Hi there, !
Today Thu 10/08/2015 Wed 10/07/2015 Tue 10/06/2015 Mon 10/05/2015 Sun 10/04/2015 Sat 10/03/2015 Fri 10/02/2015 Archives
Rantburg
532743 articles and 1859131 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 69 articles and 179 comments as of 3:09.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Israel bars Palestinians from entering Old City after deadly attacks
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
4 16:19 Shipman [4] 
10 23:30 JosephMendiola [8] 
2 23:48 JosephMendiola [5] 
2 23:46 JosephMendiola [8] 
4 15:25 Procopius2k [4] 
5 23:55 JosephMendiola [5] 
1 12:37 Bobby [5] 
0 [5] 
0 [5] 
0 [3] 
0 [4] 
0 [4] 
0 [5] 
0 [4] 
6 21:39 trailing wife [5] 
0 [5] 
0 [4] 
2 21:43 trailing wife [6] 
5 16:17 Shipman [5] 
Page 2: WoT Background
5 23:22 746 [7]
11 20:10 James [4]
1 09:29 Skidmark [3]
0 [2]
1 06:59 g(r)omgoru [2]
6 23:16 746 [3]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [3]
0 [4]
2 23:18 746 [4]
2 12:48 SteveS [3]
0 [3]
0 [2]
1 16:25 Shipman [2]
3 23:24 746 [3]
6 23:35 JosephMendiola [6]
8 23:57 JosephMendiola [3]
2 21:25 JosephMendiola [6]
0 [5]
1 02:31 g(r)omgoru [2]
4 18:27 Barbara [3]
3 09:43 Skidmark [3]
5 13:12 Ebbang Uluque6305 [2]
Page 3: Non-WoT
5 20:29 Zenobia Floger6220 [5]
9 23:05 746 [4]
0 [3]
3 18:13 SteveS [6]
5 16:56 Shipman [4]
0 [3]
0 [3]
0 [3]
0 [3]
0 [3]
5 18:56 swksvolFF [3]
Page 4: Opinion
5 20:57 Zenobia Floger6220 [3]
4 15:12 phil_b [4]
2 23:51 Rjschwarz [6]
6 23:13 746 [3]
1 08:21 Procopius2k [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
10 23:46 Rjschwarz [5]
0 [4]
0 [3]
Page 6: Politix
9 21:23 JosephMendiola [6]
6 23:42 Rjschwarz [5]
7 15:55 Vast Right Wing Conspiracy [3]
Afghanistan
Commander: Afghan Forces Requested US Airstrike that Hit Doctors Without Borders Hospital
Come to think about it, Afghanistan hasn't been protesting this one very much.
Gen. John Campbell, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said Monday that Afghan forces requested the U.S. airstrike that that killed 22 people at a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on Saturday.

"We have now learned that on Oct. 3, Afghan forces advised that they were taking fire from enemy positions and asked for air support from U.S. forces," Campbell stated at a press conference Monday, the Associated Press reported.

"An airstrike was then called to eliminate the Taliban threat and several civilians were accidentally struck. This is different from the initial reports which indicated that U.S. forces were threatened and that the airstrike was called on their behalf."

The airstrike, which occurred early Saturday morning, killed aid workers and patients at the facility, which is run by Doctors Without Borders, or MÊdecins Sans Frontières.

"If errors were committed we will acknowledge them," Campbell stated Monday.

Initially, Col. Brian Tibus, the spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said that the hospital may have been "collateral damage" in a strike against Taliban fighters "threatening the force."

"U.S. forces conducted an airstrike in Kunduz city at 2:15 a.m. [local time] on October 3 against individuals threatening the force," Tibus said Saturday. "The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility. This incident is under investigation."

Both President Obama and Defense Secretary Ash Carter have promised that the Pentagon would conduct an investigation into the incident.

"The Department of Defense has launched a full investigation, and we will await the results of that inquiry before making a definitive judgment as to the circumstances of this tragedy," Obama said Saturday.

"We do know that American air assets ... were engaged in the Kunduz vicinity. And we do know that the structures that--you see in the news--were destroyed," Carter told to journalists Sunday before embarking on a five-day trip to Europe. "I just can't tell you what the connection is at this time."

MÊdecins Sans Frontières blamed the U.S. for the loss of life at the hospital.
Shouldn't Doctors Without Borders be included in the Organization list? Maybe as useful fools or terrorist symps?
"This attack is abhorrent and a grave violation of international humanitarian law," the charity's president, Meinie Nicolai, said. "We demand total transparency from coalition forces. We cannot accept that this horrific loss of life will simply be dismissed as 'collateral damage.'"

