Roads of six districts in eastern Paktia province have been blocked by the Taliban, leaving the residents in huge trouble, said officials on Saturday.
Operation is underway to open the roads, Police Chief of Paktia Zulmai Oryakhail said, adding that the insurgents were firing at forces from the areas in their control.
According to local officials, the Taliban insurgents have blasted parts of a mountain in Tanga-Showat area, blocking roads to Janikhel, Lazha Ahmadkhel, Dand Aw Patan, Lazha Mangal, Chamkani and Zazi districts.
Meanwhile, Zurmat district governor said Taliban also blocked the district's road to Gardez, the provincial capital, on Friday night.
Taliban have warned the residents to stay at their homes, he added.
At least five worshipers were killed after a rocket allegedly fired by Daesh hit a Mosque in Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province, officials said on Saturday.
The rocket was fired in Pandolai area on Friday evening, leaving eight others wounded, said Haji Ghalib, the district governor for Achin.
According to Ghalib, Daesh fighters launched six rockets on a security force base, one of which landed on the mosque.
Achin had reportedly become a major hub for newly-emerged Daesh fighters over the past few months.
However the Afghan forces launched a large-scale operation in Achin, leaving huge casualties among the extremist fighters.
Posted by: badanov ||
11/01/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
could be
ISIS vs Afghan govt
ISIS vs Taliban
or even
ISIS vs Al Qeada (province was once an al q stronghold - Tora Bora is near there)
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/01/2015 7:34 Comments ||
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#2
According to Ghalib, Daesh fighters launched six rockets on a security force base, one of which landed on the mosque.
Or it could be that one of the rockets missed the targetted security force base.
#3
Combinations of N taken K at a time. This is really crazy. That is why factorials are represented by exclamation points. Too many players in the ME cauldron now, so we need mathematical methods to begin to understand this madness.
Combinations of N taken K at at a time =
N! / ( (K!) / (N-K)! )
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/01/2015 11:33 Comments ||
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An official says at least 50 militants have been killed in a heavy fighting between Somali army and Al shabaab which took place on Saturday at villages near Hudur town, the capital of Bakol region which are controlled by Somali military.
Confirming the incident, Hudur governor Mohamed Mo’allin said while speaking to Radio Shabelle that Govt troops in Garasweyne and Moragabey villages have repulsed the attack, killing 50 Al shabaab fighters and seizing 40 AK-47 riffles.
In the meantime, local residents reported hearing sounds of heavy gun fire as the two warring sides clashed in a deadly battle at the army bases for the early hours on Saturday morning.
In a statement posted on pro-al shabaab websites cited that the militants took over the villages after an attack which they claimed killing of dozens of Somali army members.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/01/2015 00:00 ||
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Somali forces, with the support of Ethiopian troops overran two Al shabaab bases, which situate near Diinsoor town, according to a senior Govt official. Confirming the incident, Diinsoor district commissioner Ibrahim Mohamed told Radio Shabelle by phone that the coalition forces swept into Gubadley and Misirre villages, after forcing Al shabaab to move away.
“The military operations against Al shabaab militants will continue until the entire region is completely secured. Somali troops destroyed two Al shabaab camps in Misirre and Gubadley areas near Diinsoor town,” said Mohamed.
Diinsoor town has been the biggest Al shabaab stronghold in Baay region before it fell to Somali and AMISOM forces in mid July, 2015 following an offensive.
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11/01/2015 00:00 ||
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Dubai: The Saudi-led coalition forces have put the final touches to the battle strategy to liberate Taiz and push back militia forces loyal to deposed Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh and Al Houthis.
In an interview with London-based Arabic newspaper Al Sharq Al Awsat, Brigadier General Yousuf Al Shraji, Deputy Chairman of the Military Council in Taiz, said crimes of the militia groups have been recorded by the National Army and will be submitted to the International Criminal Court. He also said the militia groups recruited a number of African mercenaries to fight in their ranks at the front of Al Dhabab.
“The war led by the deposed president and Al Houthis on the people of Taiz is a war of vengeance,” Brig Gen Al Shraji said, “It is aimed at punishing the people of Taiz because they sided with the legitimate government and the Yemeni people.”
When asked how the military scene in Taiz looked after six months of battle, Brig Gen Al Shraji said the city was mostly under the control of the National Army and the resistance. “The city’s heart is under the National Army’s control,” he said.
