#2
She's obviously been pouring over that Colt 1911 Field Manual on the table left over from yesterday's discussion. A Russian bride with an interest in 1911's, could there possibly be more ?
MARKA, Somalia -- Heavy fighting erupted in Gobale vicinity of Lower Shabelle region between the loyalists of Al Shabaab chief Ahmed Godane and former Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Mukhtar Robow (Abu Mansur) on Saturday, Garowe Online reports. Local reports say that the fighting lasted for nearly "seven hours" with Robow loyalists gaining the upper hand.
"The battle began Saturday's afternoon and stopped at midnight, Militants loyal to Robow are now controlling the area and the local communities fled here," said an eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being killed.
"Many militants including two foreigners died in the battle and one of the foreigners seemed as battle commander," he added.
As dissension and splitting continue to spread within Al Shabaab ranks, in an audio recording provided to Somali media last week, Ahmed Godane, Al Shabaab chief, said an enemy wants to split 'Mujahedeen" lines and I warn those figures not to encourage the group's division.
Sheikh Robow is one of senior Al Shabaab members who accused Godane of straying from the path of Jihad and following an attempt to arrest him by Godane militants months ago; he escaped from Ramo Adey village of Bay region where he had bases.
Al Shabaab militants loyal to Ahmed Godane previously executed Godane's deputy Ibrahim Haji Jama (Micad) and Abdihamid Hashi Olhaye (Moallim Burhan) in Barawe, a coastal town in Lower Shabelle region.
The growing violent dispute within Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab group also resulted to be detained one of their prominent officials, Hassan Dahir Aweys who had been serving in different administrative capacities by the Somali Federal Government after he fled to his native region of Galgudud in late June 2013.
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08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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We are now proposing to give cabinet positions to the Brüderbünd. Any question which side Champ is on?
UAE foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed, his Qatari counterpart Khalid Al-Attiyah, and US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns were scheduled to visit the Muslim Brotherhood's second-man Khairat El-Shatar in Tora Prison on Sunday night, government sources told Ahram Online. The trilateral delegation had aimed to present the Islamist leader with an initiative to at break the political deadlock and circle of violence that engulfed the country since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi.
The deal also proposes the formation of a new cabinet, which would include three ministers from the Muslim Brotherhood in addition to two Salafist ministers.
However, El-Shater, who has been detained on charges of inciting to kill protesters since 6 July, has refused to meet with the US, UAE, and Qatari officials to discuss the deal, Al Jazeera TV reported.
"Mohamed Morsi is the legitimate president of Egypt. They should go talk to Morsi," declared El-Shater according to the Qatari based network.
Meanwhile, Egypt's interior ministry said late on Sunday that no delegation from the United States or the European Union visited El-Shater in prison.
Ahram Online has learned that the trio's deal calls for the replacement of Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi, who Morsi supporters harshly criticise and accuse of bias, with a premier that is viewed as more independent and objective.
Like one of their own...
However, no specific figure was offered as El-Beblawi's potential successor.
The deal also proposes the formation of a new cabinet, which would include three ministers from the Muslim Brotherhood in addition to two Salafist ministers. The incumbent government does not include any Islamist figures, as the Brotherhood and other Islamist forces have refused participation in protest of Morsi's ouster.
Furthermore, the deal entails a Brotherhood-orchestrated dispersal of the pro-Morsi sit-ins held in Cairo. Tens of thousands of Morsi loyalists are maintaining three sit-ins; one near Nasr City's Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque, a second in Giza's Nahda Square, and a third in Heliopolis' Alf Maskan area.
The trio proposes that the 2012 constitution, which was frozen as part of the armed forces' political roadmap, be amended as planned, with Islamists included in the 50-man committee tasked with drafting the amendments. Islamist figures would also participate in drafting the law regulating the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Should the deal be accepted by all sides, the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928, would not be disbanded. The law regulating political parties would not exclude religious parties, such as the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party or the Salafist Nour Party.
