Hi there, !
Today Mon 12/17/2018 Sun 12/16/2018 Sat 12/15/2018 Fri 12/14/2018 Thu 12/13/2018 Wed 12/12/2018 Tue 12/11/2018 Archives
Rantburg
532941 articles and 1859828 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 58 articles and 109 comments as of 19:05.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Maulana Samiul Haq's personal secretary arrested, labelled person of interest in murder probe
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
14 21:19 trailing wife [4] 
0 [1] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [5] 
0 [3] 
0 [5] 
0 [7] 
0 [4] 
1 09:37 Frank G [2] 
0 [7] 
1 15:26 Woodrow [] 
0 [5] 
0 [7] 
0 [1] 
0 [2] 
0 [6] 
Page 2: WoT Background
2 23:31 trailing wife [3]
0 [1]
3 16:34 jpal [7]
0 [4]
4 16:37 jpal [10]
0 [1]
0 []
0 [5]
0 [2]
4 14:17 Spaique Lumumba2447 [1]
1 11:23 JohnQC [5]
1 17:41 Slumble Platypus3459 [6]
Page 3: Non-WoT
2 17:01 Shusoth Sforza4998 [2]
5 16:48 Procopius2k [1]
3 11:56 trailing wife [2]
5 22:59 james [4]
1 00:35 SteveS []
6 10:12 SteveS [2]
0 [5]
1 09:35 Frank G [3]
2 13:52 Frank G [2]
1 11:05 JohnQC []
4 19:08 swksvolFF [2]
1 06:44 Procopius2k [2]
0 [2]
1 10:57 JohnQC [1]
0 [2]
2 08:06 Besoeker [6]
0 []
2 07:17 ed in texas []
Page 4: Opinion
8 19:50 trailing wife [4]
2 11:19 M. Murcek [2]
8 11:54 Galactic Coordinator Claviter6242 []
4 10:48 JohnQC [3]
8 11:16 JohnQC [4]
3 11:33 Frank G [6]
5 10:04 Galactic Coordinator Claviter6242 [1]
0 []
Page 6: Politix
0 [1]
4 17:39 Slumble Platypus3459 [3]
0 [2]
Afghanistan
US Army Special Forces officer charged with the murder of Taliban bomb maker
[Daily Caller] The U.S. Army charged a Fort Bragg Green Beret with allegedly murdering a man who he suspected was a bomb maker for the Taliban.

Special Forces Maj. Matthew Golsteyn was charged with allegedly shooting and killing the suspected bomb maker in 2010, Task and Purpose reported Thursday. He was deployed with the 3rd Special Forces Group at the time of the alleged incident, according to Army Times.

Golsteyn has been charged with premeditated murder and could face the death penalty, Golsteyn’s attorney, Phillip Stackhouse, told the Times.

"Maj. Golsteyn is being charged with the murder of an Afghan male during his 2010 deployment to Afghanistan," U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesman Lt. Col. Loren Bymer told Task and Purpose Thursday.

Golsteyn is a "humble servant-leader who saved countless lives, both American and Afghan, and has been recognized repeatedly for his valorous actions," Stackhouse said of his client, the Times reported.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/14/2018 01:49 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  WTF?
Posted by: 3dc || 12/14/2018 5:41 Comments || Top||

#2  A terrorist bomb maker seems like the ultimate unlawful combatant; their death is a service to humanity, not a crime.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/14/2018 6:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Golsteyn first admitted during a polygraph test for a CIA interview that he had killed an unarmed Afghan man after a tribal leader told him that the man had built a bomb that killed two Marines.

Golsteyn believed that the Afghan man would kill the tribal leader in retribution for identifying him, so Golsteyn executed the man off base, the Washington Post reported. After initially burying the man, Golsteyn and two other soldiers later dug up the remains and burned them.

Army Criminal Investigation Command initially did not find enough evidence to charge Golsteyn, but an investigation was re-opened after the Green Beret talked about the killing during an October 2016 interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier.

When Baier asked Golsteyn if he had killed the Afghan man, Golsteyn replied, “Yes.”

