ISIS brings its war to Lebanon — and it could be key to a masterplan

After all the warnings and all the cliches about a war that would "spill" over Syria's border, the savage fighters of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's Sunni Muslim "caliphate" have at last arrived in Lebanon.

So far, the Lebanese army has lost 13 of its soldiers in a costly battle with rebels to retake the north-eastern Sunni town of Arsal — on the Syrian border and hitherto a resupply base for Islamists trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad — while the conflict has generated the same gruesome events which followed Islamist victories in Iraq and Syria: reports of civilian executions, government soldiers taken hostage, at least 12 civilians confirmed dead, including five children, and the prospect of long and bloody fighting ahead.

The world's attention, of course, has been concentrated on the slaughter in Gaza. In the Middle East, tragedy must come one day at a time, so the Syrian civil war and the ISIS takeover of western Iraq continued in the shadows of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But the Islamists' arrival in Lebanon and the prospect of a mini-civil war around Arsal - and perhaps as far as Tripoli - could have repercussions far graver than the Gaza war. As Islamists take over Lake Mosul and other districts from the Kurds in northern Iraq and press harder against Syrian government troops, their extension into Lebanon marks their furthest progress yet from the Tigris towards the Mediterranean. In Arsal, the fighters - officially from el-Nusra, whose own members are already joining those of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's caliphate - adopted their usual practice of seizing large buildings in the centre of the town (in this case, the technical college, a hospital and a mosque) and clinging to them in the hope that their opponents would disintegrate. The Lebanese army, which has twice defeated Islamist rebellions inside Lebanon in the past 15 years, claimed to have retaken the college, but the statements from both the Lebanese commander and Prime Minister may be taken as accurate: that the takeover of Arsal had been planned long in advance and is part of a far greater rebel strategy.

The Lebanese army says it has so far killed 50 fighters - a tally that sounds very like the Syrian army's premature claims of victory on the other side of the border - but government forces in Lebanon are unlikely to fall back. Sunni Muslims make up the larger part of the Lebanese forces whose units are among the best integrated of Middle East armies - and this has never prevented them from attacking and subduing Sunni Muslim rebels in the past, first at Sir el-Diniyeh in the northern mountains in 2000, and then within the Palestinian camp of Nahr el-Bared in 2007, at a cost of almost 500 dead soldiers, fighters and civilians.

For more than a year, the Lebanese army has tried vainly to close the frontier east of Arsal, and a Syrian army victory over rebels in Yabroud on the other side of the border earlier this year suggested that Sunni insurgents might leave Arsal lest they be cut off. But their resurgence shows that the Syrians have nothing like the control they have been claiming in the frontier lands. Indeed, the Nusra men had no difficulty in seizing 15 soldiers and almost as many Internal Security Force personnel when they first struck at Arsal. A battle between those Sunni forces opposing the Assad regime in Damascus - who are also responsible for the bombing of Shia targets in Lebanon - and Lebanese troops was almost inevitable. Less than two weeks ago, Lebanese special forces in Tripoli killed Mounzer el-Hassan, a Sunni "jihadist" logistics officer who was reported to have given suicide belts to bombers who attacked Beirut's Shia southern surburbs and the Iranian embassy in the capital. Those present at the battle said that el-Hassan was playing taped Islamic music as he finally died, when a hand grenade - possibly in his own possession - blew up in his face.

His death followed shortly after the capture of Houssam Sabbagh, a Salafist militant who led Sunni militia forces in recent battles against Alwite Shias in Tripoli. Sabbagh, who has fought in Afghanistan, Chechenya and in Iraq against US forces, was one of the few Tripoli leaders who refused to participate in a government "security" plan for the city.

The battles in Syria, however, are more complex. While ISIS - which still uses its acronym of the Islamic Army of Iraq and the Levant despite its incorporation into what al-Baghdadi calls the "Islamic State" or caliphate - has strengthened its position in Deir el-Zour and neighbouring villages (with its usual ferocious executions and heads-on-stakes), the Syrian military seems intent on blasting rebels out of the Damascus suburbs, especially Douma, a district which lies close to the main road north of the capital. If al-Baghdadi's men are fighting for control in the east of the country, Assad doesn't want them taking the place of less spirited rebels around Damascus.

