Blog Archives

Iraq Closes Anbar Border Crossing

An official from the Anbar province, which is located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of the Iraqi capital, said that the central government in Baghdad is trying to punish the province over the protests that have been taking place for months against government policies by depriving it of the proceeds from one of the most important border crossings in the country.

The head of Anbar’s Provincial Council, Jassim al-Halbusi, told Al-Monitor that the central government, which oversees the management of Iraq’s border crossings, asked the administration of the Traibil [Turaybeel, Tirbil, Tarbiel, Trebil] border post (pictured) — linking Iraq and Jordan — at the beginning of this month “to tighten procedures for inspecting cars and trucks that use this crossing. This led to a decline in traffic at this crossing, as well as a decline in its revenues, of which the province receives five percent.”

“Things have escalated since the morning of Tuesday, June 11, to the point that the crossing was totally closed to all traffic,” Halbusi added. He said he believes that “this measure is aimed at punishing Anbar residents who have rejected the government’s persistent failure to manage the country’s affairs.”

The Jordanian Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Sunday, June 9, that Iraq reported that it would close the Trebil border crossing that connects the two countries as of next Tuesday for a period of 48 hours, for reasons related to “internal Iraqi affairs.”

The statement, reported by the Jordan News Agency, said that the closure would affect all passenger and cargo movement “and will not include air traffic, which will operate normally during the closure period. There will be no changes to any scheduled flights.”

Anbar, the most prominent Sunni Arab stronghold in Iraq, has seen protests and sit-ins that have entered their sixth month against the policies of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Iraq had closed the crossing at the end of April, amid reports that the Iraqi army intended to storm a square where protesters were marching against Maliki near the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province.
According to a statement reported by local media outlets on June 11, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq said, “The continuation of the closure will have an adverse effect on the Iraqi economy and will hinder the flow of goods. It will also increase the hardships faced by transport truck drivers, as they will not be able to continue along their way.” The statement added, “A lot of goods have been damaged due to the fact that they are not allowed to enter the country.”

Mutlaq’s statement noted, “The closure of the border crossing at Trebil contributed to a rise in food and commodity prices.”

Halbusi said, “The losses endured by the province are not limited to the fact that it will lose its share of the border crossing proceeds; another problem is the salaries of the workers who are paid on a daily basis.”

“Dozens of families survive based on the daily wages their sons who work in Trebil receive. If these workers are to stop their work, then this means that they will not be getting paid,” he added.

Kareem Khudair, who owns a truck and works in the transport of goods to and from Jordan through the Trebil crossing, said that “the transport fares doubled when the crossing authorities tightened the procedures for checking our trucks, prior to completely closing the border crossing.”

He told Al-Monitor, “About two months ago, the transportation fares for my truck ranged between $ 1,500 to $ 1,700 per shift, while they had increased to $ 3,000 prior to the crossing’s closure.”

“We had to wait at the crossing for weeks, while it used to take us only two days to cross,” he added.

Economist Jawad al-Shammari said, “The prices of most of the goods received through Jordan to Iraq increased by about 10% due to the tightened inspection procedures in Trebil.” He added, “The decision to completely close the crossing will lead to a further increase in prices.”

“The prices of vegetables, fruits, printing materials and several types of canned foods have increased because of the Trebil problem,” Shammari told Al-Monitor. “A lot of these items are consumed on a daily basis, which means that Iraqi citizens will be the ones to directly feel this price increase.”

Omar al-Shaher is a contributor to Al-Monitor’s Iraq Pulse. His writing has appeared in publications including France’s LeMonde, Iraq’s Alesbuyia, Egypt’s Al-Ahaly and the Elaph website. He previously covered political and security affairs for Iraq’s Al-Mada newspaper.

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Iraq Closes Anbar Crossing As Sunni Protests Continue

An official from the Anbar province, which is located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of the Iraqi capital, said that the central government in Baghdad is trying to punish the province over the protests that have been taking place for months against government policies by depriving it of the proceeds from one of the most important border crossings in the country.

