[NYT] KABUL, Afghanistan -- As heavy snow fell on the muddy arena in northern Afghanistan where a traditional game of buzkashi -- two teams of horsemen fighting for a dead goat -- was underway on Friday, a scuffle broke out near the stands. Buzkashi, yes, similar to Polo, but with no mallet.
It was not just another group of hotheaded fans going at it. The man who had thrown the punch is the vice president of Afghanistan, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum. And he did not stop there: To drive the humiliation home, he put his foot on the chest of his downed victim, a political rival named Ahmad Ishchi, who was then beaten by the general’s bodyguards, thrown into the back of an armored vehicle and taken away, said several of Mr. Ishchi’s relatives, many of them speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.
"Dostum came there, and he walked around the stadium, -- then he called Ahmad Ishchi over to him," said Gulab Khan, a relative of Mr. Ishchi who was among about 5,000 spectators at the game. "After talking with him for a couple of minutes, he punched him, and his bodyguards started beating him with AK-47s. They beat Ahmad very badly and in a barbaric way."
The account of General Dostum’s actions -- while not unexpected for a former warlord with a history of accusations of human rights violations and abuse, including physical acts of retaliation against allies and rivals -- underscores fears about someone a heartbeat from the presidency.
With President Ashraf Ghani traveling on an official visit to Central Asia, General Dostum is technically the acting president. For more than two days, he has held a political rival hostage in one of his properties, with members of Mr. Ishchi’s family increasingly concerned about his health.
#7
It's a matter of perspective, WM. Beating up somebody with a MAGA cap on doesn't rate as barbaric. Having to wait for the delivery lad or a report of a non-politically-correct Afghan warlord beating up a rival, well...
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A Pak truck driver was placed in durance vile Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! by the Afghan National Border Police (ANBP) forces as he was attempting to transport 9,310kg of Ammonium Nitrate via Torkham. Pictured here is a typical Afgan Pressure Cooker IED potentially filled with Ammonium Nitrate with a 'pressure plate' (upper right in photo) and 9 volt battery firing device. Drive over or step on the pressure place, the two conductors make electrical contact and kaboom.
"Yesterday evening, Afghan National Border Police (ANBP) confiscated 9310 kilos of Ammonium Nitrate, a key component used to make Improvised Explosive Devices," the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement. Some perspective: 9,310 kilos of Ammonium Nitrate is just over 20,500 lbs. The average IED contains roughly 52 pounds of Ammonium Nitrate, in single or multiple containers.
The statement further added that Ammonium Nitrate was placed in a Pak truck transporting to Afghanistan. To my knowledge, Afghanistan has no fertilizer or Ammonium Nitrate manufacturing capabilities.
"The police searched the truck and found the Ammonium Nitrate in the Torkham port," MoI said, adding that "The driver was arrested on accusation of this case."
The anti-government armed bully boy groups frequently use Ammonium Nitrate to produce homemade explosives including Improvised Explosive Device (IED) for roadside kaboomings besides using the material for complex attacks.
IEDs are considered as the major contributor to civilian casualties as the ordinary civilians are mostly targeted in such attacks.
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... Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said late in October it documented 8,397 conflict-related civilian casualties (2,562 deaths and 5,835 injured) between 1 January and 30 September.
The UN mission in its report said the latest civilian casualties report represents a one per cent decrease compared to the same period in 2015. Ground engagements remained the leading cause of civiliancasualties, followed by suicide and complex attacks, and improvised bombs (IEDs).
"Increased fighting in densely populated areas makes it imperative for parties to take immediate steps to ensure all feasible precautions are being taken to spare civilians from harm," said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan.
The anti-government armed bully boy groups including the Taliban murderous Moslems have not commented regarding the report so far.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Trucks lined up transiting the Torkham gate.
Assessment: One truck was detained. Hat tip to the Afghan Border Police (ABP). Things however, are likely to become much worse in Afghanistan.
#2
the Ryder truck, containing in excess of 4,800 pounds (2,200 kg)[63] of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitromethane, and diesel fuel mixture, detonated in front of the north side of the nine-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building - wiki
A study by TOLOnews has found that human smugglers are operating openly in southwestern Nimroz province – which shares a border with Iran – and are smuggling dozens of migrants on a daily basis into Iran.
According to the study, no one stops these convoys of pickup trucks, loaded with migrants, who are driven to the border at night.
These migrants can spend days at the border town of Zaranj while they wait to be smuggled into Iran, TOLOnews' Abdullah Hamim who visited Nimroz reported.
According to him, there are several security check posts on the way to the bordering regions, but dozens of migrants, packed in several vehicles, are not stopped by these security officers.
The migrants are meanwhile, divided into different groups along the way, Hamim said.
"Our life has not improved. This is the third time that I am here after high insecurity in Kunduz. I have to do it and so do others who are here.
"There is no one with me," said a teenager who was hoping to travel to Iran.
"We are going to Iran. We are going while facing thousands of challenges. We have to go. We don't have jobs here. It is not clear yet how much money we should pay for smugglers. We will pay them when we are in Tehran," said another man who was also on his way to Iran.
"We are sold between smugglers. We give money to one and they pay another. And thereby we are sold to others and sometimes we are trapped and robbed by robbers. Sometimes people die on the way to Iran," said one young boy.
According to Hamim, one of the areas where smugglers take people to wait for their turn to cross the border is located in Zaranj, the provincial capital. However, the provincial governor Mohammad Sami said he is not aware of human smuggling in his province.
"I know nothing about this. I will investigate this issue. I want to tell you that we are not allowing anyone to make stations for people to wait," he added.
Meanwhile, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi, said: "We are fighting this phenomenon every year. Unfortunately, a number of groups are still deceiving our people and smuggle them out of the country. This is a crime and police continue to prevent human smuggling with the help of people and arrest those involved in this act." Video report at the link
#1
From a 2016 State Dept report: "The 2008 Law Countering Abduction and Human Trafficking/ Smuggling, along with article 516 of the penal code, prohibits many but not all forms of human trafficking. The law defines sex trafficking of a child only when coercion is used."
[Ynet] Egypt's Interior Ministry said Sunday authorities have nabbed Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! an bully boy cell planning anti-government attacks.
Ten suspects have been arrested in the province of Suez and have confessed to doing surveillance work in preparation for targeting a number of security locations and police personnel, the ministry said in a statement. One of those arrested, Abdel Rahman al-Hadi, has links to hard boyz in North Sinai and has received bomb-making and weapons training there, it said.