The deal guarantees that charges leveled against a number of Islamist figures "will not be politicised," and be subject instead to independent investigation by the judiciary.
Ahram Online has learned that the proposal was discussed with Egypt's interim Vice President for foreign affairs Mohamed ElBaradei and is negotiable.
The UAE and US officials have rescheduled their itinerary in order to leave on Monday, extending their stay by one day. The Qatari minister, who was also scheduled to leave on Sunday, has yet to set a date for his departure.
Qatar has been a strong backer of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, granting Egypt some $7 billion in aid during his year in power. Conversely, the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have welcomed the army's ouster of Morsi.
Western and Arab states, unsettled by the deepening turmoil in the Arab world's most populous state, have been working to mediate between Egypt's interim administration and allies of the toppled president.
Burns, along with European Union envoy Bernadino Leon, met with army chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Sunday, according to an army statement that did not comment further. The representatives sat earlier with government officials and Morsi allies.
US President Barack Obama has also asked two senators to travel to Egypt "soon" to hold talks with the interim government and the opposition.
In a meeting with US and EU envoys on Saturday, a spokesman from a pro-Morsi delegation said they are open to solutions but expressed rejection of any involvement of El-Sisi in a potential agreement. Morsi's supporters also demanded a pony the restoration of the 2012 constitution.
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08/05/2013 14:32 ||
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#1
President Obullshit should shut up and mind his own business.
He is proving himself to be an apologist for Islamic extremists; our enemies.
Were they dead before or after the mausoleums were destroyed?
[Al Ahram] Two mausoleums in North and central Sinai were bombed by unknown assailants late on Sunday, state news agency MENA reported, as militant attacks continue to rock the lawless Sinai Peninsula.
Bombs detonated at the sites of two separate shrines, one in the village of Rawda on the international freeway in northern Sinai and the second in Al-Hasna district in the center of the Peninsula, wrecking the domes and walls of both buildings, MENA added.
No deaths or injuries have been reported.
In May 2011, the Sheikh Zuwaid shrine in the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuwaid was blown-up in the same manner.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Tunisian police rubbed out an Islamist myrmidon in Tunis and two soldiers were killed in a blast near the Algerian border on Sunday, as the government grappled with growing security and political crises.
There has been a surge in Islamist myrmidon attacks over the past two weeks in the North African country, and on Friday security forces launched heavy air and artillery strikes on myrmidon hideouts in the Mount Chaambi area near the Algerian border.
At the same time, the secular opposition, angered by the liquidation of two of its leading members and emboldened by Egypt's army-backed ousting of its elected Islamist president, is seeking to topple its own moderate Islamist-led government.
Tens of thousands of Tunisians came out in a show of force for the ruling Ennahda party on Saturday. The opposition has pledged to rally even more supporters in its own demonstration later on Sunday.
Two soldiers were killed and six others were maimed by a landmine that hit their tank as they combed an area in Mount Chaambi, where faceless myrmidons killed eight soldiers last week in the deadliest attack on Tunisian forces in decades.
In the capital Tunis, Interior Ministry official Lotfi Hidouri said police raided a house where faceless myrmidons were hiding weapons in the Kabaria district. "The police potted a terrorist and tossed in the slammer You have the right to remain silent... five others," he said.
Witnesses said police also arrested several hardline Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... suspected of ties to myrmidon groups in the town of Sbitla, north of the capital.
One witness said dozens of Salafists then gathered at the police headquarters in Sbitla to protest against the arrests and that the police had gun sex to disperse them.
Over the past week, a roadside bomb and a boom-mobile have targeted security forces in Tunis, the first such attacks to hit the capital. No one was hurt.
ARAB SPRING MODEL
Also on Sunday, a Salafist myrmidon fired on police who tried to stop his car as he drove near the southeastern town of Ben Guerden, near the Libyan border, state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported.
