Iranian commander led anti-jihad drive

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Shia movement Hezbollah said on Friday that an Iranian elite unit commander led the anti-jihadist counter-attack in Iraq after the Islamic State group made major advances in June.

Major General Qassem Suleimani landed in Baghdad on June 10, hours after the IS overran the Iraqi city of Mosul, “leading a group of Lebanese and Iranian military experts”, according to the pro-Tehran group’s Al-Manar website.

It said Suleimani, who heads Iran’s elite Quds Force, had together with the Iraqi military and Shia militias worked out a strategy “to secure Baghdad and its surroundings”, when the jihadists appeared unstoppable.

“The first order he gave was to secure the road linking Baghdad to Samarra (to the north), and he successfully expelled the IS jihadists who had been occupying sections of this vital artery,” it said.

Pope calls for end to fundamentalism

ANKARA: Pope Francis called for an end to all forms of fundamentalism on Friday and said fighting hunger and poverty, rather than military intervention alone, was key to stopping Muslim militants carrying out “grave persecutions” in Syria and Iraq.

Speaking at the start of a three-day trip to Turkey, he said “terrorist violence” showed no sign of abating in Turkey’s southern neighbours.

“It is licit, while always respecting international law, to stop an unjust aggressor,” the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics said in reference to the Islamic State group’s militants after a meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

“What is required is a concerted commitment on the part of all... (to) enable resources to be directed, not to weaponry, but to the other noble battles worthy of man: the fight against hunger and sickness,” he said.

UAE leader in Qatar for reconciliation before GCC summit

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi’s crown prince paid a brief visit to Qatar on Friday, official media said, to cement reconciliation between the two Gulf Arab states before a regional summit they are to hold in Doha next month.

The trip by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan was the first since the United Arab Emirates along with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar in March, accusing Doha of undermining their domestic security through its support of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain agreed at an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Nov 16 to return their ambassadors to Qatar, signalling an end to the crisis that had divided the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The rift had threatened to undermine the Dec 9-10 summit of the Western-allied GCC, where Qatar currently holds the revolving presidency.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have both listed the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation and see political Islam as a challenge to their own systems of dynastic rule.

Qatar has given sanctuary to some Brotherhood members and is seen to have been supportive of the Islamist group in Egypt and the UAE, and more recently in Libya.

The UAE state news agency WAM said Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani greeted Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed and a delegation of senior officials accompanying him on their arrival.

Qatar’s QNA news agency said the two leaders discussed “the fraternal relations between the two brotherly countries, ways to consolidate them and prospects of reinforcing them” as well as GCC and regional issues. Sheikh Mohammed later returned to Abu Dhabi, it said.

At the Nov 16 Riyadh meeting, GCC leaders said they had agreed to turn over a new page in relations within the alliance, which also includes Kuwait and Oman.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have used their oil and gas revenues to influence events in other Middle Eastern countries and any resolution of their own differences could alter the political environment in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Thai legislature approves ban on surrogacy

BANGKOK: Thailand’s interim parliament has given initial approval to a bill banning commercial surrogacy, the practice of hiring a woman to carry a fetus to term, a lawmaker said on Friday.

Thailand was rocked by several surrogacy scandals earlier this year.

One involved an Australian couple who took home a healthy baby girl born from a Thai surrogate mother but left behind her twin brother who had Down syndrome.

The other case involved a Japanese man who fathered at least 16 babies via Thai surrogates. National Legislative Assembly member Chet Siratharanon said the bill passed its first reading on Thursday, and a finalised version was expected to be ready for consideration within 30 days.

The interim government installed after a military coup in May vowed to outlaw commercial surrogacy and punish offenders with up to 10 years in prison.

Gunman shoot dead army general in Cairo

CAIRO: Gunmen in a car shot dead an Egyptian army brigadier general and wounded two soldiers in eastern Cairo on Friday, the military said.

The attack came hours ahead of planned Islamist protests that have prompted the police and military to boost their presence in the capital and other cities.

The identity of the assailants was not clear, but militants have killed scores of policemen and soldiers since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July last year.

The military said in a statement that the assailants were driving a vehicle without licence plates. Security officials had earlier said the officer was a colonel.

Several high-ranking police and military officers have been killed in attacks since Morsi’s overthrow.

