As the Syrian government forces continue to advance on the Syrian province of Idlib, the last main rebel stronghold in the country, experts say the northwestern region may no longer serve as a shelter for the Islamic State (IS) fighters who have sought refuge there following their defeat elsewhere in the war-torn country.

Syrian troops, backed by Russia, for months have been trying to take control of parts of Idlib.  

Last week, Syrian regime forces recaptured the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib, which had been under rebel control since 2012.

Idlib is home to nearly 3 million people, including many who have been displaced from other parts of Syria over the last eight years of war in the country.

Relocated IS fighters

A recent report published by the U.N. Security Council said the Syrian province remains dominated by extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State terror groups.

Idlib “also plays host to relocated ISIL fighters and dependents,” the U.N. report added, using another acronym for IS.

Following the military defeat of the terror group in eastern Syria in March 2019, many IS militants and their families moved to Idlib, fleeing from U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Experts say that IS, also known as ISIS, would inevitably face the same fate as many rebel and Islamist factions based in Idlib.

“If the Syrian regime retakes Idlib province, the ISIS members who have taken refuge in the Islamist dominated enclave will be killed or flee into Turkey,” said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

“The Alawite leadership of Syria regards ISIS as a lethal enemy because ISIS regards Alawites in the same category as Yazidis — unbelievers whose women can be taken as slaves and whose men should be killed or converted,” Landis told VOA.

Alawites are a sect of Islam that are largely based in Syria. They make up about 10% of the country’s population. Alawites are the backbone of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is an Alawite himself.

Mistrust

In addition to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the largest Islamist group in Idlib, which previously was al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, there are other extremist factions that are active in the northwestern province.

Huras al-Din is one of several al-Qaida-linked groups that have maintained a significant presence in parts of Idlib. Other Turkey-backed rebel groups also have a foothold in the province.

Western intelligence agencies believe that thousands of foreign fighters affiliated with different radical groups are active in Idlib.

Some experts believe that the ever-changing military dynamics in Idlib could determine the presence of IS militants in the Syrian province.   

IS “fighters that relocated to Idlib are in a precarious position because few local Syrian rebel groups trust them,” said Nicholas Heras, a Middle East expert at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington. “The ISIS presence in Idlib is facilitated by the group’s access to large sums of money, which for all intents and purposes allows it to bribe local Syrian rebel groups to abide its presence,” he told VOA.

Heras added that many IS fighters who relocated to Idlib are also Syrian nationals from the western parts of the country who have family networks there that facilitate their presence.

Baghdadi’s death

In October 2019, U.S. Special Forces carried out an operation in Idlib that killed the leader of the group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The former IS leader reportedly had been hiding in Idlib for months after moving between towns across eastern Syria as his so-called caliphate was crumbling.

The fact that “Baghdadi got to Idlib shows there was an active smuggling route from their former areas to Idlib,” said Seth Frantzman, director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis.

He said IS members who have fled to Idlib in the last two years have largely remained inactive there.

They were “part of the collapse of the ‘caliphate,’ sometimes seeking to find a way to get to Turkey or Idlib from Raqqa and then Baghuz as ISIS strongholds fell,” Frantzman told VOA. 

‘Not center of gravity’

Analyst Heras of ISW says at this point Idlib doesn’t hold any strategic importance for IS as the terror group seeks to reorganize itself following the death of Baghdadi and the appointment of its new leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi.

“Idlib is not ISIS’s center of gravity in Syria; that remains the Badiya [region] of the central desert region and in Deir al-Zour,” he said. “The future of ISIS will not be Idlib, which is slowly and surely falling to Assad, it is the eastern parts of Syria that border Iraq and where ISIS has the most robust local networks of support,” Heras noted, adding that IS “can sustain an insurgency for years in eastern Syria.”

Analyst Frantzman believes that any takeover of Idlib by Syrian government forces could breathe new life into IS in other parts of the country.

“If it weakens the HTS and other Syrian extremist groups, then it might make ISIS appear to be the sole extremist group still active in marginal areas,” he added.

