THE HAGUE, Netherlands: Dutch authorities arrested a Syrian man on Tuesday who is suspected of having been a security chief for Daesh and Jabhat Al-Nusra extremist groups during Syria’s grinding civil war, prosecutors said.
“It is suspected that from his position at IS he also contributed to the war crimes that the organization committed in Syria,” the National Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
The 37-year-old man, whose name wasn’t released, was detained in the small village of Arkel, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the port city of Rotterdam, prosecutors said in a statement.
The man is suspected of holding “a managerial position in the security service of IS” from 2015-2018, prosecutors said. For two years prior to that, he allegedly carried out the same work for Jabhat Al-Nusra. Prosecutors say he held both functions “in and around the Yarmouk refugee camp” south of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
The suspect applied for asylum in the Netherlands in 2019 and later settled in Arkel, prosecutors said. He was scheduled to appear before an examining magistrate in The Hague on Feb. 20.
It wasn’t the first time Dutch authorities arrested a suspect from the Syrian conflict. Last year, a Dutch court convicted two Syrian brothers of holding senior roles in Jabhat Al-Nusra between 2011 and 2014.
Dutch police arrest suspected Daesh security chief
https://arab.news/mgm4h
Dutch police arrest suspected Daesh security chief
- The man is suspected of holding “a managerial position in the security service of IS”
Trump Maritime Action Plan eyes levies on China goods to resurrect US shipbuilding
- US shipbuilding has shrunk since World War II and now severely lags China and other nations
- Endorsing the plan, Republican Senator Todd Young said: “It’s time to make American ships again”
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration on Friday released its plan to rebuild US shipbuilding and other maritime businesses, paid for in part by port fees on cargo delivered to the United States on ships made in China — levies the US and China agreed to pause for one year.
The Maritime Action Plan offers a road map for the revival of US shipbuilding, which has shrunk since World War Two and now severely lags China and other nations.
Coming in at more than 30 pages, the plan calls for establishing maritime prosperity zones to bolster investment, reforming workforce training and education, expanding the fleet of US-built and US-flagged commercial ships, establishing a dedicated funding stream through a Maritime Security Trust Fund and reducing regulations.
The Trump administration early last year announced plans to levy fees on China-linked ships to loosen the country’s grip on the global maritime industry and help pay for a US shipbuilding renaissance. The so-called Section 301 penalties followed a US probe that concluded China uses unfair policies and practices to dominate global shipping.
The fees, which sparked intense pushback from the global shipping industry and intensified tensions between the world’s two largest economies, hit on October 14 and were expected to generate an estimated $3.2 billion annually from Chinese-built vessels sailing to US ports.
But China retaliated with its own port fees on US-linked ships and the tit-for-tat fees disrupted global shipping. Soon after, the two sides struck a deal to put the levies on hold for 12 months.
On Friday, Shipyard owners, investors and the bipartisan sponsors of the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security (SHIPS) for America Act welcomed President Donald Trump’s maritime plan, which landed months later than hoped.
US Senator Todd Young, a Republican from Indiana, said there is substantial overlap between Trump’s vision and the plan in that proposed law, which he reintroduced last year with Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and other lawmakers.
Importantly, the SHIPS Act would establish a Maritime Security Trust Fund to reinvest port fee proceeds into maritime security and infrastructure projects such as shipyard revitalization. It has rare backing from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Washington, but has not made swift progress.
“The announcement today should serve as a wake-up call for Congress to act quickly on this bill in order to provide the legal authorities and resources necessary to make this plan a reality,” Young said. “It’s time to make American ships again.”
