Khazen

President of Turkey Urges Resistance as Military Attempts Coup

ISTANBUL — Military factions in Turkey
tried to seize control of the country Friday night, setting off a
furious scramble for power and plunging a crucial NATO member and
American ally into chaos in what was already one of the world’s most
unstable regions.

Early on Saturday morning, however, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
whose whereabouts was unclear through a long night of turmoil, flew to
Istanbul Ataturk Airport, a strong signal that the coup was failing.

“A
minority within the armed forces has unfortunately been unable to
stomach Turkey’s unity,” Mr. Erdogan said at the airport, after the
private NTV network showed him greeting supporters. Blaming political
enemies, Mr. Erdogan said “what is being perpetrated is a rebellion and a
treason. They will pay a heavy price for their treason to Turkey.”

There
were indications that coup leaders, at a minimum, did not have a tight
grip on many parts of the country. Supporters of Mr. Erdogan took to the
streets of Istanbul to oppose the coup plotters, and there were
scattered reports some of its leaders had been arrested.

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Everything we know so far about the man suspected of killing 84 people in Nice, France


The French police have named Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel as the suspect in the attack in Nice, France, on Thursday night, Le Monde reports. The attacker reportedly shot at a crowd of Bastille Day revelers from
a truck and accelerated the vehicle into them, leaving at least 84
people dead and hundreds more injured. Al Jazeera News on Friday afternoon released a purported photo of the alleged attacker. Police officers shot the attacker dead. Authorities found identity papers in the truck.

The Nice-Matin newspaper reported that people close to Bouhlel were being questioned by the police. Bouhlel’s neighbors described him as a solitary and quiet person in
interviews with AFP. Most people in his apartment building said they
never talked to him. Bouhlel was born in 1985 and was of Tunisian origin, from the town of Msaken, The Telegraph reports, citing Tunisian security sources. The newspaper reported that Bouhlel was a father of three who
had become depressed since a divorce, citing neighbors who said he also
had
financial problems.

His ex-wife has been taken into custody according to Nice-Matin.

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Why France has become a prime target for terrorists

paris attacks

by Pamela Engel

Another
attack has hit France
, and early indications seem to point to
terrorism.

At least 70 people were reportedly killed in the southern French
city of Nice when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the
Bastille Day national holiday on Thursday night.

If a terrorist group is responsible, then this would be the
second major terrorist attack to his France in a year — and the
third since January 2015.

John Schindler, the national-security columnist for The New York
Observer, tweeted after
the November attacks
in Paris that killed 130 people:
“Jihadists with Balkan small arms were shooting up France in 1995
… got no idea why anybody is surprised.” Attackers used guns and bombs at several sites across Paris in
that attack, including the Stade de France and the Bataclan
theater, leading to an examination of why France has become a
prime target for terrorist groups.

ISIS — aka the Islamic State, Daesh, or ISIL — called Paris “the
capital of prostitution and vice” in a statement claiming
responsibility for the Paris attacks last year. The terrorist
group also stated that France and “all nations following in its
path” are “at the top of the target list for the Islamic State.” Under President Francois Hollande, France
launched its first airstrikes against ISIS targets in
Syria
 last September. The country is also a closer and
more opportunistic target for extremist groups.

Witnesses at the Bataclan said that the gunmen shouted in French,
“This is because of all the harm done by Hollande to Muslims all
over the world,”
according to
The New York Times. Another witness confirmed
this to CNN, telling the news network that the attacker who
shouted that statement sounded like a native French speaker.

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ISIS and Al Qaeda have specifically called for the type of attack that just happened in France

by

Nice, France Bastille attack

It’s not clear yet who is responsible for the truck attack that
killed dozens at a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France. But
terrorist groups have long been calling for supporters to attack
“infidels” with cars. At least 70 people were killed in the southern French city of Nice when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the country’s national holiday on Thursday night.

The earliest information from the attack does point to terrorist
involvement. US President Barack Obama said that it appears to be a
“horrific terrorist attack.” The truck was reportedly loaded with firearms and grenades, and US officials told The Daily Beast that the terrorist group ISIS — aka the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh — is a top suspect in the attacks.

ISIS and Al Qaeda have publicly called for supporters to use vehicles as weapons. The Institute for the Study of War noted in a 2014 report that ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani instructed supporters in a speech in September of that year.

He said:

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Christian town along Lebanese-Syrian border mourns, vows to defy fear

By Brooke Anderson | Catholic News Service

Farha Nasrallah, widow of Boulos Al-Ahmar, stands with her 3-year-old daughter on the front steps of St. Elias Melkite Catholic Church in al-Qaa, Lebanon, July 10. Her late husband was driving an ambulance to the scene of explosion when more bombs went off.

AL-QAA, Lebanon — Boulos al-Ahmar had just driven the ambulance to
the scene of the explosion when more bombs detonated, killing him. When
Majed Wehbe heard the first explosions near his home, he ran to the
scene to help, only to arrive in time for the next set of explosions.

These men died as heroes, unafraid to run toward disaster to help
others, and their Christian village wants to honor their memory by
shunning the fear these explosions were designed to instill. The Lebanese frontier village is mourning the loss of five residents
to a series of explosions in late June. But within two weeks, the people
were showing their determination to bring back life.