The channel said weapons were found inside the vehicle and the man was believed to be one of a large group of prisoners granted amnesty by a previous transition government in the days after autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted.
Once considered a model among fledgling "Arab Spring" democracies, Tunisia is facing its worst crisis since protesters toppled Ben Ali and sparked a wave of revolts across the region.
The opposition has accused Ennahda of being linked to or tolerating Islamist myrmidon attacks. The party denies that and has stepped up recent efforts to crack down. It denounced recent attacks as terrorism.
Demonstrations swept Tunisia after the liquidation of Mohamed Brahmi, a member of the Arab nationalist Popular Front party, on July 25. The killing followed the liquidation of party leader Chokri Belaid in February.
Prime Minister Ali Larayedh told journalists on Sunday a man suspected of ties to the Belaid liquidation was captured by security forces. He called on faceless myrmidons to turn themselves in.
"I call on the Death Eaters being hunted by security forces to turn themselves in. There is no future in terrorism," he said, speaking outside the Interior Ministry, where he had been meeting officials.
The air and artillery strikes by security forces in the Mount Chaambi area were launched after the deadly attack on soldiers.
State Tataouin radio and other local media reported on Sunday that Tunisian forces had killed 10 faceless myrmidons in Chaambi and arrested three others.
No security officials were willing to comment.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of Tunisians crowded into the Kasbah Square in a show of force for the Ennahda-led government.
"No to coups, yes to elections!" they shouted, in one of the biggest demonstrations since the 2011 revolt.
The opposition is planning a mass protest on Wednesday to mark the six-month anniversary of Belaid's liquidation.
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08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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Tunisian police shot dead a militant in Tunis and arrested several suspected militants on Sunday, an official and witnesses said, as the government grapples with growing security and political crises.
Interior ministry official Lotfi Hidouri said the shooting on Sunday took place when police raided a house where militants were hiding weapons in the Kabaria district of Tunis. The police killed a terrorist and arrested five others, he said.
Witnesses said police also arrested several hardline Salafists suspected of ties with militant groups, in the town of Sbitla, north of the capital.
One witness said dozens of Salafists then gathered at the police headquarters in Sbitla to protest against the arrests and that the police fired in the air to disperse them.
Over the past week, a roadside explosive device and a car bomb have targeted security forces in Tunis, the first such attacks to hit the capital. No one was hurt.
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08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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[THESTATE] Security officials say suspected al-Qaida gunmen have killed a military intelligence official in central Yemen.
Officials say Lt. Col. Mohammed el-Mamari was shot on his way home Sunday. He was walking to his car after work when two unidentified gunmen killed him in the central province of Bayda. The officials spoke anonymously in line with regulations.
Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen is active in Bayda. The U.S. is believed to have carried out drone strikes on militants there.
Separately, hundreds of supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh burnt tires along a main road in the capital Sanaa on Sunday to protest his successor, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. That idea probably makes more sense in the original Arabic. Like the Koran.
The protests come after clashes erupted on Friday when a group of soldiers loyal to Saleh tried to storm the presidential palace.
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08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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After car bomb blasts at a mosque and then a mall in less than a month, a public park was the latest target of a similar attack in Bahrain on Saturday. The car bomb in Budaiya area exploded near the fence of a park frequented by families and children. Fortunately, there were no casualties in Saturdays blast as the explosion occurred during the time of Iftar when the garden was devoid of people.
On July 10 a car exploded near a mosque as worshippers offered Taraweeh prayer and last weeks car blast occurred next to City Centre Shopping Mall in Seef district.
The spokesperson of the Northern Governorate Police said on Saturday that the bomb was fuelled by a gas cylinder. He said police rushed to the scene immediately after receiving a call about the explosion at 6:24pm. Initial investigation showed that two gas cylinders had been placed in the pick-up vehicle but only one of them exploded.
The investigation will continue in order to identify and arrest the suspects and bring them to justice, he said.
Bahrain has been witnessing escalation of violence since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan with calls for protests on August 14.