The head of Anbar’s Provincial Council, Jassim al-Halbusi, told Al-Monitor that the central government, which oversees the management of Iraq’s border crossings, asked the administration of the Trebil border crossing — linking Iraq and Jordan — at the beginning of this month “to tighten procedures for inspecting cars and trucks that use this crossing. This led to a decline in traffic at this crossing, as well as a decline in its revenues, of which the province receives five percent.”

“Things have escalated since the morning of Tuesday, June 11, to the point that the crossing was totally closed to all traffic,” Halbusi added. He said he believes that “this measure is aimed at punishing Anbar residents who have rejected the government’s persistent failure to manage the country’s affairs.”

The Jordanian Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Sunday, June 9, that Iraq reported that it would close the Trebil border crossing that connects the two countries as of next Tuesday for a period of 48 hours, for reasons related to “internal Iraqi affairs.”

The statement, reported by the Jordan News Agency, said that the closure would affect all passenger and cargo movement “and will not include air traffic, which will operate normally during the closure period. There will be no changes to any scheduled flights.”

Anbar, the most prominent Sunni Arab stronghold in Iraq, has seen protests and sit-ins that have entered their sixth month against the policies of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Iraq had closed the crossing at the end of April, amid reports that the Iraqi army intended to storm a square where protesters were marching against Maliki near the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province.

According to a statement reported by local media outlets on June 11, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq said, “The continuation of the closure will have an adverse effect on the Iraqi economy and will hinder the flow of goods. It will also increase the hardships faced by transport truck drivers, as they will not be able to continue along their way.” The statement added, “A lot of goods have been damaged due to the fact that they are not allowed to enter the country.”

Mutlaq’s statement noted, “The closure of the border crossing at Trebil contributed to a rise in food and commodity prices.”

Halbusi said, “The losses endured by the province are not limited to the fact that it will lose its share of the border crossing proceeds; another problem is the salaries of the workers who are paid on a daily basis.”

“Dozens of families survive based on the daily wages their sons who work in Trebil receive. If these workers are to stop their work, then this means that they will not be getting paid,” he added.

Kareem Khudair, who owns a truck and works in the transport of goods to and from Jordan through the Trebil crossing, said that “the transport fares doubled when the crossing authorities tightened the procedures for checking our trucks, prior to completely closing the border crossing.”

He told Al-Monitor, “About two months ago, the transportation fares for my truck ranged between $ 1,500 to $ 1,700 per shift, while they had increased to $ 3,000 prior to the crossing’s closure.”

“We had to wait at the crossing for weeks, while it used to take us only two days to cross,” he added.

Economist Jawad al-Shammari said, “The prices of most of the goods received through Jordan to Iraq increased by about 10% due to the tightened inspection procedures in Trebil.” He added, “The decision to completely close the crossing will lead to a further increase in prices.”

“The prices of vegetables, fruits, printing materials and several types of canned foods have increased because of the Trebil problem,” Shammari told Al-Monitor. “A lot of these items are consumed on a daily basis, which means that Iraqi citizens will be the ones to directly feel this price increase.”

By Omar al-Shaher
AL Monitor

Assyrian International News Agency

Georgia Closes Two Afghan Bases After Deadly Attacks

Georgia’s defense minister says two bases for Georgian troops in Afghanistan have been closed after 10 Georgian soldiers were killed there in recent attacks.

Irakli Alasania announced the closures on June 12, five days after traveling to Afghanistan to meet with Georgian troops in the NATO-led coalition.

Alasania said the number of Georgian troops in Afghanistan, currently 1,545, would not be reduced in the immediate future.

He said he discussed the base closures with NATO commanders as part of plans to boost security measures against militant attacks.

The most recent attack on a Georgian base, on June 6 in Helmand Province, killed seven Georgian soldiers and wounded nine others.

Alasania said the Helmand base was one of the two that was closed.

Based on reporting by AP, Trend.az, and Rustavi-2

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Window Closes For Pakistani Peace Talks With Taliban

Pakistani politicians vying for a seat in parliament lured war-weary voters with promises of peace negotiations with one of the country’s most violent militant groups. But now that the elections are over, it appears the window of opportunity for talks has already closed.

