US plans largest ever sale of Hellfire missiles to Iraq

Washington (AFP)

July 29, 2014

The United States plans to sell 5,000 Hellfire missiles to Iraq in a $700 million deal, officials said Tuesday, as Washington tries to help Baghdad retake ground captured by Sunni militants.

The US government, which has been reluctant so far to take military action in support of Baghdad, has rushed hundreds of the missiles to Iraq to help the Shiite-led government counter jihadists, who have seized areas north and west of the capital.

The proposed sale is the largest yet of the lethal missiles, which the Iraqis fire from AC-208 Cessna Caravan planes and other aircraft.

The deal calls for 5,000 AGM-114K/N/R Hellfire missiles and related equipment, parts, training and logistical support worth a total of $700 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement Tuesday.

“Iraq will use the Hellfire missiles to help improve the Iraq Security Forces’ capability to support current on-going ground operations,” the agency said.

The State Department has approved the deal and US law requires the government to inform members of Congress of a possible weapons sale. Lawmakers are not expected to try to block the sale.

Washington in July alone has delivered 466 Hellfire missiles to Iraq, and has shipped 780 since January, Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.

Another 366 missiles will be delivered in August, he said.

The missiles, manufactured by US defense giant Lockheed Martin Corporation, have been used on American Predator and Reaper drone aircraft to take out suspected Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere.

President Barack Obama has sent more than 200 US military advisers to Iraq to “assess” the state of the Iraqi army, while leaving open the possibility of US air strikes in the future.

The advisers delivered their initial evaluation earlier this month and Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel and top officers are still reviewing their findings, Kirby said.

The Obama administration has signaled reluctance to be drawn into major military action, and has argued that the jihadists exploited a failure by the Shiite-led government to forge cooperation with Sunni and Kurdish leaders.

“There’s not going to be a US military solution here. It’s just not going to happen,” Kirby said.

He also rejected the idea that the administration was “dithering” in its review of the assessment by military advisers.

Kirby said there was a sense of urgency but “whatever recommendations flow from these assessments have got to be the right ones, have got to be sound, and have to be based on logic, and not done in a rush.”

Source: Space War.

Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_plans_largest_ever_sale_of_Hellfire_missiles_to_Iraq_999.html.

Emirates airline says will not fly over Iraq after MH17

London (AFP)

July 28, 2014

Emirates will stop flying over Iraq due to concerns over jihadist missile attacks following the MH17 air disaster in Ukraine, the airline’s president Tim Clark told The Times on Monday.

Almost 300 people aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 died when it came down in eastern Ukraine nearly two weeks ago, with Washington and Europe claiming it was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile fired by pro-Moscow militants.

“This is a political animal but… the fact of the matter is MH17 changed everything, and that was very nearly in European airspace,” Clark told The Times in an interview published on Monday.

“We cannot continue to say, ‘Well it’s a political thing’. We have to do something. We have to take the bull by the horns,” added the British president of the Dubai-based carrier.

Clark predicted other carriers would also decide to stop flying over Iraq, as the global airline industry reviews the risk of overflying combat zones.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a Boeing 777 aircraft, was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 298 people aboard on July 17 when it was downed close to the village of Grabove, in the rebellion-wracked region of Donetsk in east Ukraine.

“The horrors that this created was a kick in the solar plexus for all of us,” Clark told the daily paper.

“Nevertheless having got through it we must take stock and deal with it.”

On Sunday meanwhile, the commercial director of Malaysia Airlines called for a complete overhaul of the way flight paths are deemed safe following the plane’s downing by a suspected missile.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Hugh Dunleavy said the disaster would have “an unprecedented impact on the aviation industry”, claiming that airlines can no longer depend on aviation authorities for reliable information about flying over conflict zones.

“For too long, airlines have been shouldering the responsibility for making decisions about what constitutes a safe flight path, over areas in political turmoil around the world,” he wrote.

“We are not intelligence agencies, but airlines, charged with carrying passengers in comfort between destinations.”

