[Tolo News] A woman in the province of Nuristan killed four Taliban members on Friday before being killed herself along with her toddler.
Abdul Baqi Nuristani, police commander in Nuristan, confirmed that the woman, whose name is Uzra, in fact killed four Taliban while defending herself and her toddler in the district of Barg Metal.
Nuristani said Uzra took up arms when a member of her family was killed by the Taliban. He said she fought with the murderous Moslems for over two hours, killing four Talibs.
She was killed later in the battle along with her three-year-old toddler.
The incident is reported to have occurred Friday night.
Barg Metal district borders with Pakistain.
Officials in Nuristan province have said that over 250 Afghan and foreign Taliban targeted military personnel of Barg Metal district on Thursday.
Local residents were also targeted during the attack, killing and wounding a number of people. Reports indicate that 16 members of one family was killed during the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Oppressed women when given a gun and ammo do seem to be more aggressive.
The Minister of National Security for the Somali Federal Government, Khalif Ahmed Ereg, has claimed that the Ministry has seized weapons bound for Al-Shabaab.
Mr. Ereg said after carrying out a strategic and intensive raid on an illegal arms dealers' home in the Buulo Xuubey neighborhood, the government possessed the weapons. The Minister described that the individuals that were providing the Al-Shabaab fighters with those weapons and military uniform are in custody and will be prosecuted.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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At least 10 female street cleaners were killed in an IED bomb explosion that blasted a short while ago near the Carwo in Mogadishu's Hodan district.
The blast of the explosion was heard from several neighbourhoods in the Hodan district and some of the females allegedly collected a garbage sack that had an IED bomb hidden inside. After the garbage sack was slightly touched, the IED bomb blasted and reporters at the scene told Shabelle that almost 10 of the cleaners were killed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Three suspected Shabaab Islamic gunnies were executed by firing squad in Mogadishu on Sunday, Somali police said.
All three had been condemned to death for murder, police chief Abdi Mohammed told AFP, with one of the men allegedly taking part in an assault on the presidential palace last month.
The executions come three days after another Somali MP was assassinated by Shabaab guerrillas in the capital, the fifth this year, as the gunnies step up their attacks in Mogadishu to counter claims that their insurgency is waning.
"Three Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... members including the one who facilitated the last attack on the presidential palace were executed this morning," Mohammed said.
The men were shot in front of a small crowd of military officials and spectators at the police academy in Mogadishu.
Two other Shabaab Lion of Islams, who allegedly confessed to killing a student who worked for an NGO, were publicly executed in the capital on July 15.
The Somali government, which only controls part of the war-ravaged country, executed 15 people in 2013, according to Amnesia Amnesty International, while another 19 people were executed in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... in the northeast.
Human Rights Watch ... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge.... (HRW) has severely criticised the "unequal" way military courts are run, with normal procedures not followed. They claim the tribunals -- which the country's fragile government uses to try Shabaab rebels -- had condemned dozens of people to death last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
The men were shot in front of a small crowd of military officials and spectators at the police academy in Mogadishu.
Did they have concessions? Can't have a good firing squad without peanuts and popcorn... Delicious! Three Shaboobs at room temperature.
[Al Ahram] Clashes between rival militias in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... have killed at least 22 people and maimed 72, the Libyan government said on Sunday, warning of a "worsening humanitarian situation" in the capital.
The latest fighting, which broke out on Saturday, takes the corpse count in Tripoli to 124 since July 13, with more than 500 maimed.
A medical source said the number was understated as official figures excluded those treated in hospitals outside Tripoli, in particular at Misrata, which has sent fighters to the conflict in the capital.
The transitional government said "several hundred" families had been displaced and there was a "worsening humanitarian situation" in Tripoli, where petrol and bottled gas are scarce along with food supplies.
On Sunday the centre of the city was livelier than in recent days despite the continuation of fighting south of Tripoli.
However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... most shops and banks were shut and the sky was covered in black smoke from a petrochemical depot ravaged by a fire resulting from the fighting of the past week.
Tripoli airport has been closed since July 13, and some aircraft damaged, amid festivities between rival militias which fought together in 2011 to help overthrow dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland...
