Latest news with #Shi'ites

Memri

a day ago

Politics
Memri

Afghan Taliban Commander Abdul Hamid Khorasani Calls For Killing Shi'ites: 'Iranians Are Vile... They Offer Their Daughters And Women To Our Migrant [Afghan] Youths'; 'If You Kill One Of Khamenei's Ac

The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here. On June 19, 2025, Afghan journalist Sami Jahesh shared a video of noted Afghan Taliban commander Abdul Hamid Khorasani declaring in Dari that killing Iranians and Shi'ites, including the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his followers, brings great spiritual reward. It is not clear when the video was released. Khorasani, known for his controversial positions, urges Afghan migrants in Iran to kill Ali Khamenei and his Shi'ite followers, stating: "Killing these people, Khamenei and his followers, brings immense reward." A screenshot from the video Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini "Khamenei Himself, May God's Curse Be Upon Him, Is A Number One Bastard – These People [Shi'ites]... Are Bastards" "Iranians are vile people... They offer their daughters and women to our migrant youths [Afghans]... they are disgraceful. [Iranian Supreme leader Ali Hosseini] Khamenei himself, may God's curse be upon him, is a number one bastard. These people [Shi'ites]... are bastards. Those who doubt that Khamenei and his followers are bastards do not possess sound reason or logic. "I will give you religious reasons. Those who doubt, go and read their blasphemous and polytheistic beliefs... in [Shi'ites books] Bihar Al-Anwar, Nahj Al-Balagha... read these things and see what kind of blasphemies and polytheistic statements they make. "These people are not religious – they are a religion, a separate religion, completely a separate religion. Real scholars understand and know this. But telling the truth requires courage and determination." Addressing Afghan Migrants In Iran: "If You Have Courage, If You Have Even A Bit Of Faith In You, Look – There Are Knives, There Are Pistols, Everything – Kill Them [Iranians And The Shi'ites], Slaughter Them From Behind" "If you have courage, if you have even a bit of faith in you, look – there are knives, there are pistols, everything – kill them [Iranians and the Shi'ites], slaughter them from behind. "Slaughter them from behind so that the cowardly, dishonorable, wicked, polytheistic, and filthy Iranians know the honor of the Muslim people of Afghanistan – so that they no longer oppress my poor and helpless compatriots. "I give you... a fatwa [religious decree] from the Holy Word of Allah – they are idolaters, unbelievers, worse than the Jews and Christians. And with religious evidence, I challenge anyone who disagrees... anyone at all: killing these people, Khamenei and his followers, brings immense reward. "If you kill one of Khamenei's accursed followers, it is like killing ten Jews, it is like killing ten Jews. That is how great the reward is, because they are polytheists, rude, and insolent."

