[Tolo News] Seven Taliban were killed and four others were maimed in a 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... coalition Arclight airstrike in eastern Ghazni province late Tuesday night, local officials said.
The Arclight airstrike took place in the district of Giro where seven Taliban including two Taliban leaders and two Pak Taliban were killed, Giro's district governor Abdullah Khair Khah said Wednesday.
There were no civilian casualties in the strike, Khah added.
Foreign officials have not yet commented on the operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Libya Herald] Benghazi residents say they are worried about Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... forces now deployed at a check-point within striking distance of Benina airbase.
The newly operating checkpoint, which lies at the crossroads between Benina Airport, Hay Salam and their stronghold of Laithi, is one one of the Islamists' gains following heavy festivities in Benghazi in July.
Saiqa Special Forces ...Libya's elite army unit, insofar as they have one, formed from a mixture of paratroopers and commandos. The group emerged from a militia with the same name in 2010. It now numbers a few thousand and reports to the Ministry of Defence. It deployed in Benghazi in an attempt to control the carnage. As a result, it has been attacked and several of its officers murdered. The force is popular in Benghazi for its stance against Ansar al-Sharia group... 's presence in and around Benghazi is now almost entirely limited to Benina Airport with Saiqa Special Forces Commander Wanis Bukhamada and other prominent figures from the brigade now operating out of Tobruk, an Operation Dignity stronghold.
Air Force Brigadier-General Saqr Adam Geroushi, the commander of Operation Dignity's airforces told the Libya Herald that Benina Airport was highly prized and would signify a major gain by the Islamists if they were able to take it. The airport is the base of Dignity forces' helicopter unit.
Benina Airport was closed in July after four rockets struck its newly refurbished international departures lounge. The Airport and the Airport Road were previously a flashpoint for festivities between Ansar al-Sharia and Saiqa. The homes of residents in the area came under bombardment from shelling on several occasions during fighting between the two sides.
A bigwig within Operation Dignity has indicated that Saiqa Special Forces faces a series of serious internal challenges. He claimed the group had been "infiltrated" by thugs and drug users and was, despite the work of some committed members, no longer fit for purpose.
Human Rights Solidarity-Libya has published a report detailing a number of human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... abuses by the group after the bodies of 35 prisoners, allegedly killed by Saiqa, were found at their base in Buatni after it was stormed by Ansar al-Sharia at the end of July.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Ansar al-Sharia
[Libya Herald] The House of Representatives (HoR) passed a law today disbanding all officially recognized and funded militias formed after the 2011 February revolution, including Joint Operations Rooms.
The law was voted for by 102 out of 104 Representatives and must be implemented by no later than 31 December 2014.
Ali Saedy, Representative for Wadi Shatti, speaking live on Libyan TV said that the law received a large majority and that some of those who opposed this law felt that it was "not the right time" to dissolve all the militias. Others he said had a different outlook or a different ideology.
On the earlier law passed to call for international help, Representative Saedy said that "no one listened to calls for a ceasefire. We were forced into this law", he added
Ali Tekbali, Representative for 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... explained the low number of voters due to the departure of some Representatives away from Tobruk on various business.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Al Ahram] A majority of Libyan MPs voted Wednesday to call for foreign intervention to protect civilians amid chaos in the North African country as rival militias engage in fierce festivities, a deputy said.
Parliament, meeting in Tobruk in the east, adopted "by 111 of the 124 deputies present a resolution calling on the international community to intervene quickly to protect civilians in Libya, including 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... and Benghazi", Abu Bakr Biira told AFP.
"The international community must intervene immediately to ensure that civilians are protected," he added, quoting from the resolution.
He did not elaborate on what the parliament expects from such foreign intervention.
The parliament, elected on June 25, has been meeting in Tobruk between Benghazi and the border with Egypt, because of the violence plaguing both of Libya's main cities.
Since mid-July, the country has been rocked by deadly inter-militia fighting for control of key facilities including Tripoli's international airport.
Benghazi in the east, Libya's second city, has also seen battles between Islamists and the forces of a renegade general.
Since the fall of long-time dictator Moamer Qadaffy in 2011, the interim authorities have failed to establish order and security in a country prone to anarchy and deadly violence.
They have been unable to restrain a large number of militias formed by ex-rebels who fought Qadaffy and who still hold sway across Libya.
On Tuesday, hooded gunniesrubbed out Tripoli police chief Colonel Mohammed al-Suissi in the eastern suburbs and kidnapped two of his bodyguards before later freeing them.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Libya Herald] At least five civilians were maimed with unconfirmed reports of a number of deaths last night following heavy shelling of several districts in western 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...