Experts say the unrest is partly a struggle for influence between regions but also rivalry between political factions as the country plunges into chaos, with the authorities failing to control the dozens of militias whose word is law in the absence of a properly structured and trained police force and army.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] A British navy ship was evacuating British nationals from Libya on Sunday, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, with worsening security forcing thousands of people to flee.
The HMS Enterprise, which had been on a Mediterranean deployment, arrived off the capital Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... on Sunday, according to an MoD statement.
"A number of passengers were transferred to Enterprise by boat and given supplies for the journey," it added.
Britannia is also planning to temporarily suspend its embassy operations in the troubled north African country, the Foreign Office (FCO) said. A front man from the FCO said the majority of those being evacuated from Tripoli, believed to be around 100, were British.
Sunday's operation is likely to resemble one conducted in 2011 during the bloody uprising which ousted dictator Moamer Qadaffy, when a Royal Navy ship evacuated foreigners. A launch protected by armed Royal Marines was expected to be sent into Tripoli port to collect the evacuees and ferry them to HMS Enterprise, a 91-metre (297-foot) long survey ship also designed to support amphibious operations.
Michael Aron, Britannia's ambassador in Tripoli, said Friday he had "reluctantly" decided to leave due to the worsening local fighting.
Libya has suffered chronic insecurity since Qadaffy's overthrow, with the new government unable to check militias that helped to remove him and facing a growing threat from Islamist groups. Fighting between the rival militias has forced the closure of Tripoli's international airport, while Islamist groups are battling army special forces in the eastern city of Benghazi.
In the past week, many countries have ordered their citizens to leave and, in some cases, have evacuated them. Between 100 and 300 Britons are thought to be in Libya. Many British consular staff were evacuated last Monday.
"Fighting has intensified in Tripoli, including around the British embassy compounds," a Foreign Office front man said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Certainly not the "You break it, you own it" philosophy of regime change.
[VANGUARDNGR]The delay in freeing the over 200 girls seized from Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State, may have exposed them to radicalisation by their captors, who are now using them for suicide kabooms, a source told Sunday Vanguard at the weekend.
The source spoke about the possibility that the girls had been indoctrinated by the gunnies in the last three months of their captivity, hynotised and sent into various parts of Nigeria and beyond with a view to carrying out deadly missions.
Serial attacks carried out by female bombers in Kano, last week, lent credence to the claim.
The source, who has contacts with the 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... leadership, pointed out that it may be difficult to change radical orientation of the girls, who may now see their malevolent disposition as an act of righteousness.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
...Or the bad guys put cell-phone activated IEDs in their bags or other personal posessions. I understand though that in that part of the world, the mystic explanation tends to be favored over the realistic one.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/04/2014 10:31 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... 's President Paul Biya has sent the army chief to the country's north in a bid to intensify the battle against Nigeria's 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... Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... Death Eaters.
The commander was sent to the volatile area on Sunday, following a series of cross-border attacks and abductions performed by the Death Eaters.
Biya has announced that the government will send more troops and military equipment to the area.
"In the last few weeks, our forces have made important advances against Boko Haram, but it is a long fight," he said on Saturday.
"Because it is an international terrorist movement, we should take action internationally."
Boko Haram has long used northern parts of Cameroon near the Nigerian border as a safe haven for its acts of terror.
The gunnies have conducted a number of assaults and kidnappings in Cameroon, including the abduction of deputy prime minister's wife in late July. Following the abduction, the Cameroonian army launched a successful operation and rescued the kidnapped wife of Amadou Ali.
The notorious group has repeatedly targeted Nigerian civilians, mostly in the remote state of Borno, killing more than 2,000 civilians since January.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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[DW.DE] China's official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday that 37 civilians and 59 "terrorists" had been killed in two incidents reported from China's vast western region early this week.
If verified, the official account would represent the worst joint outbreak of violence since rioting in Xinjiang's regional capital Urumqi in 2009.
When news of festivities first emerged late on Tuesday, Xinhua had reported that dozens of people had been killed and injured by a knife-wielding gang.
In its report Sunday, Xinhua said 35 of the dead civilians were Han Chinese and two were Uighurs.