Egypt's 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.... affiliate is active in Sinai, where the Egyptian army is fighting to curb a Death Eater insurgency and consolidate its grip on the
At least eight more fighters with Bunyan Marsous have been killed in the last 24 hours as house by house, IS fighters are winkled out of their last positions in Sirte. It is being said that 14 terrorists have died.
One IS fighter, who claimed he was from the Gambia was captured and displayed for the cameras, as was a Tunisian woman who surrendered during the fighting on Friday. Still wearing her full face veil, the 22 year-old explained that she had been attracted to IS on social media and had made her way to Sirte via Sabratha. But once involved with them, she could not escape the terrorists. BM is serialising her story on its social media page.
With the battle now contained within a small area of a few dozen properties, BM forces are moving a house at a time but are still taking casualties from booby traps and snipers. Yesterday there were five BM men killed, a number of them by rifle-launched grenades. The terrorist thought to be responsible was later cornered and shot.
As Misratan-led forces spearhead the final advance, they continue to discover tunnels as well as the inter-connecting knocked-though walls. The tunnels seem to have been dug mainly as shelters from aerial strikes and artillery bombardment.
Posted by: badanov ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
5000 fatalities there in the past two years
not as much as Syria but still a legacy of the Clinton/Rice/Powers/Obama policy
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/28/2016 7:27 Comments ||
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[al-Manar] Twenty Yemenis, mostly women and children were killed or wounded Saturday evening during a Saudi-led aggression raid on two houses in Hodeidah province, northwest of Yemen, committing a fourth crime in the province within less than 12 hours.
Yemeni sources stated that 12 people were killed and 8 others wounded by a Saudi-US strike that targeted another two houses resided by three families in Marawea’ directorate of Hodeidah.
The sources said that most of the martyrs were women and children, attributing the large number of victims to the serious injuries and deterioration of health services due to the aggression and blockade.
Search and rescue operations in search for more killed or wounded remained for hours.
This crime came only several hours after a series of crimes committed by the aggression forces in the same province by killing 2 people in Al-Dreihami directorate and two others in Khokha.
Moreover, a third raid Saudi-US aggression war jets destroyed several communication networks and targeted a civilian house in Dreihami, leaving one citizen injured.
[IsraelTimes] Spanish police tossed in the slammer Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! a man at Madrid’s Barajas airport on Sunday who was attempting to join 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.... holy warrior group in war-torn Syria.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said the suspect was detained by authorities in Jordan, where he was attempting to cross into Syria, and then handed over to Spain’s Civil Guard for arrest.
The suspect is a Spanish citizen of Paleostinian origin who lives on Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands archipelago.
The suspect had been under police surveillance since 2014 when police detected that he was "in the process of jihadist radicalization" after having "consumed propaganda from the (IS) terrorist group which had led him to be willing to travel and join their ranks."
The suspect had already tried to enter Syria via The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... in July, when Turkish authorities apprehended him and sent him back to Spain, according to Spanish police. He then planned to make a second attempt to reach Syria by traveling to Jordan earlier this month.
Spanish police have arrested 164 individuals suspected of forming part of Islamic holy warrior groups since 2015.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/28/2016 01:34 ||
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[Ynet] Turkish authorities have detained two reports working for foreign news organizations in southeast The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , the latest journalists taken into custody in the government's sweeping crackdown following July's failed coup.
BBC Turkish reports that correspondent Hatice Kamer was detained Saturday in the town of Sirvan to cover a recent mine collapse on Nov. 17 where 11 bodies have been recovered so far. Voice of America reports that its freelance news hound Khajijan Farqin was detained the same day in Diyarbakir. No reason was given for either detention.
Turkish authorities haven't immediately commented on the detentions.
[AlAhram] The Turkish authorities on Sunday freed a reporter for the BBC's Turkish language service in the southeast of the country after holding her for a day without explanation, the broadcaster said.
Hatice Kamer was detained on Saturday while reporting on a mine disaster in the Kurdish-dominated Siirt region of the southeast that left 11 miners dead and five missing, BBC Turkce (BBC Turkish) said in a statement on its website.
It said she had been held overnight at the Siirt police headquarters and was in a good condition. BBC Turkce added that there was still no explanation over why Kamer had been detained.
Kamer is a board member for the association of journalists in southeast Turkey. As well as BBC Turkce, she works for German broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR).
BBC Turkce said that she had been looking to talk to relatives of the miners at the copper mine, which collapsed late on November 17. Rescue efforts are still continuing at the mine.
Dozens of journalists have been detained in Turkey under the state of emergency in the wake of the July 15 failed coup.
Critics say the scope of the crackdown goes far beyond measures against the suspected coup plotters and is targeting any critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to the Platform for Independent Journalism website, there are now 145 journalists behind bars in Turkey, which is ranked 151st of 180 countries in the 2016 World Press Freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders.
Several of the journalists under arrest are from the Kurdish-majority southeast where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is waging a deadly insurgency against the military.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/28/2016 02:20 ||
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[NBCNews] An Ohio State University student plowed into a campus crowd with a car, then jumped out and started stabbing people with a butcher knife before being shot dead by police Monday morning, officials said.
Ten people were taken to hospitals after the ambush, and one was in critical condition. The incident was initially reported as an "active shooter" situation, but the suspect did not shoot anyone.
A police officer was on the scene within a minute and killed the assailant. "He engaged the suspect and eliminated the threat," OSU Police Chief Craig Stone said.
The suspect's name was not released, but law enforcement officials told NBC News he was an 18-year-old Ohio State student, a Somali refugee who was a legal permanent resident of the United States.
The motive was unknown, but officials said the attack was clearly deliberate and may have been planned in advance.
#3
...Sudden Jihadi Syndrome strikes again. I suspect we will hear from the young man's family that he was a wonderful and caring son who was raised to never even hurt a fly, and if we suspect him of this evil crime they'll kill us.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/28/2016 14:40 Comments ||
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#4
....and promising student. Mike, you forgot promising student.
#15
A witness told NBC4 Columbus that people evacuated Watts Hall after a fire alarm was pulled, "then a car came along and started hitting those who evacuated."
I think "planned in advance" is likely, with 'additional suspects' plausible.
