Chinese court jails Uighur scholar for life for separatism| Uighurbiz.net |

Tue, Sep 23 03:36 AM EDT image By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Tuesday jailed for life the country's most prominent advocate for the rights of Muslim Uighur people, a sentence that rights advocates said sent a clear signal that the government is determined to suppress dissent. Economics professor Ilham Tohti, 44, stood trial for two days last week on separatism charges in the western region of Xinjiang. His case has provoked an outcry in the West and among international human rights groups. "This is totally unacceptable," Tohti's lawyer, Li Fangping, told Reuters by telephone. "Ilham also said that he is innocent. He will appeal. Based on the wording of the verdict, this case is extremely politicised." Tohti, who is ethnic Uighur, is the latest moderate intellectual to be convicted by Chinese President Xi Jinping's administration. The court, which did not let Tohti speak during Tuesday's hearing, ordered the confiscation of all of his assets. The sentence was met with dismay among rights advocates, who have come under increasing pressure from the government. "It's very shocking, much harsher than anybody expected," said Maya Wang of the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch. "It's quite unprecedented for someone who is so prominent." In China, Tohti is regarded as an outspoken intellectual who has repeatedly criticised the government for not giving Xinjiang and its Uighurs more autonomy Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking people. Many resent restrictions on their culture and religion, and complain they are denied economic opportunities amid an influx of majority Han Chinese into Xinjiang. The government has blamed a series of violent attacks in which hundreds of people have been killed on Islamist militants who it says want to establish an independent state in Xinjiang called East Turkestan. The government says Uighurs are granted wide religious, cultural and linguistic freedom. 'HARDLINE STANCE' Tohti, who taught at Beijing's Minzu University, which specialises in ethnic minority studies, has said he never associated with any terrorist organization or foreign-based group and "relied only on pen and paper to diplomatically request" human rights and legal rights for Uighurs. His friends say he has never advocated independence for Xinjiang and he is proud to be Chinese. But prosecutors in Xinjiang said Tohti had promoted independence for the region on a website he managed called Uighurbiz.net. Tohti told the court last week he established the website to promote dialogue between scholars and that he had publicly opposed separatism and violence, Li said. Tohti had rejected the prosecution's evidence and said statements against him by student volunteers who had worked on the website were made under pressure from authorities. "It signifies that China is taking a hardline stance towards any Uighur moderates trying to put forward solutions that differ from the party's approach," William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, said of the sentence. The charge of separatism carries a maximum penalty of death in extreme cases. The United States, the European Union and human rights groups have called for Tohti's release after a nine-month detention widely seen as part of a government crackdown on dissent in Xinjiang, A spokesman for an overseas Uighur group said Tohti was being persecuted. "China has sent a clear message ... thoroughly disappointing all those who hope to use the legal process or reasonable proposals to change the status quo of Uighurs," Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, said in an e-mailed statement. (Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Robert Birsel)

The Arab War on Terror

US bombs IS jihadists in Syria: Pentagon Friendly Capitals using World's and Arab's to justify launching another War on Syria. Enough to know #FriendsOfSyria, #EnemyCapitals Washington (AFP) - The United States and "partners" have launched bombing raids against Islamic State extremists in Syria, the Pentagon said. "I can confirm that US military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against ISIL (Islamic State group) terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles," spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement. The decision to conduct the air strikes was undertaken earlier on Monday by the head of US Central Command, General Lloyd Austin, "under authorization granted him by the commander in chief," Kirby said. "We will provide more details later as operationally appropriate." The bombing raids, including Tomahawk missiles fired from naval warships at sea, came after President Barack Obama warned in a speech on September 10 that the United States was prepared to attack IS militants in Syria. Washington began air strikes against IS targets in Iraq on August 8. ======= Obama's Middle East allies are signing up for the fight against the Islamic State. But it's not for the reason you think. BY James Traub SEPTEMBER 22, 2014 Arab states have a new defining cause: the war on terror. Almost four years ago, popular uprisings across the region upended an old order and created a new set of aspirations and a new collective meaning. That was the Arab Spring; save in Tunisia, where the spirit survives, it lasted for two years at the most before giving way to chaos and violence, backlash and regret. What was the new meaning and direction of the Arab world? At the time, no one could be sure. Now, however, it's become clear. The imperative -- the felt imperative, that is -- to fight terrorism has relegated the demands for personal dignity and political rights to the quaint preoccupation of youthful malcontents. I've just returned from a long visit to Alexandria (of which I'll have much to say in a subsequent piece) and it's clear that the one thing all parties in Egypt agree on, save for the malcontents, is the need to stand united against the terrorist menace. This is not, however, exactly the same menace that Americans worry about. When Egyptians say, "We're in a terrorist phase now," they are referring not to the Islamic State (IS) but to Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has been killing policemen and soldiers in the Sinai; to the Muslim Brotherhood, which they see as the political face of jihadi violence; and to the civil war next door in Libya. Sameh Shoukry, Egypt's foreign minister, recently denied that Cairo has agreed even to join the U.S.-organized military campaign against IS. "The mission of the Egyptian army is to protect the Egyptian people and the country's borders," he said tartly. Let's take a tour of the region: Lebanon is now scared stiff about the Islamic State, which has beheaded two captive Lebanese soldiers, but it's just as worried about other Islamist groups which have crossed the border from Syria, including al-Nusra Front. The Emiratis fear IS, and are eager to join the American coalition, but they're so worried about the Islamists in Libya, fighting under the name Libyan Dawn, that, along with Egypt, they have reportedly bombed rebel forces there (to no discernible effect). The Turks fear IS, but not much more than they fear the Kurdish separatists who might take advantage of an anti-jihadist coalition to press their own campaign for independence. The Saudis may have agreed to host training bases for moderate Syrian rebels, but they fear Iran more than anyone. It's no wonder that Secretary of State John Kerry got such an equivocal response when he toured the Middle East looking for expressions of support. I recently raised this issue with a senior diplomat from a Gulf country, who said, "Our fears for the region obviously go beyond IS." He's not sure his American friends share those fears. "Is this a one-off?" he asks, "Or are we going to see a true partnership to go after terrorism?" It's a fair question: Why should Arab states lend their support to America's bête noire if the United States won't reciprocate? bête noire One that is particularly disliked or that is to be avoided: The problem, however, is the way regional states define the swamp which they would like the United States to help them drain. The chief swamp-dweller is the Muslim Brotherhood. Both Saudi Arabia and Egypt have banned the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. The UAE convicted 69 Brotherhood members of plotting to overthrow the state. In Egypt, it is an article of faith shared by secularists and Salafists alike that the Brotherhood is responsible, directly or indirectly, for terrorist violence and sabotage -- despite the lack of evidence tying the organization to Ansar Beit's murderous campaign. The great organizing principle of the current Egyptian regime is simply this: Crush the Brotherhood. The Gulf diplomat I spoke to was quite explicit on this score. The Brotherhood and al Qaeda, he said, "are shades of the same thing." The Brotherhood is "a gateway to further extremism." When he asks whether the United States sees Libya as "another domino," as those in the region do, he is asking in part whether Washington understands that the Brotherhood is seeking to knock over regional dominoes, as American policymakers once said about international communism. The answer is no. Barack Obama offered American support to Mohammed Morsi of the Brotherhood when the Egyptian people elected him president. It seemed, at the time, like an important endorsement of the right of Egyptians to decide for themselves who should lead the country. Administration officials quickly concluded that Morsi was a complete incompetent, but he was obviously no terrorist. In fact, Morsi proved to be a useful and effective interlocutor with Hamas. Since then, neither he nor the other Brotherhood leaders who have been jailed and now face the death penalty based on absurdly trumped-up charges have called on their followers to take up arms against the state. Despite decades of repression, the Brotherhood has never deviated from a policy of nonviolent change. The organization has been singled out in part because of its own secrecy and parochialism, as well as its endorsement of violence when practiced by allies like Hamas. It is also the object of a paranoia Americans will quickly recognize as a new form of the Red Menace. The terrorism label increasingly looks like a flimsy rationale for authoritarian control. After the European Union used a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council to call for a "thorough, independent and transparent investigation" of the killing of several thousand protestors by Egyptian security forces since the overthrow of the Brotherhood government in July 2013, Egyptian officials accused the Europeans of adopting a hypocritical "double standard" that called on Cairo to join the fight against terrorism while undermining its efforts to do so. Foreign Minister Shoukry summoned EU ambassadors to personally object to the "negative message" they had conveyed. Americans are probably in no position to criticize Arab states for overreacting to the terrorist threat by adopting harsh domestic legislation. If the United States whipped through the Patriot Act and gave itself leave to waterboard suspected terrorists in the aftermath of 9/11, how surprised can we be that nations with no tradition of democracy criminalize dissent and prohibit demonstrations, as Egypt is in the process of doing? Nevertheless, it's deeply disheartening to see the dark mass of the national security state so utterly eclipse the beautiful celebration of freedom that adorned the public spaces of the Arab world only a few years ago. What's more, the brutal reaction to dissent is surely self-defeating in the long run. Killing unarmed Islamist protestors has proved to be surprisingly popular among Egyptians, but doing so is far likelier to foster terrorism than to deter it. And it undermines the new war on terror by conflating domestic political rivals with a genuine transnational threat. The Arab world really does face a growing threat of terrorist violence; it really does need to forge a partnership with the West to confront the Islamic State as well as more localized forces. But the West is not about to join a campaign to crush political opponents on the pretext of fighting terrorism. Egypt and its new friends in the Gulf will have to do that on their own. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP

