Hi there, !
Today Tue 11/03/2015 Mon 11/02/2015 Sun 11/01/2015 Sat 10/31/2015 Fri 10/30/2015 Thu 10/29/2015 Wed 10/28/2015 Archives
Rantburg
531699 articles and 1855982 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 59 articles and 183 comments as of 14:15.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Islamic State claims responsibility for Russian plane crash in Egypt
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
8 22:57 Alaska Paul [] 
0 [] 
1 15:33 Sven the pelter [] 
10 21:10 bbrewer126 [] 
3 21:41 Zenobia Floger6220 [1] 
1 20:13 Frank G [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
2 10:27 trailing wife [] 
2 02:21 3dc [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
1 06:22 Sheba Whart4146 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
1 06:33 Sheba Whart4146 [] 
4 12:55 M. Murcek [] 
1 10:31 trailing wife [] 
4 19:34 Blossom Unains5562 [] 
Page 2: WoT Background
0 [1]
3 13:38 ed in texas []
1 15:35 Sven the pelter []
1 15:40 Sven the pelter []
3 14:42 Sven the pelter []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
2 09:42 Procopius2k []
1 10:04 ed in texas []
Page 3: Non-WoT
1 13:36 ed in texas []
8 15:58 trailing wife [1]
5 10:37 Procopius2k []
5 22:07 Glenmore []
9 15:29 Sven the pelter []
11 18:02 Zenobia Floger6220 []
4 13:36 Airandee []
9 18:34 NoMoreBS [2]
5 18:15 ed in texas []
5 13:21 Bright Pebbles []
0 [1]
5 18:22 ed in texas []
6 23:25 badanov []
0 []
8 15:27 SteveS []
Page 4: Opinion
6 19:59 Airandee []
6 18:16 Zenobia Floger6220 []
2 09:22 Besoeker []
5 16:45 whitecollar redneck []
1 10:36 trailing wife []
8 17:06 charger []
2 10:39 trailing wife []
3 06:29 Scooter McGruder []
17 19:51 Thing From Snowy Mountain []
Page 6: Politix
3 14:35 Sven the pelter []
Afghanistan
Foreign Militants Killed in Kunar Drone Strike
A foreign militant commander and his two guards were killed in a drone strike in eastern Kunar province, local officials said Friday.

Bilal Al-Naiby, who was allegedly an Arab, was targeted Thursday evening in Ghazi Abad district, said Kunar Police Chief.

Located in the east, bordering to Pakistan, Kunar has long experienced terrorist attacks.

Kunar has also seen constant rocket fires from across the border over the past few years.
Posted by: badanov || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Islamic State claims responsibility for Russian plane crash in Egypt
[Channel News Asia] A militant group affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt claimed responsibility for the downing of a Russian passenger plane that crashed in Egypt's Sinai peninsula on Saturday, the group said in a statement circulated by supporters on Twitter.

CAIRO: A militant group affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt claimed responsibility for the downing of a Russian passenger plane that crashed in Egypt's Sinai peninsula on Saturday, the group said in a statement circulated by supporters on Twitter.

Egyptian security sources earlier on Saturday said early investigations suggested the plane crashed due to a technical fault.

The claim of responsibility was also carried by the Aamaq website which acts as a semi official news agency for Islamic State.

"The fighters of the Islamic State were able to down a Russian plane over Sinai province that was carrying over 220 Russian crusaders. They were all killed, thanks be to God," the statement circulated on Twitter said.

Lufthansa, Air France avoid flying over Sinai after crash
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/31/2015 14:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Forensics will tell the tale.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 10/31/2015 14:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Went kaboomski while @ 31,000 ft.

Per Wiki, far above max range.

Some reports of a comm issue, but, unless "Golden BB" elec. failure, I'm-a-thinkin' on-board fireworks.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 10/31/2015 17:19 Comments || Top||

#3  May have been a SA-8 GECKO shooting 9M33M2 "Osa-A". dvertised as good to 39,000 ft.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 10/31/2015 17:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Easier to get a splodydope on the plane. It's a Russian plane flying out of the Sinai. Likely "inshallah" airport security...
Posted by: Steve White || 10/31/2015 19:06 Comments || Top||

#5  ^^ yup
Posted by: Frank G || 10/31/2015 19:52 Comments || Top||

#6  BBC: The bodies were found spread over an area of 2.5 to 3 sq km (0.97 - 1.12 sq miles).

