MEZOPOTAMIA KURDISTAN DAILY INDEPENDENT NEWSSERVICE
Mezopotamian Development Society (Registered) GERMANY
THE MOST REQUESTED DAILY & ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWSSERVICE ON KURDISTAN FOR THE HIGHLY INVOLVED PEOPLE – email : mesop@online.de – Watch our website : www.mesop.de
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MESOP TODAYS RECOMMENDATION: A GREAT PHOTO ESSAY / By Carnegie Endowment
Photo Essay: The Battle for Palmyra – TOM WESTCOTT – Months of planning and Russian air support led to a final, successful battle to recapture Palmyra by Syrian regime forces that has helped boost their morale. Watch texts & pics : http://www.mesop.de/?p=73542
MESOP : THE ALEPPO DRAMA
Tony Badran @AcrossTheBay
Warren, Kerry, Kirby and now Ratney have all given cover for a Russian-led attack on Aleppo. Kirby has even advised the rebels to move out.
MESOP BACKGROUNDER: THE LATEST ALEPPO BATTLE MAY GIVE THE ISLAMIC STATE ANOTHER REPRIEVE
PolicyWatch 2611 – April 26, 2016 – By Fabrice Balanche – Fabrice Balanche, an associate professor and research director at the University of Lyon 2, is a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute.
Aside from President Obama, none of the main players in Syria has an interest in rushing toward Raqqa, so they will likely focus on exploiting the various campaigns around Aleppo instead.
Despite the ongoing peace negotiations in Geneva, each camp in the Syria war is preparing for a general resumption of hostilities in the Aleppo area. In addition to the strategically important city itself, the Islamic State-occupied territory between Aleppo and the Euphrates is increasingly becoming a focal point, shifting attention away from the group’s stronghold to the east and likely further delaying the Obama administration’s goal of pushing IS out of its “capital” in Raqqa. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=73538
MESOP TODAYS OPINION BY BURAK BEKDIL – Muslim Unity is Just a Slogan
by Burak Bekdil – Hürriyet Daily News – April 20, 2016 – Originally published under the title “Inshallah, Happier Together!” (Hurriyet)
As the world’s Muslim leaders admitted at last week’s Islamic summit, the past 1,400 tumultuous years of sectarian fighting did not bring peace and happiness to Muslim lands. But, judging from the happy smiles and big speeches at the summit, the next 1,400 tumultuous years may be better. Hopefully, the third 1,400 years of tumultuous future will finally bring some peace.Ironically, every Muslim leader complained of the sectarian “fitna” that has caused millions of Muslim deaths in Muslim lands, many in the hands of “the right sect.” Unsurprisingly, no one explained which Muslims were engaged in that violent “fitna.” Time for peace – until the next bomb kills heretics praying at the wrong mosque. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=73544
MESOP TODAYS RELEVANT TWEETS & SHORT CUTS
MESOP : WELL SAID BY SENATOR McCAIN (US)
Well said @SenJohnMcCain: ‘I hate #ISIS. But it isn’t ISIS that has killed 300,000 people. It isn’t ISIS that created 100,000s of refugees’
“#Aleppo kids: Don’t be sick. Bashar & #Putin have killed the only kids’ doctor who was taking care of you.”
Charles Lister @Charles_Lister 1h1 hour ago
McCain: If US-trained forces are attacked by #Russia or regime, can they respond? Dunford: Yes McCain: With surface-to-air? Dunford: No.
MESOP RECOMMENDATION
.@heverk_circle is a short film about discrimination & violence towards #Ezidis for #Cannes2016. By @rukentekes
Constructive talks between #KRG led by DPM@qubadjt w #Turkey‘s Development Minister @_cevdetyilmaz on economic ties.
Rumours Turkey wants to insert rebels into Jarabulus
Majid Al-Bunni @Majid_Albunni
#ISIS based in Jarabulus targets #Turkish town (Qarqamish) with artillery and mortars #Turkey #Syria N. #Aleppo https://twitter.com/haasn34389909/status/725669437970456577 …
Memet Aksakal (Eng) @Fixer_Turkey 4h4 hours ago
Two rockets fired by ISIS from Jarabulus hit Turkish military zone in Karkamıs town near the border
#Manbij is home to a large #Kurdish minority,so it makes sense to involve #YPG in its conquest@WashInstitute http://washin.st/1TeJuEH
150 #US Special Forces have recently deployed in #Rojava, the troops were flown by helicopters to Remilan airfield. #Syria
Kurdistan24 English @K24English 2h2 hours ago
Syrian regime condemns the deployment of 150 #US troops in the Kurdish city of Remilan in #Rojava (northern #Syria).