Basra Development: Oil Minister meeting with Syeds of Basra

28 Martyrs of AlKadhmiya just buried today in Najaf.. Lucky those who make their last step in Najaf soil Ya Ali!

Post by ‎موسسة الصادق الاسلامية-البصرة‎.

وزير النفط السيد عادل عبد المهدي يبحث مع معتمدي المرجعية الدينية العليا في البصرة خطط تطوير المحافظة التقى وزير النفط السيد عادل عبد المهدي معتمدي المرجعية الدينية العليا في البصرة السيد عماد البطاط والسيد علي الحكيم والسيد عبد العال الموسوي والشيخ محمد فلك ، وجرى خلال اللقاء بحث التطورات السياسية والامنية في البلاد عموما ومحافظة البصرة على وجه الخصوص ، كما جرى مناقشة احتياجات المحافظة واليات الارتقاء بواقعها الخدمي والعمراني والاقتصادي بما يتلاءم مع مكانة المحافظة الاقتصادية في البلاد . واكد السيد عادل عبد المهدي ضرورة النهوض بواقع هذه المحافظة بما يلبي طموحات ابنائها وان يتم اعطاء الصورة الحقيقية لعاصمة العراق الاقتصادية المتمثلة بمحافظة البصرة الفيحاء . Oil Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, looking with Motamedi Supreme religious authority in the province of Basra, development plans Met with Oil Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi Motamedi Supreme religious authority in Basra, Imad al-Battat and Mr. Ali Hakim and Mr. Abdel Aal al-Musawi and Sheikh Mohammed Falak, During the meeting, they discussed political and security developments in the country in general and Basra province in particular, have also been discussing the needs of the province and the mechanics of upgrading their betterment and service of urban and economic standing in line with economic conservatism in the country. He said Mr. Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the need for the advancement of this province to meet the aspirations of their children and that is to give the true picture of Iraq's capital Economic Basra province of Al-Fayhaa. رئيس الوزراء الدكتور حيدر العبادي يزور جرحى التفجيرات الارهابية في الكاظمية ويتفقد جرحى ابطال القوات الامنية وشجعان الحشد الشعبي ويشير الى ان العصابات الارهابية ومن يقف خلفها تحاول جر المواطنين الى حرب طائفية الا ان وعي وحس المواطنين احبط هذه المحاولات. المكتب الاعلامي لرئيس الوزراء د.حيدر العبادي See Translation

