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Iraq: Sniper kill 2 Shiite civilians in Tuz Khurmatu district in eastern Salahuddin

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Ahlul Bayt News Agency – A security source in Salahuddin province said on Sunday, that two Shiite civilians were killed by a sniper in central Tuz Khurmatu District in eastern Salahuddin.

The source, who requested anonymity, reported that “Today, a sniper shot two civilians in central Tuz Khurmatu District (90 km east of Tikrit), resulting in their immediate death,” adding that, “The bodies of the dead were transferred to the forensic medicine authority.”

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Jabhat al- Nusra cheers of killing the leader of ISIS-pledged Shohadaa al- Yarmouk Brigade

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Ahlul Bayt News Agency – The sound of firing are still being heard in Jabhat al- Nusra-held town of Sahem al- Golan in the western countryside of Daraa, where SOHR had been informed that the sound caused by firing by Jabhat al- Nusra fighters “cheering” of killing Abo Ali al- Baridi, who is known by “Al- Khal” and who is the leader of IS-pledged allegiance brigade of Shohadaa al- Yarmouk, and 2 other leading figures in the brigade, certain information about killing 2 other fighters from the same brigade.

Jabhat al- Nusra targeted them by an explosion in Jomlah area in the western countryside of Daraa at the border with the occupied Syrian Golan.

The western countryside of Daraa has witnessed violent clashes between Shohadaa al- Yarmouk Brigade against Jabhat al- Nusra and the Islamist factions since the day before yesterday, the clashes accompanied by intense shelling by the two parties and explosions carried out by the brigade and targeted headquarters of the Jabhat al- Nusra and the Islamist factions in Sahem al- Golan and Hit, as well as hit-and-run military operation ended by retaking Sahem al- Golan after hours of seizing it by Shohdaa al- Yarmouk.

The clashes also resulted in the death of at least 15 militants from the brigade, including non-Syrian militants, 2 of them executed by Jbahat al- Nusra, as well as the death of more than 13 fighters from Jabhat al- Nusra and the Islamist factions.

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Peterborough Mosque Deliberately Set Ablaze: Canadian Police

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Peterborough police are investigating a case of arson at the city’s only mosque, an act that the president of the local Muslim association says was a “clearly a hate crime.”

The fire broke out at the Kawartha Muslim Religious Association’s mosque around 11 p.m. Saturday, police said. No one was inside the Masjid Al-Salaam Mosque at the time.

But association president Kenzu Abdella said members of the congregation had been inside 784 Parkhill Rd. just an hour before the fire broke out there, celebrating the birth of a new baby.

‘Uneasiness’

“The scare for people is that what if this had happened while we were in there?” he said Sunday. “So there’s a bit of uneasiness in the community.”

Abdella said the Muslim congregation was devastated by the arson as members have placed roots in the community and integrated into the surrounding neighbourhoods.

The mosque holds regular open houses that are attended by churchgoers and politicians. They also make regular donations to the local food bank, according to Abdella.

‘Out of nowhere’

“So to us, this is out of nowhere,” he said. “Even when we were hearing all the things that are happening around the world, it never occurred to us that this could happen in our community.”

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) issued a news release Sunday in response to the fire.

“This attack is very disturbing. The mosque is regularly attended by families with young children,” said NCCM executive director Ihsaan Gardee.

“We are relieved no one was injured as this incident could have been much worse,” he added.

“While deeply hurtful and offensive, Canadian Muslims know that such acts do not represent the views of the vast majority of their fellow Canadians or of the residents of Peterborough,” Gardee said in the statement.

The organization thanked local religious and political leaders for their words of support. Gardee also called on Canadians to remain vigilant against suspicious behaviour.

Mosque targeted before

There have been concerns that the terrorist attacks Friday in Paris could incite a rise of Islamophobia or retaliatory violence around the world.

Abdella said since the Kawartha Muslim Religious Association was founded in 1994, it has only been targeted by criminals once before.  After the 9/11 terror attacks, the previous building had its windows smashed out.

But Abdella noted local churches raised funds to replace them, something that was already happening again Sunday. A community group has also begun a crowdfunding campaign that had raised $1,440 by Sunday afternoon.

“So it’s very positive in that way,” he said.

Fire set intentionally

The community does not know where they will go for their prayers, which they observe fives times each day.

Initially, Abdella said they had hoped to open the building by the afternoon, but quickly realized that the $80,000 in smoke damage would make that impossible in the near future.

“It doesn’t look good at all, it’s all smoked out,” Abdella said after walking through the building Sunday morning.

