From the foreign scene: Syria Zimbabwe, America...

Kurdish Fighters Seize Key Islamic State Stronghold in Syria 

Islamic terrorists

 

Kurdish fighters say they have "liberated" a northeastern Syrian town that has been a key stronghold of Islamic State militants.

A spokesperson for the People's Protection Units, or YPG, confirmed to VOA that the Kurdish fighters had seized the city of Tal Hamis, in Hassakeh province.

“This victory is a huge blow for IS terrorists because they orchestrated their attacks against Qamishli and other Kurdish cities in Syria and Sinjar region in Iraq from this city," he told VOA's Kurdish service. "In this operation a significant number of local Arab forces also helped them because people came to realize that there is no future under this terrorist organization."
Map of Hassakeh province, Syria, showing Hassakeh and QamishliMap of Hassakeh province, Syria, showing Hassakeh and Qamishli

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 175 Islamic State militants were killed by Kurdish fighters and air strikes by the U.S. led coalition in recent days.

Meanwhile, VOA's Kurdish service reports that at least nine people were killed when Islamic State militants carried out a bombing of a church in Ghibsh village, near Tal Tamr.  At least four people were abducted.
Earlier this week, Islamic State militants attacked 11 Assyrian Christian villages in the Tal Tamr area, where they reportedly took 220 people prisoner.  Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Director Rami Abdurrahman told VOA they have now been moved to the Abd al-Asiz mountains, where they are still in captivity.
Funding Islamic State Militant GroupsFunding Islamic State Militant Groups

The U.S. State Department this week called for the immediate release of the kidnapped Assyrian Christians.

"ISIL's latest targeting of a religious minority is only further testament to its brutal and inhumane treatment of all those who disagree with its divisive goals and toxic beliefs," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, using an acronym for the group.  "ISIL continues to exact its evil upon innocents of all faiths, and the majority of its victims have been Muslims."

The Islamic State group has targeted religious minorities with kidnappings and killings during its spread across northern Iraq and Syria.

Robert Mugabe admits Zimbabwe's land reform flaws

 

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has admitted failures in the country's controversial land reform programme.

"I think the farms we gave to people are too large. They can't manage them," the 91-year-old leader said in unusually candid comments.
In the past he has tended to blame poor agricultural productivity on the weather and Western sanctions.
The seizure of land from white farmers is seen as a key factor in Zimbabwe's economic meltdown since 2000.
The BBC's Brian Hungwe in the capital, Harare, says it is not the first time President Mugabe has criticised new black farmers - but his comments are surprisingly frank.
They point to continuous problems in accounting for low production levels and the under-utilisation of farms, which reflect badly thought-out land policies, he says.

 

The president denied that Grace Mugabe was the "power behind my throne"

Mr Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, was interviewed on the state broadcaster ZBC to mark his 91st birthday, which he celebrated last weekend.
He said he wanted to encourage farmers to go into wheat farming, and blamed low productivity on the new commercial farmers for failing to utilise all their land.
"You find that most of them are just using one third of the land," Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper quotes him as saying.
During the colonial era, the best farmland was reserved for the white population and in 2000, Mr Mugabe spearheaded the seizure of the land from some 4,000 white farmers.
His critics say the land was handed out to his political allies and many of the beneficiaries were not given the equipment or training to farm productively, leading to the collapse of the agriculture-based economy.
In the interview, he also denied pushing his wife Grace to enter politics.
Last year, she became head of the women's league and in the ruling Zanu-PF party, and embarked on a nationwide tour, in which she denounced party rivals.
This led to speculation that she was being readied to succeed her husband as president.
"She is not the power behind my throne. She has come into politics in her own right," Mr Mugabe said.
The headline of The Herald, widely seen as a government mouthpiece, is: "I'm still in charge, says President".

 

Egypt Court Bans Hamas

An Egyptian court has declared the Palestinian group Hamas a terrorist organization, saying it targets both civilians and security forces on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Saturday's ruling further separates Egypt from Hamas, which once enjoyed warm relations with the government, the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood and former President Mohammed Morsi, who was ousted in 2013.
The court said it has documents proving that Hamas has colluded with the Muslim Brotherhood in carrying out attacks on security forces.
An earlier ruling focused on Hamas's military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades. A Cairo court banned the military wing in January.
Hamas responded to the Saturday ruling with a statement calling it "dangerous" and saying it targets the Palestinian people themselves



US Lawmakers Extend Domestic Security Funding for a Week  


The U.S. Congress has narrowly averted a partial shutdown of domestic security agencies by approving a one-week funding extension for the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS. The department’s spending authority was to expire at midnight Friday. The stopgap measure postpones a final reckoning in a raucous partisan battle over President Barack Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
For weeks, Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, have sought to fund DHS but prevent the president from shielding millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. Such a measure repeatedly was blocked by minority Senate Democrats, who insisted on funding DHS without stipulations.
The stalemate threatened to go past midnight Washington time, when tens of thousands of federal workers involved in airport screening, border security, emergency preparedness, and presidential security would have been furloughed or required to work without pay.
In the end, Congress did what it often does. It postponed a final decision. First, the House tried and failed to pass a three-week DHS funding extension.
 Then, as DHS released its plan for dealing with the looming shutdown and the president consulted with his national security team, the Senate passed a one-week funding extension

The House followed suit shortly thereafter, and the crisis was averted -- for now.
No U.S. lawmaker wants to see DHS cut off from funds. Republicans like Representative John Carter say their only goal is to stop President Obama’s unilateral actions on immigration.
“A majority of American citizens oppose the president’s actions on immigration, and have asked us to fight those actions. We must stand up against the administration’s overreach on immigration -- to provide those checks and balances our Founding Fathers put in place to ensure the president does not act like a king,” he said.
But policy differences with the White House do not justify holding up domestic security funding, according to Democrats like Congresswoman Corrine Brown.
“The number-one responsibility of any member of Congress is to defend the American people. And we do not do that by punting [abdicating] our responsibility to fund homeland security. Period. You all need to stop playing games with the safety of the American people.”
It is unclear what, if anything, might change politically in Washington between now and the next funding deadline in a week’s time. One potential new development could come from the judiciary. A federal judge recently put Obama’s executive action on hold, and that decision will be reviewed by a higher court.
For now, Republican lawmakers appear split between hardline conservatives determined to register their opposition to the president’s immigration moves at all costs, and those who see the battle over DHS funding as a lost cause. Democrats, meanwhile, say Republicans have failed their first major test in leading the new Congress.


 BBC, VOA