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Drone Kills 15 'Qaida', 3 Civilians in Yemen
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Africa North
Algeria's ailing President-for-Life Abdelaziz Bouteflika wins reelection
[LATIMES] Algeria's ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
... 10th president of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and is currently on his third or fourth term, who will probably die in office of old age...
secured a fourth five-year tenure Friday after amassing nearly 82% of votes, according to initial results announced by Interior Minister Tayeb Belaiz.

The landslide victory in Thursday's election was widely foreseen, despite opposition from Islamists and leftist groups, and his poor health. Bouteflika, 77, is recovering from a stroke and made few public appearances.

Ali Benflis, considered the strongest among five challengers to Bouteflika, came in second, with 12% of the vote, Belaiz said. Several opposition parties boycotted the process.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2014 02:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Opposition cries foul as Bouteflika claims fourth term
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the ageing independence veteran already in power for 15 years, won re-election on Friday after a vote opponents dismissed as a stage-managed fraud to keep the ailing leader in power.

Drooling Sitting in a wheelchair, Bouteflika had cast his vote on Thursday in a rare public appearance since suffering a stroke last year that raised doubts about whether he is fit enough to govern the state.
"Nurse! He's doing that again!"
Preliminary official results showed Bouteflika had won with 81.53 per cent of the vote, Interior Minister Tayeb Belaiz told a news conference. His nearest rival, Ali Benflis, won 12.18 percent, and national turnout was 51.7 per cent.

Bouteflika, 77, was already widely expected to win with the backing of the powerful ruling Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) party, which has dominated the political system since independence from France in 1962. Western governments have been allied with Bouteflika in their campaign against militants in the Maghreb and are keen to secure Algerian gas shipments to Europe especially with Ukraine’s crisis threatening Russian supplies.

Bouteflika did not campaign himself, but loyalists praise him for guiding Algeria out of a 1990s war with Islamists that killed 200,000 people. The conflict left many Algerians wary of the turmoil that has swept neighbouring Tunisia, Egypt and Libya since their “Arab Spring” revolts in 2011. Six opposition parties boycotted Thursday’s vote, saying it would not reform a system mostly closed to change since the FLN’s one-party rule in the early post-independence years.
Just made it easier for him to win...
Bouteflika won 90 per cent of the vote in 2009 and 85 per cent in 2004, when his main rival then, Benflis, alleged fraud on an “industrial” scale. Many Algerians say ageing FLN leaders, business magnates and army generals — known as “Le Pouvoir” or “The Power”, in French — have long managed politics in behind-the-scenes negotiations and see themselves as guardians of stability.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
14 More Nigeria Schoolgirls Escape Islamists
[AnNahar] Another 14 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by 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...
Islamists in the northeast have escaped, leaving 85 missing on Saturday after an attack that has sparked global outrage, an official said.

The unprecedented mass abduction of 129 teenage girls from the Chibok area of Borno state has been described as among the most shocking ever by Boko Haram, an bully boy group blamed for killing thousands since 2009.

"I am glad to say that 14 more students have beat feet from their abductors," Borno's education commissioner Inua Kubo told journalists.

"With this development, we have 44 out of our 129 students."

It was not immediately clear how this latest group managed to flee, although Kubo said 11 had been found after running to a town on the Damboa road which connects Chibok to Borno's capital Maiduguri.

They have since been sent to their family villages, while the three others had returned to their school in Chibok and were being cared for there, he said.

"We are hopefully expecting the return of our 85 students as intensive search and rescue efforts continue," Kubo said.

Some of the girls who escaped within a day of the April 15 attack said the Islamists had taken the hostages to the Sambisa Forest area of Borno state, where Boko Haram is known to have well-fortified camps.

The military said it had launched a major search and rescue operation, but some in the region say they have lost confidence in the security forces after the defense ministry issued an erroneous report claiming that most of the girls were safe.

That statement, issued late Wednesday, said all but eight of those kidnapped were free, but defense front man Chris Olukolade was forced to withdraw the report on Friday after it turned out to be inaccurate.

Boko Haram, whose name loosely translates as "Western education is forbidden", has repeatedly attacked schools during its five-year uprising, including the mass slaughter of students in their sleep.

The attack on the girls' school came just hours a kaboom at packed bus station on the outskirts of Abuja killed 75 people, the deadliest attack ever in the capital.

