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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Syrian forces advance on IS-held Taqba air base
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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2 08:27 Bobby [336074]
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
6 17:19 Silentbrick [336105]
4 15:33 Procopius2k [336069]
1 11:38 Elmavish Panda1401 [336074]
3 15:51 JohnQC [336070]
5 11:56 Ebbang Uluque6305 [336086]
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18 18:41 Procopius2k [336099]
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22 22:59 DarthVader [336105]
Page 6: Politix
1 11:48 Skidmark [336074]
4 12:50 Ebbang Uluque6305 [336082]
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:20 || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under:

#1  She's gotta be from West Haven.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/20/2016 8:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Sometimes ya gotta tell 'em twice.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 06/20/2016 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Or three times, eh, Almost Anonymous?

Extras deleted at 9:42 a.m. ET.
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/20/2016 9:29 Comments || Top||

#4  She's gotta be from West Haven.

Looks like a Bridgeport gal to me.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 06/20/2016 11:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Nah, East Hartford.
Posted by: AlanC || 06/20/2016 11:30 Comments || Top||

#6  A sensitive Endicott mendicant
Went West to teach Indians etiquette,
But laid down her Burden;
Just where isn't certain --
She took the wrong fork in Connecticut.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/20/2016 22:04 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
23 ISIS fighters killed in East of Afghanistan
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 23 loyalists of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in an Arclight airstrike in eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province of Afghanistan.

Security officials said Sunday that the faceless myrmidons were killed in an Arclight airstrike conducted in Achin district which is home to scores of ISIS loyalists.

The officials further added another ISIS Lion of Islam was maimed during the Arclight airstrike but it is yet not clear if the raid was conducted by the Afghan Air Force or the US forces in Afghanistan.

This comes as at least 21 ISIS faceless myrmidons were killed in a similar raid in Achin district last week, while at least 15 more were killed during a separate operation conducted in Achin earlier.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Taliban shot 6 civilians for breaking Ramadan fast in Herat
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs shot at least 6 civilians after accusing them of breaking Ramadan fast in western Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
province of Afghanistan.

According to the local officials, the incident took place in Obe district after the Talibs initially opened fire on residents of Tagab Yari area.

District police chief Sher Aqa Alokozai said he is aware of reports regarding an attack by the Talibs on civilians over alleged breaking of Ramadan fast.

He said the Talibs first shot two civilians and then opened fire on four others accusing of them supporting the two individuals who had broken Ramadan fast.

According to the eyewitnesses in the area, the local residents started clash with the Taliban holy warriors after they shot 6 civilians.

They are saying that 3 Taliban holy warriors were also maimed during the clash with the local residents.

Taliban’s military commission chief for Badghis killed in an ambush

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A senior Taliban leader was killed in an ambush of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) in western Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
province of Afghanistan.

Local officials in Herat province said Mawlavi Alam was the group’s military commission chief for Badghis province and was killed as he was travelling to Herat province.

Provincial governor’s front man for Herat Jilani Farhad said Mawlavi Alam was ambushed by the Afghan forces in Keshk-e-Rabat district.

He said Mawlavi Alam was involved in major attacks that led to the killing of scores of security personnel and civilians.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Yeah, well here Amish trade children for debts.
Where's the moral balance?
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2016 10:35 Comments || Top||

#2  It turns out they are actually ex-Amish. Their community shunned them for dealing with this individual, so they quit.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2016 13:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Unfortunate for the victims,
the hungry, the misguided, the children.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2016 17:49 Comments || Top||


Taliban spy chief found wounded in police vehicle on the way to Kabul
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A senior Taliban leader was found maimed in a police vehicle as he was being shifted to 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....
apparently for treatment purposes.

The Taliban leader identified as Qari Zahir was the spy chief of the Taliban group and was found from the police vehicle in a check post in Khenjan district of Baghlan.

A security official speaking on the condition of anonymity said Qari Zahir was incarcerated
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
by the operatives of the Afghan intelligence, National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS).

The official further added that two coppers were also arrested in connection to the evacuation of the senior Taliban leader using the police vehicle.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336108 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Perhaps he will become much more wounded while in custody, if the authorities are aggressive in their interrogation.
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/20/2016 9:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Looks like a job for Baltimore Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby! Quick, someone light the batharpy-light!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/20/2016 10:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, the roads are rough in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/20/2016 16:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Coulda been worse. They could have had a shipping container.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 06/20/2016 19:15 Comments || Top||


Gunmen abduct 4 including 2 education officials in Ghor province
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Unknown gunnies have kidnapped at least 4 people including two education officials in central Ghor province of Afghanistan.

According to the local government officials, the incident took place on Saturday as they were on their way to the central city of Ghor.

An official in the provincial education directorate cofirmed the incident and said it is yet not clear if the civilians have been kidnapped by the Talibs or gunnies belonging to any holy warriors group.

The anti-government armed murderous Moslem groups including the Taliban holy warriors have not commented regarding the report so far.

This comes as the Talibs have increased hostage takings in the country during the recent months, specifically in northern provinces.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Taliban suffer heavy casualties in Uruzgan, 47 killed, 41 wounded
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs suffered heavy casualties during an operation in the restive Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the operation was conducted in Charchino district by the Special Forces of the Afghan National Army.

According to MoD, the operations were conducted to suppress the insurgency activities of the Talibs which led to the elimination fo 47 murderous Moslems while 41 others were maimed.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Unknown what government casualties were. Uncertain how honest the Taliban counts are. Controversial how useful body counts are. That said, the Taliban would appear to be suffering significantly more damage of late.
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/20/2016 9:34 Comments || Top||


Key Taliban Oberstürmführer zapped in Kunduz airstrike
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A key leader of the Taliban group was killed in an airstrike in the restive Kunduz province in north of Afghanistan.

“During an air strike, eight armed Taliban were killed including Qari Ali a key member of armed Taliban,” the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said.

According to a statement by MoI, the airstrike took place in Taraki village, Dasht Archi District of northern Kunduz province, yesterday evening.

“This group was involved in many terrorist and destructive activities in this district and other areas of Kunduz province,” the statement added.

According to MoI, “After eliminating this group the security situation in this district is expected to improve.”
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Shaboobs ambush Æthiopian convoy in Somalia
Heavily armed fighters from Al Shabaab have carried out an ambush attack on military convoy belonging to Ethiopian troops serving with African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The attack happened as AMISOM convoy were passing in an area, 20Km away from Elbur town, with Al Shabaab claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on the AU peacekeepers in the firefight.

Ethiopian forces have repulsed the Al Shabaab attack, and fended off the fighters who shot AK-47 riffle bullets on the convoy, according to Abdi Mohamed Hassan who is Elbur district commissioner.

African Union Mission in Somalia did not comment on ambush attack that Al-shabaab claimed to have incurred casualties against AMISOM soldiers.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


KDF battles Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia
Fierce fighting between Kenyan military and Al Shabaab fighters took place in Hosingow area in Lower Jubba region of southern Somalia on Sunday, reports said.