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From: MeNeedIt

The World Food Program warns millions of people in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso do not have enough to eat and are in desperate and immediate need of food aid.

A recent U.N. food assessment in the Central Sahel finds 3.3 million people are going hungry, a rise of nearly 1 million since last year.  World Food Program spokeswoman Elizabeth Byrs warns this alarming situation is expected to worsen without sustained humanitarian support.

“The number of food-insecure people is expected to double as the June lean season gets underway, pushing 4.8 million people into hunger, up from 2.4 million in 2019,” she said. 

Hunger is wreaking havoc on the nutritional status of people in these countries.  The U.N. Children’s fund reports more than 700,000 children under 5 suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition.  

The United Nations reports nearly a million people in the region have been displaced by conflict, which is devastating agriculture and rural economies.  Many people are fleeing in search of food and grazing land for their cattle.  

Byrs tells VOA people are resorting to extreme measures to survive.

“They skip meals. They sell their asset,” she said. “In some conflict-affected areas, some people have a lot of difficulty to find something to eat.”  

WFP is working to scale up its humanitarian operation to assist 2 million people across the three Sahelian countries.  It is urgently appealing for $227 million to provide life-saving food aid over the next six months.  Money also will be used for education, nutrition, and health, and to shore up livelihoods.

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From: MeNeedIt

Madison County, Iowa, gained nationwide attention because of its many bridges that inspired a novel and movie but in real life its politics now dominating that region as voters there prepare for the first in the nation presidential caucus which begins the process for Democrats to pick a nominee to go up against President Donald Trump in the November general election. Kevin Enochs narrates this report from VOA’s Suli Yi

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From: MeNeedIt

The Trump administration is bringing renewed attention to the issue of human trafficking in the United States. The White House marked the 20th anniversary of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act by announcing new measures to strengthen prosecution for traffickers and support services for victims. VOA’s Ardita Dunellari reports from the White House that activists and survivors of human trafficking welcome increased efforts to fight the problem, though many of them see mixed messages in the president’s pledge to fight human trafficking and his crackdown on illegal migrants.

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From: MeNeedIt

India will spend billions of dollars to revive the farm sector, increase spending on infrastructure to create jobs, and slash taxes — all in a bid to boost its sputtering economy, which has posted its worst growth in a decade. “

This is a budget to boost incomes and enhance purchasing power,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Saturday in parliament as the nation’s 2020 budget was laid out. “We wanted to make sure money is in the hands of the people, particularly for the middle class and lower middle class.”  

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India Projects Economic Revival After Worst Slowdown in a Decade

IMF says slowdown in India dragging down global growth

Economists warned, however, that a quick turnaround is unlikely for Asia’s third largest economy (after China and Japan). “I don’t see this economy reviving for at least one year, not a chance, and that, too, is an optimistic assessment,” said Santosh Mehrotra, an economics professor at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. “The situation continues to be grim.”

Political analysts say rebooting the economy is critical for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who swept to power six years ago promising to take India’s economy to new heights and create millions of jobs, but is facing criticism for focusing on a Hindu nationalist agenda during his second term.   

The world’s fastest growing major economy until just a year ago, India has witnessed a sharp slowdown as its growth plummets to less than five percent in recent months. A government survey however has forecast the economy will pick up the pace and expand next year to between six and six-and-a-half percent.

The country’s GDP is at its lowest point in six years and growth across multiple key industrial sectors has shrunk. Growth in the 2019 financial  year (April 2019 to March 2020 in India) is projected to be less than five percent. The last quarter for which figures are available was the July to September quarter in 2019 when growth was 4.5 percent.   

A massive slowdown in spending by the country’s 1.3 billion people who are coping with dwindling incomes and record unemployment is hurting the economy, which unlike most of Asia’s export-driven economies, depends heavily on domestic consumption.  

The government said it would spend about $40 billion on various measures that could improve rural incomes. It will help farmers set up solar power generation units and establish cold storage facilities to transport perishable commodities, such as fruits and vegetables that farmers often are forced to sell at low prices.  

Although the farm sector accounts for only 15 percent of India’s gross domestic product, it sustains two-thirds of the country’s population.  

