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Suicide blast kills 33 at north Mali military camp
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
NATO dismiss Taliban claims as baseless of shooting US drone
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
-led Resolute Support (RS) mission in Afghanistan dismissed the claims by the Taliban group as baseless for shooting down a US Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), drone.

The mission in an online statement posted via its Twitter account said the drone crashed due to technical failure.

"More false TB claims. An unarmed U.S. UAV that crashed Monday in Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
suffered engine failure.. It was not shot down," the Twitter post reads.

Taliban posted a picture of a surveillance drone earlier on Tuesday and claimed that it was shot down by the group’s fighters.

The latest claim by the Taliban comes as the group often claims responsibility for the attacks aimed at the Afghan officials, security forces, and the NATO-led mission.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


ISIS attack repulsed in East of Afghanistan, 6 militants killed
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least loyalists of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province of Afghanistan.

According to the local security officials, the loyalists of the terror group suffered the casualties after their attack was repulsed.

The officials further added that ISIS loyalists launched the attack on some check posts located in Haska Mina district late on Tuesday night.

According to the officials, at least four loyalists of the terror group were also maimed during the festivities.

No further details were given regarding the possible casualties of the security forces.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


31 Haqqani network terrorists arrest in Khost province
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 31 gunnies belonging to the notorious Haqqani terrorist network have been tossed in the clink
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
in Southeastern Khost province
... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name...
The Afghan Intelligence, National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS), said the murderous Moslems apprehended by the intelligence operatives, were operating in two different groups led by the terrorist network.

NDS further added that the murderous Moslems were arrested during the two separate military operations.

According to NDS, the murderous Moslems were involved in various terrorist activities in Khost province.

The National Directorate of Security also added that the intelligence operatives confiscated 2 cycle of violences, 50 magnetic bombs, 6 hand grenades, 18 RPG rockets, 36 boxes of heavy machine gun, 5 boxes of AK-47 rifle ammunition, 80 AK-47 rifle magazines, and 3 vehicles used by the murderous Moslems without having registration plate numbers.

Haqqani network was formed in the late 1970s by Jalaluddin Haqqani
...founder and still titular head of the Haqqani Network. Jalaluddin is old and tough and very crafty, one of the few Pashtun warlords who was worth spit...
. The group is allied with al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban and cooperates with other terrorist organizations in the region.

The network is accused of staging numerous cross-border attacks from their base in North Wazoo, including the 19-hour siege at the US Embassy in Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
in September 2011.

It is considered the most lethal turban group targeting the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
-led coalition security forces and Afghan personnel in Afghanistan.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under: Haqqani Network


MoD confirms ISIS militants among 34 killed in latest operations
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan (MoD) confirmed 6 loyalists of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist were killed along with 28 other bandidos gunnies during the clearance operations.

According to a statement by MoD, the operations were conducted in the past 24 by the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF).

The statement further added that 29 bandidos gunnies were also maimed during the operations which were conducted with the support of the air force and artillery units.

The operations were conducted in Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
, Kapisa, Uruzgan, Kandahar, Farah, Kunduz, Baghlan, and Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
provinces.

At least 15 of the bandidos gunnies were killed in the vicinity of Tarinkot city in southern Uruzgan province and 10 others were maimed.

At least 6 ISIS loyalists were killed in Deh Bala area of Nangarhar and 4 others were maimed, MoD said, adding that 4 others were maimed.

According to MoD, at least 5 bandidos gunnies were killed and 8 others were maimed during a separate operation in Maiwand district of Kandahar.

At least 5 Taliban gunnies were killed and 7 others were maimed during an operation in Bala Bolok district of Farah province and 3 more were killed in Baghlan province, MoD added.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa North
Suicide blast kills 33 at north Mali military camp
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 33 people were killed and dozens injured on Wednesday when a jacket wallah detonated a vehicle packed with explosives near a military camp in Mali's northern city of Gao, witnesses and a United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
peacekeeping source said.

A Rooters news hound who arrived at the camp soon after the blast, which occurred at about 9 am (0900 GMT), said he saw dozens of bodies lying on the ground alongside the maimed.

Ambulances rushed to the scene as helicopters circled overhead.

"It's terrible," Gao resident Kader Touré said. "The attack happened while they were having an assembly. I've just left the hospital where there were bodies ripped to pieces and bodies piled up."

The army put the provisional toll at 25 but a source in the UN MINUSMA peacekeeping force said at least 33 were killed.

The camp was home to government soldiers and members of various rival gangs which jointly patrol Mali's restive desert north in line with a UN-brokered peace accord.

A French-led military intervention in 2013 drove back Islamist Lion of Islams, including al Qaeda-linked groups, which had seized northern Mali a year earlier.

However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
Islamist Death Eaters still operate in the region and insecurity is aggravated by tensions between local rebel groups and pro-government militias.

French interior minister Bruno Le Roux described the blast as a "major and highly symbolic attack" in an area visited only days ago by French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist...
.

Al Qaeda says Mali bombing punishment for working with France

[Ynet] Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said in a statement on Wednesday that a suicide kaboom that killed dozens in northern Mali was punishment for groups there cooperating with La Belle France, according to a translation released by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The statement confirmed that the attack had been carried out by al Mourabitoun, an ally of al Qaeda's North African affiliate, and gave the bomber's name as Abdul Hadi al-Fulani. Malian state media had earlier said there were five bombers.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336116 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


300 members of Hasm militant group referred to military prosecution
Egypt's High State Security prosecution referred on Wednesday 304 people to military prosecution for membership in the Islamist Death Eater group Hasm,
...The newest armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. They've been getting feisty in the Cairo area since early October, 2016. Hasm apparently means "decisiveness" in Arabic ...
which has grabbed credit for a number of deadly attacks on security forces and liquidations of public figures over the past six months.

According to a statement by the High State Security prosecution, 144 people have been tossed in the clink
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
and are currently detained pending investigations, including leading Moslem Brüderbund member Mohammed Ali Beshr.

The prosecution said the case is "one of the largest" to be referred recently to military prosecution.

The prosecution added that the defendants are responsible for a number of attacks against security forces and public figures, including the attempt to assassinate former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and the liquidation of high ranking army officer Adel Ragaei.