Offshoot Of Syria's Ruling HTS Claims Credit For Damascus Church Bombing

Gulf Insider

a day ago

Politics
Gulf Insider

Offshoot Of Syria's Ruling HTS Claims Credit For Damascus Church Bombing

On Sunday, a massive suicide bomb attack tore through the important Greek Orthodox church Mar Elias in Damascus, killing 27 and wounding dozens more. The huge attack just added to the spate of sectarian violence across Syria, which undercuts the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government's claim to be protecting religious minorities. The HTS was quick to blame ISIS for the Mar Elias bombing, and on Monday announced the arrest of a number of ISIS associates who they claimed were involved, vowing to bring them to justice. Now that whole narrative seems in doubt. ISIS never took credit for the Mar Elias bombing, which, since it was the biggest attack in Damascus in a very long time, would be an unusual oversight. Now, another group, Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah (SAAS), issued its own statement claiming credit for the attack. SAAS, which was said to be formed in February, went on to say that the government's claims of arresting people involved with the attack were 'untrue, fabricated.' The group is being presented as an ISIS splinter group by some reports, but the reality is substantially different. SAAS does indeed have some ISIS defectors within, according to reports, but it also has a substantial number of HTS defectors. SAAS founder Abu Aisha al-Shami was an HTS member, and said he broke away and formed his own group because he perceived HTS as being too soft on Shi'ites and other 'rejectionists.' While HTS has undergone a massive reformation in its presentation in the media, the group was a renamed al-Qaeda affiliate that retains its deeply Salafist ideologies. After a brutal, religiously motivated terrorist attack on Christians in Syria, the EU remains silent. Brussels usually reacts within minutes when it comes to other parts of the world, like Ukraine. This double standard is outrageous, and the lack of condemnation is unacceptable. — Péter Szijjártó (@FM_Szijjarto) June 23, 2025 While playing nice with religious minorities in Syria on paper, they've tended to turn a blind eye to attacks on them, notably the massacre of the Alawites, where well over 1,300 Alawites were killed in March, many by security forces. Those killings continue to this day, and the promised investigation never seemed to go anywhere. Speaking of Alawites, SAAS played a part in these massacres as well. The group regularly brags of carrying out attacks on Alawites and Druze Syrians, including what they called the 'Harvest of Ramadan,' where they listed attacks and vandalism done during the holiday on the Alawite town of Qardaha. That they would be behind the Mar Elias attack is not out of keeping with the way the group has operated in its brief existence. It provides a messaging problem for the HTS though, since the government has not done much about the SAAS at all since it came into existence. The Orthodox Christian leader in Syria has called out the Jolani regime: My respect for His Beatitude Patriarch John X Yazigi has grown tenfold after his historic speech from Damascus openly criticizing the Julani no mistake: the regime will try to harm you see the incitement—calling him an 'Assad regime remnant' or accusing… — Kevork Almassian (@KevorkAlmassian) June 26, 2025 Syrian Christian leader Patriarch John X. Yazigi issued a statement after the attack criticizing the government for its inability to protect religious minorities, saying 'condolences are not enough for us' and that the government has a fundamental duty to protect all its citizens. For now, though, that has begun and ended with blaming ISIS to justify ongoing operations against ISIS in the east.

How Iran Became Isolated in the Middle East

Time Magazine

19-06-2025

Politics
Time Magazine

How Iran Became Isolated in the Middle East

It is a perilous moment for Iran. Israel has gained control of the skies. Much of the regime's top military command has been taken out, to say nothing of the civilian toll. U.S. President Donald Trump is now calling for an 'unconditional surrender.' The Islamic Republic hopes it can convince the Gulf Arab states to tell the U.S. to pressure Israel to end its military campaign. But it is a lost cause. The regime has no true friends in the region—and it has itself to blame. For almost five decades, the ayatollahs have pursued an expansionist policy of 'exporting the revolution' and 'forward defense.' But what Iran thought was a winning strategy to consolidate long-term leadership in the Middle East has backfired. Iran's rise was based on exploiting issues like the Palestine question and the marginalization of Lebanon's Shi'ites. Iran's model presented Tehran as a mentor and patron, incubating armed groups under the pretext of fighting just causes. In reality, Iran's proxies relied on the same oppressive behavior as that of the Tehran regime. For years, Iran's strategy appeared to be working. Iran-backed groups became the strongest actors in their countries. The seeming success of Lebanese Hezbollah—the first proxy Iran nurtured—became a template for others in the Middle East. But the expansion of proxies created vulnerabilities for Iran and its assets. With no domestic space for critique, and the suppression of outside opponents, there were no checks on the regime's behavior. Tehran grew blind to its brittleness, believing that it could outmaneuver the U.S., Israel, the Arab countries, and the international community. This included negotiating an international nuclear deal while it was enriching uranium beyond the level necessary for civilian use and thinking it could withstand the consequences of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Blindness also led Tehran to overestimate its friendship with Russia and China. Tehran saw Moscow as an ally when it intervened to prop up Syria's Assad regime in 2015. But Russia saw instead an opportunity to grow its influence in that country, consolidate its military presence on the Mediterranean, and stand up to the West. Iran and China, for their part, struck a 25-year cooperation deal in 2021. But what Tehran viewed as rising global sway, China saw as a limited economic pact. Beijing subsequently stalled the agreement's delivery. Today, neither Russia nor China will come to Iran's rescue. Beijing has always avoided getting involved in Middle East conflicts, and remains focused on its Indo-Pacific backyard. Moscow is bogged down in Ukraine and is prioritizing the yearslong conflict there, which has only escalated in recent months. Nor will Iran's proxies save it. Israel has decapitated Hezbollah's leadership and destroyed much of its missile arsenal, and the group would lose much of its remaining domestic support if it drags Lebanon into another war. The scale of the Houthis' remaining arsenal in Yemen remains a mystery, following a monthslong campaign of U.S. airstrikes, but they are constrained by de-escalation deals with Washington and Riyadh. Most of the Iran-backed Iraqi factions are also choosing self-preservation over involvement in an unwinnable battle with Israel and the U.S. Meanwhile, Syria has turned from a fertile ground to a hostile one for Iran and its assets, after the Assad regime was toppled in December. Israel has framed its war on Iran as a boost to regional and global stability. Both the U.S. and Israel want the mission achieved. And while the Arab Gulf states have pursued rapprochement in recent years with Iran, and are calling for de-escalation, that is largely a symbolic gesture. They will ultimately not stand in the way of a new Middle East and a weakened Iran. The regime, it seems, may be taking its last breaths, and has no one to turn to.