UPDATE 1-Genel courts Turkey with Kurdish gas to reduce reliance on Russia http://reut.rs/1NAbd6p via @Reuters
PKK/ HPG fighters withdrawing from Shingal to Qandil
Cahida Dêrsim @cdersim3
One more group of #HPG Guerillas is withdrawing from #Sinjar to Medya Defence Zones/Qend https://twitter.com/cihanozgur3/status/725647883635138561 …
40+ killed in sustained airstrikes & artillery fire by #Assad regime & #Russia on **25** areas of #Aleppo today:
Charles Lister @Charles_Lister 49m49 minutes ago
As I’ve said repeatedly, we’ve been watching steady preparation for major offensive & siege of #Aleppo for 2-3 weeks
Maya Gebeily Verified account @GebeilyM
#SYRIA: Al-Watan says army prepping major offensive to retake Aleppo city & province. Battle “will not take long to begin, nor to finish.”
More on: www.mesop.de
SOUTH KURDISTAN (IRAQ)
MESOP QUOTATION : “Mideast Christians: ‘We Are a People on the Brink of Extinction’
Assyrian Christians Battle YPG/PYD (PKK) in Syria / YPG KIDNAPPED CHRISTIANS
By Ryan Mauro – Clarionproject.org – 2016-04-28 – If you thought the Syrian civil war was complicated before, get ready for your head to spin. An Assyrian Christian militia is now battling the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which is accused of being part of the Kurdistan Workers Party, a designated terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.
Jeff Gardner, the Director of Operations for Restore Nineveh Now, spoke to Clarion Project’s National Security Analyst Ryan Mauro about the situation and the Assyrian militia named the “Gozarto Protection Forces.” Assyrian is often used interchangeably with Christian, as the former is the ethnicity of the minority group and the latter is its religion. He also shared photos of the GPF that can be seen below. Read all : http://www.mesop.de/?p=73551
EAST KURDISTAN (IRAN)
MESOP DECLASSIFIED – Show Iran a Little Disrespect / By Eli Lake (BLOOMBERG)
APRIL 26, 2016 5:37 PM EST – Many Western journalists, diplomats and others seem desperate to believe that Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, is a moderate in a sea of hardliners, a rare Iranian with whom the West can and has done business.Take Secretary of State John Kerry. It seems that every other day he is in contact with Zarif, implementing the spirit of the nuclear deal the two men have been negotiating since 2013. Zarif himself told the New Yorker in an interview published Monday that they are usually talking at least two to three times a week, sometimes two to three times a day. Read all : http://www.mesop.de/?p=73540
WEST KURDISTAN (SYRIA)
MESOP Syria Special: Russia-Regime Airstrike Destroys Aleppo Hospital / CHILDRENS DEPARTEMENT FINISHED
By Scott Lucas – eaworldview – April 28 – Al-Quds Hospital in opposition-held Aleppo, destroyed on Wednesday night by a Russian-regime attack
The latest Russian-regime bombing in northwest Syria has destroyed the Al-Quds Hospital in Aleppo city, causing multiple casualties.Local journalists and activists put the death toll at more than 50, including 13 women and 15 children. The casualties are likely to rise, as dozens of people were trapped under rubble. Activists said that Russian and Syrian warplanes dropped more than 250 bombs in and near Aleppo last night. WATCH PICS ! – http://www.mesop.de/?p=73546
MESOP “UNDER PUTIN’S BOMBS & FIRE” : UN Envoy to Obama & Putin — Save the Ceasefire, Save the Talks
April 28 – By Scott Lucas – eaworldview – UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has appealed to US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to save the collapsed ceasefire and failing political talks over Syria’s five-year conflict. – Speaking early Thursday after the latest round of discussions in Geneva, de Mistura asked “for a U.S.-Russian urgent initiative at the highest level, because the legacy of both President Obama and President Putin is linked to the success of what has been a unique initiative which started very well. It needs to end very well.” He urged the US and Russia to convene a Ministerial meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), which brokered the February 27 cessation of hostilities. Read more http://www.mesop.de/?p=73548
MESOP SPECIAL : THE GRAND PUTIN MAFIA – Names Of Russia’s Elite Vanish From Public Property Records – By Carl Schreck
RFE/RL – 28 Apr 2016 – Billionaire Kirill Shamalov, who is widely reported to be Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law, is one of a number of wealthy or influential Russians who seem to have had their names removed from property records. Peculiar things are afoot with senior Russian officials and their relatives tied to pricey real estate: Their information keeps disappearing from public property records. Kremlin foes, journalists, and anticorruption activists in recent months have uncovered evidence that entries in the official federal real-estate database have been quietly edited, in some cases obscuring ownership of expensive properties thought to be controlled by members of Russia’s political elite.
Moreover, the Russian intelligence community is pushing draft legislation that would curb access to personal information in public real-estate records, thus shielding these details from inquisitive journalists and the broader public. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=73553