A string of events essentially buried hopes of a negotiated peace between the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the government. And this, observers say, could compel the incoming government to abandon the promises they made to their constituents and settle instead for minimizing future TTP attacks.

The first blow to negotiation efforts came with the recent death of TTP deputy leader Wali-ur Rehman. His killing in a U.S. drone attack on May 29 prompted the militant group to withdraw its offer to hold talks with the government through interlocutors.

Days later, they suffered another setback through the assassination of newly elected provincial lawmaker Farid Khan, an independent candidate who recently joined ranks with the Pakistan Movement for Justice party (Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf, or PTI) of retired cricket star Imran Khan. The PTI heads a coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, where Farid Khan was killed, and had campaigned in the run-up to the May 11 general elections for talks with the Taliban and had vowed to end U.S. drone strikes.

The final nail in the coffin appears to have come with the public retreat of Jamiat Ulam-e Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who had actively pursued talks.

Jan Achakzai, a spokesman for Rehman, said the powerful Islamist leader backed away from his position after sensing that Pakistan’s powerful military was against talking to the TTP because of its violent campaign against security forces and civilians.

“The federal government of Pakistan, major political parties, and the military all need to agree on creating conducive atmosphere for talks. Maulana Fazlur Rehman and our party Jamiat Ulama-e Islam see no role for themselves in the absence of a favorable environment for negotiations,” Achakzai said.

Shattered Hopes

Islamabad-based security analyst General Talat Masood says the Islamist leader’s retreat shows there is not a strong will for negotiations with a group that has vowed to enforce its world view by force.

He says that many Pakistani politicians have mixed views on the TTP, with some seeing it as an existential threat that needs to be confronted and others downplaying it as an isolated, local problem.

The U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan have spurred protests, and many parties promised an end to them.

The killing this week of PTI politician Farid Khan raised questions about how much the party’s leaders truly understand the threat posed by the TTP. Shattering the idea that the PTI would be spared of any violence from the TTP, a local Taliban commander was arrested in connection with the killing.

Masood says that given that the PTI and the Pakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PML-N), whose head Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as prime minister on June 5 and will rule without a coalition, opposed military operations against the TTP during the election campaign, their new administrations in Islamabad and the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province are unlikely to back new offensives against the group’s strongholds.

The two parties are also between a rock and a hard place because they risk alienating their supporters if they fail to live up to promises of reaching a negotiated settlement with the TTP.

“Pakistan’s new government will have to think very hard [to figure out] exactly how they want to move forward with Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan. Even, in the future, if there is any possibility of negotiations, they must lay down a framework in which they should be able to talk,” Masood says.

‘Agreements A Stalling Tactic’

Past efforts of negotiating with the Taliban have failed. Since 2004, Pakistani military and the civilian administrations in Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have talked to the Taliban. They signed agreements with the insurgents in the hopes that they would accept government authority, end their violence, and distance themselves from Al-Qaeda.

But most agreements resulted in the insurgents being strengthened. The TTP, in particular, used the agreements to extend its control and establish its own political system. Its violation of the agreements spurred military operations. After being pushed out of its strongholds in northwestern Swat Valley and the South Waziristan tribal district in 2009, the group vowed to carry on armed struggle in order to replace representative rule with an Islamic empire.

Former Brigadier General Mehmood Shah says that both the PML-N and the PTI have little experience of dealing with the Taliban. He says their leaders are mainly based in the eastern Punjab Province, away from the harsh realities of northwestern Pashtun regions where the Taliban still control pockets of territory.

Shah, a former security official, negotiated with the Taliban after their insurgency began in 2003. He says that the TTP never really accepted any of the agreements signed with them.

“In Swat for example, the government accepted all their demands and only insisted that the Taliban fighters lay down their arms to return to a normal civilian life,” Shah says. “The Taliban did not abide by this one condition, which ultimately led to the failure of the agreement.”

Masood, the former military officer, says that new administrations cannot afford to appear weak by pursuing negotiations even after the Taliban renounced negotiations. He says that the new civilian rulers will need to wholeheartedly support military operations against the Taliban to be able to deliver on their promises to voters.

“All their plans for economic revival of the country — promoting education, health, and energy — will all be in jeopardy,” Masood points out.