The provincial fire marshal ruled that the blaze was set deliberately, according to a Peterborough police spokesman.

Sgt. Tim Millard said police will not be releasing more information until the fire marshal’s office finishes its probe.

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Fire set intentionally

The community does not know where they will go for their prayers, which they observe fives times each day.

Initially, Abdella said they had hoped to open the building by the afternoon, but quickly realized that the $80,000 in smoke damage would make that impossible in the near future.

“It doesn’t look good at all, it’s all smoked out,” Abdella said after walking through the building Sunday morning.

The provincial fire marshal ruled that the blaze was set deliberately, according to a Peterborough police spokesman.

Sgt. Tim Millard said police will not be releasing more information until the fire marshal’s office finishes its probe.

Two policemen guarding Ismaili Shia community shot killed

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KARACHI, Pakistan – Ahlul Bayt News Agency –  Two policemen deployed for the security of the Ismaili Shia community’s residential complex were shot dead at a checkpoint in the Sachal area on Saturday noon, according to officials.

Police constables Ali Raza, 50, and Ghulam Jaffer, 46, were targeted at the checkpoint set up outside Jeewani Heights, off the Superhighway, by four armed motorcyclists, said Gadap SP Chaudhry Saifullah.

The attackers also took away their official weapons, the officer said. Both policemen were rushed to the nearby Dow varsity hospital where doctors declared constable Ali Raza dead on arrival, said Sohrab Goth.

The Sacchal police registered on Sunday an FIR No 435/15 under sections 302/34, 404 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The case was registered against unidentified persons on behalf of the state.

So far this year, 79 policemen have been killed in such targeted attacks in Karachi alone. Shortly after the incident, the responsibility of the attack was claimed by the banned militant outfit, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. However, there was no major breakthrough in the investigations. Police officials investigating the case said that the empty shells of the pistols used in the incident have been sent to the forensic laboratory of the Sindh police for the purpose of ballistics matching and that the investigators were waiting for the report.

In several such attacks in the past, the assailants have been seen to take away the officials’ sub-machineguns (SMGs) with them after committing the crime. “We are also studying previous such cases, particularly in which the culprits took the officials’ weapons away with them after targeting the policemen,” said a police official of Sacchal police station, Shaukat Memon. Police officials were also getting help through geo-fencing and trying to find witnesses to help in drawing sketches.

Nearly 45 people belonging to the Ismaili Shiite community lost their lives while nearly half a dozen others were wounded when armed men barged into a bus and targeted them on May 13 this year. The key suspects involved in the deadly bus attack have already been arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD). Police officials said that the suspects arrested in the bus attack will also be questioned as it was possible that members of the same group were behind the incident. Further investigations are underway.

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Grand Shia scholar denounces ISIS terrorist attacks in Lebanon, France

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Ahlul Bayt News Agency – During his advanced jurisprudence class at Qom’s Grand Mosque, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi condemned the “painful” terrorist attacks which occurred this week in Beirut (Lebanon), Baghdad (Iraq), Zabul (Afghanistan) and more recently, in the French capital, Paris.

The revered source of emulation warned that the “magnitude of these incidents will spread to other parts of Europe as well,” it the Western officials continue their support of ISIS.

He noted that “those who are aware know that ISIL is not a large group but ultimately, this small terrorist organization has comprehensive support from somewhere. If that support did not exist, it wouldn’t be hard to eradicate them.”

Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi condemned the hypocrisy of the West, especially the United States, in regard to the fight against terrorism, and stated that on the one hand, the US sends its agents to train terrorists, and on the other hand, Saudi Arabia and several other regional countries put money in the hands of terrorists.

“Israel supports these terrorists from all sides. Turkey buys oil from ISIL which they have stolen [from Syria] and funds various terrorist groups. If these countries did not support these terrorists, they would not have survived,” he said.

The teacher of the Islamic Seminary of Qom explained that one of the most absurd matters of our time is that the founders of these terrorist groups denounce the crimes committed by the terrorists – in reality, they condemn themselves.

“The snake that they have trained has come back to bite its trainers,” he noted.

Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi quoted the Zionist officials as saying that there is no reason to destroy ISIL. “However, the fire of war will not be limited to Islamic countries, but this regime will also be affected in a greater manner,” he warned.

The Iranian source of emulation said that we hope that the West and other regional countries, which have supported these terrorists and have equipped them and continue to equip them, come to their senses and discontinue their support. “These terrorists will be quickly destroyed if their sources of support are eliminated. Ultimately, when Western planes drop packages of weapons and food to these terrorists, they are able to gain more influence,” he said.