The Kenyan army has engaged in a “fierce” battle with Al-Shabaab fighters, according to local residents who said they could heard gunfire and sound of blasts as result of the attack.

The combat flared up early on Sunday morning after Al shabaab attack on KDF base in Hosingow town. Both sides have suffered unspecified number of fatalities and injuries.

During the confrontation, the warring sides have exchanged heavy and small weaponry that raged on for hours and could be felt distances from the battle zone, reports added.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336102 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Africa North
Benghazi militants attack in Ajdabiya but forced by LNA to retreat
[LibyaHerald] A new militia made of of militants who fled Bengahzi in recent months tried to seize the industrial zone in Ajdabiya today but were forced to retreat by units linked to the Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Hafter.

The militia, known as the “Defend Benghazi Brigades”, is led by Islamist Ziyad Belam backed by Ismail Salabi, and is an attempt to reconstitute the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council which has been all-but defeated by the LNA.

According to the spokesperson of LNA’s Ajdabiya operations room, Akram Bu Haligha, a convoy of 40 armed vehicles headed to Ajdabiya two days ago from the south.

“The 101 brigade of the LNA were involved in a clash against the enemies forces at the area of the Man Made River project,” he said.

He accused the head of the central region Petroleum Facilities Guards (PFG) Ibrahim Jadhran of helping the militia enter Ajdabiya.

He added: “Even if we accepted that the Presidency Council is legitimate, this group has violated its [the Presidency Council’s] decision establishing a military operations room from Ajdabiya to Sirte and it prohibited all sides undertaking operations against others.”

Three weeks ago, the Presidency Council set up the Ajdabiya-Sirte oeprations room under the command of Colonel Yousef Rajeb Ageela, although most of the forces consist of PFG men. In an order aimed specifically at the LNA, the Council also insisted no miltary grouping other than forces under its command should undertake any activities in the area.

Since then the operations room has recaptured Ben Jawad, Nufliya and Harawa from the so-called Islamic State.

The accusation that Jadhran helped Ziyad Belam attack Ajdabiya is unlikely. Jadhran supports the Presidency Council and the Government of National Accord and yesterday had talks in Ras Lanuf with its defence minister, Mahdi Barghathi, accompanying him also to Nufliya and Ben Jawad. For his part, Barghathi who has spent much of the past two years fighting the BRSC and otehr militants in Benghazi has said that the “Defend Benghazi Brigades” are extremists and will be opposed.

It seems inconceivable that he would be making plans with Jadhran if the latter were at the very same time aiding and abetting the militants.

The new force does have the support, however, the Tripoli-based grand mufti Sadik Al-Ghariani and is allegedly backed by some businessmen from Misrata.

Ziyad Balam was head of the Omar Mukhtar Brigade in Bengahzi but was seriously wounded in an assassination bid there in October 2014. He was then flown to Turkey for treatment. After he returned to Misrata, he went to Tripoli and has never been back to Benghazi. He has reportedly been active in the eastern part of Jufrah distict, from where, it is suggested, he launched the abortive operation against Ajdabiya.
Posted by: badanov || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under:


Libya eastern government declares martial law
[Al Ahram] The speaker of Libya's eastern parliament has declared martial law in areas under its control, a move intended to empower its military to respond quickly to infiltration by militias loyal to the rival, UN-brokered government 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...
Parliament Speaker Agila Saleh's declaration Sunday places the military on high alert and expands its powers.

The measure reflects the eastern administration's consternation as it comes under growing pressure by the international community to recognize the Tripoli-based national unity government.

Libya descended into chaos after its 2011 civil war, with Islamic turbans gaining in strength as two rival governments in the east and west vied for control. The UN-backed government arrived in Tripoli in March.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


ISIS tries to break siege in Libya’s Sirte
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The ISIS group tried Sunday to break a siege on their last holdouts in Sirte but were pushed back by fighters allied to Libya's unity government, a front man said.

ISIS fighters have been pinned down in parts of Sirte since forces allied to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) launched an operation to dislodge them from the coastal city last month.

On Sunday pro-GNA forces said they clashed with the turbans who had launched a bid to break away from positions west of Sirte using "medium-sized" weapons.

"Our forces confronted them and forced them to retreat," front man Reda Issa told AFP.

"Two of our men were killed and five maimed" in the festivities around the Al-Ghrebat sector of Sirte, he said.

Militant groups took root in Libya in late 2014, taking advantage of the chaos and power struggles that followed the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
-backed uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Qadaffy in 2011.

The pro-GNA forces launched an operation to drive ISIS out of Sirte on May 12.

Last week they imposed a siege around the Mediterranean city and advanced into parts of it but the operation has slowed down with jihadists holed up in residential areas.

"The pro-government forces are advancing cautiously because ISIS fighters are barricaded inside homes and we are trying to avoid using heavy artillery to spare civilians who could also be inside," said Issa.

ISIS has counter-attacked during the past week, including with suicide kabooms that have killed at least nine pro-GNA forces.

Issa said the pro-GNA forces were now focused on trying to "bolster their positions on the outskirts of Sirte to reinforce the siege and provoke ISIS fighters to come out of hiding".

At least 166 pro-GNA forces have been killed and more than 500 have been maimed since the assault was launched last month, according to an AFP count based on reports from medical officials.

No casualty figures are available for the jihadists in Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of the capital.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Algerian troops kill 14 Islamist militants: ministry
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Algerian soldiers killed 14 armed Islamist militants in an ongoing operation south of the capital on Sunday, the defence ministry said giving a new toll.

It said the “terrorists” were killed in an ambush in a mountainous area of the Medea region, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Algiers.

Weapons, ammunition and an explosives vest were seized, it said.

The ambush was part of an ongoing operation against militants that began on June 9 and had so far led to the killings of 17 “terrorists” and the arrests of four others.

The authorities in the North African country use the term “terrorists” to refer to Islamist militants.

A brutal civil war in the 1990s between the government and Islamists claimed about 200,000 lives.

Despite adopting a peace and reconciliation charter in 2005 aimed at turning the page on the conflict, armed groups remain active in some areas.

At least 101 armed Islamists have been killed by security forces this year, according to an AFP count compiled from official bulletins.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Arabia
30+ Soddy troops die in missile attack in al-Jawf
More than 50 Saudi-led forces were killed and injured as Yemeni army and popular committees launched a ballistic missile on their gathering in al-Jawf province.

Yemeni sources said at least 30 soldiers were killed while 24 others were injured in the rocket attack in al-Hazm governorate.ballsitic missile Yemen

The Saudi-led forces were gathering in Brigade 115 headquarters when a ballistic missile was fired, the sources said.

Among the killed and the injured are officials in the Saudi-led coalition which has been for more than a year launching an air campaign against Yemen, according to the sources.

