By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon – According to Lebanon’s official news agency, Syrian military helicopters have launched three air-raids in areas inside Lebanon near the town of Arsal on the Syrian border. The airstrikes signify a spill over of the Syrian Civil War, now in its third year, into neighboring countries as the regime attempts to cut-off supply routes used by rebel forces.

On 28 February Reuters reported that an airstrikes near the town of Arsal killed three people and wounded seven. Later that day Sunni militants inside Syria fired rockets into the Lebanese’s town of Britel, a Hezbollah stronghold. The attack wounded a women and her two children.

The majority of the people living in the border town of Arsal’s support the Syrian revolution and opposition fighters. The town is now home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and has experienced a sudden influx of displaced persons as the Syrian government launches a mass assault across the border in the Qalamoun region or Syria.

On Wednesday, Syrian helicopters carried out the air raids in the sparsely populated mountainous regions outside of the town of Arsal, near the Syrian border. Airstrikes have become common along the Lebanon-Syria border. Syrian war planes and helicopters routinely carry out air strikes along the border, inside of Lebanon.

Syrian warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes near a Lebanese border town on Wednesday, the latest evidence of a spill over of the Syria’s civil war into neighbouring countries. The town’s Deputy Mayor Ahmad Fliti said that an airstrike was carried out near the border town on Wednesday and that at least eight airstrikes have been carried out along the town’s outskirts where thousands of refugees have established tent-encampments.

Asem Alzein, a Syrian doctor who lives in Arsal said a 30-year-old woman and seven-year-old girl in Wadi Hmaied were wounded during the airstrikes. He said that one blast hit only a few hundred meters away from a school, forcing the teachers and students to flee the building.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damages from Wednesday’s round of air-strikes which appears to be linked to the regime’s military offensive against the rebel stronghold of Yabroud. Syrian journalists who were taken on a state-orchestrated tour of government-held areas around Yabroud on Tuesday reported that they heard gunfire and saw military jets flying overhead. The offensive is an attempt by the Assad regime to gain control of border regions in order to cut-off shipments of arms and other supplies to rebel groups.

For more information please see:

Al Aljazeera – Syrian air raids hit Lebanese border region – 05 March 2014

Reuters – Syrian Air Raids Hit Lebanese Border Region – 05 March 2014

ABC News – Syrian Aircraft Strike near Lebanese Border Town – 04 March 2014

Reuters – Syrian Air Strikes Kill Three near Lebanese Border – 28 February 2014

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran-Iranian military officials have reported that five Iranian border guards who were seized and held captive in Pakistan have been released.  The guards were held captive for three weeks.

The Iranian soldiers were abducted by Sunni Muslim militants on February 6 in the Sistan-Baluchistan province.  They were among 11 foreign hostages that were freed in an operation by Pakistani forces, reported Iran’s official news agency IRNA.

“Five Iranian troops who had been kidnapped on our eastern borders and transferred to Pakistan were freed,” stated General Massoud Jazaerisemi.

He did not elaborate on the circumstances of the release, only saying that “the country’s entire police and security apparatus were involved in this matter.”

Pakistani authorities, however, appeared to have no knowledge of the operation.

It was reported by the Frontier Corps, a government run paramilitary that is primarily responsible for security in Baluchistan, that they had freed three Africans who were kidnapped by drug traffickers in Baluchistan on Saturday, but had not recovered any of the Iranians.

Sistan-Baluchistan is an impoverished and relatively lawless province that has seen an abundance of rebellion by a disgruntled Sunni minority in a predominantly Shi’ite Iran.

Iran warned two weeks ago that it might pursue the rebels into Pakistani territory, provoking an angry warning from Islamabad.  This warning is sparked from anger over a spate of cross-border attacks by the so-called Jaish al-Adl, translated to the Army of Justice.

Earlier this month, Jaish al Adl set several conditions for releasing the Iranian soldiers in a statement on its website. The group has called on Iran to release fifty of its arrested members, 200 prisoners and fifty female militants imprisoned in Syria in a swap deal with the five border guards.

The group released a photo of the kidnapped border guards and claimed the responsibility for their abduction on February 8.  On February 11, Iran called on Pakistani officials to arrest and extradite members of the group who were responsible for the abduction of border guards.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif enjoys warm relations with Saudi Arabia, which sheltered him after an earlier military coup forced him into exile. Sharif’s cash-strapped government is also hoping for financial aid from the Saudis. As such, Iran accuses both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia of supporting an armed Sunni rebellion.

For more information, please see the following: 

Al Jazeera-Iran says border guards freed in Pakistan-02 March 2014

Reuters-Iran says abducted border guards freed in Pakistan-02 March 2014

Tribune-Abducted guards freed, says Iran-02 March 2014

Fars News-Abducted Iranian Border Guards Released in Pakistan-01 March 2014

 

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Just three years after the Arab Spring took hold in Egypt, bringing thousands of young people out into the streets to call for democratization and an end President Mubarak’s military regime, a bloody regime characterized by fear and violence, Egypt appears to be moving closer to a new presidency; hand-picked by the state’s military.

