[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Christians and Moslem leaders in Mombasa have asked security agencies to act swiftly on intelligence in order to prevent terrorist attacks.
They have also urged Kenyans to remain united in prayer for the victims of the Garissa attack and their families and refuse to be divided along religious lines.
Speaking during a Good Friday service at the Anglican Church of Kenya's Mombasa Memorial Cathedral, Bishop Julius Kalu said murderous Moslems want to divide the country into religious factions and this must be resisted.
"Security forces should not be discouraged in the fight against these terror elements. They should continue fighting to secure the country in a show of patriotism," Bishop Kalu said.
He urged leaders not to politicise security matters but engage constructively towards uniting Kenyans despite their religious, political or tribal inclinations.
HATE MESSAGES
The Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya condemned the attack and asked the National Cohesion and Integration Commission to take action against social media users spreading hate messages and sensitive images from the incident.
Organising Secretary Sheikh Khalifa said social media should not be used to inflict more pain on the families of the victims.
"As a council of Imams, we condemn the attack on students as we pass condolences to the affected.
"But we cannot turn a blind eye on irresponsible Kenyans using their devices to insensitively circulate disgusting images and writing instigating messages," he said in a telephone interview, and called on the Commission to act.
Mr Khalifa asked Kenyans to be responsible and help the government in fighting terrorism by giving information.
The two leaders asked security agencies to act swiftly and not to dismiss any tip-offs, no matter how trivial they may seem.
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04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... attackers taunted their victims and then shot them dead during the siege on Garissa University College on Thursday.
Details are coming to light of how the gunnies terrorised the students as survivors said they played dead for hours to stay alive.
The official corpse count is now at 148, excluding the four terrorists. It includes 142 students, three university guards and three coppers.
The snuffies spoke in fluent Kiswahili and were fairly young, survivors recalled. They told them; "You pay taxes to buy guns which we are now using to kill you."
"They told us to stop paying taxes because it is the taxes that the government uses to buy guns for the Kenya Defence Forces. They claimed they were using guns snatched from Kenyan soldiers," said Millicent Murugi from Embu, a second year student of Education.
The pregnant young woman told Saturday Nation at Garissa Hospital; "They also told us that if (President) Kenyatta doesn't remove Kenyan soldiers from Somalia, they will kill everybody else on sight."
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04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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BEIJING -- China dispatched a naval squadron to conduct anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia on Friday after diverting other ships to help evacuate citizens from war-torn Yemen. The official Xinhua News Agency said the three ships with their 800 sailors and a team of special forces soldiers left the eastern port of Zhoushan bound for the Gulf of Aden.
Since 2008, China has contributed ships to multinational anti-piracy patrols that escort commercial ships and respond to piracy threats.
Earlier this week, China dispatched three navy ships to rescue Chinese citizens and other foreign nationals from fighting in Yemen. They included 176 Pakistanis who were flown home after being evacuated to Djibouti on Thursday.
China first carried out such a mission in 2011, when one of its most sophisticated warships and military transport aircraft helped in the evacuation of about 35,000 Chinese citizens from Libya.
No Chinese have been reported killed or injured in the fighting in Yemen, which now threatens a potentially dangerous clash between U.S.-allied Arab states and Iran.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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Long piece by Claudia Rossett, a couple weeks old now, on how Iran used a branch of their national bank in Seoul to launder funds for Iran and North Korea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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Two armed North Korean border patrol guards from Sinuiju in North Hamkyung Province reportedly escaped the country and crossed over into China’s Dandong on Tuesday, Daily NK has learned. Of the two, one was captured on Thursday by Chinese public security officials, while the other is still on the run, according to local sources.
Upon discovery of the incident, North Korea’s military authorities immediately alerted Chinese authorities in the border city of Dandong, leading to a large-scale manhunt on the same day and the plastering of posters featuring the soldiers’ images around heavily trafficked areas of Dandong. Going AWOL, particularly while armed, is considered an offense of great magnitude in both North Korea and China.
Three days into the search, one of the soldiers was arrested in a small rural village near Dandong. “A North Korean solider carrying a gun was apprehended in quiet village near Dandong Singu District,” a source based in the border city told Daily NK. “At the time, there were large numbers of public security officials and soldiers on the streets.”
