Ethiopian army forces have entered the Hiran province in central Somalia, and have retaken the town of Baladweyne...
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Cartoonist: Amjad Rasmi
Source: Al-Quds, Jerusalem, August 30, 2009
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mu'alem has called on the U.N. Security Council to investigate all crimes committed in Iraq since the invasion of the country in 2003.
The statement came in response to a demand by Iraq that the Security Council appoint an international tribunal to investigate "the war crimes and crimes against humanity" arising from the massive bombings in Baghdad on August 19, and to punish the perpetrators.
The Iraqi notion is that the Security Council appoint a tribunal similar to the one established to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri. Iraq claims that the bombings were planned in Damascus by members of the Iraqi Ba’th Party residing in Syria, and with the full knowledge of the Syrian authorities.
Iraq has continued to escalate its conflict with Syria by televising "confessions" by a leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, a Saudi national, who claimed to have received training in the Syrian city of Latakia and that he entered Iraq with the help of Syrian intelligence officers.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met yesterday, August 30, with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus, and the previous day, August 29, with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki in Baghdad, to stress the importance to regional security of Syria-Iraq relations.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is in Iraq and Syria today for the same purpose.
[It appears that Iraq has touched a raw Syrian nerve by calling for the creation of an international tribunal similar to the one investigating the assassination of al-Hariri. According to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, Iraq is seeking to "embarrass" Syria in the eyes of the world.]
Sources: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London; Al-Zaman, Iraq; Al-Thawra, Syria; Al-'Alaam, Iran, August 31, 2009
Cartoonist: Habib Haddad
Source: Al-Hayat, London, August 29, 2009
A recent economic study shows that the seven million foreign workers employed in Saudi Arabia have transferred 661 billion Saudi riyals ($165 billion) over the course of 10 years.
The transfer of money by foreign workers continued to increase over the years.
The Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority (central bank) is concerned that the annual transfer of currency by foreign workers could reach 90 billion riyals ($24 billion) annually – which will be a major drain on Saudi-held foreign currency.
Source: Al-Jazirah, Saudi Arabia, August 30, 2009
Jordanian Ambassador to Sudan Mundhir Qabba'ah said at a press conference that Jordanian investments in Sudan have reached $1 billion.
The investments cover the agricultural, industrial and medical fields.
Source: Iraq News Agency, August 29, 2009
On August 22, 2009, the media division of Al-Qaeda's "Islamic State of Iraq" organization (ISI) released the sixth video in its "Knights of Martyrdom" series, which celebrates jihadists killed in the war in Iraq.
This time, the video was dedicated to the Muslims of East Turkestan, i.e. the Uighurs of China's Xinjiang Province.
The clashes that took place in Urumchi in July between Uighurs and the Chinese authorities and other Han Chinese elicited a large wave of popular support for the Uighurs on the jihadist Internet.
The new ISI video is significant in that it is the first such show of support from an Al-Qaeda franchise.
Moreover, the ISI video does not just offer moral support; it actually calls on Muslims to join the Uighur jihadists and fight against China.
Following are excerpts from the portions of the video relating to the Uighurs:
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In a lecture at the Sao Paolo University in Brazil, the head of the Lebanese Phalange Party, Amin Al-Gemayel, called to hold indirect negotiations with Israel in order to settle the border issue and renew the hudna agreement of 1949, but stressed that he did not mean peace negotiations.
Al-Gemayel also called on Syria to present Lebanon with the documents proving its sovereignty over the Shab'a Farms and the Kfar Shuba Hills.
Amin Al-Gemayel's son, Sami Al-Gemayel, attacked Hizbullah, saying that if this organization could hold indirect negotiations with Israel to arrange prisoner exchange deals, then the Lebanese government could certainly hold such negotiations to regain the Shab'a Farms.
Source: Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), August 30, 2009
Cartoonist: Amjad Rasmi
Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, August 30, 2009
Cartoonist: 'Aamer Al-Zo'abi
Source: Akhbar Al-'Arab, UAE, August 30, 2009