Meanwhile, the sources added that ambulances rushed to the attack scene, amid high secrecy by the aggression forces on the losses.
Posted by: badanov || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Somebody knew something in advance. You don't fire a ballistic missile on "will adjust".
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 06/20/2016 7:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Anticipating retribution.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2016 10:05 Comments || Top||


Houthis free 276 Yemeni government’s loyalists
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Shiite 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 group 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...
announced on Sunday the release of 276 government loyalists who had been held captive for months, in a gesture of good will.

The Houthis’ sabanews.net website said 200 detainees were set free in Rada, a town in the central province of Baida, and another 76 were let go in nearby Dhamar province.

The move was a sign of "good will" on the occasion of the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan, said the website, citing officials.

The detainees in Rada had been captured for allegedly "cooperating with the Arab military coalition and being loyal to the government" of UN-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, an official there told AFP.

Those freed in Dhamar had been taken in on accusations they had been preparing to join government forces, the official added.

The releases come a day after the exchange of 194 prisoners in Taez, in southwestern Yemen, following tribal mediation unconnected to UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait.

Those negotiations, now in their ninth week, have made no major breakthroughs, even on the issue of prisoners.

Earlier this month, the rebels freed 187 captives while 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...
released 52.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Europe
Radical Kurdish militant Krekar faces new charges in Norway
[RUDAW.NET] A court in Norway officially charged the radical Kurdish Lion of Islam Mala Krekar
...I think they must mean Mullah Krekar, born in Iraq with the name of Najm al-Din Faraj Ahmad or possibly Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad or even Fateh Najmeddin Faraj...
Thursday for alleged terror links to a group based in Italia, according to online pages close to Krekar who is also wanted in Kurdistan region on multiple terror-related cases.

According to the charges, Krekar is accused of having criminal masterminded a ’terror group’ in Italia while serving a sentence at the Kongsvinger prison in Norway. Krekar has denied involvement. The court proceedings will continue till June 15 when a verdict is expected to determine his possible extradition to Italia for further investigations.

Krekar’s lawyer has said his client had no access to communicate with the group in Italia from his prison cell.

According to the charges, Krekar instructed the group through regular Skype meetings while in prison.

Mala Krekar was sentenced in March 2012 to 6 years in prison but was released in January 2015 after a judge reduced his sentence.

He has faced several legal charges in Norway, where he has lived since 1991 with his family.

Krekar, a flamboyant Kurdish Islamist in exile, is wanted in Kurdistan Region for terrorism charges dating back to late 1990s and early 2000 when he found the Kurdish jihadist group Ansar al-Islam, and declared a caliphate-like colony in southern Kurdish towns of Biara and Tawela in the run up for the 2003 US-led incursion to Iraq.

The US army demolished Ansar al-Islam strongholds in Biara and Tawela with Tomahawk and Cruise missiles during the Iraq invasion of 2003 and dismantled the group’s network.

Kurdish authorities say Ansar al-Islam were responsible for killing and torturing numbers of locals in the area who opposed the caliphate and want to try its leader Krekar for the charges.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under: Ansar al-Sharia

#1  The most famous of the Ikhwan to serve in Afghanistan was the Palestinian-born Shaykh Abdullah Azzam. When the Soviets forces crossed the Afghanistan frontier Abdullah Azzam, the Palestinian Muslim Brother, and Mullah Krekar -- (AKA) Najmuddin Feraj Ahmad, an Iraqi Kurd Salafist yet another graduate of Cairo's Al Azhar -- were teaching at the Islamic University at Islamabad, Pakistan. Krekar would later surface as leader of the terrorist Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of Islam). It was following his move to Denmark in 1991 he made his mark in Europe as the Mullah Krekar. He should have been eliminated long ago.
Posted by: Ulusoque Speaking for Boskone3139 || 06/20/2016 12:32 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan Province To Give Nearly $3 Million To The '€˜University Of Jihad'
[Daily Caller] A Pakistani provincial government has allocated the equivalent of $2,870,385 for an Islamic school known as the "University of Jihad," which has produced some of the region’s worst terrorists.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, located along the Afghanistan-Pakistani border, will provide funds to Darul Uloom Haqqania Nowshera. The school is home to infamous terrorists such as former Taliban leaders Mullah Omar and Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, as well as the founder of the Haqqani Network, Jalaluddin Haqqani, and Asim Umar, the head of al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).

"I am proudly announcing that Darul Uloom Haqqania Nowshera will get 300 million rupees to meet its annual expenditures," announced Shah Farman, a provincial minister, to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly in June.

Habibur Rehman, minister for religious affairs, told the News International that the large sum (300 million Pakistani Rupees) is a result of half the money being held over from the previous year. Now, half of the amount is slated to be paid out in 2016-2017, while the remainder will be provided next year.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2016 02:21 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Knock $30 million off any aid to Pakland. They should be made to understand
Posted by: Frank G || 06/20/2016 9:24 Comments || Top||


LeT militant killed in Pulwama, 2 slip out
[Daily Excelsior] A Pak bully boy of 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) was killed in a fierce shootout in South Kashmire district of Pulwama today while his two associates slipped out of cordon.

A joint operation was launched this afternoon by Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmire Police, Awantipora, 55-Rashtriya Rifles of Army and 110 Battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Ladhoo, Pampore, in Pulwama district.

The operation was launched after the security forces received tip off about presence of three foreign faceless myrmidons of LeT hiding near the Khyber Milk plant in the area.

As the security forces cordoned off the area, the faceless myrmidons opened fire on them leading to a gunbattle in which one bully boy was killed. He has been identified as Khubaib alias Abu Qasim, a Pak national. One AK 47 rifle and two magazines were recovered from him.

His two associates managed to slip out of cordon under the cover of fire and dense vegetation. Security forces have launched massive man hunt against these two faceless myrmidons but could not trace out the two faceless myrmidons and later found the dead body of one of the bully boys.

Security forces have been after this group of faceless myrmidons for last several weeks and were tracking their movements. They are said to be recently infiltrated and were planning Fidayeen attacks in South Kashmire.

Security in South Kashmire is already on high alert after recent strikes by faceless myrmidons in Bijbehara and Anantnag in which 5 coppers including three BSF men and two cops were killed.

Police, Army and CRPF have launched massive searches against the LeT in South Kashmire to track down the two faceless myrmidons who carried out attack in Anantnag on police and were caught in a camera while carrying out the attack.

Police have rounded up over two dozen persons including Over Ground Workers of the LeT to trace out the bully boy duo. Police have already circulated posters of the two LeT faceless myrmidons in Anantnag district. These faceless myrmidons have been identified as Junaid Ahmad Mattoo son of Manzoor Ahmad Mattoo resident of Khudwani in Kulgam district and another bully boy as Ali, a foreigner.

