Islam - Current Day - Vienna Terrorism; Terrorist Fooled System; Mali Terrorist Attack Thwarted by French Mirage Jets

Vienna shooter’s motives were Islamist

 November 3, 2020

After a terrorist shooting armed police officers patrol on a street at the scene in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP/Ronald Zak)

 

Nehammer said that initial investigations indicate that the suspect who was killed had sympathized with the Islamic State group.

By Associated Press

Austria’s top security official said that four people have died — including one assailant — and fifteen people were wounded in a shooting in the heart of Vienna late Monday.

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told reporters Tuesday that two men and a woman have died from their injuries. A suspected attacker, who was carrying an assault rifle and a fake suicide vest, was also shot and killed by police.

Nehammer said that initial investigations indicate that the suspect who was killed had sympathized with the Islamic State group.

“We experienced an attack last night by at least one Islamist terrorist,” Nehammer told reporters. He declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.

Authorities were still trying to determine whether further attackers may be on the run, he said. People in Vienna have been urged to stay at home if possible Tuesday.

Among the fifteen people injured in the attack was a police officer, said Nehammer.

The shooting began shortly after 8:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) Monday near Vienna’s main synagogue as many people were enjoying a last night of open restaurants and bars before the start of a coronavirus lockdown.

“We are victims of a despicable terror attack in the federal capital that is still ongoing,” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said.

The attack drew swift condemnation and assurances of support from leaders around Europe, including from French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country also experienced three Islamist attacks in recent weeks.

President Donald Trump tweeted Monday night as he prepared for his final rally ahead of Election Day: “Our prayers are with the people of Vienna after yet another vile act of terrorism in Europe.”

 

“These evil attacks against innocent people must stop,” Trump added. “The U.S. stands with Austria, France, and all of Europe in the fight against terrorists, including radical Islamic terrorists.”

Austria’s military has provided soldiers to guard key sites in Vienna, freeing up police to continue the investigation. Germany and Hungary have offered to send tactical police units to support their Austrian colleagues.

Authorities say members of the public have uploaded 20,000 videos of the attack to police.

Vienna attack investigation: Terrorist likely acted alone

after he ‘tricked’ Austria’s deradicalization program

3 Nov, 2020 19:02

FILE PHOTO. ©  Reuters / Leonhard Foeger

The man behind Monday’s terrorist attack in the Austrian capital had secured an early release from jail by “tricking” a deradicalization program, Austria’s interior minister has said, adding that he most likely acted alone.

The Islamist radical, who killed four people in a shooting attack on Monday, would still be serving his sentence in prison, had he not deceived the deradicalization program overseen by the Austrian Justice Ministry, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer revealed during a press conference. 

Nehammer said the fact that such a radicalized person was granted an early release means the Austrian justice system needs “re-evaluation and optimization.”

Earlier, the Austrian authorities confirmed that the attacker identified as Kujtim Fejzulai was sentenced to 22 months in prison in April 2019 after he swore allegiance to Islamic State and made an attempt to join terrorists in Syria.

Yet, he was set free in December 2019, some eight months after the sentencing, since he was no longer considered a threat. He was then assigned a probation officer and was sent into the care of the Derad association – an NGO tasked with deradicalizing convicted criminals on behalf of the Austrian government. 

Fejzulai then made “particular efforts” to create an image of a “well-integrated” man during his meetings with the officer and the Derad specialists. According to some local media reports, he met with Derad representatives just days ago and explicitly condemned the recent terrorist attacks in France.

In fact, however, the 20-year-old sought to “deliberately destroy the system,” Nehammer admitted. 

The attacker killed four people and injured 23 during a rampage in Vienna’s Old Town on Monday evening. The assailant himself was also gunned down by police. Ten people, who suffered injuries in the incident, have since been released from hospitals, Vienna’s Mayor Michael Ludwig confirmed. Another 13 people remain in hospitals, he said, adding that three of them are in “critical” condition.