A front man for the exiled World Uighur Congress, Dilxat Raxit, told the news agency AFP that Chinese forces had opened fire, killing or wounding nearly 100 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Catherine Herridge reported on the Uighurs held at Gitmo. Around 2009 she observed a demonstration by the Uighurs at Gitmo. As reported in her book:
At the camp, an extraordinary scene unfolded. The Uighurs staged a demonstrationb.
The held up their government-issued art pads like placards. One of the Uighars turned the pages. The protest was inflammatory and clearly aimed at President Obama. They compared the United States to "Double Hetler [sic] and even attacked the commander in chief. One asked in English, "Is Obama a communist or a democrat?" They accused the U.S. government of oppressing them like the Chinese. The accusations really stung. My husband would later comment, "The Uighurs lived in China. Believe me, they probably know a communist when they see one."
Obviously the Uighurs must have have thought there was a distinction between communists and democrats as it was an "either or or" question for them.
[Al Ahram] Officials and residents say hard boyz with the Islamic State Lion of Islam group have seized two small towns in northern Iraq after driving out Kurdish security forces.
djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, who fled to the largely autonomous Kurdish region when the Islamic State group and allied Sunni hard boyz seized Iraq's second largest city in June, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on Sunday that the towns of Zumar and Sinjar fell after fierce festivities that erupted the day before.
Residents of the two towns, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, confirmed al-Nujaifi's account.
The Islamic State group has carved out a self-styled caliphate in a large area straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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[CNBC] Islamic State fighters seized control of Iraq's biggest dam, an oilfield and three more towns on Sunday after inflicting their first major defeat on Kurdish forces since sweeping through the region in June.
File photo of a helicopter flying over the djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Dam in Iraq.
Capture of the Mosul Dam after an offensive of barely 24 hours could give the Sunni murderous Moslems the ability to flood major Iraqi cities, sharply raising the stakes in their bid to topple Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government.
Islamic State, which sees Iraq's majority Shi'ites as apostates who deserve to be killed, also seized the Ain Zalah oil field, adding to four others already under their control, and three towns.
They faced strong Kurdish resistance only at the start of their latest offensive when taking the town of Zumar. The Islamists then hoisted their black flags there, a ritual that usually precedes mass executions of their captured opponents and the imposition of an ideology even al-Qaeda finds excessive.
The group, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, poses the biggest challenge to the stability of OPEC member Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Since thousands of Iraqi soldiers fled the Islamic State offensive, Shi'ite militias and Kurdish fighters have been seen as a critical line of defense against the myrmidons, who have threatened to march on Baghdad.
But Sunday's battles have called into question the effectiveness of the Kurdish fighters and have increased pressure on Iraqi leaders to form a power-sharing government capable of countering the Islamic State.
Little Resistance
Islamic State fighters attacked Zumar from three directions in pick-up trucks mounted with weapons, defeating Kurdish forces which had poured reinforcements into the town.
The Islamic State later also seized the town of Sinjar, where witnesses said residents had fled after Kurdish fighters put up little resistance against the myrmidons.
On its Twitter site, the Islamic State posted a picture of one of its masked fighters holding up a pistol and sitting at the abandoned desk of the mayor of Sinjar. Behind him was the image of a famous Kurdish guerilla leader.
In a statement on its website, Islamic State said its fighters had killed scores of Kurdish fighters. "Hundreds fled leaving vehicles and a huge number of weapons and munitions and the brothers control many areas," Islamic State said. "The fighters arrived in the border triangle between Iraq, Syria and Turkey," it said.
Islamic State has systematically blown up Shi'ite mosques and shrines in territory it has seized, fueling levels of sectarian violence not seen since a 2006-2007 civil war.
However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... the group, which changed its name earlier this year from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has stalled in its drive to reach Baghdad, halting just before the town of Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of the capital.
Islamic State has been trying to consolidate its gains, setting its sights on strategic towns near oil fields, as well as border crossings with Syria so that it can move easily back and forth and transport supplies.
It has capitalized on Sunni disenchantment with Maliki.
