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Today: 62 articles and 150 comments as of 11:12.
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IS-led Militants Storm Iraqi Air Base near Tikrit
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It would be an improvement.

Posted by: Cliter Borgia1094 || 07/19/2014 18:47 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Suicide bombing targets Somali politician in Kismayo
According to breaking news reports from Kismayo, a suicide bombing occurred in the city. The explosion took place at a house in Kismayo belonging to Iftiin Hassan Baasto, a Somali politician who recently made up with Ahmed Madobe – the Leader of Interim Jubba Administration.

As confirmed, 4 of his bodyguards and a female lady were killed and 6 others were wounded, of which 4 are his children and remaining two are his bodyguards.

Iftiin Hassan Baasto confirmed to Shabelle that he had survived the assassination attempt on his life after the bomb blast at his home. Baasto was among fighters in the recent clashes in Abdalla Biroole between Interim Jubba Administration forces with a local militia against Al-Shabaab fighters.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Five killed, eight injured in Kenya bus attack
Five people including one policeman were killed while eight others were injured when armed gunmen attacked a Tahmeed bus near Witu in Lamu County. Among the eight injured were four policemen and four passengers, Lamu west Administration Police Commander confirmed the 6.30pm Friday incident.

The bus was attacked along the Lamu- Malindi highway near Witu when armed assailants who had parked a Probox along the road stopped the vehicle and attempted to hijack it.

Salim Mwashema, one of the passengers told Nation that the bus was suddenly attacked at Pangani forest, the unknown gunmen started shooting injuring four passengers.

The gunmen attracted the attention of patrolling Administration Policemen who engaged the assailants in an exchange of gunfire. The gunmen escaped into a nearby forest according to Lamu County Commissioner Miiri Njenga.
...as if they had never been. (We all miss those wonderful RAB reports, I think.)
The Kenya Red Thingy Cross however put the number of the dead at six. Tahmeed Coach managers confirmed the attack but could not provide more information saying they lost contact with the bus conductor.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Tunisia Soldier Missing after Jihadist Attack Found Dead
[An Nahar] The body of a soldier missing after a deadly attack on two army posts by suspected jihadists in Tunisia's restive western border region was found Friday, the government said, raising the toll to 15.

"During a sweep carried out by the army in the military zone on Mount Chaambi, the soldier Walid Ben Abdallah was found dead of wounds that he sustained during the terrorist attack" on Wednesday, a source at the defense ministry told Agence La Belle France-Presse.

The soldier's body was found around a kilometer (0.6 mile) from the scene of the attack, the source added.

The ministry said the soldier "bravely defended the post that he was manning" and "died a martyr fighting for his country."

The attack that took place on Wednesday evening as the soldiers were breaking their day-long Ramadan fast was the deadliest in the army's history.

The authorities say between 40 and 60 gunnies opened fire on twin army posts with machineguns and grenade launchers in the mountainous border region, where since late 2012 the security forces have been hunting Islamists Lions of Islam allegedly linked to al-Qaeda.

Eighteen soldiers were also maimed in the attack, and one of the assailants killed.

The government said the myrmidons' aim was to undermine Tunisia's political transition by disrupting the upcoming parliamentary and presidential polls, and vowed not to let the attack go unpunished.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Ansar al-Sharia


Fresh Fighting near Libya Main Airport despite Truce
[An Nahar] Fighting between powerful militias battling for control of 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...
's airport broke out again on Friday, just hours after they had agreed a truce, an airport official and witnesses said.
Clearly it was a hudna to rearm, not the simpler infidel truce.
The festivities came as the government sought United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
help to prevent the country from becoming a "failed state."

"The airport was once again today hit by mortar fire which struck the security offices," but caused no casualties, airport security official Al-Jilani al-Dahech told Agence La Belle France-Presse.

Airport security forces returned fire, he said without giving further details.

Libya's main international airport has been closed since Sunday, with rockets causing damage to aircraft and the main terminal building amid warnings by officials the facility could remain closed for months.

The violence erupted when Islamist gunnies from the city of Misrata attacked anti-Islamist fighters from the city of Zintan who have been controlling the airport for the past three years.

The rival fighters are among several heavily-armed militia groups who hold sway over Libya since they fought in the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
-backed 2011 uprising that toppled strongman Muammar Qadaffy
...a reminder that a single man with an idea can change an entire nation, usually for the worse...
.

Friday's festivities broke out just hours after the mayor of Tripoli announced that the rival militias had agreed to observe a truce and that control of the airport would be handed over to neutral forces.

Gunfire and blasts were also heard in Abu Slim neighborhood, just south of the airport, an AFP correspondent said while residents said the battles pitched rival militias against each other.

The renewed violence also came hours after Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdelaziz asked the United Nations for help to build up Libya's army and police to protect vital sites such as the airport.

Relentless violence across Libya in the past months has sparked fears of all-out civil war and Abdelaziz told the Security Council his country could become a "hub for attracting myrmidons".

The fighting also mirrors a deadly power struggle between liberals and Islamists in the North African country.

Mokhtar Lakhdar, a commander for the Zintan forces, told AFP that a truce had been agreed under the authority of the city's government council.

Ahmed Hadeia, a front man for Misrata fighters, said the ceasefire was "only around the airport" and did not include other sites controlled by Zintan forces.

Misrata leaders said Thursday that the fighting at the airport was a "battle of revolutionaries... against followers of the old regime" of Qadaffy.

The festivities revived fears of the conflict spreading inside Tripoli itself, with official results still awaited from a June 25 election to the parliament previously dominated by Islamists.