CAIR on Columbus TV station spewing the predictable BS that this has nothing whatsoever to do with Islam.
Just like the attack on the Nazareth restaurant had nothing to do with Islam.
True fact: the words and deeds of Mohammed have nothing to do with Islam. I know this because Muslims have said so.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/28/2016 18:45 Comments ||
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#22
So Sheila Jackass-Lee and Tim Kaine have made statements deploring the senseless killing of a jihadi in the middle of his rampage.
Send them both to Somalia as "ambassadors". Never let them come back.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/28/2016 19:16 Comments ||
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#23
NBC News:
Abdul Razak Ali Artan, 18, wrote on what appears to be his Facebook page that he had reached a "boiling point" and made a reference to "lone wolf attacks" and cites radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
"America! Stop interfering with other countries, especially Muslim Ummah (community). We are not weak. We are not weak, remember that," the post said.
Two hours before that, a cryptic post on the page said: "Forgive and forget. Love."
Officials cautioned that they have not determined a motive for the Monday morning ambush, which sent 11 people to the hospital. (No kidding; that's really in the story. Apparently they're checking the DNA to see if he's related to Harbaugh.)
#24
they should pull him out of autopsy and kill shoot him again tomorrow
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2016 22:09 Comments ||
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#25
Gov. John Kasich tweeted that "Ohio's thoughts and prayers go out to the Ohio State community." He asked people involved to "be safe, listen to first responders."
[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: A complaint was lodged in the capital regarding an individual who threatened a polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccination team in one of the city’s residential sectors.
The individual was incarcerated You have the right to remain silent... by the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Company police and sent to jail.
The suspect, a Quetta native who owns a shop in Jinnah Super Market, told the police that a woman was not a part of the polio vaccination team, and the team members did not provide proof that they were government officials, leading him to believe they were thieves.
The complainant, Yasir Maqbool, told the police he went with the polio vaccination team to a house in G-9/1, and one of the residents threatened them and tried to run them over.
Investigating officer Daud Sabir told Dawn the police arrested the suspect immediately after receiving the complaint.
"However the suspect claimed he was from Quetta, where men don’t enter others homes, and because there was no woman in the team, which added to the confusion," he said.
"The women in the house called the accused, who rushed over and after that the episode ensued," he added.
"The family could not read the team’s cards but there were children in the house, and it was not right for them to stop the from doing their job," he said.
Mr Sabir said investigation confirmed that there was no woman with the polio team. "However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... the team members claimed the female member was with another team in the same area," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
He wasn't threatening them, he was just needling them a little.
[DAWN] KARACHI: A traffic police official and a member of the Ahmadi community were rubbed out in separate attacks here on Sunday evening.
According to officials, men on a cycle of violence attacked Deputy Superintendent of Police Faiz Ali Shigri’s chauffeur-driven official vehicle near the Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Sajji House restaurant in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.
Mr Shigri and the driver suffered critical injuries and were taken to a private hospital where doctors declared the official dead, Sharea Faisal DSP Ali Anwar Soomro said.
In the other incident, four men on two cycle of violences opened fire on Sheikh Sajid Mehmood, 55, a member of the Ahmadi community, when he came out of his home in Kaneez Fatima Society, off Superhighway, in the Sachal area.
He was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim!
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Six Paks working for a Polish oil and gas surveying company have been kidnapped near Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... , military sources told Rooters, years after a Polish engineer from the same company was beheaded by Lion of Islams.
The six Geofizyka Krakow workers were snatched from their vehicles on Saturday afternoon on a road near the village of Drazinda, about 80km from the city of Dera Ismail Khan, two officials with security forces in the area said.
One of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, provided Rooters with the names and national identity card numbers of the workers.
Geofizyka Krakow, a subsidiary of Poland's state-run gas firm PGNiG, could not be immediately reached for comment. On its website, the PGNiG local unit said it had gone into liquidation in August 2016.
"They were sub-contractors providing works for Geofizyka Krakow, a company which is now in liquidation. They were not Polish," a PGNiG front man said. He declined to give any more details.
A Polish foreign ministry spokeswoman tweeted that there were no Polish citizens in the group and that the Polish embassy in Islamabad is monitoring the situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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KARACHI: A member of Ahmadi community was shot dead in suspected sectarian attack in Gulzar-i-Hijri area on Sunday evening, according to Sachal police and the community official.
Allah created the Ahmaddis and all other semi-believers and unbelievers as targets for the masters of the master religion to play with, if Pakistan provides any example.
They added that as Shaikh Sajid Mehmood, 55, came out from his home in Kaneez Fatima Society off Superhighway, four suspects riding on two motorcycles opened fire on him and fled.
He sustained critical bullet injuries and was transported to JPMC where doctors declared him as dead on arrival, said Dr. Seemin Jamali, executive director of the hospital. He had sustained multiple bullet wounds.
Sachal police officer said that the victim belonged to Ahmadi community.
“This was third such targeting killings in the same vicinity during last several months,” said a spokesperson of Jamaat Ahmadiya.
Previously, Khaleeq and Daud were gunned down in Gulzar-e-Hijri.
The spokesperson told Dawn that the victim was an auto-parts dealer.
Police suspect sectarian motive behind murder
Police’s Counter-Terrorism Department official Raja Umer Khattab told Dawn that the killing of the DSP Shigri and Ahmadi man were motivated by sectarian considerations.
He suspected involvement of the same group behind the both incidents.
Khattab revealed that a ‘new group’ had emerged during last five-six months, which was targeting Ahmadi men near adjoining areas of Sohrab Goth and Shia community members in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.
The CTD official said previously, Al-Qaeda targeted people in Gulistan-i-Jauhar whose members later on joined Islamic State but this gang was busted in 2013.
He revealed that prior to attack on the DSP Shigri, unknown gunmen attacked a vehicle of DSP Traffic Gulberg Zafar Husain near Samama Shopping Centre in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, however, he remained unhurt.
ISIS blocks refugees fleeing Anbar Waidaminnit! I thought Anbar was liberated!
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants are preventing civilians in Anbar from leaving the province to use them as future human shields against assaults by government and popular militias, Al-Hashed al-Shaabi force commander there said Sunday.
Nazem al-Jugheifi was quoted as saying in statements that people from the western towns of Annah, Rawa and al-Qaem are being from leaving home, knowing that security forces and supporting militias would invade those regions.