President Goodluck Jonathan
... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
held an emergency meeting with his national security council on Thursday to review the latest unrest, with another meeting set for next week.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2014 07:03 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
Analysts Say Gulf Deal Leaves the Ball in Qatar's Court
[AnNahar] Wealthy Gulf Arab states have reached a "vague" compromise to thaw tensions over the Moslem Brüderbund with Qatar which has yet to prove its good intentions, analysts say.

Thursday's deal between the six Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers did not, however, mention the return of Saudi, Emirati, and Bahraini ambassadors withdrawn from Doha in an unprecedented move on March 5.

"The ball is now in Qatar's camp," Saudi former diplomat Abdullah al-Shammari told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Qatar is accused of supporting the Moslem Brüderbund, but 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...
and other Gulf monarchies have long been hostile to the Islamist movement.

They fear that its brand of grass-roots activism and political Islam could undermine their own authority.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain had publicly accused Qatar of meddling in their internal affairs, a charge Doha dismissed.

After Kuwaiti mediation, Thursday's extraordinary meeting in Riyadh ended with the GCC ministers agreeing that the policies of member states should not undermine the "interests, security and stability" of each other, a statement said.

Nor should they impinge on the "illusory sovereignty" of another member.

The statement, described by Emirati political science professor Abdulkhaleq Abdulla as "vague and indecisive" despite "reflecting reconciliation", did not name Qatar or elaborate on the deal.

"The Qataris asked that the statement remain general and not directed towards them," he said.

But "despite the vagueness in the statement's wording, Doha knows well the demands of the three countries," said Shammari, calling the agreement "a first step towards easing tensions".

The three monarchies said in March that Doha had failed to comply with a non-interference commitment by Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

During a tripartite meeting in Riyadh in November, Kuwait's emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah sought to ease tensions between King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah
... Fifth out of 37 sons of King Abdulaziz to ascend to the throne. He is, after his half-brothers Bandar and Musa'id, the third eldest of the living sons of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. Abdullah's mother is from the Rashid clan, longtime rivals of the Saud. He has 6 sons and 15 daughters and about $20 billion. His youngest son is just seven years old...
and Tamim.

On Thursday, the foreign ministers agreed on an "implementation mechanism" to the November agreement in a meeting described by participants as "calm" in contrast to a reportedly "stormy" March 4 summit.

Abdulla said Qatar has already implemented part of the deal by asking several Emirati and Saudi Moslem Brüderbund opposition figures in Doha to leave, and will soon expel more foreign Islamists.

Another bone of contention is influential Doha-based satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS...
, seen by critics as pro-Moslem Brüderbund which Saudi Arabia has designated a "terrorist" group.

Qatar on Thursday agreed to tone down Al-Jazeera but "this will be gradual", Abdulla said.

The Saudis had also demanded that Qatar end its alleged support for Yemen's Shiite Houthis along the kingdom's southern border.

"We are yet to see" if Qatar will implement this part of the agreement, Abdulla said.

Mohammad al-Musfer, political science professor at the University of Qatar, insists that Doha's "foreign policy will not change, regardless of the circumstances".

He said Thursday's accord does not "demand concessions on the policies member states are committed to, based on the principle of illusory sovereignty".

Musfer said Qatar agreed to the "wording" of the deal, but not "on the core matters".

"Any GCC member has the right to host whoever it pleases in its territories as long as this figure does not harm anyone," he said.

On March 18, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal warned there will be rapprochement between Riyadh and Doha only when Qatar modifies its policies.

His counterpart Khalid al-Attiya defended Qatar's independent foreign policy, saying it "provides a forum for all those who do not belong to any bloc to come and exchange their views."

But Attiya also said last month that this does not mean that Doha agrees with them.

A Gulf official, requesting anonymity, told AFP that the envoys of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain will not return to Doha until Qatar demonstrates its good intentions.

According to Abdulla, and despite Kuwaiti certainty, "there is doubt in the UAE and Saudi Arabia" that Qatar will keep its promises.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2014 07:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Europe
Germany Investigates Suspected Lebanese Radical
[AnNahar] German prosecutors have said they're investigating an alleged Lebanese member of a hard-line Islamic group in Syria and two suspected accomplices accused of helping him procure money and supplies.

