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Nigerian military kills 11 militants in northeast
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Number 4 captured in S. Kandahar with explosives team
A suspected Taliban leader was captured in a joint Afghan and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
operation on Saturday in southern Kandahar province, Isaf said.

"An Afghan and coalition security force captured a Taliban leader during an operation in Maiwand district, Kandahar province, today," Isaf said in a statement.

The leader is accused of being part of an explosives cell and co-ordinating the shipment of weapons and ammunition for use by cut-thoat fighters, it added.

The security force confiscated multiple bomb-making materials and jugged two other suspected Death Eaters during the operation.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/29/2012 08:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


120 Insurgents Surrender in Baghlan
[TOLOnews] - A group of 80 hard boyz laid down its weapons and surrendered to the Afghan government in northern Baghlan province on Friday, local officials said on Saturday.

The hard boyz were from Baghlan-e-Markazi district and they had been active in the province over the past few years where they had carried out attacks against the government, Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, head of the 303 Pamir corps in northern Afghanistan, told TOLOnews.

Mr Ahmadzai is confident that security will improve as more hard boyz renounce violence in the province.

Five days ago a separate group of 40 hard boyz also agreed to join the government in Baghlan.

The Afghan and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
forces have also rushed military operations in the country to wipe out hard boyz in which dozens of militants have been killed or captured.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/29/2012 08:22 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So 120 boyz with remorse in their heart and no cash get drafted into the ANA with opportunity to go postal. Wot a life!
Posted by: manversgwtw || 01/29/2012 10:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Winter like Alaska this year?
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/29/2012 10:35 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Nigerian military kills 11 militants in northeast
[Pak Daily Times] Nigerian troops on Saturday killed 11 fighters from the cut-throats sect Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie...
during a shootout in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, a front man said.

"Today, in an exchange of fire during an cordon-and-search operation conducted by the JTF, 11 Boko Haram members were killed," Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Mohammed told, referring to the army's Joint Task Force unit.

Gunmen in Nigeria have killed at least one officer after opening fire on a cop shoppe in the city of Kano, where attacks claimed by Islamists left 185 dead last week, police said on Saturday.

Security forces in Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer are struggling to contain the menace by the Boko Haram Islamist sect that has used increasingly bold tactics to kill more than 200 people this year alone.

The latest attack in Kano, the economic heart of Nigeria's mainly Mohammedan north, occurred just before 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Friday, police said on Saturday, confirming the assault first reported by residents.

Gunmen "opened fire on our men and the coppers on duty fired back leading to a shootout," city police front man Magaji Majia said, adding that one officer was killed. Witnesses had previously told two officers had died.

The attack came at the start of a nighttime curfew that has been in effect in the northern city since a January 20 assault by Boko Haram killed 185 people.

Kano had previously evaded the worst of Boko Haram's violence, and the brazen, coordinated strikes that primarily targetted cop shoppes in a major city highlighted the group's renewed strength.

Since then in Kano, another cop shoppe was attacked on Tuesday night, with authorities reporting three people maimed and a German engineer was kidnapped on the outskirts of city on Thursday. Also on Thursday, a Kano bus station was hit, with no one reported being killed. The Friday night attack happened in the Mandawari neighbourhood.

The purported head of Boko Haram, Abubakar Muhammad Shekau, threatened more violence in an audio recording recently posted on YouTube. Boko Haram has previously said that it wants to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's deeply-impoverished mainly Mohammedan north, charging the government with harassing Mohammedans and raiding Islamic schools.

The group was also blamed for coordinated attacks on Christmas Day, the mostly deadly at a Catholic Church near the capital Abuja where at least 44 people were killed, but its victims also include scores of Mohammedans.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
Yemeni forces kill extremist fighters, extremists deny
[Pak Daily Times] Yemeni troops killed four bad turban fighters in a southern town they seized from government control, a local official said on Saturday, but a front man for the Islamic fascisti denied his side had suffered any casualties.
The fighting in Zinjibar, capital of the southern Abyan province where bad turban bands had taken control of swathes of territory in the last seven months, underlines erosion of central authority, which fans US and Saudi fears the state may collapse and give al Qaeda a foothold near oil shipping routes. Those fears are behind their support for a plan to ease Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
from office after a year of protests demanding he step down, which has been punctuated with open war between his forces and those of a rebel general and tribal magnates. Saleh, who left Yemen this week, has transferred some powers to his deputy and enjoys immunity from prosecution under the deal. It established a transitional government, including opposition blocs, and envisions restructuring Yemen's armed forces, key units of which are led by Saleh's relatives. Meanwhile,
...back at the hoedown, Bob finally got to dance with Sally...
a front man for the bad turban group said his side had suffered no casualties, but confirmed the account of a soldier's death. Separately, a police colonel in Hadrawamout province was gravely maimed when person or persons unknown shot him with automatic weapons before fleeing on cycle of violences late on Friday, a local official said. He blamed the attack on al Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Protests break out inside Elite Republican Guard
[Yemen Post] Protests erupted on Saturday inside a camp of the Republican Guard commanded by son of the outgoing President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
, well-informed sources affirmed.