“All current confrontations are taking place in the eastern and western fronts, where the militia forces are stationed with heavy artillery. During the last period, we were able to liberate key areas in the city’s centre and Al Dhabab, which forced the militia forces to retreat to the outskirts of the city. They are committing horrific and immoral acts there, breaking every international human rights law.”
Brig Gen Al Shraji said Taiz held a strategic point in the war since it was in the heart of the country, as well as the province having the largest population mass in Yemen.
“The liberation of Taiz means securing the governorate of Aden, and the South in general,” he said. “The liberation plans have already been drafted and finalised, and we’re soon to begin their implementation. We discussed every detail of our military operations and what the National Army and the Taiz’s resistance needs. In the coming few days, there will be surprises.”
The deputy chairman of the military council said Taiz is home to more than four million people, and the “extraordinary situation has disabled most of the state institutions. Restoration projects are being conducted in parts of the city under Taiz control. We reopened the police stations and recruited employees, and are pursuing our ambition of restoring security and stability. There are plans to rework service institutions after Taiz is liberated”.
Brig Gen Al Shraji said he expects Taiz’s liberation to be near at hand. He also refuted the presence of militia groups embedded within the Taiz resistance’s ranks.
Last week, Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi stressed that the city of Taiz and all other Yemeni governorates and cities will be liberated soon from the Al Houthi militia and forces loyal to Saleh. Hadi said that the militia groups have been “hysterically” murdering women and children and destroying schools, mosques and residential areas in Taiz City using medium and heavy weapons.
[AnNahar] Dozens of Yemeni Iranian catspaws and pro-government fighters have been killed in festivities in several southern provinces as Saudi-led coalition aircraft targeted the Iran-backed murderous Moslems, military officials said Saturday.
Fierce festivities raged in the areas of Al-Zaher and Thi al-Naem in Baida province between Houthis and Popular Resistance fighters allied with forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, tribal sources said.
The festivities overnight left 19 rebels and 14 Popular Resistance fighters dead, according to tribal and medical sources.
Gun battles also flared up in Al-Madaribah in southwestern Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... on the border between restive Lahj ... a Yemeni governate located in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the stomping grounds on the southern secessionist al-Harak movement and Taez provinces, leaving an unknown number of fighters killed and maimed, military sources said.
Southern fighters said they were defending the area against rebels trying to reach the shores of the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) away, which was seized by loyalists last month.
The narrow waterway, which separates Yemen from Djibouti, funnels shipping to and from the Suez Canal in the northern Red Sea.
Witnesses said that many residents fled the area due to heavy fighting.
Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition raided positions of Huthis and allied renegade troops loyal to ousted president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , military officials said.
The air strikes destroyed rebel vehicles in the central Ibb province, close to Daleh, which was seized by pro-government forces along with four other southern provinces earlier this year.
A progressive publisher was killed, and another publisher and two bloggers were hacked and shot by unidentified criminals in Shahbagh and Lalmatia areas of the capital yesterday. Faisal Arefin Dipan, 45, owner of Jagriti Prokashani, was stabbed dead in his office at Aziz Cooperative Market at Shahbagh while Shuddha Swar Prokashani publisher Ahmedur Rashid Tutul and writer-blogger Sudeep Kumar Roy Barman, who writes under the name of Ranadipam Basu, and Tareq Rahim were injured at Tutul’s office at Lalmatia. Dipan was the sixth progressive activist to have been killed in the country since 2013.
Both the publishers -- Dipan and Tutul -- had brought out books of writer and blogger Avijit Roy, who was hacked to death in February on the Dhaka University campus.
Dipan, a school friend of Avijit Roy, was stabbed to death yesterday afternoon and his body was recovered by police at around 6:15pm from his office on the 2nd floor of the market, said Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) (media and publications) Muntasirul Islam Rony.
Dipan was found lying in a pool of blood and was first taken to Square Hospital and later to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead, a police official confirmed.
Ansar Al Islam, the self-styled ‘Bangladeshi branch’ of militant group al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS), has claimed credit for the killing of the publisher and attacking another. A Twitter account, purportedly handled by the militant group Ansar Al Islam, made the claim hours after the attacks on Saturday night.
“We, al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent, claim responsibility for this operation,” a message posted on the account read. When contacted over the matter, police DC Muntasirul Islam said, “We have learned about the claim of responsibility by the group. We are trying to verify the claim made by the militant outfit.”