Critics describe Maliki as an authoritarian leader who has put allies from the Shi'ite majority in key military and government positions at the expense of Sunnis, driving a growing number of the religious minority in Iraq to support the Islamic State and other Death Eaters. He is also at odds with the Kurds.
Independent state
The Kurds have long dreamed of their own independent state, an aspiration that has angered Maliki, who has frequently clashed with the non-Arabs over budgets, land and oil.
After the Islamic State arrived, Kurdish forces seized two oil fields in northern Iraq and took over operations from a state-run oil company, complicating the task of trying to hold the country together,
In July, the Kurdish political bloc ended participation in Iraq's national government in protest over Maliki's accusation that Kurds were allowing "terrorists" to stay in Arbil, capital of their semi-autonomous region known as Kurdistan.
In another move certain to infuriate the Baghdad government, the Kurdish region is pressing Washington for sophisticated weapons it says Kurdish fighters need to push back the Islamist myrmidons, Kurdish and U.S. officials said.
But Maliki needs the Kurds, who gained experience fighting Saddam Hussein's forces, to help defend his country from Islamic State, whose leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head.
Islamic State's ambitions have alarmed other Arab states who fear their success could embolden murderous Moslems in their countries.
Islamic State fighters were among murderous Moslems who clashed with Lebanese forces overnight in and around Leb's border town of Arsal. At least 10 Lebanese soldiers and an unknown number of murderous Moslems and civilians died in the fighting, security officials said.
On Friday, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's King Abdullah urged regional leaders and religious scholars to prevent Islam from being hijacked by myrmidons.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
That's the dam that's so well constructed, if you look at it wrong it could fail and wipe out a good % of Iraq.
[Beirut Daily Star] ISIS fighters seized control of Iraq's biggest dam, an oil field and three more towns Sunday, state TV reported, after inflicting their first major defeat on Kurdish forces since sweeping across much of northern Iraq in June.
Capture of the electricity-generating djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Dam, after an offensive of barely 24 hours, could give the Sunni hard boyz the ability to flood major Iraqi cities or withhold water from farms, raising the stakes in their bid to topple Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Maliki imposed order on Basra wen the Shiites were going nuts, but has proven incapable of dealing with al-Qaeda's Sunni insurgency. Reelected to his third term in 2014... 's government.
"The terrorist gangs of the Islamic State have taken control of Mosul Dam after the withdrawal of Kurdish forces without a fight," said Iraqi state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... Jabar Yawer, the front man for the Kurdish peshmerga troops, said late Sunday that Kurdish forces were still in control of the dam, emphasizing that ISIS had not been successful in an attempted takeover.
But two people who live near Mosul Dam told Rooters Kurdish troops had loaded their vehicles with belongings, including air conditioners, and fled.
The apparent swift withdrawal of the peshmerga was a severe blow to one of the only forces in Iraq that until now had stood firm against the fighters who aim to redraw the borders of the Middle East.
ISIS seized the Ain Zalah oil field Sunday — adding to four others already under its control that provide funding for operations.
Initially strong Kurdish resistance evaporated after the start of a weekend offensive to take the town of Zumar.
ISIS fighters attacked Zumar from three directions in pickup trucks mounted with weapons, defeating Kurdish forces that had poured reinforcements into the town, witnesses said. The Islamists then hoisted their black flags there.
The group later also seized the town of Sinjar, where witnesses said residents had fled after Kurdish fighters put up little resistance. It was not immediately clear why the Kurds, usually known as formidable fighters, pulled back without a fight.
On its Twitter site, ISIS posted a picture of one of its masked fighters holding up a pistol and sitting at the abandoned desk of the mayor of Sinjar. Behind him was the image of a famous Kurdish guerrilla leader.
In a statement on its website, the jihadists said they had killed scores of peshmerga. Those deaths could not be independently verified.
"Hundreds fled leaving vehicles and a huge number of weapons and munitions and the brothers control many areas," the Islamic State statement said. "The fighters arrived in the border triangle between Iraq, Syria and Turkey."
Sinjar had sheltered thousands of people who were displaced when the huge ISIS offensive was launched nearly two months ago. Among them are many of Iraq's minorities, such as Turkmen Shiites who fled the city of Tal Afar, about halfway between Sinjar and Mosul, when jihadist fighters swept in.