Nehammer, meanwhile, said that the perpetrator most likely acted alone and had no accomplices, explaining that analyses of a half of all video materials submitted by the attack witnesses revealed no signs of any other attackers. The minister said that as many as 20,000 videos have been sent to police since the attack, adding that it was too early to draw any final conclusions.

Austria’s police also raided 18 apartments and detained 14 people in the wake of the attack, the minister said. Earlier, the Austrian media reported about a “known Islamist” being detained in a large-scale police operation, involving heavily armed units, in the city of Linz. His connection to the terrorist attack in Vienna remains unclear, though. 

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French airstrikes kill over 50 Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in Mali

3 Nov, 2020 16:19

A French soldier stands guards in front of an NH90 Caiman military helicopter during Operation Barkhane

in Ndaki, Mali, July 29, 2019. © Reuters / Benoit Tessier

More than 50 jihadists have been killed in airstrikes carried out by French forces in Mali, Defense Minister Florence Parly said on Tuesday, calling the deaths a significant blow to Al-Qaeda in the region.

The airstrikes were carried out on Friday in central Mali near the borders of Burkina Faso and Niger, Parly said after meeting members of Mali’s transitional government in Bamako.

“I would like to reveal an operation of great importance which was carried out on October 30 in Mali by the Barkhane force, which was able to neutralize more than 50 jihadists,” Parly said on Mali state television. The minister was referring to the French-led anti-jihadist Operation Barkhane.

Around 30 motorcycles were destroyed, the French minister said. The operation was launched after a drone detected a “very large” motorcycle caravan in the “three borders” area, he added.

When the jihadists tried to escape, two Mirage jets were sent in, along with a drone to launch missiles on the insurgents, according to Parly.

Four terrorists have also been captured, military spokesman Colonel Frederic Barbry told reporters, adding that explosives and a suicide vest were found. The group had been “about to attack [an army] position in the region,” he said.

Another operation targeting Islamic State in the Greater Sahara was also underway, with a total of 3,000 soldiers involved, Barbry added.

France has more than 5,000 troops in Mali and neighboring countries in West Africa’s Sahel region to fight the jihadists since it first intervened in 2013. The United Nations has deployed around 13,000 troops in Mali as part of its peacekeeping mission.

Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary Gets it Part-Right, At Least

Emily Thornberry cites popularity of

Syria's Assad in interview

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
The Guardian

In the interview, Thornberry also suggested that the UK should follow the Syrian peace process outlined by Russia. Photograph: Matthew Chattle/Barcroft Images

The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has a greater “depth and breadth of support than is recognised in the west”, the shadow foreign secretary has said.

Emily Thornberry’s remarks to the magazine Prospect are likely to be controversial among those who regard Assad as a brutal dictator who has killed tens of thousands of his citizens and driven millions of refugees over the border. Thornberry is likely to argue that she was merely saying a segment of public opinion do not recognise that Assad has greater popular following inside Syria than the opposition forces suggest.

Thornberry is quoted as saying: “There is an argument that if [Assad] had been as overwhelmingly unpopular as the rebels told the west at the outset, then he wouldn’t be there. I think there has been a depth and a breadth of support for Assad that has been underestimated.”

In the interview, Thornberry, who has been accused of taking a lenient approach towards Assad before, called for political talks to end the civil war, and said Russia could bring Assad to the negotiating table in Geneva. She urged all foreign troops to leave Syria.

Thornberry also suggested that the UK should support the peace process backed by Russia in Astana, or Sochi, as well as the one conducted through the UN in Geneva. She said: “I think we should be working with whatever works, for the sake of the Syrian kids. None of this is revolutionary.”

Remarkably common sense for a politician. Of course, none of this can ever happen because NATO and the West in general has made up its mind that Assad and Russia are bad and nothing good can come out of negotiating with either one. There is little room for truth in western media these days.

To give Russia the opportunity to broker peace is not in the cards. NATO would rather keep Syria in a war-time posture for another ten years than see that happen. No, they can't have Russia be seen as anything but monstrous, otherwise their plan to NATO-ize every state near the Russian border and sell them trillions of dollars of weapons, just might not work.