So it disintegrated mid-air. Unlikely to be a mechanical fault.
Posted by: phil_b || 10/31/2015 22:11 Comments || Top||

#7  If i was Putin just daring to claim credit for the plane crashing would be enough for me to stop targeting Syrian rebels for awhile and bash the holy crap out of ISIS.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/31/2015 22:39 Comments || Top||

#8  ISIS and the bedoins in the Saini are good buds so maybe they need a visit from above
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/31/2015 22:57 Comments || Top||


Armed gang attack jail in Zliten
An armed gang yesterday attacked the jail in Zliten, 140 kilometres east of Tripoli, wounding police guards and temporarily taking it over.

The gang, reported to have been led by a man named Ageela Andisha, shot at members of the judicial police. One of them, Mohamed Al-Hamali is said to have been wounded in the leg and was taken to hospital for treatment

The jail’s director is also said to have been assaulted.
Posted by: badanov || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Xinhua cameraman disappears, feared kidnapped
A Libyan cameraman working for the Chinese newsagency Xinhua has disappeared and is feared to have been kidnapped. Mohamed Al-Naili, vanished in suspicious circumstances yesterday just after leaving home on his way to the bank. His hat was found in the street and neighbours reported seeing him being bundled into a black 4X4 vehcile.

A student at Tripoli university, Niali has worked part-time for Xinhua for the past two years as well as freelancing for other local TV stations.

His disappearance has been confirmed by colleagues on the foreign media department’s Viber group. It is being suggested, however, that his abduction may be a private rather than a political matter.
Posted by: badanov || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Three Egyptian security personnel injured during Islamist protest in Sharqiy
[AlAhram] Three security personnel were maimed during festivities with supporters of the now-banned Moslem Brüderbund group north of Cairo, a provincial security official said.

The festivities occurred on Friday afternoon during a tens-strong protest in the Nile Delta governorate of Sharqiya. The demonstrations were called for by a coalition supporting the once-ruling group to condemn the country's parliamentary elections that kicked off last week.

Provincial security chief Abdel Latif Hennawy told Aswat Masriya news website that protesters used fireworks and birdshot pellets, prompting fighting with riot police.

Three members of security forces were maimed, while police incarcerated
Please don't kill me!
"a number of rioters," he added.

Following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, the Brotherhood group was declared a terrorist organization, with thousands of its members and supporters thrown behind bars and hundreds killed.

Protests by Islamists have significantly decreased amid the crackdown.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Arabia
Houthi rebels deploy African mercenaries
Coalition forces stationed in the Yemeni territorial waters of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden have arrested a number of African infiltrators.

The war in Yemen has taken a nasty turn with Houthi rebels and forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh recruiting African refugees to fight along their ranks. Yemeni security agencies and the Saudi-led Arab Coalition forces have arrested a large number of African infiltrators, who have revealed they are mercenaries brought in by Houthi rebels.
Completely different from the mercs brought in by the coalition of course...
Military sources told the London-based Pan Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat that the coalition forces stationed in the Yemeni territorial waters of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden have arrested a number of African infiltrators, who were brought in boats from the Horn of Africa to the coasts of Aden, Lahja, Abyan and Shabwa governorates in south Yemen.

The report quoted human rights activist Shafia Al Abd as saying that the flow of Africans into Yemen would aggravate the political, economic and security situation once their numbers continue to increase.

"Hundreds of African refugees arrived in the Shabwa governorate in the east of the country through its open shores," he said, adding that all the new arrivals are youths, mostly from Ethiopia".

He wondered what the real motive of these people is by coming to a country engulfed in war and chaos. "The only available opportunities for them is to fight as mercenaries."

He said that before the war erupted, refugees from the Horn of Africa usually arrived at Belhaf port in the Shabwa governorate. Most of those refugees came from Somalia, and included children, women and elderly. But, he said, the new arrivals are mostly youths and are from Ethiopia.