Source: Space Mart.

Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Emirates_airline_says_will_not_fly_over_Iraq_after_MH17_999.html.

France says ready to facilitate asylum for Iraq’s Christians

Paris (AFP)

July 28, 2014

France said Monday it was ready to help facilitate asylum for Christians in Iraq displaced by a jihadist onslaught, saying it was “outraged” by their persecution.

“We are ready, if they so desire, to help facilitate asylum on our territory,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a joint statement.

Thousands of Christians and other minorities have fled the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and other areas after Islamic State insurgents led a sweep across Iraq’s north and west last month.

The militants had ordered Christian families to convert to Islam or leave the city, prompting the mass exodus.

Those who failed to comply were threatened with execution, and the property of those who left was forfeited to the Islamic State, a statement from the group seen by AFP said.

“France is outraged by these abuses that it condemns with the utmost firmness,” both ministers said.

“The ultimatum given to these communities in Mosul by ISIL is the latest tragic example of the terrible threat that jihadist groups in Iraq, but also in Syria and elsewhere, pose to these populations that are historically an integral part of this region,” they added, referring to the jihadist group’s former name of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The Christian presence in the region spans close to two millennia.

Before the 2003 US-led invasion, more than a million Christians lived in Iraq, including more than 600,000 in Baghdad and 60,000 in Mosul, as well as a substantial number in the oil city of Kirkuk and in Basra.

The United Nations Security Council has already denounced the persecution of Christians and other minorities in Iraq, warning such actions can be considered crimes against humanity.

In a unanimous declaration adopted last week, the Council condemned “in the strongest terms the systematic persecution of individuals from minority populations and those who refuse its extremist ideology in Iraq by ISIL and associated armed groups,” it said.

“The members of the Security Council further recall that widespread or systematic attacks directed against any civilian populations because of their ethnic background, religious beliefs or faith may constitute a crime against humanity, for which those responsible must be held accountable.”

The Council also asked that the Iraqi government and the UN intensify their efforts to serve the “urgent” humanitarian needs of people displaced by the conflict and to tackle the “terrorist threat” against minorities.

Fabius and Cazeneuve, meanwhile, said they would soon hold talks with the representatives in France of Iraq’s Christian communities.

Source: Space War.

Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/France_says_ready_to_facilitate_asylum_for_Iraqs_Christians_999.html.

Bahrain files lawsuit to suspend Al-Wefaq activities

2014-07-20

DUBAI – Bahrain has filed a lawsuit to suspend Al-Wefaq’s activities for three months after the largest Shiite opposition group violated the kingdom’s law on associations, the official BNA news agency reported Sunday.

Political parties are banned in Bahrain, as in other Gulf Arab monarchies, and Al-Wefaq has the status of an association.

The ministry of justice said Al-Wefaq must rectify its “illegal status following the annulment of four general assemblies for lack of a quorum and the non-commitment to the public and transparency requirements for holding them,” as per Bahraini regulations, said BNA.

The ministry said it “filed the lawsuit following the insistence of Al-Wefaq on breaking the law… as well as its failure to amend violations related to its illegal general assemblies and the consequent invalidity of all its decisions,” BNA reported.

Al-Wefaq has led the protest movement that started in February 2011 by Bahrain’s Shiite majority against the ruling Sunni regime and has repeatedly called for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy.

Earlier this month, Bahrain’s chief prosecutor charged the head of Al-Wefaq, cleric Ali Salman, and his political assistant, ex-MP Khalil Marzooq, with violating a law on foreign contacts after they met the US Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski.

Bahrain has said the meeting at the US embassy violated the law stipulating that contacts between political associations and foreign parties “should be coordinated with the foreign ministry and in the presence” of its representative.

Manama had told Malinowski, who is the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, that he was “unwelcome” and should “leave immediately.”

Bahrain is a strategic archipelago just across the Gulf from Iran. Washington is a long-standing ally of the ruling Al-Khalifa dynasty, and Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Source: Middle East Online.

Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67204.

Emirates paves way for Middle East space program with mission to Mars

London, UK (SPX)

Jul 25, 2014

The United Arab Emirates has announced plans to launch a mission to Mars by 2021. A first for the Arab world, the mission and accompanying Space Agency are a big deal for the UAE – scientifically and politically.

Investing in space activities is not new territory for the UAE. Its investments in space-related technology has already exceeded some US$5.4 billion, developing satellite data, mobile satellite communications and earth mapping and observation facilities.

This is not surprising when we live in an age where space hardware is important for a range of practical everyday uses such as telecommunications and navigation. Accordingly, many countries have invested in purchasing satellites and their launches, data from space, and other space infrastructure.

Next level space missions

But there is something unique about the UAE’s announcement of plans to create a space agency and launch an unmanned mission to Mars by 2021. The plans indicate that the UAE will develop its own spacecraft building and perhaps also launching capabilities.

While many countries participate in space activities through the purchase of hardware and launches from external providers, the ability to build and launch their own craft domestically lifts a country to the next level of the space faring elite.

The announcement also implies that the UAE plans to pursue hugely expensive space activities with a primarily scientific purpose. Yes, this project has a practical purpose in that it is to inspire UAE technology growth and the education of forthcoming scientists. However a country is also making a statement when it moves from space-related activity for purely practical purposes, to the more heady goals of exploration, inspiration and science.

Power, prestige and politics

The leap from practical to primarily scientific space activity is noteworthy. This is partly because a space program is a way for states to assert their prestige.

There is historical precedent that undertaking space activities for exploration garners prestige and indicates power: financial strength, technological capabilities and also ideologically the capability to be at the forefront of an area of research that taps into humanity’s biggest goals.

The origins of putting human-made objects into space were during the Cold War between the US and the USSR, often referred to as the first space race.

But we have moved on from the days where space was a bipolar activity: many countries have space capabilities and activities are undertaken for a wide range of reasons. Also non-state actors are increasingly active in space, including several (such as Mars One) that have planned manned missions to Mars.

Still, the UAE’s Mars mission has a political subtext on several levels. Domestically, it is timed to shore up nationalistic sentiment for the 50th anniversary of the country’s formation. Regionally, the project indicates leadership within the Middle East region. And globally, the mission marks the entry of an Arab nation into the elite club of countries with such ambitious space programs.

Success guaranteed?

Will this project work, both scientifically and in order to build international prestige? Scientifically, Mars missions have proved tricky. Many have failed, including the UK’s Mars Beagle 2 rover, which reached Mars in 2003 but failed upon landing on the Martian surface. Therefore it remains to be seen what exactly the plans are for the UAE’s Martian device, and what it will achieve.

Politically, the planned program to Mars and also the creation of an UAE Space Agency makes a powerful statement. It puts the Middle East on the map with regards to space exploration for scientific purposes. It could also drive the creation of a Middle East space program, akin to that of the European Space Agency.

This does not undermine the scientific value or importance of the project proposed by the UAE. The space science research community is well-networked transnationally, and a well-funded project to the red planet by the UAE should be welcomed.

Source: Mars Daily.

Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Emirates_paves_way_for_Middle_East_space_program_with_mission_to_Mars_999.html.

Qatar proposes the establishment of a commercial port in Gaza

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Qatar has proposed the establishment of an internationally-supervised commercial port at the Gaza Strip as a temporary solution to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people until they establish their independent state along the pre-1967 borders.

Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Attiyah made the proposal during the meeting of Arab foreign ministers that was held in Cairo on Monday to discuss the steps that will be taken by the Arab League to confront the brutal Israeli aggression on the people of Gaza.

Al-Attiyah said that the international community should find guarantees that would enable the Palestinian Authority to pay salaries to Gaza’s employees, who represent more than 50,000 families.

“This requires Arab diplomatic action that should depend on Arab influence at the international level,” he said.