Five maimed were taken to a private Tripoli clinic with reports that other injured civilians were transferred to the Zawia and Abu Sleem hospitals.
The worst of the shelling took place in Ghut Shaal, where last night the sky was illuminated for miles around by blazes started by the kabooms. Most residents in the district fled their houses for fear of the fires and the fighting. The majority of the shells were reported by locals as being fired from the positions of Misratan-led forces.
Ghut Shaal largely supports the Zintanis in the current conflict.
Missiles also fell on Janzur, Swani Road and Airport Road. The bombardment continued into the early hors of the morning.
Military sources on the ground told the Libya Herald that Western Libya Shield ...a conglomerate of pro-Islamist militias deployed across Libya. It reports to the Libyan defense ministry and is organized like a real army unit. Its commander used to head a Benghazi brigade called Free Libya Martyrs... forces had again tried to enter the area around the Warshefana town of Zahra. According to Warshefana sources, three members of Western Libya Shield were killed and 12 others captured.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Ansar al-Sharia
[NIGERIANBULLETIN] Sahara Reporters claim that Boko haram gunnies have seized the Emir's residence as well as a government lodge in Gwoza, Borno state and have appointed a replacement for the town's fleeing Emir.
The gunnies have also reportedly hoisted their black flags at different points in the city.
Also, with most of their menfolk killed or on the run, women in the town of Gwoza, Borno State, have taken on the grim task of burying dozens of residents massacred in last week's assault by snuffies belonging to the Islamist group, Boko Haram. ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Boko Haram
[An Nahar] Suspected rebels killed two coppers and a civilian Wednesday in an ambush in Indian Kashmire a day after prime minister Narendra Modi visited the disputed region, police said. It's like clockwork: There's an exchange of artillery fire that the Paks always deny initiating. Three or four days later there's a shootout in Kashmir. But, really, the two aren't related. You are getting sleepy. You are getting very sleepy... There is no cause... There is no effect...
The attack occurred late in the evening when a police brass hat travelling in his official vehicle along with two other officers was fired up on from both sides of the road in Galander, just outside Srinagar, the region's main city.
"The civilian and a policeman gave up the ghost," a police statement said.
"The other policeman died in the hospital later," a police officer who declined to be identified, as he was not authorized to speak to media, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
He said four to five attackers who had laid the ambush expeditiously departed at a goodly pace and government forces were on a hunt for them.
Since 1989 fighting between Indian forces and about a dozen rebel groups seeking independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistain has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.
Kashmire is divided between India and Pakistain by a heavily militarized defacto border known as the Line of Control or LoC since 1947 when the two nations won independence from Britannia.
Both administer the divided territory separately but claim it in full.
Wednesday's attack followed another in the same area two days earlier when suspected rebels attacked a Border Security Force (BSF) vehicle injuring seven paramilitaries as Modi was preparing to visit the disputed territory.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
A cynic might suggest that artillery was covering fire. But the Paks don't deserve cynicism....right?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/14/2014 13:33 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Of course not. That would hurt their feelings. Then we'd have to endure a dozen op-eds from the Pakistani press about how hurt they are.
[Iran Press TV] The US Central Command says it has launched a drone strike on a truck belonging to the ISIL 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... holy warriors in northern Iraq.
The Centcom said the Arclight airstrike on Wednesday targeted the vehicle near an ISIL checkpoint west of the northern city of Sinjar. The armed truck was destroyed, the Centcom added.
Residents of the town, who are mostly from the Izidi minority Kurdish community, have left the town following ISIL advances.
On August 7, US President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... authorized aerial attacks against ISIL targets in Iraq.
A day later, US warplanes and drones bombed terrorist convoys advancing over the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil.
On Tuesday, Adrian Edwards, the front man of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said up to 35,000 refugees, mostly Izadi Kurds, managed to reach Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region via Syria over the past three days.
He added that an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people remain trapped on Sinjar Mountain.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
(Reuters) - A team including personnel from the U.S. military and the U.S. Agency for International Development landed on Iraq's Mount Sinjar early on Wednesday to assess how to evacuate civilians taking refugee from the IS, a U.S. official said. "They were there last night and they did an assessment," said the official, saying this occurred early on Wednesday in Iraq.
A second U.S. official said fewer than 20 personnel were involved in the assessment of the situation and all had returned safely to the Kurdistan capital of Arbil by military air.
#1
DoD says Mt. Sinjar siege is over:
WASHINGTON — Defense Department officials said late Wednesday that United States airstrikes and Kurdish fighters had broken the Islamic militants’ siege of Mount Sinjar, allowing thousands of the Yazidis trapped there to escape.
