Tag Archive for: islamnews

In the wake of another act perpetrated by extremists claiming to represent Islam, prominent Australian Muslim leader Jamal Rifi says his community is “drowning in a sea of hate,” noting that those extremists who were behind the attacks in Paris, and other acts of terror, are “the enemy of Islam.”

Dr Rifi says the ISIS deadly attacks in Paris will test Australia, but that it’s time to come together “united in our condemnation, standing together to defeat this global terrorist organization”.

“It’s like we are drowning in a sea of hate and every time we get our heads above water, something else happens to pull us down,” he said.

He also said the extremists behind the attacks in Paris, and other acts of terror, “are only Islamic by name”.

The comments came as Attorney-General George Brandis warned against alienating the Muslim community following the deadly assault on Paris, which has left at least 130 people dead, and amid calls from some for Australia to stop accepting Middle Eastern refugees.

“They (ISIS) have nothing to do with Islam – as a matter of fact they are the enemy of Islam and they have killed more Muslims than non-Muslim civilians,” Rifi said.

“(I am) angry for the fact that there has been a failure to prevent this terrible event from happening.”

From his side, Australia’s Grand Mufti Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed focused instead on what he labelled causative factors such as racism, Islamophobia and “duplicitous” foreign policy.

In a statement, he said “These recent incidents highlight the fact that current strategies to deal with the threat of terrorism are not working.”

Hussain Nadim, a PhD candidate at the Department of Government and International Relations agreed the only way to defeat ISIS is through its internal mechanisms.

“The only way that such groups could be tackled and Islam could have its own enlightenment is through its internal mechanisms.

“The solution to the problem that we see today in the form of the Paris or Sydney attacks is allowing Muslims to take the lead against ISIS and other extremism.”

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Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and the forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, during the last two years, have arrested a large number of ISIL-affiliated terrorist teams in the western province, says the IRGC commander.

‘In particular, teams who have been trying to recruit for the ISIL terrorists and sending them to foreign countries have been destroyed,’ IRGC Brigadier General Bahman Reyhani said in a news briefing meeting on Tuesday.

Enemies are looking for inflicting damage to the Islamic Republic, Reyhani said.

‘A terrorist team destroyed recently was combat-ready with military equipments, military vests and time bombs,’ he said.

The IRGC commander emphasized that the force is maintaining its intelligence superiority and there is no specific problem in this regard.

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Saudi military aircraft have conducted a new round of airstrikes against several areas across Yemen.

On Tuesday morning, massive explosions shook Ta’izz, situated 346 kilometers (214 miles) south of the capital, Sana’a, as Saudi fighter jets launched airstrikes against the international airport in the southwestern Yemeni city.

There were no immediate reports of possible casualties and the extent of damage caused in the aerial assaults.

Saudi warplanes also hit the al-Omari camp north of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and off Yemen’s coast as well as the al-Arqoub military camp, which lies east of the Yemeni capital. No words about casualties were available.

Moreover, Saudi jets struck the road linking Haydan district to Maran region in the northwestern province of Sa’ada, though, no casualties were reported.

A Yemeni fisherman lost his life on Tuesday, when Saudi frigates fired a number of missiles at the Mokha port city, situated 346 kilometers (214 miles) south of Sana’a.

Saudi military aircraft also targeted a truck carrying crates of fruits in the Kholan neighborhood of Sana’a.

Meanwhile, Yemeni army soldiers backed by allied fighters from Popular Committees fired several rockets at the main military base in the al-Khobe district of Saudi Arabia’s southwestern border province of Jizan on Tuesday. There were no reports of casualties among Saudi troopers.

Yemeni forces also repelled an offensive by militiamen loyal to fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi in Kofel district of Yemen’s central province of Ma’rib.

Tens of Saudi soldiers were also reportedly killed when Yemeni army forces ambushed them close to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

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A new Islamic State video has warned that countries taking part in Syria airstrikes will suffer the same fate as France, which was hit with multiple attacks on Friday. It specifically threatens an attack on Washington.

A man in the video states that just as the center of France was hit by terror attacks on Friday, the US capital of Washington DC will suffer the same outcome at the hands of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the video, Reuters reported.

ISIS claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris on Friday which left 129 people dead and 352 others wounded. Seven of the attackers blew themselves up, and police have been searching intensively for accomplices.

The assaults were the worst to take place on French soil since World War II.

Speaking at the Center for Strategic International Studies on Monday, CIA director John Brennan said he wouldn’t consider the Paris attacks a “one-off event,” but added that he would never say attacks are “inevitable,” as the agency “works 24/7 to prevent attacks from taking place.”

ISIS also claimed it brought down a Russian airplane over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula last month, killing all 224 passengers onboard.

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Dozens of radicalized European citizens have joined the extremist group of ISIS in the Swedish second largest city Gothenburg, the Swedish integration police chief, Ulf Boström, said on Sunday.

ISIS is considered the most organized terrorist group among several other Islamist cells uncovered in Sweden.

“ISIS has the strength, intellectual capacity and ability to coordinate. They are no fools,” Boström said in a statement.

The Swedish security service, Säpo, revealed that over 300 Swedish nationals have left the country heading to the embattled countries of Syria and Iraq to fight for ISIS.

“Some 120 young men are from Gothenburg city, which, in proportion to its population, contributes the highest number of people to violent extremism,” Boström said.

Those who joined the ISIS terror group are mainly descending from the criminal gangs who reside the Gothenburg suburbs, “many are of the young people who believe they have no future,” he argued.

“This really affects my work in Gothenburg as the vast majority of Muslims here hate terror attacks. They sometimes ask me, ‘How do you protect the good Muslims’.”

“They are terrified that this kind of terrorism creates a more xenophobic Europe,” he said.

Boström has previously been very critical of the Swedish government’s approach to returning militants.

In May, at least 100 Swedish militants have returned home and none of them has been prosecuted under the laws related to terror actions, according to the chief of Swedish integration police.

“Although the government has the names and social security numbers of these returning militants, who came back from Syria or Iraq, it still provides them with health care and helps them.”

The ISIS extremist group claimed Saturday its responsibility for the terror attacks on the French capital Paris on Friday, during which at least 127 people were killed and 300 more injured.

With the terrorist returning home from the frontlines in Syria and Iraq, many western leaders fear they could radicalise their fellow countrymen or may launch attacks on home soil.

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