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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Bomb blast kills top military commander in S. Yemen Zoom
Today's Headlines
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
Islamic State hideout filled with explosives, suicide vests discovered in Kabul
[Chicago Tribune] The discovery of an 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....
hideout filled with explosives and boom jackets in a poor Kabul neighborhood reflects the failure of Afghanistan's corruption-wracked government to protect the capital, analysts and residents said Friday.

This week's revelation that bully boyz were operating in Kabul's western Qala-e-Wahid district follows a recent series of horrific attacks in the heavily guarded city that killed nearly 200 people and maimed hundreds more, including foreigners.

Security forces were led to the safe house by an murderous Moslem who was captured during an attack Monday by IS bully boyz on a military academy in Kabul in which 11 soldiers died, according to an intelligence official.

From behind the 10-foot green metal doors, the gunnies were plotting to use the explosives, weapons and boom jackets in three more large attacks in Kabul, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with his agency's rules and did not elaborate on the plans.

Khan Mohammed, a resident of Qala-e-Wahid, told the AP that locals rarely see a police patrol in the neighborhood and stay at home after dark because of marauding gangs of thieves. They say the government can't provide security.

"It is dangerous for all the people of Qala-e-Wahid that ISIS was here, but they came here because it is an insecure area," Mohammed said, using the Arabic acronym for the Death Eater group.

"For ISIS, this was the perfect area because you can bring everything here from anywhere," added Mohammed, whose home is across the lane from the IS hideout.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Afghanistan's corruption-wracked government

I keep seeing this locution applied to various 3rd world countries, but after the weeks of memo-gate etc. I can't help but feel that it could be used of the US.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/04/2018 9:52 Comments || Top||


US drone kills 26 Taliban in Afghanistan
[NYPOST] An Afghan official says two U.S. dronezaps this week hit a building where dozens of Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
were meeting in southeastern province of Ghazni, killing 26 gunnies and wounding 22.

Arif Noori, a provincial front man, says the drone assault was carried out on Tuesday during an offensive in Ghazni province’s Andar district where the U.S. military came to the aid of Afghan cops battling the Taliban.

He says among those killed was a senior commander, known only as Aqhani, who ran the insurgency in Ghazni province. The first U.S. dronezap hit the building, the second struck an hour later after more Taliban had gathered at the scene.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


11 militants killed in AAF airstrikes in North of Afghanistan
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least eleven bully boyz were killed in the Arclight airstrikes conducted by the Afghan Air Force (AAF) in northern Faryab province.

The 209th Shaheen Corps in the North said the airstrikes were carried out as part of the ongoing Naveed-8 operations in this province.

A statement by the Shaheen Corps said the turbans were targeted in the vicinity of Khwajah Sabs district and as a result at least five turbans were also maimed.

The statement further added that two vehicles belonging to the holy warrior groups were also destroyed.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336105 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Al-Shabaab Seizes Crashed Surveillance Drone In Lower Shabelle
[RADIOSHABELLE] al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
has seized a suspected US surveillance drone after it crashed in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region on Friday, February 2.

The unmanned aircraft went down in an area near Awdheegle district which is largely controlled by the Al-Shabaab holy warriors affiliated with Al Qaeda, according to the sources.

It’s not yet clear which country belongs to the crashed drone, but, the U.S. military often uses drones in their campaign against Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia.

Last weekend, the group claimed it has captured a similar drone west of Kismayo
...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region...
port town, in Lower Jubba region.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336113 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


KDF Launches Fresh Air Strikes in Southern Somalia
[All Africa] Kenyan military fighter jets have launched Arclight airstrikes against al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
controlled villages in southern Somalia on Friday afternoon.

The attack happened near El Wak town in Gedo region, where Al-Shabaab has bases used to plot attacks against Somali army and the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
forces in the border areas.

The KDF jets fired several missiles at bully boy camps, but it was not possible to determine the number of casualties because of poor visibility.

Residents said the airstrike has inflicted casualties on a number of innocent civilians living the rural villages, where the Kenyan airforce warplanes have targeted.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336109 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Puntland Forces Carry Out Security Sweep in Galkayo After Blast
[All Africa] The security forces of Somalia's northeastern semi-autonomous region of Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
were reported to have carried out an operation in the divided Galkayo town on Saturday.