"Should Libya become a failed state, kidnapped by radical groups and warlords, the consequences would be far-reaching and perhaps beyond control," Abdelaziz told the Security Council.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Who could have seen it coming?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/19/2014 6:39 Comments || Top||


At least 14 Tunisian troops killed in mountain attack
At least 14 Tunisian soldiers were killed when gunmen with rocket-propelled grenades attacked two checkpoints in the remote Chaambi mountains, the deadliest militant strike on the north African country’s armed forces.
The soldiers manning the checkpoints need more training, discipline and backup...
Since April, thousands of Tunisian soldiers have been deployed to the Chaambi range bordering Algeria in an operation to flush out Al Qaeda-linked militants seeking refuge there, some since fleeing French intervention in Mali last year.

Militants ambushed the checkpoints on Wednesday night, killing the soldiers as they were breaking their fast for the evening during the holy month of Ramadan, the Defence Ministry said. More than 20 soldiers were wounded.

“It was two simultaneous terrorist attacks when they were breaking their fast. Bodies of nine burned after they were hit with an RPG. Five more were shot.” said Col. Major Souhail Chmangi, chief of army land forces. “This is open warfare.”

Another soldier is missing after the attack, but authorities could not confirm if he had been kidnapped.

Tunisia has struggled with the rise of militants since the 2011 popular revolt ended the rule of autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and began its fragile steps towards democracy. Militants calling themselves Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade claimed responsibility on a social media site. That claim could not be verified, but Tunisia says the group is operating in Chaambi and is tied to Al Qaeda’s North Africa wing.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North Africa branch, has also claimed attacks in Tunisia in the past, but another militant group, Ansar Al Sharia, listed as a terrorist organisation by Washington, is also active.

The mountain range is tough terrain with access into Algeria allowing small groups of fighters plenty of cover. Tunisian forces conducted several raids there and have bombarded caves after eight soldiers were captured and killed last year.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Female lawmaker assassinated in Libya
A Libyan security official said a female lawmaker in the outgoing parliament has been killed in a restive eastern city known as a stronghold of extremists. The official said unknown assailants sprayed bullets at Fareha Al Barqawi near a gas station in the eastern city of Darna.

Al Barqawi was a member of a liberal-leaning political bloc in Libya’s outgoing parliament. Her husband was a longtime political prisoner under deposed dictator Moammar Gaddhafi.

The official didn’t provide further details and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear for his own safety.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram Islamists 'Kill Many' in Northeast Attack
[An Nahar] 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...
gunnies killed many people in an attack in the restive northeast, throwing explosives into residential homes and shooting dead civilians who tried to surrender, an official and witnesses said Friday.

Residents in the town of Damboa said they were left completely defenseless after the security forces pulled out of the area following a bad boy attack two weeks ago.

In the latest violence, the turbans struck just before sundown on Thursday, while locals prepared to break the Ramadan fast, and rampaged with no resistance until 5:00 am (0400 GMT), witnesses said.

"They killed many people. Women and children fled into the bush," said an official with the Damboa local government, who requested anonymity.

"Those who could not flee surrendered and were killed by the Lion of Islams," he added.

Boko Haram, a bad boy Islamist group in Nigeria blamed for slaughtering more than 2,000 civilians already this year, has increasingly targeted remote northeastern communities, razing entire villages while firing indiscriminately on the population.

"Most houses in the town have been burnt. Only a few still remain," said resident Ahmed Buba. "The destruction is massive... This is the worst attack by Boko Haram on Damboa."

The murderous Moslems and security forces clashed in Damboa earlier this month.

The military claimed it repelled the raid and even killed scores of Lion of Islams, but locals told Agence La Belle France-Presse that the security forces sustained heavy losses and pulled out of the area.

"We were defenseless because all the security personnel, including soldiers and coppers, have withdrawn," Buba told AFP.

Those who escaped of the overnight raid fled to the state capital Maiduguri and sought shelter in the palace of the area's top holy man, Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, also known as the Shehu of Borno.

The survivors "lodged a complaint with the Shehu because there are no security forces in Damboa," the official said.

The military was not immediately available to comment on the attack in the deeply impoverished region, which often has limited mobile phone coverage.

Damboa resident Buba said the murderous Moslems burnt the town's main market, as well as the home of the local government chairman and the area's top holy man.

"I can't tell you the number of people killed," he said. "We have to go through the rubble to see how many people died."

The loss of life in Nigeria's northeast has been climbing at a relentless pace through the first half of the year.

Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
said this week that there have been 95 attacks already in 2014, killing at least 2,053 civilians. Other groups have given higher figures.

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...
on Wednesday asked politicians to approve a $1 billion (730 million euro) foreign loan to upgrade the military.

Some observers saw the loan request, which parliament has not yet approved, as an acknowledgment by Jonathan that Boko Haram is outdoing Nigeria's military -- despite boastings from the defense ministry that it had put the snuffies on the defensive.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

#1  Interesting fhanks fred... Most interesting bit your reminder of omar's crimes. Watch al jazeera. It whitewashes them greatly. Al jazeera does not report that conflict fairly.... Not so impartial al jiz
Posted by: Anon1 || 07/19/2014 12:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Woops meant to write that previous comment under your story on Sudan.... Just saved the page, came back and forgot
Posted by: Anon1 || 07/19/2014 12:54 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Alleged suspect killed in shoot-out
[Dhaka Tribune] A man, who was allegedly involved in mugging, using a white Premio,
...an expensive Toyota made for the Japanese market, analogous to the Camry...
and also in the abduction of a college girl from Uttara,
...a man of many skillz!
was killed in a "shootout" with the police early yesterday in the capital's Hatirjheel.
Take your mark, dear Reader, aaaaaaannd... We're off!
The alleged criminal, Md Giasuddin alias Shafiqul Islam, 27,
... a two-namer, suggesting solid middle class status and/or parental love...
was from East Chandpur village under Senbagh upazila in Noakhali. He was also known as Apon.
Having more than one nom de crime does not designate improved status, however.
Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said acting on a tip-off about a mugging attempt in Hatirjheel,
Mahmoud the Weasel has grandnieces in need of orthidonture...
around 3:30am,
...a time when the solid citizenry is safely in bed, leaving the field to the criminals and their captors...
two teams of the detective branch of police chased a Premio car carrying the suspected criminals.
Two teams?! Is our anti-hero a kingpin, to merit such attention?
"The people inside the car fired at police,
"My Spidey Sense is tingling! I must... I must shoot!!" *bang bang bangetty-bang!*
forcing the latter to shoot back," he said,
"What is one to do, mon capitaine? It is the existential crisis."
adding: "At one stage, the passengers fled,
... as if they had never been...
except one who had been injured."
"He lay right there, Sarge. On The Spot."
Masudur said a sub-inspector and a constable also sustained injuries in the shootout.
... a stubbed toe and a nasty splinter, respectively...
The car was seized,
and a gun, two bullets and three mobile phones were recovered from the scene.
Expect that expensive white Toyota to show up in a great many future shootouts. It takes up an awful lot of space in the evidence room, and Sarge gets impatient with such things.
Apon was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead.
He's dead, Jim!
said the policeman.