Sinjar is also a historical home for the Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking minority that follows a pre-Islamic faith rooted in Zoroastrianism, and has been repeatedly targeted.
"A humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in Sinjar," the top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, said. Its capture prompted thousands of families — up to 200,000 people, according to the U.N. — to flee, many of them into the neighboring mountains.
"The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... has grave concerns for the physical safety of these civilians," Mladenov said, as they risk being stranded with no supplies in roasting temperatures and surrounded by jihadists.
A Kurdish official and several other sources also said ISIS fighters had destroyed the Shiite shrine of Sayyeda Zeinab after taking control of Sinjar.
Witnesses said ISIS fighters were also trying to take control of the town of Rabia near the Syrian border and were engaged in festivities with Syrian Kurds who had crossed the frontier after Iraqi Kurds withdrew.
Iraq's Kurds had expanded areas under their control in recent weeks, while avoiding direct confrontation with ISIS, even as Iraqi central government troops fled. But the towns lost on Sunday were in territory the Kurds had held for many years, undermining suggestions that ISIS' advance helped the Kurds.
By calling into question the effectiveness of the Kurdish fighters, Sunday's advances may increase pressure on bickering Iraqi leaders to form a power-sharing government capable of countering the Islamic State.
The latest gains have also placed ISIS fighters near Dahuk Province, one of three in the autonomous Kurdish region that has been spared any serious threat to its security while war raged throughout the rest of Iraq.
Meanwhile Sunday, military front man Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said festivities were continuing between Iraqi security forces and hard boyz to retake the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, which fell to Sunni forces of Evil last week.
Moussawi said a number of Arclight airstrikes had hit the hard boyz in the center of the town, though he did not offer casualty figures. Dozens of hard boyz and nine troops were killed Saturday in festivities in Jurf al-Sakhar, located some 50 kilometers south of the capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
It was not immediately clear why the Kurds, usually known as formidable fighters, pulled back without a fight.
Considering the corrupt Shia bigots in the Maliki government Obama trusted has not allowed weapons or ammunition to be shipped to them in over a month, refuses to fly supplies up there, and refuses to allow supplies sent there...
Considering that the US is not supporting our former best allies in the region, not even covertly...
And considering that other nations will not sell to the Kurds due to Obama and US State Dept policy of a "United Iraq" (at the price of disarming Kurdistan) and US pressuring all other nations to NOT sell arms to the Kurds...
I would say the Peshmerga had no choice but to retreat. Out of Ammo, short on armament, low on supplies, and not a damned bit of support. Not even our CIA is helping -- when they can and should.
This reminds me of the fate of the Hmong after Viet Nam. I am beyond pissed at that motherfucker Obama and the suits at State repeating history, and screwing over good people and our only solid ally in the area formerly known as Iraq.
#3
OldSpook, I have assumed the Kurds were far too resourceful (and hardly w/out resources, ahemm, black gold, Texas T, bubblin' crude) to be in a logistics jam? $$$$ talks, and it's hard to imagine the Kurds of all outfits not being able to put their $$$ to work. Israel if nobody else (not that Kurdistan has ever seen, say, robust Israeli business activity and certainly not an intelligence presence, ahemm).
Have to regard all reports of Kurdish wimp outs with a grain of salt for now. For now. Man, if the KURDS are unable to man up, then we really are on a different planet than just recently.
#4
Last week there were reports that a tanker loaded with Kurdish oil was forced to make circles in the Atlantic as the US would not let the ship dock in the USA. The State Department has done everything in its power to halt the movement of Kurd oil because it interferes with the process of shipments of Iraqi oil from the south -- whose funds for a decade have been banked at JPMorgan in New York.