The prosecution also said that Hasm, along with Death Eater group Lewaa al-Thawra, was formed by leading figures in the banned Moslem Brüderbund in an "attempt to revive its Death Eater wing."

The prosecution also said that the security forces raided 41 Death Eater hideouts.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Arabia
Yemeni forces capture Houthi artillery near Nahm
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Riyadh- At the time when news said former commander of al-Anad Air Base defected from putschists and arrived along with a group of soldiers to Ma’rib Province, the national army revealed Tuesday it has controlled more than 15 rockets and many medium and heavy weapons after Houthi and Saleh rebels fled Nahm front, east of Sanaa.

“There are intensive talks with sheikhs and elders in tribes surrounding Sanaa as they expressed their willingness to join the legitimate forces and support operations carried out by national resistance army,” according to what a senior military official in Yemeni army.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the coming 24 hours could be crucial, especially in Nahm front.

For his part, Chief of Moral Guidance in the Yemeni army Major General Mohsen Khasroof confirmed that 90 percent of Houthi captives are children aging between 11 and 13.

Khasroof said that in the past two days a number of areas in Nahm front fell under the control of the army, including a strategic hill.

He added that the national army was able to defeat Houthis there and take over a great number of weapons and equipment.

The Major General noted that dozens were killed from Houthi militias before they fled in panic.

He revealed that intensive calls are being taken with tribes surrounding Sana’a to coordinate with them.

He pointed out that the victory is very close as tribes surrounding Sana’a have started joining the legitimacy forces to support them in defeating Houthis.

More:
Aden- Yemeni Army units on Tuesday successfully retook control over rebel-held locations, confiscating arms and ammunition from coup militants. Unguided Iran-made ‘Zelzal’, Arabic for earthquake, rockets were retrieved from insurgency militias in Sana’a’s eastern Nihim district.

“National army forces, backed by popular resistance units, continue fighting the liberation battle in eastern Sana’a— militia artillery is being seized along advances,” pro-government Popular Resistance spokesman Abdullah Alshandqi told Asharq Al-Awsat in a statement.

“A number of ‘Zelzal’ artillery rockets ,a missile Launchpad, M2 Machine Guns, a BMP-3 tank, three ammunition warehouses, 10 RPG-7 anti-tank propeller were found and seized,” said Alshandaqi.

The spokesman added that a track loader, ready to plough out routes was also taken from militia hold.

“All found artillery was left behind by Houthis militia when fleeing the fight against National Army forces backed by the Arab Coalition airpower,» Alshandqi added. He stressed that pro-government forces have made sweeping advances “in light of the utter collapse among militia ranks.”

Security in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015, when war broke out between the Shi’ite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and government forces backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.

On the other hand, a Houthi top figure was assassinated by masked gunmen in Sana’a. The killed coup official is claimed to have been responsible for counseling and education, Abdullah Alwazir.

”Abdullah Alwazir, who owns a Shi’ite publication, was killed along with four of his attaches– the incident is reminiscent of assassinations staged against Houthi leaders some two years ago,” witnesses said.

“Even then, the Houthi movement, coup leaders and insurgents, who control the capital Sana’a gave no details or clarifications on the circumstances surrounding the assassinations,” they added.

Sources close to the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat that the insurgency-held Sana’a has been overrun by assassinations that seem to be the squaring of internal disputes. More so, citizens held in insurgency areas complain that major corruption has been reeking over putschist leaderships.
Posted by: badanov || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Sources close to the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat that the insurgency-held Sana’a has been overrun by assassinations that seem to be the squaring of internal disputes

"Nothing personal - it's just 'business'."
Posted by: Pappy || 01/19/2017 7:44 Comments || Top||

#2  'Nam is a long way from Yemen.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/19/2017 8:11 Comments || Top||

#3  [Image deleted per SCFI's comment. Please see most honorable Zen's attachie at #5.]

Any chance the gunners were captured as well ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/19/2017 8:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Besoeker, a warning. that image you posted is a possible malware! The file name is way too long, so long that it's possible that a virus may be embedded in the image name.

The image itself is also suspicious as it seems to be made up of several smaller parts, fused into one large image. Try getting image information on different part of the image and you'll see what I meant.
Hat tip to SCFI. Our Rantburg U. IT department QC section is very small. We very much appreciate your pointing out these anomalies.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 01/19/2017 9:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Have also occasionally noticed that on attempting to save (or search for bigger image).

In case it saves someone a click, there's a nice, big instance at the Daily News, of all places.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 01/19/2017 10:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Need trigger warning for that name Mr. B.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/19/2017 15:44 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Two detained a month after Karlov assassination
[Hurriyet Daily News] The organizer of the photography exhibition where Russian Ambassador to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
Andrey Karlov was assassinated has been detained along with an Ankara police officer, almost a month after the killing.

The exhibition organizer, identified only by the initials T.Ö., and the police officer, whose identity was not disclosed, were detained on Jan. 17 after the former’s statements alleging that the gunman, Mevlut Mert Altintas, may have visited the arts center three days before the attack.

In his statement right after the shooting, T.Ö. had also said they thought Altintas was an official bodyguard before the killing took place.

Altintas was rubbed out by police at the scene while he was delivering a speech after shooting Karlov.

The police officer, meanwhile, is suspected of protecting Altintas at the police department where he used to work.

Ambassador Karlov was rubbed out on Dec. 19, 2016 by Altintas, who entered the gallery with his police ID and was standing behind the victim at the time of the liquidation.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Anti-ISIL operations in Turkey continue, police detain over 20 suspects
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkish police have been conducting operations against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in the northwestern province of Bursa and the southeastern province of Sanliurfa, a day after Reina attacker Abdulkadir Masharipov was apprehended in an operation in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district.

Police in Bursa have apprehended 27 ISIS suspects along with 29 children due to their alleged links to the terror attack on Istanbul’s Reina nightclub on New Year’s Eve that killed 39 people, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Jan. 18.

Counter-terrorism police had previously revealed that one suspect, who lived together with Masharipov, in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, came to the province following the attack.

Police units later followed the suspect and other connected people, conducting simultaneous operations on seven different addresses in the province’s Nilufer and Göksu districts with the participation of special forces.