"Apon had at least 15 cases filed against him, including three murder cases, four arms cases and seven mugging cases, with different cop shoppes. He was jugged
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
several times in the past and in 2010, beat feet from the dock after being taken to a Dhaka court," he said.
Even a mother could not love such a miscreant of a son!
Masudur said on July 3, Apon had kidnapped a college girl from Uttara, after killing a security guard, and had raped her.

The girl was kidnapped from Sector 4 in Uttara on the night of July 3 in the presence of her groom and mother.
So wait -- our miscreant stole her from her wedding? That's taking the usual "Speak now, or forever hold your peace," a bit far, don't you think?
The abductors had killed security guard Liakat Hossain alias Liton before taking her away.
Not his fault -- he was wearing a red shirt.
The girl, however, was dropped off a few hours later in Uttara
After a date, a gentleman always sees the lady to her door, to make sure she's safe...
and police arrested a youth named Rummon, his brother, father and one of his friends from Kafrul, for their alleged involvement in the abduction of the girl and the murder of the security guard.
"Round up the usual suspects, Under-corporal Latifullah!"
"The usual suspects? Sir, yes sir!"
Nisarul Arif, deputy commissioner of Uttara division, said Apon had kidnapped the girl and raped her.

"Apart from mugging, he would abduct and rape girls," he said.
A forceful man, our anti-hero, with no patience for the niceties of courtship.
"Using a white Premio car,
...stolen from a good-doing NGO, no doubt...
he was involved in several recent mugging incidents in different places such as Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Banani, Rampura and Uttara," he added.

Nisarul said they were certain about Apon's involvement in the abduction of the college girl from Uttara but the girl and her mother suspected that two teachers of the college and Rummon, her former sweetheart, were behind it.

"Rummon and others arrested with him had no links to the incident," he added.
"Over-sergeant Bilal, they paid their bribe without a quibble. So we'll have donuts in the break room until the money runs out. And this time we've taken a truly egregious miscreant off the streets for good."
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And not only do we get a smidgen of etiquette from the always correct TW, but a new referential line in the RAB Anthologies; the ever-present-but-eventually-dead-Red-Shirted-Crewman.

Well Done, TW!
(gotta wonder about a guy named Apron, like his Ma was a Martha al-Stewart junkie or sumpin')
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 07/19/2014 9:30 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
7 killed in two bomb blasts in Hangu
[The Nation (Pak)] At least seven people were killed and three others sustained injuries in two remote-controlled kabooms near a passenger van in Hangu district
... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them...
on Thursday, police said.

According to details, a passenger van was on its way to Hangu city from Zargari town. When it reached Dorarai Banda, one of the two bombs planted on the roadside, went kaboom! with a bang.

Police said the passenger vehicle was a target of the terrorists. As the people were rushing to the blast site to assist the victims, another bomb went off.

As a result, a total of seven people were killed and three sustained injuries. Five of those killed were identified as Abdus Samad, Irshad, Zahid, Saad and Shafiullah while the names of the remaining two dead could not be ascertained.

The injured, Asadullah, Basir and another unidentified person, were rushed to the district headquarters hospital. The corpse count might rise as two of the injured were at death's door, the hospital sources said.

According to the bomb disposal squad, 10kg explosives were used in each bomb. Soon after the blasts, police cordoned off the area and launched a search operation with no arrest so far. No holy warrior group has grabbed credit for the kabooms.

The incident occurred in the Zargari area of Hangu district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
province, around 100 kilometres southwest of the region's main city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
. The incident was confirmed by Hangu police chief Anwar Khan Kundi. Thousands of civilians have died since holy warriors rose up against the Pak state more than a decade ago.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


'Kamra attack mastermind' killed in an encounter
[DAWN] KARACHI: The Rangers on Friday claimed to have killed an alleged criminal mastermind behind the attack on the Kamra Airbase in an 'encounter' in the Mochko area.

Acting on a tip-off, the paramilitary force carried out a targeted raid on an alleged hideout of faceless myrmidons in Musharraf Colony on Thursday night, where in an ensuing encounter a suspect was rubbed out.

The Rangers officials identified the dear departed as Bilal Khan belonging to the Tehrik Taliban Pakistain and claimed that he was the criminal mastermind behind the attack on the Kamra Airbase last year.

He had allegedly prepared, brainwashed and dispatched jacket wallah Taimur, who detonated the kaboom strapped to his body at the Kamra base, the officials added.

The paramilitary force claimed to have seized one hand grenade and one Kalashnikov assault rifle from him.

Meanwhile,
...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout Montefiore's foot was still stuck and the hound had completely soaked his uniform with slobber...
the Rangers claimed to have saved the city from what they described as "a major disaster" by carrying out a targeted raid in Sultanabad, Manghopir, on the information obtained from an already held 'terrorist' and recovered a huge amount of weapons and kaboom.