Tax cuts for individuals also are expected to persuade consumers to open their wallets and buy more cars and homes. The government also plans to push big infrastructure projects to create jobs – unemployment is at its highest in more than four decades.    

A slowing economy has put more pressure on Modi as his government grapples with the biggest backlash it has faced since taking office.  

Widespread protests have been sparked by a new citizenship law that critics have slammed as divisive because it excludes Muslims from immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who will get citizenship. Political analysts warn the upheaval witnessed in the past six weeks risks taking the government’s attention away from the economic slowdown.     

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From: MeNeedIt

Kelly Carnes is anything but ordinary. A public relations executive and entrepreneur, she has made parties and carnivals her everyday reality and lives the life that feels natural to her. But there’s one element in her life that puzzles many, but not her. Masha Morton met with the DC carnival queen.

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From: MeNeedIt

Public health expert Dr. Tom Frieden talks with VOA about the global response to the coronavirus outbreak.

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From: MeNeedIt

It’s not for everyone, but if your idea of fun involves taking a plunge in icy water this may be your kind of event. That’s exactly what some people did in Annapolis, Maryland, for a fundraiser for the Special Olympics of Maryland. Participants raised money for the sports organization for people with intellectual disabilities. VOA’s Deborah Block takes us to the polar bear plunge.
 

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From: MeNeedIt

The Israeli military said Friday that it launched “wide-scale” airstrikes on militant targets in the Gaza Strip shortly after Palestinian militants fired three rockets into Israel, two of which were intercepted.

There were no reports of casualties or major damage from the exchange of fire overnight, which came amid heightened tensions after President Donald Trump released his Mideast plan, a U.S. initiative aimed at ending the conflict that heavily favors Israel and was rejected by the Palestinians.

Palestinians have called for large protests after Friday prayers, including at a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem that is sacred to Muslims and Jews. 

Recent relative calm

Gaza has been relatively calm in recent months as Egyptian and U.N. mediators have worked to shore up an informal truce between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules the coastal territory.

Hamas has curbed rocket fire and rolled back weekly protests along the frontier that had often turned violent. In return, Israel has eased the blockade it imposed on Gaza after Hamas seized power from forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority in 2007.

Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have rejected the Trump plan, which would allow Israel to annex all of its Jewish settlements, along with the Jordan Valley, in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinians were offered limited self-rule in Gaza, parts of the West Bank and some sparsely populated areas of Israel in return for meeting a long list of conditions.

Hamas has vowed that “all options are open” in responding to the proposal, but is not believed to be seeking war with Israel. Palestinian militants have fought three devastating wars with Israel since the Hamas takeover.

Friday protest

Palestinians have held small, scattered protests in recent days condemning the Trump initiative, and larger demonstrations are expected after Friday prayers, including at the Jerusalem holy site known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

It is the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, and is home to the iconic gold Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa mosque. It was also the location of the First and Second Jewish Temples in antiquity. The Western Wall nearby, the only remnant of the Second Temple, is the holiest place where Jews can pray.

The hilltop shrine is managed by an Islamic trust under Jordanian stewardship, and day-to-day affairs are governed by informal understandings with Israel known as the “status quo.” Non-Muslims are allowed to visit during certain hours, but Jews cannot pray there.

In recent years, increasing numbers of religious and ultra-nationalist Jews have visited the site, stoking fears among the Palestinians that Israel intends to one day partition it, as it has done to a similar site in the West Bank town of Hebron that is sacred to both faiths.

The status quo

Israel has repeatedly said it has no intention of changing the status quo and accuses Islamist groups of spreading unfounded rumors to incite violence. The Trump plan, which heavily favors Israel, says the status quo should “continue uninterrupted.”

But the plan also says “people of every faith should be permitted to pray on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, in a manner that is fully respectful to their religion, taking into account the times of each religion’s prayers and holidays, as well as other religious factors.”

Palestinians view the sprawling esplanade as the last bit of territory that is fully theirs and the Dome of the Rock as a symbol of their national cause. Muslim worshippers have clashed with police there on numerous occasions in recent years in response to perceived infringements. A provocative visit to the site by Ariel Sharon, a right-wing politician who went on to become prime minister, ignited the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in 2000.