Federal prosecutors said Thursday the main suspect is believed to have trained and fought in Syria last year with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original...
, an al-Qaeda-linked group.

They identified the 24-year-old Lebanese national only as Ismail I. in line with Germany privacy rules.

Prosecutors said the group sent him back to Germany to procure money, medicine and military supplies, including camouflage gear and night vision goggles.

He and one of the alleged accomplices were tossed in the clink
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
on a German highway in November as they set off for Syria. Federal prosecutors, who handle terrorism cases, took over the case last month.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2014 07:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Levant


Home Front: WoT
US settlement reached to sell Iran-owned skyscraper in New York
NEW YORK: US prosecutors unveiled plans Thursday to sell an Iran-owned Manhattan skyscraper in the largest terror-related seizure ever, and distribute proceeds to families affected by attacks linked to Tehran.

The settlement approved by a federal judge with 19 plaintiffs is the latest development in a long-running case over the fate of 650 Fifth Avenue. The 36-story building is located in the heart of New York City.

Among the creditors are families and estates of victims of the 1983 bombings of US Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 military personnel and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 US service members.

US District Judge Katherine Forrest ruled in favor of the government’s suit last year, saying the building’s owners had violated Iran sanctions and money laundering laws.

Prosecutors allege the building’s owners, the Alavi Foundation — a non-profit corporation promoting Islamic culture and Persian language — and Assa Corporation, transferred rental income and other funds to Iran’s state-owned Bank Melli. In addition to the Manhattan tower, US authorities will also sell Iran-linked properties in California, Maryland, Texas, Virginia and the Queens borough of New York, along with the contents of bank accounts formerly in the name of entities that served as fronts for Iran.

No date has yet been set for the sale of the properties, and one private plaintiff has not joined the settlement. The government will recoup litigation expenses and costs associated with the sale of any properties seized and sold by the US Marshals Service, according to the settlement. The remaining proceeds will be distributed among the plaintiffs based on the unpaid damages awarded to them in court.
Better American lawyers than Iranian mullahs. I suppose...
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


India-Pakistan
Pakistan to hold fresh talks with Taliban negotiators
ISLAMABAD – The government is planning a fresh round of talks with Taliban negotiators at the weekend, officials said on Friday, despite the militants' refusal to extend a ceasefire called to help peace efforts.
These aren't talks, these are joint planning conferences...
Talks to end the Taliban’s bloody seven-year insurgency have been under way since February, with little clear progress made so far. On Wednesday, the militants said they would not extend the ceasefire they began on March 1 to help talks, complaining of a lack of movement from the government side.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali said in a statement that he has called a meeting with the Taliban’s talks committee to decide how to proceed. He said only dialogue could overcome reservations and objections, but warned there was little chance of progress without a ceasefire.

"If Taliban have certain objections, we also have reservations," he said, adding the government pushed forward the peace process against serious logjams. “(But) I don't think the talks process will move forward in the absence of a ceasefire,” said Nisar, who has been an ardent supporter of the talks.

He will meet the Taliban’s three-man talks committee, led by Sami-ul-Haq. Members of the government negotiating team are also likely to attend Saturday's talks, a senior official told AFP. In the restive northwest, which has borne the brunt of the violence of the last seven years, militants opened fire on paramilitary troops, killing one and wounding two others.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Imam of Umm al-Fahm mosque: 'Incidents aim to harm relations between Arabs and Jews'
[Ynet] Following the price tag on an Umm al-Fahm mosque, Jamil Mahagna, the mosque's Imam, said: "Such incidents aim to harm relations between Arabs and Jews. We demand the arrest of the criminals."

Earlier,vandals set fire to the entrance door of a mosque in Umm al-Fahm and spray painted the words "Arabs out" on its walls.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2014 02:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


‘No breakthrough’ in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators meeting US envoy Martin Indyk to try to find a way to extend faltering peace talks have failed to reach agreement, a Palestinian source told AFP.

The meeting began in the late afternoon on Thursday in a Jerusalem hotel but ended after five hours of “very difficult discussions”, the source said.

“The gap (between the parties) is still wide. There was no breakthrough,” added the Palestinian source.

