Dear readers
Owing to a death in Br. Kaukab's and Sis. Kristi's family,
we could not complete this issue of New Trend.
We thank all those well wishers who have sent us condolences
and prayers.
We still have some very important items in this issue..
May Allah forgive our sins and shortcomings.
War News
Syria
US Air Strike on Mosque: 49 Killed. More than 100 wounded.
[Western Aleppo]
Islamic Forces Entering Damascus from Jobar. Advance on
al-Raqqa Stalled. . Clashes in Daraa province.
ABC News March 17.
U.S. warplanes struck a mosque compound in northwestern
Syria Thursday [3.16], killing dozens of people, observer
groups and eyewitnesses said today.
U.S. military officials confirmed the airstrike but said the
target was a large gathering of al-Qaeda militants meeting
in a building that they said was across the street from the
mosque.
At least 49 people were killed and more than 100 injured in
the attack in the rebel-held village of al-Jina in Aleppo's
countryside, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights.
The targeted building was a center for Islam lectures that
belongs to the mosque and is part of the same compound, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and eyewitnesses said.
"If fighters were among those killed, they were attending a
religious lecture, not fighting or preparing to fight," Rami
Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights, told ABC News.
March 18-19
Islamic forces led by Mujahideen of al-Nusra and other
groups clashed heavily with Hizbullah and Shi'ite Alawaite
forces as they tried to enter Damascus from the eastern
suburb of Jobar. The Islamic advance is facing severe
bombing and shelling by Iran, Hizbullah and Russia. Missile
attacks have stopped the Islamic advance but shells falling
in the middle of Damascus have paralyzed movement in the
center of the tyrant's stronghold.
March 17-18.
Al-Raqqa is being bombed daily by America and its western
coalition but for the time being IS mujahideen have stopped
the three pronged assault by Assad-Iran-Russia, Turkey and
the Kurds under US air cover.
Heavy clashes between IS and Damascus regime around
Palmyra.
Iraq
Mosul. Week 22. Trump week 8
Heavy Fighting as Shi'ite Armada tries to Enter West Mosul
but Fails.
Regime Convoy Smashed by Bulldozer .
Human Rights Watch Notes Massacre of Civilians by US &
Shias.
US Bombing has killed 375 Civilians in March alone., US
Observer Group Says.
March 15-19
Once again US-backed Shia armada entered several districts
of West Mosul but was beaten back by IS mujahideen in dsys
of street-to-street and house-to-house fighting.
Thousands of people are streaming out of Mosul terrified by
American and "coalition" air strikes. There are now more
than 50,000 such refugees.
Shi'ites are torturing civilians suspected of Islamic State
sympathies.
Unable to capture West Mosul, the Baghdad regime is raidng
empty villages south west of Mosul and proclaimimg
victory.
Most interesting is al-Jazeera's story that the Islamic
State commander for Mosul has been killed and them 5
paragraphs down says: The battle front positions have not
changed in these 5 days.
[Daily Mail, March 19] ...devastating pictures show the
aftermath of a suicide bulldozer packed with explosives that
ripped apart an Iraqi forces advance in the fight for
Mosul....
The bulldozer smashed through vehicles and barricades near
the Mosul museum before detonating a blast that destroyed
vehicles including an Iraqi US-made Abrahams tank.
[Regime's watered down version} A spokesman for the rapid
reaction forces said: 'A bulldozer packed with a large
amount of explosives managed to reach our troops near the
museum using the Old City side roads, we lost an Abrahams
tank, three Humvees and four soldiers.'
Human Rights Watch
US air strikes and Shia regime bombing Massacring
Civilians.
Human Rights Watch has said the fight to recapture the
western half of Mosul has been "dirtier and deadlier to
civilians" than the battle to retake the east, which was
completed in January.
The New York-based watchdog said Iraqi Interior Ministry
units had recently used nonprecision rockets in west
Mosul.
"Their indiscriminate nature makes their use in populated
civilian areas a serious violation of the laws of war," it
said in a statement.
Separately, the United Nations says it has received many
reports of civilian deaths in air strikes.
News Within the U.S.
Two items from NCPCF
Collingswood, New Jersey
Community Action/Building Our Coalition
'Meet a Muslim' campaign takes to streets of N.J.
Community Action/Building Our Coalition
nj.com (3/13): 'Meet a Muslim' campaign takes to streets of
N.J.
On a day when the temperature barely reached freezing,
Maarij Ahmed said his heart was warmed by the reaction he
was getting standing on a corner in Collingswood with a sign
that read: "Meet a Muslim. Ask any question." Ahmed, 24, a
graduate student at Rowan University in Glassboro, said
people had uniformly been positive during the nearly four
hours Saturday in which he stood on the corner.
Buffalo, New York
NBC News (3/13): American Citizens: U.S. Border Agents Can
Search Your Cellphone [Article & Video: 3 min. 54 sec.]
When Buffalo, New York couple Akram Shibly and Kelly
McCormick returned to the U.S. from a trip to Toronto on
Jan. 1, 2017, U.S. Customs & Border Protection officers held
them for two hours, took their cellphones and demanded their
passwords. Shibly and McCormick's experience is not unique.