The group's general director, Christopher Stokes, said Sunday that "relying only on an internal investigation by a party to the conflict would be wholly insufficient," labeling the incident a "war crime." He also refuted claims from Afghan forces that Taliban members had been firing from the grounds of the hospital.

The charity said on social media Sunday that the hospital in Afghanistan is no longer functional. Patients and staff members have been relocated to other facilities in the area, according to a MÊdecins Sans Frontières representative.

"The situation there is confused and complicated. So it may take some time to get the facts, but we will get the facts and we will be full and transparent about sharing them," Carter said Sunday, promising that the U.S. would hold anyone accountable who was "responsible for doing something they shouldn't have done."
Posted by: gorb || 10/05/2015 12:36 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Come to think about it, Afghanistan hasn't been protesting this one very much."

Money talks, bull$hit walks.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 10/05/2015 13:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Which is why we have to embed our ground controllers in the Afghan units that call in our air support. What does every Marine company have? A guy with wings on his collar and a radio to talk with the Airedales flying above. How good would Marine close air ground support be without it?

The above is a case in point.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 10/05/2015 13:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Which is why we have to embed our ground controllers in the Afghan units that call in our air support.

Care to think it through?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2015 13:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes. Don't pull out in the first place while the fighting continues. We make our own Vietnams.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 10/05/2015 14:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Sven, let me give you a hint: how many American servicemen killed by their Afghan "comrades"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2015 14:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Point taken.

But the lack of embedded ground controllers will have consequences.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 10/05/2015 14:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Consequences, schmoncequenses. The era of embedded JAGs & war crimes is over.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2015 14:24 Comments || Top||

#8  But the lack of embedded ground controllers will have consequences.
Posted by Sven the pelter


Yea, so much for the old multi-source confirmation of targets. We'll just hand the target folder task off to the locals and hope for the very best.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/05/2015 14:38 Comments || Top||

#9  Another consequence of the bammer turning tail and running. The bammer is ultimately responsible for those doctor's getting fried.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 10/05/2015 14:41 Comments || Top||

#10  MSF says it still doesn't absolve the US of responsibility in the attack.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/05/2015 23:30 Comments || Top||


NDS prevent two suicide attacks in Kabul city
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS) -- Afghanistan's intelligence agency has prevented two suicide kabooms 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....
city.

A statement released by NDS on Sunday states that the suicide attackers belonged to Haqqani terrorist network and planned to target the training center of the custom police in Kabul city.

The statement further states that the hard boyz were recognized by NDS officials and killed in encounter.

Footage released by the agency shows two young boys in local cloths who run away after apparently a call by NDS officials to stop.

One of the boys is showed wearing a local jacket with a bag in his right hand while the other one walks with him without a jacket or anything in his hands.

At the end of the footage two dead bodies are shown identified as both of the would-be jacket wallahs who bravely ran away from NDS officials.

The bag is also shown in the footage with what looks like explosives in it.

Posted by: Fred || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


General Raziq: Taliban plan to shift Quetta Shura to Helmand
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Brigadier General Abdul Raziq, the police chief of southern Kandahar province has said that Taliban plan to shift Quetta Shura
...Mullah Omar's command center, located in Quetta, that the Pak govt hasn't been able to find since its establishment in November, 2001. Honest...
from Pakistain to Afghanistan.

According to Brig. General Raziq, Taliban with support from Pakistain have ramped up their activities in northern parts of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province in order to pave way for applying their plan.

Brig. General Raziq has provided the following details about the plan:

To occupy northern districts of Helmand province in three months and shift Quetta Shura there, Pakistain will get a chance to remove the bad name associated with it for housing Taliban and other terrorist groups, after spending about a week in Helmand province, the Shura would be moved back to Quetta and 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...
cities from where they would again continue their activities in Afghanistan under the instructions of Pakistain's military and ISI as normal.

Taliban had also planned to bring their Supreme Leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour to Afghanistan but Afghan National Security Forces foiled their plan in northern Kundoz province.

A large scale coordinated attack was launched by Taliban on this province last week in order to occupy its capital and bring Mullah Mansour for a media gathering but Afghan forces rebuffed the attack.

Afghan leaders say that Islamabad is in an undeclared war with 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....
and support bully boy groups in Afghanistan.

In several occasions, Afghan government has asked Pakistain to act against the enemies of Afghanistan enjoying safe heavens there but so far only empty promises have been made with Afghan officials.

Pakistain's Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
in a visit to Kabul said that Afghanistan's enemy is Pakistain's enemy but still no action against Quetta and Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
Shuras, considered to be the back bone of Taliban.