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Iraq Closes Trebil Border Crossing

Iraq has closed its Traibil [Turaybeel, Tirbil, Tarbiel, Trebil] border crossing with Jordan “until further notice”, due to the ongoing anti-government protests and the deterioration in security in Anbar province, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

The closure is expected to negatively affect commercial traffic between Iraq and Jordan which has been active lately, mainly due to what the report describes as the paralysis of commercial movement between Iraq and Syria.

The crossing is important for Anbar province and its closure would have a significant impact on business and markets in the area.

LINK

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Wall Street closes down on earnings fears,global slowdown; Dow off 0.95%

Forexpros –
Forexpros – U.S. stocks open Tuesday, as global growth concerns continued to weigh on sentiment, while investors eyed quarterly earnings reports to be published this week.

At the close of U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.95%, the SP 500 index gave back 0.62%, while the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 0.43%.

Market sentiment remained under pressure amid ongoing uncertainty over Spain’s position on requesting external financial aid and what form a bailout would take.

Earlier in the day, the International Monetary Fund said the crisis in the euro zone remains the greatest threat to the global economy and warned that policymakers need to urgently strengthen fiscal and financial ties within the euro area.

Meanwhile, concerns over whether international creditors will extend loans to Greece continued, as the country struggles to meet deficit reduction targets.

After kicking off earnings season late on Tuesday, Alcoa plunged 3.40%, as it posted a quarterly profit before exceptional items that beat analyst expectations, but warned about a “slight slowdown” in some regions and end markets.

Also on the downside, oil and gas major Chevron tumbled 2.60% after the company said that third-quarter profits would be “substantially lower” than the previous quarter’s, as a hurricane and maintenance curbed its oil and gas output and a fire hit its refining arm.

Elsewhere, Costco Wholesale surged 3.38%, after posting a 27% jump in fourth quarter profit, as sales continued to rise and it got a lift from higher membership fees.

Yum Brands also added to gains, with shares soaring 7.34% after the company raised its full-year outlook late on Tuesday, with sales in China holding up despite a cooling of economic growth in that market, the company’s largest.

Meanwhile, FedEx saw shares rally 3.44%, boosted by plans to sharply cut costs at its underperforming express air freight and services divisions, as the company seeks to improve profits at those operations by USD1.7 billion over the next four years.

Separately, the Financial Times reported earlier that the European Union said it would object to UPS’s EUR5.2 billion bid for Dutch rival TNT.

True Religion Apparel also posted sharp gains, as shares skyrocketed 23.42% after the jeans maker said it has formed a special committee of its board of directors to explore and evaluate potential strategic alternatives including a possible sale.

At the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 dropped 0.63%, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.50%, while Germany’s DAX 30 gave back 0.41%.

Traders are awaiting the Federal budget balance and trade balance from the U.S. on Thursday.

&nbForexpros
Forexpros – Forexpros offers an extensive set of professional tools for the Forex, Commodities, Futures and the Stock Market including real-time data streaming, a comprehensive economic calendar, as well as financial news and technical & fundamental analysis by in-house experts.
Read more News on Forexpros.com or Follow us on Twitter at @Forexprosnews

Dinar Daddy’s Tidbits

Canada closes its embassy in Iran

Canada has closed its embassy in Iran and will expel all remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada within five days, shutting down Iran’s only North American diplomatic outpost.

Foreign Minister John Baird said in a statement on Friday that the Iranian government was  “the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today”.

He cited the country’s nuclear programme and its “increasing military assistance to the Assad regime” in the list of Canadian grievances with Iran.

Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported that Canada’s decision was “in co-operation with America’s hostile policies against Iran”.

The first shot across the bow in this recent row might have come when Hamid Mohammadi, Iran’s cultural affairs counsellor, encouraged Iranian-Canadians to seek “high-level” positions and to maintain their Iranian identities.

In response, Canada’s Foreign Affairs department told a Canadian newspaper in July that, “The Iranian Embassy should not interfere in their choices. Canadian security organizations will act to prevent threats and intimidation of Canadians.”

Al Jazeera called Baird’s office to ask about the timing of this emabssy’s closure and the weight of Mohammadi’s comments. We did not receive a response.