According to the spokesperson for the Rangers, the weapons were brought here and dumped for a terrorist attack on Yaum-e-Ali.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Four of a family shot dead
[DAWN] QUETTA: Four members of a family were bumped off and a fifth was injured here on Friday.

According to police, they were coming out of a mosque after offering Friday prayers when two gunnies on a cycle of violence shot them up
Those killed have been identified as Haji Mohammad Ibrahim Achakzai, his son Mohammad Ayub, grandson Faiz Mohammad and their close relative Mir Ahmed.

According to police, they were coming out of a mosque after offering Friday prayers when two gunnies on a cycle of violence shot them up in the Eastern Bypass area of Mehmoodabad.

"They received multiple injuries and was struck down in his prime."

A police officer said it appeared that the assailants had been waiting for them.

Police and Frontier Corps personnel took the bodies and the injured to the civil hospital.

"The motive behind the killings was old enmity," the officer said.

Police conducted raids at different places but no arrest was made till late night.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When vengeance spent bends to solemnity
And all have received their indemnity,
The Paks pause to condemn
The spirit that moved them
And throw back a shot of Old Enmity.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 07/19/2014 21:39 Comments || Top||


Gunmen kill three policemen, passerby in Peshawar
[DAWN] PESHAWAR: Three coppers and a passerby were killed and three others injured when unidentified gunnies attacked a police party in Pishtkhara area on the outskirts of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
capital on Friday.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Cant, Muhammad Faisal confirmed that three coppers and a civilian have been killed and three including two cops and another passerby maimed in the ambush.

"The coppers were breaking their fast at a local restaurant at Landi Akhun Ahmed neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city when unknown assailants opened indiscriminate firing on their van killing three coppers and a waiter of the restaurant on the spot," he said.

The dead and the injured have been shifted to the Khyber Teaching Hospital.

An official of the KTH hospital said that seven injured were brought to the hospital where two coppers including ASI Noor Muhammad and driver of the police mobile van Baz Muhammad gave up the ghost.

The eyewitnesses said that the coppers were staying for Iftar near a roadside restaurant when the attackers riding a car opened fire on them resulting in the death of three cops and maimed four others.

Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
police chief Ijaz Ahmed confirmed to the media that coppers were having Iftar out in the open when targetted by the miscreants riding a white car. He also confirmed the number of casualties.

Funeral of the slain coppers was offered at the police lines which was attended by the speaker of the KP Assembly, Asad Qaiser besides the high ranking coppers. Later the bodies of the slain coppers were shifted to their ancestral towns for burial.

Meanwhile,
...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system...
the bomb disposal squad defused a bomb near Khyber police checkpost in Hayatabad. Sources said that two kilograms of homemade kaboom was recovered and seized near the checkpost.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Drone strike kills eight suspected militants in North Waziristan
[DAWN] At least eight suspected Lions of Islam were killed in a drone strike in Dattakhel tehsil of North Wazoo tribal region early Saturday.

Intelligence sources said that around 3am, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fired two missiles on a compound in Doga Madakhel village of Dattakhel tehsil, around 36 kilometres west of North Waziristan's capital Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
.

The strike left at least eight Lions of Islam dead, including some high value target, they said.

According to local sources, the Lions of Islam killed belonged to the Punjabi Taliban faction of the Pak Taliban as the compound hit by the missiles belonged to Punjabi Taliban.

The identity of those killed, however, could not yet be ascertained.

This is the third such drone strike since the Pak military launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb in the militancy-infested lawless region to wipe out longstanding bases of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) and other murderous Moslem groups.

The semi-autonomous tribal area on the Afghan border has for years been a hideout for several murderous Moslem groups — including Al-Qaeda and the TTP as well as imported muscle such as Uzbeks and Uighurs.

At least 18 Lions of Islam were killed in a drone strike two days ago, which destroyed a compound and a vehicle.

Pakistain routinely protests against US drone strikes, which have been targeting Lions of Islam in the tribal areas since 2004, saying they are a violation of illusory sovereignty and counterproductive in the fight against terror.

Military officials have also strongly denied
No, no! Certainly not!
suggestions that there has been collusion with the US on drone strikes.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They are autonomous drones, not colluding with anybody. Just flying around whacking an occasional turban.
Posted by: Steven || 07/19/2014 2:20 Comments || Top||

#2  And nobody alarmed or calls for truce?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/19/2014 6:42 Comments || Top||


Iraq
IS-led Militants Storm Iraqi Air Base near Tikrit
[An Nahar] Fighters from the jihadist-led coalition that controls large parts of Iraq launched a brazen raid on an Iraqi air base near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, military sources said Friday.

The army and an Islamic State statement differed on the outcome of the battle and the corpse count, but a military intelligence officer admitted the air field known as Speicher was stormed late Thursday.

"Last night, gunnies infiltrated the base. There were snipers and jacket wallahs among them, they managed to reach the runway," the officer, who witnessed the attack, told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.

IS fighters and their allies control the nearby city of Tikrit but Iraqi federal forces had managed to hold on to Speicher -- named by U.S. troops after a navy pilot whose plane was shot down by Saddam's forces in 1991 -- despite repeated attacks in recent weeks.

"When the festivities erupted, the pilots flew the base's aircraft out" to save them from destruction, the officer said. "But one Russian-made helicopter which had not taken off was destroyed."

He said a unit of special forces soon arrived, sparking a bloody battle.

"When it was over, I counted 35 dead attackers inside the base. We had at least three special forces killed and four maimed."

In a statement posted on Internet sites close to the Islamic State, the jihadist group said it had killed many pilots and soldiers during its raid on Speicher, which lies a few kilometers (miles) north of Tikrit.