The slain publisher’s family told reporters that they tried to contact Dipan yesterday afternoon after getting news on TV that the publisher of Shuddha Swar was attacked at his office in Lalmatia. But they failed to reach Dipan on his mobile phone. Family members then went to his office and found his body in a pool of blood. He was found alone in the room, said family members.
Dipan is the son of Professor Abul Kashem Fazlul Haque of Bangla Department of Dhaka University and his wife Razia Rahman is a senior medical officer of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] Mullah Krekar, a controversial Kurdish holy man who founded the Death Eater group Ansar al-Islam and has known ties to al-Qaeda, was sentenced by a Norwegian court Friday to 18 months in prison for threatening a fellow Kurd on television.
In addition, Krekar has to pay 75,000 Norwegian kronor (about S8,800) in compensation.
The 59-year Krekar, a Kurd from Iraq whose real name is Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, threatened the Kurd, Halmat Goran, during a television interview with Norwegian TV NRK in February 2015.
Krekar had earlier issued a fatwa against Goran when the latter published a video several years ago in which he burned the Koran.
Krekar told NRK: "The responsibility to execute the punishment belongs to the Muslim community, whether he is in Norway or whether he is with Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... ."
The Kurdish Islamist claimed that he did not threaten Goran, but Goran had to "fear Somalis, Indonesians, Africans, Chechens and all other Muslims."
"Anyone who knows the punishment could kill him. I'll send a gift to him that kills him. Why should I not be happy about it?" Krekar told NRK.
Goran had to change his name and is now living at a secret address because of the threats.
The words from Krekar must be understood as a threat, according to the judge.
"The court is in no doubt that the statement should be understood as a call for a certain group of people to execute the punishment," Judge Peter Blom said as he read the court's decision against Krekar.
Krekar's attoney, Brynjar Meling, said in a blurb that his client will take "time to think" and not appeal the verdict. In addition, Meling believed that some of Krekar's words have been taken out of context.
"The judgment has obvious weaknesses, including basing itself on an edited material," the statement said. "Krekar believes that he has made the necessary provisions in the raw material."
After the verdict, Krekar left the courtroom immediately, without giving comments.
Krekar was born in Sulaimani in the Iraqi Kurdistan region and is the father of four children. He completed a master's degree in Islamic studies in Pakistain and moved to Norway in 1991. He established the Salafist jihadi group Ansar al-Islam in 1994.
Since 2006, Mullah Krekar has been on the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... ' terror list.
In 2012, he was sentenced to five years in prison in Norway for threatening to kill the then conservative politician Erna Solberg, who is now Norway's prime minister. The appellate court later reduced his sentence to 34 months.
The Norwegian conservative party in 2002 raised the issue of national security and demanded his deportation.
Iraq has demanded his extradition for trial, but that has been denied by Norway, which prohibits the expulsion of an individual without a guarantee against the death penalty or torture.
In 2013, negotiations for Krekar's deportation to Iraq failed, after Iraqi officials could not promise Norway that the holy man would not face torture or execution after deportation.
Krekar has also been accused of having helped establish a terrorist group in Germany. In March 2014, he was questioned in Oslo by German police. Ten people have been charged in the case.
#1
Iraq has demanded his extradition for trial, but that has been denied by Norway, which prohibits the expulsion of an individual without a guarantee against the death penalty or torture
Something about "hoist" and "petard" comes to mind.
[Dawn] KARACHI: An antiterrorism court remanded on Friday a former engineer of the Pakistain International Airlines in judicial custody in a case pertaining to financing an act of terrorism.
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of police had tossed in the slammer Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! Khalid Yusuf Bari, former PIA engineer, on Sept 21 in Baloch Colony and booked him for allegedly funding the Safoora Goth bus carnage.
The CTD produced the suspect in court upon the expiration of his physical remand, and ATC-III Judge Saleem Raza Baloch sent him to prison on judicial remand till Nov 6.
The judge directed the investigation officer to submit the investigation report on the next date.
Paperwork was started but nothing else was done against the suspect under Section 11-H (fundraising for terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the Baloch Colony cop shoppe.
Tahir Hussain Minhas alias Sain, Saad Aziz alias Tin Tin, Asad-ur-Rehman alias Malik, Hafiz Nasir alias Yasir and Muhammad Azhar Ishrat alias Majid have been booked and arrested for allegedly killing 45 people of the Shia Ismaili community in an armed attack on their bus near Safoora Goth on May 13.