During the operation, police apprehended a total of 27 suspects, including 15 women, of Tajik, Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Uighur origin, along with 29 children at six residences.

Police also seized 40 passports, 38 fake identities and 15 packed mobile phones during searches at another address that was empty.

According to police, the empty house was used by two organizers identified as Tajik citizens M.S. and N.S. The latter was apprehended in the western province of Izmir while M.S. is still on the run.

The two suspects reportedly rented houses for ISIS members in Istanbul, Bursa and Izmir provinces by introducing themselves as dentists, doctors or businessmen.

M.S. reportedly settled foreigners who illegally entered the country to join the jihadist group in Istanbul before taking them to residences rented in Bursa and Izmir with N.S.

The suspects who were settled at such residences reportedly knew the duo according to different names and professions.

Elsewhere, an ISIS courier was caught near the Turkish-Syrian border on Jan. 18. Abud Mahho, who illegally entered The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
through the Akcakale district of the southeastern province of Sanliurfa, was caught in an operation near the border, Dogan News Agency reported.

Anti-terror police have conducted an operation at a house near the border where they apprehended the courier.

Mahho, who was carrying weapons and ammunition for the jihadist organization, pointed to a spot near the border where ammunition buried underground in bags were found, as well as material used in making boom jackets were seized.

Police have determined that the seized materials carried similar features with the materials ISIS used in previous attacks in Turkey.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Home Front: WoT
Bomb Threats Against Jewish Community Centers Across US Raise Alarms
[NBCBayArea] Jewish community centers around the country were again targeted with bomb threats Wednesday morning, a week after a spate of similar threats against many centers. Centers in Miami, Newton, Massachusetts, Scotch Plains, New Jersey, California's Bay Area, and Portland, Maine, were targeted. Two centers in Connecticut, one at the JCC of Greater New Haven in Woodbridge and another at The Mandell JCC West Hartford, also reported receiving bomb threats.

Marla Cohen, communications manager for the New-York based, JCC Association of North America said that 28 centers in 17 states have been threatened in total on Wednesday. Last week, there were 16 JCCs threatened in nine states. She said some of the threats came in as robo dialers and some were actual people. Last week, the FBI was called in, she said.

A JCC building in Marin County, California, was also evacuated as a precaution after a threat.

"We don’t know what’s going on. There are a lot of unknowns," said Jeremy Russell, of the Jewish Community Relations Council in San Francisco. "We are very concerned about the existence of these calls and the literal threat they are imposing on the community. We will be responding appropriately."

There were no injuries or actual explosives reported found following the earlier bomb threats.

"I think this is the world we now live in," said Molly Jo Rosen, who works at Kol Shofar synagogue in Tiburon, California. "There will be threats to religious organizations and we'll see it skewed toward certain religions more than others."
The Times of Israel adds:
Paul Goldenberg, the director of Secure Community Networks — an affiliate of the Jewish federations of North America, which advises Jewish groups and institutions on security — said there were bomb threats called in Wednesday to Jewish community centers, schools and other institutions in Miami; Edison, New Jersey; Cincinnati; Alabama; and on the West Coast.

News reports also cited threats in Albany, New York; Nashville; suburban Boston and Detroit; West Hartford, Connecticut; and the Orlando area.

Additional threats were being reported early Wednesday afternoon.

In many cases Wednesday the callers were live, Goldenberg said, as opposed to the previous round of threats, when calls were recorded.

FBI to probe wave of bomb threats to US Jewish institutions

[IsraelTimes] Federal authorities said Wednesday that they are launching an official probe into a wave of bomb threats to US Jewish institutions across the country in recent weeks, the latest of which came earlier Wednesday when at least 32 Jewish centers in 16 states received threats.

The FBI said the bureau and the Justice Department’s civil-rights division are investigating “possible civil rights violations in connection with threats.” The statement from the agency’s Washington headquarters didn’t characterize the threats.

“The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence, and will ensure this matter is investigated in a fair, thorough, and impartial manner,” the bureau said in a statement.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336087 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Couldn't be the RoP; must be the KKK again, like 100 years ago. Or maybe not - Robert Byrd died, I think.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/19/2017 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  BLM, Glenmore?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/19/2017 4:46 Comments || Top||

#3  When Moslems come waving their sabers,
What hinders them most in their labors?
Community caring
And interfaith sharing
Or gun-toting patrons and neighbors?
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 01/19/2017 6:39 Comments || Top||

#4  ZF goes deep downtown! 9.8!
Posted by: Shipman || 01/19/2017 7:33 Comments || Top||

#5  “The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence, and will ensure this matter is investigated in a fair, thorough, and impartial manner”

Y'know, this official statement could've come from any law enforcement agency, in any Western country. The "possible civil rights violations" is a particularly... American... touch, though, eh?
Posted by: Pappy || 01/19/2017 7:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Community caring
And interfaith sharing
Or gun-toting patrons and neighbors?


Depends who you ask. And at what stage of the process you are at when you ask them.
Posted by: gorb || 01/19/2017 23:46 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Insurgents arms cache seized in Balochistan
Frontier Corps carried out a search operation in Balochistan’s Pishin district against a Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) hideout and recovered a sizeable quantity of arms and ammunition, claimed a statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The statement also claimed that the arms and ammunition were buried at the hideout, located in Pishin’s Kahan area.

The cache seized included seven anti-tank mines, 50 mortar rounds, 36 recoilless rifle rounds, 4000 anti-aircraft rounds and five grenades.

Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade. The largest province of the country by area, is home to a insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists.

Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region. The province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

Posted by: badanov || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Baloch Liberation Army


Hizb militant arrested
[Daily Excelsior] Security forces today tossed in the calaboose
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
a Lion of Islam of Hizbul Mujahideen from Tral area of South Kashmire’s Pulwama district and recovered a pistol and its ammunition from his possession.

Police and Army in a joint operation arrested Arzoo Bashir of Mandoora Tral in Pulwama today. Sources said that the security forces conducted an operation in Tral area during which they arrested the HM Lion of Islam who was active in the area. One pistol and 15 rounds of ammunition were recovered from his possession.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under: Hizbul Mujaheddin


Four militants killed in ‘encounter’
[DAWN] LAHORE: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

police potted four suspected gunnies during an ’encounter’ in Sheikhupura on Tuesday night.