The sweep came following a boom-mobile blast that killed a military officer in the northern Israc village on Friday, according to residents who spoke to Radio Shabelle by phone.

Authorities say they are pursuing those behind the death of Farah Isse Samatar, who died in a blast resulted from an bomb attached to his car.

The Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab
... the personification of Somali state failure...
group has released a statement to claim the responsibility for the boom-mobileing which left the army officer dead.

Galkayo has been the scene of previous attacks by the Lions of Islam in the past few years as the two states - Galmudug
...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth...
and Puntland are trying to jointly restore peace in the town.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336081 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Africa North
Fifteen terrorists eliminated, 23 terrorist supporters arrested in January
[EN.APS.DZ] Fifteen terrorists were eliminated, 23 terrorist supporters were arrested and five terrorists surrendered to the military authorities in January, said an updated report of the operations conducted by the People's National Army (ANP).
This article starring:
ANP
People's National Army
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336133 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


At least five killed in clashes near Libyan oilfield: local official
[REUTERS] Libyan forces killed three suspected 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....
fighters near an oilfield in the southeast of the country, a local official said on Saturday.

Two soldiers were also killed and five maimed during festivities over two days, one of which took place near the Dhahra oilfield on Saturday, said Umar al-Faqeh, head of the Maradah administration to which the area belongs. There had been fighting in another area on Friday, he added.

The Dhahra field is operated by Waha, a joint-venture between Libya’s state National Oil Company and U.S. firms Hess, Marathon and ConocoPhillips.

The oil protection force guarding the Waha operations is allied to Libya’s eastern government. The U.N.-backed administration is in the capital, Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, in western Libya.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336120 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Arabia
Bomb blast kills top military commander in S. Yemen Zoom
[EN.APA.AZ] A senior pro-government military commander was killed in a kaboom in southern Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
on Saturday, according to a local military officer, APA reports quoting Anadolu.

The kaboom struck the convoy of Lt-Col. Moeen al-Shamsi, commander of the 83 Air Defense Brigade, in the Qa’tabah district in the al-Dhale province, officer Saddam al-Maresi said.

One of al-Shamsi’s aides was killed and five others were maimed in the bombing, he said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336148 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Yemeni court sentences 3 to death over spying for coalition
[SABANEWS.NET] The criminal court in the capital Sanaa on Wednesday sentenced three people to death and enjugged
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
another over charges of spying for Saudi-led coalition.

According to the court’s verdict, Saeed Mahfoud, Asma’a Matir al-Omisi and Ahmed Abdullah Bawazir were sentenced to death, while Mater Mohammed al-Omisi was sentenced to 15 years in jail, starting from of his arresting date.

The convicts has been accused of spying and collaborating with Saudi-led coalition countries, as well as running networks for recruiting mercenaries in favor of United Arab Emirates in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Mercenaries’ vehicle destroyed in Jawf, killing its crew
[SABANEWS.NET] The army and popular forces on Saturday managed to destroy a military vehicle laden with Saudi-paid mercenaries in Khab-Washaf district of Jawf province, a military official told Saba.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336091 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Yemeni army inflict heavy losses on Huthi coupists east of Taiz
[SPA.GOV.SA] The Yemeni army forces today inflicted heavy casualties on the coupist Huthi militia during clashes in the eastern front of the city of Taiz in central Yemen. The news was stated by the Yemeni armed forces' website (September Net) which quoted a field source.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336101 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Arab coalition launches 50 air raids on Houthi sites in four Yemeni provinces
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Arab coalition in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
has launched 50 air raids on Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
militia sites across four Yemeni provinces on Saturday.

The strikes killed several militia members and destroyed Houthi weapon stores. According to military sources, more than 12 raids targeted Houthi militia sites in Saada.

Similarly, coalition planes targeted Houthi military reinforcements in Kitaaf directorate, Saada. Three of the raids targeted sites where Houthi militia are active in west of Saada.