Reports of independent resistance groups who oppose both Assad and ISIS - and supposedly call themselves "White Shrouds" - should be taken with the usual Syrian caution. Various militia outfits of both Sunni and mixed persuasions have strode fitfully onto the stage of the civil war over the past two years, only to vanish or merge into larger rebel or government forces.

But just as they must abide by tribal rules in Iraq, Islamists have found it dangerous to take on individual Syrian tribes in the "Jazeera" plateau north of Deir ez-Zour. They may have no love for Assad, but they will not allow fighters from Algeria or Chechenya to rule their tribal lands.

More disturbing, however, is the news that Sunni gunmen from the caliphate may have taken Iraq's largest dam outside Mosul from Kurdish peshmerga guerrillas.

The Kurds enlarged their territory by perhaps 40 per cent when the Iraqi army fled the northern Iraqi city, but the reputation of their supposedly unconquerable peshmerga army is taking a battering now that they have admitted losing villages close to the dam.

If the Islamists can capture the entire facility, they would technically have the ability to close off the waters from Baghdad — or flood the capital city, whose Shia government has proved itself incapable of governing — or recapturing - Sunni territory in Iraq.

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Egypt to dig new canal alongside Suez Canal

CAIRO: Egypt will dig a new 72-km canal parallel to the historic Suez Canal, a move that will expand trade and generate revenue of US$ 100 billion and provide 1 million new jobs.

"The project will be finished in one year," President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday announced during the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal Corridor project.

The new multi-billion dollar project is expected to generate a revenue of US$ 100 billion and provide 1 million new jobs, state-run news agency MENA reported.

Head of the Suez Canal Authority Mohab Mamish said the new project aimed to create "a new Suez Canal parallel to the current channel."

The project has been a dream for three successive Egyptian governments.

Sisi called on the rich people to take part in Tahya Masr Fund, launched last month to support Egypt's economy.

He said Egypt had given more to its people and it was time for them to payback to help finish the digging.

"You will pay come what may, because Egypt gave you more," the President said in his speech held in the Suez governorate.

The long cherished plan was proposed twice to the ousted President Hosni Mubarak's administration and was cancelled because of its high price tag.

It then faced another stumbling block when Islamist Mohamed Morsi's presidency was cut unexpectedly short last year.

The 145-year-old Suez Canal rake in an estimated US$ 5 billion in revenue per year, an important source for Egypt which has suffered a slump in tourism and foreign investment since the 2011 uprising.

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Spain freezes military exports to Israel

Spain is set to stop selling arms to Israel just days after the Spanish foreign minister described the situation in the Gaza strip as "heart-breaking".

The decision to freeze military equipment to Israel was taken on last Thursday and will be reviewed by the Spanish government in September, El Pais newspaper reported, adding that Madrid has applied a similar ban on Venezuela, Egypt and Ukraine over the past year.

Last year, Spain sold 4.9 million in military equipment and technology to Israel, accounting for just one per cent of Spanish defence exports.

On Thursday, the same day the decision was taken according to the newspaper, Spain's foreign minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, told Congress the situation in Gaza, where 1,800 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been reported dead since the conflict began four weeks ago, were heart-breaking.

Mr Garcia-Margallo said Israel has the right to protect itself and its citizens from aggression, but insisted that the actions of the Israeli government should be taken "under the condition of proportionality and the respect for protection that civilians deserve, which is no less than a manifestation of international humanitarian rights".

The announcement comes after Downing Street confirmed the UK government is currently reviewing the sale of £8 billion in arms and military equipment to Israel.

Earlier this week, an investigation by The Independent revealed that arms export licences worth £42m have been granted to 130 British defence manufacturers since 2010 to sell military equipment to the Israeli army.

On Monday, the French government called for immediate action to end the "massacre" in Gaza. Foreign minister Laurent Fabius chastised the two sides for "being incapable of concluding negotiations".

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ISIS grabs key Iraqi dam defeating Kurds

BAGHDAD: Islamic State fighters seized control of Iraq's biggest dam, an oilfield and three more towns on Sunday after inflicting their first major defeat on Kurdish forces since sweeping through the region in June.

