Syria Aleppo siege: Fighting rages as Russian jets strike

Intense fighting has continued around the Syrian city of Aleppo, where a rebel offensive is trying to break a government siege of rebel-held areas.

Over the weekend, the rebels tried to reconnect an encircled area in the east with insurgent territory in the west.

They set off a huge tunnel bomb underneath army positions in the strategic Ramouseh district.

The army has been fighting back with the help of Russian air strikes to stop the rebels breaking through.

Around a quarter of a million civilians are living under siege in rebel-held areas since government forces cut them off last month.

"We are now overlooking the Ramousah area but Russian jets are intensifying their bombing, which is holding us back from moving quickly," a rebel commander told Reuters news agency.

Another rebel source told Reuters that about 10,000 troops, at least 95 tanks and several hundred rocket launchers had been deployed for what he described as the "great epic battle of Aleppo".

• Children burn tyres to create no-fly zones

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• 'Families leave' besieged Aleppo

The source said scores of suicide bombers had also been prepared to drive explosive-laden military vehicles into army posts.

UK-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the rebel offensive as the largest so far, involving fighting across the divided city's main battle fronts.

US-backed forces control almost half of Syria’s Manbij

US-backed forces have taken control of 40 percent of Manbij after new advances against areas controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the key Syrian city near the Turkish border.

Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), with the support of air strikes, have seized much of the eastern part of the besieged city after slower advances in the western sector of the city in recent weeks, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.

SDF forces “have been increasingly besieging” and “encircling Manbij,” said Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Turkey’s Gaziantep, adding that much of the city still remains under ISIL control.

“Even though there is a semblance of relief for those thousands of people who were able to leave those ISIL-dominated areas of the city, we must remember there are still thousands trapped inside areas that are still held by ISIL,” Jamjoom reported.

“And there are a lot of fears about what coalition air strikes could bring with regards to civilian casualties in the days to come,” he said.

“[The] relief is very much contrasted by these concerns about the mounting civilian death toll from coalition air strikes.”

The Observatory reported on Sunday that at least 2,300 civilians fled the city in a 24-hour period.

The US-backed SDF, which includes a Kurdish armed group and Arab allies, launched its campaign to take Manbij, and drive ISIL from the Syrian-Turkish frontier, nearly two months ago with the backing of US special forces.

Syrian state media reported on Sunday that dozens of families, as well as some opposition fighters, have started using newly opened “humanitarian corridors” to leave rebel-held parts of Aleppo.

‘Shooting almost constantly’

Yet conflicting reports from inside the besieged city suggested that the corridors are not yet in operation.

Sources in Aleppo told Al Jazeera that the corridors had not been opened, and civilians were still coming under fire.

“Everybody that we’ve spoken with, when it comes to opposition activists and residents in the rebel-held areas of Aleppo, have told us that these humanitarian corridors have not been opened,” Al Jazeera’s Jamjoom said.

“Not only have they not been opened, but they say in several of the areas … in fact there is fighting still going on, and there are regime snipers as well that are shooting almost constantly.”

An estimated 320,000 people are under government siege in Aleppo, facing acute food and medicine shortages.

The Syrian conflict started as a largely unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011. It has since turned into a full-blown civil war between government forces and opposition fighters, with an estimated death toll of some 280,000 people, according to the Observatory.

Brothers arrested over alleged Belgium attack plot

Two men suspected of planning an attack in Belgium have been detained by police, prosecutors say.

The men, named only as Nourredine H, 33, and his brother Hamza H, were arrested after a series of houses were searched on Friday evening.

Raids were carried out in the cities of Mons and Liège by federal police. No weapons or explosives were found.

The federal prosecution office said in a statement: “Based on provisional results from the investigation, it appears that there were plans to carry out an attack somewhere in Belgium.”

The French version of the statement referred to “planning attacks” in the plural.

A judge will decide whether they should be detained in custody beyond an initial 24 hours.