In Saada, field battles persist between the Arab coalition and Houthi militia. It is worthy of noting that the coalition freed several strategic mountainous areas from Houthi control over the last few days.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336105 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Bangladesh
10 anti-tank rockets recovered from Satchhari forest
[Dhaka Tribune] Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have recovered 10 anti-tank rockets from the forest atSatchhari National Park in Chunarughat upazila, Habiganj.

The weapons were unearthed from a bunker in the forest on Friday night, during a drive by the elite force that began in the evening.

Briefing the news hounds at around 2pm on Saturday, RAB Director (Media) Mufti Mahmud Khan said it was suspected that a powerful criminal group had stashed the weapons in the bunker for out sabotage operations.

Also Read- More arms and ammo recovered from Satchhari

The RAB director officially called off the drive at the press briefing.

Earlier, the elite force recovered a total of 222 pieces of 40m rocket shells, 248 rocket launcher charges and other warheads from the bordering Satchhari forest during a two-day drive in June, 2014.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336094 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)

#1  does that demote the famed Stutter Gun from its number 1weapon of choice?
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 02/04/2018 10:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Prolly just need to update the recipe:

Mamoud the Weasel
low-rent upazilla
oh-dark-hundred
spider sense tingly
cross-fire
Rosebud
shutter gun
3 round of ATGM
Posted by: SteveS || 02/04/2018 12:58 Comments || Top||

#3  I assume the Stutter Gun shouts 3 rd bursts?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/04/2018 14:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Careful out there in the Satchhari National Park (could be maimed in the crossfire).
Posted by: jpal || 02/04/2018 15:13 Comments || Top||

#5  or shoots, even
Posted by: Frank G || 02/04/2018 16:36 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkish Police Detain 82 People In Raids Targeting Islamic State
[JPOST] - Ottoman Turkish police detained 82 suspected 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....
members, 77 of them foreign nationals, in raids across Istanbul, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Saturday.

It said counter-terror police squads targeted suspects believed to have acted on behalf of the jihadists, going to conflict zones in Syria and Iraq and preparing urban attacks in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
.

Simultaneous police raids were carried out on 16 addresses in 10 districts of Istanbul, the agency said, without specifying when the operation was conducted.

The Anadolu report did not specify what evidence police had against the suspects but said police seized digital materials and documents during the raids.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336088 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Turkey denies report border guards shot at fleeing Syrians
[REUTERS] Ottoman Turkish guards at the border with Syria are indiscriminately shooting at and summarily returning asylum seekers attempting to cross into The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
, Human Rights Watch said.

A senior Ottoman Turkish government official denied the report on Saturday, repeating that Turkey had taken in 3.5 million war refugees since the Syrian conflict began in 2011.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said Syrians were now fleeing heightened violence in the northwestern province of Idlib to seek refuge near Turkey’s border, which remains closed to all but critical medical cases.

Syrian armed forces have thrust deeper into the mainly rebel-held province in recent months and Turkey last month launched military action in the nearby Afrin region, targeting Kurdish YPG militia fighters.

"Syrians fleeing to the Ottoman Turkish border seeking safety and asylum are being forced back with bullets and abuse," Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said.

President Tayyip Erdogan’s front man Ibrahim Kalin, asked about the HRW statement, told news hounds that Ottoman Turkish soldiers were there to protect these people and that Ankara has had an "open-door policy" since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011.

A senior government official later told Rooters:

"There has been absolutely no case of civilians being fired upon at the border."

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336116 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


India-Pakistan
Suicide bomber kills at least 11 soldiers in northern Pakistan
[REUTERS] At least 11 soldiers were killed and 13 maimed on Saturday in a suicide kaboom near an army base in northern Pakistain, officials said, in a region that was once controlled by a local faction of the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
.

Attacks have decreased sharply in the picturesque Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
Valley but can cause alarm in a region where Pak Taliban bully boyz took partial control in 2007, before being ousted two years later in a major military operation hailed as an important blow against Islamist violence.

Swat was the first sizeable region outside Pakistain’s lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan to fall to the Death Eaters. More than 2,000 Taliban fighters have been driven out of the region, government officials say.

The Pakistain Army’s public relations wing said in a statement that the "suicide attack" in the Swat Valley took place at the "army unit sports area".