Quetta is the capital of Pakistain's 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...
province and Peshawar is the capital city of its Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
province where reportedly Taliban capos get to gather and issue rulings to faceless myrmidons on the ground in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  What does pakistan want with afghanistan ?
Posted by: Harcourt Borgia1827 || 10/05/2015 11:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Southern Afghanistan is Pashto. The ruling Pakistan military are Pashto. Northeastern Pakistan is Pashto. The Durand Line is a Western creation that divided the Pashto nation.
Posted by: Beldar Sloque3832 || 10/05/2015 12:28 Comments || Top||

#3  I thought the military top brass was Punjabi?
Posted by: paul || 10/05/2015 14:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Probably; Punjabis make up about 40 percent of the Pak military.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/05/2015 15:20 Comments || Top||

#5  What happened to 'ye olde strategic depth?
Posted by: Shipman || 10/05/2015 16:15 Comments || Top||

#6  What happened to 'ye olde strategic depth?

What Shipman said. As I understand it, Pakistan has long viewed Afghanistan as their place of retreat should India surge across the border. This only works if Afghanistan is unable to resist...
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/05/2015 21:39 Comments || Top||


Africa North
10 ISIS recruiters arrested in Morocco, Spain: Official
[ARA] Spanish and Moroccan authorities nabbed
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
Sunday 10 suspects for links with the radical group of 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), Spain's interior ministry said.

The suspects were captured for recruiting fighters to join the ranks of the ISIS Lion of Islam group in Syria and Iraq.

Spain's interior ministry said in a statement that the suspects were detained in the Spanish cities of Toledo and Badalona, and the Moroccan city of Casablanca.

"Those arrested belong to a network of people that recruited, indoctrinated and sent imported muscle to join Daesh (ISIS)," the ministry said on Sunday.

Several European and North African countries have increased security measures to prevent citizens from joining the ISIS radical group.

Spain had earlier arrested dozens of ISIS-linked jihadists. In September, the Spanish authorities revealed the arrest of 71 hard boys.
Posted by: Fred || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Two Egyptian policemen shot dead by ISIS in Sinai
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Two Egyptian coppers have been rubbed out in the bastion 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) group in the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said, in an attack claimed by the Lions of Islam Sunday.

"A police captain and a policeman died of their wounds after unknown assailants shot them" late Saturday in the North Sinai quiet provincial capital El-Arish, the ministry said in a statement.

The area is a stronghold of the Egyptian affiliate of the ISIS group that calls itself "Sinai Province".

The group claimed the killings on a Twitter account affiliated to it, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

Sinai Province said it killed the two coppers in separate attacks in El-Arish, the monitoring group said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)

#1  When Morsy and his Muslim Brotherhood emptied the Egyptian prisons in 2011 many of the Egypt Islamic Jihad and Gamaat al-Islamiya mujahideen reorganized in the Sinai. Their purpose was twofold: Support Hamas in Gaza, and threaten the Israeli flank in the Negev. The muj attracted many followers, including Brothers from Gaza, and they have been difficult to root-out.
Posted by: Beldar Sloque3832 || 10/05/2015 12:41 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd forgotten about the emptying of the prisons. Useful information yet again, Beldar Sloque3832 -- thank you!
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/05/2015 21:43 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram suicide attacks in Niger kill at least four
[AlAhram] Suspected Islamist Death Eaters from Nigeria's Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
group killed at least four people on Sunday in suicide kabooms across the border in Niger, security sources said.

The dead included three civilians and a soldier and four attackers also died during the attacks in Niger's southeastern region of Diffa, the sources said.

Niger, Cameroon
...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there...
and Chad have all suffered a spillover of violence from Boko Haram's northern Nigerian strongholds.

Niger has incarcerated
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
at least 1,100 suspected Boko Haram Death Eaters this year and has placed its Diffa region under a state of emergency.

Diffa, which borders Nigeria, has suffered at least 57 attacks since February, statistics published by the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
on Friday showed.

At least 150,000 refugees seeking protection from Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria live in Niger's Diffa region.

An 8,700-strong multinational force comprising troops from Niger, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon and Chad will begin operations against the Death Eaters at the end of this month when the rainy season is expected to stop, Chad's President Idriss Deby said recently.

The force is due to receive U.S. support, including training, worth $45 million.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


The Grand Turk
Turkey launches new overnight air raids against PKK: Army
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkish warplanes struck the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq and eastern The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
overnight, in a new air operation against the Kurdish bad boy group, the army said Oct.4.

