Chechnya Weekly from the Jamestown FoundationDokka Umarov’s recent appointment of Supyan Abdullaev as the rebel vice-president highlights an increasing political shift within the Chechen insurgency whereby the secular wing is now accelerating its efforts to restore its broken ties with the radical wing of the separatist movement previously led by Shamil Basaev. Abdullaev, who is the main Chechen Salafi ideologist and was Shamil Basaev’s close ally and financial director (see his profile in Chechnya Weekly, March 29) has reemerged on the scene in Chechnya and is becoming a new figure within the separatist movement.
Video: Israeli soldiers fire tear gas at 6-year-old children on their way to school The new school year started four days ago in the occupied West Bank, and Israeli soldiers have fired tear gas and hurled stun grenades at Palestinian elementary school students on at least two occasions already. In the Nablus -area village of Burin , which is surrounded by illegal Jewish-only Israeli settlements , Israeli forces stormed an elementary school Wednesday, firing tear gas and stun grenades at students after a settler’s vehicle traveling nearby the school was allegedly hit with a rock thrown by a Palestinian youth. Many children were treated at the scene for tear-gas inhalation, reported Ma’an News Agency . One day earlier, Israeli forces in Hebron fired up to 15 tear gas canisters and five stun grenades at small children as they made their way to school Tuesday morning. Video of the attack — recorded and posted to YouTube by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM)...
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