"Once they stepped on to the Yemeni shores, they asked about Radaa and Beijan belonging to the Shabwa and Al Bidhaa governorates, which are controlled by the Houthi rebels," he said.
Posted by: badanov || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My merc is better then your merc... cause he eats kennel rations my merc is better than yours...
Posted by: 3dc || 10/31/2015 2:20 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: 3dc || 10/31/2015 2:21 Comments || Top||


Resistance attacks rebels in central Yemen
Published Friday, October 30, 2015
Yemen’s national resistance fighters attacked positions held by Houthis and their allies in central Yemen on Thursday, triggering heavy fighting all the day.

Military sources said the resistance fighters targeted positions in three areas in the central govern-ate of Al Bayda and that the rebels reacted by calling in reinforcements.

“Heavy fighting erupted in those areas all the day…the battles were still continuing until this moment without any major advance by the two warring parties,” Yemen’s news network Masdar Online quoted a military source as saying late Thursday.

The network also quoted sources as saying two Houthi militias were killed on Thursday in a resistance attack while a rebel armoured vehicle was destroyed by artillery shelling by the national resistance fighters in the central region.

In a related development, coalition jets pounded rebel positions in Al Bayda city and areas surrounding it on Thursday.
Posted by: badanov || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


10 Yemeni journalists killed by Houthis
By Staff
Published Friday, October 30, 2015
Ten Yemeni journalists were killed and 16 others abducted by Houthi militants and forces loyal to former President Saleh, reported ‘Emarat Al Youm’.

The Yemeni News Agency quoted Marwan Dammaj, Secretary-General, Yemeni Journalists ' Syndicate, as saying during a meeting organised by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in Brussels, that reporting in Yemen is risky. Journalists in Yemen are in real danger and are tortured and physically assaulted and threatened, too.

He said: “We have evidence that detained journalists are subjected to torture by Houthis and forces loyal to Saleh.”

Journalists in Yemen live in fear and work in very dangerous environment as they can be arrested any time.

The Yemeni Alliance, monitoring human rights violations, recently published a report on violations and crimes committed by Houthis militants and Saleh forces. According to which, at least 25 media institutions were looted or destroyed.

According to the report, Houthi militia and forces loyal to Saleh took control of the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology and has taken control of ‘Yemen.net’ company, which is the only provider of internet.

Meanwhile, IFJ has submitted a plan to address the appalling conditions journalists face in Yemen.

The objective of the meeting was to highlight occupational safety of journalists in Yemen and to discuss means to support Yemeni journalists.
Posted by: badanov || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Moslems killing Moslems. But then, they ARE Moslems and one gets used to it.

Its the Religion of Peace.
Posted by: Sheba Whart4146 || 10/31/2015 6:22 Comments || Top||


Yemeni pilots carry out airstrikes with AT-802 turboprops
Yemeni pilots are now flying IOMAX AT-802 light strike aircraft out of Al-Anad Air Base in the south of the country, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) revealed on 28 October.

The UAE's official WAM news agency reported that the country's military is currently putting several Yemeni pilots through extensive flight training at Al-Anad, which it said has been renovated by the coalition that launched a military operation in March to re-install Yemen's ousted president. Yemeni forces, backed by an Emirati battlegroup that was landed at Aden, recaptured the air base in August.

WAM reported that the aim is to train a Yemeni force that can "further enhance military operations in the province of Taizz" and added that the Yemeni pilots had already carried out strikes against weapons depots and vehicles in the cities of Taizz and Al-Baydah, where Yemeni militias fighting on behalf of the ousted government are struggling to defeat opposition forces.

WAM also released photographs showing that the aircraft being flown by the Yemenis are AT-802s, which are Air Tractor airframes modified by the US company IOMAX into the Block 1/2 Border Patrol Aircraft (BPA) configuration. At least three such aircraft were seen at Al-Anad in footage broadcast by Abu Dhabi TV on the same day.
P-47 Thunderbolt pilots would be proud.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The A-10 is a better crop sprayer and can milk the cows and wait for Timmy at the bus stop.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/31/2015 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  An air tractor.
Why did I suddenly think of "tractor" in the Soviet sense?
The best way would be to fit spray tanks and load them with G series nerve agents. Call it aerial pest control?
Posted by: Nguard || 10/31/2015 1:05 Comments || Top||