Thornberry refused to condemn Russia in the interview for repeatedly vetoing UN security council resolutions aimed at ending the civil war in Syria, or investigating the responsibility for chemical weapons attacks. She said: “People will always block resolutions. If you look at the number of resolutions America has blocked, I mean that’s the way of politics.”

She could have been more honest here. She could have said that the UN was overreacting and responding prematurely to accusations by the UK and USA re: chemical weapons, when it is extremely unlikely that Assad has used them in at least the last 5 years.

Thornberry has previously denied that she in any way defends the Assad regime, but sees it as her role to challenge the government to explain its thinking given the reality that Assad is winning a military war and is unlikely to be dislodged.

The shadow foreign secretary in the interview also refused to say whether the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, currently members of NATO, should have joined. Asked whether it was right for the alliance to expand, she said: “There is a feeling in Russia that they don’t like the current status quo.” 

Gosh, I wonder why? When Gorbachev was promised by the west that NATO would not expand into Russia's neighbours as a condition of rending the Iron Curtain. It is good for the Baltic States to be protected from any future expansion by Russia, and Putin is certainly not above empire building, but NATO's credibility was flushed down the drain with the Baltic States enlistment. 

She adds: “Putin is taking advantage of that by his bellicose language and his behaviour.” Prospect says she declined to back NATO’s dispatching of troops, 800 of them British, to protect the Baltic states from any future Russian attack. There are, she says, “more pressing current issues”, citing cyber-attacks on Estonia.

Thornberry has said she is a supporter of the former Labour foreign secretary Robin Cook’s foreign policy. She has also said that she backed the military interventions in Kosovo and in Libya.

Thornberry told Prospect that she questions the future of the so-called doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect, the legal basis to intervene in other countries for humanitarian purposes. She said: “I think the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect is … well, I don’t want to say it’s dead, because I want it to be alive.” She then says it is “on life support”.

Libya, Thornberry says, helped to finish it off. She said military intervention in Libya “has been such a disaster. Responsibility to Protect is not [supposed to be] a cover for ‘Those people are being treated badly, let’s go and bomb, everything will be fine.’ It didn’t work – look at Libya now.”

Indeed! Or Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Kosovo, etc.

BTW, I am slightly horrified that I am finding Labour MPs to be more honest and truthful than Conservative. I would hate to see a Labour government in the UK, or a left-wing government anywhere for that matter. But I am thoroughly disgusted with the lack of truth and integrity in right-wing governments and shadow governments in many countries.

6k+ Unofficial Refugees in Vienna get Social Benefits - Cannot be Deported

 © Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

More than 2,000 migrants living in the Austrian capital, Vienna, cannot be deported despite falling short of being granted asylum - mainly due to the lack of proper ID documents - while still receiving monthly payments, an Austrian daily has reported.

Out of 20,000 migrants that receive social benefits in Vienna, only about two thirds either have been granted asylum or have their asylum requests under consideration, the Austrian Kurier has uncovered. The rest are residing in the Austrian capital on the so called "tolerated stay" scheme.

As of November last year, 6,165 migrants were living in Vienna and are receiving social benefits because they cannot be deported from Austria, despite not being granted official refugee status, the daily reports, describing the situation as “the sucking out effect.”

The figure, according to the publication, has been confirmed by the Interior Ministry. Authorities, however, refused to officially comment on the matter.

Some of these migrants, the publication explains, cannot be deported because an individual is either without proper ID documents or the country of origin refused to accept them. Others cannot be sent back as it would violate the 1951 Refugee Convention that sets out the responsibilities of nations that takes in refugees.

Out of that number, 2,674 individuals have already been rejected for failing to meet the country's asylum criteria. These persons mainly come from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq, in addition to those from Somalia, Nigeria and Chechnya.

As things stand, these individuals have the option of applying for a passport at their country’s embassy and then departing Austria on their own free will. However, they have no right to work in Austria, and continue to receive financial support from the Austrian state. This measure should prevent migrants from working illegally, according to authorities.