Eyewitnesses said that they heard shootings inside a camp belonging to the Republican Guar south Sana'a, indicating that soldiers of the Fourth Brigade staged a sit-in demanding to have their salaries.

They affirmed that the soldiers blocked a main street linking between Sana'a and Aden, demanding to dismiss the commander of their brigade.

Military sources had revealed the commander of the Republic Guard Ahmed Ali Saleh had cautioned officers and soldiers against arranging any demonstrations, threatening to purge anyone trying to protest.

They made reference that Ahmed tossed in the slammer dozens of officers prevent them from joining mass protests against the rule of his father.

The sources said that he has banned the use of cell phones inside the camp with the aim of preventing any rebellions or further defections.

Camps of the Republican Guard had engaged a fierce war with the rustics of Arhab district in the vicinity of the capital, Sana'a.

They have helped President-for-Life Saleh
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
retain power despite the months of protests, intense international pressure and an liquidation attempt in June that forced him to leave the country for weeks of medical treatment in neighboring Soddy Arabia.

Separately, shat has become known as the institution revolution hit many public authorities and resulted in the ouster of tens of corrupt officials in Yemen, as employees and students insisted on firing them.

Several military and security units demanded the removal of officers accused of corruption or involvement in the deadly crackdown on protesters.

Hundreds of the Air Forces soldiers have been protesting for several days , demanding to fire their commander Mohammad Saleh Alahmar, half brother of Saleh.

Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
Cop, turban killed in DI Khan shootout
[Pak Daily Times] A policeman and one terrorist were killed in a shootout, which took place at Sheikh Yousuf Road in the city. According to details, four unidentified gunnies on two cycle of violences killed a policeman and then tried to flee. Elite Force personnel, who witnessed the shooting, chased the attackers and killed one of them. Police say the dead attacker was wearing a boom jacket. The attackers took refuge in a closed private university and were engaged in a shootout with police forces until the filing of this report A heavy contingent of police and Elite Force personnel cordoned off the area and surrounded the university building. A search operation was also been launched.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Two soldiers killed in Kurram roadside blast
[Pak Daily Times] Two soldiers were killed in a roadside blast in the Jogi area of Kurram Agency
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
. Official sources said that a convoy of security forces was on its way to its camp when a roadside kaboom went kaboom!, killing two soldiers on the spot. Security forces had launched a major operation in central Kurram last summer and declared that the area had been cleared of cut-thoats. However,
man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them...
some bully boyz have returned to the area and have started launching attacks against the security forces.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Two men shot dead in Sibbi
[Pak Daily Times] Two men have been bumped off near a graveyard in Sibbi,
How thoughtful of the bumpers.
some 160 kilometres away from Quetta city. According to official sources, the victims, identified as Din Muhammad and Abdul Salaam, were on their way home from a religious congregation when unidentified gunnies opened fire on them. They said both the men died instantly. Police rushed to the scene of the crime and cordoned off the area. The bodies were taken to Civil Hospital, Sibbi, for autopsies. The victims belonged to Mongechar area of Kalat district. Officials said the motive behind the murders could be an old enmity. However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
the police have started the paperwork but haven't done much else against person or persons unknown and an investigation is underway. Meanwhile,
...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow...
the bodies have been handed over to their heirs after completing legal formalities.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


House damaged in Kohat explosion
[Pak Daily Times] A house was partially damaged in an improvised bomb (IED) kaboom in Meri Colony, Kohat, on Saturday. No loss of life was, however, reported. The IED was planted in a box beside the main gate of the house. Police and law enforcement agencies cordoned off the blast site and launched a search operation after the incident.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Five injured as shop attacked with grenade
[Pak Daily Times] Tension gripped the city on Saturday after a hand grenade was hurled at a hardware shop in Liaquatabad No 2, leaving five persons maimed.