صحيفة "سياسة روز" الإيرانية : تحالف #قطر و #تركيا يستهدف نفوذ طهران

Exclusive: Iran seeks give and take on Islamic State militants, nuclear program Sun, Sep 21 20:03 PM EDT image By Parisa Hafezi and Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran is ready to work with the United States and its allies to stop Islamic State militants, but would like more flexibility on Iran's uranium enrichment program in exchange, senior Iranian officials told Reuters. The comments from the officials, who asked not to be named, highlight how difficult it may be for the Western powers to keep the nuclear negotiations separate from other regional conflicts. Iran wields influence in the Syrian civil war and on the Iraqi government, which is fighting the advance of Islamic State fighters. Iran has sent mixed signals about its willingness to cooperate on defeating Islamic State (IS), a hard-line Sunni Islamist group that has seized large swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq and is blamed for a wave of sectarian violence, beheadings and massacres of civilians. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said recently that he vetoed a U.S. overture to the Islamic Republic to work together on defeating IS, but U.S. officials said there was no such offer. In public, both Washington and Tehran have ruled out cooperating militarily in tackling the IS threat. But in private, Iranian officials have voiced a willingness to work with the United States on IS, though not necessarily on the battlefield. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that Iran has a role to play in defeating Islamic State, indicating the U.S. position may also be shifting. "Iran is a very influential country in the region and can help in the fight against the ISIL (IS) terrorists ... but it is a two-way street. You give something, you take something," said a senior Iranian official on condition of anonymity. "ISIL is a threat to world security, not our (nuclear) program, which is a peaceful program," the official added. Tehran rejects Western allegations that it is amassing the capability to produce atomic weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear energy program. Another Iranian official echoed the remarks. Both officials said they would like the United States and its Western allies to show flexibility on the number of atomic centrifuges Tehran could keep under any long-term deal that would lift sanctions in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear program. "Both sides can show flexibility that will lead to an acceptable number for everyone," another Iranian official said. WEST WANTS TO KEEP ATOMIC TALKS SEPARATE Kerry held bilateral talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in New York for more than an hour on Sunday, a senior State Department official said. The meeting focused on the need to make progress in this week's nuclear talks and the threat of Islamic State. The official did not provide details on the discussions between Kerry and Zarif, who met for the first time a year ago on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly when Iran and six world powers reopened negotiations with Tehran. Western officials told Reuters that Iran has not raised this idea in nuclear negotiations with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China that resumed in New York on Friday. Diplomats close to the talks say they are unlikely to settle in New York on a long-term accord that would lift sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iranian nuclear work. The Western officials said it would be difficult for them to even discuss the point in the atomic negotiations as the United States and its allies are determined to keep the nuclear negotiations focused exclusively on atomic issues as the Nov. 24 deadline for a deal nears. "We are seeing as we get closer to the end of the talks that the Iranians are tempted to bring other dossiers to the table," a senior Western diplomat said. "They sometimes indicate that if there were to not be a (nuclear) deal, the other dossiers in region would be more complicated," he added. "The six are determined not to bring the other subjects to the nuclear negotiations table." The New York talks among senior foreign ministry officials from the six powers and Iran are taking place on the sidelines of this week's annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. The number of nuclear centrifuges has emerged as the principal sticking point in negotiations, which are expected to continue in New York until at least Sept. 26. Centrifuges are machines that spin at supersonic speed to increase the ratio of the fissile isotope in uranium. Low-enriched uranium is used to fuel nuclear power plants, Iran's stated goal, but can also provide material for bombs if refined much further, which the West fears may be Iran's latent goal. Iran currently has over 19,000 centrifuges, though only around 10,000 of those are operational. The six powers want Iran to reduce the number of operational centrifuges to the low thousands, to ensure it cannot quickly produce enough bomb-grade uranium for a weapon, should it choose to do so. Iranians are keen to keep as many of their centrifuges as possible, and have also suggested that they could keep all 19,000 installed while maintaining a much smaller number in an operational state. Western officials say they dislike that idea. U.S. officials have made clear for months that the number of centrifuges they are willing to tolerate operating in Iran over the medium term would be in the low thousands to ensure that Tehran's ability to produce a usable amount of bomb-grade uranium, should it go down that road, is severely limited. Iran says such draconian limitations would be a violation of its right to enrich. Supreme Leader Khamenei has called that issue a "red line" for Tehran. Centrifuges are not the only sticking point in the talks. Others include the duration of any nuclear deal, the timetable for ending the sanctions, and the fate of a research reactor that could yield significant quantities of bomb-grade plutonium. Under a November 2013 interim deal, Iran froze some parts of its atomic program in exchange for limited sanctions relief. That agreement was intended to buy time for negotiations on a comprehensive deal that end the decade-long standoff with Iran and remove the risk of yet another war in the Middle East. (Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton in New York, John Irish in Paris and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Editing by Marguerita Choy) ===================== Iran is viewed with suspicion for the development of relations between Turkey and Qatar - archival - Anatolia The newspaper said "the policy of the Rose," the Iranian president's visit Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Qatar, the first foreign visit after assuming the presidential post in Turkey, paving the way for a political alliance major economic and historical connection between the two countries; to form the axis of Sunni targets of Iranian influence in the Middle East. The newspaper considered that the choice of the Qatari capital of Doha, the first station to external Erdogan, underlines the importance of Doha in the region, and its importance in the equations of Turkish foreign policy. The newspaper said the Iranian that the gas reserves, which is owned by Qatar, and near Qatar Islamic currents Arabic, constitute the most important factors and motives of the alliance Turkish country in the region, and that this alliance will be more influential on the Syrian arena and Arabic, and that the interests of the Iranian strategy could be affected by this coalition which the newspaper described as "dubious and dangerous." In a related context, the newspaper said the Qatari Turkish talks, during Erdogan's visit to Doha, focused largely on the situation in Iraq and Syria, and how to rearrange the support of the Syrian opposition and Islamist groups fighting the regime in Syria. The newspaper claimed that "our ally Bashar al-Assad" is affected by this new project which aims to Syria, according to its expression. The paper claimed that what they described as "Turkey Alerdoganah" trying to restore the influence of the Ottomans and their role in the region, through the policies of Erdogan in Syria, Egypt and Libya and Palestine, and adds that Erdogan is trying with Arab allies the use of important issues and sensitive to Arabs and Muslims as an issue of Palestine, to promote the project aimed to re-Turkey's role in the troubled Middle East, because of the civil wars in Syria and Iraq. The opinion of the newspaper that Qatar and Turkey, and since the start of the Arab revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the two "are trying to form the axis of Sunni Islamic equivalent of the Shiite crescent stretching from Tehran to Baghdad and Damascus, but this project collided with the Syrian regime, which has resisted this project Islamic suspicious, and faced terrorist groups and fighters Islamists backed diagonally and Turkey to topple the Syrian regime and legitimate President Bashar al-Assad, "she said. And stressed "the policy of the Rose," the strength and cohesion of the Iranian axis in the region, arguing that it can not back down to form the axis of Sunni Islamist-led Turkish and Qatar "in Syria, which has become the focus of conflict and Square confrontation between these two projects in the Middle East, Iran intervened with its weight there of the importance of Syria and its strategy in the Iranian axis extending from Tehran to Lebanon, "and added that the leadership of Hezbollah in Lebanon," I realized the seriousness of this axis Turkish Qatar on Syria and the whole region, and that this axis Qatari Turkish, who owns the media and economic resources enormous, if successful drop Bashar al-Assad in Syria, it will surely Imitdd to Lebanon and affect the existence of the resistance there. " And reached the newspaper to the conclusion that the survival of the Syrian regime is the most important fundamental obstacle to this axis and the National Alliance Turkish and Qatar depend on the currents of political and armed groups Syria associated with and funded from Doha on its future strategy in the region, and is seeking to expand its influence in the Arab region through Syria. ===== إيران تنظر بعين الريبة لتطور العلاقات التركية القطرية - أرشيفية - الأناضول قالت صحيفة "سياسة روز" الإيرانية إن زيارة الرئيس التركي رجب طيب أردوغان إلى قطر، كأول زيارة خارجية بعد توليه المنصب الرئاسي في تركيا، تمهد لتحالف سياسي ـ اقتصادي كبير وتاريخي فيما بين البلدين؛ لتشكيل محور سني يستهدف النفوذ الإيراني في منطقة الشرق الأوسط. واعتبرت الصحيفة أن اختيار العاصمة القطرية الدوحة، كأول محطة خارجية لأردوغان، يؤكد أهمية الدوحة في المنطقة، وأهميتها في المعادلات الخارجية للسياسة التركية. وأضافت الصحيفة الإيرانية بأن احتياطي الغاز الذي تمتلكه قطر، وقرْب قطر من التيارات الإسلامية العربية، يشكلان أهم العوامل و الدوافع للتحالف التركي ـ القطري في المنطقة، وأن هذا التحالف سيكون أكثر تأثيراً على الساحة السورية والعربية، وأن المصالح الإيرانية الاستراتيجية من الممكن أن تتأثر بهذا التحالف الذي وصفته الصحيفة بـ "المريب والخطر". وفي سياق متصل قالت الصحيفة إن المباحثات القطرية ـ التركية، خلال زيارة أردوغان للدوحة، ركزت بشكل كبير على الوضع العراقي والسوري، وكيفية إعادة ترتيب دعم المعارضة السورية والجماعات الإسلامية التي تقاتل النظام في سوريا. وادعت الصحيفة أن "حليفنا بشار الأسد" هو من سيتأثر بهذا المشروع الجديد الذي يستهدف سوريا، بحسب تعبيرها. وزعمت الصحيفة أن ما وصفته بـ"تركيا الأردوغانية" تحاول استعادة نفوذ العثمانيين ودورهم في المنطقة، من خلال سياسات أردوغان في سوريا ومصر ولبيبا وفلسطين، وتضيف أن أردوغان يحاول مع حلفائه من العرب استخدام القضايا المهمة والحساسة لدى العرب والمسلمين كقضية فلسطين، للترويج لمشروعه الرامي لإعادة دور تركيا في منطقة الشرق الأوسط المضطربة، بسبب الحروب الأهلية في سوريا والعراق. وترى الصحيفة أن قطر وتركيا، ومنذ انطلاق الثورات العربية في تونس ومصر وليبيا، وهما "تحاولان تشكيل محور إسلامي سني يوازي الهلال الشيعي الممتد من طهران إلى بغداد ودمشق، ولكن هذا المشروع اصطدم بالنظام السوري، الذي قاوم هذا المشروع الإسلامي المريب، وواجه الجماعات الإرهابية والمقاتلين الإسلاميين المدعومين قطرياً وتركياً لإسقاط النظام السوري والرئيس الشرعي بشار الأسد"، على حد قولها. وأكدت "سياسة روز" قوة وتماسك المحور الإيراني في المنطقة، معتبرة أنه لا يمكن أن يتراجع بتشكيل محور إسلامي سني بقيادة تركية وقطر "في سوريا، التي أصبحت محور الصراع وساحة المواجهة بين هذين المشروعين في منطقة الشرق الأوسط، تدخلت إيران بكل ثقلها هناك لأهمية سوريا ومكانتها الاستراتيجية في المحور الإيراني الممتد من طهران إلى لبنان"، وأضافت أن قيادة حزب الله في لبنان "أدركت خطورة هذا المحور التركي القطري على سوريا والمنطقة برمتها، وأن هذا المحور القطري ـ التركي، الذي يمتلك الإعلام والموارد الاقتصادية الهائلة، لو نجح بإسقاط بشار الأسد في سوريا، فإنه بالتأكيد سوف يمتدد إلى لبنان ويؤثر على وجود المقاومة هناك". وتوصلت الصحيفة إلى خلاصة مفادها أن بقاء النظام السوري يشكل أهم عقبة أساسية أمام هذا المحور والتحالف القطري ـ التركي، وأن قطر تعتمد على التيارات السياسية والجماعات المسلحة السورية المرتبطة والممولة من الدوحة على استراتيجيتها المستقبلية في المنطقة، وتسعى لتوسيع نفوذها في المنطقة العربية عن طريق سوريا.