#3  The 802 is descended from a line of crop dusters, and has been shown to be highly useful in observation / suppression roles where the enemy doesn't have air assets. A 10 hour loiter time and a 2000 lb carry load, along with operating off of unimproved runways (dirt/grass) have made it popular with a variety of people. Jordan's using them in their ISIL/border patrols, as does our own border patrol. When plodding along at sensor height (~3-5K ft AGL) you just about can't hear them.
Posted by: ed in texas || 10/31/2015 13:27 Comments || Top||

#4  @#2: True, but Pawnees on steroids are cheaper.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 10/31/2015 19:34 Comments || Top||


Europe
In Sweden, man charged with terror for instructing son
[Ynet] Swedish prosecutors say a man has been charged with encouraging, recruiting and training others to commit terror by giving instructions to his son, who at the time was in Syria.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority says the man gave instructions on how to blow up a prison wall in Aleppo, Syria.
How had the father come by such knowledge, that he had it to share?
Prosecutors said Friday the advice was given between December 2013 and January 2014 in Jarfalla, west of Stockholm.

Neither the man, nor his son was identified.

Prosecutor Ronnie Jacobsson told Swedish news agency TT that the son later died in Syria. TT also said the man has denied any wrongdoing.

No date for a trial was set. If found guilty, he faces up to two years in jail.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/31/2015 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A pencilneck prison? Freedom-fighter!

The donk's call that situational ethics.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 10/31/2015 15:33 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Anti ISIS activist beheaded in Turkey
ISTANBUL: A prominent Syrian activist who worked to expose Daesh atrocities in the war-torn country was found dead along with a friend in the Turkish city of Urfa on Friday. The two had been beheaded, fellow activists said.

Ibrahim Abdul Qader and his friend Fares Hamadi were “slaughtered by the hands of ISIS (Daesh),” the activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently posted on its Facebook page on Friday.

Turkey goes to the polls Sunday after five turbulent months without a government. Opinion polls predict Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) will again win the most votes but is unlikely to claw back the parliamentary majority it lost in a shock setback in June, paving the way for a shaky coalition — or even another election.

President Erdogan said Thursday that only a single-party government could ensure stability in the strategic nation of 75 million.

“If our nation makes its choice for a single-party government, then I believe it would lay the ground for the resumption of an environment of stability that we experienced for 12 to 13 years,” said Erdogan.

Security is of paramount concern, after the deadly flare-up of violence in July between Turkish security forces and rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) shattered a delicate 2013 truce and revived a three-decade-old conflict.

The country is also struggling to come to terms with the twin suicide bombings on a peace rally in Ankara this month that killed 102 people in the worst attack in its history.
Posted by: badanov || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Two Syrian journalists murdered in Turkey’s southeast
[Hurriyet] Two Syrian journalists have been murdered in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's southeastern province of Sanliurfa in what is presumed to be an attack by snuffies 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....
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Ibrahim Abdulkadir, managing editor at Syrian Ayn Vatan newspaper and Firaz Hamadi, a news hound for the same newspaper, had fled the conflict in Syria for Sanliurfa, where they shared a flat.

Their dead bodies were found by seven of their Syrian friends, who called the police and made an emergency appeal.

Reports indicate that one or more assailants, who remain unidentified, slit the throats of the news hounds using a hunting knife.

It is claimed that both journalists were members of the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
and had been receiving death threats from ISIL for publishing reports against the jihadist organization.

The journalists' bodies were transferred to the Forensic Medicine Institute for his appointment with Doctor Quincy.

Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Don Smilzo looked for an avenue of escape. The only window opened a hundred feet above the moat. The nearest of the hired assassins hold a bloody axe.
The window was looking better all the time....

police detained the seven Syrians who found the murdered journalists' bodies and called for help, in order to take their testimonies.

The investigation into the double homicides continues.
Al Ahram adds:
The beheaded bodies of a Syrian activist opposed to the Islamic State group and a friend were found early Friday in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa, his colleagues said.

Ibrahim Abdul Qader, 20, and friend Fares Hamadi "were found beheaded at the friend's house this morning," Abu Mohammad, a founder of the activist's "Raqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently" group, told AFP via the Internet.

The group, which documents abuses in areas under IS control in Syria, accused the jihadist organisation of the murders on its Facebook page.

According to Abu Mohammad, both men were from Raqa city, the de facto capital of IS in Syria. Hamadi was also in his early twenties.