Syrian security forces raid Islamic State hideouts in Aleppo

Ya Libnan

18-05-2025

Politics
Ya Libnan

Syrian security forces raid Islamic State hideouts in Aleppo

An Islamic State flag is seen in this picture illustration taken February 18, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Syrian security forces raided Islamic State hideouts in Aleppo on Saturday and three militants were killed, authorities said, the first time the Islamist-led government has announced such an operation against the jihadist group in Syria's second city. A member of the security forces was also killed, and four Islamic State militants were detained during the raids, Interior Ministry statements said. The security forces seized weapons, bombs and uniforms with the security forces' insignia. A security source said the raids had targeted sleeper cells in four locations, and 10 people had been arrested. The source said that one of the Islamic State militants had blown himself up during the operation. Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa , who once led a branch of al Qaeda, has long been an adversary of Islamic State, and battled the group's self-declared caliphate during the Syrian war. U.S. President Donald Trump met Sharaa earlier this week, and praised him as an 'attractive guy with a very strong past' after the encounter in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Trump also declared the United States would lift sanctions, a major U.S. policy shift that should help revive the shattered economy and marked a major boost for Sharaa. Sharaa seized power in Damascus in December after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad. Sharaa cut ties with al Qaeda in 2016. Islamic State controlled swathes of Syria and Iraq at the height of its power, before being beaten out of the territory by enemies including a U.S.-led military alliance. In January, the Syrian authorities announced they had foiled an attack by Islamic State on the Sayeda Zeinab shrine in a Damascus suburb, a site of mass pilgrimage for Shi'ites, and had arrested members of the cell . Islamic State militants killed five members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria last month, in one of their deadliest attacks in a while. Reuters

Syrian government forces raid Islamic State hideouts in Aleppo

Japan Today

17-05-2025

Politics
Japan Today

Syrian government forces raid Islamic State hideouts in Aleppo

Syrian security forces raided Islamic State hideouts in Aleppo on Saturday, killing at least one militant and arresting others, authorities said, the first time the Islamist-led government has announced such an operation in Syria's second city. A member of the security forces was also killed, a statement issued by Interior Ministry spokesperson said. The security forces seized weapons, bombs and uniforms with the security forces' insignia. A security source said the raids had targeted sleeper cells in four locations, and 10 people had been arrested. One Islamic State militant had blown himself up, and another had been killed in clashes, the source said. Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who once led a branch of al Qaeda, has long been an adversary of Islamic State, and battled the group's self-declared caliphate during the Syrian war. U.S. President Donald Trump met Sharaa earlier this week, and praised him as an "attractive guy with a very strong past" after the encounter in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Trump also declared the United States would lift sanctions, a major U.S. policy shift that should help revive the shattered economy and marked a major boost for Sharaa. Sharaa seized power in Damascus in December after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad. Sharaa cut ties with al Qaeda in 2016. Islamic State controlled swathes of Syria and Iraq at the height of its power, before being beaten out of the territory by enemies including a U.S.-led military alliance. In January, the Syrian authorities announced they had foiled an attack by Islamic State on the Sayeda Zeinab shrine in a Damascus suburb, a site of mass pilgrimage for Shi'ites, and had arrested members of the cell. Islamic State militants killed five members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria last month, in one of their deadliest attacks in a while. © Thomson Reuters 2025.