Several suspects are being investigated for allegedly facilitating the assailants by providing funds, weapons, transport and accommodation.
Remand extended
The same court extended the police remand of a suspect for allegedly financing terrorism.
The CTD arrested Sheeba Ahmed, said to be a former employee of the Pakistain Air Force and associated with a religious organization, in Defence on Sept 21 for financing the Safoora Goth bus carnage suspects and also funding the Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
The police produced the suspect in court and sought an extension in his custody for further questioning. The court extended the remand for a couple of weeks by granting the police request.
The suspect is associated with some chemicals business in Pakistain and neighbouring countries.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/01/2015 00:00:00 ||
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KARACHI: As many as 11 people were killed and over 15 injured in a deadly shootout between rival political groups during polling in a union council of Gambat Tehsil, Khairpur District, on Saturday.
According to police, two groups of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PML-Functional supporters fired at each other, killing 11 people and seriously injuring several others. The incident occurred at a polling booth in village Waryo Wahan, UC Daraza Sharif, near Ranipur, Khairpur District, to which Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah belongs. He had cast his vote in the Khairpur city. There was panic after the shooting, which continued for hours. Heavy contingents of police and Rangers were called in and they cordoned off the area.
Separately, at least three people were killed and two others wounded in a clash between two rival groups in Sargodha District. The clash occurred in Shahpur Tehsil. According to reports, two rival groups exchanged fire at a polling station, resulting in the death of three people. A worker was killed while three others injured when gunmen opened fire near the dera of Rana Sanaullah on Dijkot Road in Faisalabad District.
FAISALABAD - A worker was killed while three others injured when gunmen opened fire near the dera of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah on Saturday, reported a private Tv channel.
After the incident, supporters of Rana Sanaullah staged a demonstration on Dijkot Road and tortured the police officer. A heavy contingent of police reached the spot and brought the situation under control.
KHANEWAL: A five-year-old boy and his father suffered an acid attack at their house in Punjab's Khanewal district early Friday.
Unidentified masked men trespassed into Iqbal's house and threw acid on him and his five-year-old son Irfan, hospital sources said.
The duo was rushed to District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital but considering their serious burns, doctors at the facility referred them to Multan's Nishtar Hospital.
Doctors at Nishtar Hospital told DawnNews that the the boy received 60 per cent burns while his father received 10pc. The boy is said to be in critical condition.
District police has arrested one suspect in the case so fair while raids are being conducted to catch others in what police is describing as an old family feud, police sources said.
A practice rampant in Pakistan, women and children are the biggest victims of acid throwing incidents used as a revenge tactic in domestic disputes.
India and Pakistan have the highest rates of acid attacks with other countries in the league being Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Colombia,a Nepal and Uganda.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) for the year 2014, 114 acid attacks were reported across the country in the previous year, involving 159 victims.
Indian security forces in Kashmir killed on Thursday a number three top commander of Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), who allegedly was involved in several attacks in the disputed region in recent years, an official said. Abu Qasim was the most-wanted militant in Kashmir, which India and Pakistan claim in full but rule in part, said Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani, the chief of police in Indian Kashmir.
"It is a major success," Gillani said of the overnight security force operation centred on a village in the south of the Himalayan region.
Gillani said the killing of Qasim would dent the operational capabilities of LeT and hurt coordination between various militant groups. Qasim was a resident of Bahawalpur city in Pakistan, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/01/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Dang. Who has the bank codes?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
11/01/2015 0:33 Comments ||
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(IraqiNews.com) According to a security source in Diyali province, a civilian had been killed and another was wounded in an armed attack northeast of Baqubah.
The source stated in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “Unidentified gunmen attacked, this evening, two civilians inside a farm in the area of Bab (45 km northeast of Baqubah), and shot fire from their weapons at them, killing one and injuring another.”
The source added, “Security forces cordoned off the area of the incident and transferred the injured to a nearby hospital and the body of the dead to the forensic medicine authority.”
(IraqiNews.com) The President of the Security Committee of Khalediya District Council said on Saturday, that the ISIS elements had bombed, using mortar shells, the headquarters of the committee in the center of the district.
Ibrahim stated in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “The ISIS organization had bombed, by 120 mm mortar shells, the headquarters of the security committee of Khalediya District Council in Khalediya (23 km east of Ramadi),” noting that, “The shelling had caused material losses to the building without any casualties.”