Indyk is now expected to meet negotiators again on Friday, but he will talk to the Israeli and Palestinian sides separately.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators had met on their own on Sunday and held a three-way meeting with Indyk a week ago in last-ditch efforts to save the stagnant peace process launched by US Secretary of State John Kerry in July for a period of nine months.

State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said this week that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are striving to reach an agreement to extend the talks beyond their April 29 deadline. Washington is pushing for an extension but the negotiations hit an impasse two weeks ago.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Four French journalists 'Free' after Syria Kidnap
[AnNahar] Four French journalists taken hostage in Syria last year were freed on Saturday after a 10-month ordeal in the world's most dangerous country for the media.

French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist...
said Edouard Elias, Didier Francois, Nicolas Henin and Pierre Torres were "in good health despite the very challenging conditions of their captivity".

Turkish soldiers found the four men abandoned in no-man's land on the border with Syria overnight Friday-Saturday, wearing blindfolds and with their hands bound, the Turkish news agency Dogan reported.

The soldiers initially took them for smugglers but took them to a cop shoppe in the small Turkish town of Akcakle near the border when they realized they were speaking French.

Footage of the four journalists broadcast on Turkish television showed them looking unkempt, with beards and long hair, but they appeared to be in good health.

"I'm very happy to be free. We just came from Syria," Francois was shown saying. "We thank the Turkish authorities because they really helped us. It's very nice to see the sky, to be able to walk and to speak freely."

Francois, a news hound for Europe 1 radio, and photographer Elias were taken north of Aleppo on June 6. Henin, news hound for Point magazine, and freelance photographer Torres were seized two weeks later in the north of the country, at Raqqa.

The four men are expected to arrive in La Belle France later Saturday or early Sunday.

Henin's father Pierre-Yves Henin told AFP by telephone the men were "about to get on a plane to come back", and that their morale was "particularly good".

He told BFM-TV the family had been aware of recent "contacts", and had hoped they would "prove fruitful", but that the news that his son was free was nonetheless a surprise.

The head of Europe 1 Denis Olivennes said he was overjoyed at the news.

"I want to thank the authorities that have permitted their liberation, all those who mobilized, the families... the list is too long," he said.

The four men's liberation comes weeks after two Spanish journalists taken hostage in Syria by an Al-Qaeda-linked group also walked free.

El Mundo correspondent Javier Espinosa, 49, and freelance photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, 42, were released and handed over to the Turkish military last month.

They had been in captivity since September 16.

Thanking "all those who contributed to the successful outcome", the president said the men would return to La Belle France "in the coming hours".

He reaffirmed his "deep commitment to the freedom of the press, which demands respect for the security and integrity of journalists in their role of providing information."

Hollande said his attention was now with two other French citizens still held in the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
of Africa, reaffirming his "determination" and the "relentless mobilization of the state's forces to obtain their liberation".

Among those still being held in Syria is U.S. journalist James Foley, who had been working for Global Post, Agence La Belle France-Presse and other international media.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2014 07:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Satellite Images Show Before And After Alleged IAF Strike
[Ynet] Lebanese paper publishes photos of reported arms depot in Hezbollah-controlled area and images taken 10 days after alleged strike of scorched earth.
Those of you who have experience in such things might find the photos at the link of interest.
Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star published photos on Friday that reportedly show a Hezbollah arms storage facility in the Bekka Valley before and after it was allegedly bombed by Israel two months ago.

The Google
...contributed $814,540 to the 2008 Obama campaign...
Earth satellite images from March 6, ten days after the alleged Israeli strike, reportedly show scorched earth and possible traces of a building that was, until recently, at the side of a dirt road south of the town of Janta.

Another satellite image from September 2, 2012, shows a 21x11 meters structure that has what appears to be two entrances for vehicles.

The report stated that this structure was located in an area under Hezbollah control that includes a training camp and living quarters for the organization's soldiers.
The IAF has to love this. You can't buy this kind of public relations...
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2014 02:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Obama's Effective Iran Sanctions: Iran Oil Exports Rise To 1.2 Million Barrels Per Day
[Ynet] Rouhani administration doubles oil exports in 8 month period; deputy oil minister says exports are expected to rise further.

Despite the higher numbers, Iran's oil exports remain heavily down on shipment levels before sanctions - the country was shipping 2.5 million barrels per day of crude abroad in late 2011.

China, India, South Korea and Japan are Iran's biggest oil export markets.