His Eminence stressed that the worldwide Islamic community should wake up and unite. If Muslims are united, they can eradicate these Takfiri terrorists and they will not create such severe problems for Muslims. “Unfortunately, some Islamic countries send weapons and comprehensive support to these terrorists,” he said.

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Imam Hussein lovers begin their march towards Holy Karbala

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Ahlul Bayt News Agency – Pilgrims from the southern Iraqi city of Basra have began their march yesterday towards the holy city of Karbala coming from Ras Elbesha district in Fao county; the furthest region in Iraq.

Media sources said the pilgrims are served by Husseini caravans distributed along the roads leading the holy city, adding that security forces are on tight security plan to secure the flow of pilgrims and prevent security violations.

Every year a large number of pilgrims pour into the holy city of Karbala on the day of Arbaeen.

In the past two years, the number was estimated to be more than 20 million.

Arbaeen marks the anniversary of the 40th day after the martyrdom of Imam Hussein and his companions in the Battle of Karbala in the year 61 after Hijra (680 AD)

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French Warplanes Hit ISIL Stronghold in Syria after Paris Attacks

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French warplanes pounded the stronghold of the Takfiri group, ISIL (so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Levant) in Syria on Sunday, in the first such strikes since a wave of coordinated attacks claimed by the insurgents left 129 people dead in Paris.

As the nation prepared to mourn the victims of the carnage in a minute of silence on Monday, a dozen warplanes dropped 20 bombs on ISIL targets in Raqa, signaling the French government’s resolve in its fight against the group.

The strike destroyed an ISIL command post, militant recruitment centre, a munitions depot and a “terrorist” training camp, the French defense ministry said.

The air raids came after President Francois Hollande called the Paris attacks — the worst in the country’s history — an “act of war” and vowed to hit back “without mercy”.

As the probe into the assault spread across Europe, French police released a photograph of a “dangerous” suspect wanted over the attacks.

The suspect, 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam said to be one of three brothers linked to the attacks, is also wanted by Belgium, which has issued an international arrest warrant for him.

He is believed to be either on the run or one of the gunmen who died during the attacks, security sources said. He lived in the poor immigrant Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek, where Belgian police made several arrests in connection with the Paris attacks.

Security sources said the wanted man’s brother, 31-year-old Brahim Abdeslam, blew himself up outside a cafe on Boulevard Voltaire in eastern Paris, while the third brother is believed to be among seven people detained in Belgium.

Six other gunmen wearing suicide belts died during the attacks in the French capital — three at the Stade de France stadium and three at the Bataclan concert hall, the scene of the worst bloodshed.

The sports minister said at least one of the bombers who detonated their explosives near the stadium had tried to enter the venue where France was playing Germany in an international football match at the time.

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Michel Aoun: Lebanon needs Hezbollah to defend borders

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Ahlul Bayt News Agency – An interview with Michel Aoun, former Lebanese Army Commander, to discuss Hezbollah’s role in maintaining security for Lebanon.

The following is transcript of the interview by Press TV:

Q: Why do you support Hezbollah?

Aoun: Well we are supporting it … we are same people living in Lebanon and maybe with different way, different confessions, different religions but we are the same citizens and we have the same nationality, the same entity. So it is normal that we will be together when Hezbollah doing the resistance to Israel which is an enemy, and is right now fighting against terrorists, so he is defending at the same time the Lebanese society which is a pluralistic society composed from different religions, different people, still being the same people.  

Q: So is it the resistance to Israel the main thing?

Aoun: We started like that. We did not think at that moment in 2006 that we are going to have the terrorism here. So the terrorism arrived, started in Syria and also it was threatening the Lebanese border and they were trying to get in Lebanon. So he made a strong, great job in defending the Lebanese … because the army was not sufficient, let’s say, at that moment.

Q: I was speaking to Amine Gemayel yesterday – the former President – and he told me that Lebanon needs to have only one army and Hezbollah needs to put down its weapons and join the national army. What do you say to that?

Aoun: The army actually is not so strong, too strong to defend the country, so we have to equip the army and to train it to be able to defend our country. Right now it is not like that.  

Q: So do you think Lebanon needs Hezbollah to defend its borders?