Two young men wearing trousers and shirts hurled a hand grenade at the Green Hardware Shop near Dak Khana Chowrangi, Liaquatabad No 2. Resultantly, the shop owner Obaid Raja and four others, Asad Aslam, 20; Sohail Aziz, 22; Sardar Ghayasuddin, 35; and Mukhtiar Hussain, 27; were maimed.

Police shifted them to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medical treatment. According to the doctors, they sustained injuries in their upper and lower torsos and were out of danger.

Police, Rangers and bomb disposal squad also arrived and collected evidence from the scene. The kaboom partially damaged the interior of the shop. The incident triggered panic among the traders and shopkeepers of Liaquatabad who closed their shops and staged a protest demonstration. They shouted slogans against the extortionist group, demanding their elimination.

Shops being attacked with arms and hand grenades have become a routine matter in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
. Initially, the extortionist gangs were attacking Lyari, Old City and Saddar areas but in the recent months, one of the city's prominent and busiest markets in Liaquatabad has been hit by the menace.

Police sources said that an alleged member of one of the Lyari gangs, Shakir was tossed in the slammer about a couple of months ago for demanding Rs 400,000 from the same shop's owner and later shooting at and injuring a minor boy outside his shop over non-payment. Since his arrest, Obaid Raja was receiving threats to withdraw the case and the culprits were also demanding Rs 200,000 extortion, they added.

Police officials have not ruled out the involvement of Lyari's Rehman Dakait group behind these cases. SHO Mumtaz Shah said that the shopkeepers and traders were responsible for encouraging the extortionists by keeping the police uninformed.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Door to door solicitors for IIS nabbed in Mosul
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Police sources said today that the financing of the so-called the Iraqi Islamic State decreased by 30 percent following the arrest of a specialized group in collecting funds.

Staff General Mehdi al-Gharawi said in a press conference, attended by Aswat al-Iraq, that the federal police was able to arrest 13 persons comprising a cell to collect funds for the organization from governmental establishments and the citizens on the right side of the city, west of Mosul.

He mention names of heads of departments and exchange bureaus that deal with these terrorist organization, which were registered in their painfully extracted confessions.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's good. At least for hurting Al Qaeda's financing in northern Iraq.
Posted by: American Delight || 01/29/2012 8:29 Comments || Top||

#2  This was likely a "protection racket" to shake down people for "contributions" to da cause. Or else.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/29/2012 8:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah, somebody coming to my door selling IIS is gonna get popped too!
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/29/2012 14:39 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Defense volunteer gunned down in southern Thailand
A defense volunteer was killed in an ambush in front of the mosque in Narathiwat province late Saturday night. Witnesses told investigators that Arsae Kade, 45, a defense volunteer in the district, was returning home from prayers at the village mosque when terrorists gunmen hidden in roadside forest shot at him with M16 assault rifle. The terrorists attackers then fled. Arsae took was hit three times and died on the spot.
"Which spot?"
"THAT spot!"
"If you look closely, you can see the X."
Police blamed separatist terrorists militants.
Posted by: ryuge || 01/29/2012 06:42 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian troops storm areas near capital of Damascus
it gets closer..
In dozens of tanks and armored vehicles, Syrian troops stormed rebellious areas near the capital Sunday, shelling neighborhoods that have fallen under the control of army dissidents and clashing with fighters. At least 62 people were killed in violence nationwide, activists and residents said.
what's a Sunday without indiscriminate killing in Islam?
The widescale offensive near the capital suggested the regime is worried that military defectors could close in on Damascus, which has remained relatively quiet while most other Syrian cities descended into chaos after the uprising began in March.
time for the wives and kiddies to take that "early-early-summer-vacation" in France?
The rising bloodshed added urgency to Arab and Western diplomatic efforts to end the 10-month conflict.

The violence has gradually approached the capital. In the past two weeks, army dissidents have become more visible, seizing several suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus and setting up checkpoints where masked men wearing military attire and wielding assault rifles stop motorists and protect anti-regime protests.