According to a front man for the CTD, police received information that three gunnies belonging to the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
, along with their accomplices, were planning to attack staff and offices of an intelligence agency in Lahore. They were travelling on four cycle of violences from Farooqabad to Sheikhupura and thence to Lahore.

When the CTD team tried to stop the suspects at the Sheikhupura crossing, they fled to a cattle market on the bypass and started firing on the chasing police team from there. An exchange of fire took place in which four suspects were killed, while three others managed to escape, the CTD front man claimed.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Iraq
Baghdad Bomb and Bullet Bulletin


1 dead in bombing attack in Arab Jabour

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One civilian was killed and 3 were wounded on Wednesday when an explosive device went off in southern Baghdad, a security source said.

The explosive device had been placed near commercial shops in Arab Jabour, south of the capital, Jordan news agency Petra reported, quoting Alaa al-Tamimi, a spokesperson of the interior ministry.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the bombing yet, but Islamic State militants have said they were responsible for several bloody explosions that hit the capital in recent weeks, bringing the governorate municipal and security officials under critics’ fire.

Violence surged in Iraq with the emergence of Islamic State militants who took over large areas of the country in 2014. Baghdad has been witnessing almost daily bombings targeting civilians and security personnel.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) says violence in the country had left 19000 casualties in nine months of 2016.

Observers believe Islamic State have begun to escalate attacks outside the city of Mosul, where the group has been losing ground and personnel since October, so as to relieve pressure by government forces on that front and to divert attention from group losses.

While losing Mosul could be the severest blow to the group’s existence in Iraq, some observers believe attacks outside the province prove that the extremist group can still pose a security threat.

1 dead in bombing attack in Madain

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A police source revealed that five persons were either killed or wounded in a bomb blast near a popular market, southeast of Baghdad, Alsumaria News reported on Wednesday.

The source said, “An improvised explosive device exploded, this evening, near a popular market in Madain District, southeast of Baghdad, killing one person and wounding four others.”

“Security forces cordoned off the area of incident and barred approaching it,” the source added on condition of anonymity.

“Ambulances rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital and the body to the forensic medicine department,” the source explained.

Earlier today, three persons were wounded in the explosion of an improvised explosive device near shops in Arab Jabour area, south of Baghdad.
Posted by: badanov || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under:


Anbar Antix


30 ISIS troops die in airstrikes in Nabar

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Thirty Islamic State militants were killed on Wednesday when Iraqi fighter jets pounded a location where they held a leadership meeting east of Anbar, a senior local militia commander said.

Nazem al-Jugheifi, an intelligence official at Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units), said the deaths included senior leaders of the extremist group who were leading a security meeting in central Rawa. He said the dead commanders belonged to the group’s branch in the Syrian Boukamal region.

Jugheifi said the meeting tackled the group’s status in the province’s western regions.

Iraqi forces launched last week operations to retake those areas, most notably tee towns of Annah and Rawa.

Security sources in Anbar said earlier this week that the operations, backed by tribal militias, had halted until security troops consummate the liberation of Mosul, Islamic State’s largest stronghold in Iraq that has been witnessing a more significant operation since October.

IS militants have, according to aid groups and security officials, maintained civilian hostages in western Anbar to use them as human shields since security offensives began.

The brief offensive on Anbar has managed to retake some villages surrounding IS strongholds at the western areas, according to commanders on the field.
Posted by: badanov || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Salahuddin Kombat Kronicle
14 Iraqi police killed or wounded by ISIS in Iraq, another five abducted

[ALMASDARNEWS] 14 members of the Federal Police were either killed or maimed and a further five others kidnapped by ISIS in an attack on their headquarters in Albu Eissa, a security source in Salahuddin Province told al-Sumaria News on Wednesday.

"ISIS launched an attack, at dawn today, on the Federal Police headquarters in Albu Eissa area, northeast of al-Daluiyah, killing six elements of the Federal Police and wounding eight others," the source revealed

"ISIS members also kidnapped five other members of the Federal Police, before fleeing to an unknown destination," the source added.

ISIS launches numerous attack on Iraqi forces near Mutaibaijah

Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) An official source in Salahuddin Province revealed that four members of al-Hashd al-Ashaeri were killed and nine others were wounded, while three members of the Islamic State were killed in an attack lunched by the group on Jalam al-Daur area, Alsumaria News reported on Wednesday.

The source said, “Members of the Islamic State launched an attack, at dawn today, on Jalam al-Daur area, east of Tikrit, resulting in the killing of four members of al-Hashd al-Ashaeri and three IS militants.”

“The attack was one of three attacks that were launched on Ajil oil field, west of Mutaibaijah and east of al-Daur,” the source explained.

“The attack was foiled after the arrival of reinforcements of the Federal Police and Army Aviation,” the source further added.

The Islamic State group also launched another violent attack on a security checkpoint in the area of Hamrin, east of Salahuddin Province.

Nine security members, mostly of Diyala Police, were killed in the attack, while security forces arrived in the area of incident to start extensive search operations.

Noteworthy, security forces from Diyala province are controlling several areas in Salahuddin, especially the eastern areas.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Mosul Offensive News


PMU liberate two areas of Nineveh Plains from ISIS

[ALMASDARNEWS] The Popular Mobilization Units (PMU)
Hezbollah's Iraqi branch...
have managed on Wednesday to liberate two areas in Nineveh Plain, IraqiNews reported.

The media office of the PMU said in a press statement that "Forces from al-Hashd al-Shaabi’s 8th brigade liberated, today, the areas of Upper Glokhan and al-Baraem neighborhood in Nineveh Plain."

"The security forces also detonated three boom-mobiles, as well as killing six members of ISIS who attacked the al-Hadr intersection, south of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
," the statement added.

Yesterday, the PMU also managed to shoot down a drone belonging to ISIS, west of Mosul, according to IraqiNews.

Iraqi spooks capture ISIS offices

Nineveh (Islamic State) Iraqi military intelligence services said Wednesday they seized Islamic State offices in eastern Mosul as operations proceed to clear that part of the city from militants.