(IraqiNews.com) Federal Police Command announced on Saturday, that the recent clashes in Samarra resulted in killing 69 ISIS elements as well as liberating al-Saiylu and al-Hawish areas.
The federal police captain, Raed Shaker Jawdat, said at a press conference in Baghdad: “The ISIS elements attempted to sneak into Samarra, resulting in violent clashes with the federal police forces for 6 hours between 5:00 am to 10:00 am,” indicating that, “The clashes resulted in the liberation of al-Saiylu and al-Hawish areas, in addition to killing 69 elements of ISIS.”
[Rudaw] The so-called 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.... , or ISIS, in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... has reportedly executed a group of boys and young men between the ages of 12 and 16 trying to flee the myrmidon-held city, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official told Rudaw on Saturday.
"At least 12 children have been reportedly killed by the Islamic State radicals. The children were receiving training at Ashti military camp in Mosul and they were caught trying to escape," Saeed Mamuzini, media officer of the Mosul branch of the KDP, told Rudaw.
"The ages of the executed children are around 12 to 16. They are mostly Arabs from Mosul," Mamuzini added.
ISIS has in the past released video footage of Death Eaters training child soldiers in Mosul.
The radical Muslim group ISIS is known to actively use children in its war effort, and views them as the future generation of a "caliphate" that occupies parts of Iraq and Syria. The practice is considered a war crime by the UN and is a violation of international law.
ISIS has adapted the school system in the areas under its control to fit its ambitions.
"The boys study at school not to learn, but to become mujahideen," a father from Fallujah complained to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
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11/01/2015 00:00 ||
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Israeli fighter jets penetrated Syrian airspace and attacked numerous Hezbollah targets in the South of Syria, according to Syrian media Saturday.
Estimated targets included a weapons convoy destined for Hezbollah fighters traveling through Syria. According to reports, up to a dozen Israeli war planes conducted the mission close to the Lebenon-Syria border in the Qalamoun Mountains region.
Defense officials declined to comment on the report.
This would be the first attack attributed to Israel since Russia began operating in the area. So, Vlad-Bibi deal works.
Palestinians buried five teenagers killed in a wave of attacks and clashes with Israeli forces.
Violence broke out on Saturday in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron as Palestinians buried five teenagers killed in a wave of attacks and clashes with Israeli forces.
The funerals came as Israeli border guards shot dead a Palestinian at a checkpoint between the West Bank and Israel after he allegedly tried to stab one of them, police said.
So he allegedly tried to stab someone, and the Israelis allegedly shot him...
The surge of Paleo stabbings of Israeli citizens unrest since early October has triggered fears of a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation by a generation gripped by murderous hatred despair and anger over non-existent stalled progress towards killing all the Jooz peace efforts.
Nine Israelis, 66 Palestinians and an Arab Israeli have been killed since the violence erupted in Jerusalem a month ago.
The violence has spread to the West Bank, with daily protests and attacks on Israeli soldiers, and to the Gaza Strip, where there have been clashes with Israeli forces along the borders of the coastal enclave.
Thousands of Palestinian mourners attended the funerals of the five teenagers, two of whom were girls, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, a powder-keg in the decades-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They waved Palestinian flags and chanted "we will die but Palestine will live on".
Clashes broke out between Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli soldiers as the funerals began. Palestinian medical sources said 12 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire.
One Palestinian was buried separately in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
Israel has been withholding the bodies of suspected assailants as part of measures to dissuade attacks on Jews. On Friday, it said it had released seven bodies, apparently to ease tensions. Families of children killed in the violence have clamoured for their bodies to be released and accuse authorities of "collective punishment".
Yup, that's what it is. Engage in collective seething, suffer collective punishment...
Many attackers who have targeted Israeli forces come from Hebron, a stronghold of Hamas. Hebron, home to a shrine known to Jews as Cave of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque, has 200,000 Palestinian residents.
But the presence of 500 Israeli settlers near the city centre, living behind barbed wire and watchtowers, with an army-patrolled buffer zone, has kept tensions high.
I understand the Hebron settlers want to live there, but a little common sense might be in order...
On Friday, dozens of protesters outside the shrine condemned restrictions on access imposed by Israel, which has divided it into a mosque and a synagogue.