Their presence so close to the capital is astonishing in tightly controlled Syria and suggests 1) the Assad regime may either be losing control or 2) setting up a trap for the fighters before going on the offensive.
betting on option #2
Residents of Damascus reported hearing clashes in the nearby suburbs, particularly at night, shattering the city's calm.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/29/2012 18:19 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  should've had a question mark on "betting on option 2"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/29/2012 18:25 Comments || Top||

#2  what's a Sunday without indiscriminate killing in Islam?

Given that Alawites aren't actually Muslims, I think it's more a case of infidels selectively killing Muslims. From Wikipedia:

In 1970, then-Air Force General Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite, took power and instigated a "Correctionist Movement" in the Ba'ath Party.[30] His coming to power has been compared to "an untouchable becoming maharajah in India or a Jew becoming tsar in Russia—an unprecedented development shocking to the majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries."[27]

In 1971 al-Assad became president of Syria, a function that the Constitution allows only a Sunni Muslim to hold. In 1973 a new constitution was published that omitted the old requirement that the religion of the state is Islam and replaced it with the statement that the religion of the republic's president is Islam. Protests erupted when the statement was altered,[31] and to satisfy this requirement in 1974, Musa Sadr, a leader of the Twelvers of Lebanon and founder of the Amal Movement who had earlier sought to unite Lebanese Alawis and Shias under the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council without success,[3] issued a fatwa stating that Alawis were a community of Twelver Shia Muslims.[32][33] Under the authoritarian but secular Assad government, religious minorities were tolerated, political dissent was not.


Pan Arabism has been a fig leaf behind which the Syrian Alawite minority wielded power against the Sunni majority. The reason it did so was because the French refused to establish Latakia, homeland of the Alawites, as an independent country, despite the desperate entreaties of Hafez Assad's father. This is the real problem with the dissolution of the European empires - to make lives simpler for their foreign offices (and perhaps to avoid the expense of multiple embassies), they grouped large numbers of mutually incompatible peoples together in sprawling countries several times the size of the average EU member, paving the way for the persecution and large scale massacres of ethnic or religious minorities who were the traditional prey for their historical blood enemies. It's the equivalent of putting a rapist and his victim in the same home after his release from prison.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 01/29/2012 20:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Geez, Zhang, that's kind of harsh. It's like saying they can't help themselves or something. Like the time the Israelis left one of the zoo doors open and some Christians massacred some Muslims. The fault is with the zookeepers, right?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 01/29/2012 22:05 Comments || Top||


Damascus Vows to 'Cleanse' Syria of Outlaws, 'Regrets' Decision to Pull Out Observers
[An Nahar] Syria said it was surprised by and regrets the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
's decision to suspend its observer mission to the unrest-swept country on Saturday.

"Syria is surprised by and regrets the decision taken by (Arab League chief Nabil) al-Arabi to suspend the observer mission after having decided (last week) to extend it for a month," state news agency SANA said on its website.

An unidentified official accused Arabi of acting at the request of Qatar, which heads the vaporous Arab League's committee on Syria, ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting next week.

"This decision is aimed at increasing the pressure for foreign intervention in Syrian affairs," SANA quoted him as saying.

Earlier this month, Qatar suggested sending an Arab military force to Syria to work towards an end to the 11 months of violence that the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
says has killed more than 5,400 people.

Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
rejected that proposal.

The 165 League observers were deployed a month ago after Syria agreed to a League plan foreseeing a halt to the violence, prisoners freed, tanks withdrawn from built-up areas and free movement of observers and foreign media.

Damascus has not fulfilled the commitments it made under that deal.

On Friday, several Arab countries submitted to the Security Council a draft resolution that follows the general lines of a League proposal made last week that would have Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
step down in favour of his deputy and a unity government formed.

Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar said earlier the authorities in unrest-hit Syria are determined to "cleanse" the country of outlaws and restore order, quoted by state news agency SANA.

"The security forces are determined to carry on the struggle to cleanse Syria of renegades and outlaws ... to restore safety and security," he said at a ceremony in honor of fallen soldiers.

"Groups are committing terrorist acts and killing innocent people, robbing them of their property and undermining their security," he said.

Damascus does not recognize the scale of the protest movement that erupted in mid-March, insisting it is fighting "terrorist groups" seeking to sow chaos as part of a foreign-hatched conspiracy.

"These crimes will not deter members of the internal security forces from carrying out their sacred duty to confront these groups and establish a climate of safety and security," the interior minister stressed.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Iff the ARAB LEAGUE = Muslim Govts-States desire to form a so-called ISLAMIC UNION + MEDITERRANEAN UNION, etc. where among other the US-NATO are no longer required to take the lead in UN-approved, Military-led "police actions" or
"peacekeeping", etc. vee "rogue" Muslim Regimes, then SYRIA IS THEIR CHANCE = THEIR BABY!