The site is part of the Old City in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured, along with the West Bank and Gaza, in the 1967 war. The Palestinians view east Jerusalem as their capital and want all three territories to form their future state.

Trump’s Mideast plan would create a disjointed Palestinian state with a capital on the outskirts of east Jerusalem, beyond the separation barrier built by Israel. The rest of Jerusalem, including the Old City, would remain Israel’s capital.

The plan would allow Israel to annex large parts of the West Bank almost immediately, while Palestinian statehood would be heavily restricted and subject to several preconditions that the Palestinians have always rejected.

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From: MeNeedIt

The U.S. senators weighing the removal of President Donald Trump from office completed a final day of questioning Thursday. The Senate impeachment trial now enters an uncertain phase as Republicans appear to have enough votes to block Democrats’ request to hear testimony from key administration officials. As VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, the final vote in the impeachment trial could quickly follow.
 

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From: MeNeedIt

Tokyo prosecutors issued an arrest warrant Thursday for Nissan’s former chairman Carlos Ghosn, who skipped bail while awaiting trial in Japan and is now in Lebanon.

Japan has no extradition treaty with Lebanon, so he’s unlikely to be arrested. Lebanon has indicated it will not hand over Ghosn.

Tokyo prosecutors also issued arrest warrants for three Americans they said helped and planned his escape, Michael Taylor, George-Antoine Zayek and Peter Taylor.

Deputy Chief Prosecutor Takahiro Saito declined to say where the three men were thought to be staying. He said Michael Taylor and George Zayek are suspected of helping Ghosn flee by hiding him in cargo at a Japanese airport and getting him into a private jet to leave the country.

Saito would not say if Japan has asked U.S. authorities for help, though he said all options were being explored. Japan and the U.S. have an extradition treaty.

Michael Taylor is a former Green Beret and private security specialist. Peter Taylor appears to be his son. Security footage released earlier showed Zayek and Taylor transiting Istanbul Airport at the same time Ghosn allegedly passed through Turkey on his way to Beirut.

Prosecutors suspect Peter Taylor met several times with Ghosn in Tokyo, starting in July last year, to plot his escape. Saito said Ghosn was given a key to a hotel room in Osaka near the Kansai Airport that Ghosn left from.

Prosecutors say Ghosn broke the law by violating bail conditions that required him to stay in Japan, mostly at his Tokyo home.

“We want to stress that the act of fleeing was clearly wrong,” Saito told reporters. “We need to erase the misunderstanding.”

Separately, Saito said prosecutors on Wednesday forced open a lock to search the Tokyo office of Ghosn’s former defense lawyer Junichiro Hironaka for records of people Ghosn met with while out on bail, and other materials. Prosecutors are asking a judge for help in accessing contents of a computer Ghosn used at Hironaka’s office that the lawyer has refused to hand over, citing attorney-client privilege.

Ghosn has said he is innocent of allegations he under-reported his future income and committed a breach of trust by diverting Nissan money for his personal gain. He says the compensation was never decided on or received, and the Nissan payments were for legitimate business purposes.

Ghosn has lashed out at the Japanese judicial system, saying he fled because he could not expect a fair trial, was subjected to unfair conditions in detention and was barred from meeting his wife under his bail conditions.

He contends others at Nissan Motor Co., which he led for two decades, drove him out to prevent a fuller merger with its French alliance partner Renault.

Ghosn’s dramatic escape, while under the watch of surveillance cameras inside and outside his home is an embarrassment for Japanese authorities.

He is believed to have traveled by train to Osaka and then left via Kansai Airport, reportedly by hiding in a box for audio or musical equipment. Ghosn has not shared specifics of his escape.

The maximum penalty under Japanese law for illegally leaving the country is one year in prison or 300,000 yen ($2,750) in fines, or both. The maximum penalty for hiding a criminal or helping a criminal escape is three years in prison or 300,000 yen ($2,750) in fines.  

