Statement by the Syrian Revolution Support Bases against Zionist aggression on Gaza

From Syrian Revolution Support Bases
Since the beginning of the so-called “Operation Protective Edge” – Israel’s latest aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip – on 8 July, over 180 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been murdered in the worst escalation since the November 2012 aggression.

Israel’s unrelenting deliberate targeting of civilian areas, coupled with the desperate shortage of medical supplies caused by the Israeli-Egyptian siege, means the death toll will continue to climb rapidly.

We condemn Israel’s ongoing massacre in Gaza which was carried out not only to break Palestinian resistance, but also to halt the popular protests raging in occupied Jerusalem and across the territories occupied in 1948.

ISIS claim to have restored the Khilafah

From 5 Pillarz

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has announced the restoration of the Khilafah over the areas under its control.

In a video, Sheikh Abu Mohammed al-Adnani (a spokesman for ISIS) declared Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi as the calipha and called upon all Muslims to give him bay’ah (pledge of allegiance).

According to the statement, the new caliphate stretches from Iraq’s Diyala province to Syria’s Aleppo.

An exert of the speech translated in English:

“Therefore, the shūrā (consultation) council of the Islamic State studied this matter after the Islamic State – by Allah’s grace – gained the essentials necessary for Khilafah, which the Muslims are sinful for if they do not try to establish.

In light of the fact that the Islamic State has no shar’ī (legal) constraint or excuse that can justify delaying or neglecting the establishment of the Khilafah such that it would not be sinful, the Islamic State – represented by ahlul-halli-wal-‘aqd (its people of authority), consisting of its senior figures, leaders, and the shura council – resolved to announce the establishment of the Islamic Khilafah, the appointment of a Khalifah for the Muslims, and the pledge of allegiance to the Sheikh, the Mujahid, the scholar who practices what he preaches, the worshipper, the leader, the warrior, the reviver, the descendent from the family of the Prophet, the slave of Allah, Ibrahim ibn Awwad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ali ibn Muhammad Al-Badri Al-Hashimi Al Husayni Al-Qurayshi by lineage, as-Samurrai by birth and upbringing, al-Baghdadi by residence and scholarship. And he has accepted the bay’ah (pledge of allegiance).

Thus, he is the imam and Khalifah for the Muslims everywhere. Accordingly, the “Iraq and Sham” in the name of the Islamic State is henceforth removed from all official deliberations and communications, and the official name is the Islamic State from the date of this declaration.”

Sheikh al-Adnani said all jihadist organisations including Al Qaeda and their global cells must offer their physical and material support to al-Baghdadi, the “calipha” of the new state.

The “Islamic State” has removed Iraq and al-Sham (the Levant) from its name and stated “a new era of international jihad”.

The Syrian boy lost in the desert wasn’t so lost after all

(Photos:UNHCR)

EDIT: According to an Open Newsroom investigation, a UNHCR press officer who was on the scene said the child’s family was just “20 steps ahead.” UNHCR representative Andrew Harper who originally posted the shot that went viral posted a new image of Marwan 24 hours later but gave no further information about how he was lost. 

—

A UNHCR staffer tweeted a photo of 4-year-old Marwan, who was temporarily separated from his family when they were trying to escape Syria’s violence.

[Video] No War on Syria: Demo in San Francisco

San Francisco. Video by Tom Vee. 

Photo by Rabia Keeble

On Saturday, between 150 to 200 people gathered in San Francisco’s UN Plaza to protest the United States’ burgeoning bombing campaign on Syria. The rally and march were organized by Bay Area Resistance Network–a new network of folks from affected communities of U.S. colonialism. The network includes Arabs, Muslims and people of color living in the Bay.

The local callout said:

On this day, we will focus our attention on the suffering of the Syrian people. But yesterday it was Egypt; the day before that it was Gaza; before that it was Yemen, Libya, Iraq & Afghanistan. While these are some of the most televised examples of our day, we cannot ignore the militarization of the US-Mexico border, the funding of the Mexican military against the Indigenous Communities of that region, the propping up of brutal dictators across the globe, and an endless list of other acts of colonization. 

(VIDEO) Machete Attack on Police Station – Uyghur Autonomous Region

Video and Excerpts from Sina July 8

Autnomous Uyghur Region, Turkestan

“Surveillance video showing rioters with machetes attacking a local police station on June 26 in Shanshan county of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was released Saturday.

Reports stated that 24 people, of which 16 were ethnic Uyghurs and eight were Han, were killed. The attacks also left 21 others injured.”

June 26th, Uyghur Autonomous region

watch video here

[BAI Note] The clashes in “Turkestan” have been going on for decades as the Muslim Uyghur population has been in a decolonial struggle against the Chinese state and the Han Chinese. The Hans have been flooding and settling the region which is often called “Xinjiang,” which means “New Frontier” or “New Colony,” by the Chinese state and global mainstream media. The security forces in the region are Han Chinese as well and any act against the settlers is considered an act against the state. Since 9/11, the Chinese government has taken to calling the Uyghur rebels “insurgents” and the uprisings acts of “terror.”  The Muslim Uyghur community, now an ethnic minority group in the region, has also been banned by the Chinese state from observing Ramadan. Other Muslim activities such as visits to the masjid (mosques) have also been curbed.