Capture of the Mosul Dam after an offensive of barely 24 hours could give the Sunni militants the ability to flood major Iraqi cities, sharply raising the stakes in their bid to topple Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shia-led government.

Islamic State, which sees Iraq's majority Shias as apostates who deserve to be killed, also seized the Ain Zalah oil field, adding to four others already under their control, and three towns.

They faced strong Kurdish resistance only at the start of their latest offensive when taking the town of Zumar. The Islamists then hoisted their black flags there, a ritual that usually precedes mass executions of their captured opponents and the imposition of an ideology even al-Qaida finds excessive.

The group, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, poses the biggest challenge to the stability of OPEC member Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Since thousands of Iraqi soldiers fled the Islamic State offensive, Shia militias and Kurdish fighters have been seen as a critical line of defence against the militants, who have threatened to march on Baghdad.

But Sunday's battles have called into question the effectiveness of the Kurdish fighters and have increased pressure on Iraqi leaders to form a power-sharing government capable of countering the Islamic State.

Little resistance

Islamic State fighters attacked Zumar from three directions in pick-up trucks mounted with weapons, defeating Kurdish forces which had poured reinforcements into the town.

The Islamic State later also seized the town of Sinjar, where witnesses said residents had fled after Kurdish fighters put up little resistance against the militants.

On its Twitter site, the Islamic State posted a picture of one of its masked fighters holding up a pistol and sitting at the abandoned desk of the mayor of Sinjar. Behind him was the image of a famous Kurdish guerilla leader.

In a statement on its website, Islamic State said its fighters had killed scores of Kurdish fighters.

"Hundreds fled leaving vehicles and a huge number of weapons and munitions and the brothers control many areas," Islamic State said. "The fighters arrived in the border triangle between Iraq, Syria and Turkey," it said.

Islamic State has systematically blown up Shia mosques and shrines in territory it has seized, fueling levels of sectarian violence not seen since a 2006-2007 civil war.

However the group, which changed its name earlier this year from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has stalled in its drive to reach Baghdad, halting just before the town of Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of the capital.

Islamic State has been trying to consolidate its gains, setting its sights on strategic towns near oil fields, as well as border crossings with Syria so that it can move easily back and forth and transport supplies.

It has capitalized on Sunni disenchantment with Maliki.

Critics describe Maliki as an authoritarian leader who has put allies from the Shia majority in key military and government positions at the expense of Sunnis, driving a growing number of the religious minority in Iraq to support the Islamic State and other insurgents. He is also at odds with the Kurds.

Independent state

The Kurds have long dreamed of their own independent state, an aspiration that has angered Maliki, who has frequently clashed with the non-Arabs over budgets, land and oil.

After the Islamic State arrived, Kurdish forces seized two oil fields in northern Iraq and took over operations from a state-run oil company, complicating the task of trying to hold the country together,

In July, the Kurdish political bloc ended participation in Iraq's national government in protest over Maliki's accusation that Kurds were allowing "terrorists" to stay in Arbil, capital of their semi-autonomous region known as Kurdistan.

In another move certain to infuriate the Baghdad government, the Kurdish region is pressing Washington for sophisticated weapons it says Kurdish fighters need to push back the Islamist militants, Kurdish and U.S. officials said.

But Maliki needs the Kurds, who gained experience fighting Saddam Hussein's forces, to help defend his country from Islamic State, whose leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head.

Islamic State's ambitions have alarmed other Arab states who fear their success could embolden militants in their countries.

Islamic State fighters were among militants who clashed with Lebanese forces overnight in and around Lebanon's border town of Arsal. At least 10 Lebanese soldiers and an unknown number of militants and civilians died in the fighting, security officials said.

On Friday, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah urged regional leaders and religious scholars to prevent Islam from being hijacked by militants.

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Ukraine's army on outskirts of rebel stronghold

DONETSK (Ukraine): Fighting is raging on the western outskirts of Donetsk as the advancing Ukrainian army tries to seize control of the pro-Russian separatists' stronghold.