Aoun: Yes, we need the resistance because at any time Lebanon will not have a balance of forces with Israel or with Syria, with any other country. So if we have to defend ourselves, so we have to make a stronger army and also because the number of our population, our economy cannot support a strong army like Israel. Israel is helped by the United States, by all the Jewish Diaspora and so they can have – and helped by the United States especially – have the highest technology and weapons and so they can have a very destructive power so that we cannot afford. So we need a kind of fighting, we need the guerrillas against the classic armies. So they are stronger than us, they are more rich than us, so the only way to defend Lebanon, that is the guerrilla warfare. 

Q: There are those who believe that your alliance with Hezbollah is because you want to become the next president of Lebanon. What do you say to that?  

Aoun: Well I was not thinking of that … but when Israel attacked Lebanon at that moment we became allies. So I did not think at that moment I will become President of Lebanon. It was only that a war to defend Lebanon and to defend the Lebanese people. We did not think at that moment that there is a president to elect in five years, so it was immediate reaction along that. Those people, they are very poor-minded to think like that.

Q: They also believe that you want to reform; you want to change Taif Accord for the same reason.  

Aoun: Yes, I want to change many laws but it is not on the agreement of Taif. We have to make reforms in our laws to have more control in the finances, to have more justice; we have to fight the corruption in the country, so we have to make these reforms but I am not going to attack our constitution. But why those people don’t say that Taif was never respected and we have to implement Taif not to change it?

Q: Do you see yourself the next president of Lebanon?

Aoun: Well I have the right to be a candidate and especially I am the best one supported by many Lebanese people and I am the more represented in Lebanon.

Q: So you think that your chances are quite high.

Aoun: Yes, why not?

Q: Who is your most important rival in this race?

Aoun: Rival? No rival right now. Till now there is no rival because there is big difference between me and any other rival. Therefore the opposition is well negative only. They do not present any candidate. 

Q: Let’s go to the question of Syria, what is going on in Syria today, the terrorism that is spilling over to Lebanon and to other countries throughout the region. Who do you think is the party that is most responsible for it? Is it the Syrian government or is it those countries who are supporting terrorists in Syria?  

Aoun: Well for me it is not a question of human rights like what the people said that they want to change a dictator, to change a regime in Syria. They want to change in fact the regime because Syria is not collaborating with them for economic reasons, that they want to have gas from Qatar to Turkey and then to reach Europe as a gas market and to challenge Russia in Europe. That is the first reason, therefore there is a war. They want to change Bashar al-Assad to be able to do a deal.

Q: Why do you think they have not managed to change Bashar al-Assad so far, up until this moment?

Aoun: They cannot because the Syrian people with their army, the structure of the country is still working and the resistance was also so strong to these attacks, to this big army coming from about 84 foreign states to fight in Syria. Syria has resisted very well and I think it was helped too from Iran, supported by Hezbollah who supported strongly the Syrian army.

So right now Syria is receiving more help and many of the West countries changed their opinion and right now they are going to fight also, not like the Russians, but they are going to fight Daesh and al-Nusra.   

Q: Do you think that the Russian airstrikes, the Russian military campaign in Syria is going to be a game changer at the end of the day?

Aoun: Well it depends upon their will. If they want to reach only a political solution, well they will stop when the solution is reached. If not, if they want to change radically, they can do it. Maybe it will take more time.

Q: What is your prediction? What do you think the Russians will do?

Aoun: Well what I wish or what is my prediction?

Q: Well what do you wish to do?

Aoun: Well I want to fix the government of Bashar al-Assad and well to make some changes in the Syrian constitution.

Q: And what is your prediction?

Aoun: Well they will do that, I think.

Q: So you are optimistic?

Aoun: Certainly, they will destroy all the terrorists, not those that Saudi Arabia said or nominated but I think al-Nusra, Daesh, Jaysh al-Islam, all these people, they are real terrorists.

Q: So here is the thing, a lot of people are asking why the United States and Saudi Arabia are just calling some of those militants ‘moderate militants’?

Aoun: Well they participate with these people and they are ruling the country and they will make for them maybe a force of influence in Syria. 

Q: A lot of people believe that now that there is power vacuum in Lebanon, it is going to have an impact on the situation on the ground in Syria. What is your opinion? 

Aoun: No, I do not think because Hezbollah is fighting and it is still fighting them and nobody can interfere with our resistance there. 

Q: The fight in Syria by Hezbollah, is that going to weaken Hezbollah’s position in Lebanon? 

Aoun: No, because our alliance is so strong, as armed resistance and we are strong in policy. Right now we are neutralizing this government because they are out passing the constitution and they are abusing the power.

Q: There are those who believe that Saudi Arabia is spending a lot of money in Lebanon buying politicians.