Under a preliminary deal signed last November, Iran agreed to freeze some nuclear activities for six months, which led to modest sanctions relief and a promise from Western powers of no new restrictions on its hard-hit economy.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2014 02:35 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Nice red line ya' got there. Be a shame if something happened to it.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 04/19/2014 22:06 Comments || Top||


Fighting in Syria has changed Hezbollah's tactics
[Ynet] As target of choice shifts from 'Zionist enemy' in Israel to 'Sunni bully boys' in Syria, Hezbollah learns how to fight on a large scale.

Leb's Hezbollah movement is gaining new combat experience in Syria, shedding its guerrilla tactics to fight alongside an army, and shifting its narrative to explain the battle against "Sunni bully boys".

Its forces, who used their homeground advantage and methods such as underground tunnels against Israel's army in Leb, are now the targets of unconventional warfare on unfamiliar terrain in Syria.

And the mothers of many of its fighters, who once sent their sons to battle the "Zionist enemy," now pray for them to be martyred fighting bully boy Sunnis who make up part of Syria's opposition.

The engagement in Syria has given the Shiite group a chance to initiate new recruits, experts say.

"A new generation of Hezbollah fighters is getting 'blooded' in Syria," Andrew Exum, a former Leb desk officer at the US Defense Department, told AFP.

"I imagine they're getting very good at small unit tactics and battle drills against a live opposition."

Hezbollah is believed to have about 5,000 fighters in Syria at any given time, with thousands more preparing to deploy.

Their officials say so many men signed up last year that they are no longer actively recruiting for the Syria front.

Initial training for those who pass scrutiny of their religious credentials and background checks, is carried out in Leb, where courses last from 40 days to three months.

Additional training is provided in Iran for about two months, with a focus on heavy weaponry and preparing members for command positions.

Fighters who have battled both Israel and the rebels in Syria seeking to overthrow Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
describe them as very different experiences.

"When I fought against Israel in 2006, it was clear who the enemy was," said Abu Ali, a fighter in his 40s.

"In Syria there are many enemies, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original...
, Al-Nusra Front, the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...

"We know our land well and command it easily, but in Syria the terrain is not as familiar to us, and there is a lot of variety: desert, mountains, valleys."

Syria's conflict, wrote former US defense intelligence official Jeffrey White this January, is giving Hezbollah "valuable knowledge of irregular warfare and actual combat experience".

"Hezbollah is conducting operations, including offensive ones, and not just fighting tactical battles," he wrote in a Combating Terrorism Centre report.

"This is warfare of a different kind... involving larger formations, longer periods of time, in more complex maneuvers."

Hezbollah's engagement in Syria has also seen it take on a significant role training Syrian forces, who its members say are woefully unprepared.

Hezbollah fighter Abu Hussein describes the army opening fire on its Lebanese allies accidentally more than once.

"They have no experience in urban warfare or how to deal with a guerrilla force, so we lead the way in battle and have trained them on how to conduct themselves and use certain weapons," he said.

That experience, as well as the chance to introduce new fighters to combat, is "valuable" for the group, an April report by the Institute for the Study of War said.

"Hezbollah now has a cadre of fighters that has experience conducting offensive operations in urban environment.

"Hezbollah units have also gained experience coordinating with allied forces in combat, as well as logistical sustainment over longer periods."

Shift in narrative
But the conflict has not been without costs for Hezbollah, which has lost about 300 fighters in Syria.

Experts say not all the group's experience in Syria, where it is allied with the better-equipped party and on the offensive, will be relevant to any new defensive conflict with Israel.

And the group's intervention has made it the target of an unprecedented wave of attacks by bully boy Sunni groups against its Leb strongholds.

Hezbollah has also been forced to shift its narrative away from a traditional singular focus on Israel.

In multiple speeches, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has said the group is fighting hard boyz in Syria to prevent them entering Leb.

He has also worked to tie the group's old enemy Israel to its new one, referring to the rebels as an "American-Israeli-takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
project," using a term for Sunni bully boys.

For many Hezbollah fighters, the battle is cast as a way to protect Shiite holy sites in Syria and their sect more broadly, according to Philip Smyth, a researcher at the University of Maryland who focuses on the movement.

"The conflict is being presented as a defensive jihad for Shiite shrines combined with an undercurrent regarding the existence of the sect in the region," he told AFP.