In danger of being encircled, the separatists renewed their calls for Russia to send troops to their aid. To support their operations, they have been confiscating vehicles and food from residents and businesses.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian military operation, Alexei Dmitrashkovsky, told Associated Press that government soldiers were fighting Sunday to hold positions they had taken on the edge of Donetsk, but were meeting resistance.

In the part of the city closest to the fighting, an artillery shell hit a school overnight and set off a fire, but no one was reported hurt. The sound of gunfire and explosions was heard just to the west.

'Putin ignoring their own interests'

Earlier on Saturday, US President Barack Obama said the US is limited in what it can do to deter Russia's actions in Ukraine because Russia and President Vladimir Putin are ignoring their long-term interests.

Obama said the US has done everything possible to support Ukraine's government and to deter Russia. But he said short of going to war, there are going to be constraints about what the US can do.

He said the US is imposing sufficient costs, and Russia should want to take the needed steps to get economic sanctions lifted.

But he said, "people don't always act rationally." He says sometimes people don't act based on their own interests.

Obama says the US must keep working to de-escalate the conflict.

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French, German leaders mark World War I

HARTMANNSWILLER (France): French President Francois Hollande and his German counterpart Joachim Gauck paid emotional tributes on Sunday to the millions of soldiers who died during World War I, exactly 100 years after Germany declared hostilities against France.

The two leaders gathered at Hartmannswillerkopf to remember the 30,000 soldiers who lost their lives in fierce battles around the rocky peak known as the "maneater" in France's Alsace region near the border between the two countries.

"France and Germany, beyond their suffering and bereavements, had the courage to make up," Hollande said.

"It was the best way to honour the dead and provide a guarantee of peace to the living," he added in a speech where he also remembered the conflicts still raging around the world, including the confrontation between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that has claimed over 1,700 lives.

"All efforts must be made to impose, today more than ever, a ceasefire in Gaza and end the suffering of civilian populations," he said.

Standing near the bucolic peak of Hartmannswillerkopf, Gauck reminded onlookers that the site "symbolizes the absurdity and horror of those years".

"We commemorate the dead, the missing, the injured on both sides, and we honour their memory. They are not forgotten," he said.

The symbolism of the event was all the stronger as August 3, 1914 "opened a period of 30 years of conflicts, bitterness, massacres and barbarity between France and Germany," the French presidency said in a statement.

It testifies "to the strength of the friendship between the two countries which allows them to look together at their common history, including at what has been the most dramatic."

This is not the first time that Hollande and Gauck have joined forces to denounce the horrors of conflicts that once made fierce enemies of the two countries.

Last year, the two heads of state walked hand in hand in the central French village of Oradour-sur-Glane where SS troops massacred 642 people on June 10, 1944 during World War II, the worst Nazi atrocity in occupied France.

In Hartmannswillerkopf, Hollande and Gauck also signed a joint declaration on Franco-German friendship as the foundation stone for the first World War I museum jointly conceived by historians from both countries was laid on the ground.

They then stood in silence in front of a monument under which are buried the ashes of some 12,000 unknown French and German soldiers.

Other countries held events Sunday or were due this week to commemorate the Great War, which left some 10 million dead and 20 million injured on the battlefields. Millions more perished under occupation through disease, hunger or deportation.

In London, an altar cloth embroidered by 138 wounded World War I soldiers was to take its place again at Saint Paul's Cathedral on Sunday.

The frontal, which has not been on display there for seven decades, was embroidered by severely wounded or shell-shocked men from Britain, Australia, Canada and South Africa in memory of their fallen comrades in arms.

And in Liege, a service to mark 100 years since the German invasion of Belgium will be attended Monday by members of the Belgian and British royal families as well as other heads of state and government, including Hollande and Gauck.

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Japan names 5 disputed islets in East China Sea

TOKYO: Japan on Friday named five uninhabited small isles belonging to an island group in the centre of a dispute with China as part of efforts to reinforce its claim, a move likely to spark anger from Beijing and another claimant, Taiwan.

The five islands, named after directions of the compass, are part of the group in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese. Five bigger islands in the group already have names. Chinese and Japanese coast guard ships have regularly confronted each other in surrounding waters.

