some 200 others injured.

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Russia: Hezbollah, Hamas Not Terrorist Groups

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The comment came as the Kremlin sought to secure international consensus on which forces in the Syrian civil war ought to be branded terror groups as part of political negotiations aimed at ending the nearly five-year-long conflict.

“Some say Hezbollah is a terrorist organization,” Bogdanov was quoted as saying. “We maintain contacts and relations with them because we do not consider them a terrorist organization.”

The Russian official noted that members of the Shiite group’s political wing were legally elected to Lebanese Parliament, and that the organization had never carried out attacks on Russian soil. He added that the group was a “legitimate sociopolitical” force.

Bogdanov also said Russia does not consider Gaza-based Hamas of the Kurdish Democratic Unity Party as terrorist groups.

Under pressure from the Zionist regime, certain European states and US has put the names of Hamas and Hezbollah in the list of terrorist organizations.

Muslims win majority in City Council of Hamtramck, US

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The U.S. city of Hamtramck has recently elected a Muslim-majority City Council for the first time in the country.

The town of Hamtramck, in the state of Michigan, was a long-time Polish-Catholic enclave, but it has been demographically changing recently, and the election has shown how far the city had come. The three people who received the most votes were Muslim, two were incumbents – Anam Miah and Abu Musa – and the third, newcomer Saad Almasmari. They had the highest number of votes overall in last week’s election.

The 28-year old Almasmari is a student, who moved to the United States in 2009 and became a citizen two years later.

In a statement, community leader Bill Meyer said: “Hamtramck has made history. The election was far from close, with the three Muslim winners each gaining over 1,000 votes while the other three candidates garnered less than 700 votes each”.

Although the percentage of Muslims who reside in the town is unknown, a recent U.S. estimate describe the city as currently 24 percent Arab, 19 percent African, 15 percent Bangladeshi, 12 percent Polish and 6 percent Yugoslavian. Estimates of Hamtramck’s Muslim population are between 30 to 50 percent.

According to Meyer, the City Council’s incumbent Muslim council members have proven themselves to the city, saying that they have “helped bring stability, security and sobriety while lessening the amount of drugs and crime in the city”.

Mosques in Canada, Florida fear Islamophobia after Paris attack

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Amid growing concerns that Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris could spark a wave of Islamophobic retaliation, a Muslim congregation in Canada said a fire that burnt down its mosque over the weekend appears to be a hate crime, and two Florida mosques reportedly received phone threats over the weekend.

The fire at the Kawartha Muslim Religious Association’s mosque in Peterborough, Ontario, broke out Saturday evening and caused up $80,000 in damage; no one was inside at the time.

Officials confirmed on Sunday that the fire was deliberately set. The mosque is the only one in Peterborough, a city of 135,000, and association President Kenzu Abdella said the Muslim community has traditionally had a good relationship with the rest of the city. But after learning the fire was intentional, he said he was certain the arson was a hate crime.

In Florida, too, officials were investigating phone threats made against mosques on Sunday, the Tampa Bay Times reported. FBI spokesman David Couvertier confirmed the bureau is looking into voice mails that threatened to firebomb and shoot members of a Muslim congregation in St. Petersburg, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a news release that a second Florida mosque had received similar threats, although it did not identify the mosque or location. The threats prompted the St. Petersburg mosque to cancel its Sunday school.

“This act in France is the last straw,” a caller reportedly said in a voicemail to the Islamic Society of Pinellas County.

Some communities have stepped up to show support for Muslim congregations and decry Islamophobic reactions to the Paris attacks. In Peterborough, a resident started a crowd funding campaign to help the congregation cover the damage. By Monday morning, it had garnered $58,000 — nearly 75 percent of the estimated damages. Maryam Monsef, Canada’s minister of democratic institutions in the new Liberal government said, the city has a proud history as a welcoming and friendly place to live, but she is waiting for the police and fire officials’ investigations to uncover more about the nature of the crime.