“ISIS elements have totally closed the entrances and exits of all the western region under their control, a step meant to lock up civilians to use them as human shields before the security forces and supporting troops,” Jugheifi said, adding that the militants had also dug several tunnels to hinder the advancement of troops.
ISIS is struggling to defend their diminishing strongholds in Iraq as Iraqi government troops, US-led international coalition forces and tribal militias continue to attack their locations. The group has been reportedly taking civilians hostages, most notably in the city of Mosul, a tactic that, according to Iraqi security officials, slows down the pace of operations and requires extra caution to preserve civilians’ safety.
[AlArabiya] Two mass graves of at least 18 members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, thousands of whom have been killed and kidnapped by ISIS, have been discovered as security forces fight to dislodge the militants from Mosul, a local official said.
Kurdish peshmerga forces found the grave near the Shababit junction in northwestern Iraq while scouting the area. It contained bones and identity cards that appeared to have been covered over with sandy earth by a bulldozer.
ISIS systematically killed, captured and enslaved thousands of Yazidis in the summer of 2014 as they overran the Sinjar area, where many of them lived. United Nations investigators have said that constitutes genocide.
The mayor of Sinjar, Mahma Xelil, said the latest discovery brought the number of Yazidi mass graves found so far to 29, estimating the total would rise to more than 40 as the militants are driven back further.
Numbering about 400,000 people, Yazidis are a religious sect whose beliefs combine elements of several ancient Middle Eastern religions and are considered “devil-worshippers” by the extremist militants.
The Office of Kidnapped Affairs in Duhok, a department backed by the Kurdistan regional government, says about 3,500 Yazidis are believed to still live in areas controlled by ISIS, many of them women and children.
Last Wednesday, 18 escaped from the town of Tal Afar in northern Iraq as Shi’ite paramilitaries cut it off from the south and west.
Posted by: badanov ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Three people were killed and five others were wounded when two separate IED blasts hit areas in east and southwest of Baghdad, websites quoted media sources as saying.
A source at the Interior Ministry told Almada Press Sunday that two people were killed and four others were wounded when an IED ripped through a popular marketplace in Mahmoudiya, east of the capital.
Almaalomah website also quoted security sources as saying that an employee at the Iraqi trade ministry died in a bomb blast that occurred as his car passed by at al-Haswa, west of Baghdad.
Since 2014, violence surged in Iraq with the Islamic State militants taking over wide areas of the country, and the United Nations said earlier this month that 58000 people died since then. UN statistics say 3150 Iraqis were either killed or wounded in violence during October alone, with Baghdad marked as the most hit.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi media outlets reported on Sunday, that a fire broke out in al-Shoala area in northern Baghdad.
Alsumaria News stated, “This evening, fire broke out in al-Naser popular market in al-Shoala area, in northern Baghdad.”
“15 shops were damaged due to the fire. Civil Defense teams rushed to the area of incident,” the media outlet added.
The capital, Baghdad, is witnessing fire incidents at popular markets and buildings of ministries and governmental directorates from time to time, while Civil Defense teams attribute these incidents to electrical fault.
(IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army jets have killed 32 Islamic State militants west of Mosul, military intelligence said Sunday as government forces and volunteer militias continue to close in on the group’s last major foothold in Iraq.
Meanwhile, he volunteer-turned-official militias, al-Hashed al-Shaabi, say they had liberated 15 villages in the latest round of operations.
“Army air forces, in collaboration with al-Hashd al-Shaabi, targeted ISIS havens with airstrikes that left 32 terrorists killed,” said the statement. It added that seven vehicles belonging to the group. Jawad al-Tleibawi, a senior leader at al-Hashd al-Shaabi, said Sunday that a fifth round of operations by the militia, which launched on Friday, resulted in the recapture of 15 more villages.
The next target is the village of Tal Abta, another stronghold for ISIS. Iraqi army forces, backed by popular militias and US-led air forces, continue a major campaign that launched in mid October to liberate Mosul, ISIS’s last bastion in Iraq.
Popular militias said recently that victories over the extremist group practically isolated the province of Nineveh from the rest of Iraq as well as from escape routes to Syria. ISIS has reportedly been losing ground, lives and equipment since the start of operations, with many of its prominent cadres reported as either dead or fugitive.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Military, police and anti-terrorism forces have so far killed 126 Islamic State militants during operations on Sunday to liberate the city of Mosul from the extremist group, military media and commanders said.
Abdel Wahab al-Saedi, a top commander of the Iraqi anti-terrorism forces, said that the forces killed 40 militants at the districts of al-Kahera and al-Masaref, east of Mosul, after they tried to obstruct the troops. Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell reported 54 ISIS deaths in airstrikes on al-Masaed neighborhood south of Mosul.
The strikes destroyed two booby-trapped vehicles and five fighters carriers. Earlier on Sunday, Iraqi military intelligence reported that Iraqi army jets had killed 32 Islamic State militants west of Mosul. Iraqi government forces, popular volunteer militias and US-led air forces continue successful advancements to clear ISIS’s last stronghold in Iraq as part of a major campaigned launched by the government in October.
Recent operations have rendered the province of Nineveh isolated from the rest of Iraq, and deprived the group of its supply lines and escape routes from and to Syria.
(IraqiNews.com) Media officials with the Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday, that Iraqi F16 fighter jets destructed an explosives factory and a tunnel, north of the city of Mosul.
The officials said in a press statement, “Iraqi F16 fighter jets, based on accurate intelligence information, carried out an air strike, resulting in the destruction of an explosives factory, two tanks and a tunnel in Chelikhan area in the northern axis of Mosul.”
Iraqi joint forces continue the operations to liberate the province of Nineveh completely from the Islamic State that imposed its control on the province in June 2014.
5 ISIS commanders die near airport in rocket artillery attack Prolly waiting for that 4:15 flight to Rio
(IraqiNews.com) Federal Police Chief, Raed Shaki Jawdat, announced on Sunday, that his forces killed five elite leaders of the Islamic State extremist group (ISIS), including a Chechen leader, by a rocket shelling near Mosul Airport.
Jawdat said in a brief statement, “Federal Police forces killed five elite leaders of the Islamic State extremist group, including a Chechen leader, by a rocket shelling that targeted their headquarters in the hills of Abu Saif village near Mosul Airport.”
Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition troops, continue exercising efforts to liberate the city of Mosul from the ISIS grip, within the offensive that was launched in 17 October 2016 by General Commander of armed Forces Haider al-Abadi.
[AlManar] Iraqi counter-terror forces liberated on Sunday three neighborhoods from the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) takfiri group in Mosul city.
“Heroes of counter-terror agency fully liberated Al-Amen, Sheqaq Al-Khadraa and Sheqaq Al-Karama neighborhoods and raised the Iraqi flag over their buildings, and seized control over the old radio of Mosul,” a statement by the Iraqi Military Media said.
Morever, the US-led anti-ISIL international coalition destroyed an ISIL vehicle killing its crew members, including the terrorist leader Chechen Abu Anas in the south eastern axis of Mosul, and destroyed three canon platforms.
In a similar development, Iraqi counter-terror troops managed to liberate Cairo neighborhood in north-east of Mosul, as well as the civic hospital north of the city.
Earlier on Saturday, Iraqi Federal Police liberated a village in south east of Mosul and managed to control the road linking between Mosul and Tal Afar, according to FP commander Gen. Raed Jawdat.
ISIL seized large Iraqi areas in June 2014. Iraqi army and Popular Mobilization Forces, along with US-led coalition, launched a wide-ranging campaign in October 17, 2016 to liberate the Iraqi territories from ISIL.
Posted by: badanov ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
So you're a civilian in Mosul and you must choose between ISIS and Iranian Shiite militias. What to do? What to do?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/28/2016 11:12 Comments ||
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Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Member of Diyala Provincial Council, Ammar Mazahem al-Jabouri, announced on Sunday dismantling four improvised explosive devices, including two were planted in an electricity tower, northeast of Baqubah.
Jabouri said in a press statement, “Bomb Squads managed to dismantle four improvised explosive devices, including two adhesive devices were emplaced in an electricity tower near Jamila area (95 km northeast of Baqubah).”
“Maintenance teams in Diyala started the first phase of reconstructing three electricity towers in Jamila area that were corrupted and resulted in power outage in Qurah Tapah, Jabbara and 80 villages,” Jabouri added.
Jabouri also emphasized the importance of preparing a plan to secure and protect key electricity towers, to avoid further attacks by militant groups.
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11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] IDF registers four kills against ISIS Lions of Islam following gunshots and mortars in Israel's direction from Syria; incident breaks with usual patterns of similar incidents in which fighting between rebel forces and the Syrian regime usually presumed to be the cause of stray mortars and bullets; IDF currently checking whether mortars landed in Israeli territory, no injuries reported.
The Israel Air Force killed four ISIS Lions of Islam on Sunday morning after launching a retaliatory strike just minutes after mortars and gunshots were fired in Israel's direction from Syria. No other injuries were reported in the incident.
The skirmish began when a unit of the IDF Golani Brigade was in the middle of conducting an ambush operation as it crossed the fence while remaining in Israeli territory near the moshav of Nov. The soldiers came under fire by the Lions of Islam from a heavy machine gun-mounted vehicle.
Shortly after the gunshots were reported, prompting the soldiers to return fire, a number of mortar shells were also fired in Israel's direction from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights which landed near the security fence. Moments later, the IAF reported it had liquidated all four terrorists.
A senior IDF official praised the swift Israeli response: "The response was sharp and swift and was intended to send a message that we are in the area and are determined to protect our border. The IDF’s response took place within minutes." the official said. "We have no intention of escalating matters in the area but we will not accept a reality in which forces open fire in our direction."
At his weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed these reflections. "We are well prepared on our northern border and will not allow 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.... elements or any other hostile elements to use the war in Syria to establish themselves close to our borders," he said.
The incident breaks with usual patterns of similar incidents which have taken place over recent weeks in which fighting between rebel forces and the Syrian regime is usually presumed to be the cause of stray mortars and bullets, rather than deliberate attacks by ISIS terrorists.
Nevertheless, the assault on Israeli territory does come against a background of renewed fighting between rebel forces and the Syrian army commanded by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... Indeed, on Saturday rebel forces announced an operation designed to lift the regime’s siege on areas controlled by the rebels.
The new leader of the ISIS branch in the Golan is Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi who replaced his predecessor who was killed in a boom-mobile in Yarmouk Camp on October 18.
According to the IDF, the four men were members of the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, formerly known as the Yarmouk Martyrs ...a rebel group in southern Syria. They gained attention when they abducted 21 Filipino UN soldiers in early March 2013, releasing them on 10 March 2013. The group has been accused by other Syrian rebel groups of being affiliated with the Islamic State, which it denies. Their leader is Abo Ali al-Baridi, who denies they're takfiris. They just want to apply God’s rule and Sharia. They have been attacked by al-Nusra and other groups allied with it, probably because they're so pious... ’ Brigade, a terrorist group in Syria that is connected with the Islamic State.
[IsraelTimes] Some 50 people questioned, 24 tossed in the clink Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! ; no signs of national coordination in spate of blazes.
Police on Sunday said that one-third of the fires raging across the country are suspected to have been set deliberately.
In a statement, the police said that they suspect between 30-40 of the 90 fires they have investigated thus far were started by arsonists.
Police also said that although much of the evidence was destroyed by the fires, they are using forensic samples to determine whether the fires were ignited intentionally.
However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... police have not yet found any evidence that the arson was coordinated nationally or planned in advance. Their assessment is that the arson was local and opportunistic, the statement said.
"Many of the incidents were caused by normal reasons, like weather or an electrical short circuit. But a serious number were caused by arson," a spokesperson said. Many fires starting over a small area is an indicator of possible arson, he added.
"We are setting up a nationwide team to centralize the local details and are trying to find a connection," the spokesperson said. "We are trying to understand who is behind the arson, and we are trying to reach them."
Police said that they have questioned some 50 people in connection with the fires and arrested 24. Eighteen of those arrested are Israeli Arabs, Channel 2 reported. Two of those, from the Israeli Arab towns of Umm al-Fahm and Deir Hanna in northern Israel, admitted to arson. Five people were arrested on suspicion of inciting on social media and 45 were questioned on suspicion of starting fires.
Since Tuesday, firefighters have been battling wildfires throughout the country that on Thursday hit the city of Haifa, forcing some 60,000 residents to evacuate their homes. The residents have since been cleared to return home, though over 1,000 houses have been damaged.