This year security forces had major success against the faceless myrmidons and over 60 faceless myrmidons were killed so far.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Major terror plot leads to Govt Qtrs, Civil Sectt
[Daily Excelsior] Police and Intelligence agencies have come across a major terror network, which could have presence in Civil Secretariat, the seat of the Government and the Government quarters for the Secretariat employees at Subash Nagar, Jammu among other areas, some of which were in the process of identification, as it has surfaced that one of the Government quarter was to be used as major hideout of the bandidos holy warriors for carrying out a fidayeen attack in Jammu.

Top police and Intelligence sources told the Excelsior tonight that one of the Government Quarter having No. 404 at Subash Nagar, falling under the jurisdiction of Bakshi Nagar cop shoppe, was raided tonight in a joint search operation by Intelligence sleuths and police parties of Udhampur and Bakshi Nagar, which had to be used by the bandidos holy warriors as a hideout for planning and executing the terror attack in Jammu.

"The Government quarter has been sealed after searches and recovery of an ATM card for further investigations," they said.

Hectic investigations by the State Intelligence agencies and police to find out the target of slain Lion of Islam Tanvir Ahmad Sultan son of Mohammad Sultan, a resident of Bemina, Srinagar, who was killed at Kud on June 13, revealed that the mobile telephone used by the Lion of Islam (Tanvir) till May 22, a day before terror attack at Tengpora, Srinagar, was active in Jammu for at least three months taking signals from a mobile tower around Subash Nagar during last winter.

As the Intelligence sleuths went further into the attack, they gathered clues that Tanvir Sultan had stayed around Subash Nagar for three months of the winter, when the Civil Secretariat, was in Jammu.

The joint teams of Intelligence and police then traced a key in the pocket of Tanvir Ahmad Sultan, which they seized. Investigators also established that Tanvir Sultan’s brother, Khurshid Ahmad is a Civil Secretariat employee and had been allotted Quarter No. 404 at Government Quarters at Subash Nagar.

The key found in possession of Tanvir Ahmad Sultan managed to open the lock of Quarter No. 404 at Subash Nagar, giving clear hints to Intelligence agencies and police that Khurshid Ahmad, a Civil Secretariat employee, presently in Srinagar, could be in-league with his brother and had given keys of his official quarter to him for camping there.

Intelligence agencies and police have sounded their Srinagar counterparts on the involvement of Khurshid Ahmad in giving keys of his Government quarter to Tanvir Ahmad Sultan. Police said they were keeping watch on Khurshid but in view of mourning in the family, he hasn’t been detained yet.

Tanvir Sultan, according to sources, had to reach Jammu and keep AK-47 rifle, pistol and 80 rounds, which were recovered from his possession after he was killed in an encounter at Kud on June 13, in the Government Quarter at Subash Nagar and create a Lion of Islam hideout there, which was evident from the recovery of key from his pocket, which opened the lock of Quarter No. 404.

Sources didn’t rule out dumping of some more weapons in the Government quarter before the bandidos holy warriors carried out a terror attack in Jammu.

Tanvir had stayed in the official quarter of his brother Khurshid Ahmad for three months during the winter and was well-versed with the area. Sources said Khurshid Ahmad was also staying in the same quarter, which has been authenticated by one of the local person, who knew Khurshid and used to have telephonic conversation with him on local shopping.

They added that since Khurshid Ahmad was well aware about the past of his brother Tanvir Sultan, who was involved in two fidayeen attack and had served PSA, he not only gave the keys of his official resident to Tanvir knowing his past but also allowed him full access to his quarter, which was evident from recovery of the quarter’s key from the pocket of slain Tanvir Ahmad Sultan.

"The Government quarter would have become potential hideout of the bandidos holy warriors and used to carry out terror attack in Jammu," sources said pointing to the investigations into the Kud encounter.

However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
alert CRPF and police personnel trapped Tanvir Sultan at Kud and gunned him down after he opened firing on them and passengers of the SRTC bus in which he was travelling from Srinagar to Jammu on June 13.

They added that whether Khurshid Ahmad was fully aware of his brother, Tanvir Sultan’s activities or not, would be known during further investigations but going by Tanvir’s past, which was known to all, his role has come under scrutiny of Intelligence agencies and police as the Government quarter allotted to him was going to become a potential hideout of the Lion of Islams.

Tanvir’s involvement is also suspected in the killing of a police constable at Tengpora, Srinagar on May 23 as the weapon snatched from the cop after the killing was the same Tanvir used in firing at Kud. Moreover, Tanvir’s mobile phone had switched off on May 22 and was not found on since then.

The Sherlocks were also working on the theory as to whether Tanvir Sultan was involved in more terror attacks after re-cycling into the militancy other than Tengpora and Kud.

His first involvement in the militancy had surfaced in 2003 when he had carried out fidayeen attack at Ali Jan Shopping Complex in Srinagar. He had been booked under FIR No. 145/2003 in which total 22 persons were accused.

He had carried out second attack at Pamposh Hotel in which there were 14 accused including him and all of them were booked under FIR No. 127/2002.

He was later booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) in 2004. From 2004 to Tengpora attack, Tanvir Sultan hadn’t figured in any Lion of Islam attack.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies


3 kidz wounded in mine attack in Mohmand
GHALANAI: A landmine went off in Baizai tehsil here on Saturday, injuring three young boys, security sources said.

The landmine was planted by unknown persons at a place used by the people for taking rest underneath trees in Atmar Khel area.

Security sources identified the victims as Arif Khan, 18, Noor Ullah, 10, and his brother Abdullah, 11, who were playing when the blast struck. The injured were shifted to a Peshawar hospital for treatment. One of the injured was stated to be in critical condition.

After the incident, political administration with the help of levies and khasadar men conducted a search operation in the adjoining areas and arrested five suspects and shifted them to political lockup in Bahi Daag area.

Meanwhile, residents of Yousaf Khel area of Haleemzai tehsil took out a protest rally and blocked the main Peshawar-Bajaur Road on Saturday against suspension of power supply to their area.

The protesters demanded that the power supply suspended for last three days should immediately be restored.

They said power suspension had caused water shortage in houses and mosques, forcing people to come onto the roads.

They said an out of order transformer at the Ghalanai grid station could not be repaired despite passage of four months due to which the local people were bearing the brunt of power suspensions. They demanded of the KP governor to take notice of the matter.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2016
Posted by: badanov || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:


6 TTP commanders surrender in Upper Kurram Agency
PESHAWAR: Six key commanders of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan's (TTP) Mehsud faction surrendered to security forces near the Afghan border in Upper Kurram Agency Saturday night.

Former TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud's brother Ejaz Mehsud and uncle Khair Muhammad are among those who gave themselves up in the Shahidano Dhand area, security sources said.