NASA finds ‘monster’ black hole in tiny galaxy

NASA finds ‘monster’ black hole in tiny galaxy Published time: September 19, 2014 00:11 Get short URL NASA, Science, Space, Thrills&Spills The M60-UCD1, discovered by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 2013, is one of the smallest known galaxies. But now the space agency has discovered that the dwarf galaxy is harboring a “monster” black hole. The diameter of M60-UCD1 is about 300 light years – just 1/500th of our galaxy’s width. However, it is packed with 140 million stars, which also makes it one of the densest galaxies. For comparison, NASA explains, the nighttime sky we see from Earth’s surface shows 4,000 stars. If we lived inside the newly-discovered M60-UCD1, our nighttime sky would be covered with at least one million stars “visible to the naked eye.” But what really surprised astronomers is the supermassive black hole they found inside M60-UCD1. Lurking in the smallest galaxy, the black hole is five times the mass of the one at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. It has a mass equal to 21 million suns, and is 15 percent of the small galaxy's total mass – but less than 0.01 percent of the Milky Way’s total mass. “That is pretty amazing, given that the Milky Way is 500 times larger and more than 1,000 times heavier than the dwarf galaxy M60-UCD1,” University of Utah astronomer Anil Seth, lead author of an international study on the dwarf galaxy, said in Nature’s Thursday publication. The finding has prompted astronomers to consider rethinking dwarf galaxy theories. They have now grown to suggest that dwarf galaxies may, in fact, be the stripped remnants of larger galaxies that were torn apart during collisions with other galaxies. Until the discovery, they thought that tiny galaxies were small islands of stars born in isolation. “We don’t know of any other way you could make a black hole so big in an object this small,” Seth said. The observation also suggests that there are many other compact galaxies in the universe that contain supermassive black holes. It could be that M60-UCD1 was once a large galaxy containing 10 billion stars, but then it passed very close to the center of an even larger galaxy, M60. As a result, the stars and dark matter in the outer part of the galaxy were torn away and became part of M60. It is possible that M60-UCD1 may eventually be pulled to fully merge with M60, which has its own black hole that is more than 1,000 times bigger than the black hole in our galaxy. Should this happen, the black holes in both galaxies – which are 50 million light-years away – would also likely merge.

Toyota recalling 20,000 late-model vehicles on potential fuel leak

Thu, Sep 18 13:03 PM EDT image DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday it will recall about 20,000 vehicles worldwide for possible fuel leaks. Most of the affected vehicles are in the United States but were also shipped to other countries, Toyota said. Toyota Motor Sales USA said the recall involves vehicles with its 2GR-FE engine. The recall includes the 2015 model year Lexus RX, and four 2014 model year Toyota vehicles: Avalon, Camry, Highlander and Sienna. Lexus is Toyota's luxury brand. A fuel delivery pipe in the engine may leak because it was not correctly welded by a Toyota supplier company, the automaker said. This could lead to a leak, which could increase the risk of fire. Toyota said it was not aware of any fires, crashes, injuries or fatalities caused by the problem. All of the affected Toyota models were produced in the United States, with the Lexus model made in Canada. They were shipped around the world, including to South Korea, Russia, Australia, other parts of Asia and the Middle East, a Toyota spokesman said. Technicians at Toyota and Lexus dealers will inspect the fuel delivery pipe and if it was produced at that particular supplier, they will replace it with a new one, Toyota said. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Iraqi Cleric’s Speech Strikes a Balance : New al Qaeda wing ( عاصب الرأس) in South Asia claims major attack