On Monday, Egypt proposed an initiative for a ceasefire in Gaza.

According to a statement issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Egyptian initiative states: “Israel shall cease all hostilities against the Gaza Strip via land, sea, and air, and shall commit to refrain from conducting any ground raids against Gaza and targeting civilians.

“All Palestinian factions in Gaza shall cease all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel via land, sea, air, and underground, and shall commit to refrain from firing all types of rockets, and from attacks on the borders or targeting civilians.”

The Egyptian initiative also called for the opening of crossings “and the passage of persons and goods through border crossings shall be facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.

“Other issues, including security issues shall be discussed with the two sides.”

On the method of implementation, the Egyptian foreign ministry said: “It has been decided to initiate implementation of the de-escalation agreements at 9am on July 15, 2014, pending the implementation of a full ceasefire within 12 hours of the announcement of the Egyptian initiative and its unconditional acceptance by both sides.”

Over a week ago, Israel launched a military operation on the Gaza Strip, labeling it “Operation Protective Edge” and alleging that it aims to stop rockets fired from Gaza towards Israeli towns and cities.

The Israeli military attack has resulted in more than 200 Palestinian deaths and the injury of more than 1,390. Some 80 per cent of those killed in the Israeli offensive are civilians.

Source: Middle East Monitor.

Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/12834-qatar-proposes-the-establishment-of-a-commercial-port-in-gaza.

UAE to create space agency, send unmanned probe to Mars

Abu Dhabi (AFP)

July 16, 2014

Oil-rich United Arab Emirates announced Wednesday it will create a space agency with the aim of sending the first Arab unmanned probe to Mars by 2021.

“The UAE has entered the space race with a project to send an unmanned probe to Mars by 2021 in the Arab world’s first mission to another planet,” said an Emirati government statement.

It added that a UAE Space Agency is to be created to drive the project.

“We chose the epic challenge of reaching Mars because epic challenges inspire us and motivate us,” said the UAE vice president and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

The statement said UAE investments in space technologies have already topped 20 billion dirhams ($5.44 billion).

The country has Al-Yah Satellite Communications, a satellite data and television broadcast company, mobile satellite communication company Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications, and Earth mapping and observation system Dubai Sat.

The new agency will coordinate the country’s space technology sector and supervise the probe mission which will take nine months to make the journey to Mars.

The United Arab Emirates, a seven-emirate federation formed in 1971, will become the ninth country in the world with space programs to explore the Red Planet, according to the statement.

Source: Space-Travel.

Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/UAE_to_create_space_agency_send_unmanned_probe_to_Mars_999.html.

Iran calls for end to Israeli strikes, defends Hamas

12 July 2014 Saturday

Iran has called for an “immediate end” to Israeli military strikes on Gaza.

In a television interview to be broadcast on Sunday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said “the United States and the rest of the members of the [UN] Security Council have a moral and legal responsibility to put an end to this.”

Asked to condemn Hamas rocket attacks on Israel, Zarif told the NBC program Meet the Press: “We do not condemn people who are defending themselves.”

He added: “We believe that Israel aims to make Palestinians suffer from hunger by the initiatives endangering civilians in [the] Gaza Strip, restricting civilians’ access to food and medicine.”

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has called on the UN to investigate the actions of both sides.

“More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, more than 600 people have been wounded, many of them seriously,” Amnesty said in a statement. “In Israel, at least 20 people have been wounded by rocket attacks and property damaged since Israel launched Operation Protective Edge in the early morning of 8 July.”

The campaign group called for an arms embargo on Israel, Hamas and Palestinian armed groups.

Israel’s military operation is the third in Gaza within six years.

Source: World Bulletin.

Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/haber/140559/iran-calls-for-end-to-israeli-strikes-defends-hamas.

Jordan boosts military presence on Iraq border

Elisa Oddone

July 1, 2014

RUWEISHED, Jordan — Scores of armored vehicles and Humvees with mounted machine guns have replaced the swarm of truck convoys on the gritty Jordanian desert border with Iraq after Sunni insurgents reportedly captured key crossings to Jordan and Syria earlier in June.