According to security sources, the surrendered TTP commanders have been shifted to Dera Ismail Khan and will later be sent to a rehabilitation centre established by the Army in Swat for counselling.
Posted by: badanov || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Five suspected militants killed in Balochistan's Awaran
QUETTA: Five suspected militants were killed in Balochistan’s Awaran district on Sunday evening.

A security official, not authorised to speak publicly, said security forces conducted an operation against the militants in the Mashkay area of Awaran.

“Five miscreants belonging to a banned militant organisation were killed during the exchange of fire,” said the security official.

Security forces claim to have recovered a sizeable amount of arms and ammunition from the possession of the militants. Forces also recovered anti-state literature and laptops from the militants safe haven.

Further reinforcements of security forces were called to the area after the skirmish.

Militants have conducted attacks against security forces and national installations in Balochistan, which has been plagued by an insurgency and growing sectarian killings for more than a decade.
Posted by: badanov || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under: Baloch Liberation Army


Iraq
Diyala Devastations
3 Iraqi soldiers wounded in IED blast

(IraqiNews.com) Diyala – A source in Diyala Province said on Saturday, that three army members were wounded in the explosion of an improvised explosive device that targeted their patrol northeast of Baqubah.

According to information shared by the source, “This evening, an explosive device targeted an army patrol in al-Makhaisa area in Abi Saida vicinity northeast of the province,” noting that, “The explosion resulted in the wounding of three army members with different injuries, as well as inflicting material damage upon their vehicle.”

The information added, “A [security] force rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital to receive medical treatment,”

Iraqi kops detain 7 in al-Muqdadiyah and Abu Saida

(IraqiNews.com) Diyala – Diyala Police Command announced on Sunday, that seven people had been arrested on criminal and terrorism charges during search operations northeast of Baqubah.

The spokesman for Diyala Police Command, Colonel Ghalib Attiya, said in a statement obtained by Iraqi News, “Yesterday, a force from [Diyala] police conducted raid and search operations in the areas of al-Muqdadiyah and Abu Saida, northeast of Baqubah, and managed to arrest seven wanted persons on different charges, including two wanted [individuals] on charges of terrorism.”

Attiya added, “The arrested people were transferred to a detention center for interrogation.”
Posted by: badanov || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under:


Anbar Antics: 28+ die

17 ISIS Bad Guys reach room temperature near Albu Risha and Touwa

(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Anbar Police Command announced on Sunday, that 17 ISIS members were killed in the liberation battles in northern Ramadi, while emphasized the destruction of three booby-trapped vehicles.

Anbar Police chief, Major General Hadi Rezeeg, said in a press statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Today, a security force from the [army’s] Tactical Regiment, backed by the international coalition aviation, conducted an extensive military operation to liberate the areas of Albu Risha and Touwa in northern Ramadi from the ISIS control, killing 17 ISIS members and destroying 3 booby-trapped vehicles.”

Rezeeg added, “The areas controlled by ISIS in the northern axis are attacked regularly,” pointing out that, “ISIS members are trying to escape from the confrontation, while their areas are besieged in order to eliminate them in the coming hours.”

ISIS Miscreant dies while driving VBIED near Fallujah

(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The Federal Police chief, Lt. Gen. Raed Shaker Jawdat, announced on Sunday destroying two vehicles for ISIS, one of which was booby-trapped and driven by a “suicide bomber” in western Fallujah.

Jawdat said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This morning, forces belonging to the Federal Police managed to destroy two vehicles for ISIS, one of which was booby-trapped and driven by a suicide bomber near the Old Iron Bridge that is located at the western axis of Fallujah.”

He added, “Our forces continue the [military] operations to free the central areas of Fallujah from ISIS.”

Iraqi forces capture Zawba area near Fallujah

(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Amiriyah Fallujah District Council in Anbar Province announced on Sunday, that the security forces managed to liberate the areas of Zawba region in northern Fallujah from the ISIS control.

Member of the district council, Khodier al-Rashed, said in a statement followed by Iraqi News, “The joint security forces managed, At noon today, to liberate the areas of al-Korosh, al-Sheit, al-Anaz and al-Basateen in the Zawba region from the ISIS control, killing tens of ISIS members.”

Rashed added, “The security forces detonated four booby-trapped vehicles driven by suicide bombers while they were trying to target the [advancing] troops.”

Iraqi forces release 360 ISIS-held prisoners in Fallujah

(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – The commander of the First Regiment in Karmat Fallujah Brigade Mahmoud Mardi Jumaili announced on Saturday seizing a prison belonging to the ISIS in central Fallujah holding 360 prisoners, including elements of the security forces.

Jumaili said in a press statement, a copy of which was obtained by Iraqi News, “The security forces discovered a prison belonging to the ISIS in Nezal neighborhood in the center of Fallujah, during the liberation operations of the city,” pointing out that, “The prison contained 360 prisoners, including civilians and security members.”

Jumaili added, “The majority of prisoners were arrested by ISIS since the occupation of the city of Fallujah, two years ago, and they are suffering from bad health conditions,” indicating that, “The arrested people were transferred to hospitals to receive medical treatment.”

9 ISIS Tangos turned into a red mist near Ramadi

(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – Media officials with the Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday killing nine terrorists and destroying five vehicles that had carried mono guns during an aerial strike by the international coalition on an ISIS convey near Heet west of the city of Ramadi.

According to information shared by the officials and obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The international coalition aviation, based on intelligence information by the Iraqi National Intelligence [Agency], conducted an aerial strike on a convey belonging to the ISIS terrorist gangs, resulting in the destruction of five vehicles that had carried mono guns, in addition to destroying a mortar detachment and killing nine terrorists that had an intention to target the center of Heet District from the area of al-bakr [using] booby-trapped vehicles.”

In a related context, the information added, “The international coalition aviation conducted an air strike against ISIS gatherings in the village of Kharba Shamam in Nineveh, resulting in the death of tens of ISIS elements,” pointing out that, “The [strike] was based on information by the General Directorate of Intelligence and Security.”

ISIS fighting to the death inside Falluja

[NATION.PK] The sound of gunfire exchanged between Iraqi forces and the small pockets of ISIS murderous Moslems rang out across the besieged city of Falluja, American media reported on Sunday.

ISIS defenses collapsed as Iraqi special forces made rapid advances into the heart of the city Friday- their fiercest push yet to retake Falluja - but by Saturday morning, the battle waged on.

During a televised address, Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said "we promised you the liberation of Falluja and we retook it," the region's governor later declaring on Twitter that Falluja has "returned to the nation."

But, according to a CNN crew who accompanied troops into Falluja on Saturday, the city appeared far from liberated, despite claims to the contrary by the Iraqi government.

In a symbolic victory, troops from the Iraqi Federal Police raised the national flag over the mayor's office Friday, claiming control over the city center, something Iraq hasn't been able to claim in more than two years.
Posted by: badanov || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Baghdad Bomb and Bullet Bulletin: 2 die

2 die in bomb attack in al-Mahmudiya District

(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – On Sunday, a source in the Ministry of Interior said, that 11 people had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast in southern Baghdad.