He added, “The solider held a woman hostage shortly before he was captured, creating a standoff with security officials. But in the end he was subdued.”
I bet he didn't live an hour after he was returned to the Norks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
I bet he didn't live an hour after he was returned to the Norks.
He probably lived long enough to wish it was shorter.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/04/2015 9:25 Comments ||
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#2
Between a rock and a hard spot.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/04/2015 13:48 Comments ||
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#3
I doubt if his family lived for more than an hour after he returned.
Posted by: Unang White7912 ||
04/04/2015 19:43 Comments ||
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[Economic Times] SYDNEY: Protesters waving Australian flags and carrying signs such as " Yes Australia. No Sharia" rallied around the country on Saturday in events organisers said were against Islamic extremism.
The "Reclaim Australia" events drew hundreds of supporters but also triggered counter-rallies from other groups who criticised them as racist and called for greater tolerance.
"We are pro-Australian values and anti-extreme Islam, but we're not anti-Muslim," Reclaim Australia spoke.
#1
Good luck. IMO, the time for peaceful protests is long past---it passed the first time some leftard called you a "Racist Islamophobe" and you tried to explain, instead of punching it in the snout.
[Jerusalem Post] Pope Francis presided at two Good Friday services, praying for persecuted Christians a day after Islamist militants attacked a university in Kenya, killing at least 147 people. Memories Pizza - Walkerton, Indiana? Sorry, please take it away.
Modern-day religious persecution was the common thread in both of the pope's appearances on the day Christians around the world commemorate Jesus' crucifixion. First, they came for the Jews, and Vatican cheered them on---any second thoughts?
#1
Well, that's one who complained, but he doesn't rally matter* - he's Catholic.
*Doesn't matter to the intelligentsia and the media. I personally never understood the anti-Catholic prejudice. But then, I never understood the anti-Semitic crowd, either.
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04/04/2015 8:38 Comments ||
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[NEWS.YAHOO] Gay Paree (AFP) - Six people who hid in a kosher supermarket refrigerator during January's Islamist attacks in Gay Paree are suing French media for broadcasting their location live during the siege.
Images broadcast from the scene on January 9, when gunman Amedy Coulibaly stormed into the Hyper Cacher Jewish supermarket, killing four and taking others hostage, "lacked the most basic precautions" and endangered those still alive inside, said a lawyer representing the group, Patrick Klugman.
Klugman singled out French 24-hour news channel BFMTV, which revealed live on air that the group -- including a three-year-old child and a one-month-old baby -- was hiding from Coulibaly in the cold room, where they were taken by one of the supermarket's employees.
"The working methods of media in real time in this type of situation were tantamount to goading someone to commit a crime," Klugman told AFP Thursday, also roundly criticising coverage by other outlets of security forces movements during the standoff.
The lives of those hiding "could have been at risk if Coulibaly had been aware in real time what BFMTV was broadcasting," Klugman said, adding that the jihadist was following the coverage of his raid on different channels and had been in contact with BFMTV journalists.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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[al-Monitor] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... on Friday summoned Tunisia's ambassador to explain remarks made by the Tunisian foreign minister accusing Ankara of facilitating the transit of jihadist fighters bound for neighbouring Syria and Iraq, a Turkish official said.
"The foreign ministry sought an explanation for the remarks made by the Tunisian foreign minister," the official told AFP.
Tunisia's Foreign Minister Taieb Baccouche on Thursday fired off a strident attack on Turkey which he said was a "passage point" for fighters who go to Syria or for those who travel to Libya and then infiltrate across the mostly non-existent border into Tunisia.
"We have asked our ambassador in Turkey to draw the attention of the Turkish authorities to the fact that we do not want a Moslem nation such as Turkey to help directly or indirectly terrorism in Libya by facilitating the movements of terrorists," Baccouche said.
Tunisia says 3,000 of its citizens are fighting alongside jihadist groups in Syria, Iraq and Libya, and that 500 battlehardened veterans have returned to the country where they are considered a security threat.
It has said that the two gunnies who killed 22 foreign tourists and a policeman at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis on March 18 had received weapons training in Libya, where Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadists have gained a foothold in recent months.
