Word: yasir
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...most vivid memories Yasir Nisar has of his 2005 honeymoon is of the "Western" clothes his new bride Cayyada wore as she bundled up in Pakistan's frigid mountain temperatures. For more than a week, the young newlyweds escaped their hectic city lives for a quiet getaway at Malam Jabba, a ski resort located in the heart of the Swat Valley. They shopped for local craftwork, skied at the resort's modest but picturesque slopes and ate various traditional Swati dishes, at times holding hands bashfully. Road closures and blockades were routine - but always due to snowfall...
...While Abu Sayyaf's leadership seems to be lying low in the face of the rewards program, replacements have been found. Abu Sayyaf's latest leader is believed to be Yasir Igasan, an Islamic preacher in his 40s who was one of the group's founding members. According to a recent report by the International Crisis Group, Igasan has ties to wealthy donors abroad who could "recharge the flow of foreign funds" to the group. Authorities also believe J.I. members being sheltered by Abu Sayyaf are trying to recruit Filipino suicide bombers...
...meeting of Fatah's Central Committee, according to a Committee member who was in attendance, Abbas was fiercely criticized for "engaging in a public relations stunt" and accused of "helping [Olmert] without getting anything in return." Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan commands his own following, as does another of Yasir Arafat's ex-capos, Marwan Barghouti, despite being in jail. More recently, another faction, this one led by former Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, has also become more vocal in its opposition to Abbas, worrying that by rubbing shoulders with Olmert and U.S. Secretary Condoleezza Rice, he is costing Fatah much needed...
...President Hafiz al-Assad (the current president's father), convinced his regime was about to fall to the Islamic opposition, ordered his Special Forces to level Hama. Some 35,000 people were killed, most of them hostages. In the aftermath, what surprised and shook Assad was his discovery that Yasir Arafat and the PLO, then based in Lebanon, were behind the arming and training of Hama's Muslim Brothers. Assad promised himself one thing: He would never allow Lebanon to fall into hostile foreign hands. It is what the Syrians call a "red line," and I would imagine...
Even if Hamas does not change, Hamas’ victory has already begun to transform the Fatah Party, a welcome development. Under Yasir Arafat and recently Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah Party presided over one of the most corrupt and incompetent organizations in the world. Arafat used the Palestinian Authority treasury as his personal cashbox to buy loyalty and to support a maze of security services. It is estimated that Arafat and his corrupt cronies pocketed almost half of the seven billion dollars in foreign aid contributed to the Palestinian Authority. Sadly, only ten percent of the Palestinian state budget ever...