#6
Verlaine, I have assumed the Kurds were far too resourceful (and hardly w/out resources, ahemm, black gold, Texas T, bubblin' crude)
Maliki has leaned on the international community to prevent the Kurds from withdrawing money from their accounts. They can still sell the oil, they just can't use the funds. This is in addition to freezing their accounts 6 months before the fall of Mosul.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/04/2014 10:34 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Thanks, Frozen Al. My gawd. This passeth the imagination. WTF is Baghdad doing? And after all these years, I'm surprised the Kurds don't have work-arounds and back-up plans at the ready. Further, if Baghdad has ramped up the "war" to this level, time for the Kurds to return the favor (beyond doing the easy things like completing the takeover of key areas in Kirkuk). Time for the pesh to do a little expditionary work, directly disrupt "Iraqi" oil activities not under their control?
#8
How much of a stake do the Kurds have in that dam? I'm wondering if maybe they didn't think it was their fight. The oil fields, yes, the dam maybe not so much.
#11
If that dam was to fail under ISIS, lots and lots of Suni and Shia would die. I don't believe there are lots of Kurds downstream. Stability Analysis of Mosul Dam
#12
Fascinating replay. The Goths who occupied Spain upon the end of the Roman Empire engaged in petty fights and squabbles among themselves. Then the Moors invaded with their jihad, the whole place collapsed like a house of cards, only the topography in the north allowed what remain of the Goths to hold out around Bilbao and Santander.
#15
Looks like the "ISLAMIC STATE" [ISIS aka ISIL] is now threatening the defeated Kurds wid more attacks into the KAR = Kurdish-held areas in northern Iraq.
To wit,
* HURRIYET NEW > IRAQ JIHADISTS [ISIS/ISIL = "Islamic State"] THREATEN KURDS AFTER BATTLEFIED VICTORIES.
Thereby leading to .. ...
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Rudaw.net] KRG ASKS US [POTUS Obama] FOR [Direct[ MILITARY HELP: ITS "TIME FOR ACTION".
Given the Bammer's kighty defense of his own "red lines, THIS WILL NOT END WELL FOR THE US OR THE ISIS/ISIL-EMBATTLED KURDS.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAKISTANI [ + Egyptian] TROOPS TO DEFEND JITTERY SAUDIS | THE TIMES.
--------------
OTOH ADNKRONOS > SYRIA: AL-QAEDA SPLINTER GROUP [ISIS/ISIL] ROUTED FROM EASTERN PROVINCE, of Deir el-Zoir.
Inter-QAEDA fighting between the ISIS/ISIL + AL-NUSRA-ALLIES.
#16
Hoping and expecting these are simply tactical moves by the Kurds. They are proven strategic experts, and certainly have the experience needed in their neighborhood. Reports of the cut in their communication routes to Syria are disconcerting, but recall that the Syrians are not disturbing them. They seem to have secured their flanks and perimeters, and barring something colossally stupid from Turkey, this should be tactically sound. They need to let the arabs settle this between themselves before they commit.
Our position is only slightly less incomprehensible than the Iraqi government's. Still, that's no excuse.
An IDF soldier was shot in the stomach by a suspected terrorist in a tunnel in Jerusalem's Mount Scopus Monday afternoon, less than three hours after a separate terrorist attack took the life of a pedestrian in the capital.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF partially redeployed in and around Gaza, as it neared the end of its work demolishing Hamas tunnels, and a Palestinian delegation held talks on ceasefire arrangements in Egypt. Israel was condemned for hitting a UN school, killing 10, and said it was looking into the incident.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
So does Bibi have what it takes to pull off a (smart) "independent" strategy? That is, as he hinted today, just work to security objectives, and not be involved in these idiotic "diplomatic" taffy yankings? Would be a welcome, tiny victory in the otherwise collapsing global War Against Stupid. And FFS, just nuke the cretins at State, go detailed and public about Hamas human shield war crimes and the Israeli efforts to protect non-combatants, get aggressive and lecture the "US" on promoting war crimes and criminals by playing along with their criminal strategy.
[ARABNEWS] Israel on Sunday signaled a possible scaling back in its offensive in Gazoo, but not before carrying out 180 strikes that have killed more than 50 Paleostinians.
Gazoo health officials said among the fatalities were 10 members of one family who were wiped out in a single strike in the southern Gazoo Strip. About 35 others were maimed after the strike near the boys' school in Rafah.
