Reuters, 

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen denied an accusation by Iran that coalition jets targeted the Islamic republic's embassy in Sanaa on Wednesday night, coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said.

An investigation found that "the allegations are false and that no operations were carried out around the embassy or near to it," a coalition statement said.

Iran said on Thursday that Saudi warplanes had attacked its embassy in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

Coalition jets carried out heavy strikes in Sanaa on Wednesday night to target missile launchers used by the Houthi militia to fire at Saudi Arabia, Asseri said, adding that the group has used civilian facilities including abandoned embassies.

Asseri said the coalition had requested all countries to supply it with coordinates of the location of their diplomatic missions and that accusations made on the basis of information provided by the Houthis "have no credibility".
  

Tunisia PM reshuffles cabinet amid challenges

Reuters, Tunis, 

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid named 12 new ministers on Wednesday in a cabinet reshuffle he hopes will boost the effectiveness of his government as it battles jihadist violence and tries to revive the economy.

Tunisia has been under a state of emergency since an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) suicide bomber attacked presidential guards in November in the capital Tunis following two previous militant attacks on foreign tourists that have damaged the country’s economy.

Essid named new ministers of the interior, justice and foreign affairs, among others. He gave no reason for the changes but late last year he said he would replace ministers to increase the efficiency of his government.

Tunisia, praised as a model for democratic transition since its 2011 revolt ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, has mostly avoided the violent turmoil of other “Arab Spring” countries which also toppled long-standing rulers.

But an attack by jihadist gunmen on the Bardo museum in Tunis in March, and a gun attack on foreign tourists at a beach hotel in Sousse resort in June, have left the government struggling to find the best strategy to counter militants.

In a statement Essid’s office named Hedi Majdoub as the new interior minister and a former presidential adviser, Khemais Jinaou, as foreign minister.

More than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight for ISIS and other groups in Iraq and Syria and increasingly in neighboring Libya. The government has cracked down on militants at home but has faced criticism about how security forces are protecting human rights.

Ocalan's isolation an 'invitation to war' in Turkey: pro-Kurdish MP

Reuters | Ankara

Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan’s isolation in his island jail near Istanbul amounts to an “invitation to war”, a prominent pro-Kurdish lawmaker said on Thursday, as conflict flares between security forces and rebels in southeast Turkey.

Ocalan, jailed in 1999, has not been allowed visits by a delegation of pro-Kurdish lawmakers since April. The 67-year-old leader of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has also not seen any family members since 2014 or his lawyers since 2011.

Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast is currently experiencing its worst violence since the 1990s after a two-year ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state collapsed in July, wrecking a peace process launched by Ankara and Ocalan.

“Isolating Ocalan, sowing worries among the people about his life, safety and health conditions, is issuing an invitation to war,” said Sirri Sureyya Onder, spokesman for the delegation that often visited Ocalan before the peace process fell apart.

“The path to prevent this is clear ... They must enable Ocalan to speak with his lawyers, us and his family,” he told a news conference in the capital Ankara.

Two inmates sent to join Ocalan in jail on the island of Imrali to end his isolation were transferred to another prison two weeks ago, Onder added. Ocalan’s family have voiced concerns about his well-being.

Peace process “on ice”
Onder stressed that his comments should not be understood as a “call to war”. His Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) says it is opposed to violence and wants a peaceful solution for Turkey’s large Kurdish minority.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan initiated the peace talks with Ocalan in 2012 with the aim of ending a three-decade conflict with the PKK which has killed around 40,000 people.

Erdogan, who says the peace process is now “on ice”, said on Wednesday some lawmakers and mayors from the HDP were behaving like members of a terrorist group and he called for legal action against them.

He views the HDP as an extension of the PKK, a group deemed terrorist by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

Clashes have intensified in recent days as a major military campaign entered its fourth week. Residents complain that the operations are indiscriminate and that round-the-clock curfews have even left the sick unable to get to hospital.

In the town of Cizre, near the Syrian border, tanks pounded apartment blocks on Thursday, Reuters television footage showed. Helicopters circled and gunfire echoed through the town.

The authorities say the military campaign is targeting PKK militants, not civilians, and that it was launched in response to attacks on the security forces.

Car bomb in Libyan oil port kills 7, wounds 11: guards spokesman

Reuters | Benghazi (Libya)

A car bombing at a checkpoint in the Libyan oil port of Ras Lanuf left seven people dead and 11 wounded on Thursday, a Petroleum Facilities Guard spokesman said.

Ali al-Hassi said the car had been in a queue at the checkpoint and exploded when it reached the front. The casualties included guards and civilians, he said

No war with Iran, says Saudi deputy crown prince

Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said a war between his country and Iran would be the beginning of a catastrophe, and Riyadh will not allow it, British magazine The Economist reported on Thursday.

"It is something that we do not foresee at all, and whoever is pushing towards that is somebody who is not in their right mind," it quoted him as saying in an interview. “It will reflect very strongly on the rest of the world. For sure we will not allow any such thing.”

Salman’s comments were made during a five-hour conversation with The Economist, marking his first on-the-record interview.
 

Love Story Ended with Joining ISIS

Mahmoud Aladdin ,an Egyptian man got married to a Swiss woman ,called  Francesca Astadelman.They lived a happy life.They met in France  while he was studying at the American University there, for nearly 7 years.She converted to Islam three months after their return to Cairo where they lived in Rehab city  and put birth to a baby boy, "Adam”. She used to travel to Switzerland every year to visit her family. After fights between them, they got divorce.

Mahmoud used to see his son from time to time till he was surprised of their disappear.”I knew that my ex-wife joined ISIS and abducted my son with her”,said Mahmoud.

“I went to New Cairo police station and filed a complaint accused my ex-wife of joining Daesh, and heading to Iraq” ,he added.He accused her of  adopting  jihadist ideas, where she  began to be more extremist  and following  terrorist organizations websites  , especially al-Qaeda .”She started reading jihad books for "Anwar al-Awlaki," a Yemeni-American, prominent leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen” he said. She began to  prohibit watching television ,listening to the songs and wore the niqab.

“She considered me and my family as disbelievers and stopped visiting us” ,said  he.Problems  erupted between her and the family  after her call for  them to adopt jihadist ideas and join ISIS, that led Mahmoud  to report to the security services to carry out the necessary investigations.

He pointed out that, following their separation, he kept visiting his son weekly in her apartment. “December 26,was my son’s birthday and the last day to see him” said he.

 “The following day I called her to check on my son, but her phone was off that lasted for two days that worried me” said Mahmoud.He went to the her house to check on them and was surprised of her absence. the neighbors assured him that she  sold the contents of the house that  continued for more than two months, which led him to file a complaint  number 8524 at New Cairo police station.

Its noteworthy that a lot of European flee from families to join ISIS and other jihadi groups that led a lot of these countries to monitor citizens traveling to countries like Turkey and other countries in the Middle East .

The number of Europeans joining Islamist fighters in Syria and Iraq has risen to more than 3,000, the EU's anti-terrorism chief has said in an interview with BBC.

Mr de Kerchove said the number of 3,000 included all those who have been to the region, including those who have returned and those who have been killed there.

The CIA estimates that IS may have up to 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria - three times as many as previously feared.

Mahmoud is in Greece now ,where he got information that his wife  and son was arrested there while trying to leave from Greece to Turkey to be able to travel to join ISIS.