Aoun: Well yes since long time ago.

Q: Have you heard of any top politicians being paid by Saudi Arabia?

Aoun: Well there was a leak of WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks said that the TV stations were paid by Saudi Arabia and some people are paid too. Maybe future party, they are paid by Hariri who is having money from Saudi Arabia.

Q: So do you believe that Saudi Arabia is directly funding the future party?

Aoun: Certainly, they have a direct influence on the Sunnis.

Q: What have the Saudis achieved so far in Lebanon?

Aoun: Well before they were forming governments, Lebanon was following their policy here.

Q: Now that things are changing?

Aoun: Right now to stop, they can do what they want except participating in, ruling the internal affairs of Lebanon but in politics they cannot change anything.

Q: Let’s talk about the influence that Iran has in Lebanon right now. Do you think Iran is interfering with Lebanon’s internal affairs?

Aoun: Well no. Iran, it does not interfere in our internal affairs but certainly Iran is powerful in the region and it is helping the Lebanese resistance. That is a strategic objective or aim in the area. There was mutual support from Iran to resistance and the resistance to Iran. Well it is permitted in a case because everyone is ruling his country and at the same time makes an alliance with another. It is more an alliance than it is obedience to the other.

Q: A lot of high-profile assassinations have happened in Lebanon over the past ten years like the assassination of Rafic Hariri and Pierre Gemayel and every time it is happening there are fingers of blame at Hezbollah, at Syria but no one says maybe Israel was behind these assassinations.

Aoun: Yes that is right.

Q: Why is this happening? Why is it that the Lebanese politicians are not suspicious about Israel’s role in these assassinations in Lebanon?

Aoun: Well they are following some policy and they do not want to know the truth about it but they have political objectives to accuse Syria or Hezbollah. That is a political way to say it but I do not think that Hezbollah neither Syria did these crimes.

We know that others – personally I suspect Israel – because I did not accuse Syria but when Syria was here I said it is responsible, I did not say it is criminal, I said responsibility because they are responsible for the security of Lebanon. It is some responsibility but they are not the murderers. 

Q: So you believe that Israel could have been behind assassinations in Lebanon for the past decade or so?

Aoun: They have done already many crimes in Lebanon, many murders, some in Saida, some in Beirut. It will not be the first time but everybody was used to say before that Israel is doing the attack but after the Syrian departure, they accused Syria of doing the murders but it is not a true accusation. It is a political one.

Q: How do you see the role of Israel in the conflict in Syria? What they are doing over there?

Aoun: Well they participate it directly and certainly if they participate it, it pushed to change the regime of Bashar al-Assad, hoping that it will control forever the Golan Heights and it will get rid of the Palestinian refugees in Syria and in Lebanon. 

Q: Let’s go to the issue of Turkey. Turkish politics today have made headlines all over the world. AK party has one really big landslide victory, something a lot of people did not expect. Do you think this huge victory for Recep Erdogan and Ahmet Davutoglu would put them in a position to strengthen their support for the militancy in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad?

Aoun: I do not think so. Maybe he will become more wise to attack again the Syrians and I think he was helped some foreign powers to win the elections but in condition of …

Q: What foreign powers are you talking about?

Aoun: Well he is in the NATO but I think he will be very quiet after the election and he has many troubles in Syria and he would like to arrange the Turkish situation before then to look to Syria. 

Q: What is your message to AK party and President Erdogan now that they won the election?

Aoun: My message? To take care only of Turkey and has not to dream of an empire in the Middle East.

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Mass grave of 80 Kurdish Yazidi women executed by ISIS found in northern Iraq

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IRBIL, Iraq – Ahlul Bayt News Agency – A mass grave believed to hold the bodies of dozens of women executed by ISIS was found Saturday in Iraq’s Sinjar, where Kurdish forces are clearing bombs the extremists left.

Kurdish regional president Massud Barzani announced the “liberation of Sinjar” Friday, a day after the launch of a major ground operation to drive out ISIS that ended in not only a military victory for him, but a political one as well.

The bombs must be removed before the northern town’s mainly Yazidi residents, from a minority group who were targeted in a brutal ISIS campaign of massacres, enslavement and rape, can return to begin rebuilding their lives.

And with the town retaken, new evidence of the extremists’ horrific abuses against Yazidis is beginning to emerge.

Officials found the site of the mass grave based on information from young women enslaved by ISIS who claimed to have witnessed the execution of dozens of Yazidi women before later escaping.