“I am deeply concerned about the fire that took place at the Kawartha Muslim Religious Association’s mosque,” she said. “Together we will continue to demonstrate that these sorts of incidents are in no way reflective of our community as a whole.”

There is nothing that resembles Islam

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Muslim organizations in Milwaukee hope the Paris terror attacks do not spark anti-Islamic threats.

“We still hear people say, ‘Why don’t Muslims condemn this?’ But Muslims are always condemning this,'” said Janan Najeeb, president of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition.

Najeeb says besides the ongoing grief over innocent people dying, it saddens the Muslim community that a terrorist group like ISIS claims to be an Islamic organization. “There is nothing that resembles Islam in their actions,” said Najeeb.

Najeeb continues to educate the public about Islam and how terrorists are killing Muslims regularly.

“We also want people to understand that Muslims are suffering the most at the hands of these violent terrorist groups,” said Najeeb.

For instance, just a day before the Paris attacks, more than 40 people were killed in a double suicide bombing in Beirut, Lebanon.

“It think it’s important to recognize whether it’s lives in Europe or lives in the United States or lives in the Middle East or lives in Africa, that all lives are sacred,” said Najeeb.

To that point, Najeeb was grateful when Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers denounced a fan’s disparaging remark made toward Muslims during a moment of silence Sunday for the victims of the Paris attacks.

Mosques in Canada, Florida fear Islamophobia after Paris attack

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Amid growing concerns that Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris could spark a wave of Islamophobic retaliation, a Muslim congregation in Canada said a fire that burnt down its mosque over the weekend appears to be a hate crime, and two Florida mosques reportedly received phone threats over the weekend.

The fire at the Kawartha Muslim Religious Association’s mosque in Peterborough, Ontario, broke out Saturday evening and caused up $80,000 in damage; no one was inside at the time.

Officials confirmed on Sunday that the fire was deliberately set. The mosque is the only one in Peterborough, a city of 135,000, and association President Kenzu Abdella said the Muslim community has traditionally had a good relationship with the rest of the city. But after learning the fire was intentional, he said he was certain the arson was a hate crime.

In Florida, too, officials were investigating phone threats made against mosques on Sunday, the Tampa Bay Times reported. FBI spokesman David Couvertier confirmed the bureau is looking into voice mails that threatened to firebomb and shoot members of a Muslim congregation in St. Petersburg, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a news release that a second Florida mosque had received similar threats, although it did not identify the mosque or location. The threats prompted the St. Petersburg mosque to cancel its Sunday school.

“This act in France is the last straw,” a caller reportedly said in a voicemail to the Islamic Society of Pinellas County.

Some communities have stepped up to show support for Muslim congregations and decry Islamophobic reactions to the Paris attacks. In Peterborough, a resident started a crowd funding campaign to help the congregation cover the damage. By Monday morning, it had garnered $58,000 — nearly 75 percent of the estimated damages. Maryam Monsef, Canada’s minister of democratic institutions in the new Liberal government said, the city has a proud history as a welcoming and friendly place to live, but she is waiting for the police and fire officials’ investigations to uncover more about the nature of the crime.

“I am deeply concerned about the fire that took place at the Kawartha Muslim Religious Association’s mosque,” she said. “Together we will continue to demonstrate that these sorts of incidents are in no way reflective of our community as a whole.”

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ISIS a blot on Islam: Indian Muslim leader

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Indian Muslim parliamentarian and President of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday said that terror group ISIS is a blot on Islam and everybody needs to condemn its activities.

The Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad said ISIS should not be linked with religion and the world should unite to fight it. Owaisi said Islamic scholars belonging to all schools of thought have given a fatwa against the ISIS.

“We all need to condemn ISIS activities and world should understand that it has nothing to do with Islam,” Owaisi said when reporters sought his reaction to a controversial statement by Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan on Paris terror attacks.

“Azam Khan may be an expert on terrorism but I am not. I only believe that ISIS are a blot on Islam. All scholars have condemned them and I also condemn,” Owaisi said.

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