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08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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For a map, click here. For a map of Zacatacas state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Zacatecas governor Miguel Alonso Reyes told the press Sunday that stories of 46 dead criminal suspects over the previous three days were false, according to Mexican news accounts.
Press reports primarily from Mexican leftist press say that a total of 46 armed suspects had been killed in Zacataceas state since last Thursday, primarily between Los Zetas and Gulf Cartel shooters.
A news account which appeared on the website of La Jornada news daily said that there were a number of clashes between armed gangs in Zacatecas, the largest taking place Thursday night on a road between Valparaiso and Fresnillo municipalities.
In the gunfight, a Gulf Cartel group ran into a 14 vehicle convoy with 80 Los Zetas shooters aboard. According to the report a total of 38 died in the shootout.
Other encounters were said to have taken place as well. A second smaller gun fight took place late Friday night and went into early Saturday morning in Jerez municipality. Eight dead were reported in that gunfight and another five were kidnapped. The report also made mention of the Los Zetas practice of clearing a battle zone of their dead and wounded as a security measure, which tracks actual cartel tactics.
The reported source of the news was an anonymous source within the headquarters of the Mexican 11th Military Zone based in Guadalupe municipality. The news report said that "higher ups" had ordered news of the shootings and shootout be suppressed. The reason is that a folklore festival was in its last days, and presumably such news would scare away tourists.
According to a news report which appeared in lasnoticiasya.com news daily, Governor Alonso Reyes told the press Sunday that not only did the information released not "fit reality", he said the incidents simply did not happen.
Local Mexican press, until the return of the Partido Revoluinario Institucional (PRI) to national power late last year, have been diligent in reporting such encounters. However, new Mexican federal information policy, mimicked in some form by agreement from private press owners, will not only slow walk information for release, some information will not be released at all.
Even so, new Mexican information policy has been to compile the statistics of crime without reporting on such incidents as shootouts, fulfilling transparency requirements imposed by law since 2000.
According to the La Jornada report other encounters have taken place in Panuco, and Guadalupe municipalities, but no casualty figures have been reported.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com.
For a map, click here. For a map of Durango state, click here.
A total of three unidentified individuals have been killed in an armed confrontation in the mountains of western Durango, according to several Mexican news reports.
According to data supplied in a news account which appeared in the online edition of El Siglo de Durango, the shootout took place in Otaez municipality Saturday.
According to the account, a road patrol detachment of the Mexican 10th Military Zone encountered a group of armed suspects at a location between the villages of Macho Bayo and Huajupa, and attempted to stop them. Instead the unit was fired on, forcing return fire by soldiers.
Two armed suspects were killed. They were identified as Jesus Andres Nuñez Sarabia, 26, and Juan Francisco Núñez Ortiz, 18. Presumably more suspects were at the scene but escaped.
The soldier who was killed in the encounter was not identified in any of the news accounts. It is said he was 28 years old.
Separately, according to statistics compiled by editorial personnel of El Siglo de Durango, to date 21 security personnel from local, state and federal agencies have died since January. A total of 16 were murdered, with the rest involved in accidents. The total killed in all of 2012 was 54, of which nine were accidents.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
NORFOLK -- Three Somali men were sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of release on charges they hijacked a sailboat in 2011 off the coast of Africa and killed the four Americans they found on board. It took a federal jury about 8 1/2 hours of deliberation to reach the decision and reject the pleas of prosecutors to sentence the men to death.
Pity, but it would have become a circus...
"What everyone should be thinking about today is the victims' families," Lawrence Woodward Jr., one of seven defense attorneys involved in the case, said outside the courtroom. While acknowledging he was "professionally gratified" by the jury's decision, Woodward stressed "our hearts go out to the families."
Reached by phone in California, the sister of one of the victims lamented the jury did not see fit to sentence the three men to death.
"I don't know how they can shoot someone with an AK-47 and not get the death penalty," Cynthia Macay said through tears. "They almost will have a better life in prison than in Somalia."