Turkish F-16 fighters hit 17 PKK positions in northern Iraq, destroying shelters used by the bad boy group, the army said on its website, listing three locations.

The army said in a separate statement that the jets had destroyed fuel and ammunition depots in Hakkari province on the border with Iraq as well as in eastern Kars province.

The strikes are the latest in an air campaign aimed at crippling the PKK, which has staged a string of attacks in Turkey since a two-year-old ceasefire fell apart in late July.

More than 150 soldiers and police have been killed in PKK bombings and shootings since the return to open conflict, compared with over 1,000 in the bad boy camp, according to the Turkish government.
Posted by: Fred || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Rangers detain 'hitmen of a political party' for three months
[DAWN] Pakistain Rangers, Sindh, informed an antiterrorism court on Saturday about the 90-day preventive detention of two suspected hitmen, said to be associated with a political party, for questioning.

The paramilitary soldiers along with their legal team produced the two suspects -- Akbar Hussain alias Kala and Konain Hyder Rizvi -- in the chamber of Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso of the ATC-I amid tight security.

The MQM, meanwhile, said that Akbar Hussain was a party worker who was picked up from his Federal B Area residence some 15 days ago and today "falsely implicated in the killing of Haq Parast politicians".

A Rangers law officer, through an application, stated that the suspects were picked up in Gulshan-e-Maymar upon receiving credible information about their involvement in assassinations and other offences which came with the ambit of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Therefore, he informed the court that they were placed under three-month preventive detention under Section 11-EEEE of the ATA for an inquiry.

In compliance with Section 11 EEEE (3) of the ATA, the detainees were produced along with their detention orders and jail warrants for the information of the court, he added.

While the Rangers did not mention any specific charges against the two suspects before the ATC judge, a front man for the paramilitary force claimed in a statement that the duo were affiliated with a political party and one of them was involved in the killing of two Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
politicians in 2010 and 2013.

The front man said that suspect Akbar Hussain was allegedly involved in 12 cases of assassinations, including the liquidation of two members of provincial assembly, Raza Haider and Sajid Qureshi.

The suspect was also involved in four cracker attacks on the MQM camps during the 2013 general election in Azizabad, Nazimabad, Mukka Chowk and Yousuf Plaza, he said, adding that he carried out such acts "on direction of MQM (A) leadership for getting public sympathy".
Posted by: Fred || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian teen killed by IDF in clashes near Tulkarem
[IsraelTimes] Israeli security forces face off with protesters across West Bank and East Jerusalem following string of deadly Paleostinian terror attacks

An 18-year-old Paleostinian was rubbed out by Israeli forces in festivities near the West Bank city of Tulkarem Sunday, as unrest rocked the Paleostinian territories and Jerusalem following a series of Paleostinian terror attacks and Israeli operations to crack down on the violence.

The man was identified by Paleostinian sources as Huzeifa Othman Suleiman, a resident of a nearby town who was injured in a skirmish with IDF troops near Tulkarem and died after being taken to a local hospital.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Israeli planes hit Gaza after rocket fired at south
[IsraelTimes] No injuries reported in strikes on Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, targets after missile launched from Paleostinian territory explodes in Eshkol region

Israeli jets bombed a target in the Gazoo Strip early Monday morning after a Paleostinian terror group launched a rocket into southern Israel.

Paleostinian media in Gazoo reported Israeli strikes shortly after 2:30 a.m., a matter of hours after a rocket fired from the Gazoo Strip Sunday night landed in open territory in the Eshkol Regional Council in southern Israel, causing neither injury or damage.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The IDF said in a statement that Israeli aircraft struck "a Hamas terror site in the northern Gazoo Strip."

Hamas's Al Aqsa news said Israeli Arclight airstrikes targeted Qassam Brigades sites across the Paleostinian enclave.

Earlier on, air raid sirens warning of incoming rocket fire were heard in Nahal Oz and Alumim.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. There were no immediate claims of responsibility by Paleostinian groups.

Security forces were searching the area for a possible site of impact.

A second rocket launch reportedly failed and did not trigger alarms.

Last week, the Israeli Air Force carried out a series of air strikes in the Gazoo Strip in response to a rocket fired from the Paleostinian enclave which was shot down by the Iron Dome anti-missile system over the southern city of Ashdod.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Israel bars Palestinians from entering Old City after deadly attacks
[WASHINGTONPOST] In a move that Israeli police themselves called "drastic," security forces on Sunday barred Paleostinians from entering the Old City after last week's fatal stabbing of an off-duty Israeli soldier and a well-known rabbi.
When I was a kid, if we wouldn't share Mom would take it away from us. Eventually we came to associate cause with effect. But we were a fairly smart bunch of kids.
The unprecedented closure of Jerusalem's Old City to Paleostinians comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised "an all-out war against Paleostinian terrorism."