The rest, 3,491 asylum seekers, have been granted so-called "subsidiary protection", but falls short of being granted official refugee status. Under this directive, migrants cannot be deported from Austria, even if they commit a crime, as Austrian authorities fear they might face death or torture if sent home.

To stay in Austria, they have to file paperwork each year for their residence permits to be extended. However, in this instance, the government hands them basic social security payments and allows them to work in the country.

It is unclear, how many migrants, who cannot be deported from Vienna, committed any crimes, the daily reports. A local refugee policy coordinator, Peter Hacker, argued that the payout of social benefits lowers the migrant crime rate.

“Crime rate in Vienna effectively declines,” he told the Kurier daily, adding that “it is not a coincidence but a consequence of these strategic decisions.” He also said the government payments ensure that “no ghettos emerge” in Vienna, where people live without state support.

It is better to pay refugees easy money than to let them roam around city without any means of sustenance, he added.

Vienna’s challenges are compounded, however, with authorities expressing concerns about the rising number of migrants streaming in from other regions. The reason being, that Vienna pays social benefits even to migrants who are registered in other parts of Austria.

“It is not optimal that the situation is heading towards such concentration [of migrants in Vienna], the Austrian Interior Ministry said, as cited by the Kurier daily. The ministry warns of a potential rise in the crime rate and says, and citing one example, said mass scuffles in refugee shelters could become more frequent.

Currently, 25 percent of all refugees that live in Austria and who are receiving social benefits are residing in Vienna, according to the Kurier. About two thirds of those granted asylum are men.

The standard social benefit paid out is between € 205 ($219) and € 365 ($ 390) per person monthly. This means the Austrian state is spending about € 1.76 million ($ 1.88 million) per month on those 6,165 migrants in question.

Austria, which has a population of about 8.7 million people, received more than 130,000 asylum claims from people coming from the Middle East and North Africa since the summer of 2015, and took in one of the largest numbers of refugees per capita alongside Sweden.

Ceasefire Agreement for Syria, Sort of

World powers agree Syria ceasefire, says John Kerry

From BBC Middle East

The aftermath of airstrikes in rebel-held Aleppo  Reuters

The Syrian government has been closing in on

rebel-held areas of the city of Aleppo

World powers meeting on Syria have agreed to seek a nationwide "cessation of hostilities" within a week, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said.

But he said the halt would not apply to the fight with jihadist groups Islamic State (IS) and al-Nusra Front.

So that means that the ceasefire, if arranged, would only apply to the battle between the Assad regime and the Syrian rebels. But it's a start, and it would mean that half the country could find itself in relative peace. Also, the various forces could concentrate on the IS and al-Nusra which could lead to a military settlement within a couple of years. Both results might effect the flow of migrants to Europe and elsewhere.

He also said the powers had agreed to immediately accelerate and expand the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The announcement comes as the Syrian army, backed by Russian air strikes, advances in Aleppo province.

The move threatens to encircle tens of thousands of civilians in rebel-held parts of the major city of Aleppo.

Mr Kerry admitted the ceasefire plan was "ambitious" and said the real test would be whether the parties honoured the commitments.

"What we have here are words on paper, what we need to see in the next few days are actions on the ground," he said.

A UN task force will be set up to ensure humanitarian access is granted to all sides, Mr Kerry added.

He made the announcement alongside his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura.

Mr Lavrov said there were "reasons to hope we have done a great job today".

At the press conference Mr Kerry again suggested that Russian strikes were targeting opposition forces, rather than terrorists as Moscow says.

But both men agreed that peace talks involving the Syrian government and rebels should resume as soon as possible.

US Signals Shift in Syria-Iraq Campaign Against Islamic State

A US-led coalition has been conducting air strikes against IS

since last year

File photo of US fighter jet after carrying out air strikes in Syria, Sept 2014 AFP

From BBC Middle East

The US has indicated a shift in its campaign against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria, including the use of direct ground raids.

Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said there would also be more air strikes against "high-value targets".

Observers say his comments reflect acknowledgment of the lack of progress in defeating the militant group.