Good point...
Ahmed Muse Salad, Abukar Osman Beyle and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar were convicted July 8 in U.S. District Court of 26 crimes -- 22 of which were punishable by death.
The charges stemmed from the deaths of four Americans on Feb. 22, 2011, on a 58-foot yacht named Quest. The victims were Scott and Jean Adam, a California couple who owned the boat, and Phyllis Patricia Macay and Robert Riggle, both of Seattle, who had joined them on the voyage.
FBI agents, Navy officials, and convicted pirates who were involved in the fatal hijacking testified during the trial. According to prosecutors and court records, the Adams and their friends were asleep at sea Feb. 18 when 19 men boarded the yacht armed with assault rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. They took control and began to sail for Somalia, where they intended to conduct ransom negotiations.
The hijackers never made it to shore, however, and four days of negotiations at sea with Navy officials failed.
Prosecutors said one of the pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the American guided missile destroyer Sterett. Shortly thereafter, Salad, Beyle and Abrar opened fire on the hostages.
Next time, Navy, don't take prisoners...
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08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Police on Friday conducted search operations in the federal capital along with contingents of Pakistain Air Force and Pakistain Navy in the vicinity of Margalla hills.
They maintained high alert in the city to ensure foolproof security.
"Policemen were assigned the task of combing the nearby areas of Margalla Hills where search operations were conducted," a police front man said.
The heads of all cop shoppes were also directed to maintain high vigilance in their respective areas where they screened houses, workshops, markets, under construction buildings and residential areas.
Following the directions of SSP Islamabad Muhammad Rizwan, coppers in the form of teams conducted search operations in the vicinity of Margalla Hills.
Search operations were was also conducted in slum areas, inns, hotels, restaurants and Afghan habitats.
These measures are being taken to ensure foolproof security and keep a vigilant eye on suspicious elements.
The police front man maintained the search operation would continue in the coming days.
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08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Iraqi security forces hunted for faceless myrmidons and weapons in the Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... area on Sunday, while attacks killed six people, including three soldiers and a judge, officials said.
Iraqi authorities are struggling to contain the worst violence to hit the country in five years. About one thousand people died in attacks last month.
The defence ministry said security forces locked away Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! 32 people wanted under an anti-terrorism law and tossed in the slammer Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! a further 141 suspects over a period of 24 hours, during operation "Avenge the Martyrs" in areas north and west of Storied Baghdad.
They also destroyed three "terrorist hideouts" and seized a boom-mobile factory, weapons, ammunition and explosives, a ministry statement said, adding that similar operations were conducted in other areas.
But more deadly attacks, which security forces have so far failed to stem, struck on Sunday.
In the northern province of Nineveh, a roadside kaboomwent kaboom! near an army patrol, killing three soldiers. The blast, about 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of the placid provincial capitaldjinn-infested Mosul, also maimed four soldiers.
And another bombing targeted a police patrol further south, wounding three coppers.
In Tikrit, north of Storied Baghdad, a boom-mobilewent kaboom! near a judge's house, killing him and severely wounding his wife, while another blast in the Iraqi capital itself killed one person and maimed five.
And gunnies killed a man and maimed his son west of the northern city of Kirkuk.
The attacks came a day after violence in Iraq killed 24 people, including nine soldiers.
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08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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Things continue to go poorly in Iraq since our departure. No one yet in the MSM, at the U.N. or in Washington has made the connection...
Baghdad, Asharq Al-AwsatIraqi security forces have been put on maximum alert in expectation of terror attacks during the end of Eid festival celebrating the end of Ramadan at the end of this week.
A number of attacks have already claimed the lives of several Iraqi civilians on Saturday. A colonel in the Ministry of Interior, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one person was killed and five were injured as a result of an explosion of an improvised device on the roadside near a shopping center in the Amel district, western Baghdad.