Abdul Qader had escaped to Turkey a little over a year ago.

Members of the activist group had been killed inside Syria in the past, but this is the first time a member has been killed outside the country, Abu Mohammad added.

Sanliurfa is 55 kilometres (35 miles) from Turkey's border with Syria's Raqa province, a major IS stronghold in the country.

RBSS regularly publishes information, photos and videos about IS dictates and behaviour in Raqa, from a jihadist ban on private Internet connections to its decision to begin issuing identity cards.

Activists documenting IS abuses have regularly been targeted by the group, which deems them "infidels" punishable by death.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  And who will miss them? Journalists AND Moslem journalists at that.

Its usually hard to feel sorry for a Journalist and as for a Moslem who has his throat sliced by ANOTHER Moslem ( with a hunting knife )? Well, that's just another deeply sacramental and cherished old time honored Moslem Custom
and we should "respect" the common ordinary every day customs of other cultures, now shouldn't we?

Beside, its their deeply held religious beliefs and they like to do one another. That is what Allahu Akbar is all about.

Plus the occasional gunsex which is another" colorful" fun custom.
Posted by: Sheba Whart4146 || 10/31/2015 6:33 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Soldier killed in roadside blast in Khyber
PESHAWAR: One security forces personnel was killed while three others were injured in a roadside explosion in Tirah valley of Khyber agency on Friday.

Sources told DawnNews that security forces were on routine patrol in Sandana area of Tirah Valey when the road side explosion occurred.

One soldier was killed while three others were injured in what is said to be an improvised explosive device (IED) blast.

Security forces cordoned off the area after the incident and moved the injured to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Peshawar for treatment.

The semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border have for years been a hideout for Islamist militants of all stripes, including Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban as well as foreign fighters such as Uzbeks and Uighurs.

Pakistan too began a long-awaited push to clear insurgent bases from North Waziristan last June after a bloody Taliban attack on Karachi airport finally sank faltering peace talks.

The forces cleared much of the Bara plain in Operation Khyber One launched in October 2014 while in a follow-on operation named Khyber-2 cleared the fierce Tirah terrain consisting of deep valleys and high mountains.
Posted by: badanov || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Iraqi army halts anti-Daesh operation in Ramadi due to weather
The spokesman for Iraq's defence ministry said the Iraqi military has temporary halted its offensive to retake the city of Ramadi from the Daesh group due to inclement weather.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool said that some units faced difficulty as heavy rains battered parts of Iraq for the third straight day on Friday. He said they were ordered to hold their position until the weather improves.

Iraqi troops launched an operation to retake Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar province, from the Daesh group earlier this month in an effort to open a corridor for security forces to proceed to the northern city of Mosul.

Ramadi fell to Daesh in May, after more than a year of intense clashes between the militants, the military and local tribesmen.
Posted by: badanov || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Then it will be muddy, followed by El fkoff month, then getting too warm, then to dry, wet, bad luck month etc.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/31/2015 0:39 Comments || Top||

#2  We've been carrying reports of a severe storm system all week, which caused serious floods and hail across Egypt, Israel and Lebanon. It hit Iraq and the Kurdish part of Iran Wednesday night -- 2" of rain fell in the first twenty-four hours, leading to knee-high floods in the streets of Baghdad. Also, according to an article posted here yesterday:

One of the unexpected consequences of the downpour was the accidental detonation of what a senior officer in the Anbar operations command said were hundreds of bombs planted by the Islamic State group to defend the provincial capital of Ramadi.

The improvised explosive devices, mostly in the areas of Albu Dhiyab and Albu Farraj, "were planted by the Daesh (IS) terrorists to stop the progress of the security forces north of Ramadi," the officer said.

"Hundreds of them went off as a result of the rain and humidity," he said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/31/2015 10:27 Comments || Top||


Iraqi Shia militia claims attack on exiled Iranian opposition: Fars
[AlAhram] The commander of Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim al-Mukhtar Army militia grabbed credit on Friday for a deadly rocket attack on a camp holding members of an exiled Iranian opposition group near Baghdad, according to Iran's Fars news agency.

About 15 rockets crashed near the camp of the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) next to Baghdad International Airport on Thursday and killed 23 of its members, a Gay Paree-based front man for the group said.