Ramin Mehmanparast, spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, told the Iran’s ISNA news agency that “the current Canadian government is extremist and severely under the influence of the Zionist regime”.

He also said the successes of the recent NAM summit proved the West’s diplomatic failures and showed that Iranian people have continued to thrive despite the sanctions levelled against the country. 

Fallout

Elizabeth Berton-Hunter, spokesperson for Amnesty International in Toronto said that the move to cut diplomatic ties on this level will make appealing to the Canadian government to take action on cases in Iran “difficult to do now”.

“It is a great concern – there’s no doubt about it,” said Berton-Hunter, who pointed to the the right’s group’s recent report on the quickening pace of Iran’s executions as a reason why families of those facing punishment in Iran would be worried.

Unknown is the impact of severed diplomatic ties on the cases of Iranian-Canadians in trouble in Iran, such as blogger Hossein Derakhshan (currently serving a 19-and-a-half year prison sentence on spying charges), Hamid Ghassemi-Shall (who has been sentenced to death on charges of espionage and is awaiting execution) and Saeed Malekpour, a software developer accused of spreading indecent material online, who is also on death row.

Ghassemi-Shall’s wife, Antonella Mega, said she was “disappointed” to hear of the decision on behalf of the Canadian government.

“When I received the news this morning I was trying to digest what that meant, and all I can think of is that this means that a potential dialogue has been closed,” said Mega, who has not seen her husband since he left for Iran in May of 2008.

“This closing of the relationship between Canada and Iran leaves me doubtful – I just don’t know how they’re going to help Hamid, of what his plans are.”

Mega said that when she has the opportunity to speak to her husband on the phone, she tries to reassure him that Iranian authorities will free him.

“The Iranian government is in charge of Hamid’s case, so I do depend on their kindness…but obviously I count on the Canadian government to advocate for him,” said Mega.

While many Iranians decried the decision on social media sites, some support it, and, in fact, have been calling for such a move by the Canadian government.

Rights activist Shabnam Assadollahi, who had co-translated the entire text of Mohammadi’s interview and posted it on Facebook along with a plea to the Canadian government to shut down the embassy, said that “for 33 years they have had an embassy here and for 33 years we’ve been trying to have an open dialogue with the Islamic Republic of Iran – it has gone nowhere”.

“In these 33 years, what have we been able to do for our poor people there? Even during the recent earthquake, what could we do?” Assadollahi told Al Jazeera from Ottawa.

“The UK and the US have already shut their embassy. Israel has not had an embassy there since the Islamic Revolution,” said Assadollahi, who feels Iran’s influence in Canada – especially its education system – is a threat to Canada’s national security.

“If three of Canada’s allies don’t have embassies in Iran, why should Canada?”

A Conservative stance

Al Jazeera’s Daniel Lak, reporting from Toronto said that the two countries have not had “anything resembling cordial relations” since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

He said that most recently, the chilled relations between the two countries “has to do with (Prime Minister) Stephen Harper’s Conservative government just taking a very firm, explicit line on Iran,” said Lak.

In January, Harper described Iran as “fanatically religious” and “dangerous” to Canadian broadcaster CBC.

“In my judgement, these are people who have a particular, you know, a fanatically religious world view, and their statements imply to me no hesitation about using nuclear weapons if they see them achieving their religious or political purposes. And … I think that’s what makes this regime in Iran particularly dangerous.” he said.

Canada’s relations with Iran have been particularly rocky since Iranian-Candian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died while being detained in Evin prison in 2003, and again, in 2009, when Maziar Bahari, also a dual citizen and a journalist, was detained for over 100 days.

Follow D Parvaz on Twitter: @Dparvaz

945

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

Poland Closes Embassy in Syria As Crisis Worsens

Posted GMT 7-28-2012 3:39:11

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland has closed its embassy in Syria and evacuated its diplomats because of the deteriorating security situation in Damascus. The embassy had also representing U.S. interests in the country in recent months.

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said he took the decision out of concern for the security of the embassy’s staff, who have already left Syria.