The five were among 158 islands that were named day and their list published on a website of the Japanese maritime policy department. The other islands elsewhere in the Japanese waters are not disputed.

The government said that naming the islands is meant to raise public awareness that they belong to Japan.

However, assigning names to disputed islands does not change their status. Japan insists the islands lie within its territorial waters; China says they were stolen by Japan in 1895 and should have been returned at the end of World War II.

Taiwan, which calls them Diaoyutai, also claims the islands but has worked out an arrangement with Japan guaranteeing its fishermen access to the area, and it rejects any notion of joining with Beijing on the matter.

China and Japan are also at odds over exploitation of East China Sea gas deposits in the area.

The disputed waters are surrounded by rich fishing grounds. Chinese coast guard and fishing boats have recently more frequently approached the area, sometimes violating Japan's waters, especially since Japan's previous government nationalized the main Senkaku islands in 2012.

Ties between Japan and China have worsened in recent years over the island dispute, a contested gas field in the East China Sea and lingering animosity over Japan's World War II-era actions in China.

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Scotland’s independence: To be or not to be?

NEW DELHI: A referendum on September 18 will see an electorate of 4.1 million addressing a simple set of six-words, "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

The referendum is a pivotal moment in the history of Scotland and the United Kingdom, the results of which will profoundly alter the British Isles, for better or for worse.

Historically the Kingdom of Scotland had been a sovereign state for eight centuries prior to the Act of Union in 1707, which saw the establishment of a single parliament in Westminster.

It was not till the 19th century that the Scots found themselves desiring an administrative devolution that was given to them as a Scottish Office in Whitehall. Yet the idea of an independent Scotland never entered the political mainstream till a century later.

A referendum was held in 1979 to establish a Scottish Assembly, but the measure never passed. In 1997 a vote allowed the establishment of a Scottish Parliament but it would be dependent on grants from Westminster. A vote on independence never seemed possible. It was only in 2011 when the Scottish National Party, which promised an independence referendum as part of its manifesto, won a majority vote in the Scottish parliamentary elections, that the idea of an independent Scotland seemed likely. The Scottish First Minister and SNP leader, Alex Salmond, has since been the main proponent of Scottish independence.

Salmond has long been disenchanted with the unionist bureaucracy, maintaining that Scotland has always been an afterthought for Westminster. Understandably he believes those with Scotland's best interests at heart should be the ones managing her affairs. After all a government that the Scottish rejected presently governs the United Kingdom.

Learning from those before him Salmond's bid for independence is built on pragmatism rather than sentimentality, a chance to "change Scotland for the better." In today's desperate fiscal climate the appeal of independence lies purely in its economic and social benefits.

Last year the Scottish Government published a 670-page document outlining their case for sovereignty and the measures they would take to oversee it. North Sea oil has been central to the argument for independence, as the Scottish Government believes they would lay claim to 1.5 trillion pounds worth of oil left in the reserves. Still, not everyone is convinced. The general trend in almost every poll conducted on the matter has been roughly 60-40 in favour of 'No'.

Chairing the unionist Better Together campaign, Alex Salmond's main opponent, Alistair Darling, asserts that being a part of the United Kingdom brings security, mutual risk, a shared culture, and more importantly a currency union. The three largest British political parties, the Tories, Labour and Lib-Dems, have united in the avowal that a currency union is incompatible with an independent Scotland and that the pound would not be theirs to keep. However Salmond has reduced such claims to being an attempt at scaremongering, assuring his voters that they will keep the sterling. Darling has since derided the 670-page document to be "thick with false promises and meaningless assertions."

(AFP photo)

The referendum has polarized the Scots. British identity has always been an enigma and for the first time they are having to confront themselves about it. Fifty days from now a decision would have been made as to whether Scotland is to remain in the United Kingdom. Should the majority cast a 'Yes' vote, Scotland would fancy itself an independent state annulling a 307-year old political union with their English counterparts. Should the majority cast a 'No' vote, Scotland would remain a part of Britain, but not really. The notion of an independent Scotland will be incessantly lingering north of the border. The question of "what if?" will forever entice. Independent or not, Alex Salmond has won.