"The soldiers were playing volleyball in the evening outside the military base...when a jacket wallah managed to blow himself up," said a security official who asked not to be identified.

The match was also being watched by civilians, and the casualty count could rise as a large number of people had gathered in the area, he said, adding that maimed were being shifted to a nearby military hospital.

The attack was claimed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban, also known as the Pak Taliban, in a statement sent to the media.

"God willing Tehrik-e-Taliban has started the process of Dire Revenge attacks," Taliban front man Mohammad Khurasani said in the statement. "Wait for more (attacks) to follow."

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Two Pak-Trained LeT Militants Arrested in Kashmir
[THEQUINT] Security forces have placed in durance vile
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
two Pakistain-trained Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
(LeT) murderous Moslems in north Kashmire's Baramulla district, police said on Saturday, 3 February.
The bad boys, who had gone to Pakistain on valid Pak visas for arms training to undertake terrorist activities in the Valley, were arrested during a joint operation by the police, Army and the CRPF, a police front man said.
He said the murderous Moslems had obtained their passports specifically for the said purpose. "These murderous Moslems of Lashkar-e-Taiba were nabbed immediately after returning via the Wagah-Attari border before they could formally join the bad boy ranks here in Kashmire," he said, identifying the arrested as Abdul Majeed Bhat, resident of Kreeri, and Mohammad Ashraf Mir, from Pattan.

Following their arrest, Director General of Jammu and Kashmire Police SP Vaid said:
Our neighboring nation has resorted to allow movement of bandidos Lions of Islam by issuing valid visa to them, as infiltration is now tough after security forces tightened security even more.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Kinnison began his slow infiltration of the sewer system...
the duo revealed upon questioning that "they underwent training in Pakistain along with a large number of Pak boys, most of whom were from Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
and as young as 10," the spokesperson said.

"The said terrorist training camps are located near Burma Town, in Islamabad, and being run by a terrorist commander operating under code names Hanzala, Adanan and Omar. Other bandidos Lions of Islam imparting training to young boys are operating with code names Osama, Naveed and Hataf," he said.

The arrested murderous Moslems were given Pak visas by the Pakistain High Commission in New Delhi, the spokesperson said. "It's pertinent to mention that in the past couple of years, police have unearthed several such modules that lure young boys to Pakistain to get trained and join militancy. In the past, several such boys have been arrested, while some of them were killed in encounters," he added.
This article starring:
ABDUL MAJID BHATLashkar-e-Taiba
Adanan
Burma Town
Hanzala
MOHAMAD ASHRAF MIRLashkar-e-Taiba
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336091 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Police raids in Karachi lead to arrest of multiple suspects
[GEO.TV] Police tossed in the clink
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
multiple suspects, including one female drug-dealer, following raids and operations conducted Saturday night here in various areas of the city, Geo News reported.

An alleged female drug-seller was arrested during a raid carried out by police in the Docks area, near the Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
Port, authorities said.

Dozens of heroin 'tokens' ‐ the name given to a dosage or single packet ‐ were recovered from the arrestee's possession, authorities added.

Orangi Town operation
Multiple suspects were detained following a search operation in the metropolis' Orangi Town area, police said, without providing the number of those arrested.

The detained suspects were involved in street crime and drug-selling, authorities added, noting that weapons and contraband were recovered from the arrestees.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Iraq
ISIS cell in Halabja area dismantled, militants killed, arrested
[RUDAW.NET] Security operations against an ISIS sleeper cell in Halabja province on the border with Iran are complete, Asayish (security) forces announced in a statement on Friday evening.

All the "terrorists" have been killed and no threat remains from the group, the Asayish stated.

The suspected ISIS group attacked a Kurdish security office in the town of Bamo, in Halabja in January. Kurdish forces repelled the attack but the group remained on the lam.

The same group is believed to have also operated across the border, killing three Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

"We assure everyone that we continue with all our efforts to protect the security of our region and will not let enemies of freedom harm life in Kurdistan," read the Asayish statement.

Most of the members of the group were Kurds, but there some Arabs among them as well.

"A team from Garmiyan Asayish were investigating the ISIS sleeper cell and were able to arrest the terrorist M. M., a Kurd, and his older brother Dilshad Bawanuriyah, who had helped the turbans in Garmiyan," read the statement.