An initial report from about a dozen Marines and Special Operations forces who arrived on Tuesday and spent 24 hours on the northern Iraqi mountain said that “the situation is much more manageable,” a senior Defense official said in an interview.
Administration officials said that several thousand Yazidis remained on the mountain, not the tens of thousands who originally were there. Some of the people on Mount Sinjar indicated to American forces that they considered the mountain to be a place of refuge and a home and did not want to leave.
(Reuters) - The Kurdish peshmerga fighter ran out of ammunition but saved two bullets to end his own life in case Islamic State militants caught up with him as he fled the front line in northwest Iraq. My uncle and his buddy also saved two bullets for each other in a foxhole at Wheeler Field in the days just after Pearl Harbor.
After a two-month stand-off along a 1,000-kilometre (630 mile) long front, the Kurds failed their first major test, allowing the Sunni militants who want to redraw the map of the Middle East to grab more towns, oil fields and Iraq's biggest dam.
The peshmerga, literally "those who confront death", had built up a reputation as fearsome warriors, but in the end they proved no match for the better-armed militants who attacked them with suicidal zeal.
"They took us by surprise," said the peshmerga fighter, who asked to remain unnamed because the force had been ordered not to divulge any information about their defeat.
"For every mortar round we fired, they fired 100 back. We didn't know where they were coming from. We lost contact with each other. We didn't have enough weapons. It was chaos," he told Reuters.
....
The routing damaged the peshmergas' aura of invincibility as one of the only fighting forces in Iraq capable of taking on the Islamic State, and threatened the Kurdistan region's standing as the sole patch of stability in a country torn by sectarian conflict.
"This was the first time we saw the peshmerga withdraw, and it had a deep impact on all the peshmerga and the whole of Kurdish society," said spokesman General Halgurd Hikmat.
....
Stretched thin over a vast area and armed with Soviet-era weapons raided from the Iraqi army during the 2003 invasion, the peshmerga were unprepared to confront an enemy that has been honing its skills in neighboring Syria for the past two years...The Islamic State was also better equipped with weapons plundered from the Iraq army, including long-range artillery, tanks, armored vehicles, rocket launchers, and sniper rifles, as well as tons of ammunition. They were also flush with cash.
"Yes, there have been some reverses by the peshmerga and disorganization, some withdrawals in certain places, but this is not a conventional war," said Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, admitting that even the most expert peshmerga commanders had been stunned by the ferocity of the Islamic State.
"Nobody should underestimate their ability and capacity. They are attacking with small numbers, mobile forces and speed: they are not holding territory."
#3
Here's a concept: How 'bout we round up all the light infantry gear DoD has been handing out to police forces here and give it all to the Kurds?
Or would this interfere with somebody's long term plan?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/14/2014 7:56 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Sounds like a reasonable course of action Ed. Please exempt the Ferguson, Mo. Police Department if you would.
#5
the IS forces are very vulnerable to any competent air campaign - even drones could do a lot of damage pretty quickly
regarding funding - initially IS was funded by rich arabs in SA, Qatar, etc. with some cooperation by Turkey and Iran but all that is pretty much over; currently IS is funded by what they looted from the Iraq govt (which includes vast amounts of weapons) and what they can extort from the locals
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/14/2014 10:04 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Also significantly omitted in this article is that the Peshmerga were deployed outside their home are, for which they are neither trained nor equipped. Put that with chronic under supply, lack of intel support, and the need to maintain the bulk of their forces for homeland defense, plus dealing with refugees in a humane manner, and they were set up to fail.
In areas where they had adequate supplies, they have halted ISIS, and even pushed them back.
[Al Ahram] Nuri al-Maliki stuck to his guns and refused to accept his removal as Iraq's prime minister on Wednesday, but his hold on power was tenuous as Iran's supreme leader, a long-time Maliki ally, publicly backed his replacement.
Taking to state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
as acting premier, Maliki said the supreme court must rule on this week's move to ask his Shiite Islamist party colleague Haider al-Abadi to form a new government - a change that Iran, the United States and many Iraqis see as vital to halt the advance of Sunni myrmidons.
But while the loyalty of at least some Shiite militia and government forces remains uncertain, there were further signs that Maliki, blamed for alienating the Sunni minority during his eight years in power, is isolated, even among fellow Shiites.