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17 Iraqi soldiers die battling jihadists, blasts hit Baghdad

HILLA: At least 17 Iraqi soldiers were killed in a fierce battle against jihadists south of Baghdad on Friday while bombs in and around the capital left another 16 people dead.

The clashes took place in Jurf al-Sakhr, a small Euphrates River town on a road linking Sunni insurgents strongholds in the west to Shia holy cities south of Baghdad.

"Seventeen soldiers were killed and three wounded during clashes with insurgents in Jurf al-Sakhr that lasted two hours this morning," an army lieutenant told media.

An army medic confirmed the death toll, with both sources saying 23 jihadists from the Islamic State were also killed.

The mainly Sunni town, which lies in the north of Babil province, is the scene of almost daily fighting between pro-government forces and Sunni militants.

IS launched a sweeping offensive in northern Iraq on June 9, conquering the second city Mosul and large parts of the country's Sunni heartland.

Jurf al-Sakhr lies on the edge of what became known during a previous wave of sectarian bloodshed eight years ago as the "triangle of death."

The army and allied Shia militia, such as Asaib Ahl al-Haq, take up positions in the town during the day but often pull back at night, which allows insurgents to plant roadside bombs.

The loss of Jurf al-Sakhr would threaten government control over one of only two main roads linking Baghdad to the southern Shia heartland, including the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.

Another 17 people, including some IS fighters, were killed in a government air raid on Jurf al-Sakhr Monday.

In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded on a busy street of the large Shia neighbourhood of Sadr City, killing at least nine and wounding 21, according to a police colonel and medical sources.

Three blasts near the Baghdad's central Kholani Square also went off near a Shia mosque, killing five and wounding 16, according to the same sources.

And just south of the capital, in the town of Madain, at least two civilians people were killed and seven wounded in another bomb blast.

Figures compiled by the health, interior and defence ministries showed that 1,401 civilians, 185 soldiers and 83 policemen were killed in July.

The United Nations representation in Iraq provided a higher figure, saying at least 1,737 people were killed.

"I am concerned about the rising number of casualties in Iraq, particularly among the civilian population. Children and women are most vulnerable," top UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov said.

Iraq's scattered, moving frontlines and myriad fighting groups make independent verification of casualty figures very difficult.

The government's civilian tally includes an unknown number of volunteers who enlisted with government-backed Shia militia.

The Islamic State does not divulge casualty figures.

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Women should not laugh in public: Turkish minister

ISTANBUL: A senior Turkish minister who caused an outcry by suggesting women should not laugh loudly in public waded into a new controversy today by attacking women who he said could not resist pole dancing.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, a co-founder of the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), has strongly criticised in recent days what he sees as a decline of moral standards in Turkey.

His comment earlier this week that women should not laugh in public was ridiculed by secular Turks, with women taking to Twitter en masse to post pictures of themselves laughing deliriously.

Arinc said in televised comments today that those remarks had been taken out of context and he had wanted to comment on the "general rules of morality".

But he added, "There are women who leave on holiday without their husbands and others who don't have self control and can't stop themselves from climbing up a pole."

"Anyone can live like this. I can't be angry against you but I can just have pity for you," he said.

Arinc's latest remarks appear to have been prompted by the wife of a prominent Turkish footballer who posted a picture of herself pole dancing on Instagram with the slogan "when I see a pole, I just can't resist".

The woman, the wife of Caner Erkin, a prominent player for Istanbul giants Fenerbahce, has since deleted the image from her account.

Mimicking the Twitter campaign over Arinc's comments on laughing, bloggers posted pictures of their pets climbing up poles or flags proudly flying from poles.

Political tensions are riding high in Turkey as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan prepares to stand in presidential elections on August 10 with his critics accusing the government of seeking to erode the country's secular principles.

Turkey's liberal press slammed Arinc's latest remarks, with columnist Ismigul Simsek of the Bianet website telling him to go back to "watering the flowers".

"We know what kind of society, woman and morality you are trying to reconstruct. We are following it closely but we don't like it. And we don't choose it," she wrote.

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