“The decision was taken due to the dramatically worsening crisis in Syria, which has led to the deterioration of security and has made it impossible for Polish diplomats to carry out their duties,” Sikorski told a news conference in Warsaw.

U.S. Ambassador to Poland Lee Feinstein expressed thanks to the “government and the people of Poland for their act of friendship and solidarity” in having represented Washington in Damascus since Feb. 6.

“The brave Polish diplomats who served in the U.S. Interests Section helped keep U.S. citizens safe during a dangerous and difficult time,” Feinstein said in a statement. “For this we owe Poland a debt of gratitude.”

Sikorski said the embassy will reopen as soon as security conditions allow it.

Many countries closed their embassies in Damascus months ago, protesting the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown on protests and citing security concerns. The United States was among the first, pulling out its ambassador in February. Canada and several European nations followed in March, as did Turkey, once a key ally of Syria. Among Arab nations, Qatar was the first, closing its embassy in July 2011, followed by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain this year.

Assyrian International News Agency

Turkey closes trade route into Syria

Turkey is closing its border with Syria to commercial traffic but will keep it open for refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict, a UNHCR spokeswoman has said.

“We’ve received assurances that it is staying open. The border is closed for all commercial traffic in both directions, that is what we heard from the Turkish government,” Sybella Wilkes, spokeswoman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told Reuters news agency.

About 300 Syrians had crossed overnight into Turkey, she added, some of them are using informal crossing points.

“The Turkish government is still actively welcoming refugees and offering them protection,” Wilkes said.

Earlier, Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said the border posts would be sealed off due to the deteriorating security situation along the border.

“We have serious concerns over the safety of Turkish trucks regarding their entry and return from Syria,” Caglayan said, noting that there had already been a 87 per cent drop in trucks travelling to Syria this year.

Turkey had close trade ties to neighbouring Syria before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began 16 months ago.

But it has turned into a harsh critic and its territory along the of the 911-km border is used as a staging ground for the rebel army as well as a haven for thousands of refugees fleeing violence that activists say has killed 19,000 people so far.

Smuggler routes

Northern Syria, especially the province of Idlib, has been a steady scene of heavy fighting between Syrian forces and the rebels and large swathes of the countryside are under rebel control.

Al Jazeera meets one man who lives as a refugee in Turkey and also fights with the Free Syrian Army

Rebels, for their part, generally move their weapons and material over the border through clandestine smuggler routes.

Caglayan told reporters Turkish trucks would not be allowed into Syria, though no restrictions were being imposed on trucks going the other way, contrary to what the UNHCR heard from the Turkish government.

The sealing will deprive Syria of a common route for imports. Dozens of Turkish trucks were either looted or torched when the rebels captured the border crossing of Bab al-Hawa last week.

In all about 120,000 Syrian refugees have registered with UNHCR in four neighbouring countries – Iraq (7,490), Jordan (36,323), Lebanon (31,004) and Turkey (43,387) – since the uprising began.

In the past few weeks, the rate of Syrians arriving in Jordan has doubled to 1,200-1,300 per day, stretching a transfer facility overflowing with 6,500 people staying in desert conditions, Wilkes said.

The agency is urgently building a camp with tents at Za’atri in Mafraq.

“We are quite literally working overnight to get it ready. We may need to move in thousands of people,” she said.

519

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

Iraq Closes Border With Syria

Posted GMT 7-20-2012 23:42:14

(Reuters) — The Iraqi army sealed the main border crossing to Syria with concrete blast walls today, a day after officials said Syrian rebels took control of a border post on the other side.

A Reuters photographer overlooking the desert frontier from the Iraqi side said civilians had burned the main border post building at Abu Kamal in Syria and stripped it of electronic equipment and cables.

The Abu Kamal-Qaim border checkpoint, some 300km west of Baghdad on the Euphrates River highway, is one of the major trade routes across the Middle East.

A group of about 15 Syrians, including youths and women, moved in and around the blackened building.

A large picture of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad hanging on the building was scorched while one of his father Hafez was untouched.

There was no sign of Syrian border guards, Syrian Free Army fighters or any civilians trying to cross into Iraq. There was no fighting and a nearby Syrian mosque could be heard holding Friday prayers.