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From: MeNeedIt

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in London on the cusp of Britain’s departure from the European Union for talks focused on a post-Brexit free trade deal and the U.K.’s decision to allow the Chinese tech company Huawei to play a role in the country’s high-speed wireless network.

As President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial nears a close in Washington, Pompeo was to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday to re-register American concerns about Huawei and the possibility that its entry into the market could affect U.S.-Britain intelligence cooperation. Pompeo and Johnson are also expected to discuss Iran, Trump’s Middle East peace plan, Libya and Venezuela.

U.S. officials said they believed the British decision on Huawei wouldn’t greatly affect negotiations on a trade deal, but could hurt other aspects of the relationship upon which Britain is counting after its divorce from the EU that takes effect on Friday.

“We were urging them to make a decision that was different than the one that they made, and now we’ll have a conversation about how to proceed,” Pompeo told reporters traveling with him on the trip to Europe and Central Asia that will also take him to Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

“Our view of Huawei has been that putting it in your system creates real risk,” Pompeo said. “This is an extension of the Chinese Communist Party with a legal requirement to hand over information to the Chinese Communist Party.”

“We’ll evaluate what the United Kingdom did,” he said. “It’s a little unclear precisely what they’re going to permit and not permit, so we need to take a little bit of time to evaluate that. But our view is that we should have Western systems with Western rules, and American information only should pass through trusted networks, and we’ll make sure we do that.”

The U.S. has been lobbying European allies to ban Huawei over concerns it could be compelled to help with electronic eavesdropping after Beijing enacted a 2017 national intelligence law. U.S. officials also worry that 5G networks would rely heavily on software, leaving them open to vulnerabilities, and have repeatedly warned they would have to reconsider intelligence sharing with allies that use Huawei. The company has denied the allegations.

On Tuesday, Britain decided to let Huawei have a limited role supplying new high-speed network equipment to wireless carriers, ignoring Washington’s warnings that it would sever intelligence sharing if the company wasn’t banned.

Britain’s decision was the first by a major U.S. ally in Europe, and follows intense lobbying from the Trump administration as the U.S. vies with China for technological dominance.

“There’s big, broad national security issues,” Pompeo said. “Our militaries operate together. There are enormous trade issues. There’s big commercial issues. And there are obviously issues that relate to telecoms and their security.”

Trump has pledged that the U.S. and Britain will negotiate a major free-trade deal as soon as Brexit is complete and officials have already begun discussions on the plan.

Britain will leave the EU on Friday after 47 years of membership, becoming the first country to leave the bloc.

The London stop is the first on a five-nation tour of Europe and Central Asia that Pompeo is making.

The centerpiece of the trip will be a two-day stop in Ukraine that begins later Thursday when Pompeo will become the most senior U.S. official to visit Kyiv and meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy since the impeachment process began last year.

Ukraine is at the center of the impeachment charges against Trump who is accused of obstructing Congress and abuse of office for withholding critical military aid to the country in exchange for an investigation into alleged corruption by the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, a political rival. Those allegations got a boost earlier this week when a manuscript of former national security adviser John Bolton’s upcoming book was revealed to echo the claim.

The Senate is expected to vote on hearing impeachment witnesses, including possibly Bolton, on Friday. Bolton maintains that Trump was in fact withholding the aid in exchange for a public pledge of a probe into Biden as witnesses testified before the House impeachment inquiry.

Ukraine has been delicate subject for Pompeo, who over the weekend lashed out at a National Public Radio reporter for asking questions about why he has not publicly defended the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was removed from her post early after unsubstantiated allegations were made against her by Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani.

Pompeo has twice postponed earlier planned trips to Ukraine, most recently in early January when developments with Iran forced him to cancel. In Kyiv, Pompeo said he plans to discuss the issue of corruption but demurred when asked if he would specifically raise the Bidens or the energy company Burisma for which Hunter Biden worked.

“I don’t want to talk about particular individuals. It’s not worth it,” he said. “It’s a long list in Ukraine of corrupt individuals and a long history there. And President Zelenskiy has told us he’s committed to it. The actions he’s taken so far demonstrate that, and I look forward to having a conversation about that with him as well.”

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From: MeNeedIt