Turkish F-16 fighter jets shot down a Russian Su-24 warplane along the Turkey-Syria border this morning. Turkish officials said they were responding to a violation of their airspace and warned the Russian jet several times, but Russian officials maintain the jet was in Syrian airspace and shot down by “shelling from the ground.” Just last week, Turkey summoned the Russian ambassador to Ankara to air their concerns about Russian bombing runs close to the Turkish border; the Turkish foreign ministry said they told the ambassador to “immediately end” strikes targeting “civilian Turkmen villages” near the border. NATO will hold an extraordinary council meeting today at Turkey’s request, but a NATO spokesman noted that Article 4 of the NATO treaty has not been invoked.
Russia has further escalated its air campaign in Syria in recent days, bombarding Islamic State-occupied areas in Deir Ezzor province. At least one report claimed that Russia has also sent tanks and troops into combat in Syria; that report has not been corroborated, but Russian news stations showed a map last week that suggested Russian artillery forces could be participating in the conflict. Russian officials claimed last week that they were working with the French Navy on “joint anti-terrorism operations,” and yesterday U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said there were opportunities for greater cooperation with Russia to fight the Islamic State so long as those efforts did not further enable Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. In a meeting yesterday in Tehran, President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said they would oppose “external attempts to dictate scenarios of political settlement” and reiterated their support for Assad, according to a Kremlin official.
Belgium to Maintain State of Alert amid Terror Threat
The manhunt for Salah Abdeslam, suspected of participating in the Paris attacks, continues today in Belgium, where security officials are working to disrupt additional attacks. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said last night that the state of alert will be extended another week. “We are very alert and call for caution,” Michel said. “The potential targets remain the same; shopping centers and shopping streets and public transport.” In Paris, investigators found an unused suicide bomb belt that may have been involved in the Nov. 13 attacks.
Headlines
Two suicide bombers and a gunman attacked a hotel in Al-Arish, Egypt, in the Sinai Peninsula, killing three people and wounding 12 others; the attack, which has been claimed by the Islamic State’s Sinai affiliate, may have been targeting Egyptian judges staying at the hotel who were in the Sinai to monitor elections.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Israel today to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas; attacks on Israelis continued this morning when a Palestinian driver rammed his car into Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint.
A court in Bahrain sentenced a photojournalist to 10 years in prison on terrorism charges, according to Reporters Without Borders; the photographer was accused of giving SIM cards to “terrorist” demonstrators and photographing demonstrations.
Egypt concluded the second round of voting in parliamentary elections yesterday, though observers noted turnout at the polls continued to stay low despite a half-day government holiday to facilitate voting; results are expected in December.
Hezbollah’s media office denounced a new bill passed by the U.S. Senate last week to tighten sanctions on the group, calling it “a new crime by American institutions against our people, the [Islamic] nation and against the liberals in this world.”
Arguments and Analysis
“The Blood of People Who Don’t Cooperate: Continuing Torture and Mistreatment of Detainees in Bahrain” (Human Rights Watch)
“One former detainee told Human Rights Watch that CID officers beat his penis with a hose ‘until I couldn’t feel the pain anymore’ and then forced several fingers into his anus. Two others said CID officers threatened them with rape. One detainee arrested in February 2015 said CID officers threatened to rape his wife and showed him pictures of his son, which they had on their phones. All nine of those detained at the CID said that they remained handcuffed and blindfolded throughout their time there — typically several days — except when they were making videotaped confessions. Five individuals said that they made those confessions in the presence of a masked police officer. Five former detainees said they told the public prosecutor that CID officers had mistreated them in detention. In two of those cases, the individuals said they refused to make confessions to the public prosecutor, who then ordered that they be returned to the CID where they were tortured until they made false confessions.”
“Syrian refugees are not the problem in ISIS plight” (Rep. Seth Moulton, Boston Globe)
“I voted against the Republican bill to pause the lawful immigration of Syrian refugees for two reasons. First, it did nothing substantive to improve the screening process. Even the director of the FBI opposed it. Second, the legislation completely ignores the greatest threat ISIS poses to America: recruiting terrorists from right under our noses. Singling out Muslims or Syrians — the very victims of ISIS’s reign of terror — or suggesting that American values apply to them only with caveats, gives ISIS a propaganda tool it can use to recruit more foot soldiers. In other words, ‘pausing’ refugee immigration will not help our national security. Instead, that overreaction might well harm our antiterror efforts.”