Attending to the rash of an estimated 110 fires across the country, firefighting planes from Israel and countries including Russia, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , Greece, La Belle France, Spain and Canada have dumped tons of water and retardants.
Teams from Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority participated as well, according to Al Ahram.
Police chief Roni Alsheich said Sunday that there had been similar arson attacks in the past and that they should be considered acts of terror, Army Radio reported.
"If setting the fire was deliberate, it is definitely terror," Alsheich said during a visit to the West Bank settlement of Halamish, where a fire destroyed 18 homes on Friday night. "By the way, that is nothing new, there have been arson incidents in the past. The concentration of a relatively large number of days, and the number of incidents and the weather conditions, brought about these results but there is nothing new and there were incidents like this in the past."
Alsheich said the security services are equipped to deal with terror and hinted that Israel was prepared to employ more stringent measures if necessary.
"We have good tools for dealing with terror -- we haven’t yet taken advantage of them; we will review things and if we think that the measures are lacking we will demand them... There are sufficient measures in the Israeli book of laws."
[IsraelTimes] The Israel Police placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! six minors Sunday who started a fire near the Arab Israeli town of Kafr Yasif in northern Israel in an apparent act of arson.
Officers in the area spotted smoke coming from the bushes near Route 70 and, upon arriving at the scene, saw a vehicle driving away, police said in a statement.
Police stopped the car and detained the six minors in the vehicle, all of them from the local Arab region of Jadeidi-Makr. A firefighting plane arrived soon after and extinguished the fire.
The minors were being questioned at the Acre district cop shoppe. On Monday, police will decide whether to release them or continue to hold them for questioning, police said.
[AlAhram] Indonesian police locked away Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! a third 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.... -linked murderous Moslem Sunday accused of plotting to bomb the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta, as anger grows at a violent military crackdown on Rohingya Moslems.
The snuffies -- all from a domestic cell affiliated with the Syria-based snuffies group -- had amassed enough explosives to create bombs more powerful than those used in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, police say.
"They were helping plan a kaboom against parliament, the national police headquarters, the embassy of Myanmar and several television stations," national police front man Rikwanto said in a text message.
Anger is growing in Indonesia and other parts of Moslem world over what has been described as the "ethnic cleansing" of Rohingya in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Refugees fleeing into Bangladesh say Myanmar's military has been leading a campaign of rape and murder against the homeless ethnic group.
Thousands of Moslems rallied in capitals across Asia on Friday demanding an end to the violence.
In Indonesia, the world's largest Moslem-majority country, protesters urged their government to cut diplomatic ties with Yangon.
Indonesia's anti-terror unit Wednesday nabbed suspected bomb maker Rio Priatna Wibowo and seized a significant quantity of high-grade explosives from a laboratory west of the capital Jakarta.
His arrest led to the capture of two other suspected snuffies in different parts of the country, Rikwanto said Sunday.
Bahrain Agam was detained Saturday for allegedly purchasing the explosives while Saiful Bahri was arrested Sunday accused of helping assemble the bombs, said Rikwanto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Indonesian police say it remains unclear when exactly the snuffies planned to carry out their assault, but that they had enough explosives to detonate a blast more than double that which levelled nightclubs in Bali in a fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... inferno.
All three were members of Jemaah Ansar Daulah, a local bad boy outfit that has sworn allegiance to IS, Rikwanto said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/28/2016 01:32 ||
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[Inquirer] The Philippine military yesterday said 11 members of the Islamic extremist Maute Group had been killed and five others injured during military operations in Butig, Lanao del Sur province, that began on Saturday.
The army launched the offensive two days after 200-300 members of the group stormed the town center, occupied the old, abandoned municipal hall and even raised the Daesh flag there.
"This prompted the immediate conduct of military operations focused on dislodging the lawless group. Two soldiers were slightly wounded while 11 members of the Maute Group were killed and at least five wounded," military spokesman Edgard Arevalo said in a statement.
Arevalo advised residents remaining near the building to leave their homes as the military expected the clashes to last for a week.
The military deployed planes to strike at structures near the town hall, such as the public high school and the mosque that were also being occupied by the Maute fighters. Arevalo said, "The group has … long been professing allegiance to the foreign terror group. This is still part of [its] agenda in courting support and encouraging similar-minded individuals to support ISIS."
The old town hall used to be the group's stronghold until it was recaptured by the military in February. The group's final stronghold, Camp Darul Iman, a former Moro Islamic Liberation Front military camp in Butig, fell to the military in June.
Security forces believe that militants from the Maute group were responsible for a bomb attack in the Davao City night market that killed 15 people in September partly in revenge for the June defeat.
The Maute Group, composed of former MILF militants, is being led by brothers Omar and Abdullah Maute, who have pledged allegiance to Daesh and want to set up an similar Islamic state in Mindanao.
On Saturday night, President Duterte raised the possibility of negotiating with the Abu Sayyaf and the Maute Group. Duterte said, "ISIS is really dangerous. That is why you have to use your head. Do not drive them to despair because that is precisely what happened in Africa."
Posted by: ryuge ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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[Bangkok Post] Two armed men opened fire at two Buddhist women in a drive-by gun attack, killing one, who was 8-months pregnant, and injuring the other in Pattani province on Saturday night. The incident occurred near a gas station in Panare district.
As the pregnant woman, Rattakal Jawang, and Saijai Thongdee were heading home aboard a motorcycle, two armed men followed them on another motorcycle and opened fire. Ms Rattakal died from her injuries at the hospital. Doctors then removed her 8-month-old unborn child, but found the baby would not breathe.
Police believe the attack was the work of insurgents.
A blast ripped through a street in the northern Syrian town of al-Rai on Sunday in what was believed to be an Islamic State suicide bombing and 12 wounded, mostly children, were brought to a hospital in nearby Turkey, security and hospital sources said.
Turkey’s army had earlier said IS militants fired a rocket into the Haliliye area of the same region that caused symptoms of “chemical gas” exposure in 22 Syrian rebels, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
The town of al-Rai, which is 2 km (1 mile) south of Turkey’s Kilis border province, is in an area under the control of Turkey-backed rebels and was seized from Islamic State militants in Ankara’s “Euphrates Shield” operation launched in August. No further details were immediately available but the Dogan news agency cited local sources as saying it was a vehicle-borne bomb which also killed several Syrians.