Bamo town, 195 kilometers southeast of Erbil, is just west of the Hamrin mountain range that includes Mount Bamo. Kurdish officials have expressed concern about ISIS Lions of Islam regrouping in Hamrin as the rugged area provides many possible hideouts.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraq launches operation to clear western deserts of ISIS
[RUDAW.NET] The Iraqi army has launched a widespread operation in Anbar’s deserts towards the Saudi borders, aiming to clear the area of remaining ISIS elements, despite the declaration of the end of ISIS war in Iraq in early December.

Mahmood Falahi, the commander of the Anbar Operations Command, announced that the operation started on Saturday to clear Anbar’s deserts and remote areas all the way to Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
’s borders.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over ISIS in December, though Iraqi forces continue to combat cells of the group in pockets mainly in Anbar province and along with the Kurdish Peshmerga near the Hamrin mountain area that is close to northern Saladin province.

The US-led anti-ISIS coalition has stated that their focus remains assisting Iraq to combat ISIS and also to build up internal and border security to ensure the terror organization cannot regroup.

Eight Iraqis were killed in an apparent case of friendly fire in western Anbar province. The majority of the dead are members of Iraqi security forces.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command stated that their forces were conducting an operation based on "accurate intelligence about the presence of a terrorist leader, Karim Afat Ali al-Samirmd, in one of houses in al-Baghdadi district to meet with a terrorist cell."
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336117 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian killed as Israelis raid Jenin-area village
[Aljazeera] A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank during a confrontation sparked by the soldiers.

Ahmad Samir Obeid, 19, was shot in the head after the Israeli army raided the village of Wadi Burqin, near the northern town of Jenin on Saturday night.

He was taken to the local hospital, where doctors declared his death a short time later. He is the seventh Palestinian to be killed by Israel this year.

Eight other Palestinians were injured by the Israeli army, who used live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets. Local media reported that at least four Palestinians were arrested.

The army was accompanied by bulldozers and drones, and lay siege to several houses in the village, in their continued search for another Palestinian, Ahmad Jarrar.

The 22-year-old Jarrar is wanted by the Israeli army for his alleged role in the killing of a Jewish settler last month. His cousin, who has the same name, was killed on January 18 after a ten-hour military operation by the Israeli army, in what Palestinians believe was a case of mistaken identity.

Residents told local media that soldiers used loudspeakers to call out, "Ahmad Jarrar, turn yourself in or we will demolish the village house by house."
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/04/2018 08:03 || Comments || Link || [336126 views] Top|| File under:


Israel covertly bombed Daesh on Sinai for years, op allegedly green-lit by Egypt
[ALMASDARNEWS] According to sources to the New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...

, the operation started late in 2015 and accounted for over 100 Arclight airstrikes that have helped the Egyptian army regain control over the peninsula. Neither Israeli nor Egyptian officials have confirmed the information.

The Israeli air force conducted a covert operation against ISIS (banned in Russia) Lions of Islam on the Sinai Peninsula, which was allegedly sanctioned by the Egypt president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, according to the New York Times, citing seven former and acting UK and US officials.

The report specifies, the operation began late in 2015, after bully boyz captured northern Sinai and blew up a Russian airplane with tourists. Unmarked Israeli UAV, attack helicopters and jet fighters conducted over 100 airstrikes during a 2 year operation, picking routes mimicking the flightpaths of Egyptian air forces.

American sources to the newspaper noted that the airstrikes played a key role in the success of the Egypt forces’ ground operation against murderous Moslems, despite the fact that the Israeli side remained dissatisfied with how it was carried out.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336140 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)

#1  As soon as Sisi took charge, he saw the threat upon the Sinai and took corrective action.
He did so well that Israel green lighted his OPS too so this is one thing they are in concert about.

Sinai is out of control and must be reigned in.
Posted by: newc || 02/04/2018 0:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Sinai is out of control and must be reigned in.