The narrative and the group's involvement has stirred sectarian tension between Leb's Shiites and Sunni residents who back Syria's uprising.

But among the Hezbollah faithful, there is little sign supporters are losing patience with the intervention.

In one Lebanese village, the yellow flags of Hezbollah flapped overhead as a mother received condolences on the death of her son in Syria.

Her three other sons are still across the border fighting.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2014 02:04 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  If Sunni Arabs take power in Syria, non-Sunnis in Lebanon (aka Greater Syria) are screwed.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/19/2014 6:57 Comments || Top||

#2  And Sunnis and Non-Sunnis in Lebanon are going to be screwed over when Hezbollah's patrons get the bomb and use Lebanon as a launching pad for it. They might be screwed less under the Sunnis than the likely endgame under Hezbollah.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/19/2014 9:33 Comments || Top||

#3  And Sunnis and Non-Sunnis in Lebanon are going to be screwed over when Hezbollah's patrons get the bomb and use Lebanon as a launching pad for it. They might be screwed less under the Sunnis than the likely endgame under Hezbollah.

Hezbollah's not gonna let themselves be used as a cat's paw for Iran. When was the last time it did a major operation against Israel? All they're doing is a bunch of pinprick operations meant to justify continued subsidies from Tehran. Iran obviously wants a greater return on its investment than a dozen dead Israelis a year, but Hezbollah's not cooperating. It's tempting to see these people as one gigantic entity, but each of them has his own personal, philosophical, sectarian and nationalist agenda.

Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/19/2014 15:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Hezbollah is fighting Sunni Arab rebels in Syria with much more vigor than it ever fought Israel because Israel isn't a threat to Hezbollah's existence, whereas a Sunni Arab regime in Syria is.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/19/2014 15:15 Comments || Top||


Miserable Syrians in Jordan say they’d rather go home
Syrian refugees in Jordan say they are so miserable that they would rather face “inevitable death” in their war-torn country than live in conditions that have sparked riots. With Syria’s war now in its fourth year, many of the 100,000 refugees in the sprawling desert Zaatari camp in northern Jordan feel the world has forgotten their struggle to survive.

“Syrian refugees would rather go home and face inevitable death than swallow the bitterness of displacement,” Abu Isam, 52, told AFP before his cousins and other refugees boarded a bus back to Syria. “Nobody cares about Syrian refugees — the world has fooled us. They said our crisis will not last long. Now I feel a solution to our dilemma is impossible."
It could be worse -- you could end up like the Palestinians...
Rioting and protests over poor living conditions have erupted periodically since Zaatari, near the border with Syria, opened two years ago. Early this month rioting killed one refugee and wounded dozens, mostly policemen. It was the first time a refugee has been killed.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR and Jordanian authorities said the rioting was over the detention of a refugee family and a driver who tried to smuggle them out.

“People are fed up with conditions at the camp. Many people are going home despite the destruction and war,” said Hasan Zubi, adding that his wife and children had recently returned to Syria because of “inhuman conditions” at Zaatari. Zubi, 68, and other refugees said the riots erupted after police prevented three Syrian women from leaving the densely populated, seven-square-kilometre (2.8-square-mile) camp without permission.

“One of them started shouting and calling for help, claiming a policeman attacked her and the rioting started. We sought refuge in this country and we need to respect it and respect its laws,” added the former bus driver from Daraa.

Around 100 refugees leave Zaatari daily to go back to Syria, and more than 100,000 have returned since the conflict in their country began in 2011, government figures show. But every day some 500 Syrians also seek refuge in Jordan, which now houses more than 500,000 refugees — 80 percent of them in urban areas.

“We fled a big prison in Syria to a small prison in Jordan and it looks like we are going to die here,” said Alaa, 37, from Syria’s central city of Homs. “We want a normal life... to eat, drink and live normally. Is that too much to wish for?”

The refugees complain about the dust and electricity shortages at Zaatari, where summer temperatures rise to around 40ÂşC (104 Fahrenheit) and in winter plunge below freezing. Last year, the worst winter storm in a decade turned Zaatari into a muddy swamp, blowing away at least 500 tents. Most have since been replaced with caravans.