Sunday brought waves of arrests of Paleostinians and violent demonstrations across the West Bank, with local media reporting that more than 70 Paleostinians were maimed by rubber bullets and live rounds during festivities.

Israeli police said the two-day closure of the Old City was intended to protect visitors arriving to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

"This is a drastic measure that's being taken in order to make sure there are no further attacks during the Jewish festival, where you can see thousands of people visiting the Old City," Israeli police front man Micky Rosenfeld said, according to the News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
Posted by: Fred || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I expect a wave of protests, maybe even violent ones, throughout the ME. Especially in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2015 2:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Who would notice, Grom?
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/05/2015 9:25 Comments || Top||

#3  It was sark (remember what "International" used to screech about ME stability whenever Paleos would run amok?)
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2015 9:48 Comments || Top||

#4  When the house if flooded, one doesn't usually notice the leak in the kitchen sink.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/05/2015 12:38 Comments || Top||

#5  No mosque from YOU, come back one year!
Posted by: Shipman || 10/05/2015 16:17 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Daring raids by SAS heroes leave 200 evil jihadis DEAD
SAS TROOPS armed with sniper rifles and heavy machine guns have killed at least 200 evil Islamic State (ISIS) extremists in a series of deadly raids in the past year thereby converting them from evil ISIS elements to good ISIS elements.

Soldiers from the elite fighting unit have eliminated the barbaric terrorists in war-torn Syria and Iraq by calling in air strikes, carrying out deadly ambushes and using long-range sniper fire.

They have even organised groups of Peshmerga fighters - forces in Iraqi Kurdistan who are fighting the blood-thirsty terror group - into guerrilla units.

In one of the most effective raids British special forces destroyed an entire 20-vehicle fuel convoy, killing up to 20 jihadis.

The SAS's raids are intended to degrade ISIS' fighting capability ahead of a spring offensive by 20,000 Iraqi and Kurdish troops next year, with the UK providing additional training for these soldiers.

A military source told the Daily Star: "SAS snipers have taken down dozens of middle-ranking and senior ISIS commanders in a series of long-range kills. That has had a huge psychological impact against the terrorists."

The ambush on the terrorist ­convoy, which had ­siphoned off thousands of gallons of fuel from a pipeline, took place earlier this summer.

Stolen fuel was used to power armoured vehicles in attacks against Iraqi forces and ­civilians.

The convoy was spotted by a US spy plane flying thousands of feet above the Iraq-Syria border on a routine ­surveillance mission.

Its coordinates were passed to an SAS patrol 20 miles away.

The 16-man team sped to an ambush site and waited for the convoy to appear while a US Predator drone monitored from above.

As the vehicles approached, an SAS sniper shot dead the lead driver, stopping the convoy in its tracks.

Other members of the SAS opened fire with ­automatic weapons, ­killing several fighters as they jumped from trucks.

As the battle raged another SAS soldier ­destroyed a fuel tanker with a Javelin anti-tank missile.

The tanker, carrying thousands of gallons of fuel, exploded and engulfed other vehicles.

It comes as Prime Minister David Cameron revealed the UK will buy 20 new hi-tech Protector drones from America and bolster its elite special forces to help weaken ISIS.

Mr Cameron is said to be bolstering the SAS and buying new drones ahead of the Conservative Party conference.

Vladimir Putin is said to be sending 150,000 soldiers to war-torn Syria to wipe out the evil group.

The Russian leader is reportedly mounting an enormous military mission to take control of the terror group's stronghold of Raqq

There have been previous reports that the SAS is operating in Iraq in a bid to defeat the terror group - although reports have never been confirmed.
Posted by: gorb || 10/05/2015 13:13 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nice work!
Posted by: Frank G || 10/05/2015 14:18 Comments || Top||

#2  "Who Dares, Wins"

Indeed. A shame we don't dare anymore.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 10/05/2015 14:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Good to see a fast OODA loop is still working.
Posted by: Grunter || 10/05/2015 16:06 Comments || Top||

#4  BadMan, could the Rooshians support 150K troops in Syria?
Posted by: Shipman || 10/05/2015 16:19 Comments || Top||


Tracking Rooshun airstrikes in Syria
Nice map, from the NYT no less. The bombs, they're not falling on ISIS...
Posted by: Steve White || 10/05/2015 12:01 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Assad's taking out his enemies.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/05/2015 12:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Secure Baby Assad, then go full-force agz the ISIS/ISIL + Al-Nusra Boyz, etal.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/05/2015 23:48 Comments || Top||