Ditto Somalia + Nigeria [Lebanon?], etc. to come.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/29/2012 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "Syria is surprised by and regrets the decision taken by (Arab League chief Nabil) al-Arabi to suspend the observer mission after having decided (last week) to extend it for a month," state news agency SANA said on its website.

"Leaving so soon? Do svidaniya! Ma`a as-salaamah! I shed copious tears at your departure!"
Posted by: Pappy || 01/29/2012 15:21 Comments || Top||


Fatah al-Islam prison break thwarted
[An Nahar] Internal Security forces thwarted an escape attempt this week by Fatah al-Islam
A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Leb pot stirred.
inmates in Roumieh prison, according to media reports on Saturday.

Prisoners tried to escape from Roumieh prison Bloc B through a hole they dug in one of the cells, which apparently leads to an abandoned factory nearby, shut down after fire broke out in it two years ago.

According to MTV, a prison guard was alerted by the sounds the inmates were making.

He informed the security forces and the plan was foiled.

The channel added that the hole was 40 centimeters in width; however, the inmates needed 20 more centimeters to be able to complete their break out attempt.

In August, five inmates, including Fatah al-Islam terrorist network members, beat feet the prison by scaling down the building's walls with bed sheets before mixing with visiting relatives and walking out of the compound with them.

Fatah Al-Islam battled the Lebanese army two years ago in the Paleostinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in northern Leb.

Roumieh, the oldest and largest of Leb's overcrowded prisons, has witnessed sporadic prison breaks in recent years and escalating riots over the past months as inmates living in poor conditions demand better treatment.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Fatah al-Islam


Rifi: Assassination Attempt Was Targeting Hassan
[An Nahar] Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi confirmed on Saturday reports of a foiled liquidation attempt against security officials, reported Voice of Leb radio.

He revealed that head of the ISF's Information Branch Col. Wissam al-Hassan was the target of the foiled attempt. He did not provide further details on the manner in which the liquidation was going to be executed, saying that the appropriate measures have been taken to tackle the situation.

A plan to assassinate Rifi and Hassan was discovered, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday. Security information obtained by the daily revealed that the Bureau received information of a possible liquidation attempt from two sources, which confirmed the credibility of the reports and prompted the security forces to deal firmly with the matter.

The liquidation was most likely going to be executed through a car boom near the ISF headquarters in Ashrafiyeh, said the daily. It added that there was a higher possibility that Hassan, not Rifi, was going to be targeted.

Al-Liwaa reported on Saturday that "very credible" foreign and internal sources revealed the liquidation plot against Rifi or Hassan. It also said that "due to logistic and political reasons," the Intelligence Bureau chief was the likely target.

Furthermore, it revealed that the liquidation attempt was in its preparation phase.

President Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
, Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel were all informed of the attempt, said the newspaper.

In addition, it did not rule out the possibility that political figures may have been targets in the liquidation.

This is not the first time the media has reported an alleged plot to murder a security official in Leb.

Not long ago, Al-Manar television spoke of a plot to assassinate General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.

Captain Wissam Eid, a top communications analyst with the ISF Intelligence Bureau, was assassinated in a January 25, 2008 car booming outside Beirut.

On December 12, 2007, Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj, chief of the army operations directorate, was killed in a car kaboom in Baabda, along with three other people.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Gulf States, Turkey Urge Syria to Accept Arab League Plan
[An Nahar] The Gulf Arab states and Turkey, which have spearheaded regional condemnation of the Syrian regime for its deadly crackdown, urged Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
Saturday to accept an Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
plan to stop the bloodshed "without delay."

The Arab plan, which envisages Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
transferring power to his deputy and the formation of a national unity government within two months, has been rejected by Syria.

The foreign ministers of the six Gulf Arab states and Turkey, in a final declaration, said no significant progress was made on the vaporous Arab League peace plan "mostly due to the intransigent attitude displayed by the Syrian administration."

The ministers "strongly urged the Syrian administration to fulfill without delay all of its commitments and obligations under the Arab League peace initiative."

Soddy Arabia is the largest member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and other members include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

"We hope Syria seriously evaluates the decisions of the Arab League, puts an end to repression against its people and start a reform process in line with the demands of the people," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said after the meeting.