It said it shot down two helicopters in the air, disabled or burned several aircraft on the ground, destroyed army vehicles, fuel reserves and communications equipment.

The intelligence officer, however, said that Speicher's fleet had managed to take off and that, on their way out, one or several aircraft attacked another IS convoy they spotted heading towards the base to join the battle.

He was not able to provide a casualty toll for the air raid.

Another army officer based in the area also said that IS fighters had stormed Speicher but did not specify how many combatants had died.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant


Baghdad Blast Claimed by Islamic State Suicide Car Bomb Kill 9
[Iraq Sun] A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State militant group killed three people on Thursday in the center of Baghdad and a second bomb outside the Iraqi capital killed six people, police and medics said.

The bomb in central Baghdad, claimed by the al-Qaida offshoot, exploded near the Shi'ite mosque of Abdullah bin Rawah in the main wholesale market of Shorja, the sources said.

The Islamic State said on an affiliated Twitter feed that a man it called Abu Bakr al-Australi (the Australian) had detonated explosives in a vest he was wearing near the mosque.

The other suicide bomber detonated an explosive-rigged car at a checkpoint on the northern exit from Baghdad, killing six people and wounding 18, most of them policemen, sources said.

The army and allied Shi'ite militia forces are trying to push back Sunni insurgents, who swept through northern Iraq last month to within 70 km (45 miles) of Baghdad.

An army offensive to retake the northern city of Tikrit on Tuesday was repulsed by the insurgents, who forced troops to pull back south of the city on the banks of the Tigris.

The fighting has exacerbated a political crisis in Baghdad, where Shi'ite caretaker Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is trying to form a government in the face of opposition from Sunnis, Kurds and some Shi'ites, three months after Iraq held a parliamentary election.

Iraq's Shi'ite clergy as well as Western powers have pressed politicians to overcome their deadlock and agree a new unity government to help tackle the insurgency and prevent Iraq from splitting down ethnic and sectarian lines.

To the north of Baghdad, militants attacked the Turkuman town of Amirli overnight on Wednesday and on Thursday morning, striking from three directions.

Nine insurgents and one soldier were killed in the fighting, Amirli mayor Talib Mohammed said.

Police in Muqdadiya, a town 80 km (50 miles) northeast of the capital, said they found 10 corpses with execution-style bullet wounds in their heads and chests on a street late on Thursday.

A local morgue source confirmed the deaths.

Residents in the town had on Monday found 12 corpses with execution-style bullet wounds after fighting between Islamic State fighters and the Naqshbandi Army, a group led by supporters of Sunni former dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant

#1  News reports ISIS has acquired some 50 each 155mm Howitzers that the US Army left for the Iranians. No need for a land invasion now.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/19/2014 11:13 Comments || Top||

#2  (error above).......50 each howitzers left for the Iraqis.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/19/2014 11:15 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Liveblogging the Gaza Op: Day 12
[IsraelTimes] Rocket salvo hits Ashdod overnight

4 missiles intercepted, but one hits residential area, causing heavy damage; 11 Palestinians killed in Gaza overnight, 7 of them outside a mosque; 3 IDF soldiers injured in shootout with armed Palestinians in northern Gaza Strip; UN chief heads to region in bid for ceasefire

The Times of Israel is liveblogging events as they unfold through Saturday, the twelfth day of Operation Protective Edge. On Friday, Israel's ground offensive on Hamas targets in Gaza gathered pace, with the IDF reporting it had found numerous terror tunnels, killed 20 Hamas gunmen and captured 13 more. Palestinian sources put the total Gaza death toll to date at almost 300. IDF Chief Benny Gantz said Hamas's terror infrastructure was being set back years, and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said Israel would restore security and calm for its civilians one way or another; she pointedly did not rule out bringing down Hamas.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/19/2014 00:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Moosa Abu Marzouk confirms that most of the homes hit by the IDF since Operation Protective Edge began belong to Hamas members.

The next time some "progressive" complains about indiscriminate Israeli bombing, remind them of what Hamas' own officials are admitting.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 07/19/2014 11:01 Comments || Top||

#2  UN chief heads to region in bid for ceasefire

Why bother? Even if Israel accepts the ceasefire, Hamas will ignore it, and then complain that Israel is the aggressor.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 07/19/2014 14:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Just read about Hamas newest terror weapon: The Suicide Donkey.

I'm not making that up. It's at the UKTelegraph. I am... extremely amused.
Posted by: Charles || 07/19/2014 17:28 Comments || Top||


Israeli Assault Kills 44 Gazans, Raising Toll to 285
[An Nahar] The Gazoo corpse count hit 285 on Friday as Israel pressed a major ground offensive on the 11th day of an operation to stamp out bully boy rocket fire, medics said.

And a soldier was killed as the offensive got under way, raising the Israeli corpse count to two, the army said.

Forty-four Gazooks were killed on Friday, raising the overall Paleostinian corpse count since July 8 to 285, medics said.

An Israeli soldier was also killed as troops began an offensive on the Gazoo periphery aimed at destroying Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' network of cross-border tunnels, the army said.

Israeli television said he died by "friendly fire."

The latest Paleostinian deaths included five members of a single family -- two men, two women and a child -- killed in tank shelling on their home in northern Gazoo's Beit Hanun, emergency services front man Ashraf al-Qudra said.

Shortly before, four children ranging in age from two to 13-years-old were killed in tank shelling east of Gazoo City, Qudra said.

Among them were brothers Emad Alwan, seven, and Qasem Alwan, four.

In the southern city of Rafah a man was killed by tank shelling, and in Khan Yunis, a 23-year-old died of wounds sustained earlier in the week.

The deaths raised the toll in Gazoo during the 11 days of the conflict to 285, as Israel pressed a ground operation it announced on Thursday night.