In attack by al Qaeda, lines blur between Pakistan's military, militants Wed, Oct 01 02:39 AM EDT By Syed Raza Hassan and Katharine Houreld KARACHI Pakistan/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Months after Owais Jakhrani was sacked from the Pakistan navy for radical Islamist views, he led an audacious mission to take over a warship and turn its guns on a U.S. naval vessel in the open seas. The early September dawn raid at a naval base in the southern city of Karachi was thwarted, but not before Jakhrani, two officers and an unidentified fourth assailant snuck past a patrol boat in a dinghy and engaged in an intense firefight on or around the warship, PNS Zulfiqar. Four people were killed in the attempt to hijack the Zulfiqar, including Jakhrani and two accomplices, who were serving sub-lieutenants, according to police reports seen by Reuters. Officials are divided about how much support the young man in his mid-20s had from inside the navy. They also stress that Jakhrani and his accomplices were a long way from achieving their aim when they were killed. But the attack, claimed by al Qaeda's newly created South Asian wing, has highlighted the threat of militant infiltration into Pakistan's nuclear-armed military. The issue is a sensitive one for Pakistan's armed forces, which have received billions of dollars of U.S. aid since 2001 when they joined Washington's global campaign against al Qaeda. According to an initial statement from al Qaeda, the plan was to use the Zulfiqar to attack a U.S. navy vessel, meaning potential loss of American lives and a blow to relations between the two nations. A further statement issued by the group identified the target as USS Supply, a US naval ship used to refuel warships at sea. The Indian navy was also a target, the statement said. It urged followers to “make jihad on the seas one of their priorities," according to the SITE intelligence group, which monitors extremist communications. A naval spokesman said an inquiry was still ongoing when Reuters contacted the military with detailed questions about the incident. The military typically does not publish its inquiries. "The Reuters story is not based on facts," he said. "All the facts will be ascertained once the inquiry is finalised." Most Pakistani military officials deny infiltration is a significant problem. Yet Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told parliament the attackers could only have breached security with inside help. One navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, said at least eight navy personnel had been arrested based on the attackers' phone records, including four aboard the Zulfiqar. Three serving mid-level lieutenant commanders from Karachi were also arrested in the western city of Quetta, allegedly trying to flee to Afghanistan two days after the botched raid, officials said. Further arrests were made in Karachi, Peshawar, and northwestern Pakistan, they added. THE "MASTERMIND" The plot's mastermind was sub-lieutenant Jakhrani, either 25 or 26 years old, whose father is a senior police officer in Karachi, officials said. He was fired several months ago during his probationary training period, according to a senior naval officer. "He used to ask questions about why there is no break for prayers given during the course of training sessions," the officer said. "He used to question seniors." Earlier this year, Jakhrani traveled to Afghanistan to meet militant leaders and receive combat training, according to two officials. They said that he had told his bosses before departing that he needed to take leave to study for exams. But Jakhrani failed his exams and alarmed colleagues with his militant views. "We found literature and material on his person that no one can be allowed to have. His colleagues reported his views and he was then closely watched and monitored and finally dismissed," one official said. Once he left the navy, information on his movements and plans was patchy. Intelligence officials tipped off the navy days before the attack that a raid was imminent, according to two officials. But Jakhrani, who had an insider's knowledge of the Karachi base, did not appear to be closely monitored. Imtiaz Gul, head of the Islamabad-based think tank the Centre for Research and Security Studies, said senior generals were aware of a long-standing weakness in surveillance of military officials dismissed for extremism. "They don't have a tracking system for officers who are dismissed or asked to leave the service (for radical views)," said Gul. "That makes it very difficult to track if they have joined extremist groups." Chris Rawley, vice president of the Washington D.C.-based think tank the Center for International Maritime Security, said the attack never looked likely to succeed. But underlining one of the United States' biggest fears, he added: "The fact that maybe there are some collaborators in the navy is worrying because maybe there are collaborators among others that have purview over nuclear weapons." Similar fears about militant infiltration and the sympathies of junior officers were raised after sophisticated attacks penetrated a Karachi naval base in 2011 and the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi in 2009. THE ATTACK The Karachi attack came two days after al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri announced the formation of a new wing, al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent. The region, stretching across India to Bangladesh, is home to more than 400 million Muslims. "The targets were the American and the Indian navies!" the group said in a statement carried by SITE intelligence group. The statement threatened U.S. naval allies that seek to secure maritime routes and prevent the movement of militants. It claimed that jihadi fighters had launched an attack aboard the Zulfiqar and another ship, the PNS Aslat, and had killed many naval officers. A police report that Reuters saw recorded one sailor's death on the Zulfiqar and did not mention the Aslat. Militants have launched attacks on top Pakistani security installations before, but this plot sought to strike at the heart of the alliance between Pakistan and the United States. At least four attackers wearing navy uniforms snuck past the patrol boat, arriving at the Zulfiqar as the dawn shift change was due, a navy official said. A sailor on board challenged them, leading to a shootout that ended when the ship's gunner fired anti-ship guns at the attackers, according to the navy official and the police report. "The special services group commandos arrived from their nearby base and eliminated at least one attacker who had taken position below the deck," said a naval officer who worked on the base. "Meanwhile, reinforcements of naval commandos came from the nearby (unit) Iqbal. The commandos came in with their gadgetry of jammers and a lab which absorbed all the data being transmitted from the ship at that moment." In total, three attackers and one sailor were killed, police reports and autopsies showed. A policeman said he raced to the dockyard when he heard a blast, but the military told him it was part of celebrations for Pakistan Defence Day, which fell on the day of the attack. The navy official said it was not clear what caused the blast, but it could have been either a grenade or suicide vest. Witnesses' statements differ in some aspects to an account given by another security official, who said Jakhrani and five attackers were killed by a gunner on the ship who fired on their dinghy before they boarded. One Pakistani security official said the threat posed by the plot to a U.S. ship in the region should not be exaggerated.

"It was not a success and trying to make it look like it was is unfair propaganda. Hijacking a navy ship isn't a joke," the official said. "We can all be alarmists if we want but this is not some Hollywood film."