At least 10 tanks were seen dotting the border town of Karameh after Jordanian army units had been put on a state of alert in recent weeks along the country’s 200-kilometer (120-mile) eastern border, one of the Middle East’s busiest trade arteries.

Officials said rebels took over two key crossings in the predominantly Sunni Anbar governorate in western Iraq, the Treibel crossing with Jordan and the Walid crossing with Syria after Iraqi government forces had pulled out.

Initial reports suggested that fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) had taken over the Iraqi-Jordanian border crossing. However, Jordanian military personnel, speaking anonymously at the border, dismissed the claim, telling Al-Monitor that Iraqi troops loyal to the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki were officially still holding the crossing point, though they suspected Sunni tribes were in control of the surrounding area.

“The border is the most important link in the national security chain,” commander Maj. Gen. Saber al-Mahayrah told reporters at the headquarters of Jordan’s border guard ahead of a visit to the border area.

“National interests go as far as securing the borders so that radical groups do not infiltrate neighboring countries. Our duty is to protect the kingdom’s border from illegal crossings.”

Despite possible threats, the border remains open.

“Those who want to travel from and to Jordan cross via legal areas can do it. Outside of these we would not allow anyone to come in or leave Jordan,” added Mahayrah.

Jordan, the most stable country in a region in turmoil and one of the closest US allies in the Middle East, faces threats on two of its four borders. The army has beefed up defenses on the kingdom’s 370-kilometer (230-mile) northern border with Syria, fearing the return of Jordanian Islamist fighters now seen as a direct national security threat to the country.

To the east, there is fear that ISIS fighters might try to cross into Jordan to expand their medieval-esque Islamic caliphate, wiping out the colonial borders they refuse to recognize.

ISIS has declared a caliphate in the territories it has seized across Iraq and Syria, renaming itself the “Islamic State” and proclaiming its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, caliph of the Muslim world.

Jordanian Interior Minister Hussein Majali shrugged off the ISIS threat to the kingdom after the ISIS proclamation in a cabinet meeting behind closed doors June 30, the local media reported. The minister referred to a security buffer zone of around 400 kilometers (250 miles) separating Jordan’s border from the military operations inside Iraq.

The minister said he was confident about the kingdom’s capacity to deal with any attempt to target its borders from Iraq or Syria.

Since June 17, the army has boosted its ability to protect the Karameh border, 360 kilometers (220 miles) east of Amman, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the nearest civilian center and 560 kilometers (350 miles) from the Iraqi capital, after sweeping gains by the Sunni Islamist fighters inside Iraq.

“The border guards are living in a 24/7 state of caution supported by the Jordanian armed forces because of what is happening in Iraq. Our borders are safe and secure,” Mahayrah told reporters.

While armored vehicles were stationed at the Karameh border crossing, scores of open-topped Humvees, heavy machine-gun platforms able to carry anything from fully armed troops to anti-aircraft missiles, were seen on the road heading toward Karameh. Troops in battle dress uniform were seen patrolling the border outpost.

Officers refused to state the exact number of troops deployed, but told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that security had stepped up its presence along the long desert border, deploying dozens of British-manufactured tanks, rocket launchers and mortar guns.

“We are strengthening the presence of the forces on the border with both land and air units in case anything happens. But nothing has happened so far. We have not witnessed any clash,” a military officer told Al-Monitor at the border.

Traffic through the crossing is lighter than normal, but still flowing. Two single-engine Cobra attack helicopters hover low overhead to ward off any threat from across the border.

About 70 trucks could be seen crossing from Iraq in two hours, while less than 20 went the other way, Al-Monitor estimated. One driver said most truck drivers in Iraq were not working due to security concerns.

Ismail Kaoud, a truck driver arriving from the Iraqi town of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar governorate partly controlled by the militants since January, said he had not seen clashes or ISIS fighters on the road to Jordan.

