Iraq shut down over 20 bases of anti-Iran adversary groups

Turki al-Otaibi, one of the leaders of the Shiite “Al-Atar al-Tansiqi” (Coordination Framework), announced the increase in the number of dismantled bases of anti-Iran adversary separatist terrorist groups on the shared borders between Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Al-Otaibi told the Baghdad Al-Youm (Baghdad Today) news website that “Mohammed Al-Sudani’s government is implementing a bilateral agreement with Iran on border security at the Kurdistan region, in order to prevent any activity that causes tension and instability.”

Dismantling the bases of terrorist groups near the border of Iran takes place within the framework of a security agreement signed between Tehran and Baghdad.

“The number of headquarters of Iranian opposition parties that have been shutdown in along the Iraqi shared border has increased to 20 so far, adding that, “The process of disarming and preventing any armed presence along the border continues.”

MNA/FNA

Over 300 academics urge Biden administration to uphold Palestinian rights


US President Joe Biden (Photo by Reuters)

More than 300 Palestinian, Arab, and international academics have signed an open letter addressed to the administration of US President Joe Biden, calling on Washington to uphold the fundamental rights of Palestinians.

They urged the Biden administration to respect the rights as outlined in the recent speech by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The rights include recognition of the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations, condemnation of denial of Nakba Day or “Day of Catastrophe,” when Israel was created on May 15, 1948 at the expense of the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland, respect for Palestinians’ right to self-determination, as well as cessation of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and crimes of apartheid.

The academics also called on the Biden administration to adopt policies that align with these principles across all spheres and fields.

The White House has repeatedly expressed disapproval of many statements and policies emanating from members of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline administration, as well as with the so-called judicial overhaul plan.

Proponents of the plan say it helps redistribute the balance of power between the politicians and the judiciary. Its opponents, however, accuse Netanyahu of trying his hand at a power grab. They say the premier, who is on trial on several counts of corruption charges, is also attempting to use the scheme to quash possible judgments against him.

Israeli academics, artists, businessmen and even military reservists have come out against the controversial overhaul.

Biden expressed concerns when Israel’s parliament slammed through the first piece of legislation in July, calling the outcome “unfortunate.” 

The Biden administration has also voiced increased frustration with the Israeli regime’s settlement growth in the occupied West Bank, which the US and most of the international community consider a main obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.

Armed clashes in Iraq's Dhi Qar leaves 6 killed, injured

According to the media sources, the conflict took place in Dhi Qar Governorate in southern Iraq on Saturday.

The sources reported that the conflict took place between the Iraqi tribes of Al Omar and Al Rameez.

Reports suggest that semi-heavy weapons and bombs were used in the clashes.

Currently, there are strict security measures in the Al-Islah area, the sources said.

The southern and central provinces of Iraq have been involved in nomadic conflict for a long time. In many of these conflicts, Iraqi army forces had to intervene and impose a curfew in the areas.

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US has close partnership with Takfiri terrorists in Syria

Assad made the remarks in an exclusive interview with China’s state-run CGTN television news channel broadcast late on Friday.

“The northeastern sector of Syria is exactly the region, where terrorists are operating and Americans assert control over. The issue is not simply restricted to the looting of natural resources; but rather a partnership with terrorists to reap mutual benefits. This brings another problem, as a major power is in cahoots with terrorist. These are the facts on the ground in Syria,” he stated.

The Syrian president highlighted that the Syrian conflict is not over yet, and the Arab country is in the midst of a war. Syria, due to its geographical location, has historically endured numerous invasions. Anytime occupiers overran the country, they destroyed its cities and towns. Syria has, however, managed to recover. Syrian people will be able to rebuild their own country when the war ends and the siege is lifted.

“The current situation is certainly not good. It is, frankly speaking, difficult because livelihood woes and struggles are the main problems of the Syrian nation. I mean the financial miseries that they have to endure. Their pains and sufferings are increasing,” Assad stated.

“If reconstruction gets underway, Syria will have a very bright future. I am not speaking of assumptions, desires and expectations, but rather about the pre-war situation. Prior to the war, Syria’s growth was at its best rate of 7%, which was considered a very high ratio for a country with limited capacities. 

“We had no foreign debts. We used to borrow and pay back our debts directly. We had enough wheat and used to export grains to other countries. We used to export vegetables and fruits, and were developing our industries in the early years of the crisis. Therefore, I can assuredly say that Syria will be much better than what it was before the war in case the war stops and reconstruction starts,” Assad underscored.

MP/PressTV

Renowned Bahraini activist detained at UK airport after UN address

A prominent Bahraini activist says he was held at Gatwick Airport in London as he returned to the United Kingdom after addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva about human rights abuses in the Persian Gulf kingdom.

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at the UK-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), said UK Border Force officials stopped him after he landed on Friday, but did not provide any reasons why he was being held.

The officials, instead, gave him a document, which read he is “an individual who may be liable to arrest by a constable or subject to a warrant for arrest”. Alwadaei said he was finally released after two-and-a-half hours.

The Bahraini activist said he was also held last month at a UK airport, when he returned from South Africa. It remains unclear what triggered that incident, or whether Friday’s development is connected. 

“The fact that you have no explanation, nothing, it just keeps your mind floating around,” Alwadaei said on Friday. “You’re not sure – is it an Interpol red notice? What is it?”

Speaking after he was released, the activist said he is more concerned about a group of female Bahraini human rights defenders, who were on their way back to Bahrain from Geneva after participating in the council’s session.