How long have the US and allies been bombing IS? A year now? And they are just realizing that it isn't working? Well, I just have to ask the question, "Was it supposed to work?" If it was, why did it take you a year to figure out that it wasn't? It must have been obvious; it was obvious to everyone else. Yet you kept it up with no serious change in plan. Is it any wonder why I question whether you actually intended to defeat IS? 

A cynic might suggest that a continuous bombing campaign was good for American bomb manufacturers - keeps the inventory moving. Isn't that what most American military interventions are about? Well, good thing I'm not a cynic!

It was only after the immediate and dramatic success of the Russian bombing program that it became glaringly obvious that the American campaign was either a dismal failure or a sham. In any event, Americans do not like to be shown-up by Russians - not in hockey and not in war. So they have to do something dramatic like rescuing captives. Couldn't they have rescued captives a year ago?

There are a lot of questions to be answered about what the Americans have been doing in Syria and Iraq for the past year. I wonder if anyone other than me will ask them?

Separately, Iran says it is considering whether to attend international talks in Vienna this week on Syria's war.

Earlier, the US said Iran - an ally of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad - was being invited to the talks for the first time.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said "Iran's participation is under discussion", Iranian news agencies reported.

Mr Carter's comments, made to the Senate Armed Services Committee, come a week after US-Iraqi forces rescued dozens of hostages held by IS in Iraq.

Analysis by Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence correspondent

Russia's intervention in Syria has changed the military and diplomatic dynamic in the crisis and left Washington struggling to catch up.

Whatever the inconsistencies in Moscow's own policies, it has highlighted the deficiencies in Washington's approach - not least the collapse of its ailing train-and-equip programme for Syria that was largely going nowhere.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter wants a more active US strategy, but this inevitably runs counter to the prevailing mood in the White House.

Barack Obama, after all, has cast his presidency as one that will withdraw US troops from foreign wars, not engage in new ones. There is talk of deploying a small number of Apache attack helicopters to Iraq.

That could involve hundreds of extra US personnel. But US success still requires effective local allies on the ground and they are in short supply.

"We won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL or conducting such missions directly, whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground," Mr Carter said, using an alternative acronym for IS.

"We expect to intensify our air campaign, including with additional US and coalition aircraft, to target ISIL with a higher and heavier rate of strikes," he said.

"This will include more strikes against ISIL high-value targets as our intelligence improves."

Free Syrian Army fighters (27 Oct 2015) AP
The US says that it wants to work with partners including the Free Syrian Army

A US-led coalition began air strikes against IS positions in Iraq and Syria last year. President Barack Obama said the objective was to "degrade and ultimately destroy" IS.

Although President Obama has not committed ground forces to Iraq, the US has about 3,500 troops in the country who have been helping to train Iraqi forces and also have a limited combat role.

Russia started its own air strikes in Syria at the end of last month, saying it wants to help President Bashar al-Assad defeat IS and other extremists.

But Washington has strongly criticised the Russian campaign, arguing that it has been focused on rebel opposition fighters and that it will only fuel more extremism.

Russian air strikes have enabled President Assad's land forces to advance
A Syrian tank fires in Harasta, northeast of Damascus, Syria (22 Oct 2015) AP

Mr Carter said the fight against IS would now concentrate mostly on Raqqa, the militants' declared capital in Syria, and Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in western Iraq.

He did not divulge the circumstances under which the US might carry out operations on the ground on its own.

"[But] once we locate them, no target is beyond our reach," he said.

Foreign ministers from the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are due to meet in Vienna on Thursday evening, a Russian diplomatic source said, with Iran possibly joining further talks on Friday.

Friday's talks could also include officials from Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called for a "widening of the dialogue" on Syria, when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday.

Iran is believed to have spent billions of dollars over the past four years propping up President Assad's government, providing military advisers and subsidised weapons, as well as lines of credit and oil.

It is also thought to have been influential in the decision of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement to send fighters to Syria to assist pro-Assad forces.

Syria's Western-backed opposition and the US's Gulf Arab allies have long opposed Iran's role in the Syrian war.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says that while Washington is certainly not welcoming Iran to the Syria talks, it will now tolerate Tehran's involvement.