Around 40 Iraqi soldiers and a provincial commander arrived at the border crossing early today to reinforce security.

A senior Iraqi interior ministry official, Lieutenant-General Ahmed Al-Khafaji, said Iraq had reinforced key points along its 680km desert border with Syria with troops, increased patrols and was preparing to receive people coming into Iraq.

On Tuesday Iraq called on tens of thousands of its citizens living in Syria to return home as violence in Damascus escalated.

The Iraqi Red Crescent said 2,285 Iraqis who had fled Syria had registered for repatriation in the past two days after passing through the northern al-Waleed border crossing, according to Iraqi media.

The security situation in Iraq is still perilous despite an easing in sectarian violence which killed tens of thousands in 2006-2007.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis left the country for Syria during the post-war violence, but many have returned since the start of the Syrian uprising.

Iraqi officials say the al-Waleed gate, close to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, is still open and the Syrian side is controlled by Syrian government border officials.

Syrian rebels seized control of sections of Syria’s international borders yesterday after the assassination of some of Dr Assad’s closest lieutenants in Damascus.

The rebels said yesterday they had seized control of at least two border crossings into Turkey at Bab al-Hawa and Jarablus, in what appeared to have been a coordinated campaign to seize Syria’s frontiers.

Assyrian International News Agency

French election campaigning closes

Paris, France - Campaigning has ended in France, ahead of Sunday’s presidential runoff vote which could see Nicolas Sarkozy fall from power.
 
While Sarkozy and his rival, socialist Francois Hollande, appeared at low-key gatherings elsewhere in the country, the left-wing leader Jean-Luc Melenchon rallied his voters against the incumbent in the capital on Friday.
 
“Get lost, Sarkozy”, thousands of people chanted in a the Stalingrad Square in Paris.

“It doesn’t pay to behave like a big fascist,” Melenchon told the flag-waving crowds, referring to Sarkozy’s pledges to halve immigration if he is re-elected.
 
Melenchon fell out of the presidential race after scoring 11 per cent of the votes in the first round of voting last month, and has since endorsed Hollande.

Tight race

Hollande garnered 29 per cent of the votes over Sarkozy’s 27 per cent, and recent polls have put the socialist as the frontrunner in the final round.   

“If we put our ballots in the box we’ll get rid of two in one, Nicolas Sarkozy and Marine Le Pen,” he said, also lashing out at the right-wing candidate who came third in the first round. 

Raquel Garrido, a spokesperson for Melenchon’s Left Party, said Friday’s rally was crucial to mobilise his supporters to vote for Hollande.

“We cannot take for granted that Hollande will win,” she said. “A large part of those here tonight will vote for him because they like Melenchon and they follow his lead, but the remaining part has to be convinced.”
 
Melenchon voter Sylvain Renard said Hollande would get his vote on Sunday.
 
“I will vote for Hollande to get rid of Sarkozy,” he said. “Hollande may not implement the policies that I would like, but he can bring the conditions that we need for political change, in particular to redistribute wealth between rich and poor.”
 
Elsewhere in the capital, there were not many signs that an election battle was ongoing, except some scattered campaign posters.

Around the railway station of Montparnasse, someone has used a black marker to write “fini” [finished], over Sarkozy’s face.
 
Jean-Marie Billon did not hesitate for a moment to say who he would be voting for.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for five years,” he said, referring to when Sarkozy was first elected in 2007. “We’ve had four years of crisis, but the crisis is not responsible for the terrible outcomes of Sarkozy’s presidency.

“If we raised their taxes just a little bit, the very rich would still be able to live well. In France there are people who work but have to live on the street because they can’t get by.”

Meanwhile, Sarkozy made a last-minute push to boost his voter base in the seaside town of Sables d’Olonne. 

“On Sunday, the outcome will be on a razor’s edge,” he said, lashing out at critics of his drift to the right.
 
“The French people has never been so injured, hounded and manipulated as in recent weeks … The silent majority should not have to put up with insults, intolerance and lack of respect.” 

But some voters were still undecided.
 
“I voted for [centrist Francois] Bayrou in the second round, and now I’m really don’t know,” Sabine, who did not want to give her second name, said.