In 25 cases examined by NBC News, American citizens said
that CBP officers at airports and border crossings demanded
that they hand over their phones and their passwords, or
unlock them. What most of them have in common — 23 of
the 25 — is that they are Muslim, like Shibly, whose
parents are from Syria.
National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms
P.O. Box 66301
Washington, D.C. 20035
VIEWPOINT
Staten Island, New York
First Person Account. How an Egyptian American Muslim faced
Bigotry Directed at him under Facade of Law.
March 8.
So, this morning, around 7:50 am, while walking toward the
entrance of the waiting hall, inside the Staten Island Ferry
Terminal in St. George, trying to take the 8:00 am ferry
boat to Manhattan, while the terminal was busy with rush
hour passengers from all walks of life, many of whom were
carrying all sorts and sizes of purses and backpacks, an
NYPD officer (male. I have his picture) took a step and
extended his arm obstructing me from moving and told me to
get to a nearby table manned by other NYPD officers so they
can search my backpack.
The manner in which this was done made me feel I was being
singled out because of how I looked, my perceived religious
affiliation, ethnic, and national origin backgrounds. The
officers said it was random. I have no doubt that many are
in fact stopped randomly, but the manner this was done in my
particular case made it feel different. The location was
very busy with people in the rush hour trying to use the
ferry to get to Manhattan, and there were no less than 5
people, immediately in front of me, carrying all sorts and
sizes of purses and backpacks. The officer apparently had
his eyes on me from a distance and let these individuals go,
then took a couple of steps in between moving people (very
busy rush hour foot traffic), extended his arm to stop me
from moving, and told me to go to the table.
While I don't know what was going on inside the mind of the
officer who stopped me and if my feelings were correct, I am
more concerned about my and the people's rights that I
consider this policy of randomly searching people to be in
violation of.
The 4th amendment is clear on prohibiting searches or
seizures unless based on a probable cause of suspicion of
criminal activity, among other conditions. This "random"
check goes against the text and the spirit of the supreme
law of the land. Also, while the officers gave me the option
to leave the terminal and take other means of transportation
to Manhattan, it is an infringement of my right to travel
freely without molestation and due process of the law.
When the officer stopped me and told me to go to the table,
I said: "no thank you". He replied that he's not asking me,
but telling me, and I replied again "no, thank you". For the
next few minutes, I kept refusing to grant consent for the
search and kept reminding the officers that they swore an
oath to uphold the constitution of the United States, and
the content of the 4th amendment. There were also more than
one NYC DOT employees who were part of this situation. The
officers and the DOT personnel kept telling me that these
are the rules and I either submit to a search or leave the
terminal (not take the ferry to Manhattan). I requested to
speak with a supervisor, which one of the officers (female)
said she was the supervisor. I then requested to speak with
someone above that supervisor, but she declined. I then
requested her to call/radio the captain (of the 120
precinct, which is right across the street from the
terminal).
After a few minutes of this back and forth and people
started gathering and interfering, the female officer put me
under arrest, which I complied with without resisting. They
took me to the area of the booking room on the side,
searched me, frisked me up and down, searched my backpack,
and after about 45 minutes they gave me 2 summonses, for
trespassing and disorderly conduct, and released me. I lived
in 3 countries, been to 4 continents and never in my 45
years been arrested. I didn't plan this in advance, it just
happened.
While under arrest, after being searched and frisked, I
engaged in a dialogue with the officers telling them this is
not personal and encouraged them to look deeper into the
constitution and bill of rights vis a vis the practice that
caused this situation. I told them that I believe it's the
policy they are enacting and the training they are receiving
that is the main problem. I explained to them that the ferry
terminal is a government (public) travel facility, not a
privately owned building where the owner has the right to
discriminate against who s/he allows in. We engaged in a
deeper discussion about this and related issues, and at the
end, I hugged the few officers who were there and told them
again that it is not personal.
This is not about the officers per se, but I do strongly
fault the policy and training. The officers are enacting a
policy that they had no say in, and they acted based on
training they had no say in designing. That doesn't absolve
them from their responsibility toward upholding the
constitution, but again, it's more about policy and
training.
Randomly choosing people or racial, ethnic, or religious
profiling goes against the text and spirit of the supreme
law of the land. It's ineffective and discriminatory in
nature, and open the door for even more abuses. No state or
local law, and no public facility rule can go against the
constitution. I am aware that neither I nor the officers
have a decision-making ability to stop this abuse and that
if a litigation ensued it might end up in the Supreme Court,
but I just had to take a stand.
A friend told me: "I'm more encouraged by folks standing up
and refusing to be abused. We will have exactly the level of
oppression that is tolerated", which reminded me of
Frederick Douglas' quote from 1857: "Power concedes nothing
without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out
just what any people will quietly submit to and you have
found the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be
imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are
resisted with either words or blows, or with both."
I am no hero, but I took a step and stood up. The more
people stand up to these abuses, the better our chances in
pushing them back. Benjamin Franklin said: "Those who give
up essential liberty for little temporary safety deserve
neither."