Media reported that more army checkpoints were being set up in Hebron at access points to Jewish areas, with Palestinians aged 15 to 25 not allowed to pass. Amnesty International has urged Israeli authorities to protect Palestinians in Hebron "from attacks by Israeli settlers", which the rights group says have "escalated" in less than a month.
No word on whether Amnesty Int'l has urged Paleo authorities to protect Israelis from stoning and knife attacks...
On Friday, the Palestinians urged the International Criminal Court to accelerate its probe into accusations of "Israeli war crimes", handing over a 52-page dossier alleging summary killings and collective punishment.
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[Reuters] Turkish jets on Saturday launched bombing raids against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Syria, the day before Turks are due to vote in a parliamentary election, a senior government official said.
American jets were standing by to assist and all aircraft involved in the operations returned safely, the official told Reuters. Ground forces were not involved.
Turkey vowed to take a more active role in combating ISIS in July, as part of a multi-pronged offensive which also saw them ramp up attacks on Kurdish militants.
Since then, the Turkish military has primarily concentrated on hitting its old foe, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), although Turkish airbases have also been used by U.S.-led coalition jets to hit ISIS targets in northern Syria.
ISIS militants control swathes of territory along the Turkish border, and the group is linked to a recent suicide bomb attack on a peace rally in Ankara, which killed more than 100 people.
[Reuters] Lebanon’s army on Saturday fired at a vehicle carrying Islamist militants, killing three of them and wounding two others in the north of the country near the Syrian border, a security source said.
The source said it was unclear which group the militants belonged to. They were driving near the outskirts of the town of Arsal, the source said, without providing further details.
Islamist groups including al Qaeda’s Nusra Front have a presence in western Syria, including near the border with Lebanon, and there are have been numerous incursions by Islamists reported in the porous border region.
Syria’s four-year conflict has spilled over into its smaller neighbour, which is still rebuilding after its own 15-year civil war. There have been clashes inside Lebanon between gunmen loyal to opposing sides in the Syrian conflict, as well as strikes on the army and cross-border attacks by Syrian rebels.
The army fought several days of deadly battles last year with insurgent groups including Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Nusra Front when they staged an incursion into Arsal.
BEIRUT: A barrage of missiles slammed into an overcrowded suburb of the Syrian capital, killing at least 40 people on Friday, activists said.
The attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma — the latest on this fighter-held area that has seen hundreds of people killed over the past few years — was a stark reminder of the enormous civilian suffering inside Syria.
There were conflicting reports about the attack in Douma. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees group said government forces fired more than 11 missiles at a market, killing at least 40 people. Both organizations and a third Douma-based activist network were reporting dozens more wounded in the mid-morning attack.
The Syrian National Council, the main Western-backed opposition group in exile, blamed Russian airstrikes for the “massacre” in Douma, saying 55 civilians were killed. It said it was the second deadly attack in the past 24 hours after Russian airstrikes bombed the main Douma hospital the previous day.
The sprawling suburb is a frequent target of deadly government airstrikes and barrel bombs dropped from helicopters. It is home to the Jaysh Al-Islam fighter group.
In August, airstrikes on Douma were said to have killed around 100 people, provoking sharp rebuke from UN and other officials.
Douma has been held by anti-Assad fighters since the early days of Syria’s conflict, which began in March 2011 with mostly peaceful protests but escalated into a full-scale civil war after a massive government crackdown.
Amateur videos posted on the Internet showed gruesome images of bodies strewn among wreckage and young men sprawled on the ground of what appears to be a market. Pools of blood and flames could be seen as people cried for help.
Meanwhile, at least 15 people, including four children, were killed in airstrikes Friday on the northern city of Aleppo, activists said. It was not clear whether the strikes were Russian or from Syrian government aircraft.
Russia, a strong ally of Assad, began airstrikes in Syria on Sept. 30, saying it is targeting mainly the Daesh group.
A coalition of U.S.-backed Kurdish militia and rebel groups has launched its first operation against territory controlled by 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.... jihadist group in northeast Syria, a front man said Saturday.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were formed in mid-October as an alliance between the powerful Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and other Syrian rebel groups.
"This is the first step of the Syrian Democratic Forces," said Sherfan Darwish, front man for the Burkan al-Furat Arab rebel group, which is part of the SDF.
Speaking to AFP by phone from Syria, Darwish said the SDF's operation began on Friday night and would target IS-held areas in the northeast province of Hasakeh, including the towns of Shadadi and al-Hol.
