Arab world

    The Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in the world for Muslims, was ablaze at the same time as an inferno gripped the Notre Dame cathedral. The fire, in Jerusalem’s old town, broke out on the same tragic night one of Europe’s most famous Christian sites also burned in France. Footage of the incident shows smoke filling the street as bright flame flicker and people cry out in surprise. Fortunately, the fire did not cause major damage to the iconic structure, but it did endanger a part that is over 2,000 years old. https://twitter.com/i/status/1117882603116421120 Initial reports suggested the incident was caused by an electrical fault but others claim playing children could be responsible. The blaze was contained to Marwani Prayer Room, also known as Solo...

    Jihadi bride Shamima Begum has been granted legal aid to fight the decision to remove her citizenship, the Mail can reveal today. In a decision blasted as disgusting’ and ridiculous by MPs, lawyers have successfully asked for taxpayers cash on her behalf, arguing that Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s decision was unfair on the 19-year-old Islamic State acolyte. It means taxpayers face a legal bill which could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds to fund the former London schoolgirl’s fight to come back to the UK. She is currently in a refugee camp in Syria. Last night there was fury at the decision by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA), which emerged on the day it was alleged that Begum had stitched suicide bombers into explosive vests. It was also claimed she carried a Ka...

    Shamima Begum was a member of the Isis morality police, a feared group which enforced the terror organisation’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, according to reports. The 19-year-old British citizen, who fled her home in Bethnal Green four years ago with two other schoolgirls, has claimed that she was only a “housewife” during her time living with the group in Syria. But according to a report in The Sunday Telegraph she played a much more active role in the organisation’s reign of terror as a member of the hisba which metes out punishment to those found flouting Isis laws on how to dress and behave. One activist quoted by the newspaper said Begum had been seen holding an automatic weapon and shouting at Syrian women in the city of Raqqa for wearing brigh...

    In the end, the combined might of three former Israeli army chiefs proved no match for the political will of Benjamin Netanyahu. A divisive force of nature who commandeered the airwaves, took over the vegetable markets, monopolized social media and even called potential voters out of the sea at Netanya beach on election day, Netanyahu simply refused to be beaten. He had help. President Donald Trump gifted him the sensationally timed US recognition of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights late last month, and the branding of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Force as a terror group this week. President Vladimir Putin pitched in with Russia’s return of the remains of Zachary Baumel, 37 years after the Brooklyn-born IDF tank commander’s death in the Lebanon War. ...

    Shamima Begum's Dutch husband has said he wants to return home and go back to normal life after serving time in prison. In a new interview, terrorist Yago Riedijk, 27, said that he feels regret over his time in Syria. He married Begum after meeting her in the war-torn country, but just 10 days after their wedding he was jailed by ISIS in Raqqa for seven months for spying charges. Riedijk is currently languishing in a Kurdish jail, as U.S. backed forces reclaimed the last of the so-called caliphate's territory last month. He said: I wish to return home, spend the due time in jail, then go back to normal life with my wife, with no troubles, no wars, and no poverty, just to live. For me, I recognised what wrong I did, and I knew ISIS reality. I feel regret, I want t...

    Shamima Begum's lawyer has been unable to get the Isis bride's permission to launch an appeal for British citizenship after he was blocked from entering the camp she is in by Syrian forces. Tasnime Akunjee was stopped just 50 metres from Begum after travelling thousands of miles to the al-Roj camp in north-eastern Syria. He was there to get her signature on paperwork necessary to start the process to appeal against the government's decision to remove her UK citizenship. He said it now means that her family will need to launch a legal challenge on 19-year-old Begum's behalf. Shamima’s lawyer said: I made the case about why I needed to see her and the head of intelligence out there made some calls so I hung around for another day. But he said he had orders and no one...

    Saudi Arabia has stripped Osama bin Laden's son Hamza of his citizenship, the country's interior ministry has confirmed. Hamza, thought to be around 30 years old, was named as a “specially designated global terrorist” by Washington in January 2017. The US State Department have since stepped up their search for the key al Qaeda leader by placing a $1million reward for information leading to his capture. Hamza bin Laden has been the subject of speculation for years with reports of him in Pakistan, Afghanistan or under house arrest in Iran. Hamza bin Laden is the son of one of Osama bin Laden’s three surviving wives, Khairiah Sabar, who was living with her husband in a compound in Abbottabad, near a large Pakistani military base, when he was killed. He has since mad...

    Jihadi bride Shamima Begum has said the UK government is making an example of her by stripping her of citizenship and forbidding her return. The teenager, who fled London aged 15 to join Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria, also said that she regrets giving interviews about her plans. It comes after Begum said she wants to return to the UK with her newborn son - and will not travel without him. Ms Begum, who had her British citizenship revoked by Sajid Javid, was one of three schoolgirls to leave Bethnal Green to join the terror cult in 2015 and resurfaced heavily pregnant at a Syrian refugee camp last week. Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph from the al-Hol camp in Syria, Ms Begum said: They are making an example of me. I regret speaking to the media...

    The mother of a 15-year-old girl killed in the Manchester Arena attack has led the backlash against Islamic State bride Shamima Begum claiming it was justified. Begum, 19, of Bethnal Green, East London, said Western air strikes against Syria were a 'fair justification' for the suicide bombing in which 22 innocent people died. Charlotte Campbell, whose daughter Olivia was among those killed in May 2017, has revealed her horror at the thought of Begum being allowed to return to the UK. She believes Begum poses too great a threat to the British public, adding: 'I can't stand the thought of her being allowed back. It's making me ill. She's such high risk.' Manchester bombing survivor Robby Potter, 49, who was blasted in the heart with shrapnel while with his family, h...

    British ISIS bride Shamima Begum has given birth to a baby boy in Syria, according to her family. The 19-year-old, from Bethnal Green, revealed this week that she wants to return to the UK. In a statement family lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said: "We the family of Shamima Begum have been informed that Shamima has given birth to her child, we understand both she and the baby are in good health. "As yet we have not had direct contact with Shamima, we are hoping to establish communications with her soon so that we can verify the above." Her family have begged for her to be shown mercy and to be allowed to return to east London. The teenager is thought to have previously had two children with her ISIS-fighter husband who both died in infancy. She fled her home...