Israel - The Holocaust - World Holocaust Forum: Israelis want action on anti-Semitism, not words

Around 200,000 Holocaust survivors are still alive in Israel today. On Thursday, some of them took center stage at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem alongside the likes of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prince Charles.

They came to the World Holocaust Forum to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Those who could, walked around the hallways of Yad Vashem, talking to anyone who was willing to hear their stories —and people listening intensely, with great interest mixed with sorrow.

Read more at: World Holocaust Forum: Israelis want action on anti-Semitism, not words | World| Breakings news and perspectives from around the globe | DW | 23.01.2020

Middle East - Iraq: After ISIS, Two Iraqs Emerge in Iran's Shadow

In describing the three years he spent fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group from the banks of the Tigris to the Makhoul mountains and Iraq’s desert frontier with Syria, Mohammed Jassem did not call himself a soldier.

Fresh from battle, flush with victory, Jassem is a Shiite holy warrior, a mujahid.

On his battered mobile phone, Jassem played a grainy video from November 2017 of fighting in the deserts around al-Qa’im, the last ISIS-held town in Iraq, before the vital strategic link in the militants’ once expansive supply network was liberated.

As ISIS overran vast swathes of the country and appeared poised to take the capital, Baghdad, the leader of Iraq’s highest Shiite religious authority, Ayatollah Sistani, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, compelling all the faithful to protect their homeland from ISIS.

The militias were joined by Sunnis, Yazidis, Christians and other minorities, but in far fewer numbers. As ISIS was pushed back from Tikrit and then from Sunni strongholds in Fallujah, Ramadi and finally Mosul, it was Shiite fighters—prominently backed by Iran—who led the way. Many Shiites now view the victory not only as a force of will but as an act of God.

Iraq’s Kurds also criticized Iran. Before the battle to defeat ISIS was over, the coalition against the militants—the Hashid, government soldiers, the international community and the Kurdish Peshmerga—imploded, with Iraqi forces driving the Kurds from Kirkuk, a contested city seized by Kurdish forces early in the war. Iraqi Kurdistan’s regional government accused Iran, and Soleimani in particular, of orchestrating the attacks.

Alkareem explained that the majority of the what he termed “interference” predominantly involved Shiite militiamen and Sunni residents. As far as he is concerned, in the Sunni heartlands that fueled and supported the ISIS advance, the hashid must be removed unless history is to repeat itself.
“The federal government, for their part, needs to strengthen the security forces,” he said. “We don't want people from the south coming and guarding our places. We can do that on our own.”

Read more: After ISIS, Two Iraqs Emerge in Iran's Shadow

The Netherlands: French forces rescue Dutch hostage held in Mali since 2011

French forces have freed a Dutch man held hostage in Mali since 2011 by al Qaeda’s north African arm, the French defence ministry said. It said Sjaak Rijke, who was kidnapped in Timbuktu in November 2011, was freed on Monday during a special operation and had been transferred “safe and sound” to a temporary base in Tessalit, north-east Mali.

French forces had also killed two militants and captured two others during fighting that took place during the early morning operation, said Lieutenant Colonel Michel Sabatier, a spokesman for Barkhane, the French counter-insurgency operation in the region.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said Rijke was in good condition considering the circumstances and receiving medical treatment under Dutch supervision.

“The liberation of Mr Rijke underscores France’s staunch determination to fight armed terrorist groups in the Sahel region as part of the Barkhane operation,” the French ministry said in a statement.

In November Rijke’s captors, the al Qaeda-affiliated AQIM group, issued a video of him along with French national Serge Lazarevic.

Read more: Africa - French forces rescue Dutch hostage held in Mali since 2011 - France 24