Russia's Propaganda Blitzkrieg
[DailyBeast] The propaganda war propping up Putin and his cronies has reached new heights with the bombing campaign in Syria.
The Finns should have gotten a laugh out of that photo. That's a Finnish Tikka he's holding.
When Vladimir Putin spoke before the UN General Assembly last week, he proclaimed the need for an international coalition to destroy ISIS. But when Putin then went to war in Syria, his fighter jets began by rocketing everyone opposed to the regime of Bashar al-Assad except ISIS. At a superficial level, this discrepancy is explained by Moscow as follows: There is no such thing as a moderate opposition in Syria and that includes the U.S.-backed rebels. In fact, as Putin darkly insinuated at the General Assembly, ISIS was "initially forged as a tool against undesirable secular regimes," and the unnamed smith here was not terribly hard to discern.

The jihadist army rampaging through the Middle East was therefore America's Frankenstein monster and it was now up to a confident Russia, a year into a failed U.S.-led coalition campaign, to deliver this reanimated corpse unto eternity. Anyone not willing to join with Russia, Assad, Iran, and Hezbollah was a "terrorist" or a covert sponsor of terrorism, who'd do well to get out of Putin's way. He arrogated to himself a very broad martial remit to bomb whenever and whomever he pleased, which is precisely what he did a mere 48 hours later, hitting several Free Syrian Army targets, including those which have received advanced U.S. weaponry courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency.

We've seen this movie before--a mere 18 months ago. When the Euromaidan protests rocked Kiev in response for the Ukrainian government's failure to sign an association agreement with the European Union, it was announced on Russia state television that those demanding the resignation of Viktor Yanukovych were neo-Nazis in the pay of the U.S. State Department or the CIA. They, too, were rampaging through Ukraine and perpetrating pogroms against embattled Jewish and ethnic Russian minorities, who demanded Moscow's fraternal assistance. That these minorities demanded no such thing didn't matter.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/05/2015 04:35 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is surprising that Putin's response is not seen as a reaction to Russia's own Muslim problem. Putin's hatred for the Chechen mujahideen is palpable, and the potential of a scorched-earth policy in the Caucasus is now more than a decade old. Most recently, his reaction could be seen in the omnipresence of Russian forces in the Caucasus at the time of the Sochi Olympics. No Muslim dared object for fear his protest would be his last.
In effect, no Muslim is safe in Syria, and if Russian attacks kill Christians, Druze, Alawite or Kurds, that's just the way it goes.
Posted by: Beldar Sloque3832 || 10/05/2015 12:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Never mind VLAD, as Syria's Baby Assad says or infers the point much better, i.e. IFF POTUS OBAMA = USA WAS "TRULY SERIOUS" ABOUT FIGHTING-N-DEFEATING THE ISIS + OTHER HARD BOYZ, IT WOULD'VE ACTED LIKE HOW VLAD = RUSSIA HAS DONE.

* TOPIX > [CNS News] ASSAD: US-LED COALITION IS A FAILURE, BUT RUSSIA-LED COALITION HAS GREAT CHANCE OF SUCCESS.

* SAME > BOLTON: OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS [allowing +]"LEGITIMIZING" RUSSIA'S MILITARY PRESENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST, in contrance to decades of US Policy during the Cold War + after to minimize or keep Russia out of the ME.

Perhaps more succintly, US-LED ANTI-US OWG-NWO + GLOBALISM = USA AKA OWG GLOBALIST AMERIKA IS DELIBERATELY INTENTIONALLY LEAVING THE MIDDLE EAST TO THE HANDLING OF ITS OWG CO-SUPERPOWER SIBLINGS RUSSIA + IRAN???

MANO-E-MANO, CO-SUPERPOWER TO CO-SUPERPOWER(S)???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/05/2015 23:46 Comments || Top||


Russia is conducting "asymmetric warfare" in Syria - Britain's Hammond
[Rooters] MANCHESTER, England, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Russia is engaged in "classic asymmetric warfare" in Syria by using its military clout to prop up President Bashar al-Assad while saying it is attacking Islamic State militants, Britain's foreign minister said on Sunday.

Russia last week began striking targets in Syria - a dramatic escalation of foreign involvement in the civil war which has been criticised by the West as an attempt to prop up Assad, rather than its purported aim of attacking Islamic State.

"It looks like a classic bit of Russian asymmetric warfare - you have a strong propaganda message that says you're doing one thing while in fact you are doing something completely different and when challenged you just flatly deny it," Philip Hammond told Reuters in an interview in Manchester.