"We warned the members of this terrorist organization to leave Iraq as soon as possible ... If they don't do so, there will more similar attacks," al-Mukhtar Army commander Wathiq al Battat was quoted as saying by Fars. The Al-Mukhtar Army has said it is supported and funded by Iran's government.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
PA claims Palestinian baby dies from inhaling tear gas fired by IDF
[IsraelTimes] An eight-month-old Paleostinian baby died Friday from inhaling tear gas fired during violent festivities near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, the Paleostinian health ministry said. The ministry said Ramadan Muhammad Thawabteh died while he was in his home in the village of Beit Fajjar.

"Ramadan Thawabteh, eight months old, died from asphyxiation today after inhaling tear gas, fired by the Israeli army, that entered the house of his family," a ministry front man said.

It was not immediately clear if a tear gas grenade had entered the house in the city of Bethlehem or if the gas had seeped in from outside. The Israeli army said it was investigating the matter.

The incident came on a day of renewed violence in Israel, the West Bank and Gazoo Strip that saw a return of terror attacks in Jerusalem.

Two Israelis were maimed in a stabbing at the Ammunition Hill light rail station in the capital on Friday afternoon; their attacker was shot and critically maimed. It was the first attack in Jerusalem since October 17, and the second of the day.

Hours earlier, a Paleostinian was rubbed out and another was maimed as they tried to stab two Border Police officers at Tapuah Junction in the West Bank. Also in the West Bank, two Paleostinians were maimed in festivities with Border Police officers near the city of Ramallah.

In Gazoo, dozens of Paleostinians were also reported to have been hurt in festivities with Israeli security forces along the border fence with Israel.

Border policewoman foils terrorist attack

[Ynet] Corporal A’ joined the Border Police after immigrating to Israel from France. On Friday, she prevented a terrorist attack at the Tapuach junction. “I understood that if I hesitated for a second, the fighter beside me won’t be alive.”
The new French immigrants contribute more than just new foods and stylish women to the streets of Israel. Well done, Corporal!
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/31/2015 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  typical Paleos - bringing a baby to a violent demonstration riot as collateral damage
Posted by: Frank G || 10/31/2015 20:13 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Bomb attacks linked to Thai peace talks
[The Nation] A series of explosions in Yala province over the past two days is an attempt by insurgents to increase their negotiating power before the resumption of peace talks early next month, an intelligence source has said. The source said, "They have been using violence to push forward their demands," adding that the ultimate goal of the militants was to found an Islamic state of Pattani.

Police Lt-General Chalermphon Ajaraboon said the group Ubahira RKK may be behind the recent bombings. He said, "This group is usually active in Krong Pinang and Bannang Sata districts [in Yala] and Bacho district [in Narathiwat]."

The bombings were designed to discredit the Thai government, according to Second Army Corps chief Lt-General Ruangsak Suwannaga., but he downplayed the severity of the attacks. He said, "We have also brought the situation back to normal fast."

On Thursday night, at least seven bombs shook Yala. One brought down an electricity pole and blackouts were reported. Yesterday morning, two more bombs went off in Yala and wounded five policemen.

In the first incident, seven police were heading to the scene of a bomb blast in Muang district when their vehicle was targeted by a bomb tied to a roadside tree that was detonated remotely. That explosion wounded three officers. Another bomb went off in Than To district, wounding a soldier and a ranger.
Posted by: ryuge || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency

#1  Typical.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/31/2015 10:31 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Attack kills dozens in Syria as talks begin in Vienna
[Ynet] A barrage of missiles slammed into an overcrowded suburb of the Syrian capital, killing at least 40 people on Friday, activists said, as world powers convened in Vienna for talks on how to resolve the country's conflict.
A reminder that it's the war that matters, not the diplomacy.
The attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma -- the latest on this rebel-held area that has seen hundreds of people killed over the past few years -- was a stark reminder of the enormous civilian suffering inside Syria while negotiations over Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
's future take place abroad.

With 19 foreign ministers attending the meeting in Vienna, including those from regional powerbrokers Iran 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...
, there was cautious hope that a small breakthrough would be achieved
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/31/2015 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


U.S. to Send 'Fewer Than 50' Special Ops Forces to Syria
[AnNahar] President Barack Obama
If you like your coverage you can keep it...
has authorized the first sustained deployment of U.S. special forces to Syria, officials said Friday, easing his long-standing refusal to put boots on the ground.