According to information shared by the source, and obtained by Iraqi News, it was stated, “An explosive device exploded, at noon today, near a popular market in al-Mahmudiya District in southern Baghdad, killing two persons and wounding nine others.”

The information added, “A security force rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to Mahmudiya Hospital to receive medical treatment and the dead bodies to the forensic medicine department, while cordoned off the area of the incident and barred approaching it.”
Posted by: badanov || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under:


How two nerve-racking months ended for the Iraqi army near Makhmour
[RUDAW.NET] Around noon this past Tuesday Iraqi soldiers launched an attack against a remote, dusty and windswept village called al-Nasr west of the Tigress River. They believed capturing this tiny village would bring them one step closer to djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
. I was there to see this rare battle of the Iraqi army so far away from Baghdad.

For more than two months the soldiers had camped out on a hill facing the village. White tents dotted the hillside. Discarded food containers, water bottles; empty bullet casings littered the ground as soldiers took shelter from the sun inside their tents or in the shade of their armors like an exhausted Roman army.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336082 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Would it be such a great loss to just Dresden - or Hiroshima - the whole Mosul area?
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/20/2016 10:02 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordan court jails 'Norwegian-Iraqi' for 15 years for ‘terrorism’
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A Jordanian court sentenced a Norwegian man of Iraqi descent to 15 years in prison on Sunday for planning "terrorist acts" in the kingdom.

Khaled al-Rebai, 49, was also found guilty by Amman’s state security court of "possessing kaboom," according to the verdict delivered in front of Norwegian diplomats in the Jordanian capital.

Rebai was found not guilty of belonging to Iran’s Quds Force, the foreign army of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, an AFP correspondent said.

His lawyers said they would appeal the guilty verdicts.

Rebai was tossed in the clink
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
in July in possession of 45 kilograms of explosives in the northern town of Jarash.

Jordan said at the time it had foiled a "terrorist" attack due to be carried out by an Iraqi Quds Force member.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  that's 90 lbs of splodey. "For personal use, Officer"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/20/2016 7:19 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hizbullah Reportedly Incurs Very Heavy Casualties in Aleppo Province
[AnNahar] Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
has suffered very heavy casualties in the southern countryside of the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, incurring the highest toll of deaths and injuries since the 2013 Qusayr battle, Syrian opposition activists have announced.

The party has lost at least 25 fighters in the festivities that have been raging for several days, the activists said, amid official announcements by the party about its deaths and reports about the disappearance of several members whose fate is still unknown.

"Hizbullah and the Iranians are dismayed by the fact that the Russian warplanes are not supporting them," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported, noting that the Syrian army and its allies "might anytime lose the town of al-Hader south of Aleppo should the absence of Russia's aerial support continue."

According to Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman, at least 186 combatants from both sides have been killed since Tuesday ‐ 86 from the regime and its allies, including 25 Hizbullah members, and 100 anti-regime Islamist fighters.

"The factions of the (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 .. ...
Front-led) Army of Conquest seized the town of Khalsa and moved to Zitan and Birna before liberating them within only a few hours," the opposition Sham News Network reported, adding that "more than 50 members of the Shiite militias were killed in the three towns."

"Rebel forces are advancing towards the town of al-Hader and amassing their fighters around it," the network said, noting that "the town is the main stronghold of the Iranian forces and the foreign militias that operate under their command."

Hizbullah's intervention in the Syrian conflict alongside regime forces has helped Damascus achieve several military victories and allowed the party to clear most of the Lebanese-Syrian border region from rebels and jihadists.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Nasrallah, in his bunker under his daughter's bed: "please turn up the A/C, it's getting a tad warm in here"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/20/2016 9:27 Comments || Top||

#2  "Hizbullah and the Iranians are dismayed by the fact that the Russian warplanes are not supporting them"

Perhaps the Iranians ought to send theirs.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/20/2016 10:37 Comments || Top||

#3  the battle for Aleppo has been going on now since 2012

Hezbollah became involved beginning in mid 2013

the Assad-Hezbollah-Iran-Russia side has far better equipment and is numerically superior but a lot of their assets are tied up protecting vital targets -- on the other hand the other side has the disadvantage of greater internecine conflict with perhaps a quarter of their casualties resulting from intra-alliance battle

(the Assad-Hezb- side has also had some intra alliance battles but fewer
Posted by: lord garth || 06/20/2016 11:16 Comments || Top||


Syrian forces advance on IS-held Taqba air base
[Al Ahram] Syrian government forces advanced to within six miles (10 kilometers) 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....
(IS) group-occupied Tabqa air base in the northern part of the country on Sunday, part of a push to try to unseat the holy warrior group from its de facto capital, Raqqa.
They've been stuck there for a week.
Government forces recaptured the nearby Thawra oil field from IS myrmidons, according to a Syrian journalist Eyad al-Hosain, who is embedded with the army. The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the army advanced to within seven kilometers (four miles) of Tabqa.

The Tabqa base, 45 kilometers (28 miles) from Raqqa, holds strategic and symbolic value in the government campaign on the IS capital. It was the last position held by government forces in the Raqqa province before IS forces of Evil overran it in August 2014, killing scores of detained soldiers in a massacre they documented on video. Raqqa itself became the myrmidons' first captive city.

A Syrian opposition coalition, meanwhile, called on The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
to investigate the deaths of at least eight Syrian refugees, including four children, who were allegedly rubbed out by border guards Saturday night while trying to cross the frontier.

A statement by the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces accused Turkish border guards of firing at a group of civilians trying to cross from Kherbet al-Jouz in northwestern Syria into Turkey's Hatay province, killing 11 people.

The coalition, which relies on Turkish political and financial support, said the incident "festivities with the generosity displayed by the Turkish government and brotherly people toward displaced civilians."

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the corpse count at eight. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, said at least one of those trying to cross was from Jarablus, a northern Syrian town under IS group control.

A senior Turkish official said "we are unable to independently verify the claims" regarding the shooting, but said authorities were investigating.

"Turkey provides humanitarian assistance to displaced persons in northern Syria and follows an open-door policy -- which means we admit refugees whose lives are under imminent threat," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
in line with government regulations.

The Syrian war has pushed over 2.7 million refugees into Turkey, according to the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
. Turkey has tightened security along its border in recent months to prevent further inflows. The Observatory says border guards have rubbed out 60 refugees trying to cross since the start of this year.

Meanwhile,
...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell...
Russia's defense ministry said a Russian soldier has died of wounds he suffered in a myrmidon suicide kaboom in Syria, the military's 11th casualty since the start of its campaign there.