Earlier, three people were killed in Khan Yunis in the south, one man killed in Nusseirat in central Gazoo and another death was reported in a cemetery in the northern Gazoo Strip, Qudra said.

Elsewhere, medics found the bodies of another four people: two of them just to the east of the southern city of Rafah, and another two in Khan Yunis, one of them a 17-year-old, he said.

Another eight people had earlier been killed in and around the northern town of Beit Hanun, among them three teenagers.

And in the southern city of Khan Yunis, six people from two families were killed, as well as another three who were killed by tank fire.

Attacks in Rafah, which straddles the border with Egypt, claimed five lives in several different attacks, among them a five-month-old baby.

To the east of Gazoo City, another person was killed in Shejaiya, and medics also found the body of a man killed in a strike south of the city.

Figures provided by the Gazoo-based Paleostinian Center for Human Rights show civilians account for more than 80 percent of the victims of Israel's assault since July 8 to halt rocket fire by faceless myrmidons of the Islamist movement Hamas which controls the coastal strip.

At least 2,200 Paleostinians have also been maimed.

Since the Israeli operation began, more than 1,207 rockets fired from Gazoo have struck Israel, and another 333 have been shot down by the country's Iron Dome air defense system, army figures show.

On the Israeli side, a civilian was killed by rocket fire earlier this week, while four others were seriously injured.

Since the Israeli operation began before dawn on July 8, at least 1,164 rockets fired from Gazoo have struck Israel, and another 320 have been shot down by the Iron Dome air defense system, army figures show.

On the Israeli side, a civilian was killed by rocket fire earlier this week, and a soldier was killed overnight in Gazoo. Another four Israelis have been seriously injured.

U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
will leave Saturday for the Middle East to meet Israelis and Paleostinians, a bigwig told an emergency meeting of the U..N Security Council on Friday evening.

Under secretary general for political affairs Jeffrey Feltman said a two-state solution to the conflict was the only way to break the "seemingly endless cycle" of Israeli-Paleostinian violence.

"The secretary general is prepared to do his part. He will leave for the region tomorrow to express solidarity with the Israelis and Paleostinians," Feltman told emergency talks at the Council.

The U.N. chief's visit will help Israelis and Paleostinians "in coordination with regional and international actors, end the violence and find a way forward," Feltman said.

The bigwig reiterated U.N. calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and radical Paleostinian group Hamas.

"Unless we address the root causes of the current escalation this dreadful violence will occur again and again. We cannot return to the status quo," he said.

"Once calm is restored it is imperative to immediately tackle the underlying causes," he added, listing the smuggling of weapons, the reopening Gazoo's crossing points and Paleostinian governance.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  The bigwig reiterated U.N. calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and radical Paleostinian group Hamas.

There was a ceasefire, dumbass. The Israelis followed it. The Palestinians responded by firing rockets.

After which Israel responded.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 07/19/2014 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  It's very hard to combat passive/aggressive behavior at an almost state level. Israel will be the bad guy no matter what happens, right down to the very last cannon fodder.

Maybe Bibi recognizes this but is smart enough to let the 'zoos break truces and store munitions in (albeitly closed) UN school(s?), this in hope the world sees the Paleos as they really are, so as to reduce the criticism he'll get for defending his people.

Good luck with that.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 07/19/2014 0:28 Comments || Top||

#3  175,0000 Syrians dead - and where's all the shouting and condemnation? Anybody else sick and tired of grieving grandmothers and babies (all Pals). Grieving Israelis nearly never shown.
Posted by: borgboy || 07/19/2014 3:32 Comments || Top||


Israel warns of wider Gaza assault as toll soars to 285
Israel warned on Friday it could broaden a Gaza ground assault aimed at smashing Hamas’s network of cross-border tunnels, as intensifying tank fire hiked the Palestinian death toll to 285.

In the face of Israel’s land, sea and air offensive, Hamas remained defiant and warned the Jewish state it would “drown in the swamp of Gaza”

As Gaza residents spoke of a night of terror, with gunbattles in the south and all-night shelling in the north, Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to ready for “the possibility of a significant broadening of the ground activity.”

Immediately afterwards, he convened his security cabinet to discuss plans for a possible expansion of the campaign, which began on July 8 with the aim of stamping out cross-border rocket fire.

The ground operation, which began in the Gaza periphery at around 2000 GMT on Thursday, sent thousands of people fleeing west to escape the fighting, with a UN agency saying the numbers of displaced had almost doubled overnight.

“The number of people coming to UNRWA seeking sanctuary from the fighting in Gaza has nearly doubled today. It has risen from 22,000 to over 40,000,” said Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, saying they were staying in 34 of the agency’s schools.

By mid-morning on Friday, the road between Gaza City and Khan Yunis was deserted with only a single minibus, packed with passengers, careering south, its windows covered with makeshift white flags, an AFP correspondent said.

During Friday prayers, imams at Gaza’s 1,400 mosques relayed a single message to the faithful: “Be patient and strong, victory will come.”

But it was little comfort for those on the ground with hospitals overwhelmed by a flood of patients.

“The situation is very, very difficult,” said doctor Kamel Zaqzuq at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis. “At night, it’s one constant emergency.”

With food supplies running desperately low, the World Food Programme said it had already distributed emergency food rations and food vouchers to more than 20,000 displaced people since the conflict erupted on July 8. But with the ground operation, it was gearing up for a huge increase in the coming days, spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters in Geneva.

“In the next few days, WFP hopes to reach 85,000 people with food distributions,” she said.
The more you feed them the longer they hold out before a ceasefire...
Gaza was also struggling with a 70 per cent power outage after electricity lines from Israel were damaged by a Hamas rocket, officials said.