Robert Turner, the director of operations for the UN Paleostinian refugee agency in Gazoo, said preliminary findings indicated the blast was an Israeli Arclight airstrike near the school, which had been providing shelter for some 3,000 people. He said the strike killed at least one UN staffer.
Artillery shells also slammed into two high-rise office buildings Sunday in downtown Gazoo City and large kabooms could be heard seconds apart, police and witnesses said.
The Israeli military had no comment on the Rafah school strike, but confirmed that it was redeploying for a "new phase" of an operation aimed at stopping rocket fire toward Israel and destroying the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, underground tunnel network.
"We have indeed scaled down some of the presence and indeed urged Paleostinians in certain neighborhoods to come back to their homes," said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military front man.
Several Israeli tanks and other vehicles were seen leaving Gazoo a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested troops would reassess operations after completing the demolition of Hamas tunnels under the border. Security officials said the tunnel mission was winding down and Israel would soon be taking its troops out of the strip.
In nearly four weeks of fighting, Paleostinian health officials say more than 1,750 Paleostinians, mainly civilians, have been killed. Nearly 70 Israelis, almost all soldiers, have been killed.
Israel launched an aerial campaign in Gazoo on July 8 to try to halt Paleostinian rocket fire on major cities, and later sent in troops to dismantle Hamas' cross-border tunnels that have been used to carry out attacks.
Shocked and confounded
Israel's repeat shelling of a UN school in Gazoo has confounded UN officials in the area.
"The locations of all these installations have been passed to the Israeli military multiple times," Turner said. "They know where these shelters are. How this continues to happen, I have no idea. I have no words for it. I don't understand it."
The Israeli military said they were investigating.
Inside the UN school's compound, several bodies, among them children, were strewn across the ground in puddles of blood.
"Our trust and our fate is only in the hands of God!" one woman cried.
Some of the maimed were transported to the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah and others were treated in what seemed to be a makeshift clinic underneath a tent.
The bodies of the Al Ghoul family, killed early Sunday morning, were lined up on the floor of the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah. Doctors wiped dried blood from the faces of three men. Outside the hospital, men and children shed tears while sobbing women cradled the smallest of the dead, kissing their faces.
In another hospital room at the hospital, at least four children were piled into an ice cream freezer, all wrapped in white cloth drenched in blood. Doctors say that morgues in Rafah are at maximum capacity.
At least six UN facilities, including schools sheltering the displaced, have been struck by Israeli fire since the conflict began, drawing international condemnation. In each case Israel has said it was responding to hard boyz launching rockets or other attacks from nearby.
Futile cease-fire efforts
In Cairo, Egyptian and Paleostinian negotiators held talks over a potential cease-fire. After accusing Hamas of repeatedly violating humanitarian cease-fire arrangements, Israel said it would not attend the talks and there was "no point" negotiating with the Islamic bad boy group.
Hamas official Izzat Al-Rishq said the Israelis will have to either withdraw unilaterally or accept a political agreement that addresses Hamas' demands.
"Hamas will not accept any cease-fire deal as long as Israelis are still in Gazoo Strip," he said.
Hamas has said it will not stop fighting until Israel and Egypt lift their blockade of Gazoo, imposed after the Islamic bad boy group overran the territory in 2007. Large swaths of Gazoo have been destroyed and some 250,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since the war began.
In a televised address late Saturday, Netanyahu warned Hamas they would pay an "intolerable price" if hard boyz continued to fire rockets at Israel and that all options remain on the table.
From an Israeli perspective, the advantage of a unilateral pullout or troop redeployment to the strip's fringes is that it can do so on its own terms, rather than becoming entangled in negotiations with Hamas. However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... a unilateral pullback does not address the underlying causes of cross-border tensions and carries the risk of a new flare-up of violence in the future.
Rocket fire continued toward Israel Sunday. More than 3,000 rockets have been fired since the war began, which have killed three civilians and damaged several homes. Several soldiers have been killed in the current round of fighting by Paleostinian gunnies who popped out of tunnels near Israeli communities along the Gazoo border.
The Israeli military corpse count rose to 64 after Israel announced that Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old infantry lieutenant feared captured in Gazoo, was actually killed in battle. His funeral is later Sunday.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon revealed on his Facebook page Sunday that he is a distant relative of Goldin and had known him his whole life. The information was previously kept under wraps while Goldin was feared to be kidnapped.