A statement by the service said the offices were used by IS Russian and Tajik fighters, and were found to contain “an integral communication system”.

The facility also contained documents promoting Islamic State ideology both in Arabic and Russian.

The statement added that agents, searching another facility in Hadba and al-Kindi areas, also ran into mannequins which militants would clad with military uniforms as a decoys for advancing security forces.

Last October, Iraqi forces, backed by US-led advisers and fighter jets, as well as popular militias, launched operations to retake the city which fell to Islamic State militants in 2014. Iraqi generals said recently they became in control over 90 percent of the city’s eastern section and hope to move later to recapture the IS-held west.

The recapture of Mosul, IS’s last urban stronghold in Iraq, would represent the most remarkable victory over the extremist group in Iraq and deal the strongest blow to its influence in the region. Mosul was previously designated as the capital of the group’s self-styled “Islamic Caliphate”.

Fighting in eastern Mosul still going strong

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A commander at Iraqi joint forces’ battles against Islamic State militants in eastern Mosul denied Wednesday reports that the east of the city was completely liberated.

News websites had circulated a statement by the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Forces, which spearheaded the battles against the extremist group in Mosul since October, saying the eastern side of Mosul was officially liberated, and that 3300 militants were killed since the launch of operations.

It was later clarified that the force only became in control over districts assigned to it, as explained by Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah, who leads the Joint Operations Command battles in Nineveh.

However, the government forces are still a few districts away from announcing the full recapture of that region.
A JOC spokesperson, Brigadieer General Yahia Rasoul, was quoted Tuesday as saying that only four districts remained to declare eastern Mosul as Islamic State-free.

The recapture of eastern Mosul would represent a significant impetus for forces which hope to move to the IS-dominated western region of Mosul.

Yarallah said in a statement the forces recaptured the Athariya (archaeological) zone, Tel Nerkal and al-Qadiya in the northeast.

Also in the northeast, Anadolu Agency, quoting a senior commander in the counter-terrorism troops, Fallah al-Abbassi, said 10 civilians were killed, including women and children, and 13 others were wounded when IS militants shelled districts recently recaptured by security forces.

Conflict in Mosul forced at least 178.000 people to flee to refugee camps, and the United Nations had voiced fears that battles could force at least one million out of homes.

Iraqi warbird strike ISIS munitions, fuel supplies

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday, that Iraqi Air Force destroyed an explosives laboratory and a fuel station belonging to the Islamic State in eastern Mosul.

The ministry said in a press statement, “F16 and L159 fighter jets of the Iraqi Air Force conducted several air strikes, based on information obtained from the General Directorate of Intelligence and Security, against the Islamic State in eastern Mosul.”

“The air strikes destructed an explosives laboratory, caches of weapons and a fuel station belonging to the Islamic State in the areas of al-Rashidiyah, al-Amel neighborhood and al-Qobba in eastern Mosul,” the statement added.

Nineveh Province is witnessing extensive military operations since October 2016, to retake the city of Mosul that was captured by the Islamic State in June 2014.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Iraqi counter-terror forces declare victory in E.Mosul, clashes in north ongoing
[RUDAW.NET] The commander of the elite Iraqi Counter-Terrorism forces (ICTS) declared victory in eastern djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
on Wednesday afternoon.

"We are celebrating the victory and liberation today," announced Lt. Gen Talib al-Shaqati in a presser in Bartella, "the liberation of the left bank of Mosul with its districts and people."

A few minutes later, the Iraqi Joint Command released a statement saying that a few areas in eastern Mosul are still not liberated.

"The entire left coast has not been liberated yet," Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah, the commander of the "We are Coming Nineveh" operations, said. "Regarding the ICTS, they have accomplished their mission as part of the eastern front on the left bank of the city of Mosul, and the advance to the remaining areas is still continuing."

The ICTS commander expressed optimism for life to return to normal in Mosul.

"I think normal life will be back in the next few days. Life was normal today in those areas. We call it the clean liberation," Shaqati said. "Clean liberation indeed because the fighters have high fighting skills, resources and precise intelligence of the terrorist networks. So they target only the forces of Evil and in their targeted positions."

"I think the liberation of the right coast will be easier than the left coast," he added, noting that ISIS has thrown all it had at the Iraqi forces. The proof to that, he claimed, is the defeat of ISIS in a short time in the inner districts in eastern Mosul which have been the focus of the military operation since December 29.

He added that he is speaking on behalf of the ICTS and that "the majority of areas" on the left coast, which he described as "important" have been liberated. He acknowledged that in the north of city there are some areas where ISIS still has a presence.

Meanwhile,
...back at the comedy club, Boogie sadly admitted that he was a better peeping Tom than he was a comedian...
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi also declared on Wednesday that an ultimate liberation of the east of Mosul is approaching as a few areas, including Ghabat neighborhood, [Saddam Hussein's ] palaces and a few more areas are yet to be liberated in the northeast of Mosul.

Rudaw understands that the two districts of Arabiyah and Rashidiyah, north of the city, are also still under ISIS control. Fighting is taking place nearby where Iraqi forces have announced the liberation of Qaziyah 2.

Shaqati also said that the ICTS have liberated Nineveh Athariyah, while the Joint Command also announced the liberation of Tal Narkal, northeastern of the city.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hundreds protest ‘bloodshed, home demolitions’ after policeman killed by car ramming
[IsraelTimes] Jews, Arabs rally over destruction of Bedouin homes and shooting of local man accused of killing policeman in car attack.

Hundreds of people erupted into the streets in Tel Aviv and other locations across Israel on Wednesday to protest the government-ordered demolition of several Bedouin homes and what they saw as excessive police force leading to the deadly car-ramming incident. On Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa, Nazareth and Qalansawe hundreds of protesters gathered to demonstrate against "the bloodshed and the destruction of homes in the Negev."

The protests were peaceful by all accounts, but came after a day of intense festivities and spiking tensions over home demolitions and an alleged car-ramming, in which a resident of Umm al-Hiran ran his car into policeman Erez Levi, killing him.