Turkey, once a close ally of Syria, has been at the forefront of international criticism over the Damascus regime's crackdown on protests and has also become a haven for Syrian opposition activists.

The Istanbul meeting comes amid a new Arab and European quest to secure U.N. action over Syria's crackdown, which is opposed by Russia.

The U.N. Security Council has been deadlocked for months on Syria. Russia and China vetoed a previous European resolution in October, accusing the West of seeking regime change.

In the final declaration, the ministers also agreed that international efforts should be focused on bringing the bloodshed in Syria to an "immediate end" and paving the way for the initiation of a political transition process in line with "legitimate demands of the people."

International pressure on the Syrian regime has been mounting, as more than 5,400 people have been killed since anti-government protests broke out last March, according to U.N. figures.

GCC Secretary-General Abdul Latif Al Zayani will travel to Brussels on Monday for talks with NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen. On Tuesday, he will meet with the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Arabs suspend Syria observer mission
[Pak Daily Times] The Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
suspended its controversial observer mission in Syria on Saturday as the bloodshed in a crackdown on anti-regime protests spiked with the corpse count nearing 200 in four days. The announcement came as umbrella opposition group the Syrian National Council (SNC) said its leader would travel to New York to press the UN Security Council for protection from Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
regime.

SNC chief Burhan Ghaliun's trip comes amid a new bid by Arab and European states for UN action over the more than 10-month-old deadly crackdown on dissent that has hit immediate opposition from staunch Syria ally Russia.

It also comes as Gulf states and Turkey called in Istanbul for global efforts to focus on bringing the bloodshed to an "immediate end" and paving the way for the initiation of a political transition. Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said, "The decision to suspend the observer mission was taken after a series of consultations with Arab foreign ministers because of the upsurge of violence whose victims are innocent civilians."

He said it also came "after the Syrian government chose the option of escalation, which increased the number of victims". The 165 Arab League observers were deployed on December 26 after Syria agreed to a league plan foreseeing a halt to the violence, prisoners freed, tanks withdrawn from built-up areas and free movement of observers and foreign media.

The head of the monitoring mission, General Muhammad Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, said unrest has soared "in a significant way", especially in the flashpoint central cities of Homs and Hama and in the northern Idlib region. According to a tally by AFP taken from reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and official Syrian media, 193 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since Tuesday.

"The SNC, meanwhile, has decided to head to the Security Council tomorrow, led by Burhan Ghaliun, to present the Syrian case and demand protection," executive committee member Samir Neshar told an Istanbul news conference.
Posted by: Fred || 01/29/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  "Global effort" = UN-approved, US-NATO-led milaction [e.g. Libyuh-style NFZS]; or pro-ISLAMIC UNION, "Arab League for Arabs" AL-led milaction agz Assad???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/29/2012 22:23 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Debka: Argentina nabs Iranian-Hizballah cell, aborts attack
Argentina has captured a three-man Iranian-Hizballah cell and is hunting for the rest of the network, according to exclusive DEBKAfile sources. Its counter-terror police were a step ahead of attacks plotted against several of the 10 Habad centers in the country, part of a worldwide joint terrorist offensive against Israeli and Jewish targets. Two strikes were thwarted earlier this month in Thailand and Azerbaijan.

The three-man cell was captured in the Argentine resort town of San Carlos de Bariloche, 1,680 kilometers from Buenos Aires, a favorite starting-point for Israeli backpackers touring Patagonia and the Andes. The town is situated on the banks of Lake Naheil Huapi, a major tourist attraction of the Rio Negro district which is famous for its beauty.

Argentina's anti-terrorist Federal Special Operations Group, known as T4, waylaid the three faceless myrmidons on tips from US and Israeli intelligence. In their possession were incriminating documents and maps.
Reported on January 24, 2012 by DEBKAfile:
Azerbaijanfoils Iranian-Hizballah terror strike against Israel targets and Habad

A Hizballah cell backed by intelligence from Tehran and external Iranian terror cells in Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia, was captured in Baku on Jan. 19 by Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry (MNS) officers as it was about to launch a series of attacks on the Israeli embassy,  Chief Rabbi Shneor Segal and Rabbi Mati Lewis at the Habad center and visiting Israel personages.

DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources disclose that two of the Hizballah cell members live permanently in Baku. The third, who resides in Tehran, was recruited by Iranian intelligence to lead the Hizballah operation, which was the first joint Iranian-Hizballah terrorist attack ever discovered.

In its sights too were the former Israeli chief of staff Gaby Ashkenazi who was due to visit to the Azerbaijan capital and several local high officials who work with the United States and Israel. They were suspected by Tehran of helping the US and Israel set up an attack on Iran from Azerbaijan.

The two Habad figures are Israeli-born heads of the Jewish community in Baku and the Ohr Avner Chabad Jewish Day School.

The cell was rounded up just weeks after a Hizballah terrorist strike against the local Habad center was preempted in Bangkok, thanks to Thai-Israeli counter-terror cooperation. There, Hizballah had intended to take hostages and blow up the Habad headquarters, aping al Qaeda's 2009 outrage in Mumbai.

Our sources can identify the Hizballah terror cell's Baku chief as an Iranian Azeri by the name of Balaqardash Dadashov and the two local operatives as Rasim Aliyev and Ali Huseynov. Found in their possession were guns and explosives said to have been delivered to them by smugglers from Iran, although DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources say they entered Azerbaijan from Armenia.

The operation leader Balaqardash arrived from Tehran with a file full of photos of the targeted Israeli figures, plans of the buildings to be attacked, and maps as well as $9,300 to cover the costs of the preparations. Each of the snuffies was promised a fee of $150,000.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/29/2012 08:56 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  busy little terrorists, aren't they?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/29/2012 9:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Busy little captured terrorists, Frank. The Thais must've got a cell phone from the one they captured...or Mossad and/or the CIA was/were already tracking them via the Labanese phone system.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/29/2012 14:43 Comments || Top||

#3  I think Iran might have made a tactical boo-boo by announcing that it was sending teams to attack Israeli and US targets around the world. That is, there are only a limited number of ways of getting from there to here.

Also, as is common practice, intelligence agencies pay premium dollars for personnel rosters of such organizations as al-Quds.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/29/2012 16:37 Comments || Top||

#4  No Debka salt?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/29/2012 17:00 Comments || Top||

#5  ION NOT IRAN-HIZBALLAH, WORLD NEWS >SENIOR UK MILITRAY OFFICAL SAYS BRITAIN FACES "IMPOSSIBLE" BATTLE IFF ARGENTINA [successfully] INVADES FALKLANDS [again].

> No Harriers.
> No heavy = fixed-wing Aircraft Carriers [STOBAR] - Helo Carriers potency not enuff.
> Army at smallest size since Napoleonic era.

Despite much-improved island defenses since the 1980's conflict, UK is screwed big time iff the Argies ever break through, UK may not even be able to recover the Falklands iff-n-when they are ever lost???

[ONCE AGAIN, HUGO "THE US HAS EARTHQUAKE BOMBS" CHAVEZ here].

Falklands for UK = [future]GUAM-MICRONESIA, OTHER PACIFIC ISLES for USA???

* SAME > [Belfast Telegraph] > SPLIT FALKLANDS TO RPEVENT ANY MORE CONFLICT.

Ditto the ditto.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/29/2012 21:43 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2012-01-29
  Nigerian military kills 11 militants in northeast
Sat 2012-01-28
  UN loses count on Syria killings
Fri 2012-01-27
  Sectarian clashes kill at least 22 in Yemen
Thu 2012-01-26
  Woman Dead as Bombs, Bullets Rain on Nigeria Police Station
Wed 2012-01-25
  SEALS Spring Two, Bag Nine
Tue 2012-01-24
  EU imposes sanctions on Iran oil
Mon 2012-01-23
  U.S. aircraft carrier goes through Strait of Hormuz without incident
Sun 2012-01-22
  Syrian Forces Kill More than 50 Civilian as Dissidents Clash with Troops
Sat 2012-01-21
  Terror attacks in Kano, Nigeria, kill at least 162
Fri 2012-01-20
  Aslam Awan of Abbottabad Dronezapped
Thu 2012-01-19
  Bangladesh army says plot to topple government foiled
Wed 2012-01-18
  Syria 'absolutely rejects' calls for Arab troops
Tue 2012-01-17
  Kenyan jets bomb Al-Shabaab bases
Mon 2012-01-16
  Kenya Arrests 29 Ugandans 'Headed to Somalia to Fight'
Sun 2012-01-15
  3 men in US terror ring get 15-45 years in prison


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