The Turkey-backed rebels have for days been besieging the IS-controlled town of al-Bab, around 30 km south of al-Rai, as part of the three-month-old offensive to drive the jihadists away from the Syrian side of the Turkish border.
Some 22 rebels were transferred to a Turkish hospital on suspicion of chemical poisoning after complaining of constant sickness and severe headaches following the attack in Haliliye, the Hurriyet website reported.
“Twenty-two rebels were observed to have symptoms of being exposed to chemical gas in their eyes and bodies as a result of the rocket fired by Daesh,” media reports quoted an army statement as saying, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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ISIS militants have fired a rocket in northern Syria that caused symptoms of “chemical gas” exposure in 22 Syrian rebels, state media cited Turkey’s military as saying on Sunday.
According to the state-run Anadolu agency, the ISIS rocket attack happened in the Haliliye area, however the exact place of the attack was not specified.
The main targets were Turkey-backed rebels who have been recently besieging the ISIS-controlled town of al-Bab, a major goal in Ankara’s “Euphrates Shield” operation to push the jihadists away from the Syrian side of the Turkish border.
“Twenty-two rebels were observed to have symptoms of being exposed to chemical gas in their eyes and bodies as a result of the rocket fired by ISIS,” media reports quoted the army statement.
The rebels were transferred to a hospital in Turkey’s border province of Kilis on suspicion of chemical poisoning, according to Hurriyet newspaper.
In the last 24 hours around al-Bab, Turkish jets have destroyed four ISIS targets in the Anifah region, and one Turkey-backed Syrian rebel has been killed and 14 wounded in clashes, the military stated.
Posted by: badanov ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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Beirut- The city of al-Tal and the camp of Khan al-Shih in the Damascus suburbs faced on Saturday a fate similar to the cities of Daraya and Maadamiyat Asham where the regime have emptied them from armed opposition fighters, who had accepted to withdraw after Bashar Assad regime forces threatened to invade the cities and towns by force.
Ismail Al-Darani, member of the Revolutionary Council in the Damascus suburbs said that “armed fighters had accepted the conditions of withdrawing for one reason: save besieged civilians from the horrors of explosive barrels.”
The opposition “Sham” news network reported on Saturday that “a meeting held between rebels and civilians following the Friday prayers in the city of al-Tal had concluded that rebels should face Assad forces and their allies.”
However, another meeting held with the regime followed the last agreement. The evacuation deal proposed by Damascus includes 10 points, mainly stipulating that rebels who refuse the agreement would leave with their weapons to any area they choose. The remaining arms would be completely handed to the regime.
The network said that the agreement to start evacuating rebels and their weapons from the two towns would start to be implemented from Saturday.
Al-Darani told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Assad regime forces succeeded to isolate the cities and big towns after their experiences in Daraya, followed by Maadamiyat Asham and then Al-Ham and Qadssaya.
“Things are over in Khan al-Shih. The agreement is currently under execution. Buses already entered the camp to remove armed fighters. As for the city of al-Tal, an agreement was also concluded. But, the execution will only start in a week,” al-Darani said.
An activist in Western Ghoutan Diyaa al-Husseini told Asharq Al-Awsat that what happened in the city of al-Tal and the camp of Khan al-Shih was “an obligatory agreement.”
He said: “Accepting the agreement does not mean that rebels surrendered, but only aims to stop the killing and the suffering of civilians.” According to al-Husseini, the rebels will head to Idlib, which he said, is not safe anymore.
The activists said around 600,000 civilians live in al-Tal, the majority of them are being displaced.
On Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two deals to evacuate rebels and their weapons from parts of the Damascus suburbs have been reached.
The Observatory said buses had arrived to the town’s entrances and surroundings to transport fighters along with their families to the northwestern province of Idlib.
Meanwhile, a series of explosions were heard on Saturday inside an arms and ammunition depot at a joint military camp controlled by Kurds and the International Coalition in northwestern Syria.
Posted by: badanov ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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[al-Manar] More than 400 Syrian civilians have fled terrorist-held districts of eastern Aleppo for the government-controlled west as national military advances in the city, a monitor said Sunday.
The civilians fled overnight to the Masaken Hanano district and were taken to regime-controlled areas, the UK-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syrian state media said government forces had on Saturday captured Masaken Hanano, the largest terrorist-held district of Aleppo, in what would be a major breakthrough in the regime’s offensive to retake the entire city.
Fresh fighting broke out on Saturday night between Syrian army and allies, and armed groups in the neighbouring districts of Haidariya and Sakhur, said the Observatory.
Syrian army targeted the area with heavy shelling, said the Britain-based monitoring group.
Posted by: badanov ||
11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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BEIRUT: Syria regime forces on Sunday seized two new rebel-held districts in Aleppo a day after they retook the largest opposition-controlled neighborhood in the second city, a monitor said.
“The army and its allies retook control of Jabal Badro and Baadeen”, both adjacent to Masaken Hanano which was retaken on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In less than 24 hours, the regime has seized three districts from the rebels just 13 days into an assault to retake the entire northern city.
East Aleppo has been under rebel control since 2012.
“The army’s rapid advance is due to its strategy of attacking east Aleppo on several fronts, weakening the rebels,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Meanwhile, fighting raged between regime forces and rebels in the strategic neighboring district of Sakhur, the Observatory said.
Sakhur lies on a stretch of just 1.5 km between west Aleppo and Masaken Hanano, now both controlled by the regime.
If the regime did manage to take control of the district, east Aleppo would be split in two from north to south, dealing a further blow to the armed opposition.
Syrian rebels handed in their heavy weapons in a town southwest of Damascus, on Sunday, as part of a deal they have made with the government to get safe passage to insurgent-controlled areas, state-affiliated media said.
Through a series of so-called “settlement” agreements and army offensives, the Syrian government, backed by Russian air power and Iranian-backed militias, has been steadily suppressing armed opposition to its rule in the capital city's suburbs.
Rebels say the deals are part of a strategy to forcibly displace whole populations from opposition-held areas after years of siege and bombardment.
Khan Al-Shih is the only town not controlled by the government on a major supply route from Damascus to government-held territory in the southern province of Quneitra.
The army will start the transfer of insurgents and their families from the town to rebel-held Idlib province on Monday, according to a statement from a military news service run by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, an ally of Assad.