By mid-evening, after a relative lull during the daylight hours, Israeli tank fire began intensifying and fatality reports poured in. The deaths, and those of others in the evening throughout Gaza, brought the number killed since midnight to 44, and raised the overall toll in 11 days of fighting in Gaza to 285 people killed.

An Israeli civilian and a soldier have also been killed.

Israel has said the aim of the ground operation is to destroy Hamas’s network of tunnels which are used for cross-border attacks on southern Israel.

“It is not possible to deal with tunnels only from the air, so our soldiers are also doing that on the ground,” Netanyahu said, although he admitted there was “no guarantee of 100 percent success.”
Posted by: Steve White || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  'SOARS'? 175,000 dead Syrians - that's what I wp\ould call a soaring death rate.
Posted by: borgboy || 07/19/2014 3:35 Comments || Top||

#2  That's because you haven't been trained in dialectical materialism, borgboy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/19/2014 6:41 Comments || Top||

#3  During Friday prayers, imams at Gaza's 1,400 mosques relayed a single message to the faithful: “Be patient and strong, victory will come.”

"you and your family will be dead, of course, but we will call it 'victory'"
Posted by: Frank G || 07/19/2014 8:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Frank, and, of course, the leaders (and THEIR families) will be safe, because they have all retired to their bunkers.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 07/19/2014 15:00 Comments || Top||

#5  1400 mosques in 141 square miles. That's 10 mosques per square mile. A gross figure, which includes the open area. Like mushrooms on a log.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/19/2014 15:30 Comments || Top||

#6  AP Gross in more ways than one.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/19/2014 16:54 Comments || Top||


UNRWA investigates after rockets found in Gaza school
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said on Thursday it was investigating after finding 20 rockets hidden in one of its vacant schools in the Gaza Strip.
They're sub-contracting the investigation to Eric Holder and the DoJ so you know there will be action pronto...
It condemned the incident as a “flagrant violation” of international law and said the rockets had been removed and the “relative parties” informed.

“Yesterday, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered approximately 20 rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip,” the agency said in a statement.
A regular inspection, strongly facilitated by an Israeli general who grabbed the UNRWA supervisor by the scruff of his neck and said, "look at this!"
“UNRWA strongly condemns the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations,” it continued. “This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law.”

It said the incident was the first of its kind, warning that it “endangered civilians including staff and put at risk UNRWA’s vital mission.”
Oh absolutely, no one could possibly imagine the Gazooks using a UNRWA facility as a missile depot. Nope, nope, that could never happen...
The statement said UNRWA “informed the relevant parties and successfully took all necessary measures for the removal of the objects.”

“UNRWA has launched a comprehensive investigation.”
They have Top People working on it now...
Posted by: Steve White || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "First of its kind of violation"
Does that warrant a yellow card?
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 07/19/2014 1:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Just vocational training.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/19/2014 5:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Question now is:

Which UNRWA school did they move the rockets to?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/19/2014 7:37 Comments || Top||

#4  UNRWA = Co-conspirators
Posted by: Frank G || 07/19/2014 8:29 Comments || Top||

#5  approximately 20 rockets

Approximately? What, the UNRWA can't count that high even with their shoes off?
Posted by: AlanC || 07/19/2014 8:41 Comments || Top||

#6  They make 'em in shop class.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 12:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Ya gotta hand it to the Palestinians for being so industrious. Just imagine, one day they might learn to use all this energy for doing good instead of evil. They could go to work for SpaceX instead of trying to kill tha Juice.

(They're probably already more cost effective than LockMart).
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 07/19/2014 13:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Space age 100 mm dia sewer pipes. Just high school shop students having some fun.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/19/2014 14:42 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Two Germans being held by Abu Sayyaf
Two German tourists who have been missing for three months had been abducted by Abu Sayyaf rebels and were being held "unharmed" by the group in the southern Philippines.

Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, said the Philippine government has ordered troops to locate the Germans in Sulu province and ensure their safe recovery but he would not say what the military intends to do.

Stefan Okonek and his female companion, Henrike Dielen, were taken at gunpoint from a yacht between Malaysia’s Sabah state on Borneo Island and the western Philippine province of Palawan in April and then taken by boat to predominantly Muslim Sulu, about 590 miles south of Manila, where the Abu Sayyaf has held other hostages. A police general said the Germans were seen once by some villagers while washing themselves in a mountain stream, guarded by the rebels.

Philippine police officials have obtained a picture of a Caucasian man and woman squatting and holding onto a German flag while being surrounded by heavily armed men with covered faces. The gunmen are standing in front of a black flag often used by Abu Sayyaf rebels and thick foliage.

Guerrero said the Abu Sayyaf is currently holding about ten hostages in Sulu's jungles, including the Germans and two European birdwatchers who were kidnapped two years ago. The rebels have been using the birdwatchers as "human shields" from persistent government offensives, he said.
Posted by: ryuge || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian army clashes with ISIS near Deir al-Zor airport
[Beirut Daily Star] yrian soldiers clashed with ISIS Lions of Islam outside a government-controlled army airport Friday, part of a major escalation of fighting between the Al-Qaeda offshoot and the military.

The hard-line Al-Qaeda splinter group has gained ground in Syria over the past five weeks, bolstered by equipment seized in a lightning offensive last month in neighboring Iraq.

The group Thursday seized the Shaar oil field, east of the central city of Homs, in what the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-regime group, said was one of its bloodiest festivities with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
's forces.

The corpse count from the raid rose to 115 Friday, the Observatory said. The fate of 250 other people was unknown, it added.

A video posted online Thursday, purportedly of the battle site, showed gunnies pacing through a barren desert space speaking in Arabic and German as they examined what appeared to be more than 50 bodies, many with gunshot wounds to the head, chest and legs. Some of the bodies appeared to be young men.

"Here lie two pigs," said one of the men, speaking German. At least two multiple-rocket launchers and other military vehicles were visible.