Israel had earlier said it feared Goldin had been captured by Hamas hard boyz Friday near Rafah in an ambush that shattered an internationally brokered cease-fire and was followed by heavy Israeli shelling that left dozens of Paleostinians dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Israel's military confirmed it fired on a target near a UN school in the southern Gazoo city of Rafah on Sunday, an attack which killed 10 Paleostinians and stirred international outrage.
"The IDF (army) targeted three PIJ (Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... ) bully boyz on board a cycle of violence in the vicinity of an UNRWA school in Rafah," an army statement said, referring to the UN agency for Paleostinian refugees.
"The IDF is reviewing the consequences of this strike" near the school where around 3,000 Paleostinians were sheltering, it said.
The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... expressed "outrage" after what was the third such strike on one of its Gazoo schools in 10 days, after 30 Paleostinians were killed in the previous attacks.
UN Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... called it "a moral outrage and a criminal act."
Joining a chorus of condemnation, the United States said it was "appalled" by the shelling of another UN school in Gazoo and called for a "full and prompt" investigation.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki stressed that "Israel must do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties."
Almost 1,800 Paleostinians have been killed in Gazoo and another 9,320 maimed since the start of the Israeli offensive on 8 July. Figures released by the UN humanitarian agency OCHA on 2 August gave a total of 1,525 dead.
Of the 1,196 killed whose identities could be verified, 1,033 were civilians, nearly 84 percent, OCHA said. The number includes 329 children and 187 women.
Of the Paleostinians killed, 191 were members of gangs. On the other side, 66 Israelis have been killed, including 64 soldiers, all of whom have died since the ground offensive began.
According to Israel's army figures, Paleostinian factions since July 8 have fired 3,160 rockets, of which 2,483 hit Israel while 559 were intercepted by its Iron Dome anti-missile defences.
Israel says it has struck 4,626 targets across the Gazoo Strip in the 27-day operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
If'n you'd kept Militants and rockets out, these would never have been targeted. Little late to cry and whine about your purity, UN Whores
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/04/2014 10:44 Comments ||
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#3
I'm still waiting for Israel to simply line up the artillery and start laying waste all of Gaza, from the border to the sea, north and south. Those that make it to Egypt should be shipped on to Libya or Iraq, where they can learn how wonderful life is without Israel on their borders.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/04/2014 17:13 Comments ||
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A Philippine soldier was injured in a firefight between government forces and the New People's Army (NPA) militants in the hinterlands of Zamboanga del Sur. Provincial police director Senior Superintendent Sofronio Ecaldre said the fighting broke out Friday morning at Sitio Kamanse in the village of Tuburan, Tigbao municipality.
Ecaldre said the clash occurred as soldiers backed by policemen caught up with around 20 NPA militants as the offensive against them continued in the hinterlands of Tigbao town. He said the NPA militants fled following a 10-minute firefight. They were believed to have suffered casualties who were dragged off by the fleeing comrades.
The militants belong to the Front Committee Kara of the NPA’s Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee (WMRPC) led by a certain Ka Natan, Ecaldre said.
[Iran Press TV] Mortar shells fired by foreign-backed faceless myrmidons fighting against the Syrian government have hit residential areas in the capital Damascus, killing at least 12 civilians and injuring dozens of others.
According to a source at the Syrian Police Command, mortar shells landed in al-Dweila area in Damascus, claiming the lives of eight Syrians, including a child, and injuring 16 others, the official SANA news agency reported on Sunday.
In a similar attack on al-Dour neighborhood in Damascus's al-Shaghour, three Syrians were killed and four others, including two children of a family, suffered injuries.
Elsewhere, in al-Tabaleh neighborhood in the Syrian capital, one more Syrian citizen was killed after shells fired by Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... faceless myrmidons hit the area.
The attacks by the Takfiri faceless myrmidons came as the Syrian army has made major gains in the strategic al-Qalamoun region.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2014 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Al Ahram] Three suspected Shabaab Islamic 
Nouri al-Maliki
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