He said Britain had held discussions with Russia but kept on getting the same response - that Moscow was attacking Islamic State militants in Syria.

"You try talking to the Russians," he said. "They just keep repeating their position - that is by the way also the Iranian position - and it is just incredible."
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/05/2015 04:02 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Unfair! Unfair! Not cricket!!!"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2015 4:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Hat tip to Low Price.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/05/2015 9:00 Comments || Top||

#3  White Horse.
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/05/2015 9:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Russia is conducting asymmetric warfare in Syria

FIFY

everyone else, besides the Kurds, are just skirmishing at the edges. We've slipped back to primitive warfare of primate posturing rather than industrial warfare of destruction.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/05/2015 15:25 Comments || Top||


US enforcement of Iran arms embargo slipped during nuclear talks
Addressing concerns that a landmark nuclear deal reached this year could boost Iran's military power, the Obama administration reassured critics that it would maintain and enforce its remaining tough sanctions against the country.

Yet the US government has pursued far fewer violations of a long-standing arms embargo against Iran in the past year compared to recent years, according to a review of court records and interviews with two senior officials involved in sanctions enforcement.
Affirmative action, is there anything it can't do?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2015 02:11 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just a little sweetener, to make sure they swallowed the deal.
Posted by: Bobby || 10/05/2015 12:37 Comments || Top||


Kurds regain three new villages after clashes with ISIS north Syria
[ARA] Subsequent to festivities with Death Eaters 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....
(ISIS), Kurdish forces regained three new villages in the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakah on Sunday.

Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG), supported by female fighters of the Women's Protection Units (YPJ), have regained three villages near Mount Abdulaziz in the western countryside of Hasakah.

The YPG Media Center said that at least 27 ISIS Death Eaters were killed during the festivities on Sunday.

"Our forces continued their progress against the Lions of Islam in Hasakah province. We have seized a large deal of weapons and ammunition during the anti-ISIS operations in Mount Abdulaziz and the surrounding villages," a member of the YPG Media Center told ARA News in Hasakah.

Moreover, the Kurdish forces have taken six ISIS Death Eaters as hostages after the festivities.

Also on Sunday, the U.S.-led coalition forces bombed ISIS strongholds in the Hiwej village in the eastern countryside of Hasakah.

"The strikes targeted an ISIS weapon store," media activist Dilovan Muhammad reported.

The Death Eaters had attacked Kurdish headquarters near Mount Abdulaziz on Friday. Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) subsequently evacuated their centers in what they called a "strategic withdrawal".

"On Saturday, the YPG forces besieged ISIS Death Eaters near Mount Abdulaziz and killed dozens of Lions of Islam and destroyed several vehicles," a front man for the YPG Media Center told ARA News.
Posted by: Fred || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Russian jets hit 10 ISIS targets in Syria in the past 24 hours
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Ministry of Defense of Russia announced Sunday that the Russian jets hit 10 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) targets in Syria in the past 24 hours.

According to the latest report by Russia's defense ministry, at least 20 sorties were performed by the Russian military aircraft during the same period.

The report further added that a jihadist training center in Idlib province was targeted in Arclight airstrike where a workshop producing suicide belts was also destroyed.

Eight installations belonging to the terror group was also eliminated near Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib province, the report said, adding that another jihadist training camp was struck in Kaljam Idlib.

The report also added that three consecutive Arclight airstrikes were also carried out on terrorist installations near Maaret En Nuuman.

Numerous videos have been released online by Russia's defense ministry which it says show Russian Air Force strikes on terrorist facilities as Russia's General Staff of Armed Forces, the Arclight airstrikes inflicted on Islamic State installations in Syria have disrupted the command system, inventory and logistics of the terrorist organization.

Russia has intensified Arclight airstrikes in Syria during the recent hours after launching air raids on Wednesday in support of the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
, targeting ISIS, al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
and "other terrorist groups."

Posted by: Fred || 10/05/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Russia Gets Real, Pentagon Freaks Out, Jihadis Head for Germany
h/t Gates of Vienna
You may, or may not, have noticed the growing body of evidence over the past year or two that strongly suggests that the U.S. government and its European "allies" are not really serious about destroying "ISIS".

The first hint came early last year when the jihadi mercenaries took large swathes of Iraq and Syria, and the West did nothing but wring its collective hands and fret, and resolve to bolster the fighting capability of the wonderful "rebels".

The second hint came this year when the U.S. and their partners began piecemeal airstrikes against "ISIS" that appeared to merely spur the head-choppers on to more success.