“It is an inevitable outcome that people who are cooperating with the coalition forces, when identified, will suffer some terrible torture or be killed,” Golsteyn said.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/14/2018 6:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Precision bomb Germany and Japan killing thousands of civilians (not even counting fire bombing Hamburg and Tokyo intentionally targeting civilians who may or may not contribute to the overall war effort) and you are a war hero. I guess altitude is the difference. (Do I need to put a /sarc on this?) Call me when they decide to actually engage in war rather than something far less to give the appearance that they are doing something.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/14/2018 6:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Self inflicted and wobbly, very wobbly:

1. Takes CIA poly (ostensibly for employment). The Army is boring.

2. Does 2016 interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier. My book is nearly finished.

What happens in the suck, stays in the suck. Yes, former USN Seal Robert J. (I shot UBL) O'Neill is a dick also. Just my personal thoughts and opinion on the issue.

Proceed with the court-martial.

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/14/2018 7:59 Comments || Top||

#6  #5, well said indeed.
Posted by: Cesare || 12/14/2018 10:52 Comments || Top||

#7  Harry Truman dropped the big one with aforethought and premeditation and ended the war in the Pacific and saved many Americans lives.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/14/2018 11:42 Comments || Top||

#8  As #5 said.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/14/2018 11:43 Comments || Top||

#9  "What happens in the suck, stays in the suck."
Truth. Plus, this guy sounds a little 'off'.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 12/14/2018 12:52 Comments || Top||

#10  Possible scenario, I say again, possible.

Golsteyn detains TB bomber. Golsteyn processes Joint Priority Effects List (JPEL) traffic for shipment of detainee to Parwan Detention Facility. Our friends in MUFTI immediatley come back with:

Release detainee immediately, do not process detainee to Parwan. Again, release detainee immediately. Please confirm receipt.

Golsteyn complies with release, now with advanced case of the ass, takes matter into his own hands. All goes swimingly until Golsteyn 'goes on the box' and source termination puzzle is re-constructed.

Again, a potential scenario.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/14/2018 13:37 Comments || Top||

#11  advanced case of the ass

Translation, please?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/14/2018 19:37 Comments || Top||

#12  Also, why would he be ordered to release the detainee? Clearly I’m processing slowly tonight. :-(
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/14/2018 19:39 Comments || Top||

#13  Again, purely my own speculation:

If the detainee was a 'source' for someone else, that someone else would not want him being sent to Parwan.

Case of the ass = Military term denoting anger and or frustration.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/14/2018 20:07 Comments || Top||

#14  Thank you for explaining, Besoeker. I’ve learnt astonishing things since I discovered Rantburg — and my vocabulary haw expanded in unexpected directions.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/14/2018 21:19 Comments || Top||


Drone strikes leave at least 15 militants dead in Ghazni and Paktika
[KhaamaPress] The U.S. forces have carried out a series of Arclight airstrikes in southeastern Ghazni and Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
provinces of the country, leaving at least 15 gunnies dead.

The203rd Thunder Corps of the Afghan Military in the Southeast in a statement said the U.S. forces carried out airstrikes using unmanned aerial vehicles in Gomar district of Paktika province.

The statement further added that the airstrikes were carried out in SyedKhel, Chahar Baran, and Zuhda areas of the district, leaving at least 12 gunnies dead.

Similarly,the U.S. forces carried out airstrikes in Andar district of Ghazni province which left at least 3 gunnies dead.

According to 203rd Thunder Corps, a cycle of violence and a Ak-47 rifle of the gunnies were also destroyed in the airstrikes.

Both Ghazni and Paktika provinces are among the relatively volatile provinces in Southeast of Afghanistan where Talibs and other groups are active in some of its districts and often carry out terrorist related activities.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/14/2018 01:21 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Tension In Baidoa As Ethiopian Troops Arrest Presidential Candidate
[RADIOSHABELLE] High tension is reported in Baidoa, the interim capital of southwest state after Æthiopian troops in the town allegedly incarcerated
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
former al-Shabaab
... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
deputy leader, Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur.

Abu Mansour was said to have been detained on Thursday morning though it is not immediately clear the reason behind his detention.