Egypt doesn't really needs Sinai - unless they planning a war with Israel. They sure as hell can't control it.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/04/2018 5:18 Comments || Top||

#3  they may not NEED it (debatable) but they can't let that cancer metastasize there without acting
Posted by: Frank G || 02/04/2018 6:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Israel is control authority but I don't think they actually want the Sinai. Egypt has plans for it tho.
Posted by: newc || 02/04/2018 14:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Israel is control authority but I don't think they actually want the Sinai.

Yes we do - we need it for elbow room.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/04/2018 14:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Yes we do - we need it for elbow room.

Understatement of the year. Still don't understand why Begin gave it up.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/04/2018 21:03 Comments || Top||


Palestinian teen dies in Israeli West Bank arrest raid
[REUTERS] Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Paleostinian teenager during an arrest raid in the village of Burqin in the occupied West Bank, Paleostinian health officials said on Saturday.

A Rooters witness said about 200 Paleostinians were throwing stones at Israeli military vehicles when a gunshot was heard, adding that a maimed person was then carried to a car.

Israel’s military said its forces had been searching in Burqin for suspects involved in the fatal drive-by shooting of an Israeli rabbi from a nearby settlement on Jan. 9.

A military spokeswoman said rioting had broken out while troops were apprehending several suspects connected with that shooting and troops responded with non-fatal "riot dispersal means" against Paleostinians throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails and then with live gunfire at the main instigators.

The Paleostinian Health Ministry said the teenager killed on Saturday was 19 years old, while the hospital in Jenin where he was taken said he had been shot in the head.

The Israeli military spokeswoman said he had climbed onto a military vehicle and had opened its door before he was shot.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under: PLO


Israel Strikes Hamas Targets Following Rocket Fire
[JPOST] he air force struck two Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, targets at a military complex in the southern Gazoo Strip overnight Friday, in response to earlier rocket fire toward Israeli communities.

Rocket warning sirens were activated on Friday night in Israeli communities near Gazoo, and shortly afterward the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit confirmed that a rocket had been fired from the Strip.

A representative of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council said the rocket struck an open area in the region, without causing injury or damage.

During the IAF counter-strike, another alert siren was activated, but the army did not identify a Gazook projectile as being fired.

Also on Thursday evening, a rocket was fired from the Gazoo Strip toward Israel, without causing injury or damage. The IDF struck a Hamas observation post in the northern Gazoo Strip in response to that rocket launch.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Southeast Asia
Abu Sayyaf bandits kills 2 in ambush
[SUNSTAR.PH] GUNMEN believed to be Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
bandidos have killed two people in an ambush in the province of Sulu, a top military official said on Thursday, February 1.

Brigadier General Cirilito Sobejana, Joint Task Force Sulu commander, said the ambush occurred around 7:40 a.m., Thursday, in the village of Latih, Patikul municipality. Sobejana identified the victims as Muksin Kaidin and his brother, Mukim. He said the victims were aboard a private-owned jeep when a group of Abu Sayyaf bandidos ambushed killing them instantly.

He said the bandidos, one of them was identified as Sony Sajerin, boarded on a Sports Utility Vehicle and sped towards the hinterlands. He said troops have been deployed to track down the Abu Sayyaf bandidos.
This article starring:
Sony Sajerin
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Turkish army suffers deadliest day in Syria's Afrin
[Aljazeera] Turkey says it has suffered its deadliest day yet in northern Syria since launching its offensive against YPG Kurdish fighters there more than two weeks ago.

On Saturday, eight Turkish soldiers were killed, according to a Turkish army statement.

Some died after their tank came under fire from Syrian Kurdish forces.

Turkey wants to push the YPG, which it says are "terrorists", out of Afrin to create a buffer zone along its southern border.

YPG fighters targeted the Turkish army tank in Sheikh Haruz, northeast of Afrin, killing five soldiers. Three other soldiers were killed in fighting elsewhere in Afrin.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim promised to retaliate in a statement on Twitter.

"They will pay for this twice as much. We have given the necessary response instantly, and we continue to do so," Yildirim said.

Immediately after the attack at Sheikh Haruz, an air operation targeting YPG positions and weapon storages in the area was launched, the army said.