The demolitions of illegal homes in a Bedouin village were disrupted when a car driven by Yaqoub Mousa Abu al-Qia’an, a local schoolteacher, slammed into police.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, police chief Roni Alsheich and other bigwigs insisted that the incident was a terror attack. "He was killed in a vehicular terror attack," Netanyahu said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. And the deputy commander of the police southern district, Peretz Amar, said the incident was "a deliberate attack. This is clear. This is a fact. There is no other explanation, and anyone who tries to offer an alternative explanation wasn’t here at the time and doesn’t understand." Amar said there were two lines of officers either side of the road, and "no possible means to claim in this situation that he didn’t see them... He hit them. He killed."

But local residents said al-Qiyan, 47, a father of 12, was trying to leave town and only lost control of his vehicle after police shot at him. His brother, Ahmad al-Qiyan, said he was "murdered in cold blood," and Amnesia Amnesty International called for a probe into the reports of excessive force by police.

"The police are light on the trigger when it comes to Arab citizens," the Arab advocacy group Adalah said in a statement that accused the police of a "culture of lying."

At least 200 people gathered outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, while more than 300 protested in downtown Tel Aviv. Protesters carried signs demanding an inquiry into the Abu al-Qua’an’s death an end to home demolitions and an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

An Arab advocacy group called for a nationwide general strike in the Arab sector on Thursday.

Arab businesses and municipalities will close across the country, but children will go to school for three hours to learn about the demolitions, Joint (Arab) List MK Aida Touma-Sliman said. She said Arab Israelis were planning a larger protest in Jerusalem next week, with large convoys from Arab cities and towns from across Israel convening in front of the Knesset Monday morning.

There has been a string of demolitions of Arab homes in northern and central Israel, most recently in the town of Qalansawe in central Israel. After 11 illegal structures were demolished last week, the Joint List branded the demolitions "an unprecedented crime and a declaration of war against the residents of Qalansawe and the Arab public."

Car-ramming highlights radicalism’s inroads among Negev Bedouin

[IsraelTimes] Most of the 240,000 Bedouin of the Negev want to be part of the state, but support for extremism is growing, as are ties with nearby Palestinian areas.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336089 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Butlocal residents said al-Qiyan, 47, a father of 12, was trying to leave town and only lost control of his vehicle after police shot at him.

"Pure as the driven snow, he was turning his life around, cut down in his prime, leaving a litter of kids"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/19/2017 8:49 Comments || Top||

#2  12 kids, huh? Maybe he was just leaving town to get a little peace and quiet.

The kind of peace you get by ramming your car into a bunch of Joooz...
Posted by: Steve White || 01/19/2017 11:15 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
B2 bombs ISIS camps near Sirte
Posted by: 3dc || 01/19/2017 14:46 || Comments || Link || [336105 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  One says about thirty miles south-west of Sirte, Libya. B-2, interesting choice.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/19/2017 14:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe the pilots needed some in-air fueling practice or something.

Seems like overkill to use the B-2, though. Don't know if the Isis/Isil/Scumbag folks have decent radar setups or not, so it's conjecture on my part.

A BUFF run would have been good practice, too.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/19/2017 15:21 Comments || Top||

#3  It does seem like major overkill, unless it was a live fire training run to impress Russia. A bunch of cruise missiles would have been cheaper.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/19/2017 16:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah, other than why not? I can only think of a couple reasons.

Afraid someone who has access to radar would tip off the camp?

Flew over a country which would not have been keen on the overflight?

Only thing available on short notice and ticking clock?

Carried an ordinance specific to the B-2?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/19/2017 16:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Shredding evidence of collusion.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/19/2017 17:20 Comments || Top||

#6  #1 & #2 of your 'suggestions' are fair possibilities, swksvolFF.

There should be other assets somewhere in the region that would obviate your #3, although I don't know what readiness level they'd be at. Certainly in the time it took the B-2s to come almost halfway around the world, something could be in place.

#4 is curiously interesting.

I'd still would have liked to see a squadron of BUFFs take out the whole district. That would indeed be overkill, but jeez it would be interesting to watch.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/19/2017 21:26 Comments || Top||

#7  One word - Kuznetsov
Posted by: Tzsenator || 01/19/2017 21:27 Comments || Top||

#8  Trial flights against the S-300/400 upgrade.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/19/2017 21:57 Comments || Top||

#9  Skid, If I remember my briefings correctly, Libya only had SA-2 and HAWKs. No S-300/400 block launchers were ever delivered.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/19/2017 23:08 Comments || Top||

#10  DM has a nice dated piece on the 2011 Libyan strike, with pictures of course.

DV, if they flew a loop between Aviano and Moron with Sirte and Syria as waypoints everyone could watch the ADF C&C light up across the Med. Bombload could be the secondary mission.

Posted by: Skidmark || 01/19/2017 23:38 Comments || Top||


Deir Ezzor battle proves costly for ISIS amid reports of 200 killed
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
's (ISIS) large-scale offensive in Deir Ezzor may have brought them success near the military airport, but the overall attack has proven incredibly costly for the terrorist group.

Over the course of 4 days, the Islamic State reportedly suffered more than 200 dead and several hundred maimed, a Syrian Arab Army official told al-Masdar News on Wednesday.

In addition to high loss of life, the Islamic State has also lost a large number of armored vehicles and military hardware while storming the outskirts of the bustling provincial capital and airport.

Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, there was only one thought in the mouse's mind: I can do this! I can do this! Then the trap sprung...
the official confirmed that the Syrian Arab Army lost a total of 76 soldiers during the 4 day long Deir Ezzor battle, with the majority of the casualties accumulating on Sunday and Monday.

The Deir Ezzor battle resumed this morning, when the Syrian Arab Army launched another powerful assault to recover the territory they lost to the Islamic State over the last 4 days.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 11:12 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  The Muslim: "If I take this compass?"
"I'll sit, self-important and pompous,
As drones buzz around me.
It's funny you found me,
Because I was hunting the wumpus."
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 01/19/2017 11:50 Comments || Top||

#2  It's unfortunate they couldn't muster up anything like this back on 9/11/2012.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/19/2017 13:17 Comments || Top||


ISIL’s counter-offensive in western Palmyra ends in disaster
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS) launched a counter-offensive in the western countryside of Palmyra on Tuesday, targeting the areas the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) recently liberated near the Jihar Crossroad.