Sources close to the former Alshabaab leader who is also among state presidential candidates running for the elections slated for 19th of this month said he was tortured before the arrest.

Communication lines are cut off as sounds of gunfire and violent demonstration is reportedly staged by residents to demanding for his release.

Robow was flown from Baidoa to Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Army holds private burial ceremony for dozens of soldiers killed by Boko Haram
[PULSE.NG] Soldiers who were killed by terrorist group, Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
, in the troubled northeast region will be buried by the Nigerian Army in a private ceremony scheduled to be held in Maiduguri, Borno State on Friday, December 14, 2018.

According to a report by The Punch, the soldiers were those killed during a terrorist attack on the 157 Task Force Battalion in Metele in Guzamala local government area of Borno on November 18.

Even though many reports indicated that over 100 soldiers were killed in the attack, with many others missing, the Army disclosed in a statement that 23 soldiers were killed with 31 others injured.

However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
according to one of the widows of the officers who spoke to The Punch, the number of soldiers to be buried during the private ceremony is unknown.

"I was invited for the burial of my husband with a few others this Friday in Maiduguri. Sincerely, we don't even know how many will be buried and the army is not giving us any information," she said.

A colonel who spoke to The Punch reported that the ceremony has been made private to conceal the real figure of casualties from the attack.

He said, "General Buratai said only 23 soldiers were killed in the attack. He also put the number of troops maimed in action at 31. However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
we all know that is not true. Over 100 were killed and a private burial is now being organised in order not to expose their lies."

Around the time of the Metele attack, faceless myrmidons also staged a series of attacks on Nigerian Army troops between November 2 and November 17 with 16 soldiers killed and 12 injured.

The attacks took place in Kukawa, Ngoshe, Kareto and Gajiram, all in Borno, but were 'successfully repelled' by troops who killed 'several members' of the terrorist group.

Many of the attacks were credited to Boko Haram faction, 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....
West Africa Province (ISWAP), who has renewed assaults on military bases in 2018.

Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)


Police foil suicide bomb attack in Maiduguri
[PULSE.NG] The Police in Borno said its men had successfully foiled a lone suicide kaboom on Wednesday night in Maiduguri.

The Police Commissioner, Mr Damian Chukwu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone that the incident occurred at about 8:30 pm in the outskirts of Maiduguri.

Chukwu disclosed that a teenage female bomber attempted to infiltrate a security check point, before coppers fired shot at her and the Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) vest strapped to her body went kaboom!.

He said the kaboom blew the girl into pieces, noting that there were no other casualties in the attack.

The commissioner added that men of the Explosive Ordinance Department (EOD) were deployed and sanitise the area.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)


Several dozen killed near Mali's border with Niger
[PULSE.NG] Several dozen civilians have been rubbed out by button men who raided an area in northeastern Mali near the border with Niger, local officials and a Touareg self-defence group told AFP Thursday.

The attack, which took place early Wednesday, occurred in an area which has been badly hit by jihadist violence that has claimed several hundred lives this year, most of them civilians of Touareg or Peul ethnicity.

"Gunmen riding on cycle of violences raided many areas in the southern part of the Menaka region and executed civilians from the (Touareg) Idaksahak community," said the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA), which spoke of 47 people killed.

Local officials, who confirmed the attack, put the number of dead at several dozen but said they couldn't.

The MSA, part of a Touareg rebellion movement in the north, said the assailants headed for the Niger border after first setting a bushfire.

A Menaka official who wished to remain anonymous said he could not give an exact corpse count as "by the time the Malian army arrived, MSA fighters had already buried the bodies."

Another local official said he had been able to speak with one person hurt in the attack and transferred to Menaka and accused the assailants of "firing on civilians".

The regional governor's office was not immediately available for comment.
"I can say no more!"
on the attack.

MINUSMA, the UN mission to Mali, did not give a figure for casualties but deplored the attack on Twitter, urging the Malian authorities to investigate and bring those responsible to justice.

It also said it was deploying a human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
team to investigate what had happened.

In August, a panel of experts said in a report to the UN Security Council that inter-communal conflicts in the region were exacerbating existing tensions resulting from festivities between jihadists groups and international and Malian forces.

Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Arabia
How Sweden deal on Yemen will be implemented: Commitments and timeframe
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Following are the commitments and the time frame of the initial Sweden deal:

- The Houthi militias withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa to the north of Sanaa road within 14 days of the agreement.

- The immediate redeployment of the government forces south of the line.

- Full withdrawal of the Houthi forces from the city of Hodeidah in the second phase to sites outside the northern city limits within the 21 days after the agreement.

- The security of Hodeidah and the ports of Hodeidah, Salih and Ras Issa are the responsibility of the security forces in accordance with Yemeni law.

- The legal tracks of the Authority must be respected and any obstacles or impediments to the functioning of local institutions, including Houthi supervisors, should be eliminated.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  From the title I thought Sweden was surrendering to Yemen.

Again.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/14/2018 15:26 Comments || Top||


Europe
Sweden arrests man suspected of preparing terror attack
[IsraelTimes] After raids in Gothenburg, security services offer no details on motive or identity of would-be terrorist, but say his activities had ’international links’
Olaf? Sven? Muhammad?
Fifty-fifty odds on Muhammed, in one of the usual variants.
A man has been placed in durance vile
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
in western Sweden on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack, the country’s security services said Thursday.

The SAPO agency said "preparations for the suspected terrorist offense have been underway for some time" and added that "there are international links." It did not elaborate.

The person was not identified.

Several raids were carried out early Thursday in western Sweden and several people were brought in for questioning.

The Goteborg Tidning newspaper says the raids took place in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city, and in suburbs to its north.

The operation was not linked to the jihadist attack in Strasbourg, La Belle France, that left two dead, one person brain dead and 12 others injured on Wednesday, SAPO’s Gabriel Wernstedt told the Swedish daily Aftonbladet.

Sweden’s terror threat remained unchanged at elevated ‐ the third level on a five-degree scale, meaning that an attack can occur, SAPO said.

Two attacks have hit Sweden in the past eight years.

On April 7, 2017, an Uzbek man drove a stolen truck into a crowd in Stockholm, killing five people and wounding 14 others. He was convicted of terror-related murder and given a life sentence.

In December 2010, a jacket wallah went kaboom! in downtown Stockholm among panicked Christmas shoppers, injuring two people.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/14/2018 00:23 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Greek Coast Guard seizes large cache of drugs from Syrian ship
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Greek Coast Guard stopped a Syrian ship last week that was sailing through their territorial waters.

The ship was then redirected to the island of Crete, where the Greek Coast Guard questioned the crew.

The Greek Coast Guard proceeded to arrest the twelve men on the ship, 11 Syrian nationals and one Indian national, and confiscated all of the contents inside.

Initially, the Greek Coast Guard believed this ship could be smuggling arms; however, it was later found out this week that the vessel was carrying a large quantity of drugs.

The Greek authorities found a large quantity of captagon pills and hashish that were destined for an undisclosed location.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Day 4: Strasbourg gunman shot dead by French police
Day 3 can be seen here.
[Al Jazeera] The suspected gunman, who killed three people at a Christmas market in Strasbourg on Tuesday, has been killed, police sources have said.

Cherif Chekatt was killed in the Neudorf area of the city in northeast La Belle France after a police operation was launched around 20:00 GMT on Thursday, sources said.

A French police official said security forces, including the elite Raid squad, acted following reports that the 29-year-old suspect was hiding in a building in the neighbourhood.

Authorities said a taxi driver dropped Chekatt off in the Neudorf neighborhood of Strasbourg on Tuesday evening after the shooting, which also maimed 13 people.

Chekatt had a long criminal record and was flagged for extremism, government spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux told CNews television.

Prosecutors had opened a terror investigation into the attack. Police distributed a photo of Chekatt, with the warning: "Individual dangerous, above all do not intervene."

The corpse count rose to three on Thursday with the death of a victim who was declared brain-dead earlier. Five of those maimed were at death's door, authorities said.
The Local - France adds:
The man who killed three people and left several others seriously injured when he attacked members of the public in the centre of Strasbourg on Tuesday night, is believed to have been hiding out in a factory.