He added that two more people were killed and five injured in another explosion in the Abu-Dasheer district of Al-Doura area, southwestern Baghdad. A medic at Baghdads Yarmouk Hospital confirmed the number of casualties, adding that there was a woman among the injured.
Lieutenant Khalis Al-Khalidi, at the Mosul Police Department (almost 220 miles north of Baghdad) said unknown armed men killed two guards from the judges protection unit when they attacked their car at the Hamam Al-Alil neighborhood, about 20 miles south of the city.
In another attack, a police officer was killed in an armed attack on a checkpoint in the Al-Salamiyah district (18 miles southeast of Mosul), according to security and medical sources. And in Baaqoubah (almost 40 miles northeast of Baghdad), a source from the Awakening Forces, speaking on condition of anonymity, said unidentified gunmen killed three women, a mother and her two daughters, inside their home in the Bahraz area, on the southern side of the town.
A senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said unknown assailants killed two brothers from the Awakening Forces, near their home in Mahoulah district, north of Baaqoubah. He added that One person was killed and two members of his family were injured in an explosion near their home in Al-Amin district, in the center of Baaqoubah.
In another incident, an attack in Tikrit killed a man and his 11 year-old daughter in an explosion near Al-Shuhadaa Mosque, in the center of the city, according to an unnamed Tikrit police officer.
The month of July has claimed the lives of around 1,000 people in Iraq, the highest number of victims of violent incidents since April 2008.
In another development, there are conflicting report about the numbers of car bombs which may have made their way into Baghdad, or may be prepared to sent to Baghdad, with the approach of the end of Ramadan.
The security forces have raised the alert level to Level-C, which is the highest level in the Iraqi army and the internal security forces. While some information said some 100 car bombs had arrived in Baghdad, security forces said they received intelligence about terror groups intentions to carry out attacks on civilians and security forces during the Eid festival.
He added that there were fears that the prisoners who had escaped from Al-Taji and Abu Ghraib prisons recently would carry out revenge missions. The sources also added that the Iraqi army is on maximum alert and is still looking for the escaped prisoners.
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08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Syrian rebels battled forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... in the Jabal Akrad mountains overlooking the Mediterranean on Sunday and a monitoring group said at least 30 people were killed.
Video footage showed fighters identified as members of an al Qaeda-linked Islamist brigade waving from the roof of an army tower in the village of Barouda, one of several Alawite villages attacked by the rebels on Sunday.
The mainly Sunni Mohammedan rebels are battling to overthrow Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, in a civil war which erupted two years ago when mainly peaceful protests against his rule were put down with force.
Assad, with support from Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, has gained ground in recent months from the rebel fighters who are backed by regional Sunni Mohammedan powers but remain largely outgunned by his army.
The anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 rebels and 19 pro-Assad fighters - including soldiers and members of his militia known as the National Defence Army - were killed in Sunday's fighting in the mountains of east Latakia province.
A source in Latakia said the fighting started at dawn and that the rebels, based in the town of Salma, attacked 10 Alawite villages.
Ambulance sirens, punctuated by the sound of bombardment and government air raids on Salma, could be heard throughout the day, he said.
Further south, in Homs, the army launched artillery fire on remaining rebel-held areas of the city, a week after capturing the rebel district of Khaldiya - its latest victory after gains around Damascus and in the Lebanese border region near Homs.
Rebels say they need more foreign military support to reverse their military setbacks, arguing that Assad's military backing from Iran and Hezbollah has turned the tide of the war.
Syrian state media said on Sunday that Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani told Damascus that ties would remain strong.
Rouhani "stressed the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran's determination to strengthen its relations with Syria and stand together in the face of all challenges," SANA news agency said.
"No power in the world can destabilise or undermine the deep-rooted, historic and strategic relations between the two friendly peoples and countries," it quoted him as telling Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halki during his visit to Tehran to attend Rouhani's swearing-in ceremony.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
If the rebels take the coast and link up with the Sunnis in N Lebanon, its game over for Assad. Although Jabal Akrad is a kurdish region.