Thirty-two people were killed in March after assaults on Brussels Airport and a metro station.Belgium is on security alert three – out of four – meaning the threat is considered serious, possible and probable.

Last month, Belgian police received warning that a group of Islamic State fighters had recently left Syria and were heading to Europe to plan attacks in Belgium and France.

Security was increased for Belgium’s national day on 21 July following the truck attack in the French city of Nice that killed 84 people on Bastille Day.

There is currently no connection between the arrests and the March attacks, federal prosecutors said.

UN condems barbaric Boko Haram violence in Nigeria

Militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), has vowed to bomb more oil pipelines beginning from first week of August.

The group warned oil workers and foreigners still in the region to vacate or risk their lives.

The group which has claimed respon­sibility for recent spate of bombings of oil facilities in the region said it has had enough of the dishonesty and tricks of the Federal Government, as it claimed the peace talk or dialogue purportedly initiated by the Federal Government was a delay tactics to enable the gov­ernment take delivery of arms includ­ing drones expected to arrive by end of August from the United States.

“This whole thing makes us to won­der what kind of country is this? We can all see that President Buhari-led govern­ment is a fraud. They are not serious about any dialogue. But they make it look as if the Niger Delta Avengers are the ones not ready for dialogue.

“Mr. President, you can purchase all the drones in Europe and the United States of America, it won’t stop the Niger Delta Avengers from bringing the country’s economy to zero.

“The worst you can do is to kill poor innocent people which the military is good at, but you should know that the Nigerian economy will suffer, as you will not be able to export one litre of crude in the Niger Delta. Just intensify the oil exploration in the North East. As for the ones in the Niger Delta, forget about it because the Nigerian govern­ment won’t export a drop from our land,” the militants bragged.

But the military has read the riot act to the militants to desist from attacking oil installations or face the consequences of their criminal actions.

Commander of Operation Delta Safe, Rear Admiral Joseph Okojie who gave the warning in Asaba during a courtesy call on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State vowed that the multi-service task force was prepared to tackle any criminal action within the Nigerian maritime area.

He said the military has the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari to secure the waters in the Niger Delta region covering part of Ondo, Edo and the entire Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers as well as part of Akwa Ibom states against security and economic threats.

Meanwhile, the Concerned Militant Leaders (CML) has claimed responsi­bility for the attack on the Nigerian Na­tional Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipeline, which occurred on Monday, at Obotim Ikot Ekong village in Akwa Ibom State.

Also, the CML said the Liberian ship, which its “rugged sea warriors” seized on Tuesday, July 19, 2016, on Bakassi Peninsula Nigerian waterways, would not be released, adding that the vessel would be named after Biafra.

Spokesperson of the group, General Ben, stated this yesterday, while react­ing to the statement by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Tukur Buratai that the militants would be attacked, if government’s efforts to dialogue with militants proved futile.

General Ben claimed no active militant group has engaged the Federal Government in any discussion, warning that any individual who works against the collective agenda of the militants would regret his or her action.

Joji said by blowing up oil pipelines and destroying other key facilities that affect the economy of the Nigeria, the militants have declared war against the Nigerian state, and therefore should not be pitied.However, former Managing Direc­tor of the defunct Nigerian Airways, Captain Mohammed Joji said Buhari should not romance the militants by going into dialogue with them. He said government should engage them “fire for fire.”

Captain Joji said the militant group has not only inflicted incalculable pains on Nigerians, but also about to cripple the nation’s economy.

While lamenting that the activities of the Avengers was responsible for the scarcity of aviation fuel, the aviation expert said if the the ‘madness’ was al­lowed to continue, it would ground the aviation industry, which would in turn ground the economy.

“Fuel scarcity in the aviation sector is a sabotage by the so-called Niger Delta Avengers, so pipeline vandalism must be brought to a halt if the crisis must end.

