Evacuations begin from Syria’s Quneitra province
Hundreds of people were evacuated from Syria’s southwestern Quneitra province to opposition-held parts of Idlib on July 20, in line with an agreement between the Assad regime and armed opposition groups. Under the terms of the agreement, a total of 1,500 people – in 40 vehicles – are expected to leave the southern province, which is located adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights region.
The agreement provides opposition fighters with safe exit to Idlib in exchange for surrendering their heavy weapons. A similar deal was implemented recently in Syria’s southern Daraa province, according to which regime forces – along with Russian military police – were allowed to deploy along the nearby border with Jordan. Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.
Turkish firm denies building US embassy in Jerusalem
A Turkish company has rejected the reports on media and social media that it is involved in constructing the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, said a report on July 22. In a statement, Limak Holding said the company would “definitely” not take part in the construction project of the U.S embassy in Jerusalem. “The information that the construction of the US embassy in Jerusalem will be done by Limak Holding does not reflect the truth,” the statement said.
It said the Limak Holding had been working with the U.S.-based Desbuild company for over five years and completed several projects of the U.S. State Department – including the construction of the U.S. embassies in Baghdad, Beirut, New Zealand and Belize. “When the issue of the construction of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem came to agenda, we informed Desbuild company that we will not participate as a partner in this project and we would not give an offer as Limak,” the statement said.
Turkey’s MHP leader blasts Israel’s ‘Jewish state’ law
The leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on July 20 slammed Israel’s recently approved “Jewish nation-state” law. “Israel is moving step by step towards disaster, playing with fire and also regional and global balances,” Devlet Bahceli wrote on Twitter. On July 19, the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved the law, which describes Israel as “the nation-state of the Jewish people.”
The legislation further states that a “united Jerusalem” is the capital of Israel and that Hebrew is the country’s official language, stripping Arabic of its earlier designation as an official language while recognising its “special status.” It was approved by a vote of 62-55 in a tumultuous assembly session in which Arab lawmakers decried what they called “Israeli racism against the Arab minority.” Turkey has denounced the legislation for trying to strip Palestinians of their rights.
The legislation has also invited a storm of condemnations and outrage in Israel and among Jewish groups. Tamar Zandberg, chairwoman of the left-wing Meretz Party, described the law as “shameful”. Israeli Druze Members of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) announced that they will lodge an appeal against the legislation.
Israeli forces killed medic Razan al-Najjar on Purpose
An investigation conducted by Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem has concluded that Israeli security forces deliberately shot and killed Palestinian paramedics Razan al-Najjar, contradicting the Israeli army’s claims that it was an accident, a report said on July 18. Al-Najjar, 21, was killed on 1 June, as she and her colleagues treated Palestinians taking part in Great March of Return protests in Gaza, near the boundary fence with Israel, east of Khan Younis.
Shortly before she was killed, al-Najjar was with several other paramedics, including Rami Abu Jazar, Rasha Qudaih, Rida al-Najjar and Mahmoud Abd al-Ati. B’Tselem’s investigation found that a member of the Israeli security forces aimed and shot directly at her as al-Najjar stood some 25 meters away from the fence, “despite the fact that she posed no danger to him or anyone else and was wearing a medical uniform.”
Rohingya refugees want to return to Myanmar
Myanmar’s minority Muslim Rohingya refugees told a UN envoy that they are willing to return to Myanmar if their safety and citizenship are provided, according to a UN statement on July 17. The statement came following the UN Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener’s first official visit to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh from July 14 to 16, where more than 750,000 refugees live. “In Cox’s Bazar, she visited the sprawling refugee camps and heard from the people accounts of unimaginable atrocities committed in Rakhine State,” the statement noted.
During her discussions on the visit, Burgener also underlined the importance of accountability for the crimes committed by Myanmar forces. Since Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 Rohingya, mostly children and women, have fled to neighboring Bangladesh after Myanmar forces began a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International. At least 9,400 Rohingya were killed in Myanmar’s Rakhine State from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, 2017, according to Doctors Without Borders.
Bangladesh sentences 4 to death over war crimes
A Bangladeshi court on July 17 sentenced four people to death for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 war, which marked the country’s secession from Pakistan. “…They were convicted and condemned to the sentence of death and they will be hanged by the neck till they are dead,” said Justice Shahinur Islam, chairman of the three-member tribunal, state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported.
The convicts, Akmal Ali Talukder, 79, Abdun Nur Talukder, 66, Anis Miah, 80, and Abdul Mosabbir Miah, 67 committed genocide, murder, abduction and torture from May 7-Nov. 24, 1971 in Panchgaon and Paschimbhag villages of Moulvipazar district, the International Crime Tribunal (ICT) said.
Tunisia’s Ennahda urges PM not to run for president
Tunisia’s Ennahda movement has renewed calls for Prime Minister Youssef Chahed to drop plans to run for next year’s presidential election. In a statement on July 17, Ennahda urged the prime minister and his government to carry out economic reforms agreed upon by the country’s political parties. The call was issued following a meeting called by Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi to discuss the economic crisis in the country on Monday.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Nidaa Tounes and Ennahda, as well as the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) and the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA). Chahed has been under fire in recent months over worsening economic conditions in the country amid calls for the prime minister to step down. Earlier this week, Essebsi called on the prime minister to resign or seek a confidence vote if the country’s political and economic crisis continues.
Mauritanian Islamic scholar al-Hajj dies at age 105
Mauritanian Islamic scholar Sheikh Murabitt al-Hajj has passed away at age 105, online news sources reported. Muhammad Ould Fahfu al-Massumi (Sheikh Murabitt al-Hajj), born in 1913, passed away on on July 17, said Islam21C.com. Al-Hajj was known for his zuhd (ascetism), worship, and mastering of the sciences of Islam. The sheikh was also the cousin of Sheikh Muhammad al-Hassan Walid al-Dido al-Shanqiti, the head of the northwest African country’s Center for the Development of Scholars.
In 2016, the Jordan-based Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre selected him as one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims. Al-Hajj was also the main teacher of American Muslim thinker Hamza Yusuf, a convert to Islam who is seen as one of the proponents of classical learning in Islam and has promoted Islamic sciences and classical teaching methodologies throughout the world. His books included Enlightening the Obscure in Alfiyyah (1,000 Verses) Bin Malik, Enlightening Readers and Listeners about the Glorious Pearls in Imam Nafi’s (Quran) Reciting Provisions, and The Best to be Said About What Was Conveyed on Similarities in the Quran and the Prophet’s Hadiths.