(Writing by Katharine Houreld; Additional reporting by Mehreen Zahra-Malik in Islamabad, Gul Yousufzai in Quetta, Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Raju Gopalakrishnan) =============== 14 Pakistanis freed from U.S. custody in Afghanistan's Bagram prison: lawyers Sat, Sep 20 14:19 PM EDT By Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Fourteen Pakistani detainees were released from U.S. custody in Bagram Prison in Afghanistan and repatriated to Pakistan on Saturday, a Pakistani legal firm representing some of the prisoners said. Justice Project Pakistan has been representing several Bagram detainees since 2010 in a bid to force the Pakistani government to bring them home. So far no information has been provided by the Pakistani authorities on the names of the released detainees or their current whereabouts, said Sarah Belal, a lawyer with Justice Project Pakistan. One of the released detainees is 29-year-old Abdul Halim Saifullah, Belal said, citing information from the Red Cross. She said he disappeared nine years ago from the southern city of Karachi after dropping his father off at a hospital and has been detained in Bagram ever since. Including the group released on Saturday, 39 Pakistanis have been released from Bagram in the past 10 months. At least one Pakistani is thought to still be in prison there, although the exact numbers are unclear since no official list has been provided since 2012. Sarah Belal, lead counsel for Justice Project Pakistan, said the government did not inform the families about the release and she feared the men may now be transferred to secret Pakistani prisons. "We still don't know about the whereabouts of the nine detainees released last month. The lack of clarity with today's tranche gives us reason to fear that they too may be held incommunicado by the Pakistani authorities," she said. (Editing by Greg Mahlich) ============= شقيق ارهابي منشق: قادة "‫#‏داعش‬" تقيم الملاهي الليلية و تتعاطى ‫#‏المخدرات‬ أكد خالد المطيري، شقيق الارهابي السعودي أحمد ثامر الشاطري المطيري المنشق عن جماعة "داعش" الارهابية أن السبب الرئيسي لفرار أخيه اكتشافه تعاطي قادة "داعش" المخدرات، وإقامة الملاهي الليلية، وسَبْي النساء، وقتل المسلمين. لمزيد من التفاصيل متابعة الخبر على الرابط :http://www.alghadeer.tv/news/detail/18899/ The brother of a dissident: terrorist leaders "# daash evaluates nightclubs and drug abuse # said Delaney, a brother of Saudi terrorist Ahmed thamir Al shatri MUTAIRI dissident terrorist group" daash "that the main reason for the defection of his brother discovered the abuse" leaders "drugs, daash establishment of nightclubs, and enchant the women, kill Muslims. The brother of a terrorist splinter: leaders "Daash" evaluate nightclubs and drug dealing Sunday, September 21, 2014 - 13:05 According to the online "daily life" on Sunday, said al-Mutairi revealed that his brother Ahmed, who fled from the "Daash" and turned himself in, not the vocalist for the section known as "O Asb head", but it is for his brother, the third Saad, who is still with those terrorist group. He said to me three brothers, Fahd and Ahmed Saad, all came out to fight in Syria, after the announcement of the call to fight in social networking sites, etc., and they Baltgrir them. He said al-Mutairi: "He died my elder brother Fahd at the hands of the Syrian army after a month of his arrival in Syria, and to joining Front victory," noting that his two brothers Saad and Ahmed Anhqa Front victory and joined thereafter to "Daash", and sang Saad clip (O Asb head) on the Internet. " He said that section confirms the ignorance of his brother and deceived him, and not thinking of the consequences of this section and its dimensions, noting that his brother Ahmed, "remained committed to silence and the fear of how to return and not of allegiance to Daash that do not bear the name of any impact." The Al-Mutairi that the reasons for not swear allegiance to Ahmed's "Daash" and fleeing them is watching "kill Muslims and vision to those who are being slaughtered while repeating the certificate, as well as his vision of leadership (Daash) and joined under the banner they use drugs, and staying nightclubs, and insulting women, which raised likes How to bear the name of the state Daash show that the appearance of the hardline carry out such acts. " Ended. For more details follow the news link: http://www.alghadeer.tv/news/detail/18899/ (Translated by Bing) شقيق ارهابي منشق: قادة "داعش" تقيم الملاهي الليلية و تتعاطى المخدرات الأحد 21 سبتمبر 2014 - 13:05 شقيق ارهابي منشق: قادة "داعش" تقيم الملاهي الليلية و تتعاطى المخدرات أكد خالد المطيري، شقيق الارهابي السعودي أحمد ثامر الشاطري المطيري المنشق عن جماعة "داعش" الارهابية أن السبب الرئيسي لفرار أخيه اكتشافه تعاطي قادة "داعش" المخدرات، وإقامة الملاهي الليلية، وسَبْي النساء، وقتل المسلمين. وافاد موقع "صحيفة الحياة" اليوم الاحد، ان المطيري كشف أن شقيقه أحمد، الذي فر من "داعش" وسلم نفسه، لم يكن المنشد للمقطع المعروف "يا عاصب الرأس"، وإنما هو لشقيقه الثالث سعد الذي لايزال مع تلك الجماعة الارهابية. وقال: لي 3 إخوة، فهد وسعد وأحمد، خرجوا جميعا للقتال في سوريا، بعد الاعلان عن الدعوة للقتال في مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي وغيرها، وقاموا بالتغرير بهم. وأضاف المطيري: "توفي أخي الأكبر فهد على يد الجيش السوري بعد شهر من وصوله إلى سوريا، وانضمامه إلى جبهة النصرة"، مشيرا أن شقيقيه سعد وأحمد انشقا عن جبهة النصرة وانضما بعد ذلك الى "داعش"، وانشد سعد مقطع (يا عاصب الرأس) على الإنترنت". واعتبر ان المقطع يؤكد جهل اخيه والتغرير به، وعدم تفكيره بعواقب هذا المقطع وأبعاده، مشيرا الى ان شقيقه أحمد "بقي ملتزما الصمت والخوف من كيفية العودة وعدم المبايعة لداعش التي لا تحمل من اسمها أي أثر". وأكد المطيري أن أسباب عدم مبايعة أحمد لـ "داعش" و فراره منهم هو مشاهدته"قتلهم المسلمين ورؤيته لمن يُذبح وهو يردد الشهادة، وكذلك رؤيته قيادة (داعش) والمنضمين تحت لوائه وهم يتعاطون المخدرات، ويقيمون الملاهي الليلية، ويَسْبون النساء، الأمر الذي أثار تعجبه كيف لدولة تحمل اسم لداعش وتظهر بمظهر المتشدد أن تقوم بمثل هذه الأعمال". انتهى.== ============= By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and DAN BILEFSKYSEPT. 19, 2014 Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is influential among Shiites. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BAGHDAD — Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the influential Shiite cleric, on Friday urged vigilance against Western political interference in Iraqi affairs but stopped short of opposing the American-led military campaign against the extremists of the Islamic State. “All political leaders of the country must be aware and awake to prevent the external assistance against the Islamic State from becoming an entrance to breach Iraq’s independence,” Ayatollah Sistani said. “Cooperation with the international effort shall not be taken as a pretext to impose foreign decisions on events in Iraq, especially military events.” His carefully balanced comments, in a statement read by his spokesman at Friday Prayer in the Iraqi city of Karbala, underscored the challenge facing the United States and its allies in their efforts to push back the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, without bolstering or antagonizing rival Shiite factions. U.S. Faces Tough Struggle on Ground to Oust ISISSEPT. 18, 2014 A rebel leader, Sheikh Tawfiq Shahabuddin, right, on Monday in Reyhanli, Turkey. “The international position has to be to fight all kinds of terrorism,” he said. U.S. Goal Is to Make Syrian Rebels ViableSEPT. 18, 2014 An image from a video titled “Lend Me Your Ears — Messages from the British Detainee John Cantlie,” which was posted on YouTube. New ISIS Video Features British Hostage, John Cantlie, as SpokesmanSEPT. 