Turkey has often come under fire from the international community for letting murderous Moslems pass through its territory to join the ranks of Islamic State (IS) forces of Evil who have seized large chunks of territory in Iraq and Syria right up to the Turkish border. Ankara says it has tightened border security and called on the West for intelligence sharing and full lists of suspects to achieve better results.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... now has a framework nuclear deal with America's Iranian foe, but as he tries to build it into a binding accord he faces enemies closer to home.
Can he prevent the U.S. Congress from torpedoing his diplomatic efforts to contain Tehran?
"If Congress kills this deal, not based on expert analysis and without offering any reasonable alternative, then it's the United States that will be blamed for failure of diplomacy," Obama said Thursday.
No, it will be President Obama who will be blamed, and rightfully so.
"International unity will collapse and the path to conflict will widen."
Whereas if Congress does nothing, international unity will collapse and the path to conflict widen. So there's that.
The president has not denied Congress' role in the process. His aides regularly troop to Capitol Hill to inform and consult members of the Republican-controlled legislature.
His chiefs of diplomacy, defense, the Treasury, and the military have all appeared before the Senate and the House of Representatives to address politicians' qualms over the negotiations.
On Thursday, the outlines of a final deal were unveiled in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... after negotiations between six world powers and Iran. A final deal is to be completed by June 30.
But U.S. politicians have proven tough to win over and still have deep reservations -- some real, some perhaps politically opportunistic.
Opponents of a deal believe Obama is obsessed with his place in history, and has made too many concessions, abandoning U.S. allies Israel and 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... in the process.
- Raising the bar -
Their eyes fixed on the 2016 elections, Republicans have sought to impose their own criteria on the deal, raising a bar that by design is higher than the commander-in-chief's: the halting of all uranium enrichment by Iran, transparency of its military programs, and closure of its underground facility at Fordo.
Thanks to the efforts of the Democratic minority in Congress, the administration has so far succeeded in using parliamentary procedures to delay two bills on Iran.
The furthest advanced of the two is the Corker-Menendez bill, sponsored by the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker, and Democrat Robert Menendez.
It would give the Congress the right to review any final agreement, before any U.S. sanctions on Iran are lifted.
Obama has vowed to veto the bill in its current form, as well as a separate bill that would impose additional sanctions on Iran.
"We think it's best for members of Congress to take a look at the framework and then give the space to negotiate the final details between now and June," said a senior administration official.
Obama has exhorted politicians to rise above political gamesmanship, while warning that interfering in the negotiations increases the risk of a military confrontation.
- Democratic defections -
But the Republicans have not been deterred.
A committee vote on Corker-Menendez is still scheduled for April 14, when the Congress returns from a Spring break.
No date has been set for a vote by the Senate as a whole, however, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is traveling abroad, has kept his silence.
"Rather than bypass Congress and head straight to the UN Security Council as planned, the administration first should seek the input of the American people," said Corker.
His Republican colleagues are following the same line. The White House's problem is that more and more Democrats are joining them.
Nine of 46 Democratic Senators are co-sponsors of Corker-Menendez, and only four more Democratic defections are needed for a veto-proof, two-thirds majority.
So a lot rides on the White House's ability to persuade skeptical Democrats to hold their fire until the end of June.
Questioned by AFP, some refrained from comment on Friday. Others, like the new ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin, said they were taking their time to think it over. Still others, like Menendez and Tim Kaine, reaffirmed their support for the bill.
The debate over the Iran deal seems likely to turn partisan, poisoned by the start of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who has not formally announced his candidacy but currently leads the Republican field, lost no time in denouncing the agreement.
A partisan fight could keep Democrats in Obama's corner.
"I'm a co-sponsor of the bill, but if I see this slipping toward pure partisanship and we're going to try to embarrass the President, I'm off the bill," Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats, told CNN.
#2
I've been wondering how serious the GOP leadership is about this issue.
Is their criticism of the deal just boilerplate to mollify the rank and file who are angry at how the Reps have rolled over on so many domestic matters?
[AnNahar] Washington is planning to increase the number of Syrian refugees allowed to resettle in the United States, mostly for vulnerable cases, a U.S. official said Thursday.
Goody.
Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard said the numbers will still be very small compared with the nearly 4 million Syrians who have become refugees in neighboring countries, mostly Leb, Jordan and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... .
Richard told news hounds at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that the U.S. has received 648 Syrian refugees since the crisis began in 2011. She said the U.S. is "moving to bring more refugees to the United States," and that between 1,000 and 2,000 will be brought in by the end of September and several thousand others in 2016.