US President Barack Obama Because I won... - whose European allies followed his lead on Wednesday to arm Kurdish forces that have taken the recent brunt of fighting with the Sunni Islamic State - has already offered Abadi its endorsement. Washington lost patience with Maliki, who rose from obscurity during the US occupation.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, bound to Tehran's US adversary by a common interest in curbing the rise of Sunni jihadists in Syria and Iraq, offered his personal endorsement to Abadi. He very publicly distanced himself in the process from Maliki, who has looked for support from Iran, where he spent years in exile opposing Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.
"I hope the designation of the new prime minister in Iraq will untie the knot and lead to the establishment of a new government and teach a good lesson to those who aim for sedition in Iraq," Khamenei said in a statement on his website.
Iranian media carried reports that Khamenei sent an envoy last month to take part in discussions with Iraqi Shiite political and religious leaders to find an alternative to Maliki, who had held on since a parliamentary election in April despite being blamed by many for fuelling sectarian hatreds.
Those leaders, including Iraq's reclusive top holy man Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, last week rallied around Abadi, who long ran a British engineering company, as a compromise figure who could bring moderate Sunnis into power to cooperate on holding off the myrmidon offensive in the north.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
#1
Y'know, Champ could ease the transition by offering a safe haven to Maliki, his entourage, and their boodle. Put 'em up in south Texas, with the illegal kids.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/14/2014 7:45 Comments ||
Top||
[IsraelTimes] An elite IDF unit tossed in the slammer Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! a Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, operative near Hebron Tuesday afternoon who the army says was plotting a terrorist attack against Israeli soldiers and civilians.
The arrest came hours before police and IDF forces carried out sweeps in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, arresting nearly 60 people.
According to the Walla news website, the Hamas man was arrested in the village of Samua, in the far south of the West Bank.
No details about the suspect's name or the nature of the crime were released.
The suspect was taken in for investigation, the IDF said in a statement.
The IDF spokesperson said that Israeli forces arrested 12 suspects in the West Bank late Tuesday and early Wednesday and took them in for questioning.
The same number of people were arrested in the West Bank the night before.
Also overnight Tuesday, Israeli police arrested 57 individuals from East Jerusalem suspected of involvement in rioting in recent days.
The police said in a statement that they have arrested 549 suspected rioters and served 184 indictments against suspects in recent rioting that was sparked by the July kidnap and slaying of an Arab teenager by Jewish Lions of Islam in Jerusalem, and then further fueled by the IDF's month-long Operation Protective Edge in the Gazoo Strip.
[ARABNEWS] A foreign journalist was among five people killed in northern Gazoo as Paleostinian experts were dismantling an Israeli missile, medics and officials said.
Emergency services front man Ashraf Al-Qudra said five people had been killed and several more seriously maimed.
"A number of explosives experts were killed while dismantling an (Israeli) missile in Beit Lahiya. Among them was a foreign journalist," interior ministry front man Iyad Al-Buzam told AFP, without specifying the number of people killed in the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[Al Ahram] A new ceasefire in Gazoo will last five days, Egypt and a senior Paleostinian negotiator said on Wednesday, just minutes before a previous truce was set to expire.
"An agreement to extend the ceasefire for five days has been accepted by both sides to allow more time for negotiations," an Egyptian foreign ministry statement said.
Chief Paleostinian negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed confirmed the ceasefire would last for five days, unlike two previous 72-hour lulls.
"There is an agreement on many points regarding lifting the siege," he said of a key Paleostinian demand to end an eight-year Israeli blockade of Gazoo. The negotiators needed more time to settle "some" remaining disputes, he told news hounds.
The joint Paleostinian delegation in Cairo will leave on Thursday to consult with their leaderships, he said. Sources told Ahram Online that Israel's delegation left Cairo late on Wednesday.
Al-Ahmed, a Fatah leading figure, warned earlier on Wednesday that the "situation is extremely" critical as talks produced no agreement.
"We will defend the interests of the Paleostinian people," Egypt's state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... MENA reported on Wednesday.
The Paleostinian delegation officially presented its demands for a permanent ceasefire last week, including an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Gazoo, halting Arclight airstrikes, lifting the Israeli blockade on the coastal strip and releasing Paleostinian prisoners.
Israel's offensive on Gazoo, which began on 8 July, led to the death of more than 1,930 Paleostinians and the injury of more than 10,000 others.
Mutual of Gaza's motto: "Every splinter a casualty!"
A total of 64 soldiers were also killed as well as three civilians on the Israeli side.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
HAMAS does not have much alternative about 1/3 missiles have been fired against Israel already, about 1/3 have been destroyed by Israel and probably what is left is the worst stuff. HAMAS at best has only only week left of missiles.