America's commander-in-chief has authorized an initial deployment of "fewer than 50" special operations forces to the north of the war-ravaged nation, in what officials described as an intensified effort to combat 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....
group.

"They will help coordinate local ground forces and coalition efforts to counter ISIL," said a senior administration official, using an acronym for the jihadist group.

Washington will also deploy A-10 ground-attack planes and F-15 tactical fighter jets to the Incirlik base in southern The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, as part of the ramped up effort.

The White House is expected to make a formal announcement later Friday.

The U.S. leads a 65-member coalition that have vowed to roll back the Islamic State group's territorial gains in Syria and Iraq.

But the bloc has sometimes struggled, with the White House reluctant to dramatically gear up U.S. involvement and key members of the coalition holding divergent aims and differing degrees of commitment.

Obama recently scrapped a $600 million mission to train Syrian opposition fighters.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/31/2015 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  A down payment on the "fun" that has yet to come.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 10/31/2015 12:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Technical assistance group. Formally know as the advanced party.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 10/31/2015 12:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Probably been there for some time prior to this announcement but since one special ops recently was killed in combat in Iraq it probably makes more sense politically to make this announcement now.
Posted by: Airandee || 10/31/2015 12:43 Comments || Top||

#4  As I recall, this was how Viet Nam started.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 10/31/2015 13:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Brian Suits calls it: "Operation Just The Tip"
Posted by: Frank G || 10/31/2015 13:15 Comments || Top||

#6  Where's the Earth Shatter Kaboom anti-war demonstrators?

Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/31/2015 15:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Special forces in Syria don't mean USA entering civil war: Kerry
Good to know!
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/31/2015 16:13 Comments || Top||

#8  Fewer than 50 guys. I mean persons, now that we have girl Rangers. Barely enough for a dorm party. Of course, they will need supply/support/planning. No idea how many that is. 2x? 3x?

Sorry, can't help it. Official statements put me into lawyerly-parsing mode.
Posted by: SteveS || 10/31/2015 17:26 Comments || Top||

#9  What language do those spec ops speak, Russian, Arabic?
Posted by: Mugsy Glink || 10/31/2015 20:04 Comments || Top||

#10  Sure hope they are not in the same area the Ruskies are throwing ordinance.
Posted by: bbrewer126 || 10/31/2015 21:10 Comments || Top||


Report: Lebanese Man Beheaded after Son Lures Him to IS-held Raqa
[AnNahar] A Lebanese man has been beheaded after his jihadist son "lured" him to the Syrian city of Raqa, the self-proclaimed capital 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....
group's "caliphate," a media report said on Friday.

Mahmoud al-Hussein, who hails from the al-Mankoubine neighborhood of the northern city of 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...
, headed to Raqa to seek the return of his two daughters, who were convinced by their brother, Yehia al-Hussein, to travel to the jihadist bastion, Mahmoud's brother told MTV.

The man fell into an IS "ambush" the moment he arrived in Raqa and his son told the jihadist group that his father had "cursed the Prophet Mohammed," his brother added.

He said the son had returned to Leb after his family exerted efforts to convince him to leave the IS.

However,
you can observe a lot just by watching...
he later returned to Raqa along with his two sisters after telling the family that he was accompanying them for "tourism in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
."

The father, who was "beheaded in the presence of his son and two daughters," was also accused of "establishing ties with the Lebanese government and the Turkish consulate," his brother told MTV.

The TV network noted that Omar Bakri Fustoq, an extermist Islamist preacher tossed in the calaboose
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
in Leb, was married to one of Mahmoud's daughters, without specifying if it was referring to one of the two aforementioned women.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/31/2015 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  "cursed the Prophet Mohammed,"

Is that like saying "Jesus Christ!" after hitting your thumb with a hammer?
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 10/31/2015 15:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Allan is pleased with his involuntary sacrifice
Posted by: Frank G || 10/31/2015 20:15 Comments || Top||

#3  "You curse me for causing your pain?
Unworthy Mahmoud al-Hussein!
Thank Allah, blasphemer,
Your son, my redeemer,
Was pious enough to Mus-splain."
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 10/31/2015 21:41 Comments || Top||


Syrian rebels repel attack on Maree
ALEPPO – Fierce clashes broke out Friday between the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) and the Syrian rebel group of ash-Shamiya Front in the northern countryside of Aleppo, northern Syria, leaving several casualties in the ranks of the warring parties, military sources reported.