The government did not officially confirm the deaths, but regime supporters posted photographs of the dead, and branded their killings as a "massacre."

One pro-regime Twitter user said: "Thirty deaders were brought to Homs hospital from the Shaar gas field ... Homs is still bleeding."

He also branded the killings as a "massacre," and posted pictures of the dead.

Rami Abdel-Rahman, the director of the Observatory, said that 11 of the dead were civilian employees, while the rest were security guards and National Defense Forces paramilitaries.

The Observatory initially reported 25 of the killed were civilians, but later revised its toll downwards.

The Observatory, which tracks the violence through a network of contacts in Syria, said the government had sent reinforcements backed by helicopters to the nearby Hajjar oil field.

Fighting also broke out Friday between ISIS and government forces at the army airport in Deir al-Zor, one of the last major strategic locations in Deir al-Zor province not under the control of ISIS.

The Syrian army responded to the bully boys' offensive by bombing areas around the airport, which supplies its forces in the east of the country, the Observatory said. There were no details of casualties.

The fighting was just a few hundred meters from the airport, Abdel-Rahman said, noting that it would be tough for ISIS to overcome government forces there.

Earlier in the week ISIS managed to expel its Al-Qaeda rival the Nusra Front and several other militias from the city of Deir al-Zor, tightening its hold on the eastern province bordering Iraq.

Capturing most of Deir al-Zor province has helped ISIS link up territorial gains across Syria and Iraq, where it seized the northern city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
in June.

In northern Aleppo province, ISIS Lions of Islam appeared to suffer a setback in their ongoing battle with the Kurdish YPG militia. The Observatory said the Kurd fighters killed at least five ISIS Lions of Islam when they tried to storm a position near the town of Ain Arab, or Cobani in Kurdish, one of the three "capitals" of the self-rule region declared by the Kurds along the north of Syria.

And in the Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, where ISIS Lions of Islam form a small minority of the krazed killers, nine rebel groups issued an ultimatum to ISIS to leave the area. Several militias, such as the Islam Army, have been locked in fierce battles with ISIS over the last several weeks, and observers say the rebels are gradually gaining the upper hand.

In the city of Aleppo, warplanes and helicopters pounded the former northern metropolis amid fierce festivities in several areas around the city, pitting regime troops and paramilitaries versus Islamist and other rebel groups.

Also, in the province of Hama, government forces pounded rebels in the village of Morek with 12 Arclight airstrikes and six barrel bombs dropped by helicopter, the Observatory said.

There was conflicting information as to which side was in control of parts of the town, strategically important because it lies on the Aleppo-Hama highway.

After several weeks of slightly lower casualty figures, the Observatory said Thursday's nationwide corpse count stood at 314 people, of whom 163 were regime troops and allied fighters.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant


Heavy Fighting in Arsal between Hizbullah and other Turbans
[An Nahar] Security sources raised fears on Friday that the Syrian refugee camps in the Bekaa border town of Arsal are possibly transformed into bases that incubate krazed killers. The fears went in parallel with heavy shootouts that erupted Thursday between the said snuffies and 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...
fighters.

Since Sunday, the Eastern Mountain Range (on the Lebanese-Syrian border) has been witnessing heavy fighting between Hizbullah and al-Nusra Front snuffies as Syrian warplanes have also raided the outskirts of Arsal, Wadi Nahle, Younine, Falita and Kara.

Unnamed security sources confirmed to As-Safir daily that Hizbullah fighters were able to seize control of a number of strategic hilltops in the region.

"The battle aims to protect the resistance in the Bekaa area," the sources said, "reaching to the final closure of the Qalamoun front that could possibly safeguard Leb from the danger of booby-trapped cars, suicidal bombers and rockets" they added.

They stated fears that the Syrian refugee camps in the area could turn into camps that harbor krazed killers, or a springboard to head to Syrian or Lebanese territories for violent acts.

The fighting killed more than 100 people including Omar al-Yakzan an aide to Sirajeddine Zouraikat front man for the Abdullah Azzam Brigades
... Leb's current al-Qaeda affiliate, named after a guy whose car the current head of al-Qaeda had boomed...
, in addition to hundreds who were maimed and 17 captured turbans.

Arsal, a predominantly Sunni area, backs the uprising against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
.

The town lies 12 kilometers from the border with Syria and has been used as a conduit for weapons and rebels to enter Syria, while also serving as a refuge for people fleeing the conflict.

The town has seen a massive influx of refugees as a result of the heavy fighting in Qalamoun.
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah



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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2014-07-19
  IS-led Militants Storm Iraqi Air Base near Tikrit
Fri 2014-07-18
  Insurgents Attack Kabul Airport
Thu 2014-07-17
   IDF starts Gaza ground invasion
Wed 2014-07-16
  20 militants killed in US drone attack in Pakistan
Tue 2014-07-15
  Israeli airstrikes kill 40 Palestinians in 24 hours
Mon 2014-07-14
  "Libya Dawn" Islamist movement orders Qaaqaa and Sawaq brigades to leave Tripoli
Sun 2014-07-13
  Air strikes kill 13 suspected terrorists in Mirali: ISPR
Sat 2014-07-12
  Gaza toll hits 100 as truce efforts waver
Fri 2014-07-11
  Muslim bloc urges UN to halt Gaza bloodshed
Thu 2014-07-10
  Abbas says Israel committing 'genocide' in Gaza
Wed 2014-07-09
  Israel Gaza campaign kills 28, wounds more than 150
Tue 2014-07-08
  Ansar al-Sharia Tunisia branch allies with ISIS
Mon 2014-07-07
  Yemen Bombs Rebels After Cease-Fire Falters
Sun 2014-07-06
  ISIS destroys shrines, Shiite mosques in Mosul
Sat 2014-07-05
  Iraq's Maliki to Run Again

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