Washington seeks to bring "those who have severe medial conditions, widows and orphans" and traumatized people, she said.
Richard came to Leb from Kuwait where she took part in a donors' conference Tuesday that pledged $3.8 billion to help Syrians affected by the civil war.
At the conference, the U.S. promised the largest single commitment of $508 million. Of that pledge, $118 million will be spent and invested in Leb, a country hosting 1.2 million Syrians, or nearly a quarter of its population, Richard said.
Richard added that after Leb, where she met some officials and visited a school where Syrian refugees are staying, she will be going to Turkey and Jordan.
"In the first two years of the crisis we were really hopeful that the refugees would able to go home," she said, and acknowledged that now, with the Syrian civil war its fifth year, the refugees are not expected to "go home soon."
[AA.TR] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would not accept any Iranian nuclear deal that did not include Tehran's recognition of Israel's right to exist.
Speaking after a Friday cabinet meeting, Netanyahu slammed a framework deal signed Thursday between Iran and world powers as a "threat to Israel and the world."
"The [Israeli] cabinet is united in strongly opposing the proposed deal. This deal would pose a grave danger to the region and to the world and would threaten the very survival of the State of Israel," he asserted.
He also said the framework agreement would lend international legitimacy to Iran's nuclear program.
"The deal will not shut down a single nuclear facility in Iran, will not destroy a single centrifuge in Iran, and will not stop research and development on Iran's advanced centrifuges," Netanyahu said.
"On the contrary," he added, "the deal will legitimize Iran's illegal nuclear program. It will leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure."
He went on: "The deal will lift sanctions almost immediately -- and this at the very time that Iran is stepping up its aggression and terror in the region and beyond the region."
Netanyahu added that Israel would not accept any future agreement that did not include Iran's recognition of Israel's right to exist.
"Iran is a regime that openly calls for Israel's destruction and openly and actively works towards that end," he said.
"Israel will not accept an agreement that allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons, period," he added.
"In addition," he went on, "Israel demands that any final agreement with Iran include clear and unambiguous Iranian recognition of Israel's right to exist."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
And iff anti-Iran Sunni Govts-Nations go nuke, espec in response to Iran, so should they vee recognition of Israel + Israel's right to exist.
Paints a very different picture to the 'Mad Mullahs' we are used to hearing about. Almost to the point of reading like the paid for supplements the more serious newspapers used to contain, back in the day when I used to read printed newspapers.
[Harretz] A senior American official told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that the U.S. was readying its arsenal of heavy duty bunker-buster bombs for the possibility that the talks with Iran fail, and a decision is made to attack Iran's heavily fortified nuclear facilities.
"The Pentagon continues to be focused on being able to provide military options for Iran if needed," the anonymous official is quoted as telling the paper. "We have not taken our eyes off the ball."
According to the Wall Street Journal report, the Pentagon has been working on the improved bunker-busters for some time, with the latest tests taking place in mid-January -- before the latest round of talks with the Iranians.
The U.S. together with the other five world powers reached a framework agreement with Iran on Thursday, according to which Iran will submit its nuclear program to restrictions and international oversight in return for the lifting of economic sanctions.
The sides said that an agreement would be signed by the June 30.
#3
Champ wouldn't have any problem at all employing a 'Bunker Buster.' I doubt Kansas, Texas, Indiana, or Nebraska would appreciate his targeting scheme however.
#4
Can't possibly do anything until the improved bunker busters have been demonstrated to work. Until then -- so sorry about your six million dead, Bibi! -- we'll all simply have to wait.
#15
My math sez The Mad Mullahs have about 9 months maximum "slack time" for (1) US discovery + (2) time for any new sanctions to begin biting before bomb "breakthrough" (and be unable to blame it on the next Administration.):
Obama leaves office (next President will, assumably, be tougher on Iran.)in apx 21 months
Minimum time to "breakthrough" is estimated at 12 months
Eff' around with Mr. Obama = 21-12 = 9
Hope our Military takes Iran more seriously than The White House.
[National Review] by Fred Fleitz April 2, 2015 10:00 PM It legitimizes and advances Iran's uranium-enrichment program. At a press conference this afternoon, President Obama lauded the preliminary agreement reached with Iran to reduce the risk of an Iranian nuclear weapon, saying "this is a good deal." He claimed it will keep Iran at least a year away from constructing a nuclear weapon and will be subject to intrusive and unprecedented inspections and verification.