“I am not an advocate of negotiations with a terrorist group. The Federal Gov­ernment should forget about democracy and go fire for fire with the Avengers,” he said.

In a related development, former minister of mines and steel, Chief Sarafa Tunji Ishola enjoined President Buhari to quickly summon an emergen­cy Council of State meeting to address the prevailing insecurity.

Ishola said the president should not wait until the insecurity in Niger Delta, the agitation for Biafra Republic in the South East and the continuous killings of innocent Nigerians by herdsmen, spi­ral out of hand before convening such a meeting.

“Allowing insecurity to persist beyond the current level may spell doom for Buhari’s administration, because the level of poverty in Nigeria today is just too high that people are only tolerating his administration temporarily.

“If he should allow Nigerians to run out of patience and revolt against his administration, that may spell doom,” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain said.

The ex-minister explained that the president should not think the rising insecurity in the country was something he and his All Progressives Congress (APC) could solve alone.

“Buhari needs wisdom from former Heads of State and other elder states­men who have ruled this nation before him. So, he needs to call the Council of State meeting as a matter of urgency, with security matter as the sole agen­dum.”

Ishola noted that it would be a great error on the part of Buhari to think that the method he used about 31 years ago as military Head of State is what he would use now as civilian president.

“This is a democratic dispensation, you have to carry along critical stake­holders and also have listening ears, if not the insecurity will get out of hand. And if you are talking about diversifica­tion of the economy, tell me, which foreign investors will go to a country to invest where they are throwing bombs, kidnapping people and demanding huge ransoms?” he queried.

Iraqi security forces celebrates victories over islamic state jihaist group

Iraqi security forces paraded through Baghdad on Thursday to celebrate victories over the Islamic State jihadist group, but an unannounced rehearsal two days earlier put a damper on the festivities.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi reviewed the forces from a pavilion as they passed through central Tahrir Square, and military jets and helicopters overflew the city.

The parade was held to mark “the liberation of Fallujah and Ramadi and all the Iraqi territory that was liberated,” defence ministry spokesman Brigadier General Tahseen Ibrahim told AFP, referring to two key cities recaptured from the jihadists.

But an unannounced rehearsal for the parade held on Tuesday, in which many roads were closed and military vehicles drove through the city, inspired fear rather than celebration.

Some speculated on social media that it was a message to protesters planning a demonstration on Friday that Abadi has called on them to delay, while others speculated that it could be a military coup.

Iraq announced the full recapture of Fallujah, a city 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad that had been outside government control for more than two and a half years, at the end of June.

Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, was declared to have been recaptured at the end of December, but fighting in the area continued into this year.

More recently, Baghdad’s forces seized a key military base south of Mosul from IS that the Pentagon has said will serve as a “springboard” for the push to retake the last IS-held city in Iraq.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes and training have since regained significant ground.

FC not negotiating with Niger Delta Avengers --Says why

The Federal Government on Friday explained why it has refused to engage in talks with the militant Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, in order to get them to put an end to the bombing of oil and gas infrastructure in the oil-rich region.

Speaking while delivering the second foundation lecture of Elizade University, Ilaramokin, Ondo state entitled “The Future is here earlier than we thought”, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said that the militants are not freedom fighters but economic warriors who are fighting for their own private pockets.

He declared that “the so called avengers are not freedom fighters but fighting for their own economic benefits. They are avenging for their private pocket and that is why government is not talking with them.”

While condemning the activities of the militants who claimed responsibility for the vandalization of oil pipelines in the region, the Vice President stated that the Federal Government has concluded arrangements to tackle the menace of pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta region.

He went on to state that “the previous government neglected the region for several years, hence the current challenges in the region. The Federal Government has however put machinery in motion to curtail the activities of Niger/Delta Avengers”.

Osinbajo, while lamenting that the activities of the avengers were responsible for the epileptic power supply in the country, noted that state governors are unable to pay workers’ salaries as a result of the low revenue generated in the oil sector caused by the attack on pipelines.