Turkey's Operation Olive Branch began on January 20 along with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to clear armed Kurdish groups and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) fighters from Afrin in northwestern Syria.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/04/2018 07:59 || Comments || Link || [336132 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tirkey has no answer to the ATGM that the Kurds are using daily to desttoy tank after tank after tank.
Posted by: Unart Glusong4283 || 02/04/2018 12:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Turkey needs to get its ass kicked on this. I have no sympathy. Turks always treat minorities poorly. The Turks I had to deal with in Germany during my tours there were always rude and insulting. I hope the YPG makes them pay dearly for this stupidity.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/04/2018 18:01 Comments || Top||

#3  We should provide the Kurds a no-flyzone. Duty 2 protect, eh?
Posted by: Bugs the Low-priced1241 || 02/04/2018 19:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Putin and Erdogan exchanged words for a bit. Then Russia shot down a Turkish jet. Upon which Erdogan stood down. It might take something similar by USAF or USN to send the Turks scurrying back across the border. Whether Trump wants to go that far is an open question. While PYD is ostensibly atheist, the Kurds are probably keeping their fingers crossed that Trump serves as Allah ex machina in delivering them from Erdogan.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/04/2018 20:23 Comments || Top||

#5  good take. If the Kurds don't get what they want under THIS Admin, they likely won't in my lifeime
Posted by: Frank G || 02/04/2018 20:41 Comments || Top||

#6  F**k the Turks. They deserve all the hell the Kurds can unleash at them.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/04/2018 23:24 Comments || Top||


Ahrar al-Sham's ringleader killed in Syria
[EN.ABNA24] The ringleader of the terrorist group Ahrar al-Sham
...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014...
in al-Fo'ua and Kafriya, both in northwestern Syria, was killed by unknown shooters.

Osama Kharitah was shot to death in northern Edlib, according to a Saturday report by the media close to the terrorist groups.

On March 28, 2015, the two cities were besieged and targeted daily ever since by 14,000 terrorists.

Syria has been fighting the Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
murderous Moslems supported by the US, the Zionist regime and some Arab countries since seven years ago.

Iran has supported the legal government of Syria since the onset of the raids.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under: Ahrar al-Sham (Salafists)


Syrian Army lays big ambush on jihadists trying to smuggle weapons into northern Homs
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) laid a powerful ambush on a group of jihadists that were trying to smuggle weapons into the northern countryside of the Homs Governorate this morning.

According to a military source in Homs, the Syrian Army unit caught the jihadist rebels trying to move weapons and ammunition through the Tal ’Umari area in order to reach the myrmidon-held town of Talbisah.

As the gunnies were moving the Tal ’Umari area, the Syrian Army ambushed the jihadists, killing several gunnies and seizing the weapons they were trying to smuggle to Talbisah.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336119 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Footage of female fighter's mutilated body in Afrin emerges
[RUDAW.NET] A graphic video has emerged on social media appearing to show the mutilated body of a female YPJ fighter, allegedly killed in fighting around the village of Qarnah near Bulbul, north of the city of Afrin.

The conflict monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published two videos of the alleged incident.

The footage, captured on a mobile phone, shows the woman’s body spread out on a concrete floor surrounded by button men in military fatigues. Her bloodstained clothes have been partially removed exposing her breasts and genitals, parts of which appear to have been cut off.

"This is the pigs of the PKK," one of the murderous Moslems is heard saying, referring to an armed Kurdish group active in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
.

The YPJ is an all-women force that fights alongside the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Another fighter calls her body the "spoils" of war, followed by shouts of Allahu Akbar, God is Great in Arabic.

They speak in Syrian Arabic.

Ottoman Turkish-backed Syrian militia mutilated the body, according to various sources, including the Kurdish force.

Rudaw cannot independently verify the videos.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Force, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces with male and female units, reported her death without disclosing the circumstances. It identified her as Barin Kobane, whose real name is Amina Omar.

Media linked to the YPG, the People Protection Units, earlier reported she followed in the footsteps of Avesta Khabur, a female fighter who detonated herself against a Ottoman Turkish tank.

The local government of Jazira, one of the cantons of the Syrian Kurdistan where the female fighter is said to come from, condemned the alleged incident, blaming it on "Ottoman Turkish fascist
...anybody not a leftist...
government ... and its mercenaries," calling it an act "beyond imagination."