Police had been carrying out operations in Neudorf throughout the day with residents moved out of the area as apartments were searched.

Just before reports emerged that police had tracked down the suspect La Belle France's Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced that the city's famed Christmas market would reopen again on Friday. Security around the market would be boosted with the number of access points reduced and shoppers subject to more checks.

"We can't give in to fear because life, the festivities, our culture, the joy, of which this Christmas market is a symbol, must win through," said Castaner.

A fifth person was detained by police for questioning on Thursday, in addition to the suspect's parents and two brothers who have been in jug since Wednesday.
And from the Daily Mail:
Just over an hour after Chekatt was rubbed out, ISIS claimed the terrorist as a 'soldier' of ISIS, according to the propaganda new agency of the jihadist organization, Amaq.

In an update shared via social media, the IS Amaq news agency said: 'Amaq identifies Strasbourg gunman as an IS "'soldier".'

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....
group's self-styled news agency said that Chekatt was 'an Islamic State soldier' who 'carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of coalition countries' fighting the terrorist group's Lions of Islam in Syria and Iraq.

More than 720 French security forces had been hunting for the 29-year-old since the bloodshed on Tuesday night.

A police source said he was shot and killed by police in the Plaine des Bouchers area, near the Neudorf area of the city.

The Gay Paree prosecutor's office said Chekatt's parents and two brothers were being held in jug, while two of his sisters in Gay Paree were also questioned today. Police also raided the home of Chekatt's sister in Gay Paree, although they did not arrest her, according to Le Point. Officers apparently became suspicious over the sister's links to a doctor who may have helped treat Chekatt after he was shot in the arm.

The fifth person detained is reported to be a 39-year-old friend of the killer who once shared a prison with him. Chekatt is said to have stayed with the friend in Lingolsheim on the night before the attack.

As officers searched for the killer it emerged that they had found jihadist literature at his apartment, as well as a grenade, a loaded rifle and four knives.

On Thursday Le Gay Pareeien also revealed that, during a prison stay in 2008, Chekatt hung a picture of 9/11 criminal mastermind the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse...
on his wall.

JEWISH GRAVES FOUND DESECRATED HOURS BEFORE ISLAMIST RAMPAGE
Jewish gravestones in a cemetery near Strasbourg were discovered daubed with antisemitic graffiti hours before an Islamic krazed killer shot up a Christmas market in the French city.

The graves were painted with Nazis swastikas and the numbers 88 and 14, which are used by white supremacists to reference the phrase 'heil Hitler' and a 14-word statement he once issued from prison which reads: 'We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.'

Other graffiti read 'CRIF = ZOG', referencing the French organization which represents Jewish communities - CRIF - which was compared to a 'Zionist occupation government' or 'ZOG'.

The graves are located in Herrlisheim, a commune around 12 miles to the north of Strasbourg.

This is the fourth time in two months that graffiti featuring far-right and antisemitic symbols has appeared in the Alsace region, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


Iraq
Khanaqin villagers flee their homes, fearing resurgent ISIS
Pretty video with English subtitles can be watched at the link.
[Rudaw] BAWAPLLAWI, Kurdistan Region ‐ Residents of 31 villages in the Khanaqin district have fled their homes, afraid of a resurgent ISIS.

In one month, ISIS bandidos turbans have attacked villages in the area 143 times.

"The security in the Kurdish villages is not good. They are controlled by the Federal Police, and they never visit at night," said Ghaidan Abdulrahman, a local official (mukhtar) in Bawapllawi.

A year ago, 75 families lived in his village. Today, most of them are gone.

The area is part of the disputed territories that came under Iraqi federal control in October 2017. The federal forces have struggled, however, to secure these villages, especially at night, and ISIS has taken advantage of security gaps between the Iraqis and the Peshmerga.

Militants raid villages, and kidnap and kill residents.

"You never feel safe to go out; our children will not be safe," said a mother in the village.

An estimated 300 bandidos turbans are operating in the area, essentially having the run of the land at night.

"This area is very empty. Iraqi forces cannot establish control over the area. The situation is too poor for people to live in the villages even near Khanaqin," said local Peshmerga commander Kawa Mahmood.