ISIS began the attack by storming the Syrian Arab Army's defenses near the Jihar Crossroad; this resulted in a fierce battle that would last for three hours on Tuesday.

Despite the intensity of the Islamic State attack, the terrorist group was unable to recover any ground near the Jihar Crossroad; instead, they lost two armored vehicles and more than 20 combatants.

As a result of this failed Islamic State attack, the Syrian Arab Army launched a counter-assault to advance their front-lines around the Jihar Crossroad and T-4 Pumping Station.

So far, the Syrian Arab Army has managed to capture some ground near the T-4 Pumping Station this morning; however, nothing substantial.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 11:11 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syrian Army advances in Wadi Barada
[AlManar] The Syrian army controlled on Wednesday Tamama valley and Abu Salem crossing in Wadi Barada area in Damascus countryside, tightening the noose on the terrorists and separated the town from its barrens.

The Syrian army also supported by Syrian Air Force, carried out extensive strikes targeting ISIL gatherings in the surrounding of Deir Ezzor city and in its countryside, according to SANA.

The garrison of Air Force Academy thwarted ISIL attack on the axes of al-Mahdom-Deir Hafir in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, killing tens of ISIL terrorists and destroying 10 of their vehicles, SANA added.
Posted by: badanov || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Rebel Islamist dies in airstrike in Idlib
Idlib – Air Forces of the US-led coalition struck Syria’s northwestern Idlib Governorate on Wednesday, targeting leaders of the al-Qaeda splinter group of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.

A coalition airstrike hit a Fateh al-Sham convoy in Idlib, targeting one of the group’s prominent leaders.

Abu Ibrahim al-Tunsi, a Tunisian jihadist and leading member of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, was killed along with four other militants in the airstrike, local sources told ARA News.

“The air raid hit al-Tunsi’s convoy in the Aqrabat district in Idlib,” a local media activist said. “The jihadi leader and four of his guards were killed in the operation.”

This is not the first time for the US-led coalition to target leading members of the jihadist group.

On January 1, a coalition airstrike led to the death of Abu Omar al-Turkistani, a military commander in Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. “The US-led coalition hit al-Turkistani’s convoy in the vicinity of Sarmada town in Idlib Governorate, near the Turkish border,” local media activist Saeed al-Hamwi told ARA News at the time.

On January 12, another airstrike by the US-led coalition killed Abu Ali al-Tunsi, a security official within the Fateh al-Sham group.

Other prominent members of the group that have been killed by similar strikes last year included Abu Afghan al-Masri, an Egyptian, Abu Faraj al-Masri, also an Egyptian, and Abu Omar Saraqeb, a Syrian jihadist.

Jahbat Fateh al-Sham was previously known as Jabhat al-Nusra or al-Nusra Front. In July 2016, the extremist group announced that it had split from al-Qaeda and was rebranding. However, the US State Department said that group’s militants remained a fair target for US warplanes in Syria despite Nusra’s decision to cut ties with al-Qaeda and change its name to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.

On November 12, the United States amended the designation of Jabhat al-Nusra as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, listing Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) as a terrorist alias. Security analysts told ARA News that the United States has expanded its anti-JFS campaign ever since.
Posted by: badanov || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


US carries out strikes near Syria’s al-Bab after Turkish criticism
[Hurriyet Daily News] The U.S. military said on Jan. 17 that it had carried out air strikes in Syria against Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) targets of interest to both Washington and Ankara near the town of al-Bab, following Turkish criticism of insufficient U.S. support for its ground offensive.

U.S. Air Force Col. John Dorrian, a Baghdad-based front man for the U.S.-led military coalition battling ISIS, counted four strikes in recent days against the jihadists’ targets that he said were in both countries’ "mutual interest."

"We saw a window of opportunity where it was in our mutual interest to get those targets destroyed," Rooters quoted Dorrian as saying, adding that the targets were identified by working with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
They included an armored personnel carrier and ISIS tactical units, he said.

"This is something we expect to continue doing. We strike [ISIS] targets anywhere in Syria or Iraq that they can be found," Dorrian told news hounds at the Pentagon.

Dorrian added the targets were "mutually developed" by the United States and Turkey. But the extent of U.S. support for Turkey’s actions on the ground around al-Bab remained unclear as part of the ongoing Euphrates Shield operation.

Turkey has been angered by U.S. policy in Syria, particularly Washington’s support for Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and fighters from its military wing, the People’s Protection Unit (YPG), which it sees as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighting within Turkey. Both Washington and Ankara classify the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Turkey has also accused Washington of failing to do enough to support its push to take al-Bab from ISIS even as the country provides the U.S.-led coalition with access to the Incirlik Air Base to stage operations in Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Kurdish-led forces capture ISIS child soldiers near Raqqa
[ALMASDARNEWS] Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which compromises mostly of the Kurdish YPG, have captured three ISIS child soldiers in a town in Raqqa's western countrysides.

According to an SDF front man in the video, the children will be investigated before they are returned to their families to resume a normal life as it was before the ISIS invasion.

In the video, the SDF soldiers call out to the children to strip their upper clothing to ensure they are not carrying boom jackets, in which the children respond they have nothing, as all weapons were inside the house.

They then emphasize that they are brothers with the SDF.

As ISIS has mostly been retracting in the Aleppo, Raqqa and Nineveh countrysides, they have increasingly been relying on child soldiers to stregnthen their fighting forces.


Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336097 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Using children as soldiers is a last ditch choice. You know you are losing when all you have left to fight with are the kids.

It is "last legs" policy.

You just say screw the pooch I admit I HAVE no future when you throw in your kids.
Islam is hardly marching on, next stop the grave.
Buh-byee.
Posted by: Chesney Spavirong1788 || 01/19/2017 8:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Remember, it's not their children.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/19/2017 9:22 Comments || Top||

#3  The Islamist version of Other People's Money.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/19/2017 13:01 Comments || Top||

#4  to resume a normal life as it was before the ISIS invasion

Riiiight.
Posted by: gorb || 01/19/2017 23:44 Comments || Top||


ISIS storms Deir Ezzor in new bid to capture military airport
[ALMASDARNEWS] On Wednesday morning, the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
launched another powerful attack in the Deir Ezzor Governorate, targeting the Syrian Arab Army's (SAA) defenses at the Panorama area and Harabish District of the quiet provincial capital.