“We will continue to have culture, activities and late-night
celebrations. We’re not just going to survive. We’re going to live our
lives,” said Bashir Mattar, the mayor of al-Qaa, a village of about
15,000, predominantly Melkite Catholic, with some Maronite Catholic and
Orthodox. They share the village with nearly 30,000 Syrian refugees who
have fled war in their country, about three miles away.

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French foreign minister calls for end to Lebanon’s political stalemate

media

By

French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault
told Lebanon’s rival politicians to come to an agreement on a new
president after two years of stalemate. On a two-day visit to the
country he promised that France would maintain its troops in the UN
peacekeeping force on the border with Israel.

“A solution must be found and it is up to the Lebanese political parties to find a way to compromise,” Ayrault said on Monday. Divisions among Lebanon’s Christian, Sunni-Muslim, Shia-Muslim and Druze leaders have prevented decision on a president since May 2014, when Michel Sleiman’s mandate expired, and parliament has extended its own mandate twice since 2009. With 1.1 million refugees from the Syrian war on its soil, the tiny country’s institutions are under stress.

Its government is split between a bloc led by the Shia movement
Hezbollah, which has sent fighters to support Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad, and one led by former prime minister Saad Hariri, of the 14
March movement, which is hostile to Syria.

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French FM to Urge Lebanese Officials not to Link Political Crisis to Syria War

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

By Michel Abu-Najm: english.aawsat.com

Paris- French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault is scheduled to
visit Beirut next Monday to compel Lebanese officials into ending the
country’s political crisis by electing a new president.

The minister, who is set to make a two-day official visit to Beirut,
“does not carry new ideas,” foreign ministry sources said. However, he
has the ability “to talk to everyone” inside Lebanon and abroad.

Paris believes that “complications” in Lebanon should not be a reason
for an end to French diplomatic action towards the presidential crisis. On the contrary, French authorities believe there is an urgent need to “mobilize their efforts” to end Lebanon’s deadlock. Yet, they have admitted that France “does not have the magic wand” to resolve Lebanon’s political crisis.

French diplomatic sources said that Ayrault, who has lately discussed
the Lebanese file with his Iranian counterpart Mohammed Javad Zarif and
Saudi Deputy Crown Mohammed bin Salman, in separate meetings held in
Paris, has come out with the impression that the two sides do not object
to a political settlement in Lebanon.

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Syrian refugees change the Lebanese labor scene

For a long time, Lebanese people have known Souq al-Hamideye,
Damascus’s most famous popular market, as a place where they used to
shop for cheap goods. Now this market is in Beirut’s southern suburb, where Syrian refugees have launched a duplicate. “This
is one way to feel at home,” one tenant of a shop in the place said,
“we target Syrians like us with our cheap goods,” he added. With
the large scale inflow of refugees, now at 1.5 million – around a third
of tiny Lebanon’s population – the scene of Syrian workers in Lebanese
shops is familiar these days, with employers trying to adjust their
businesses to cope with difficult economic conditions.

Other
Syrian refugees are starting their own small businesses in the country
such as grocery shops, bakeries, mechanical repair and carpentry
workshops. The new source of low cost
labor has dramatically affected unemployment rates. Around a quarter of
Lebanese are believed to be unemployed.

The
resigned labor minister Sej’aan Qazzi mentioned recently that 36
percent of Lebanese youth are unemployed and 47 percent of university
graduates do not find suitable jobs in a market which creates only 4,000
vacancies annually – compared to 32,000 graduates.

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Karen ­Chekerdjian’s exhibition Respiration in Paris shows Beirut through her eyes

Karen ­Chekerdjian’s exhibition Respiration in Paris shows Beirut through her eyes

by

I am not trying to say anything. But at the same time, I am
trying to say everything.” So claims industrial designer Karen
­Chekerdjian, encapsulating within a single quote the ambiguity that
lies at the centre of her work.

Chekerdjian, who’s arguably
Lebanon’s most successful design export, is currently the subject of an
exhibition at Paris’s ­Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World ­Institute).
Founded in 1980, the IMA is a collaboration between 18 Arab countries
and France, envisaged as a means of promoting cultural understanding of
the Arab world. Chekerdjian readily admits to having been entirely
shaped by the country she calls home, so it’s entirely fitting that she
should be showing here.

At the heart of the exhibition is a movie
that Chekerdjian has made about Beirut. “It shows my daily life, my
kids, my friends. It’s an opportunity to see Beirut through my eyes. And
the message is that you cannot put all Arabic countries in the same
bag,” she tells me. “The movie was very important. My work has nothing
to do with ­Europe, or with other countries in the region. It is very
specific to Beirut.”

While it’s difficult to imagine her doing
anything else, it took a while for Chekerdjian to find her calling. Her
trajectory into product and furniture design was, she admits,
“unsystematic”. Born in Beirut in 1970, she started her career in
advertising, working in film and graphic design at Leo Burnett ­Beirut,
before going on to co-found her own branding company. “I did a lot of
different things, from directing movies to graphic design,” she
explains. “But I felt like I needed more.”

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