Iraq declared victory over ISIS a year ago, but the murderous Moslem group remains a serious security threat. Iraqi, Peshmerga, and coalition forces regularly carry out operations against the murderous Moslems.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/14/2018 01:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
2 Border Policemen lightly hurt in stabbing attack in Jerusalem; terrorist dead
[Ynet] Two Border Police officers were lightly hurt in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem's Old City early Thursday morning. One of them shot and killed the terrorist.

A 19-year-old Border Policewoman was stabbed in her extremities and was moderately hurt. After arriving at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem's Ein Karem, there has been an improvement in her condition and it is now defined as light.

A 21-year-old Border Policeman was lightly hurt and was taken to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the capital.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/14/2018 00:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israeli Air Force conducts low altitude flights along Syrian border
[ALMASDARNEWS] For the second time this week, the Israeli Air Force has conducted low altitude flights along the Syrian-Lebanese border.

According to a military communique from the Syrian Armed Forces, the Israeli warplanes began their cross-border flights by entering Leb’s Nabatieh Governorate and making their way to the Beqa’a-Damascus border.

The Israeli warplanes did not cross into Syrian airspace; however, their flight along the border was enough to raise the alert levels in Damascus.

Typically, Israel takes this flight path when they carry out Arclight airstrikes in western Damascus and western Homs, so any time their planes are spotted along the border, the Syrian military prepares their air defenses for a potential engagement.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Gathering Elint, hmmm, Avi?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/14/2018 9:37 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Intense clashes breakout between Syrian Army, US-backed forces near Tanf region
[ALMASDARNEWS] Minutes ago, an intense firefight broke-out between the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and U.S.-backed rebels in southeastern Homs.

According to a military source in Damascus, the festivities erupted between the Syrian Arab Army and the U.S.-backed Jaish Maghawer al-Thoura group just north of the al-Tanf region, which is controlled by the U.S. Coalition.

The source said that the Syrian Arab Army killed at least three members of the U.S.-backed rebel group, while suffering no casualties of their own.

In the past, the U.S. Coalition would respond to these festivities by bombing the Syrian military near the al-Tanf region; however, they have yet to launch any Arclight airstrikes as of yet.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syrian Army placed on high alert after Turkish military attack in northern Aleppo
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has been placed on high alert this afternoon following an attack that was launched by the Ottoman Turkish military in the northern countryside of the Aleppo province.

According to a military source in Aleppo, the Syrian Arab Army was ordered to move towards the front-lines of Tal Rifa’at after the Ottoman Turkish military fired several artillery shells on the town.

The casualty total is still unknown at the moment; however, from the preliminary reports from Tal Rifa’at, it appears that an artillery shell hit a Syrian Army post.

This latest attack by the Ottoman Turkish military comes just 24 hours after Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
announced that his forces were planning to kickoff their new military operation east of the Euphrates.

Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Syrian Army responds to Turkish military attack in northern Aleppo
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) issued a powerful response to the Ottoman Turkish military’s attack on their positions this afternoon, a source in Aleppo city told al-Masdar News.

According to the source, the Syrian Arab Army fired several artillery shells towards the Ottoman Turkish military’s positions in the Afrin region of northwest Aleppo after the latter fired several projectiles at their posts near the town of Tal Rifa’at.

The source said that some Syrian soldiers were maimed as a result of the Ottoman Turkish military strikes; however, they were minor injuries.

He would add that the Syrian Army fired the artillery shells towards the small town of Jaleel, which is controlled by the Ottoman Turkish military.

The response was meant to deter the Ottoman Turkish military from launching anymore strikes on their positions in northern Aleppo.

Turkish soldier killed north of Aleppo, Syria

[Rudaw] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
’s Defence Ministry announced one of their soldiers was killed in an attack on their forces north of Syria’s Aleppo on Thursday.

The ministry accused Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) of opening fire on their soldiers from Tall Rifat city, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The Ottoman Turkish military responded to the attack, according to the ministry’s statement.

The YPG has not immediately commented on the incident. The force regularly carries out attacks on Syrian forces allied with Turkey in Afrin, the Kurdish enclave that the Ottoman Turkish army took control of after a military offensive at the start of the year.