“There is no ISIS. There were only tribal Sunni militias. Fallujah and Mosul are in the hands of militants. Maliki is inventing ISIS. The Treibel crossing is held by Iraqi forces and everything is normal. The Iraqi army is present on the border outpost with tanks and artillery. There is no ISIS on the border,” Kaoud said, indicating support for the Sunni rebellion.

No Iraqi has so far sought refuge in Jordan, said the officers. They said they were prepared in case refugees attempted to cross into the kingdom, citing concerns about a deluge of Iraqi refugees. The largely desert country with little natural resources has already been straining under the burden of some 600,000 Syrians fleeing the over three-year-old conflict, UN figures show.

Truck driver Obeid Mallah, from Baghdad, said the Iraqi police were in control of the crossing and that the highway between Baghdad and Amman was open. He sees no possibility of route closures.

“Crossing points were closed inside Iraq only for a couple of hours last week. Everything is back to normal now, except that it is very difficult to find fuel and prices surged inside the country. Work is fine. No one has threatened or attacked me on the road over the past weeks. Tribal militants are in control of the territory 150 kilometers [90 miles] from the border.”

Despite the threats from across the borders, military personnel showed little fear of the jihadist war entering their kingdom, saying, “There is no danger inside Jordan. Everyone loves [Jordan] and would step up to defend his country.”

But the military buildup along its border shows Jordan is not about to take any chances.

Source: al-Monitor.

Link: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/jordan-isis-iraq-caliphate-border-jihadist-terror.html.

Dubai launches Mall of the World, the first temperature-controlled city

Saturday, 5 July 2014

Dubai launched on Saturday the world’s first temperature-controlled entertainment and hotel district, Mall of the World, the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, said on Saturday.

The project, which will occupy 48 million square feet (4.45 million square meters), will have the largest indoor theme park in the world, which will be covered by a glass dome that will be open during the winter months, WAM state news agency reported on Saturday.

The shopping mall will cover an area of 8 million square feet (743,000 square meters), which will take the form of an extended retail street network, different to the typical shopping mall concept currently available in Dubai, according to WAM.

The temperature-controlled city will also include an area dedicated to healthcare catering to medical tourists, a cultural celebration district and a wide range of hospitality options comprising 20,000 hotel rooms catering to all types of tourists. The city if expected to attract 180 million visitors annually, WAM reported.

Commenting on the new project, Sheikh Mohammed said: “The growth in family and retail tourism underpins the need to enhance Dubai’s tourism infrastructure as soon as possible. This project complements our plans to transform Dubai into a cultural, tourist and economic hub for the two billion people living in the region around us; and we are determined to achieve our vision.”

“Our ambitions are higher than having seasonal tourism. Tourism is key driver of our economy and we aim to make U.A.E. an attractive destination all year long. This is why we will start working on providing pleasant temperature-controlled environments during the summer months. We are confident of our economy’s strength, optimistic about our country’s future and we continue to broaden our vision,” Sheikh Mohammed added.

The new project, developed by Dubai Holding, will introduce an “innovative concept of an integrated pedestrian city connected to the mall and offering a wide range of leisure, retail, cultural, wellness, recreation and hospitality options under one roof,” WAM said.

Tourists will be able to enjoy a week-long stay without the need to leave the City or use a car. The 7km long promenades connecting all facilities will be covered during the summer and open during the winter, ensuring pleasant temperatures throughout the year.

Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Chairman of Dubai Holding, said: “Mall of the World presents an innovative concept in the international hospitality sector, further strengthening Dubai’s appeal as a tourism hub with a wide range of options.”

Ahmad bin Byat, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Holding, said the project “will be built using state-of-the-art technology to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint, ensuring high levels of environmental sustainability and operational efficiency.”

Source: al-Arabiya.

Link: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/retail/2014/07/05/Dubai-launches-Mall-of-the-World-the-first-temperature-controlled-city-.html.