Libya’s new congress elects long-time Qaddafi opponent as president

The day after coming to power, Libya’s general national congress has elected National Front Party head Mohammed Yussef Magarief as Libya’s new president. Magarief, a moderate Islamist, was a long-time opponent of former President Muammar al-Qaddafi who ruled Libya for 42 years. Magarief established the National Front for the Salvation of Libya in 1981 and lived in exile for many years. The movement made many attempts to overthrow Qaddafi, including several assassination plots. Magarief was selected after winning 113 votes. He defeated Ali Zidan, an independent opposition leader and human rights lawyer. As president, he will head the 200-member congress, which will hold legislative power, appoint a prime minister, and lead the country to full parliamentary elections after the drafting of a new constitution next year.

Syria

The Syrian Army’s ground offensive in Aleppo has continued for the third day as the battle moves to new neighborhoods. Fighting has become fiercer as the opposition receives more weapons, some through Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The Syrian army has introduced MiG fighter jets and increased the use of attack helicopters. Britain’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has committed an additional $8 million in non-lethal aid to the Free Syrian Army, including medical supplies, communication equipment, and portable power generators. This is on top of about $43 million allocated toward humanitarian assistance for Syria and refugees housed by neighboring countries. Hague insisted that the Syrian people need "urgent help" and "cannot wait indefinitely" for a peaceful resolution to what has progressed into a 17-month long conflict. Meanwhile, United Nations officials have said that former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi is a strong candidate to succeed Kofi Annan when he steps down at the end of August as international envoy to Syria. Brahimi is known for developing a report in 2000 suggesting a major overhaul of U.N. peacekeeping operations, known as the Brahimi Report. He was integral in post conflict transitions in South Africa, which brought Nelson Mandela to power, and Iraq, assembling an interim government after the fall of Saddam Hussein. A selection could come as early as next week.

Headlines  

• Bedouin tribes have agreed to support Egyptian operations in the Sinai region. The government claims it has arrested six "terrorists" after an attack this week killed 16 guards.
• Nepal has banned women under 30-years old from working in the Middle East over fears they will be exploited.

Arguments & Analysis

‘Turkey’s Nightmare‘ (The Financial Times)

"Turkey is watching its deepest fears become reality on its southern border. As Kurdish forces take control of towns across north-east Syria, Ankara faces the possibility of an autonomous Kurdish area emerging, in loose federation with adjacent Iraqi Kurdistan.To the Turkish establishment, this is an existential threat: an embryonic Kurdish state is bound to embolden Turkey’s 13m-plus Kurdish population in demands for regional autonomy, and could try to claim chunks of Turkish territory. Worse, a powerful element in a new coalition of Syria’s Kurdish groups is the PYD – an ally of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a 27-year struggle against the Turkish state. The PKK is now exploiting the situation, launching massed attacks, not the usual scattered raids, on army posts in Turkey’s south-east."

‘The World’s Muslims: Unity and Diversity‘ (The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life)

The world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are united in their belief in God and the Prophet Muhammad and are bound together by such religious practices as fasting during the holy month of Ramadan and almsgiving to assist people in need. But they have widely differing views about many other aspects of their faith, including how important religion is to their lives, who counts as a Muslim and what practices are acceptable in Islam, according to a worldwide survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. The survey, which involved more than 38,000 face-to-face interviews in over 80 languages, finds that in addition to the widespread conviction that there is only one God and that Muhammad is His Prophet, large percentages of Muslims around the world share other articles of faith, including belief in angels, heaven, hell and fate (or predestination). While there is broad agreement on the core tenets of Islam, however, Muslims across the 39 countries and territories surveyed differ significantly in their levels of religious commitment, openness to multiple interpretations of their faith and acceptance of various sects and movements.

‘The Need for Triangular Co-operation‘ (The Economist)

"There was no shortage of warning. In the 18 months since Egypt’s revolution, Bedouin chiefs in the Sinai peninsula have voiced mounting concern about the growing boldness of armed jihadist groups in their midst. In June a bunch of them based in Gaza launched an attack via Sinai that left one Israeli dead. In July jihadists released a video and leaflets promising to turn Sinai into an Islamic emirate and demanding that Egyptian government forces should impose sharia law or quit. On August 2nd Israel’s government called on its own citizens to stay away from Sinai’s beach resorts, citing intelligence warnings of a heightened risk. Three days later the Israelis fired a rocket, killing a Palestinian motorcyclist in Gaza, who, they said, was a jihadist. Retaliation beckoned."

–By Jennifer Parker and Mary Casey