Nine displaced Syrian nationals have were killed Saturday in a airstrike near the Arsal border region in the Bekaa valley, according to reports. A further nine were injured during the attacks and are being treated at the General Hospital and other medical facilities in Baalbek, the Lebanese National News Agency reported.
There were conflicting reports as to whether the airstrikes took place on Lebanese or Syrian territory. The Hezbollah-run news outlet Al-Manar said that any such attacks had taken place on Syrian soil, claiming, Nine dead and 10 wounded were transferred from Syria to Lebanon.
The mayor of Arsal, Ali Al-Hajiry, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Syrian Air Force had carried out two raids. The first had targeted Khubra Dawud, a village to the east of Arsal. The second, Hajiry says, took place in Jardiyahpart of the Arsal municipalitykilling six displaced Syrians.
A Lebanese security official, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to avoid being killed, told that the airstrike had been targeting a Syrian border town under rebel control. Yabroud, in the countryside around Damascus, is roughly 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the Lebanese border and 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Lebanese town of Arsal.
Syrian warplanes have targeted Lebanese territory before. When four missilesfired by two Syrian jetsstruck Arsal last September, Lebanese president Michel Suleiman ordered an investigation into the incident.
Arsalboth a village and a municipalityis home to many refugees that have fled from towns and cities in neighboring war-torn Syria. Many are thought to have arrived from Al-Qusayr, where Lebanese Hezbollah militias spearheaded operations against the former rebel stronghold.
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08/05/2013 00:00 ||
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On the day that almost two dozen U.S. embassies and consulates across North Africa and the Middle East are closed following the identification of a significant threat from an al-Qaeda affiliate, a senior U.S. official is providing new details about the communications intercepted from the terrorists, telling ABC News that al-Qaeda operatives could be heard talking about an upcoming attack. The official described the terrorists as saying the planned attack is "going to be big" and "strategically significant."
"The part that is alarming is the confidence they showed while communicating and the air of certainty," the official said, adding that the group -- Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- appeared to have a media plan for after the attack.
Authorities do not know the exact target of the planned attack, according to the official.
The senior U.S. official said there is concern about devices that could be implanted inside the body of a terrorist.
Oooooohhh, anal bombs, like the gentleman's brother who went off prematurely while waiting for the Saudi prince in his palace? How exciting that could be -- not quite flying around like a burst balloon in a children's cartoon.
"We are concerned about surgically implanted devices," they said. "These are guys who have developed the techniques to defeat our detection methods."
The official also said authorities were stunned that the group broke "operational security" -- meaning they talked likely knowing it would be picked up by intercepts.
The question that comes to mind is who will be laughed at should this turn out to be all smoke and no fire -- Al Qaeda for failing yet again to pull off a successful attack, or us for overreacting to a threat from the diminished Al Qaeda.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/05/2013 14:30 ||
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#1
anal bombs? The line of volunteers...allan is pleased
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/05/2013 20:35 Comments ||
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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.
MARKA, Somalia -- Heavy fighting erupted in Gobale vicinity of Lower Shabelle region between the loyalists of Al Shabaab chief Ahmed Godane and former Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Mukhtar Robow (Abu Mansur) on Saturday, Garowe Online reports. Local reports say that the fighting lasted for nearly "seven hours" with Robow loyalists gaining the upper hand.
[Al Ahram] Tunisian police 
NORFOLK -- Three Somali men were sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of release on charges they hijacked a sailboat in 2011 off the coast of Africa and killed the four Americans they found on board. It took a federal jury about 8 1/2 hours of deliberation to reach the decision and reject the pleas of prosecutors to sentence the men to death.
[Dawn] Police on Friday conducted search operations in the federal capital along with contingents of Pakistain Air Force and Pakistain Navy in the vicinity of Margalla hills.
[Al Ahram] Iraqi security forces hunted for 
[Al Ahram] Syrian rebels battled forces loyal to 