Sgt. Andrei Timoshenkov died at a hospital at the Russian base in Syria, the ministry said Sunday. It said Timoshenkov was protecting an area where the Russian military was handing out humanitarian aid to residents in Homs province on Wednesday and opened fire to stop a vehicle speeding up to the site. The car, rigged with explosives for a suicide attack, blew up, wounding the serviceman. He died the next day in a hospital.

Elsewhere, a suicide kaboom targeted the entrance to a park in the Syrian city of Qamishli, which is shared between government and Kurdish forces, killing three people, an hour after a memorial was held there for victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide.

"Had the bombing taken place earlier, there would have been a massacre," Qamishli resident and writer Suleiman Youssef told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named by telephone. Qamishli lies on Syria's northern border with Turkey.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336094 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syrian warbird crashes on takeoff in Hama
[AlArabiya] A Syrian jet bomber crashed just after take-off from Syria's Hama airport after it encountered a technical problem, a Syrian military source said on Sunday.

The military source, quoted by Syrian state media, did not say when the crash had occurred or provide any other details.

Several Russian-manufactured warplanes have crashed since the start of the year, mostly due to technical failures which defense analysts have generally attributed to age.

A rebel source told Reuters the plane that crashed was a Russian Mig 21 fighter but this could not be independently verified.
Posted by: badanov || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


ISIS Top Dawg dies in airstrike in Manbij
[ARA News] QAMISHLO – The US-led coalition on Sunday launched several airstrikes on headquarters of the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group in northern Syria, killing and wounding a number of jihadis.

The airstrikes targeted ISIS positions in the city of Manbij, near the Turkish border, local sources told ARA News.

At least nine ISIS jihadis were killed, including ISIS senior leader Abu Hamza al-Ansari, and dozens were wounded in the coalition raids on Sunday.

“Al-Ansari was killed along with three of his escorts after one of the airstrikes hit a building where they’ve been hiding in Manbij city,” local media activist Nasser Taljbini told ARA News.

“Another raid targeted an ISIS security centre in Manbij and killed at least five militants and wounded 12 others,” the source reported.

In the meantime, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) advanced towards the ISIS-held city.

Speaking to ARA News, SDF commander in Manbij Adnan Abu Amjad said: “Our forces captured the Al-Kitab square in western Manbij after fierce clashes with ISIS militants.”

The commander added that the international coalition has intensified its airstrikes inside Manbij city to assist the SDF in their ground operations against ISIS.
Posted by: badanov || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Russian NCO dies in car bomb attack in Homs
[ARA News ] DAMASCUS – A Russian military officer has died after being wounded in an explosion in the Syrian central province of Homs, officials said on Sunday.

Andrey Timoshenkov died of his injuries after a car bomb attack hit an aid convoy that was heading to Homs, Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“Sergeant Andrey Timoshenkov, who was escorting a humanitarian convoy of the Russian Reconciliation Center, has stopped a car rigged with explosives by opening fire at it with small arms. Andrey received injuries incompatible with life in the explosion of the vehicle driven by a suicide bomber,” the ministry said.

Officials said that doctors at the Russian Hmeimim airbase in Syria’s Latakia province “fought for Timoshenkov’s life for over 24 hours”, but he passed away on Thursday, June 16.

Timoshenkov was granted a “posthumous state award” for his sacrifice, local media said.

According to the Russian media, the deceased serviceman was a marine from Russia’s exclave Kaliningrad Region.

At least 11 Russian forces have been killed since Moscow started its military operations in Syria on September 30, 2015, in support of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Posted by: badanov || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336080 views] Top|| File under:


Suicide attack kills 3 at Christian massacre memorial in Syria
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Three people were killed in northeast Syria on Sunday when a jacket wallah attacked an event commemorating the massacre of Christians more than a century ago, state media and a security source said.

The attack in the city of Qamishli took place as locals gathered at a hall to commemorate the deaths of tens of thousands of Christians by the Ottoman army starting in 1915 in what is known as the Sayfo ("Sword") massacre.

A photographer working with AFP and attending the event said he heard the blast and saw pieces of flesh lying next to damaged cars.

"The suicide kaboomer tried to enter the hall where people were gathered but was stopped by local security forces, and he let 'er rip among them," a security source at the scene told AFP.

The security forces belonged to the Sotoro, a Christian militia based in Syria’s northeast.

"Three Sotoro members were killed and five maimed," the security source said.

One Sotoro member told AFP that the suicide bomber "let 'er rip near our checkpoint after he couldn’t reach his real target, Patriarch Ignatius."

Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II is the head of the Syriac Orthodox church and was leading the commemoration.

Syria’s state news agency SANA also reported three people killed in a "terrorist suicide kaboom" in
Qamishli but did not specify whether they were civilians or security forces.

Situated along the border with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, Qamishli has been regularly targeted by suicide kabooms, many of which have been claimed by the ISIS jihadist group.

Control of the Kurdish-majority city is split between Kurdish militia and pro-government fighters.

Syriac Christians belong to the eastern Christian tradition and pray in Aramaic. They include both Orthodox and Catholic branches, and constitute around 15 percent of Syria’s 1.2 million Christians.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


US-backed forces advance against ISIS in Syria
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US-backed Syrian forces edged closer to an ISIS stronghold on the border with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
on Saturday while Russia’s defense minister visited President Bashar al Assad to discuss military operations.

The visit came only hours after the Syrian army and its Iranian-backed militias, which have been supported by Russian air power, lost several villages to turban rebels as they made significant advances in the countryside south of Aleppo.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebel capture of three villages from government control - Zeitan, Khalsa and Barna - had caused significant losses among government forces and their allies.

The villages lie in a strategic area near a main highway that links Aleppo with the capital Damascus. Government forces captured the area at the end of last year in a major offensive, assisted by Iranian-backed militias and Russian jets.

State media said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited an airbase in the coastal Latakia province on Saturday after his talks with Assad in Damascus.

Russia’s military intervention in Syria in September helped turn the tide in Assad’s favor after months of gains in western Syria by rebel fighters, who were aided by foreign military supplies, including US-made anti-tank missiles.

Russia, which has been bombing opposition-held areas, is blamed by the opposition and rights activists for causing hundreds of civilian deaths and targeting hospitals, schools and infrastructure in what they say are indiscriminate attacks.

An escalation in Russian and Syrian air and artillery strikes in recent weeks around a highway to rebel held parts of the northern city of Aleppo has made the road virtually impassable, putting hundreds of thousands of people under siege and worsening their humanitarian plight.

A 48-hour ceasefire in Aleppo announced by Russia on Thursday has had little impact on fighting, and air strikes and shelling have continued in and around the city.

At least seven people died in rebel shelling of a neighborhood of Aleppo held by the Kurdish YPG militia at dawn on Saturday, the Observatory said.

Syrian helicopters also threw barrel bombs on several residential areas in opposition-held quarters.