Darwish said the fresh operation would receive air support from a U.S.-led coalition striking IS in Syria since September 2014.
In a video statement published online, the YPG confirmed the beginning of the operation "with all of the members of the SDF, and with support from and coordination with the international coalition, to liberate the southern parts of Hasakeh province."
Clashes on Saturday raged between the SDF and IS outside al-Hol, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He said coalition air strikes had hit the area on Friday night.
The SDF announcement came a day after the White House said it would send "fewer than 50" special forces personnel to Syria's north, reversing a long-standing refusal to put U.S. boots on the ground.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[Rooters] One of the biggest government offensives so far is south of the city of AlpoAleppo. A rebel fighting with one of the groups there, the Sham heh
Revolutionary Brigades, said he had never seen anything like the attack that began on Oct. 16.
The attacking forces included 2,500 Iranian and Afghani fighters, and Syrian troops, said Abu Ahmed, the 36-year-old fighter, talking to Reuters from southern Aleppo. Radio intercepts in Farsi gave away the foreign participation.
"What changed for us was the huge, abnormal size, and intensity of the bombardment," said Abu Ahmed, using his nom de guerre and speaking via a web-based messaging system.
His group, another FSA faction which has received foreign military support including U.S.-made anti-tank, or TOW missiles, lost its commander in the fighting. But one week on, Abu Ahmed said the situation had improved.
"Yesterday there was a big Russian air strike, but we organized ourselves, with the rest of the factions. We are used to the new situation," he said. "We camouflage headquarters, and cars, and dig trenches," he said. "But the main factor is counter-moves - such as surprise attacks."
Additionally, the group has been resupplied with TOW missiles which had run out last week, said a member of the group's leadership council, Abu Ahmed Hani. "If (TOW supplies) stay like this then it is great, but the remaining ammunition is not at the required level," he said.
The Observatory says more than 350 fighters on the government's side have been killed in the last month, more than the 300 rebels it says have been killed in Russian air strikes. It did not have a figure for the number of rebels killed in ground battles. Reuters has no way to verify the numbers.
But FSA groups, including some that have received training from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, have been particularly badly hit. The FSA is a loose alliance of groups, mostly led by army defectors.
"There is a large attrition, particularly of anti-armor weapons," said Abu Hamed, the Jabhat Sham commander.
"The military equipment we have - be it tanks, cars or trucks, is being targeted directly. We lost two cars today."
In the wooded hills of rural Latakia, another focal point of the offensive, trench warfare is helping the rebels to stave off attacks despite their depleted numbers, said Yousef Hifnawi, a fighter in the Ahrar al-Sham rebel group.
"There are people who have not come out of the trenches for more than three weeks," he said.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
11/01/2015 00:00 ||
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Additionally, the group has been resupplied with TOW missiles which had run out last week,
How many times do I have to tell you. Don't shoot the TOW missiles into air when you celebrate!
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
11/01/2015 0:14 Comments ||
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[Rudaw] The United States-led coalition carried out 12 airstrikes targeted at ISIS, including one in Syria and 11 in Iraq, the US Central Command said in a press release Friday
“In Syria, coalition military forces conducted one strike using fighter aircraft,” the release said. “Separately in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 11 strikes coordinated with and in support of the government of Iraq using bomber, fighter, and attack aircraft against ISIL [Islamic State] targets.”
The airstrikes were launched on Thursday near five Iraqi cities to the north and west of Baghdad, including Ramadi and Mosul. The strikes hit multiple ISIS assembly areas, weaponry bases and fighting positions, as well as other targets.
An airstrike near the Syrian city of Mara, carried out on Thursday, targeting three ISIS military vehicles, said US Central Command.
In other military developments against ISIS on the ground in Iraq and Syria, the White House is reportedly expected to announce the deployment of a small unit of US Special Forces in northern Syria, several US media agencies reported Friday.
Did the White House actually do so? I haven't seen anything beyond the statements that the announcement was coming.
According to information from senior US officials who have spoken to the press on condition of anonymity, the force will be “tiny” and sent to northern Syria to assist moderate forces.
The force is expected to assist the Peoples’ Defense Units (YPG) and its allies in Rojava, or Syrian Kurdistan.
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11/01/2015 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Indian security forces in Kashmir killed on Thursday a 