Miyasir Hajji, a local council member, told AFP the grave on the edge of the town, which has not yet been excavated, is thought to contain the bodies of 78 women aged from 40 to around 80.

“It seems that the (ISIS) terrorist members only wanted young girls to enslave,” Hajji said, referring to the extremists using women as sex slaves who can be bought and sold.

Mahma Khalil, the local official responsible for the Sinjar area, confirmed that the mass grave had been found, and estimated it held some 80 victims.

Daesh terrorists captured Sinjar in August last year in an offensive that forced thousands of Izadis to flee to a mountain near the town. They were surrounded by the Takfiris there.

On Thursday morning, Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Izadi fighters launched a ground operation to push the Takfiris out of Sinjar, situated over 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of the capital, Baghdad.

President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Massoud Barzani announced on Friday that the northern town was liberated after battles with the Daesh terrorists.

Following the town’s liberation, Iraqi Kurdish forces started to clear bombs planted by Daesh terrorists in Sinjar so that Izadis could return to the town.

“Until now, we defused 45 bombs and a car bomb,” said Sulaiman Saeed, a member of Peshmerga forces who works in explosives disposal, on Saturday adding, “Bombs are widespread in houses.”

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by violence ever since Daesh began its terror activities through the Iraqi territory in June 2014. Army soldiers and Popular Mobilization Units have joined forces, and are seeking to take back militant-held regions in joint operations.

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Vienna meeting on Syria concluded, agreement reached on steps to launch dialogue

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Ahlul Bayt News Agency – The second international meeting held in Vienna to discuss how to push forward with the political settlement of the crisis in Syria concluded its activities on Saturday evening.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US State Secretary John Kerry, and UN Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura held a joint press conference following the meeting, in which Lavrov announced that the participants in the meeting have agreed on the main steps to launch the dialogue before January 2016, stressing that the Syrians themselves are the ones who will determine the nature of their future state and will conduct the political process.

He pointed out that there was common consensus on the lists of the terrorist groups that must be combated, and that Jordan was approached to help devise a unified list of terrorist organization and present it to the Security Council for approval.

Lavrov also noted that the parties agreed to boost efforts to provide humanitarian aid to the Syrians and solve the refugee issue, reiterating the importance of Russia’s initiative for forming a large-scale international alliance against terrorism.

For his part, de Mistura said that the Syrian government has informed him of its approval to form a delegation to participate in dialogue, and now it’s the opposition’s turn to do the same, adding that there needs to be a ceasefire along with the launch of the political process, and that this wouldn’t include terrorist organizations.

In turn, Kerry said that the events which took place in Paris on Friday show that ISIS is a threat to everyone in the Middle East and beyond, and that this extremist organization cannot be defeated without ending the crisis in Syria which requires a political process.

He said that the participants in the meeting didn’t come to dictate to Syrians what they should do to decide their destiny, rather the opposite as the Syrians will be the ones who will undertake these efforts.

Kerry stressed the need for assistance from the international community in this regard, particularly on reaching a consensus on a political transitional process.

The second Vienna meeting on Syria was held earlier on Saturday with the participation of 19 states and international organizations. Besides Lavrov and Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif participated in the meeting, in addition to foreign ministers and deputies from the region and the world and representatives of the United Nations and European Union.

Two weeks ago, Vienna witnessed a similar meeting that came up with nine points that stress Syria’s unity, independence, and its secular identity, as well as the need for preserving its institutions and the rights of all the Syrians.

On a side note, de Misura, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, and Iranian Assistant Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian held a tripartite meeting in Vienna in which they discussed the latest developments regarding Syria, with Abdullahian saying that double standards and dividing terrorism into “good and bad” leads to bitter repercussions in the region and the world, in reference to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut.

In the same context, Abdullahian said in a statement after the Vienna meeting that the participants focused on the need to step up counter-terrorism operations, and that the emphasis of the timetable regarding resolving the crisis in Syria focuses on ceasefire, asserting that the Syrian people must have the final say on any procedure related to their country.

Likewise, Lebanese Foreign and Expatriates Minister Gebran Bassil said in a speech at the Vienna meeting that resolving the crisis in Syria is a pressing necessity if ISIS and international terrorism are to be dealt real blows, stressing that the recent terrorist attacks in Lebanon in France are no coincidence and relay a message from terrorists that they can attack wherever they want and that they are not afraid of anyone.

He posed the question of whether this threatening message can be confronted by maintaining the status quo and arguing over details while danger looms over everyone’s head, asserting that clear steps that go beyond words are needed to show determination to fight terrorism.

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