This coupled with the exchange of rocket and artillery fire between the two sides near the strategic town of Maree.

Rebels were able to stop ISIS advance in northern Aleppo after several landmines planted in the nearby villages exploded.

Speaking to ARA News in Aleppo, rebel field commander Saleh al-Zein confirmed that fighters of ash-Shamiya Front were able to repel an attempt by ISIS to storm the town of Maree on Friday evening.

“Fierce clashes erupted between our fighters and ISIS militants on the southern side of the town, where heavy weapons have been used,” he said. “At least seven ISIS terrorists were killed and dozens others were injured.”

“Three rebel fighters were also killed in the clashes,” al-Zein told ARA News.

“As ISIS extremists withdrew under our blows, several landmines planted in the surrounding agricultural land exploded, during which several ISIS extremists were killed,” al-Zein told ARA News, pointing out “we have planted landmines in several villages in the vicinity of Mare, including Herbel, Oum Housh, Tel Qarra, Harjala and al-Bil.”

The terror group has been in control of large areas of the northern countryside of Aleppo after storming the strategic points of Infantry School, Juvenile Prison and the Free Zone in the province.
Posted by: badanov || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Russia says hit 1,623 targets in Syria since start of bombing campaign
[AlAhram] Russia on Friday said its airforce had destroyed 1,623 "terrorist targets" in Syria since it launched a bombing campaign a month ago to support forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
"Overall our planes made 1,391 sorties, destroying 1,623 terrorist targets," including 51 training camps and 131 storage facilities, Andrei Kartapolov, a senior defence ministry official, said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meanwhile Obama is practicing his Bow. Although he has sent fifty US soldiers to Syria who all feel like "bait" to be there.

But then Obama is like that . Just enough to act but not actually be effective. How would you like to be one of those fifty men USED like weenies on a stick? Meanwhile Obama goes to the John and takes a piss.
Posted by: Sheba Whart4146 || 10/31/2015 6:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Putin wages war
Obama wages PR
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/31/2015 9:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Must be some way we could Lend-Lease the Russians some bombs. They really liked the submachine guns, trucks, and planes.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/31/2015 9:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Notice the press has gone completely silent on bammy's golfing. Spontaneous, or marching orders?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/31/2015 12:55 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
49[untagged]
6Islamic State
1Commies
1Govt of Syria
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Thai Insurgency

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2015-10-31
  Islamic State claims responsibility for Russian plane crash in Egypt
Fri 2015-10-30
  German ISIS Rapper Deso Dogg aka Denis Cuspert Killed in U.S. Air Strike
Thu 2015-10-29
  Nigerian Troops Rescue 338 People Held by Boko Haram
Wed 2015-10-28
  Yemeni Army claims Soddy warship destroyed
Tue 2015-10-27
  Mathew Stewart: Aussie soldier now terrorist leader in Syria
Mon 2015-10-26
  Senior Nusra Front leader killed near Aleppo
Sun 2015-10-25
  Turkish police on alert to capture four ISIL members prepared for attacks in Turkey
Sat 2015-10-24
  US drone strikes kill 16 ‘IS militants’ near Pak-Afghan border
Fri 2015-10-23
  Pakistan’s indigenous armed drone conducts first nighttime strike
Thu 2015-10-22
  U.S., Iraqi commandos free dozens of ISIL hostages
Wed 2015-10-21
  Dissident commanders meet to choose rival Afghan Taliban leader
Tue 2015-10-20
  ISIL child training camp discovered in Istanbul
Mon 2015-10-19
  Yemen govt agrees to talks with Houthis, Saleh
Sun 2015-10-18
  Senior al-Nusra commander killed in Syria airstrike
Sat 2015-10-17
  Saudi forces kill gunman after Shiite site attack

Better than the average link...



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.
52.91.54.203
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (12)    Non-WoT (15)    Opinion (9)    (0)    Politix (1)