Media close to the Damascus regime, however, reported an altercation between the Syrian Arab Army and Ottoman Turkish forces in the Tall Rifat area.

Ottoman Turkish forces opened fire on Syrian posts near Tal Rifat and the Syrian army responded, reported al-Masdar News, citing an unnamed source in Aleppo. Some Syrian soldiers were lightly maimed in the altercation. The report did not give any details of casualties among the Ottoman Turkish ranks.

Nearly 2,000 Syrian militias loyal to Turkey have been deployed from the Aleppo countryside and Afrin to the river area, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Sources told the UK-based conflict monitor that the preparations for an offensive are complete and Syrian militias are just waiting for their orders to come from Turkey.

The operation "will extend from Euphrates until the Iraqi border," the Observatory reported.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


US-backed Syrian forces smash IS defences in east
[PULSE.NG] Kurdish-led forces on Thursday moved deep into Hajin, the main village in the last pocket still held 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....
group in eastern Syria, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with support from air strikes conducted by the US-led coalition, deployed across the Euphrates Valley village.

"The SDF managed to break the defences of the Islamic State group after massing a large number of fighters backed by the international coalition," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"They achieved quick progress inside Hajin, the largest of the villages that were controlled by IS," Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britannia-based monitoring organization, said.

The SDF said on social media they had "liberated the city centre of Hajin and the big mosque".

Hajin lies on the east bank of the Euphrates in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the border with Iraq.

The area held by IS is sometimes referred to as the "Hajin pocket", the last rump of a once-sprawling "caliphate" the group proclaimed in 2014 over parts of Syria and Iraq.

The SDF Kurdish-Arab alliance launched an operation in September to flush out IS but their advance has been fraught with obstacles.

The push to retake Hajin was delayed by Ottoman Turkish threats on Kurdish heartlands further north and deadly counter-attacks by die-hard jihadists making a bloody last stand.

"Now IS is confined to tunnels and to the edges of town," Abdel Rahman said.

"Fighting on the group and air strikes are continuing. The mines planted by the jihadists are the main remaining obstacle," he said.

No casualty toll was immediately available for the latest fighting but according to the Observatory close to 500 SDF fighters have been killed since the start of the operation on September 10.

Around 300 civilians have also been killed, many of them in coalition air strikes, and thousands have been forced to flee their homes.

Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
34[untagged]
4Sublime Porte
3Islamic State
3Govt of Pakistan
2Govt of Syria
2Commies
2Boko Haram (ISIS)
1Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
1Moslem Colonists
1Narcos
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Govt of Iraq
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Hamas
1Houthis

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2018-12-14
  Maulana Samiul Haq's personal secretary arrested, labelled person of interest in murder probe
Thu 2018-12-13
  Egyptian military kills 27 terrorists in recent operations
Wed 2018-12-12
  IDF uncovers third attack tunnel dug from Lebanon into Israel
Tue 2018-12-11
  At least two dead, 11 wounded in French Christmas market shooting
Mon 2018-12-10
  Taliban’s shadow governor for Paktika province has been killed
Sun 2018-12-09
  In rain and mud, IDF exposes another tunnel from Lebanon into Israel
Sat 2018-12-08
  Hizbullah Key Financier Tajideen Pleads Guilty in U.S.
Fri 2018-12-07
  UN peacekeepers confirm existence of tunnel from Lebanon into Israel
Thu 2018-12-06
  Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s arrest may prompt China to retaliate, 'take hostages,' expert says
Wed 2018-12-05
  Jihadists seize more ground inside Idlib deescalation zone as Turkish Army watches from afar
Tue 2018-12-04
  US-backed forces allegedly enter Daesh’s new capital
Mon 2018-12-03
  ISIS leader involved in murder of US aid worker Peter Kassig killed
Sun 2018-12-02
  TLP leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi booked under treason, terrorism charges: information minister
Sat 2018-12-01
  Bush the Elder dies at 94
Fri 2018-11-30
  Around 70 militants killed, wounded in 4-day operations in Kunduz


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.
3.15.6.77
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (12)    Non-WoT (18)    Opinion (8)    (0)    Politix (3)