Morsi’s ouster and detention led to a massive crackdown on his supporters that killed hundreds of people and saw thousands jailed.

Many of the militant attacks have taken place in the north of the Sinai Peninsula where militants have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria.

The Ansar Beit al-Maqdis group has also carried out attacks in Cairo and the Nile Valley, including an attempted assassination of the interior minister last year with a car bomb.

Two dead in clash: Two people were killed on Friday when Islamist protesters and police clashed in Cairo just hours after unidentified attackers shot dead two soldiers including a senior officer in the Egyptian capital.

The army and police had fanned out across Cairo and other cities in anticipation of rallies called by an Islamist group that opposes the military’s overthrow of then-president Mohamed Morsi last year.

In Cairo’s working class district of Matariya, at least two people were killed when protesters clashed with police, health and security officials said.

A health ministry official said one had been shot in the chest.

A friend identified him as Mohammed Hassan, and said the dead man was an Islamist who had regularly attended anti-government demonstrations.

“The police fired randomly at the protesters,” he said.

Opposition candidate vows to protect Rajapaksa against war crimes trial

COLOMBO: Maithripala Sirisena, the joint opposition candidate for the January 8, 2015 Sri Lankan Presidential election, declared on Friday that if he was elected President, he would not hand over incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa, or any member of his family, or any leader of the Lankan armed forces to any foreign court to be tried on war crimes charges.

This declaration followed a threat by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) leader, Suren Surendiran, that Tamil Diaspora organisations would persuade the international community to haul Rajapaksa and others involved in directing Eelam War IV before the International Court of Justice for trial on war crimes charges.

In his campaign speeches Mr Rajapaksa has warned that in case he is defeated in the election, he and the armed forces leaders would be handed over to the international community to be punished for ridding the country of terrorism and has said the nomination of Sirisena by the opposition as Presidential candidate is part of an international conspiracy.

The radical Buddhist organisation Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) said that it would support Rajapaksa in the election. But the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a Sinhalese Buddhist political party, said that it would not.

Cameron urges migrant curbs,warns of Britain EU exit

LONDON: Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday promised tough curbs on welfare for EU migrants to counter a surge in arrivals and warned European leaders that resistance could put Britain’s EU membership in doubt.

He said the package of reforms would require changes to existing European Union treaties, something all member states must agree to, but said he was “confident” that they could be agreed.

Immigration to Britain has increased sharply in the past decade, putting pressure on public services, and Cameron is under pressure to address voters’ concerns ahead of the May 2015 general election.

His Conservative party is losing support to the UK Independence Party (UKIP), which advocates leaving the EU altogether as the only way to curb EU migration.

In a long-awaited speech on the issue, Cameron stopped short of calling for a cap on new arrivals or a mooted “emergency brake”, which had caused consternation in EU capitals.

But he announced plans to make EU workers wait four years to receive income tax credits and access social housing, and vowed to stop them claiming benefits for children living elsewhere in Europe.

Cameron said the reforms, intended to make Britain less attractive, were an “absolute requirement” of his bid to renegotiate Britain’s membership of the bloc before holding an in-out referendum in 2017.

He repeated that he wants Britain to stay in the EU but warned: “If our concerns fall on deaf ears and we cannot put our relationship with the EU on a better footing, then of course I rule nothing out”. Cameron briefed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on his speech beforehand, aides said.

Afterwards, a Commission spokesman said the EU’s executive arm was ready to discuss the proposals “calmly and carefully”, adding: “We have to see what can be done without shutting the door”. Benefit tourism and the abuse of social welfare systems have become issues for voters across Europe and Cameron noted concerns about immigration in Germany and Italy.

But Steve Peers, professor of law at the University of Essex, said a number of Cameron’s proposals would require all member states agreeing to change EU treaties. “That isn’t impossible, but it won’t be very easy,” he said.Cameron said Britain had long benefited from immigration and condemned “deeply unpatriotic” calls to shut its borders.

But he said its economic growth and relatively generous welfare system had made it a “magnetic destination” for migrants, and the government had to take back some control.

Cameron was forced to abandon a promise to cut net migration to Britain to under 100,000, after official figures on Thursday revealed it rose from 182,000 to 260,000 last year.