Close to Manbij
Hundreds of people have been killed in Aleppo since peace talks broke off in April, as President Assad seeks to regain control of what was Syria’s largest pre-war city, now split between rebel and government sectors.

Washington and some other Western countries that have called on Assad to step down accuse Russia of focusing mostly on strikes against the moderate so-called Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
(FSA), and less on attacking hardline ISIS Death Eaters.

On the border with Turkey, US-backed Syrian forces fought to the western entrance of Manbij city for the first time since a major offensive to seize the last territory held by ISIS bandidos Death Eaters on the frontier, a source in the Syrian group said on Saturday.

The source from the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance - which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, Arab fighters and is being helped by scores of US Special Forces - told Rooters its troops were now almost two km from the city center.

Since the start of the offensive on May 31, the SDF has taken dozens of villages and farms around Manbij but has held back from entering the city with many thousands of people still trapped there.

The SDF is one of a number of sides fighting in Syria’s complex civil war which has pitted rebels against Assad and is now in its sixth year.

The Observatory, which tracks violence across Syria, confirmed heavy fighting broke out for the first time on the edge of the city, adding that the bandidos Death Eaters had rammed a suicide vehicle into an SDF outpost but gave no details.

Syrian government forces and some rebel groups are also fighting separate battles against ISIS. The SDF has largely avoided fighting government forces and focuses on battling the hardline Death Eaters.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Turkish troops fire on fleeing Syrians, killing 11
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Turkish border guards rubbed out at least 11 Syrians, mostly from one family, as they tried to cross into The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
from northwestern Syria, activists and a monitoring group said on Sunday.

At least two women and four children were among those killed in the shootings overnight as the refugees sought to cross into Turkey from the border village of Khirbet al Jouz, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Several activists in the area backed up the report.

Turkey has repeatedly denied accusations of its security forces firing on Syrians trying to cross the frontier, which has been closed for several months.

But the Observatory has recorded numerous incidents this year, and said Sunday’s toll was among the highest.

The Britannia-based Observatory said the group of eight had been displaced by fighting around the northern Syrian town of Manbij, held by ISIS and under attack by US-backed forces.

They fled northwest towards Idlib province and the border, but were killed "when Turkish border guards opened fire on them as they tried to cross into Turkey," said the Observatory.

It said that four of those killed were children, adding that eight people were maimed, some of them critically.

Since the beginning of the year, at least 60 people -- all civilians -- have been killed in fire by Turkish border guards, the Observatory said.

In May, Human Rights Watch
... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge....
accused Turkish border guards of shooting and beating Syrian asylum seekers.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
denied the reports, and the Turkish army says it only fires at armed smugglers, not at civilians.

But in its statement, the National Coalition expressed its "surprise and condemnation after this terrible tragedy against our brothers fleeing the regime.
"The deaths of defenseless Syrians contradicts the hospitality of the Turkish government and the Turkish people," it said.

Turkey is hosting over 2.7 million refugees from the conflict in Syria. Only a quarter of a million live in refugee camps, while the rest are in towns and cities.

More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with demonstrations against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Terror of Aleppo ...
’s government.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


SYRIA: In a Surprise Attack, Russia Bombs US Assets on the Ground Not Once but Twice
[21stCenturyWire] Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to confirm the attack Friday, telling reporters it was difficult to distinguish different rebel groups from the air.

Translation: If you can not separate your forces from al-Qaeda and differentiate and designate exclusively "moderate" zones we can not do so either.
Ho-boy.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  USA thinks of "moderate" rebels as "assets"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/20/2016 4:11 Comments || Top||

#2  USA Obama thinks of "moderate" rebels as "assets"


FIFY
Posted by: AlanC || 06/20/2016 8:11 Comments || Top||

#3  "F-U" to Jahn Fn Karry's comments last week. Another red-line erased
Posted by: Frank G || 06/20/2016 9:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Exactly what does Baraq hope to accomplish with these "moderate" assets? Er, besides getting them all killed, that is.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 06/20/2016 11:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Just gets more and more interesting:

RT Is Caught Trying To Edit Out Footage Of Incendiary Cluster Bombs On Russian Jet
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 06/20/2016 15:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Perhaps those are just 'barrel bombs'.
Blame Israel.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2016 16:14 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
ISIS shipping government equipment and offices from Mosul to Syria
[RUDAW.NET] 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) holy warriors have started packing equipment from inside government offices in the city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
and shipping them across the border into Syria, said a Kurdish official on Sunday.

"ISIS is busy transferring all the machines of Nineveh offices outside and wants to move them to Syria," Ismat Rajab, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official for Mosul affairs told Rudaw.

Rajab said that the holy warriors fear the long-anticipated offensive against their Iraq stronghold.

"ISIS wants to transfer all the expensive machines to Syria because they know that the group has no future in Mosul," he added.

The group has been under intense attack on many fronts in both Iraq and Syria in the past several weeks, losing many territories to Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga.

The Iraqi army announced the recapture of Fallujah on Friday after an operation that lasted three weeks and more than two years of siege.

"Security forces have recaptured the center of Fallujah city," Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.

Earlier this US officials reported that ISIS had begun moving its commanders and many fighters from Syria and Iraq to Libya as their new base of operations.

ISIS seized millions of dollars from Mosul banks after it captured the city in June 2014 and all government offices have since been run by the group.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  So we're looking for a heavily laden convoy of uHauls?
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2016 4:11 Comments || Top||

#2  They need those hole punchers to keep track of their binders full of goats.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/20/2016 13:49 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2016-06-20
  Syrian forces advance on IS-held Taqba air base
Sun 2016-06-19
  Iraqi army seizes hospital, jails as military ops continue in Fallujah
Sat 2016-06-18
  Reports: 'Fierce Clashes' between Hizbullah, Regime Forces in Aleppo
Fri 2016-06-17
  Seven killed in latest Kashmir fighting
Thu 2016-06-16
  British Labour Mp Jo Cox Dead: Fatally Stabbed And Gunned Down Outside Birstall Library
Wed 2016-06-15
  Bodies of 42 fishermen kidnapped by Boko Haram found in lake
Tue 2016-06-14
  Man ‘claiming IS allegiance’ kills cop, woman in Paris
Mon 2016-06-13
  Orlando Terrorist Worked For Firm with DHS Contracts
Sun 2016-06-12
  Approx 20 50 dead inside Florida gay nightclub after mass shooting - possible Islamic connection
Sat 2016-06-11
  Libya unity forces bombard ISIS in bastion Sirte
Fri 2016-06-10
  Rumour: Iraqi news site indicates IS supremo may have been hit by coalition force strike
Thu 2016-06-09
  Daesh blows up ancient monuments in Iraq
Wed 2016-06-08
  Five dead, eleven maimed in Karbala kaboom
Tue 2016-06-07
  US-backed Syria force closes in on Manbij
Mon 2016-06-06
  Attack on Logar Appellate Court leaves 7 dead, over 20 wounded

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