This preliminary agreement is the outline for a comprehensive agreement due by June 30. The details of the framework agreement as spelled out in a White House fact sheet and President Obama's speech raise many questions about a final deal. It is troubling that no final agreed-upon text has been released and that Iranian and EU officials were vague in their statements about the framework. Earlier today on National Review, Patrick Brennan wrote about tweets by Abas Aslani, the head of an Iranian government news agency, that show how the Iranian view of the agreement differs from the Obama administration's view. Aslani tweeted, for instance, that Iran will continue to develop advanced centrifuges during the duration of the deal and "all economic sanctions by EU, US will be lifted immediately including financial, banking, insurance, oil." Here are my initial thoughts about the preliminary agreement, based on our knowledge of it at this hour.
[al-Monitor] Even before he became secretary of state, John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... vowed to stop Iran from gaining an atomic bomb and warned the clock was ticking on reining in its nuclear ambitions.
But few if any of his fellow senators were aware during his January 2013 confirmation hearing that Kerry had already made tentative steps to try to bring Iran back to nuclear talks as part of a secret overture by President Barack Obama My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it... Just over two years later, Kerry and his team of diplomats and experts have pulled off a tough assignment -- laying out the contours of a deal to sharply cut back Tehran's nuclear program.
Even though the final accord has yet to be agreed, it is a huge achievement for the 71-year-old who took over as America's top diplomat in February 2013, a month after calling for "fresh thinking" to resolve global problems at his confirmation hearing.
The son of a diplomat, who grew up in the rubble of post-World War II Europe, Kerry has diplomacy running through his DNA.
After his failed 2004 bid for the presidency, serving as secretary of state is the pinnacle of his career.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
This "framework" may seem like a triumph now, but it extremely risky to the reputation of Secretary Kerry and President Obama.
If the agreement is made, and Iran cheats and gets a bomb within the next ten years, the way North Korea did, or if it leads to a war between Israel and Iran, it will have the same effect on their reputations that World War 2 had on the reputation of Neville Chamberlain. They will be considered by history to be nitwits.
Will Iran cheat? It has done so in the past and even admitted it. So did North Korea. Will it do so in the future? Only a dreamer can claim otherwise.
Since mentioning such cheating would humiliate our president, it would probably be ignored by his government, and the Iranians know this. Thus their incentive to not cheat is nil.
Will they cheat?
What do you think?
Will it lead to war?
To nuclear war?
What do you think?
[AA.TR] Syria's Bashar al -Assad regime is gradually losingborder crossings across the country and as of now only the ones along the Lebanese border that it controls are said to be open to traffic both ways, sources tell The Anadolu Agency.
Most of the other border crossings in Syria along The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , Iraq, Jordan and occupied Golan Heights are either closed or under control of holy warrior groups such as the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... , Daesh, Al-Nusra ...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant... Front and Kurdish fighters.
In Jordan, the Al Nusra Front-led Syrian fighters seized control of Nasib -- Jaber border crossing Wednesday after festivities withAssad regime forces. On the Syrian side, this crossing is located in the Deraa province. Also in Jordan, the Deraa border crossing, also known as Ramtha, is said to be under control of the Al Nusra Front and opposition forces since October 2013.
In Iraq, the Albu Kamal-al Qaem crossing is said to be in control of Daesh since it captured the Albu Kamal town in November 2012. It is located in eastern Deir el-Zour province on the Syrian side. Also, the Yarbia -- Rabea crossing, located in the northeastern al-Hasakah province on the Syrian side, is now said to be under control of the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Syrian Kurdish armed factions since October 2014.
Iraq's Al-Tanaf/Al-Walid is the only crossing border along the border in Iraq that is said to be under control of the Assad regime. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... there is no movement along this crossing because Daesh controls the Iraqi side of the crossing.
Turkey shares an estimated 900 kilometers long border with Syria, which has a total of around 13 border crossings. Some crossings that are under Assad regime's control on the Syrian side have been shut down by Turkey; these include the Kasb crossing in the northwestern province of Latakia, the al-Qamishli crossing in al-Hasakah province in northern Syria, the Tal Abyad in Raqqa province and the Garables in Aleppo province.