Egypt’s Prime minister, Hazem al-Beblawy, announced the early resignation of the interim cabinet on Monday. Al-Beblawy was appointed to serve as Egypt’s interim head of government until the nation could elect a new president, however following weeks of criticism his government resigned on Monday. Egypt’s Interim President Adly Mansour reportedly requested that outgoing Prime Minister Hazem al Beblawy – to run the government’s affairs until a new prime minister can be named.

In a speech, al-Beblawy called on the Egyptian people to take greater personal responsibility in solving the nation’s economic and political problems. “It is time we all sacrificed for the good of the country. Rather than asking what Egypt has given us, we should instead be asking what we have done for Egypt,” Beblawy was quoted as saying in state-run media. He added that while in office his government has “made every effort to get Egypt out of the narrow tunnel in terms of security, economic pressures and political confusion.”

The sudden resignation of the interim government paves the way for army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fatah el-Sissi to announce his candidacy for the presidency.

Sissi, was a member of the interim candidate, serving as Defence Minister. The government resignation was seen as necessary because he would first have to leave his office in order to run for the Presidency.

According to one Egyptian official, this action was sees as a necessary move ahead of Sissi’s announcement that he will seek the Presidency. The official also said that the entire cabinet resigned in one move in order to create an image of unity and make it seem that Sissi was not acting alone.

The presidential elections will be the first held since the overthrow of Egypt’s first democracy elected President Mohamed Morsi, a move may considered the beginning of a pendulum swing back to the old politics of the Mubarak regime, sparked the bloodiest rise in modern Egyptian history. Egyptian security forces killed hundreds and arrested thousands of Islamists and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood has accused Sissi of planning a coup to remove the democratically elected Morsi regime from power in order to restore a military-centric doctoral government similar to that which existed under President Mubarak.

For more information please see:

Al Arabiya – Egypt’s Govt Resigns, Sparking Controversy – 24 February 2014

The Guardian – Egypt’s Prime Minister and Cabinet Resign – 24 February 2014

The Washington Post – Egyptian Cabinet Resigns, Paving Way for Military Chief To Run For President – 24 February 2014

The Washington Post – Egypt’s Cabinet Resigns, Sets Stage for Presidency – 24 February 2014

 

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt-Deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi is facing charges of espionage and carrying out “terror attacks” in Egypt, as a third trial against him is due to commence.  The latest court case is part of a relentless government crackdown targeting Morsi and his Islamist supporters since he was ousted by the military on July 3.

Morsi, along with 35 others former aides and leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood, are accused “of spying for the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, its military wing and the (Palestinian) Hamas movement.”

They are also charged with “carrying out terror attacks inside the country against state property, institutions and their employees to spread chaos.”

Morsi, who was ousted by the military after a single year of turbulent rule, is already on trial for his alleged involvement in the killing of opposition protesters in December 2012.

Morsi is separately being tried on charges linked to a jailbreak during the 2011 uprising that toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak.  Morsi, along with 130 others, including dozens of members of Hamas and Lebanon’s Shiite militant movement Hizbollah, led the charge during the 2011 military coup.

Further charges are set against the ousted leader as he is also to be tried separately for “insulting the judiciary”.  A date for this trial has yet to be set.

In his most recent public appearance, at the start of his second trial in late January, a defiant Morsi questioned the trial judge’s authority, asking Judge Shabaan el-Shami to identify himself. The trial was adjourned to give lawyers more time to examine files, and is due to begin again on Saturday.

In his previous appearance, Morsi insisted that he remained the country’s legitimate president and challenged the legitimacy of the court, regularly interrupting the judges and prosecutors.

Since Morsi’s ouster, his supporters have faced a relentless crackdown by Egypt’s government that has left more than 1,400 people dead according to Amnesty International, and seen thousands more arrested.

During Morsi’s short-lived presidency, ties between Cairo and Hamas, a Palestinian affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood which rules the neighboring Gaza strip, had flourished.

But since July, Egypt’s military-installed government has accused Hamas of backing Morsi and his Brotherhood and carrying out terrorist attacks inside Egypt.

The army has destroyed several hundred tunnels used to ferry crucial supplies, including fuel, into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

If found guilty, the defendants could face the death penalty.

For more information, please see the following: 

Al Jazeera-Morsi in court for espionage trial-16 February 2014

BBC-Lawyers for Egypt’s Morsi walk out of latest trial-16 February 2014

Deutsche Welle-Morsi faces fresh trial in Egypt on spying charges-16 February 2014

Telegraph-Mohamed Morsi in court on Egypt spying and ‘terror attacks’ charges-16 February 2014