Global relief agency CARE International said in a study released Wednesday Syrian refugees in urban areas of Jordan are struggling to cope. It said a household assessment of more than 2,200 Syrian refugees showed 90 percent living in debt to relatives, landlords, shopkeepers and neighbors.

“Many refugees live under tremendous phycological pressure and they want to vent. We are doing what we can to contain them,” Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Rahman, head of Zaatari, told AFP. “It is very difficult to run a place where more than 100,000 people of different backgrounds live. There are negative aspects of course, but things are generally under control.”

The refugees see things differently. “We live like animals here,” said Ziad Shehadat, 32. His father Yussef was even more outspoken. “Honestly, death in my country is better than humiliation here. I feel as if we don’t exist at all."
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  of course, it's all the fault of the Juice, somehow
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2014 10:19 Comments || Top||


Iran unveils new home-made military equipment
Iran unveiled its various home-made military equipment today, during the parade on the occasion of Day of the Iranian Armed Forces.

All units of the Iranian Armed Forces and the Islamic revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) including Air Force fighters participated in the parade which took place in front of the mausoleum of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini on April 18, the country's ISNA news agency reported.

During the parade, the upgraded models of home-made Zulfiqar, Samsam and Sabalan tanks, Akhgar and Moharram machine guns, Poush and Ghader mobile missile launchers, and Arash radar system were exhibited.
I'm disappointed that they didn't dress up an old F-5 as their 'new' indigenous fighter...
Commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General, Farzad Esmaili said that the unveiled mobile launchers will increase Iranian defence system's capabilities. Commenting on the Arash radar system, Esmaili said that it is a long-range radar system, which has high capability of detecting targets in electronic warfare.

The unveiled six-barrel, 50-caliber machine gun "Moharram" has a firing rate of 2000 rounds per minute. Another home-made 76-caliber, gatling-type machine gun "Akhgar" which was unveiled, has an effective range of more than 2 km and has a firing rate of 4000 to 6000 rounds per minute, according to some Iranian media outlets.

Iranian military officials have previously announced that the country will start mass production of the newly unveiled models of Zulfiqar and Samsam tanks.

Iranian media outlets claim Iran has made great achievements in its defence sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems in recent years.

Since 1992, Iran has manufactured its own tanks, armoured personnel carriers, missiles, radars, boats, submarines and fighter planes. Iran also unveiled its first domestically-manufactured long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in 2010.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Bet they don't have one of these.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2014 3:18 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Al-Qaida Splinter Group Lashes Out Over Syria
[Ynet] The front man of an al-Qaeda breakaway group has slammed the terror network's chief, blaming him for the widening rift between rival Islamic rebels who are battling each other in Syria.

The front man for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original...
, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, accused al-Qaeda's top leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, of "deviating from the right approach" and betraying the cause of jihad, or holy war.
"Splitters!"
Al-Adnani spoke in an audio message posted on Death Eater websites late Thursday.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2014 02:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Levant



Who's in the News
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2al-Qaeda in the Levant
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1Govt of Syria
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2014-04-19
  Drone Kills 15 'Qaida', 3 Civilians in Yemen
Fri 2014-04-18
  Afghan woman MP shot in Kabul
Thu 2014-04-17
  Al-Nusra Chief Killed by Rivals in Syria
Wed 2014-04-16
  Deputy Minister Kidnapped in Kabul
Tue 2014-04-15
  Twin bomb blasts kill 71, injure 124 in Nigeria
Mon 2014-04-14
  Boko Haram massacres students, kills 200 others in Borno
Sun 2014-04-13
  Gunmen storm 'pro-govt' Pak village, kidnap 100 men
Sat 2014-04-12
  ISIS on retreat in Deir al-Zor after surprise attack
Fri 2014-04-11
  5 Killed as Houthis Press 'Advance' on Yemen Capital
Thu 2014-04-10
  Baloch separatists claim Islamabad terror attack; 24 killed
Wed 2014-04-09
  Netanyahu instructs government ministries to cease cooperation with Palestinians
Tue 2014-04-08
  Rebels claim gains in Aleppo and Qunaitra
Mon 2014-04-07
  Army Begins Removing Hizbullah Checkpoints in Baalbek, al-Hermel
Sun 2014-04-06
  Iraq forces kill more than 40 militants near Baghdad
Sat 2014-04-05
  German AP Photographer Shot Dead in Afghanistan

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