Thursday, August 14, the 38th day of Operation Protective Edge. As a 72-hour truce ran down late Wednesday, rocket fire resumed. Hamas denied responsibility, and Egypt and the PA said a new, five-day truce had been agreed.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[ISRAELNATIONALNEWS] The Israel Air Force attacked targets in Gazoo on Wednesday night, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit confirmed in a statement.
The attacks came after Gazooforces of Evil fired rockets at southern Israel, the statement said.
"The IDF is prepared for this possibility and is determined to continue to maintain the security of the State of Israel," the statement noted.
An official from the Paleostinian Authority's interior ministry told AFP there were four air strikes over open ground.
Gazooforces of Evil fired a barrage of rockets towards southern Israel on Wednesday night, just moments before one ceasefire was set to end and a new one to begin.
The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted one rocket over the city of Netivot. Two other rockets went kaboom! in the Sdot Negev region.
There were no physical injuries or damages.
The latest rocket fire came just before midnight, when a 72-hour ceasefire was set to end.
Moments before midnight, Israel and the Paleostinian Arabs agreed to extend the 72-hour ceasefire.
The new ceasefire will last five days, said senior Paleostinian negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed, after he and other officials initially spoke of another 72-hour lull.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
Two paramilitary rangers were killed and another was seriously wounded when a bomb exploded behind a school in Yala province Tuesday evening. The bomb was detonated when the three paramilitary rangers were on patrol to check the area on the bank of a canal behind the school at about 4:30 p.m.
Authorities assume that terrorists insurgents planted the bomb near the canal and detonated it to keep the local situation violent.
[An Nahar] Jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) group seized a string of villages in northern Syria on Wednesday in fighting that left 52 people dead, a monitoring group said.
The jihadists captured eight villages between second city Aleppo and the Turkish border, buoyed by their successes in neighboring Iraq, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
They killed at least 40 fighters of rival rebel groups and captured at least 50 more for the loss of 12 of their own men, the Britannia-based group said.
IS already controls almost all of the Euphrates valley provinces of Raqa and Deir Ezzor and has been making gains further west at the expense of rival rebel groups which it has been fighting since December.
The rival rebels, many of them from more moderate Islamist groups, have been weakened by the defection late last month of al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, which had made common cause in the battle against IS.
The Observatory said the IS capture of the villages was a strategic prize, because it would open the way for the group to attack the towns of Marea and Azaz.
Marea is a stronghold of the Islamic Front, a coalition of Islamist groups that is among those fighting against IS.
Azaz sits next to the border crossing with Turkey, which would be a valuable asset to IS as it seeks to expand its self-declared "caliphate" in the territory it holds in Syria and neighboring Iraq.
The Islamic State emerged from al-Qaeda's one-time branch in Iraq, and initially fought alongside Syria's opposition, including more moderate rebels and Al-Nusra fighters.
But its abuses against civilians and rival fighters, as well as its bid to dominate control of captured territory, sparked a backlash.
The group was pushed out of much of the territory it held in Aleppo province by the coalition of moderate and Salafist tough guys that turned against it in January.
But it has been able to recapture some of that lost ground assisted by the decision of the Islamist Dawud Brigade to pledge allegiance to it.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[An Nahar] Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji arrived in the northeastern border town of Arsal on Wednesday where he inspected military units deployed in the area in light of last week's festivities with Islamist gunnies, reported LBCI television.
Earlier, he had arrived via helicopter in the nearby town of al-Labweh where he visited the headquarters of the eighth brigade, said the National News Agency.
Later on Wednesday, media outlets reported that Government Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr has received the cases of Imad Jomaa and of nine other detainees who were tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! in light of the Arsal festivities.
Al-Jadeed television noted that he will examine their cases and then file complaints against them.
On August 2, festivities erupted between the army and gunnies in Arsal in light of the arrest of Jomaa, a prominent member of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.
Several soldiers were held and maimed in the unrest which ended with a ceasefire last Thursday.
The gunnies withdrew from the town, abducting around 35 troops.
Negotiations are ongoing to ensure their safe release.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
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.
[Libya Herald] Benghazi residents say they are worried about 
[Al Ahram] A majority of Libyan MPs voted Wednesday to call for foreign intervention to protect civilians amid chaos in the North African country as rival militias engage in fierce 
[NIGERIANBULLETIN] Sahara Reporters claim that Boko haram 
[Al Ahram] Nuri al-Maliki stuck to his guns and refused to accept his removal as Iraq's prime minister on Wednesday, but his hold on power was tenuous as Iran's supreme leader, a long-time Maliki ally, publicly backed his replacement. 