Among the women was Ebtisam al-Saegh, who was detained in March 2017 for seven hours at Bahrain International Airport and interrogated on her return from the UN Human Rights Council, where she spoke about violations in the Arab country.

Maya Foa, joint executive director of London-based human rights organization Reprieve, called Alwadaei a “courageous human rights defender and torture survivor” who has been granted asylum by the UK because of violence and persecution by Bahraini authorities.

“Sayed’s family have suffered reprisals in Bahrain for his work exposing torture and forced confessions leading to death sentences – and the role played by institutions funded by the UK in whitewashing this abuse,” Foa said.

“Under these circumstances, Sayed’s detention today is clearly extremely alarming for Sayed and his family,” she noted.

Foa said the incident raises “urgent questions” for the UK government, particularly given the removal of Bahrain from the list of human rights priority countries this year, for the first time since 2015.

Iran FM felicitates Muslim counterparts on Islamic Unity Week

“The initiative of Imam Khomeini (RA) in naming the week unity is in line with the approach of Muslim solidarity and the convergence of Islamic states to achieve the highest human values ​​and human happiness,”  Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian wrote on Saturday.

“I congratulate the Muslims of the world and my counterparts in Islamic countries on the birthday anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),” he added.

The Islamic Unity Week refers to a ceremony held every year both by Sunnis and Shia. Shia tradition holds that the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was born on the seventeenth day of the lunar month of Rabi’ al-Awwal. On the other hand, according to Sunni tradition, he was born on the 12th of Rabi’ al-Awwal. The event is held between two dates of the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Marked first time in Iran in the mid-1980s and based on the decree of the late Imam Khomeini, Muslims around the world observe Islamic Unity Week between these dates.

RHM/

Assad: US has close partnership with Takfiri terrorists in Syria

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists are operating in areas of northeast Syria controlled by US occupation forces, arguing that Washington has built up a close and strong partnership with militants wreaking havoc across the country.

Assad made the remarks in an exclusive interview with China’s state-run CGTN television news channel broadcast late on Friday.

“The northeastern sector of Syria is exactly the region, where terrorists are operating and Americans assert control over. The issue is not simply restricted to the looting of natural resources; but rather a partnership with terrorists to reap mutual benefits. This brings another problem, as a major power is in cahoots with terrorist. These are the facts on the ground in Syria,” he stated.

The Syrian leader highlighted that the Syrian conflict is not over yet, and the Arab country is in the midst of a war. Syria, due to its geographical location, has historically endured numerous invasions. Anytime occupiers overran the country, they destroyed its cities and towns. Syria has, however, managed to recover. Syrian people will be able to rebuild their own country when the war ends and the siege is lifted.

“The current situation is certainly not good. It is, frankly speaking, difficult because livelihood woes and struggles are the main problems of the Syrian nation. I mean the financial miseries that they have to endure. Their pains and sufferings are increasing,” Assad stated.

“If reconstruction gets underway, Syria will have a very bright future. I am not speaking of assumptions, desires and expectations, but rather about the pre-war situation. Prior to the war, Syria’s growth was at its best rate of 7%, which was considered a very high ratio for a country with limited capacities. 

“We had no foreign debts. We used to borrow and pay back our debts directly. We had enough wheat and used to export grains to other countries. We used to export vegetables and fruits, and were developing our industries in the early years of the crisis. Therefore, I can assuredly say that Syria will be much better than what it was before the war in case the war stops and reconstruction starts,” Assad underscored.

Syrian Army shoots terrorists' drones down, shells their base

The terrorists’ drones were destroyed as they were attacking the civilian sites and the Syrian Army’s positions in the suburbs of Idlib, Hama, and Latakia.

The Syrian Army added that the position of the armed terrorist groups was also shelled with artillery and a number of them were killed.

According to the 2017 agreement among Iran, Russia, and Turkey as the guarantor countries of the Astana Peace Talks, four safe zones were established in Syria.

Three regions came under the control of the Syrian army in 2018, but the fourth region, which includes Idlib province in northwestern Syria and small parts of Latakia, Hama, and Aleppo provinces, is still under the control of terrorist groups and adversary groups.

At the end of the summer of 2018, the leaders of Russia and Turkey reached an agreement in Sochi, Russia, during which Turkey promised to remove or disarm the terrorists based in that region without bloodshed.

MP/Alalam6714613

Israel's N-facilities should be subject to IAEA safeguards

The demand was put forward by the Chairman of Qatar’s National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons, Abdulaziz Salmeen al-Jabri at the annual general conference of the IAEA, which is currently underway in Vienna, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported on Friday.

Jabri further called for Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The Qatari official explained that these were legitimate demands that had been confirmed by “international legitimacy resolutions [that were passed] half a century ago,” the QNA report noted.

He named some of those resolutions as “resolutions of the UN General Assembly [that have been passed] since 1974, [United Nations] Security Council Resolutions 487 of 1981 and 687 of 1991, numerous IAEA resolutions, and the resolution of the Review Conference of the Middle East Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1995.”

The official reminded that Israel’s subjecting all of its nuclear facilities to the IAEA’s comprehensive safeguards regime and its accession to the NPT “is a prerequisite for establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.”

He “stressed that confronting nuclear proliferation in the Middle East is at the core of the tasks assigned to the IAEA…”

The Israeli regime, which pursues a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear weapons, is estimated to harbor 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, making it the sole possessor of non-conventional arms in West Asia.

The regime has, nevertheless, refused to either allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities or sign the NPT.

MNA/PressTV