“I think Sarkozy is more competent. He’d be able to get France out of the crisis. But I’ll decide when I stand in front of the ballot box.”


AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

Saudi Arabia Closes Its Embassy in Egypt; Pulls Ambassador

Posted GMT 4-28-2012 18:4:46

Cairo (CNN) — Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Cairo and closed its embassy in Egypt, as well as its consulates in the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Suez, state media reported Saturday .

The move followed protests in front of the embassy and “attempts to storm and threaten the security and safety of its employees of both Saudi and Egyptian nationality,” according to the Saudi Press Agency.

Throngs of Egyptians gathered in front of the Saudi Embassy this week, calling for the release of Egyptian human rights lawyer Ahmed el-Gezawi, who was detained earlier this month for allegedly insulting King Abdullah. Saudi officials say el-Gezawi was arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle thousands of pills into the country.

But the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights say el-Gezawi had been traveling on a pilgrimage to Mecca when he was detained.

The Cairo-based group credited the activist for demanding better treatment of Saudi-held Egyptian detainees and criticizing the kingdom over alleged human rights abuses.

El-Gezawi has since been sentenced to be flogged and faces one year behind bars, the group reported.

Video of the demonstrations in Cairo was posted online earlier this week and showed sign-wielding crowds chanting slogans in front of the Saudi embassy.

“Say it, don’t be afraid, The Egyptian will be lashed,” the crowd chanted. “We will lash the ambassador! Lash us imprison us! Tomorrow the revolution will be in Medina.”

Protests in Egypt and Saturday’s decision by Saudi authorities to remove its diplomatic personnel from the country appear to have again ratcheted up longstanding tensions between the two Middle Eastern nations.

“It’s a relationship that’s been flawed,” said Steven Cook, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Especially since the uprising, many Egyptian’s regard Saudis as a counterrevolutionary force in the region.”

Egypt, considered the most populous Arab country in the region, has often engaged in “a subtle competition” with their Saudi counterparts “over this question of regional leadership,” Cook said.

The country erupted in protest last year during 18 days of demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square following after similar uprisings in neighboring Tunisia, ultimately ousting Egypt’s longtime president Hosni Mubarak after nearly three decades in power.

“The Saudis were not enthusiastic about their uprising,” Cook said of Egypt, pointing to apparent concerns among elites in the oil rich kingdom over their own grip on power. “And they were angry at the United States for its role in supporting the movement.”

In February 2011, President Barack Obama called for orderly transition in Egypt to a fully representative democracy, saying the transition “must be meaningful, it must be peaceful and it must begin now.”

By David Ariosto

CNN’s Caroline Faraj and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

Assyrian International News Agency

ASEAN Summit Closes With Call To Scrap Myanmar Sanctions

Southeast Asian leaders have called on Western countries to immediately lift punitive sanctions on Myanmar in the wake of the elections in the country that was ruled for decades by a military regime.

The leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — of which Myanmar is a member — made the call at the close of a summit on April 4 in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said ASEAN leaders “feel very satisfied and pleased” with Myanmar’s “free, fair and transparent” by-election on Sunday.

The opposition National League for Democracy, led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi, won 44 of the 45 seats that were being contested in the vote.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Warhorse transfers COS Garry Owen to IA, closes historic chapter

CONTINGENCY OPERATING STATION GARRY OWEN, Iraq –
The 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Advise and Assist Brigade, closed out a historic chapter in the 1st Cavalry Division’s proud history when they transferred ownership of Contingency Operating Station Garry Owen to the 10th Iraqi Army Division and the government of Iraq Oct. 15.

By transferring the COS to Iraqi Security Forces, the United States is fulfilling its commitment to have all troops out of Iraq by the Dec. 31, deadline.

The Warhorse Soldiers have called COS Garry Owen home for the entirety of their nine month deployment in support of Operation New Dawn. They have maintained security in Maysan since relieving the 1st Bn, 8th Infantry Regt., 4th Inf. Div. from Fort Carson, Colo. and assuming responsibility on March 5.

View full post on Headlines | United States Forces – Iraq