Crossings where the Syrian opposition groups hold sway on the Syrian side, such as the Bab al-Salama border crossing in Aleppo province and Bab al-Hawa in Idlib province, remain open. The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party is said to be in control of the Tal Sheir crossing located in Syrian town of Kobani and the Raas al-Ayn border crossing in Syria's al-Hasakah province.
Along the occupied Golan Heights, the Al-Quneitra border crossing is said to be under control of the Al Nusra Front and other opposition groups, including The Free Syrian Army, since August 2014 on the Syrian side. Israel has occupied two-thirds of the Golan Heights since 1967.
In Leb, the Al-Oreida and Jadidat Yabous border crossings have been under Assad regime's control. Other smaller border crossings along the Lebanese border, including al-Dabbousiya, Josiya, al-Aboudiya, Jesr al-Qmar are also said to be under regime control.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
How many "Assad regime losing control" posts we had here in the last 4 years?
#2
Turkish propaganda favoring their Sunni brethren. Sunni majority nations surrounding Syria have closed their border crossings to Assad's regime. For that reason, these crossing are worthless as trade routes, except to the Sunni opposition. Given that borders with Sunni majority states are also areas where rebels are well-supplied and presumably allowed to slip back over the border by friendly Sunni regimes after hit-and-run attacks, Assad would have to be a real sucker for punishment to continue manning these border crossings unless they happen to have some kind of strategic value independent of trade.
That he doesn't control them shows he doesn't control the whole country, and that the rebels are posing a viable challenge to his rule. If he ever gets round to controlling them, he will have crushed the rebels.
[ARA] Subsequent to four months of battles between the joint forces and bully boyz of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS/ISIS) in the Syrian border city of Kobane, the group was driven out of the area. However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... the results were apparently disastrous in terms of the sheer number of residential buildings that were destroyed.
Speaking to News ARA News, Hana Osei, a 22-year-old girl, who came back to Kobane with her family a month ago, said: "We lived in one of our relatives' houses because our house was completely destroyed, and we hoped that the concerned authorities in the city would help rebuild the destroyed residential buildings in Kobane; however, there seems to be a sharp shortage of capacities to rebuild our hometown."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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Insh'allah. If Allah so wills to punish those who think themselves his most beloved...
[DailyExpress] The self-declared Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... capital is currently in the throes of an epidemic and a number of members of the Islamic State have reportedly been infected.
Efforts are reportedly being made to prevent the further spread of the Leishmaniasis skin disease, which is highly virulent, in the IS stronghold.
Although organizations began work to combat the disease, this became impossible after IS is claimed to have closed down their city offices.
They also confiscated equipment and tossed in the clink Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! officers trying to help fight the condition which can be deadly.
More than 2,500 cases of the flesh-eating disease have been recorded in the north-east of Raqqa.
The first case of the disease, which is caused by protozoan parasites, was discovered in September 2013.
By the middle of 2014 500 people had been affected, according to a network of activists 'Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.'
The disease is spread by flies that are attracted by the rubble and rubbish of war.
It can sometimes be fatal and can also cause significant damage to parts of the body it affects.
More than 2,500 cases have been recored in the north-east of Raqqa.
IS is said to have a residual force of between 3,000 to 5,000 in the city, as they attempt to strengthen their so-called caliphate.
This comes after World Health Organisation reported that Syria's health system had collapsed, meaning that disease was spreading rapidly through a country already plagued by violence.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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#5
Sounds like ye olde war zone has become a petri dish of flesh eating disease. The war keeps going and bad sanitation will help end it. What a place! Send in the NGOs.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/04/2015 14:19 Comments ||
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#6
AP, send them in as long as you don't let them out.
This is starting to sound more and more like a Dark Ages conflict with each passing day.
#7
The old story is that the 'Plague' was brought by refugees from a Black Sea port besieged by Mongols. The refugees escaped to Sicily where it spread into Europe proper. Scroll up to "Visiting Official: U.S. to Resettle more Syrian Refugees in the Near Future". Remember these are the same 'officials' who didn't/don't give a damn about diseases carried in by illegals Central Americans et al and barely blinked when Ebola patients were brought in without effective protocols for handling.
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.
[NEWS.YAHOO] 
[al-Monitor] Even before he became secretary of state, 