Syrian state-run Ikhbariya TV, broadcasting from near Khan Al-Shih on Sunday, said 1,270 people will be moved to Idlib in the coming week and the remaining 3,000-4,500 people will be taken back into government-controlled areas, citing sources within the local administration.
In another development, a blast ripped through a street in the northern Syrian town of Al-Rai on Sunday in what was believed to be a Daesh suicide bombing and 12 wounded, mostly children, were brought to a hospital in nearby Turkey, security and hospital sources said.
Turkey's army had earlier said Daesh militants fired a rocket into the Haliliye area of the same region that caused symptoms of “chemical gas” exposure in 22 Syrian rebels, according to Anadolu news agency.
The town of Al-Rai, which is 2 km south of Turkey's Kilis border province, is in an area under the control of Turkey-backed rebels and was seized from Daesh militants in Ankara's “Euphrates Shield” operation launched in August.
No further details were immediately available but the Dogan news agency cited local sources as saying it was a vehicle-borne bomb which also killed several Syrians.
The Turkey-backed rebels have for days been besieging the Daesh-controlled town of Al-Bab, around 30 km south of Al-Rai, as part of the three-month-old offensive to drive the hard-liners away from the Syrian side of the Turkish border.
Some 22 rebels were transferred to a Turkish hospital on suspicion of chemical poisoning after complaining of constant sickness and severe headaches following the attack in Haliliye, the Hurriyet website reported.
Masaken Hanano is the most important stronghold of the armed groups in the area and they used to take it as military barracks, making civilians a human shield and a cover to mask their most awful actions in the neighborhood.
Loosing Masaken Hanano, put the militants in a real crisis regarding the geographic location of the area, in addition to that it overlooks Haidariya neighborhood and tightens grip around the armed groups from the side of Al-Badro Mountain.
Moreover, in case the Syrian military and allied forces managed to continue advancing towards Al-Sakhoor neighborhood, this will divide the militants’ strongholds in east Aleppo into two parts (northern and southern) which will escalate the pressure over the armed groups there. That’s why the armed factions called for urgent crawl.
Militants’ call for help has been translated by “Noueddine Zinki Movement” by withdrawing its gunmen from the northern axes of eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo in an attempt to halt the advance of Syrian army and allies at Hanano-Badro axis, amid clear confusion among militants after they failed to fight off the advancing forces.
Worthy to note that the Syrian military and allies are taking into account the presence of civilians in the densely populated areas and taking the situational military measures in order to protect their lives.
More from al-Manar: Syrian Army Captures 8 Aleppo Districts You know how al-Manar is...
Syrian government forces freed on Sunday eight districts in the east of the Aleppo city, evacuating 2,500 civilians, including 800 children, and forcing dozens of militants to surrender, as they are still advancing at three main axes.
“The Syrian army and allied forces are advancing at three fronts amid quick collapse of armed groups east of Aleppo,” AL-Manar TV reporter said.
The evacuated civilians include 500 people from the al-Qadisiyah district and about 1,500 people from the districts of Jabal Bidart and Hai es Sackur.
Evacuated civilians talked about major collapses in the ranks of the terrorists who have revengefully targeted the western region and some northern rural areas, which led to the fall of martyrs in the besieged towns of Nobbol and Zahra.
The situation in Aleppo has been seriously deteriorating over the recent months. Thousands of citizens are believed to be trapped in the terrorist-besieged eastern parts of Aleppo with no access to food or water.
State television said “the armed forces retook full control” of the largest rebel district in the east of the city, and official news agency SANA said operations were now under way to clear it of mines and bombs.
“The armed forces retook full control of Masaken Hanano after having put an end to the presence of terrorists there,” the state broadcaster said, referring to the rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
SANA said government forces, backed by its allies, also recaptured the area around the district and “army engineers are clearing it of bombs and explosives planted by the terrorists in the streets and squares.”
The capture of Masaken Hanano in the northeast of Aleppo could give the army line-of-fire control over several other parts of the city’s rebel-held east.
Regime forces had been advancing inside the neighborhood for several days, and on Friday state television said they were progressing “from three axes.”
The operation is part of a major offensive now in its 12th day to take back all of Aleppo, Syria’s second city and its economic capital before the war broke out in March 2011.
Since November 15, regime bombardment of eastern Aleppo has killed 212 civilians, including 27 children, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Observatory head rami Abdel Rahman told AFP on Saturday that the government forces were in control of 80 percent of Masaken Hanano and had the rest in their line of fire.
“They just hundreds of metres (yards) away from isolating the northern districts of east Aleppo from the southern ones,” he said.
More than 250,000 civilians have been trapped under siege for months in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, with dwindling food and fuel supplies.
The battleground city in northern Syria has been divided between the government-controlled western areas and the rebel-held eastern districts since 2012.
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11/28/2016 00:00 ||
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Aleppo: The Verdun of the Middle East
Deir ezZor – Russian warplanes launched on Sunday several airstrikes on Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor Governorate, targeting headquarters of the Islamic State (ISIS).
The air raids hit ISIS fighting positions and tactical units in the city of al-Bukamal and the Susa town in Deir ez-Zor.
“At least 31 ISIS militants were killed in the airstrikes launched by Russian Air Force on Sunday evening,” local media activist Samer al-Khalaf told ARA News.
A source close to ISIS also confirmed the death of dozens of the group’s fighters in the raids.
“The national hospital in Deir ez-Zor City received more than 30 corpses of Islamic State members subsequent to the airstrikes,” a doctor in the national hospital told ARA News, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Also, four civilians were reported dead in the bombardment of Deir ez-Zor on Sunday.
In the meantime, clashes broke out between Syrian army forces and ISIS fighters in the districts of Joura and al-Rashidiya in Deir ez-Zor City.
“The Syrian regime’s army forces tried to exploit the Russian strikes to advance on the ground and secure the two neighbourhoods from ISIS militants,” al-Khalaf reported.
The clashes continued until Monday morning. It was not immediately clear whether the Syrian army made any new gains.
Posted by: badanov ||
11/28/2016 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.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Inquirer] The Philippine military yesterday said 11 members of the Islamic extremist Maute Group had been killed and five others injured during military operations in Butig, Lanao del Sur province, that began on Saturday.
[Bangkok Post] Two armed men opened fire at two Buddhist women in a drive-by gun attack, killing one, who was 8-months pregnant, and injuring the other in Pattani province on Saturday night. The incident occurred near a gas station in Panare district.