18, 2014 The ayatollah’s comments came shortly after the office of President François Hollande of France announced that French fighter jets had carried out their first attacks on Islamic State targets in Iraq, fulfilling his pledge a day earlier to join the international military campaign against the group. Photo A Rafale fighter at France's Al Dhafra airbase in Abu Dhabi this week. Credit Taieb Mahjoub/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images In recent days, a handful of other Iraqi Shiite leaders or militias with closer ties to Iran have made statements expressing more wariness or opposition to the American-led military efforts, and American officials have said the Iranian proxies may be seeking to remind the Western states that Tehran, too, should be taken into account. On Friday, the Iraqi cleric Moktada al-Sadr, another influential voice with ties to Iran, called for a demonstration in Baghdad on Saturday to protest a potential incursion by American ground forces. But Ayatollah Sistani, considered both independent and uniquely popular here, was more judicious. While he warned Iraqis to guard against foreign interference, he also appeared to endorse the idea that foreign help may be required to successfully engage the Sunni extremists. “Iraq may be in need of assistance from its friends and brothers to combat black terrorism,” Ayatollah Sistani said. But he insisted that for Iraq, “preserving its sovereignty and independence must be the most important thing and must be taken into consideration.” He also appealed for intersectarian solidarity in the fight against the extremists by specifically urging support for Dhuluiya, a Sunni town that has held out for months against a siege by the Sunni extremists. “Our brave Iraqi forces should help and defend Dhuluiya,” he said, “because its people are our brothers and they are the sons of our country.” Continue reading the main story Graphic How ISIS Works With oil revenues, arms and organization, the jihadist group controls vast stretches of Syria and Iraq and aspires to statehood. OPEN Graphic Elsewhere, French Rafale warplanes struck a logistics depot belonging to the Islamic State in northeastern Iraq on Friday. Mr. Hollande said in a statement, “The objective was hit and entirely destroyed.” Mr. Hollande said other operations would take place in the coming days. Remarking on the violent tactics employed by the Sunni militants, who have conquered wide areas of Iraq and Syria, Mr. Hollande said Thursday at a news conference in Paris that the group had been able to grow partly because the international community had failed to intervene. But he emphasized that France’s role would be limited to providing air support, including strikes, in Iraq. Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story He indicated that France would not expand its mission into Syria, and French officials have made it clear that the government does not want to give the impression that it supports the Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad. Continue reading the main story Graphic The Iraq-ISIS Conflict in Maps, Photos and Video A visual guide to the crisis in Iraq and Syria. OPEN Graphic France was a vociferous opponent of the American-led effort to overthrow Saddam Hussein in 2003, and analysts say the French public remains wary of sustained Western intervention in the region. Mr. Hollande, whose domestic political approval rating has hit a low of 13 percent amid persistent economic troubles, has framed the fight against Islamic State as important for French national security. In Washington, Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said American troop levels in Iraq could increase as Iraqi security forces and Kurdish pesh merga fighters press their fight to retake territory seized by the Islamic State. General Odierno, who served as the top American military commander in Iraq, said the 1,600 American troops who are currently on the ground in Iraq was “a good start.” He added, “I don’t think there’s a rush — a rush to have lots of people in there now.” But during a breakfast meeting with reporters, he did not rule out the possibility of sending more American military advisers to Iraq. President Obama has repeatedly said that he will not send American ground combat troops to Iraq. In northern Syria, an Islamic State offensive has driven thousands of Syrian Kurds from their homes, with many fleeing across the border into Turkey on Friday, prompting a call by an Iraqi Kurdish leader for international intervention. In recent days, extremist fighters seized villages in northern Syria, officials said, and on Friday were attacking the mainly Kurdish town of Ayn al-Arab, known as Kobani in Kurdish, on the Turkish border, news services reported. “I’d like to ask the international community to take every measure as soon as possible to save Kobani,” Massoud Barzani, president of the largely autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, said in a statement. The militants, he said, “have to be hit and defeated wherever they are.” David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Baghdad, and Dan Bilefsky from Paris. Reporting was contributed by Kirk Semple from Erbil, Iraq, Omar al-Jawoshy from Baghdad, Maïa de la Baume from Paris, and Helene Cooper from Washington. ================================ New al Qaeda wing in South Asia claims major attack Reuters By Maria Golovnina 16 hours ago PNS Zulfiqar By Maria Golovnina ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's South Asia wing has claimed responsibility for hijacking a Pakistani naval ship and trying to use it to fire rockets at U.S. vessels in the Arabian Sea, in the first major assault by the newly created group. The SITE monitoring service quoted its spokesman, Usama Mahmoud, as saying a group of militants had succeeded in seizing control of the Pakistani frigate PNS Zulfiqar and tried to use it to attack nearby U.S. vessels. "These mujahideen had taken control of the Pakistani ship, and they were advancing towards the American fleet when the Pakistani army stopped them," he said. "As a result, the mujahideen, the lions of Allah and benefactors of the Ummah, sacrificed their lives for Allah, and the Pakistani soldiers spoiled their hereafter by giving up their lives in defense of the enemies of the Ummah the Americans." SITE said Mahmoud's statement also provided a picture and a detailed layout of the PNS Zulfiqar. .. View gallery PAKISTAN-SUDAN/ Pakistan Navy Zulfiqar-class frigate PNS Shamsheer docks at Port Sudan, in Sudan's Red Sea State, No … The navy and the army's press wing were not immediately available for comment. The naval yard on Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast is a strategically important facility at the center of U.S.-Pakistani security, anti-terrorism and anti-trafficking cooperation. The foiled attack comes at a time when regional powers are already concerned about stability as U.S.-led forces continue to withdraw from neighboring Afghanistan, potentially creating a security gap for insurgents to exploit. The attack, which lasted several hours, also shows just how much the Islamist militants are capable of striking at the heart of Pakistan's vast security apparatus and raises questions about the nuclear-armed nation's ability to guard its installations. The Pakistani Taliban, closely allied with al Qaeda, had earlier said that the Sept. 6 attack was carried out with the help of insiders. Pakistan later arrested a number of navy personnel on suspicion of collaborating with the attackers. Al Qaeda announced the formation of the new group on Sept. 4, with its chief, Ayman al-Zawahri, promising to spread Islamic rule and "raise the flag of jihad" across South Asia, home to more than 400 million Muslims. Analysts say the move is part of al Qaeda's plan to take advantage of the planned withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan and boost its influence in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region as well as India. It also comes against the backdrop of a full-scale operation launched by Pakistan's military against Taliban militants in the lawless region of North Waziristan following a deadly attack on the airport in the city of Karachi in June. (Editing by Nick Macfie) ====================== September 18, 2014, 7:14 AM Al Qaeda's quiet plan to outdo ISIS and hit U.S. WASHINGTON -- The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) may be dominating the headlines and stealing attention with its prolific propaganda, but CBS News' Bob Orr reports, another group in Syria -- one few have even heard of because information about it has been kept secret -- is considered a more urgent concern. Sources tell CBS News that operatives and explosives experts from Osama bin Laden's old al Qaeda network may again present an immediate threat to the U.S. homeland. CIA insider on threat posed by new Syrian terror group more dangerous than ISIS At two dozen foreign airports, U.S.