The Kurdistan National Council, ENKS, a coalition of Kurdish opposition groups who have an uneasy relationship with the YPG, also said their "sources" confirmed the incident, but added that the YPJ fighter was captured alive and later paraded in several villages outside Afrin.

Aldar Khalil, a member of TEV-DEM, the ruling coalition of Syrian Kurdistan, denounced the action in a tweet.

"The immoral acts by the murderous Moslems who paraded the body of the martyr Barin Kobani is not new because these [groups] are mercenaries and are a plague on Syria and the region and represent moral decadence," Khalil said.

Ankara launched Operation Olive Branch on January 20, deploying Ottoman Turkish troops and their allied Syrian militias to clear the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the northwest Syrian enclave of Afrin.

Ottoman Turkish forces and their proxies took the town of Bulbul, 30km north of Afrin city, close to the border with Turkey, on Thursday, according to Ottoman Turkish media. But Rudaw sources in Afrin reported intensive fighting in the town as of Friday morning.

The SDF confirmed festivities have taken place in the Bulbul area and reported they have destroyed a Ottoman Turkish APC armoured vehicle "and killed everybody inside in an ambush in Qarnah village in Bulbul town."

They also clashed with Ottoman Turkish forces in Sahra village on Thursday afternoon, 2km northwest of Bulbul, where "at least 20 soldiers were killed," the SDF statement claimed.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Russia strikes back as Syrian rebels take credit for shooting down fighter jet, killing pilot
[WASHINGTONPOST] Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate grabbed credit Saturday for the downing of a Russian warplane in northern Syria, apparently using a surface-to-air missile to target the aircraft.

The pilot was killed after he ejected and exchanged gunfire with bandidos Lions of Islam on the ground, the Russian Defense Ministry and a monitoring group said.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
, or HTS, a powerful rebel alliance that publicly split from al-Qaeda last year, said it had used a shoulder-fired weapon to down the Su-25 fighter jet as it flew low over the opposition-held town of Saraqeb.

That claim was echoed by Russia’s Interfax news agency, quoting the Defense Ministry, as well as the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The incident could raise tensions between Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
, which is monitoring a so-called "de-escalation zone" in the northern province of Idlib as part of an agreement made during Syrian peace talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana.

Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra



Who's in the News
23[untagged]
6Houthis
5Islamic State
4Sublime Porte
3al-Shabaab (AQ)
3Commies
2Taliban
2Govt of Iran
1Hamas
1Hezbollah
1Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1Moslem Colonists
1Narcos
1PLO
1TTP
1Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)
1Ahrar al-Sham (Salafists)
1al-Nusra
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Govt of Qatar (MB)
1Govt of Syria

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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2018-02-04
  Bomb blast kills top military commander in S. Yemen Zoom
Sat 2018-02-03
  Ahrar Al-Sham’s top commander in northern Idlib has been assassinated
Fri 2018-02-02
  Four Migrants Critical after Being Shot in Calais Brawl
Thu 2018-02-01
  Robert Mueller Requests Postponement of General Mike Flynn Sentencing… It was a set up
Wed 2018-01-31
  Southwest State Confirms The Death Of Burhakabo Military Commander
Tue 2018-01-30
  Iraqi court sentences Al-Qaeda member to death over executing eight civilians in 2007
Mon 2018-01-29
  McCabe Resigns
Sun 2018-01-28
  Top Houthi leader killed in Sanaa by unknown individuals
Sat 2018-01-27
  Taliban kill 40 63 90 95 with ambulance bomb in Afghan capital Kabul
Fri 2018-01-26
  Mosul clean up continues: 21 turbans permanently unwound, 9 more jugged
Thu 2018-01-25
  Double car bombing kills 33 in Benghazi
Wed 2018-01-24
  Two suicide attackers, Islamic State member killed as troops repel attack in Baghdad
Tue 2018-01-23
  1.5K al-Nusra troops surrounded in Idlib
Mon 2018-01-22
  Tunisian forces kill top aide of Al Qaeda leader in Maghreb
Sun 2018-01-21
  Seven Niger troops killed in Boko Haram attack
Sun 2018-01-21
  Seven Niger troops killed in Boko Haram attack

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