Headline News 13/09/2017

Headlines:

IS Attack on Sinai Convoy

Syria: Win at all Costs

Saudi Monarchy Struggling to Survive

Details:

IS Attack on Sinai Convoy

An attack on a convoy in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has taken 18 lives, all policemen. The attack was claimed by Daesh, by way of a detonated roadside bomb near el-Arish, which demolished three armoured vehicles and a fourth by way of signal failure. Afterwards, they managed to open fire on survivors after they left the blast. A number of military personnel in Egypt are reported to have been killed by IS since Mohammed Morsi was stripped of power by the Egyptian military. Not many details have been released on the attack, except that police forces were dealing with a vehicle on a road between el-Arish and Qantara, when a vehicle tried to break through it exploded and caused damaged to patrol vehicles. These events come in light of various previous ‘attempts’ to break into Sinai, by IS.

Syria: Win at all Costs

Syrian army reinforcements arrived in Deir Az Zor on Monday for a new push against ISIL as a second day of air strikes reportedly killed 19 civilians in the area. Since 2014, ISIL has controlled most of Deir Az Zor city and the surrounding province, which borders territory the armed group holds in Iraq. The remaining 40 percent of the city still held by the government - and home to about 100,000 civilians - was under a crippling ISIL siege. Backed by Russian air power, government troops have breached ISIL's siege, captured the strategic Jabal Thardah region, and expanded control to half of Deir Az Zor city. "Huge military reinforcements - including equipment, vehicles and fighters - have arrived in Deir Az Zor ahead of an attack to push Daesh from the city's eastern neighbourhoods," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman. Russian airstrikes have been deadly, with the Observatory reporting 19 civilians were killed on Monday in suspected Russian air raids northwest of the city. The strikes came a day after the Britain-based war monitor said Russian strikes killed 34 civilians southeast of the city as they fled across the Euphrates River. This blatant disregard for human lives highlights the regime, and their allies need to end the war quickly. A war which has stretched for over half a decade and remains the last remnant from the Arab Spring.

Saudi Monarchy Struggling to Survive

Saudi Arabia has detained more clerics and intellectuals, widening an apparent crackdown on potential opponents of the country’s monarchy. The crackdown comes amid widespread speculation, that King Salman intends to abdicate in favour of his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who already dominates economic, diplomatic and domestic policy. The government toughened its stance on dissent following the Arab Spring in 2011 after it averted unrest by offering billions of dollars in handouts and state spending. The al-Saud clan has always regarded Islamic groups as the biggest internal threat to its rule over a country. From all of this is should be clear that the monarchy in Saudi is struggling for survival, long exposed as lackeys of the west, they have run the economy into the ground, despite possessing the world’s largest oil reserves.