-bound passengers are undergoing enhanced security screening. Agents are searching for hidden explosives. Laptops and phones with dead batteries have been banned from flights. Great Britain raised its national terror threat level, and the FBI is tracking American jihadists who may return home. Sources say it's due to the emerging threat in Syria, where hardened terrorists loyal to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri are working on new, hard-to-detect bombs. In testimony Wednesday, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matt Olsen -- who warned that U.S. agencies are unable to effectively track Western jihadists inside Syria -- seemed to make a vague reference to the threat. "In Syria, we've seen veteran al Qaeda fighters travel from Pakistan to take advantage of the permissive environment there," said Olsen. Sources confirm that the al Qaeda cell goes by the name "Khorasan." Unlike ISIS, which is believed at present to be largely engulfed in its fight for territory. Khorasan is developing fresh plots to target U.S. aviation, and it's trying to recruit Westerners who have flocked to the fight in Syria, some of whom have joined the al Qaeda franchise in the country, known as the al-Nusra Front. The fear is that U.S. and European passport holders could more easily smuggle explosives onto airplanes. Asked if there was anything about the threat he could reveal to lawmakers during the public testimony on Capitol Hill, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said discussions about "specific organizations... should be left to a classified setting." Play Video Al Qaeda chief bomb maker alive: Yemen official Sources tell CBS News the group includes technicians trained by al Qaeda's master bomb-builder, Ibrahim al-Asiri. The Yemen-based Asiri built the infamous but ultimately unsuccessful underwear bombs and two cargo bombs concealed in printer cartridges. He is considered one of the most innovative bomb-builders in the jihadist world, and he's still operating freely -- at least for now. CIA chief John Brennan recently told Orr that U.S. officials were "doing what we can" to track Asiri down, and predicted that his "time will come." At the moment, U.S. officials say there is no specific, credible threat to the homeland. But as information about Khorasan becomes available, it's clear that al Qaeda remains obsessed with bombs, airplanes, and attacking the United States. ================================== Iraqi soldiers describe heavy losses as Islamic State overruns camp . Reuters By Ahmed Rasheed and Saif Sameer Hameed 1. Group: Islamic militants killed 770 Iraqi troops Associated Press 2. Survivors demand justice after Iraq massacre Reuters 3. Clashes Between Iraqi Soldiers And Islamic State Leave Dozens Dead And Missing Huffington Post 4. U.S. air strikes target insurgents near Iraq's Haditha Dam Reuters 5. Islamic State militants kill 40 Iraqi troops Associated Press BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi soldiers described on Monday how Islamic State fighters inflicted heavy losses in a chaotic raid on a military base just an hour's drive from Baghdad, highlighting the jihadists' ability to attack high-profile targets despite U.S. air strikes. Soldiers, officials and tribal sources gave differing accounts of what happened on Sunday when the militants stormed the camp at Saqlawiya that they had been besieging. However, casualties among the Iraqi government forces appear to have been very heavy, with many soldiers either dead, forced to flee or missing following the assault near the city of Falluja, which Islamic State has controlled since January. A statement for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he had issued orders to detain two commanders for "negligence" in the incidents 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, while some troops who escaped accused the military leadership of failing to help them during the siege. Islamic State fighters seized large areas of northern and western Iraq in a summer offensive, drawing accusations of extreme brutality and prompting the U.S. air attacks after they advanced on an autonomous Kurdish region. Their raid at Saqlawiya is the latest since the northern city of Mosul fell to Islamic State in June to exposes the Iraqi military's shortcomings. It followed a massacre of an army detachment at Camp Speicher in the same month, in which military recruits were led off the base unarmed and murdered in their hundreds. Like at Camp Speicher, it remains unclear how many men were present at the base in Saqlawiya and how many are now dead and missing. However one officer who survived the raid said that of an estimated 1,000 soldiers in Saqlawiya, only about 200 had managed to flee. "This failure is not the fault of the soldiers ... the mistake was that of the military leadership, they failed," said the officer, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. The officer said that Islamic State insurgents had gained control of Sijir, near Falluja, a week ago, allowing them to surround the Saqlawiya base. "We were without ammunition and without food. Every time we contacted military commanders, they promised to send helicopters to air drop reinforcements but nothing happened," said the officer, who fled to another base close to Falluja on Sunday. "We ... were drinking salty well water and eating canned tomato paste." The government statement quoted the spokesman of the armed forces general command as saying that orders had been issued four days ago for supplies and military reinforcements to be sent to Saqlawiya and Sijir, in addition to intensifying overflights. On Wednesday, the insurgents sent a Humvee vehicle rigged with explosives into the camp. Guards mistakenly assumed that an army driver was at the wheel. "When it exploded, it caused a lot of confusion. Islamic State exploited that and entered the camp. Now most of regiment headquarters within the base are under the control of Islamic State," said the officer, adding that one, small army unit remained besieged in the camp. "KILOMETER OF DEATH" About 200 soldiers managed to escape the base on Sunday after battling with the militants in the area which soldiers call the "kilometer of death". "On the road, the images were tragic. Burnt Humvees and burnt corpses of soldiers are still on the streets," said the officer who retreated to the nearby Camp Tareq. One soldier, identified as a Saqlawiya camp survivor, recounted his testimony in a video that was shown on Iraqi state television and widely circulated online. Reuters could not immediately verify its authenticity. The survivor referred to the militants sending in a booby-trapped vehicle, appearing to corroborate the testimony of the first army officer. He also mentioned the lack of food and ammunition at Saqlawiya. "Those who ran, got away and those who stayed were left behind. We left in three transport vehicles and two gas tankers and headed for Sijir," he said, adding that they found Islamic State insurgents waiting for them there too. "Again we got injured by an RPG (rocket propelled grenade) and there were those who got killed by gunfire and those who fled amid the tall grass and orchards," said the survivor, whose name was not disclosed, and who was shirtless and wearing his trouser fatigues. He said that "200 or less" soldiers managed to escape. "The bodies of slaughtered soldiers are left in Sijir and Saqlawiya on the main roads and near the factory," he said. NO ANSWERS An intelligence officer who is in charge of an area of operations that includes Saqlawiya said insurgents gained control of Sijir area last week and "the army was forced to retreat .. in the farms between Saqlawiya and Falluja". An army convoy sent in to break the siege on Sunday was ambushed by Islamic State fighters. Many soldiers were killed, others were taken prisoners and a few managed to flee, he told Reuters. The Defense Ministry said in a statement late on Sunday that it had "lost communication" with some soldiers in Sijir and Saqlawiya. At a parliamentary session on Monday at least two lawmakers asked for clarification surrounding the attacks in Saqlawiya, but did not receive any answers from officials. (Additional reporting by Raheem Salman; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Ned Parker and David Stamp) ================