Under heavy bombardment by the Russian Air Force, the Islamic State attempted to seize more territory north of the Deir Ezzor Military Airport in order to completely besiege this installation.

Despite sending several waves of combatants towards the Syrian Arab Army's defenses, the Islamic State was unable to make any important gains near the Panorama Roundabout or Harabish District thus far.

According to a military source in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Army in Deir Ezzor has managed to push back all Islamic State murderous Moslems in the Harabish District, but they are still under heavy assault in the Panorama area.

The Syrian Arab Army attempted to reverse the Islamic State's gains north of the military airport yesterday; however, they were ultimately repelled after a long battle at night.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Jaysh Al-Islam almost besieged at key East Ghouta town
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is rapidly advancing in the East Ghouta region of rural Damascus, capturing several farms from the Salafist tough guys of Jaish al-Islam
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
near the strategic town of Hazrama.

Following the recent capture of Hawsh Zarqiyah, the Syrian Arab Army has advanced west of Hazrama, seizing several farms near the town of Hawsh Salahiyah after a fierce battle with Jaish al-Islam and Faylaq al-Rahman.

As a result of this advance near Hawsh Salahiyah, the Syrian Arab Army's 105th Brigade of the Elite Republican Guard has surrounded Hazrama from three sides, leaving only the southern flank open for the Isamist rebels to retreat.

According to a military source in the East Ghouta, the Salafist tough guys have begun moving their main forces from Nashabiyah and Hazrama to Hawsh al-Salhiyah and Autaya, leaving only a few units to delay the Syrian Arab Army's advance at these towns.

The source added that its only a matter of time before the Syrian Arab Army enters Nashabiyah and captures Hazrama.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Jaish al-Islam (MB)


Russia, Turkey conducting first joint air operation against Islamic State in Aleppo
[ALMASDARNEWS] On Wednesday, Russia’s Aerospace Force and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s Air Force are conducting the first joint air operation against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
terror group (outlawed in Russia) on the outskirts of the al-Bab town in the Aleppo province, Head of the Main Operations Department of Russia’s General Staff Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi told news hounds.

"The air operation, agreed on with the Syrian government, involves nine warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Force, including four Sukhoi Su-24M, four Sukhoi Su-25 aircraft and one Sukhoi Su-34 bomber, as well as four F-16 and four F-4 fighters of the Turkey’s Air Force. A total of 36 targets are planned to be hit," he said.

According to Rudskoi, all the targets have been previously fixed by the two countries’ General Staff and their air force units command. "In the past two days, a reconnaissance mission involving unmanned aircraft and cosmic reconnaissance equipment was carried out in order to help fix the targets," Rudskoi elaborated.

"The joint Arclight airstrikes against the ISIS facilities, delivered by Russia and Turkey, have already proven highly effective," he noted.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Terror Networks
The Beatings Will Continue: Iraqi Edition


Too crazy even for ISIS; some recruits disqualified

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Documents seized by security forces from former Islamic State facilities in Mosul have shown that several militants nominated for joining the extremist group’s police service were disqualified for several reasons that ranged from sexual harassment history to mental deficiencies.

The documents, which were circulated by social networks users, and the authenticity of which could not be verified, carry disqualified members photos, group’s main logo and the so-called “Islamic Police”’s seal.

The reasons for the disqualification of the members, which are shown in a handwriting, ranged from frequenting brothels, drinking alcoholics, having a sexual harassment history and exhibiting signs of mental normality.

A document attributed to Islamic State’s police service, disqualifying a member for frequenting brothels and drinking alcoholics.

The Islamic State emerged in Iraq and Syria in 2014, conquering several cities in both countries and proclaiming the establishment of a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate”. Since then, the group reportedly imposed extreme religious rules on citizens subject to its rules, deployed vigilantes to ensure the rules were abided by and carried out executions and harsh punishments against violators.

Islamic State has reportedly been crumbling over the past few weeks as Iraqi security forces advanced closer towards the liberation of Mosul, the group’s last major stronghold in Iraq. Reports have been rampant about divisions and an atmosphere of mistrust among members.
Posted by: badanov || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  exhibiting signs of mental normality.


A sure fire disqualifier.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/19/2017 7:38 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
37[untagged]
18Islamic State
5Govt of Syria
4Sublime Porte
3Govt of Pakistan
2Arab Spring
2Jaish al-Islam (MB)
1Hezbollah
1Hizbul Mujaheddin
1Houthis
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1Moslem Colonists
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Taliban
1al-Nusra
1al-Qaeda
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Baloch Liberation Army
1Govt of Pakistain Proxies
1Haqqani Network

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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2017-01-19
  Suicide blast kills 33 at north Mali military camp
Wed 2017-01-18
  US Air Force kills high ranking Al-Qaeda leader in Syria
Tue 2017-01-17
  Obama Releases 10 More GITMO Detainees Just Before Leaving Office
Mon 2017-01-16
  Noor Salman, wife of Orlando bomber, now jugged by FBI
Sun 2017-01-15
  Three arrested during Belgian police raid on Molenbeek street where Paris attacks mastermind Salah Abdeslam lived
Sat 2017-01-14
  Islamic State supporters face jail after infiltrated in undercover police sting
Fri 2017-01-13
  Belgium charges pair over fake papers for jihadist in Paris, Brussels attacks
Thu 2017-01-12
  36 Afghan parliament staff killed in Kabul attack
Wed 2017-01-11
  Airport Shooter Converted to Islam, Identified as Aashiq Hammad Years Before Joining Army
Tue 2017-01-10
  Mosul Left Coast Fully Liberated
Mon 2017-01-09
  U.S. Navy ship fires warning shots at Iranian vessels
Sun 2017-01-08
  German Vice Chancellor calls for ban of Salafist mosques
Sat 2017-01-07
  ISIS propaganda king killed
Fri 2017-01-06
  Gunman Opens Fire at Fort Lauderdale Airport; UPDATE 3 5 dead
Thu 2017-01-05
  3 girl suicide bombers gunned down in northeastern Nigeria

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