The third hint came with reports that weapons supplies being sent to "Syrian rebels" were 'accidentally' ending up in the hands of the head-choppers.

The most recent confirmation that Western politicians and military types effectively view "ISIS" as 'their guys' came in the last few weeks when the Pentagon reacted to news that Russia was in the process of establishing an air base in western Syria, from which to attack all foreign forces in Syria involved in the four-year-long attempted coup against the Syrian government.

...There is, however, one down side to this new development; Europe is already dealing with a large influx of refugees from Syria. It's really unreasonable of the Russians to risk adding about 30,000 more "ISIS" jihadis into the mix, most of whom, as I speak, are frantically shaving off their terrorist beards and heading for Turkey and 'safe passage' to Germany.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2015 03:39 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  i dont think the anglosphere ever liked ISIS

but perhaps the reason the US did not go in after them more decisively is it is just too difficult. We are all broke after long running wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, maybe it is time for the others to step up.

Not to mention the hate-america-left crowd that complains every time there is an intervention making it untenable and impossible to do what is necessary, thanks to domestic politics.

but the condemnation of russian interference does not come from liking IS but fear that it will embolden Russia to foreign adventurism - potentially disastrous for europe
Posted by: anon1 || 10/05/2015 10:40 Comments || Top||

#2  The first hint came early last year when the jihadi mercenaries took large swathes of Iraq and Syria, and the West did nothing but wring its collective hands and fret, and resolve to bolster the fighting capability of the wonderful "rebels".
The second hint came this year when the U.S. and their partners began piecemeal airstrikes against "ISIS" that appeared to merely spur the head-choppers on to more success.


One would have to have had their heads in the sand not to have noticed. Wait a minute, come to think of it...
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/05/2015 12:34 Comments || Top||

#3  embolden Russia to foreign adventurism - potentially disastrous for europe

I think if I lived in Europe, I'd prefer the Godless Rooshians to the head-choppers. Not a good choice to have, but it seems like an easy one to make.
Posted by: Bobby || 10/05/2015 12:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Occam's razor. The bammer ran on "everything Bush did was wrong". So what is he going to do when faced with ISIS? Reverse course and say, "Gee, maybe Bush was on to something"?

Nope. The bammer would rather see the Middle east dissolve into chaos then admit that his world view is wrong.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 10/05/2015 14:26 Comments || Top||

#5  See also WORLD NEWS > [International Business Times]3000 MILITANTS INCLUDING ISIS MEMBERS FLEE SYRIA AS RUSSIA DROPS LEAFLETS DEMANDING THEIR SURRENDER.

John "The Duke" Wayne would be proud of "PUTIN THE AMERIKAN" ... ...

Oh wait...

VERSUS

* LUCIANNE > PUTIN IS DOING WHAT THE US ELECTORATE SHOULD'VE DONE BACK IN 2012, when the Bammer was up for re-election.

D *** NG IT, IT TOOK A RUSSIAN TO DO IT!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/05/2015 23:55 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
40[untagged]
6Islamic State
5Govt of Pakistan
4Taliban
3Govt of Syria
2Govt of Iran
2Muslim Brotherhood
2Hamas
1Govt of Iraq
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Islamic Jihad
1Boko Haram

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2015-10-05
  Israel bars Palestinians from entering Old City after deadly attacks
Sun 2015-10-04
  Sar-e-Pul's Kohistanat District Falls to Taliban
Sat 2015-10-03
  Yemeni loyalists control all of key strait
Fri 2015-10-02
  Taliban militants have reportedly captured Wardoj district of Badakhshan
Thu 2015-10-01
  Afghan forces retake northern city of Kunduz from Taliban militants
Wed 2015-09-30
  U.S. military carries out airstrikes on Kunduz after Taliban attack
Tue 2015-09-29
  Kunduz Falls To The Taliban
Mon 2015-09-28
  85 Pakistani IS turbans killed in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan
Sun 2015-09-27
  Iraqi security reports slow advance into Ramadi
Sat 2015-09-26
  Fighting in city of Taiz kill 3 children, 10 fighters
Fri 2015-09-25
  ISIS hits famous mosque in Yeman - dozens dead
Thu 2015-09-24
  Insurgent group pledges allegiance to al Qaeda's Syria wing
Wed 2015-09-23
  Death toll hits 117 after NE Nigeria bombings
Tue 2015-09-22
  Child migrants entering U.S. rises in August
Mon 2015-09-21
  Al Qaeda-linked suicide bomber blows himself up during Karachi raid


Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
18.221.187.121
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (25)    Non-WoT (11)    Opinion (11)    (0)    Politix (3)